Halloween Blog Tour: Elizabeth Black

Welcome to the Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour!! A few of my author friends from Broad Universe and I adore Halloween, so we're trading blog posts every other day for this last week of October.

Elizabeth Black is a Broad I've met more recently than the other women on this tour, but I'm so glad to know her now. And I am such a sucker for haunted house stories! I sooo want to go here!

Happy Halloween!!

I Stayed At A Haunted Bed And Breakfast. Twice.

By Elizabeth Black

Yup, I was foolish enough to stay at a haunted bed and breakfast - twice. This B&B dates back to the Revolutionary War, and it sits on a river. I had heard about it from one of my ex's friends, and after much planning I finally stayed there when I was in town for a theater stage crew convention.

The story behind the haunting is as follows:

British soldiers came up the river and proceeded to set the small town on fire, destroying most of it. Soldiers threw torches on the porch of this B&B, which was originally a brothel. The proprietress swept the torches off the porch with her broom. She made a deal with the soldiers. She would house them, feed them, and allow them to use her services as long as they didn't burn the place down. They agreed, and this B&B was allowed to stand whilst homes around it burned to the ground.  The haunting involves the ghost of the proprietress wandering the halls in the dead of night, checking on her clientele and the women to make sure everyone was comfortable. There have been other sightings as well. The B&B itself is absolutely beautiful, decorated in Victorian splendor. It includes a lovely bar and discounted dinners every Friday night. The rooms are beautiful, spacious, and very homey in that Victorian style I liked very much.

The first time I stayed it was off-season in mid-winter. I was in a room overlooking the river. What a view! I enjoyed a delicious meal and the company of a man I met in the bar. He came to the B&B several times per month to enjoy dinner when in town on business. No, I did not take him to bed, although he was very handsome. We ate dinner together. That night I slept well until about 3 am when I heard a party going on in the room next to me. There was a lot of noise. I managed to go back to sleep. At about 4:30 am I heard heavy footsteps walking up and down the hallway. I immediately thought of the ghost of the proprietress stalking the halls checking on everyone and went back to sleep. I wondered whys she wore combat boots, since her footsteps were very loud and heavy. I felt very safe, secure, and comfortable. Not the least bit scared.

The next day, when I went down for breakfast, I told the clerk about the party and the footsteps. She told me I couldn't have heard anything because I had been alone in the building all night. Yeeeahhh!!!!! The party! The footsteps! None of it could have happened!!!

Of course, I had to return. J

The second time I stayed I was with my current husband. While we slept, someone turned on the overhead light in the middle of the night. I was a very light sleeper and I snapped awake the moment the light turned on. My husband snored away next to me. I was far too tired to get up and turn off the light, so I went back to sleep. When I woke up shortly before dawn, the light was off. I asked my husband later about the light and he said he had turned it off before going to bed. He didn't get up during the night at all.

So who turned on the light? And who later turned it off?

I heard those footsteps in the hallway again, and felt as safe as I did the first time.  No party this time, though. At least this time there were other guests in the place. I wasn't alone in the building again.

So there you have it. I had my own ghostly experiences. Granted, I think there were perfectly natural explanations for what I heard. The kitchen was downstairs right off my room and noise from clean-up could have carried up the stairs. I could have mistaken those noises for a party. It's also likely my husband simply forgot he didn't turn off the overhead light. But I like to think I had ghostly experiences both times I stayed.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

My stay at the Kitty Knight House influenced my erotic romance novel "An Unexpected Guest". Here are buy links and an information page.

Fanny Press

http://fannypress.com/2009/12/12/an-unexpected-guest/

Amazon Paperback

http://tinyurl.com/yb9ya5t

Amazon Kindle

http://tinyurl.com/yhbll2h

Web Site Page:

http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com/p/unexpected-guest.html

Here's where to find me on the web. Friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, and check out my books! I've included my Amazon author pages for both of my pen names, so whether you're into sexy or spooky, I have stories for you!

Elizabeth Black - Blog and Web Site

http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth Black - Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/elizabethablack

Elizabeth Black - Twitter

http://twitter.com/ElizabethABlack

Elizabeth Black - Amazon Author Page

https://www.amazon.com/author/elizabethblack

E. A. Black - Amazon Author Page

http://www.amazon.com/~/e/B00BBWHMFM

The Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour runs every other day October 23-October 31.  Join us all five days for Halloween fun!  Be sure to say hello on any post to be entered in a giveaway at the end of the tour! 

Halloween Blog Tour: Justine Graykin

Welcome to the Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour!! A few of my author friends from Broad Universe and I adore Halloween, so we're trading blog posts every other day for this last week of October.

Justine Graykin's second post in this tour tickles me to no end. I've been a fan of her Archimedes Nesselrode since she started reading excerpts from it at Rapid Fire Readings years ago. It was an audio book first, and I just don't do audio books. So, when she finally, finally, finally had a huggable book published, I did, indeed, drive all the way up to her release party in New Hampshire so I could immediately hug my own copy. Squee!

Happy Halloween!!

An Excerpt from Archimedes Nesselrode by Justine Graykin

Archimedes Nesselrode, my newly-released novel from Double Dragon, is mostly gentle and whimsical, a tale of an artist with strange and wonderful creative powers.  But these powers also have a dark and frightful side, one which even the artist himself fears.

In honor of the this shiversome season, I offer to the readers of my dear friend Trisha’s blog an excerpt from the book in keeping with that spirit of darkness.

We join the artist and his devoted housekeeper attempting to escape from the vengeful anger of Zarah Trebbiano, the operatic diva whose advances Mr. Nesselrode has rejected.

“Get in the car, Mr. Nesselrode,” Ms. Mare said firmly, “I shall handle this.”

“Oh, yes, get into the car, Michel!” the singer mocked.  “Do as your woman servant says!  Spineless worm!  That is all you are!  Gutless and spineless!”

“That will be enough!” Ms. Mare snapped in an imperiously commanding tone that any school mistress would have envied.  “You will leave immediately and do not dare attempt to contact Mr. Nesselrode again in any way!”

“Call off your dog, Michel,” Madam Trebbiano said, “her yapping annoys me.”

“You are a crude, ill-bred woman who ought to be ashamed of herself, but is too arrogant to realize it!  Now, good night to you!”  Ms. Mare turned on her heel to go.  Her employer had still not moved.

“Ill-bred?” the singer cried.  “This from an illegitimate brat of the serving class!  Oh, yes, I know who you are!  You’re the housekeeper, aren’t you?  Do you think to improve your position by coddling your master?  A bit of advice to you--don’t attempt to bed him!  He is a passionless, impotent fish!”

“How dare you?” Ms. Mare cried in outrage.

“Can’t you say anything, Michel?  No, you pathetic, sniveling poseur!  I should never have wasted my time with you!  You are not a man at all!”

“That will be enough!” Ms. Mare commanded, uncomfortably aware that they were beginning to attract a crowd.  “Mr. Nesselrode, get into the car.  We are leaving!”

“Go on, Michel!  Run with your tail between your legs!  That’s all you’ve got down there!  Go home with your faithful dog!  Perhaps you can reward her with a few limp-wristed caresses!  Or do you prefer little boys?”

“Zarah, shut up!”

The transformation of Archimedes Nesselrode from rabbit to wild-eyed fury was sudden and astonishing.  He spun around to face her and his voice rose into a screech.  “Shut up!  Shut up!  Shut up!”

Madam Trebbiano was shocked speechless, taking a step away from him.  Ms. Mare was frozen, her mouth open.  She had seen him annoyed, fretful, peevish and irritated.  She had never seen this.  His eyes blazed with madness, but not the gentle, harmless madness she was accustomed to.  His face was twisted horribly and malignantly.  The winged snake flew up into the air with alarm and darted over to Ms. Mare, coiling about her legs and cringing, afraid of her own master.

“You summon great passion in me, Zarah!  Oh, yes!  You inspire me with wild emotion!”  He laughed, but it was a fearful, maniacal sound.  “You are fascinated by my magic, eh?  I’ll give you a demonstration!  See what I create in your honor!”  He held out his hands.  To Ms. Mare’s horror they were dripping with scorpions.  If there was any creature which inspired greater loathing in her than spiders, it was scorpions.

Madam Trebbiano’s expression showed much the same sentiment.  She was grimacing in revulsion.  Archimedes Nesselrode, quite monstrously insane, walked towards her.  “Embrace me, Zarah!  I’m all yours!”

“Get away from me!” she cried, backing away.  But she found her retreat blocked.  They were no longer standing on a city sidewalk.  Archimedes Nesselrode had conjured a chamber of horrors.

The stone walls that enclosed them slanted at bizarre angles and intersected with unbearable asymmetry.  The seams where the stone blocks met were cracked and seeping with fungoid slime.  From the slime bubbled shapeless things which crawled and dripped to the crazily tilting floor.  The ceiling was thickly hung with sticky webs which seethed with black legs and bloated bodies.

“Gifts for you, Zarah!” he shrieked, his voice cracked and shaking, “From the bottom of my heart!”  He threw the scorpions at her, and began to laugh hideously.  He became swathed in robes of black and scarlet, and from beneath the folds of the robe erupted monstrosities, deformed and hideous.  Writhing hunks of severed flesh, embedded with eyes, oozing like open wounds, they flopped and crawled around him.  Zarah Trebbiano screamed and clawed helplessly at the venomous creatures that clung to her, stinging her repeatedly.

Stunned with horror, Vivian Mare stared, unable to believe that her timid, sweet employer could have so suddenly mutated into this terrible monster.  It took an act of strongest will power to break the paralyzing spell.

“Snake, for pity’s sake, let go of me!”

My thanks to Trisha Wooldridge for her gracious hospitality.  Archimedes Nesselrode is

available as a paperback through Amazon and as an ebook though most major distributors.  You may learn more about this and my humble self on my website, at justinegraykin.com

About the Author:

Justine Graykin is a writer and free-lance philosopher sustained by her deep, abiding faith in Science, Humanity and the belief that humor is the best anti-gravity device. Author of Archimedes Nesselrode, a book written for adults who are weary of adult books, she is producer of the BroadPod podcast.   She lives, writes and putters around her home in rural New Hampshire, occasionally disappearing into the White Mountains with a backpack.

The Wicked, Weird and Whimsical Words Halloween Blog Tour runs every other day October 23-October 31.  Join us all five days for Halloween fun!  Be sure to say hello on any post to be entered in a giveaway at the end of the tour! 

February Romance Episode of the Broad Pod

February Romance by Broad Universe  
Download now or listen on posterous

February Broad Pod.mp3 (21148 KB)

Welcome to the 2011 February episode of the Broad Pod!  Join hostess Trisha Wooldridge from A Novel Friend Writing and Editing for this month's romantic collection of short readings from women writing across the realm of speculative fiction.

 

The Broad Pod is sponsored by Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.  Find out more about our organization, including new fiction released by women, more podcasts, and information about writing and publishing for women, at our website, www.broaduniverse.org

 

As February is the month of love, this collection of snippets are all touched by romance.  Pauline Baird Jones gives us steampunk attraction across time; Rae Lori shares love, lasers, and escaped prisoners; Jessica Freely introduces us to a budding relationship amid transgendered class warfare; and Diane Whiteside delivers us a first date between a supernatural-specialized private I and a sorceress.

 

So, grab a glass of wine, your favorite chocolates, and join the Broad Pod as we explore the boundaries of romance!

Posted via email from The Broad Pod posterous

February Romance Episode of the Broad Pod

Welcome to the 2011 February episode of the Broad Pod!  Join hostess Trisha Wooldridge from A Novel Friend Writing and Editing for this month's romantic collection of short readings from women writing across the realm of speculative fiction.

 

The Broad Pod is sponsored by Broad Universe, an international, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating women writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.  Find out more about our organization, including new fiction released by women, more podcasts, and information about writing and publishing for women, at our website, www.broaduniverse.org

 

As February is the month of love, this collection of snippets are all touched by romance.  Pauline Baird Jones gives us steampunk attraction across time; Rae Lori shares love, lasers, and escaped prisoners; Jessica Freely introduces us to a budding relationship amid transgendered class warfare; and Diane Whiteside delivers us a first date between a supernatural-specialized private I and a sorceress.

 

So, grab a glass of wine, your favorite chocolates, and join the Broad Pod as we explore the boundaries of romance!

Posted via email from The Broad Pod posterous

Broad Universe Blog Out: KS Augustin

The last fantastic woman I get to interview in the Broad Universe Blog Out is KS Augustin, a Malaysian-born writer of science-fiction, romance, and permutations of the two. She also dabbles in fantasy and contemporary action romances from time to time. She has been nominated for a CAPA award and has been a Spectrum award finalist. She has visited, lived or worked in the UK, North America, Australia, and has now settled back in south-east Asia so she and her husband can draw breath and the kids can manage to get some education in. Also travelling with them, with species-appropriate passports, are their two fur-shedding cats, Fluff and Squeak, and their irrepressible miniature bull terrier, Sausage.


Kaz, please, tell us about your writing. What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

My first love was, and still is, science-fiction. I tend to read right across the genre from social SF to hard to slipstream, although my favourite is space opera, so I suppose it isn't any surprise that I tend to write space opera romance the most. While I love a good space battle as much as the next geek girl, I always thought that a bit more characterisation and interpersonal dynamics in my favourite novels would go a long way, which explains why I add romance to the mix.

I'm sure someone has already said that wherever you go, you always take yourself with you, so why would it be any different in the future or in another galaxy? You always take yourself with you--brain, heart, wishes, regrets, yearnings. Everything else is an extension of yourself, and engagement (whether positive or negative) is when an extension of one person or group meets an extension of another. Technology is merely one channel through which such engagement can play out, but it's not the only one.

And indeed, I do have something new coming out. Carina Press is the new digital-first imprint of Harlequin Enterprises and I am extremely pleased to have a novel of mine as part of their June launch. ENEMY HANDS is a hard SF romance that covers stellar mechanics, politics, a bit of pharmacology and--of course!--romance between a brilliant physicist and the savant she falls in love with. I hope there's something there for everyone, but we'll see.


What writers inspired you to become an author?

I still clearly remember reading "A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley Weinbaum as a child, and being mesmerised by it. Henry Kuttner, Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, Ray Bradbury, EE 'Doc' Smith, Eric Frank Russell, they were all wonderful and still are. I got made fun of at school for reading a book entitled "The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World". Female high-school students didn't read books with such titles, but it didn't worry me too much. *That* place was where I wanted to be--ravening beams of destruction, conflicts in the oceans of Venus, high-jinks across the galaxy, interstellar puns. Why would I want to be in school where people made fun of me because I wore glasses and had different-coloured skin? I think science-fiction saved my sanity then, and I'm forever grateful to it for doing so.



What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or TV shows? Hobbies?

I mostly read to relax. And I also love kite-flying. To me, there's nothing quite so exhilarating as harnessing something you have no control over (the wind) to make something you do (the kite) do what you want it to do.

I also cook. I love cooking, I adore cooking, although I don't have enough time to do much of it. In our library at home, we must have at least 200 cookbooks and I sit down and read through them in much the same way as I read a novel, from start to finish. I find it exceedingly relaxing. And it helps that my husband and children are happy to act as my guinea pigs.


What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to music, and do you want to share your playlist?

I think I'm in the minority on this one, in that I tend to appreciate silence, but I also think that's a holdover from my martial arts days. You can't be aware of what's happening around you if there's music blaring out of several loudspeakers and writing, by itself, is distracting enough. If you're talking musical tastes, then I listen to everything, from opera to techno. However, there is one sub-genre I never, ever listen to and that's Country & Western. I just can't get into it.


"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

Ah yes, I think cats are favoured because they're lower maintenance than dogs. We have both: two cats called Fluff and Squeak and a mini bull-terrier called Sausage. Each type of animal has its own characteristics that make it quite lovable. I occasionally have updates on our pets in my blog but not often enough, or so I've been told.


What organizations do you recommend for those wanting to become writers? Any advice you'd like to share about writing?

There are lots of organisations around for aspiring writers, and they even span national boundaries. The constraining factor is that you have to have access to an Internet connection in order to fully leverage the information and resources out there. To be honest, I may not be the best person to ask about such things. I sold my first novella in almost complete isolation in 2006. It was only after we left the USA that I discovered thriving writer communities in and around San Francisco. And it was only after we left Australia that I discovered the same about speculative fiction writers in Australia. I'm sure the same thing will play out after we leave Malaysia. I always tend to be behind the curve like that!

Having said that, the best advice I can share about writing is that, if you want to make a living at it, it's not enough to be JUST a writer. You have to be able to run your own small business, and that means self-discipline, multi-tasking, organisation and planning skills, and so on. And you have to realise that there's always something out there you need to know that you haven't learnt about already.


Any special appearances or events coming up that you want to mention?

It's difficult being a writer living literally on the other side of the world to North America. I often feel that I'm missing out on lots of opportunities to connect with potential readers. But still, with the interconnectedness of most of the world today, the situation is a lot better than it used to be.

For the latest news, best to read my blog, and I'm always available via email at ks [at] ksaugustin [dot] com.


How else can we find you, Kaz?

My website is http://www.ksaugustin.com And I have an opinionated blog, called "Fusion Despatches", at http://blog.ksaugustin.com where, quite unfashionably, I tend to discuss politics ... but that's only because I love the topic so much! Given enough time, I'm sure my blog will end up offending pretty much everyone in the world, so you've been warned.

Broad Universe Blog Out: Pauline Baird Jones

Welcome to the fifth day of the Broad Universe Blog Out, where it's my honor to introduce you to Pauline Baird Jones. She is the award-winning author of nine novels of science fiction romance, Steampunk, action-adventure, suspense, romantic suspense and comedy-mystery. She's written two non-fiction books, Adapting Your Novel for Film and Made-up Mayhem, and she co-wrote Managing Your Book Writing Business with Jamie Engle. Her seventh novel, Out of Time, an action-adventure romance set in World War II, is an EPPIE 2007 winner. Her eighth novel, The Key won an Independent Book Award Bronze Medal (IPPY) for 2008 and is a 2007 Dream Realm Awards Winner. She also has short stories in several anthologies. Originally from Wyoming, she and her family moved from New Orleans to Texas before Katrina.


Pauline, tell us about your writing - What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

I started out writing contemporary romantic suspense, but have been moving persistently into action/adventure type romances for years. I committed to paranormal AA when I wrote OUT OF TIME, a WWII time travel, then headed into space with THE KEY. For now I’m solidly into science fiction romance, with a fillip of Steampunk romance for fun. I’ve also recently had some short stories published in a variety of anthologies.

I’m a “love the book I’m writing” kind of girl, though I have to say, I’m really feeling the SFR love. It’s just a heck of a lot of fun to write about space travel, to break the bounds of gravity and head for distant galaxies. I’m hugely excited about my April release: GIRL GONE NOVA, a follow-on to THE KEY (though both books can be read stand alone).

I had so much fun writing Doc, my kick-butt genius heroine. And my hero is a redeemed, semi-bad guy from THE KEY. I did NOT plan that. He wouldn’t leave me alone until I gave him a girl to love. What’s an author to do?


What writers inspired you to become an author?

Georgette Heyer. Mary Stewart. Elizabeth Cadell. Helen McInnes. Alastair Maclean. Each of these authors delighted me when I found them and taught me important things about what needed to be in my novels.


What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?

Well, obviously I read, but I also like TV and movies. My current favorite shows are: HUMAN TARGET, LEVERAGE, BIG BANG THEORY and NCIS. I also like to mix a bit of reality tv into my viewing. Favs are TOP CHEF and DANCING WITH THE STARS.


What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to music, and do you want to share your playlist?

I do use playlists to gin up the creative juices. I create one for each book, because my characters have different tastes. The songs tend to filter into the book, so I have to go in and remove them when I edit, because you can’t use songs without proper permissions. I did post playlists for my last two books. Back when I wrote earlier books, I had to create my own music mixes. Wow, does that date me.


"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

We do have a cat, though technically he belongs to my son and loves only him. Me he tolerates because I feed him (and my son is now at college). He is quirky and demanding. Only likes fresh water, but won’t drink from a pet fountain. Can tell time (DST messes him up more than it messes me up!). And can whine like nobody’s business when I don’t do what he wants, when he wants it. He is bitter and suspicious, which helps us get along when the son’s not around.


Any advice you'd want to share about writing?

The advice I always give is: reject rejection. There will always be people who will tell you that you can’t, or what you shouldn’t do or how you shouldn’t do it, but this is a business littered with people who went over and around barriers to get where they wanted to do go (legally, of course!). DO YOUR RESEARCH. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO, and you’ll like it better.


Are there any special appearances or events coming up that you want to mention?

I’ll be running release contests to celebrate GIRL GONE NOVA debuting in print and e. I have a contest page on my website, so check back often to see what’s going on! http://www.perilouspauline.com/


Here are more ways to find out about and meet Pauline:

http://www.perilouspauline.com/
http://twitter.com/paulinejones
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pauline-Baird-Jones/
http://perilouslyyours.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/perilouspauline
http://worldsapage.blogspot.com/

And get this, for one lucky person who comments on the blogs for the Broad Universe Blog Out, Pauline will randomly pick someone to receive either a digital or print copy of A TEXAS BOX OF CHOCOLATES anthology!

So, leave Pauline or Trish a comment!

Broad Universe Blog Out: Tracy S. Morris

Tracy S. Morris is the next beautiful Broad I get to introduce you to in this Great Broad Universe Blog-Out! I had the opportunity to meet Tracy in person at Dragon*Con last year, where I heard her hilarious reading from Bride of Tranquility. I was so happy to hear a piece of it again when she sent me her recording for the Broad Universe Broad Pod of Romance. You have to listen just for the "reedeeculous Frainch acceaint" - seriously! (Just make sure you are not drinking anything over your keyboard.)

Tracy, please, tell us about your writing! What genre do you prefer to write? What books, stories, other publications that you've written are your personal favorites? Anything new coming up?

Mostly I write urban fantasy. Or more accurately, rural fantasy since the settings are generally towns in the Ozarks with smaller populations. My best known work is the Tranquility series, which is sort of what you would get if Jeff Foxworthy wrote the X-Files and set every episode in the town of Cicely, Alaska. The second book in the series, Bride of Tranquility, just received an honorable mention for the Darrell Award.

My tendency is to write offbeat, satirical genre stories.

In June, one of my short stories will be released in the Yard Dog press Rednecks vs. Zombies anthology, A Stitch in Time Saves None. This is the 5th anthology set within the Bubbas of the Apocalypse shared universe.


What inspired you to become an author?

I was a huge reader before I ever wrote, but I made the decision to write when I was about 12 years old. I can't remember just what it was that I read at the time, but I put the book down thinking that I would love to write like that and put out books and short stories.


What about you as a person? What do you do to relax? Favorite movies or tv shows? Hobbies?

I actually spend a lot of time in front of the computer. My day job involves writing content for websites. I write a lot of how-to articles, travel articles and gardening articles. No surprise that my hobbies include photography, travel and gardening. Things that I can get dirty doing, as opposed to sitting in front of a computer. If I have down time, I try to read for fun.


What gets your creative juices going? Do you write to a music, and do you want to share your playlist?

I don't write to music because it's distracting. Stirring music makes me want to jump up, run around the house, choreograph the next fight scent that I am going to write, etc. I actually carry a journal and pen with me everywhere so that I can write when the inspiration strikes. Usually it strikes when I have to be in a meeting and I'm daydreaming, so at least I can look like I'm taking notes.


"All writers must have cats, especially if they write fantasy or speculative fiction." Do you have a stand on this one? Any cute pictures of your kitty or other pet?

I'm not a cat person. I've got two Shiba Inu puppies that my husband and I adopted. They keep me company while I'm writing. Mostly they lay around getting fat. Occasionally when the mood strikes me to get in shape they will take a run with me. Dogs have friends. Cats have staff.

I used to have three ferrets, which are the inspiration behind the ferrets in my detective novels. They're partially a tip of the hat to all the great pet mysteries out there. The thing with ferrets is that they're not really focused animals. So while dog and cat detectives might help their owners out, a ferret will be off sleeping in your sock drawer or hiding your keys.


What organizations do you recommend for those wanting to become writers? Any advice you'd like to share about writing?

Writing is a process of collecting rejection letters. Don't get discouraged, because rejection is a part of it. Today was a good example for me. I checked the mailbox and found a certificate for an Honorable Mention award that I was recently given by Writers of the Future tucked in next to a rejection letter from a major publisher.

I would also suggest finding a good (emphasis on good) writing group. That kind of mentorship is invaluable to your growth as a writer. If your writers group is not helpful, or if it's just stroking your ego, it's time to move on.


Any special appearances or events coming up that you want to mention?

I will be at ConQuest in Kansas City on May 28-30, and then Soonercon in Oklahoma City June 4-6. Soonercon is helping my publisher, Yard Dog Press celebrate their 15th anniversary. They will be releasing their anthology A Stitch in Time Saves None at the convention.


How can we find out more about you, Tracy?

The best way is through my website: http://www.tracysmorris.com/
All my other accounts including, facebook, twitter, livejournal link through that.

Broad Universe Blog Out: Brenna Lyons

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