Author Spotlight
Valerie Hansen Autographed Novel Giveaway
September 20, 2011 | 
Author Valerie Hansen is giving away autographed copies each of two of her novels Nightwatch and Face of Danger.
Nightwatch is the first book in a new series.
The Defenders: Protecting children in need.
“Fire captain Mitch Andrews can’t forget three young children he saved from a fire. A suspicious fire that left them orphans. In the care of foster mother Jill Kirkpatrick, he knows the little ones will be loved, even if the sweet, strong widow won’t let Mitch get emotionally close to her. But suddenly the kids – and Jill – are in terrible danger…and one of the children is missing. Mitch and Jill will risk everything to find the stolen little girl and keep a makeshift family of five together forever.”
You can read an excerpt here.
Forensic artist Paige Bryant is working for the Texas Rangers when Cade Jarvis brings her a new assignment that places them both in jeopardy. Paige refuses to give up in spite of serious personal threats, so it falls to the handsome ranger to keep her safe until she can complete the facial reconstruction that may solve multiple crimes. Cade feels certain he can win against the forces of evil, but will he be able to keep his heart from being broken at the same time?
You can read an excerpt here.
Posted in Author Spotlight, Events, Mystery, Romance | 
Tags: Contemporary, Giveaway, Mystery, Romance | 
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Valerie Hansen Guest Post: Castle Television Show
Novel Reaction is excited to welcome author Valerie Hansen to talk about one of my favorite television shows, Castle.
Valerie Hansen’s basic nature is to enjoy every day to the fullest – and try to not take herself too seriously. J.
She married her high school sweetheart and they raised two great kids before leaving California to pursue their dreams of a rural lifestyle on an old, eighty acre farm in the Arkansas Ozarks.
So far, Valerie has nearly 50 books to her credit. Besides doing extensive research, she has plenty of interesting experiences to draw upon. Ready? Veterinary assistant, teacher’s aide, volunteer fire department dispatcher, Emergency Medical Technician, bank worker, professional artist, store clerk, bookkeeper, 4-H leader, Sunday school teacher, gospel singer/songwriter, winning quiz show contestant, dog trainer, college extension-class instructor, and antique restorer. She’s built dulcimers and a psaltery, laid bricks and tile, designed stained-glass windows, roofed a house, decorated store windows for the holidays, helped pour cement, raised fancy guinea pigs and finches, driven a long-haul moving van, and was once the proud owner of twenty-three Newfoundland dogs at one time. Don’t try that at home!
Although she writes for all three Love Inspired lines, her main focus is on mystery and suspense. NIGHTWATCH, Oct. 2011, is the first book in her very own series, “The Defenders”, with THREAT OF DARKNESS to follow in June 2012.
Having worked with other authors on continuity series books for Love Inspired Romance, Suspense and Historical, I also realize how hard it must be for the various screenwriters to coordinate their work. That, folks, is what authors’ nightmares are made of. Most people don’t wake up in the middle of the night wondering if they remembered to add a clue at just the right time or if they’ve accidentally portrayed someone as driving the wrong color car. Trust me. This happens.
Perhaps it’s because Castle is a fiction writer that I identify with him so much. Our minds often work in ways that can seem foreign to those who don’t have make-believe characters running around in their heads all the time. You see, I do. After writing almost 50 novels I no longer pine for my previous heroes but I still face a mild separation anxiety when I finish each book. Yeah, you have to be a little nuts to do what I do, but nobody wants to read about folks who are too normal. No worries about that with me!
For those of you who don’t follow Lee Lofland’s “Castle” blog about police procedures, I recommend you take a peek there, too. Lee points out technical errors that are interesting to detail-phobes like me. As with all fiction, a certain amount of leeway is necessary to develop a plot but I’m always on the lookout for things that don’t fit with my own notions of how a crime would be solved. Yes, that’s secondary to the character relationships but I do love a good puzzle. Maybe that’s why my editors steered me into writing a lot of mystery/suspense. It’s a good fit.
Posted in Author Spotlight, Events, Mystery, Romance | Tags: Author, Contemporary, Mystery, Romance | 14 Comments »
Betty Webb Guest Post: Living the Dream
Novel Reaction is excited to welcome author Betty Webb to talk about living the dream.
As a journalist, Betty Webb interviewed U.S. presidents, astronauts who walked on the moon, and Nobel Prize-winners, as well as the homeless, the dying, and polygamy runaways. The dark Lena Jones mysteries, based on stories she covered as a reporter, include “Desert Lost” (“One of the Top Five Mysteries of 2009, Library Journal), “Desert Noir” (“A mystery with a social conscience,” Publishers Weekly) and “Desert Wives,” (“Eye-popping,” New York Times). Her seventh Lena Jones novel, “Desert Wind,” will be released in February 2012. Betty’s humorous Gunn Zoo series debuted with the critically-acclaimed “The Anteater of Death,” followed by “The Koala of Death.” All her books are published by Poisoned Pen Press. A long-time book reviewer at Mystery Scene Magazine, Betty is a member of National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, and the National Organization of Zoo Keepers. www.bettywebb-mystery.com
Living the Dream
by Betty Webb
When I retired from the Tribune Newspapers here in Arizona, they gave me a big, homemade card that said, “No more deadlines – you’ll be living the dream!” After all, I would be writing mystery novels full time – not getting up at 4 a.m. every morning to slam through four hours of writing before I headed off to the paper to write for another eight to ten hours. What a relief!
But six years later, here’s what “living the dream” is really like.I still get up at 4 a.m., mainly because at some point during my Tribune years, my unconscious mind decided that 4 a.m. was the right time for writing. I still write in my PJ’s, though, but now I leave them on until noon, making my mail carrier and various delivery people suspect that I’m an unbelievably lazy, sloppy person (well, okay, I am, but that’s another discussion entirely). And as for the “no more deadlines” part? Oh, ha. Ever been told by your editor that she expects your half-written, 460-page manuscript to be completed within the month? Awk!
Yet I am “living the dream,” and despite its many hardships, I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I’m my own boss (until my editor starts blue-lining my manuscript), my laundry bills have gone way down, I still see my name in print (every writer is an egotist), and I can deduct some of my vacations on my taxes. If, that is, I take the right vacation in the right place at the right time.
For instance, next year I’m going to Iceland. When people shriek, “OMG, why?” I’m always tempted to answer, “Because it’s there,” but the real reason is because that’s where they have puffins, Icelandic foxes, and Icelandic horses. Not to mention volcanoes, glaciers, elves and those mysterious “hidden people.” I decided to use Iceland in one of my zoo mysteries because Lena Jones, protagonist of the “Desert Wives” series, wouldn’t be caught dead in Iceland; she’s too much of a desert rat. But Teddy, the fearless zookeeper of the Gunn Zoo mysteries would take off for Iceland in a New York minute if promised a ride on an Icelandic horse. So Teddy it’s going to be.
Which reminds me of another thing about “living the life.” Where did I get the idea for Iceland in the first place, a country I’ve never seen and, quite frankly, never thought about? Simple. Poisoned Pen Bookstore here in Scottsdale AZ held a 50% off sale during the 4th of July weekend, and one of the bags full of books I came away with just happened to be set in Iceland. The book made me curious about the country’s geography, so I Googled it. Up came these glorious pictures of the barren/beautiful landscape. It hooked me. Hard. Once I caught my breath, I knew where I’d set my next mystery.
But sometimes – in fact, most of the time – I get my ideas from the people I meet, their expressions, and all the things they say that are contradicted by their body language. You see, when you’re “living the dream,” every little piece of your life and every human you meet is grist for the mill. It’s about recognizing stories in the small scenes you see played out in front of you every day. “Living the dream” is all about paying attention to the nervous woman standing next to you at the drugstore, to the seemingly calm librarian whose haunted eyes hint at interior strife, to the snippy teen taking your fast food order who’s bitten his fingernails down to the quick.
“Living the dream” is all about keeping yourself in a perpetual state of awareness. But even more, “living the life” means always searching out the soul hidden underneath the skin.
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Mary Reed and Eric Mayer Guest Post: Mithras Religion
Novel Reaction is excited to welcome the author husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer.
The husband and wife team of Mary Reed and Eric Mayer published several short detections involving their protagonist John, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian, prior to 1999’s highly acclaimed One For Sorrow, their first full length novel about their protagonist. The series continued in Two For Joy, a Glyph Award winner and a finalist for the IPPY Best Mystery Award, followed by Three For A Letter. Four For A Boy and Five For Silver were nominees for the Bruce Alexander History Mystery Award. Six For Gold and Seven For A Secret continued John’s adventures. In June 2003, Booklist Magazine named the novels one of its Four Best Little Known Series. Eight For Eternity is their latest entry in this long-running historical mystery series, and Nine For The Devil will appear in March 2012.http://home.earthlink.net/~maywrite
Our protagonist John, Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Justinian I, was not only the first eunuch detective to appear in print but is also the only Mithran sleuth in the field.
Given John’s adventures take place in and around the imperial court in sixth century Constantinople.a reader might well ask why is John devoted to a religion considered pagan and thus proscribed in the officially Christian court, and the answer is two-fold.
First, Mithraism permitted us to introduce clashing viewpoints and the ever present fear of discovery, meaning John has to practice his religion in secret with all the attendant risks. In fact, some recurring characters — notably John’s close friends Anatolius, former secretary to Justinian and in later books a practicing lawyer, and Felix, captain of the excubitors (palace guard) — are also Mithrans and equally liable to exposure and severe punishment.
Second, John had been a mercenary, and Mithraism was a religion that appealed to military men, who carried it to the far edges of the empire. So it was appropriate that if John, an austere man in his ways despite great wealth, had any religion at all, he would be a Mithran, given it was a religion that appealed greatly to men with this sort of background.
Who then was his god Mithras?
Born of a rock, Mithras was a Sun God. He killed the Great Bull, represented in every underground mithraeum (temple), by a sculpture or bas relief depicting him kneeling on the bulll, pulling back its head, and stabbing the beast. From the animal’s body, as Franz Cumont has written, came forth not only the multitude of useful plants and herbs growing on earth but also “all the beneficent [animals] on earth”.
As a mystery religion, information about its practices is not over-abundant. However, we do know the virtues required of adherents, and they were certainly admirable: chastity, courage, faithfulness, and military brotherhood being the most striking. Social rank counted for nothing in this religion and women were not admitted to the ranks of worshippers.
Mithran rituals included inititiation ceremonies, sacred feasts, and celebrations of the birth of the Sun God on 25th December. The seven-stage priesthood began with the rank of crow and continued upwards through occult (sometimes rendered bridegroom, adepts of this rank being veiled) soldier, lion, Persian, solar messenger, and father. John holds the penultimate rank, which we style as runner of the sun. He is content to remain at that level, not having the time to devote to religious matters were he to advance further due to other, more public, duties on behalf of Justinian.
It appears during Mithraic ceremonies those at various levels wore clothing or headgear identifying their rank within the religion. Mithraic underground temples had sacred statuary as well as representations of Mithras slaying the Great Bull. A fire burnt on their altars and offerings were made to the sun each day.
Mithrans believed in an afterlife, reached by fighting their way past seven gates, each featuring guardians who had to be passed to continue upward. It was very much a soldier’s religion and there are striking parallels with Christian beliefs and rituals or even masonry, though these similarities have long been a controversial topic.
This is necessarily only a brief outline of our protagonist’s religion, which colours his life, thoughts, and actions to a great extent, but those who are interested in representations of Mithras, along with scholarly works and other articles about this religion, may like to consult our webpage featuring such information at http://home.earthlink.net/~may
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Thank you so much Mary and Eric for sharing with us a little more about the religion that plays such a large part of your mystery novels. There are currently eight novels in the Lord John Eunuch Mystery series.
- A Night Like This by Julia Quinn Review
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