To the Editors: It’s unfortunate that David Cole thought his point about the dangers cancel culture poses to free speech in America would be strengthened if he could link me—someone he identifies as a “prominent liberal”—to the “staunch Republican” Elise Stefanik’s humiliation of three university presidents [“Who’s Canceling Whom?,” NYR, February 8]. To that end, […]
A man looks back on half a life, beginning with his childhood, his schooling, and his higher education. As a student he is absorbed by theological questions, and for many years he rejects the Christian faith of his youth before eventually returning to the church. In the meantime we hear of his migrations as an […]
Jessamine Chan’s debut novel, The School for Good Mothers, had the kind of release writers dream about. The day the book—a dystopian fiction following a “bad” mother who has come to the attention of Child Protective Services (CPS)—was published in January 2022, the former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager chose it for her Today show […]
In 1977 the Taiwanese director Edward Yang (Yang Dechang) was nearing thirty and working as a computer designer in Seattle. As a young man he’d dreamed of making films, but to please his parents he studied electrical engineering in Taiwan and then became one of the thousands of young, upwardly mobile Taiwanese to study in […]
The effect of this little volume, which looks hardly more than a pamphlet, is wholly out of proportion to its modest dimensions. Robert Richardson died in 2020 at the age of eighty-six, and Three Roads Back is a fitting coda to his greatest achievement: the trio of biographies of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, […]
The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme
I am improving! Still tire easily, but seeing the cough loosen and I am finally getting some relief for the sinuses. Our weather teased of spring, then turned cold with some snow. However, sunset is after 6 pm again until next November. More sunlight makes me smile.I visited blogs this week which made me happy. My oldest will turn thirty-three this week. Stay Caffeinated.
Last Week on the Blog
Dead As A Dodo By Hailey Edwards (audiobook review)
The Book Of Doors By Gareth Brown (audiobook/book review)
Village In The Dark By Iris Yamashita (guest post/book review)
The Angel Of Paragon By Genevieve Jack (audiobook review)
This Week on the Blog
The Boy Who Cried Bear By Kelley Armstrong (book review)
Embers In The London Sky By Sarah Sundin (audiobook review)
Once Persuaded Twice Shy By Melodie Edwards (guest post/book review)
A Haunting In The Arctic By C.J. Cooke (book review)
New Arrivals at the Caffeinated Cafe
Learn more:
Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
A special thanks to Berkley Romance,
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My Content is Being Stolen by Alli the Book Giraffe
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I Can Do Bad All by Myzelf follows a disgruntled elf who was not hired by Santa, so he decides to get revenge by sabotaging Santa’s workshop. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
It was the month after Christmas in January 2023, and I was trying to generate some children’s book ideas. I was thinking about what the perfect job would be, and working for Santa came to mind. But Santa can’t hire everyone, right? So, even though this book was the fourth one published in the Holiday Tails series, it was the idea for this book that led to the development of all the other books, and, believe me, there will be many. Four are complete, and two more are slotted for this year.
The art in this book is unique and modern, really drawing in the older elementary-level children. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Christina Cartwright?
I always give Christina an idea of what I’d like to see on the page, but I leave it up to her imagination as well. There have been a couple of times that Christina misinterpreted what I was wanting (or more like I wasn’t as clear as I could have been), and I ended up going with what she gave me because I could see it was a better idea. For example, she proposed that we make the other elves’ skin colors be nontraditional human tones, and I thought it was a fantastic idea, so we ran with it.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The main themes I focused upon were:
Disappointment in life. Sometimes we can’t seem to make our dreams come true, no matter how hard we wish for it.
Finding the courage to change. Bad things happen – are we going to let them define us or are we going to listen to our hearts when they warn us we are on the wrong path? Can we find the courage to change?
Unconditional love. No matter what we do, everyone deserves a chance to be loved and do the right thing.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
The next book I’m working on is a follow-up to last year’s bunny book. Yakov is a wild and funny character, so it’s great to revisit his crazy antics. It should hopefully be done by summer and available to read and enjoy by all.
The greatest job in the world is working for Santa, making toys for children, and bringing joy to every innocent heart. It’s the top job to which every mythical creature aspires, but none wish for this job more than elves.
But what if Santa won’t hire you? He can’t hire everyone. The greatest job in the world will only go to a select few. What do the rest of the rejected applicants do?
Well, if your Myz the elf, you get revenge on Santa. You make him rue the day he ever turned you away from the one thing you’ve ever wished for – working for the big man himself, Santa Claus.
Myz does everything he can think of to make the big guy’s life miserable and when he finally succeeds in attaining his naughty goal? Myz sees a side of Christmas that isn’t very beautiful or joyful.
Will his heart change in time to save Christmas? Sometimes we don’t know the true meaning of things until we almost lose them.
The Girl in the Rain: The Epic Forgotten follows a widow struggling with the loss of her husband who finds his journal, setting her on her own journey surrounding the mysterious girl in the rain. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
It’s difficult to discuss the setup of the beginning of the story without revealing too much about the rest of the story (subsequent novels). I can tell you that the overarching theme that we see in this book (and those which follow) is the desire to rewrite our narratives the way we would like them instead of the alternative, often difficult stories we’re “stuck with.” For Gwenn, it’s her need to find a “fitting ending” for her husband’s story so that she can find closure. It’s important to her that her husband didn’t simply descend into madness, but that he was, indeed, attempting to unravel some deep conspiracy. Though he’s already gone when we begin the story and she can do little to change that, what she can change is how John Chapel is remembered.
This is also central not only to John’s story but the means by which he attempts to cure himself of his malady – narrative therapy. Campbell, his old mentor, believes that he suffers from things left unresolved and that he needs to face these unfinished chapters in his life and find a way to close them in a suitable way. Quite often, we have these things unfinished in our own lives that we never get the opportunity to resolve – whether a lost love, a relationship we wish had gone differently, or even saying something to someone we regret – and it’s important to reconcile these in a way that brings us some peace. For John, Gwenn, and other characters in the story, it’s about finding a way to create a different point of view or a different story. The inspiration for this, I guess you could say, comes from narratives I needed to correct in my own life.
I felt that there were a lot of great twists and turns throughout the novel. Did you plan this before writing the novel, or did the twists develop organically writing?
The Epic Forgotten was always intended to be this grand, sweeping story, covering a multitude of characters, story arcs, and layer upon layer of subtext and nuanced themes. However, in putting pen to paper, there are always some surprises even for the author occasionally. Things happen organically more times than not, and the characters take over the story quite easily, once they’ve been given life and personalities of their own. Some of the best pieces of the story, where we see a stark change, have come from inspiration “on the fly” if you will. This story, as a whole, still remains true to its original drafts but is a far different story in many ways also.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
This book and the follow-up novels take a deep dive into the human condition and consciousness, touching on some of our worst traits as human animals. There’s fear, pride, lust – (do I need to go into the rest of the “seven”?) all of those elements that drive a story through emotional highs and lows, of course. But there’s also love, and its love that serves as almost a character of its own throughout the story. It’s really the “blueprint” of the story that holds all of the moving pieces and characters together, and the one thing I want people to take away from the story after reading it. Whether it’s selfishly-driven, completely selfless, or somewhere in between – that’s what this is all about. It’s a constant across many cultures and languages, and often changes little generation after generation in our human story, and I want people to feel that no matter what character we’re following or whether we’re immersed in the 12th century or in the modern day with them.
When will book two be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?
Book two is already available. Through a Watery Veil was published in 2013, with the special edition launching in 2022. The story continues with Gwenn, Campbell, and the other characters the reader (hopefully) had grown to love, as they begin peeling back more layers of John’s story. There’s a pretty big cliffhanger at the end of Girl that leaves us doubting everything we’ve just been told by Campbell, and we see a new side of the story told from the perspective of his old nemesis, Henry Marshall. The first book really told us a coming-of-age story about John, Gwenn, Melinda, and their friends. This book brings us forward almost twenty years to tell the reader more about the events leading up to John’s fate, what became of Melinda Malowski, and what happened after that big finale in South Florida with Frank Kovacs and the mysterious antagonist in the last book. The third book, Across Lakes of Sorrow, was just launched in 2020, and the final chapter is being penned as we speak. The title is a surprise, so stay tuned.
“The deceiver knows the Hungarian, the wise man keeps twenty-six ghosts in his library, and the widow carries the words of the dead.”
This is the final, cryptic entry scrawled in the journal belonging to the late John Chapel – a journal that detailed his obsession with finding a woman who didn’t exist. Hers was just one of several faces that he insisted he saw there in the rain, and one of the many voices that called to him every night, drawing him further into madness. Despite his wife’s unwavering faith and tireless determination, she could only watch helplessly as the man she loved slowly faded away, like a fingerprint on a window being washed away by the rain.
Now, months after his death, new information has surfaced that sheds new light on her husband’s bizarre case and renews Gwenn Chapel’s search for the truth. Her only allies in this crusade are her husband’s old mentor and eccentric history professor, Dr. Campbell, and his former best friend (and her old flame), Jeremy Connelly. As she uncovers her husband’s dark past, however, she begins to question their motivations behind helping her and suspects that one of them is hiding a dark secret of his own. Can she trust either of them to help her discover the truth or will it only be found in the cryptic pages of that journal John left behind?
Only Gwenn Chapel can decide where the truth lies as she embarks on a journey that will challenge her faith, the limits of her sanity, and even her love for her husband. Will she be able to put all of those pieces together that her husband left for her to unlock the mystery behind the “girl in the rain”, or be pushed over the edge and dragged down into that abyss with him?
This is the first in The Epic Forgotten series, which is a gigantically-proportioned tale about the three kinds of love we seek out in our lifetimes, the depths of loss, suffering, friendship, and faith told through the eyes of a widow, a history professor, and the cryptic words of a long-dead crusader.
So, take your seat beside Dr. Campbell’s fire, have a glass of Calvados, and enjoy the tale of John Chapel and his twenty-six ghosts.
Forbidden Horizon: Abyss of Might follows the grandson of the first commander to make contact with aliens who become involved in the brutal war between two companies trying to control the space industry. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Initially, Forbidden Horizon was designed as a stand-alone novel, with its main protagonist, Commander David Blackstone leading the first manned mission to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, and meeting the mysterious aliens, who had secretly organized mankind’s venture into interstellar space. The idea for a sequel came to me after I was doing research on the Internet about interstellar travel for my novels archive. I felt that there was another story I could tell that involved the Blackstone family, and the inspiration the younger generation takes from the great achievements of the older. I wanted to explore the human-alien contact further, presenting the challenges humanity might face in the future even with the advances in high technologies.
What was one scene in the novel that you felt captured the morals and message you were trying to deliver to readers?
The story is about human beings of the 22nd century, facing many problems that did not go away with the advances in radically new technology. There was a scene in the novel that captured the morals and the message I tried to bring out in the story. The scene involved the meeting between the president and two powerful corporate kings, who thought of themselves as being above the law and too big to fail. The main message of the novel was that our technological advances far outpace our morals. The story features dirty political maneuvering and insatiable greed for power and wealth, which aliens in the novel despise in human beings.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
Forbidden Horizon: Abyss of Might is the second and final novel in this duology. I was glad to create a sequel to the first book and will now work on new ideas, exploring different themes. There is so much information to work with, and during the last ten years, I have amassed a large archive of story ideas that I plan to turn into novels and share with readers around the world.
Author Links: Goodreads | Amazon
In 2098, commander David Blackstone led humanity’s first interstellar mission to the nearest star Proxima Centauri. At humanity’s finest hour, another monumental event occurs in the history of mankind. Astronauts make contact with an enigmatic and powerful alien race called the Xalin. Now it is the year 2132 and the grandson of the legendary Proxima mission commander takes a shot at the title to be the best in exploration of space. Tom Blackstone and his friend and copilot Linda Saperas serve the Space Exploration Agency with honor and pride. Responding to a distress call in space, both get involved in a brutal war between two most powerful companies seeking to dominate space industry. With the upcoming presidential elections that could change the destiny of the United States and the rest of the world, new knowledge emerges that puts to question human technological might. And the alien Xalin also have their designs for humanity as men and women from all levels of society must face the uncertain future in the new and turbulent century.
HELP Wanted follows a private detective who takes on a variety of cases ranging from infidelities to murder, exploring the darker aspects of human nature. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Numerous News stories about missing persons.
Your novelette focuses on the darker side of human nature and what people are capable of. What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
When you worm your way back to most things human, it comes down to MORE, as in money.
I felt that HELP Wanted delivers the drama so well that it flirts with the grimdark genre. Was it your intention to give the story a darker tone?
When you hear about all the missing people who are never found, you begin to wonder where they ended up.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
PHOENIX GUM SHOE is two more episodes (massage and high stakes) of private detective, Max Baer.
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A man looks back on half a life, beginning with his childhood, his schooling, and his higher education. As a student he is absorbed by theological questions, and for many years he rejects the Christian faith of his youth before eventually returning to the church. In the meantime we hear of his migrations as an […]
Jessamine Chan’s debut novel, The School for Good Mothers, had the kind of release writers dream about. The day the book—a dystopian fiction following a “bad” mother who has come to the attention of Child Protective Services (CPS)—was published in January 2022, the former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager chose it for her Today show […]
In 1977 the Taiwanese director Edward Yang (Yang Dechang) was nearing thirty and working as a computer designer in Seattle. As a young man he’d dreamed of making films, but to please his parents he studied electrical engineering in Taiwan and then became one of the thousands of young, upwardly mobile Taiwanese to study in […]
The effect of this little volume, which looks hardly more than a pamphlet, is wholly out of proportion to its modest dimensions. Robert Richardson died in 2020 at the age of eighty-six, and Three Roads Back is a fitting coda to his greatest achievement: the trio of biographies of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, […]
