Cozy Mystery Author Interview: Bogged Down

Bogged Down: A Vashon Island Mystery by Charlotte Stuart

Bogged Down: A Vashon Island Mystery  

Cozy Mystery 1st in Series  

Publisher: Taylor and Seale Publishing (August 5, 2020) 

Paperback: 244 pages  

ISBN-10: 1950613445  

ISBN-13: 978-1950613441  

Digital ASIN : B08FBZMRYL 

 Publisher's Blurb:

An ancient bog hidden away in a forest is the perfect backdrop for murder…

BOGGED DOWN is a mystery set on Vashon Island, a place that has been described as Mayberry-meets-Burning Man. Its motto: Keep Vashon Weird.

Lavender (Lew) Lewis moved there because it is only a twenty-minute ferry ride from Seattle, yet light years away in tempo and character. She grew up on a commune in Alaska, joined the army at 17, does woods parkour for exercise and HR investigations to earn a living. Life in her waterfront cabin with her two food-obsessed cats is predictable and relatively stress free. Until she leads a tour group into an ancient bog on the island and discovers a body.

  This is where I meant to have a review. Unfortunately, as I read, I quickly encountered a scene where the police bring the news to the new widow, and I was unable to read on. I hope someday to be able to finish the book, but not this month, not this year. My apologies to the author, who is guilty only of writing an all-too-evocative scene.

However--read on to learn more about the author, and enjoy my interview with Charlotte Stuart!

 

About Charlotte Stuart

In a world filled with uncertainty and too little chocolate, Charlotte Stuart has a passion for writing lighthearted mysteries with a pinch of adventure and a dollop of humor. She began her career in academia, spent nine years commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, was a partner in a consulting group, and a VP for a credit union. Currently, she is the VP for Puget Sound Sisters in Crime and lives and writes on Vashon Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound. She spends time each day entertained by herons, seals, eagles, and other wildlife.

 

Now for my interview with Charlotte Stuart, who was kind enough to answer my sometimes goofy questions!

1. First things first: I need to introduce myself. See, I’m a 3rd-generation graduate of Vashon High, so I was really excited to see you are an Islander and set your mystery there! I don’t live on the Island now, and I know things are a bit different than I remember, so… tell me first how long you’ve lived on Vashon, and what brought you there?

My husband and I lived on boats for quite few years and missed being close to the water after we became landlubbers. We were lucky enough to buy an older cabin on Vashon waterfront in 2012 before prices started going up. We spent four years remodeling the cabin before moving to the island full time. Each morning I look my office window at the water and see “my” heron fishing for breakfast and feel fortunate to live here.

2. You are braver than I, to set your mystery in your own town. I made my own version of Vashon a little to the north. How do your neighbors feel about you planting bodies in the bog?

I really wanted to portray the beauty of the island and the uniqueness of the culture. However, I didn’t want to have anyone traipsing around our fragile bog, so I made up a location for it. No one has complained yet, but who knows? My biggest concern is that readers might expect everything to be accurate, whereas I’ve employed a mix of fact and fiction when describing the island. Elizabeth George actually identifies specific streets, buildings and even residential homes in her books. But then, she’s a big name so people are probably flattered rather than annoyed.

Now a bit about your writing.
3. Are you a plotter or a pantser? And what do you think are the strengths and/or pitfalls of your approach?

I start with an idea. In Bogged Down, I wanted to have someone find a body in the bog. Then I make a list of characters I want to include, focusing on the protagonist. In this instance, the character’s background and profession ended up driving some of the action. At the point where I have my characters in mind, I become a plotter, a flexible plotter. The plot morphs as I work on an outline and then the rough draft and another rough draft and another less rough draft, etc. In Bogged Down, even the gender of the murderer changed in a late draft. Then it’s more writing with an eye on details and trying to eliminate repetitions and typos. But even when I think I’m done, the editor often comes up with something more to change or add. So far I’ve never disagreed with her suggestions.

The main strength of my approach is that I enjoy my process. I like living in the mind of a competent and upbeat protagonist who is capable of doing things I can only fantasize about. I’ve listened to many successful authors talk about their approach to writing. And I know some just sit down at their computer and start writing. Others do exhaustive outlines. Or draw everything up on a whiteboard. If I knew exactly where I wanted to end up, that might make my writing and story better, but I don’t seem to function that way.

4. We all have to write in our own way, and find what works for us!
What’s the most interesting/weird/disturbing thing you’ve had to research for your mysteries? In other words, what’s going to bring the FBI to your door (if they can scrounge up the ferry fare)?

If you are a published mystery writer, then purchasing books on topics related to murder might not seem too suspicious. But in the years before publication, I always wondered if a few red flags were going off somewhere on some invasive system dedicated to seeking out dangerous people. Books about forensics, blood splatter, lock picking, how to change your identity and Seal sniper training for example. Then there are the online searches about guns and survivalists and floaters to name but a few. I also assume that somewhere in an airless room filled with computers and storage units, there’s a tally of how many times I’ve browsed the Paladin Press website. And I admit to having potentially lethal tansy ragwort in my yard. If not the FBI, then the noxious weed police might come calling.

5. That tansy could get nasty, along with the Scotch broom!
Do you draft your books longhand, at the computer, or…?

Longhand? What’s that? Actually, I frequently start the draft in my head in the middle of the night. But all serious outlining and writing is done with my closest friend, my Lenovo computer.

Finally, the fun personal questions:
6. I remember the spiders Vashon harbors in the wood piles, so my standard personality question is a bit tougher than in some places! If there’s a spider in the corner of the room (or the woodbox), do you a) panic, b) have to drop everything until it is removed, or c) hope it’s planning to eat the more annoying bugs that get in?

When I lived in Seattle we had tall ceilings and white walls. Occasionally, a large, fuzzy-legged black spider would make an appearance, silhouetted against the stark whiteness, freezing in place when it sensed someone looking at it. We haven’t encountered any of these Halloween props on the island, but we do get the occasional bathtub spider. Since they can’t get out on their own, there are only two options: elimination or draping a towel over the edge so they can get traction and climb out without assistance. I would rather not think about where they go after they escape.

7. Do you garden? If so, what do you grow: flowers or veggies? Or, this being Vashon, moss?

We have a vegetable garden, but I only like to participate in the harvest, not in the planting or tending. Our property has some lovely vegetation, but it’s starting to look like a scene from The Secret Garden. At least our front yard stays green all year round, although from weeds, moss and clover, not grass. I’ve been thinking about hiring someone with a pair of large clippers and a weed whacker. Maybe in the spring--.

And finally…
Is there anything else you would like your readers to know about you?

Several readers have asked why I’ve started three different series before any one was well-established. The answer is simple – I was trying to attract an agent and a publisher, and when I didn’t immediately have luck with one approach, I moved on to another. Then they all found publishing homes within a year. That was exciting, but also a marketing challenge. Especially since I had no social media presence and not a clue about how to promote a book. It’s been a busy year and a steep learning curve. But I’m not complaining; well, maybe a little, but I don’t expect any sympathy.

Thanks for stopping by and answering my questions, and I apologize again for not being able to review the book. It's no reflection on your writing or the story, only my personal life!

Author Links Website - www.charlottestuart.com  

Twitter - https://twitter.com/quirkymysteries  

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.stuart.mysterywriter  

GoodReads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19305587.Charlotte_Stuart  

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/clzstuart/?hl=en  

Purchase Links- Amazon - B&N - Vashon Bookshop - IndieBound  

 This tour also has a giveaway!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway  

 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS
November 4 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
November 4 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, GUEST POST
November 5 – The Ninja Librarian – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
November 6 – Christy's Cozy Corners - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY
November 6 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
November 7 – Literary Gold – EXCERPT
November 8 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 9 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT
November 10 – Ascroft, eh? - CHARACTER INTERVIEW
November 11 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST November 12 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST
November 13 – Thoughts in Progress – EXCERPT
November 14 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST
November 15 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 16 – My Reading Journeys- REVIEW
November 17 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT  

 

Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here Find Details and Sign Up Today!
 

Cozy Mystery Review & Author Interview: Dead Week

Dead Week (A Cassandra Sato Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Nebraska
Publisher: Emerald Prairie Press (December 7, 2019)
Paperback: 322 pages
ISBN-10: 1733742425
ISBN-13: 978-1733742429
Digital ASIN: B07ZHN2SMS

Publisher's Blurb:
Will Dead Week kill Cassandra’s career? VP of Student Affairs Cassandra Sato has a desk full of problems and it’s not even Thanksgiving break. A student’s injury and a deaf advocacy project brings national media attention to underfunded Morton College. Cassandra’s new boss talks to her dead husband. Cassandra’s mentor thinks he’s a superhero in a senior citizen’s body. And Cassandra, recently moved from Hawai’i, can’t crack the code of what to wear during November in Nebraska. Is there more to the Vietnam-era story of a student’s death? Cassandra’s search for the long-buried truth stirs up the wrath of those who want to keep the past forgotten.

My Review:
Cassandra Sato is back, and so is chaos and disruption at little Morton College. Academia has a long memory, and Cassandra is caught in the middle when a student starts something too big for her to handle. The mystery that develops is partly about a long-ago student's death, and partly about who is so upset about it and why. Brakenhoff does a great job of creating a compelling mystery without much of a body-count, because she is really writing about humans and their motivations.

I enjoyed the story, which was a solid puzzle (as with the first, I had a pretty good inkling about who did what, but enjoyed watching Cassandra work out the details). I also appreciate the continuing concern with deaf rights and advocacy. The author's sympathies are clear, and well-presented. The book skates at times perilously close to being an "issue story" but dodges that bullet--the deaf rights issues are truly central to the story because they are central to the characters.

And that, I think is the key to why the Cassandra Sato books are so satisfying: they are really about people. This time, the author fleshed out the secondary characters more fully. In some cases that happens gradually, as Cassandra stops seeing them as "types" and recognizes their motivations and needs. The romance element continues to be a bit of background complication, rather than a dominating part of the story. Cassandra seems to be at a point where she needs to examine her life and her choices. She seems to be at least thinking about doing so--I look forward to seeing how she resolves her many personal tensions.

For those interested, I reviewed the first book in the series here. 

My Recommendation:
Pour a cup of hot cocoa and settle down with a blanket and the book. Even if it's not cold where you are, you'll feel that Nebraska wind blowing right through you while you enjoy the story!

FTC Disclosure: I received an ARC of Dead Week from Great Escapes Free Book Tours, and received nothing further from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."   


And now--we are pleased to have the chance to share our interview author Kelly Brakenhoff!

NL: Thanks for coming by! We'll start with the easy one: When did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer, or did you stumble into it later in life? 
KB: You know how adults constantly ask children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I always said, “Writer.” Usually accompanied by a shy shrug.

However, armed with an English degree from college, writing jobs were few and far between. Instead I followed my love of language and Deaf Culture into the ASL interpreting field and focused on raising my family for many years.

Cassandra Sato’s story began as a NaNoWriMo project in 2014 while my youngest kids were finishing high school. I toiled for more than four years revising and editing the first novel until it was finally published in spring of 2019. Checking a major dream off your bucket list is pretty exhilarating.

With Dead Week, and my recent children’s book, I’m making up for my late start! I love my day job and my family, but writing books feels like coming home to myself.
 
NL: Congratulations on that accomplishment! I know the feeling--I'm most fully "me" when writing. Speaking of your day job, you're happy with the one you have now. But... what is the strangest job you’ve ever held?
KB: In college I worked at an outbound telemarketing sales place where we had to call random strangers and sell them a credit card offer. This was the days before robocalls and fancy technology. I lasted two weeks. I couldn’t handle people hanging up on me or yelling at me.

NL: I don't think I'd last a day at that. You're tough! So now that you're safe from telemarketing, what's the best thing about being a writer?  
KB: Looking at the world through a writer’s lens! When I go to a party, spend a day at work, or just talk to people, book and plot ideas pop into my head all the time. Usually friends will say something funny and I’ll jot it down so I can use it in a book. Or I’ll read a newspaper story and think to myself, what if? Taking a kernel of a true story and tweaking it to fit my plot is so much fun. For example, last weekend I attended my husband’s holiday party. While watching his co-worker, it occurred to me that someone like him would be a great supporting character in my next book. I also listened to how people spoke and imagined how I’d describe their looks in print. My brain is always working on the next book.

Now probably if my friends read this interview, I won’t be invited to their parties anymore. Lol.

NL: It's an occupational hazard! Just in case your friends all dump you thanks to that confession, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 
KB: In the Tuscan countryside, east of Florence, Italy. In an old farmhouse amid the grapevines. Maybe not forever, but wouldn’t it be fun to rent a place there for a year or two? Imagine how many books I could write amidst all that quiet beauty! And plenty of wine for leisure time!

NL: Hmm... I'm not sure. Great scenery and wine sounds like a recipe for staring out the window, not for writing! So you get your old farmhouse, and now there's a spider in the corner of the room, do you a) panic, b) have to drop everything until it is removed, or c) hope it’s planning on eating the more annoying bugs that get in?

KB: A then B then STOMP!

NL: Poor spider! Now back to writing... Do you draft your books longhand or compose at the keyboard?  
KB: My notes are often on sticky notes and scraps of paper or notebooks. When it comes to drafting the actual book, I’m all keyboard.

NL: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for one of your books? KB: For Death by Dissertation, I needed my stalker to have a past arrest for harassing a former girlfriend, without physically harming her. Naturally, I turned to Google and typed something like “Creepy stalker stories not murder.” My search feed filled with very disturbing scenarios that I gingerly picked through until I found one I could read without losing my lunch. Photos of weapons and cringe-inducing stalker articles popped up on my social media feeds for weeks afterwards.

NL: Ugh! That's the creepy side of the internet. Do one little search for something, and all the algorithms assume it's your main interest!
You're done the research... now, do you use a detailed outline before you start writing, or… ? 
KB: For all my books I’ve written extensive outlines and character sketches. Every wacky idea and the kitchen sink, too. Pages of notes and basic structure. But once I started writing, things changed, characters did the unexpected, and my carefully laid plans often had gaping plot holes. Thank goodness no one has to read the first few drafts while I’m sorting all that junk out.

My writing goal for 2020 is to keep learning how to write cleaner first drafts. I’m always studying how to improve as a writer, and better outlines is a great starting point.

NL: Good luck with that quest. Every time I think I've found the secret to a clean first draft, it blows up in my face. I still embrace planning and plotting and even outlining.
Thanks for stopping by the Ninja Librarian's blog! Before you go, is there anything else you’d like your readers to know about you?
KB: While many authors are introverts who hide in their writing lairs, I’m very extroverted. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by receiving photos of readers enjoying my book while lounging at the beach or watching their child’s softball games. I’d love it if you followed me on Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, Amazon or wherever you like to hang out. Because I love talking about books!
 
NL: Thanks again, Kelly!  We'll pop those author links in here, along with a bit of a bio...

About the author: 
Kelly Brakenhoff is an American Sign Language Interpreter whose motivation for learning ASL began in high school when she wanted to converse with her deaf friends. Her first novel, Death by Dissertation, kicked off the Cassandra Sato Mystery Series. She also wrote Never Mind, first in a children’s picture book series featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. She serves on the Board of Editors for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf publication, VIEWs. The mother of four young adults and two dogs, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home. Her first mystery, Death by Dissertation, released April 22, 2019.  

Author Links:
Website – http://kellybrakenhoff.com/
Amazon – Https://amazon.com/author/kellybrakenhoff
Twitter-  https://twitter.com/inBrakenVille
Instagram –  @kellybrak
BookBub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kelly-brakenhoff
GoodReads  – https://www.goodreads.com/kellybrak

Purchase Link – Amazon 

 And, if all this isn't enough--we have a Rafflecopter giveaway!  Win your own ebook of the mystery and read it for yourself!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All images and text ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2020, unless otherwise indicated.
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

Spotlight: Once, by Ronel Janse van Vuuren

Damsels in distress, curses, echoes of faery tales and tragic love affairs swirl together in sixteen stories found in a dragon’s lair by a curious half-fae.

Unexpected changes to reality causes more than one damsel to turn into a strong, independent woman who takes charge of her own life.

A collection of short stories about Faerie and the fae that live in the human realm. A few of the stories had won competitions and all of them had enchanted readers.
Learn their secrets and enter the realm of the fae…

Title: Once... Tales, Myths and Legends of Faerie
Author: Ronel Janse van Vuuren
ISBN EPUB: 978-0-6399476-2-4
ISBN Paperback: 978-0-6399476-3-1

Out today!
Available on most online retailers.
Also available in Afrikaans as “Eens…”.

Excerpt:
Mortals cannot perceive the veil unless they are invited to – or extremely gifted. For centuries, Man and Fae have been kept apart, for nothing good ever comes from them mixing. The collection of The Adventures of Saphira the Faery Dog is proof of this.

Still, there are magical creatures that side neither with Man nor Fae.

Dragons are such creatures. They hold the knowledge of both worlds. Some even collect it in the written word, keeping it safe in their lairs.

An inquisitive half-fae once broke into the lair of a dragon known to hoard books. The knowledge she found was too much to keep to herself…

Here are a few tales, myths and legends from Faerie. Some may sound remarkably similar to legends held by mortals, while others are…  well… as otherworldly as the fae themselves.

About the Author: 
Ronel Janse van Vuuren is the author of New Adult, Young Adult and children’s fiction filled with mythology and folklore. Her dark fantasy stories can be read for free on Wattpad and on her blog Ronel the Mythmaker. She won Fiction Writer of the Year 2016 for her Afrikaans stories on INK: Skryf in Afrikaans. Her published works can be viewed on Goodreads.

Ronel can be found tweeting about writing and other things that interest her, arguing with her characters, researching folklore for her newest story or playing with her Rottweilers when she’s not actually writing.

All of her books are available for purchase on Amazon.

Connect with Ronel on:
Amazon: amazon.com/author/roneljansevanvuurenmythmaker
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@miladyronel/
Pinterest: https://za.pinterest.com/miladyronel/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+RonelJansevanVuurenMythmaker
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17528826.Ronel_Janse_van_Vuuren
Ronel the Mythmaker: https://ronelthemythmaker.wordpress.com/

And now... a special interview with the author!

NL: When did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer, or did you stumble into it later in life?

Ronel: I’ve always written a couple of stories to entertain myself, but I seriously started writing ten years ago. In that time, I’ve learned how to write properly, created entire worlds, did a lot of research into several folklore creatures, realised in which genre I want to write, and found my voice.


NL: What are your books about and who is the audience?

Ronel: This book, “Once…”, is a collection of short stories about how Faerie changed and the impact on the mortal realm when magic and fae infiltrated it. There are a few original stories steeped in folklore and a couple of fairy tale retellings with a Dark Fantasy twist. My intended audience is New Adult, but I’ve had readers of all ages for the Afrikaans version “Eens…” who bought it for themselves and enjoyed it enough to pass it on to their children and parents.

NL:  Do your stories carry a message?
 
Ronel: Absolutely. Dark fantasy is all about examining the human condition, looking at the consequences of actions and decisions, and how the beliefs we hold can change the way we see our world. I think “Rumour Has It”, “New Divide” and “Castle of Glass” depict all of this from different points of view about the same moment in Faerie history very well.


NL: Thanks for telling us about your book! Now tell us, what is the best thing about being a writer?
 
Ronel: Creating worlds, playing “what if?” and talking to my fictional friends.

NL: Yeah, we all like having a good reason to listen to the voices in our heads! Do you draft your books longhand or compose at the keyboard?

Ronel: Longhand. I find that there are fewer distractions when the computer is switched off – no quickly checking emails or updates, no playing around with inspirational images, etc. I then type it and store the original manuscript in a binder…

NL: You talked about doing research for the book. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to research for one of your books?

Ronel: I research a lot of folklore, most of it weird, so let me think… Probably the protein value of worms and if they’re a good idea for breakfast. The main character in “The Ashiest Princess” has them for breakfast every morning. Not all that odd: worms are a staple food in many communities.

NL: Well, the birds have worms for breakfast... Do you use a detailed outline before you start writing, or... ?

Ronel: It depends on the story. Some stories insist on being written before I can think about it – it’s like they’re already in my head, just waiting to be written down. Afterwards I do an outline and create a proper plot. Other stories insist on meticulous outlines and research.

NL: You live in South Africa. Since most of my readers are in the US or England, tell us a bit about that!

Ronel: Well, we have sun all year round which means I have to keep the curtains closed in my study or I’ll never get any writing done!

Once everything is dry in the winter months, a few crazies believe that they should burn everything down. It usually starts with a veldfire – and last year it ended with someone setting fire to my property (I live on an agricultural holding with horses, chickens, etc.) that we were lucky enough to stop before it destroyed everything.

There are horrible things in my country – like the endless attacks on farmers – but as long as you keep your head, stay alert and don’t act foolishly, there are so many things to enjoy and savour. We have gorgeous botanical gardens that are open year-round, each season brings its own beautiful plants and temperatures. If you’re an ocean person, we have the warm Indian Ocean on one side and the cold Atlantic Ocean on the other, and that wonderful sight where the two oceans meet and clash. We have forests, deserts, nature reserves, different biomes and animals to visit in their – mostly – natural habitat. You can turn every weekend into an adventure.

There’s so much more to say, but that will take an entire post ;-) In one of my stories in “Once…” I used the desert and forest elements, so it can almost feel like you’re in South Africa while reading “The Fae of Bremen”. Or you can run over a veld (field in South African terminology) with “The Field Mouse”.

Thanks for having me, Rebecca.
 
 Thanks for coming by! Your description of the country does make me want to visit, especially to watch the two oceans come together. 

Once... is available today, so check it out!

An Interview with writer Jemima Pett

We are participating today in a blog tour for the new paperbacks of Jemima Pett's Princelings of the East series--with their beautiful new covers! I have reviewed all six of the books, so instead of a review, I thought I'd do an interview today. Since Jemima lives in Norfolk, UK, I have left her British spelling in place!

NL:  I know that you started by telling stories about the adventures of your own guinea pigs, but how did you get from Fred and George in your garden to princelings, pirates, and flying machines?
 JP: I think it originated in an online guinea pig forum where we had a thread which was telling stories a few sentences at a time.  I remember a castle with a tunnel in the corner, and guinea pigs going through it to an alternative universe which ran on strawberry juice.  One of the pigs that they met was a large white woolly one called Random – who turns up as the ghost in the Pirates adventure!  I think the online story petered out, and it didn't star Fred and George, I don't think, but that's where the inspiration for castles and tunnels, and strawberry juice came from.  Then I came up with the titles, and away we went.

When they were out in the garden eating the grass, George used to look up when a small blue biplane from our local flying club went over.  He seemed to track it across the sky, although guinea pig eyesight is not supposed to be good at distance, so maybe it was the sound.  But that inspired me to make him keen on flying – and that's why we're only at the biplane stage in the Realms, around 100 years after they were invented in our world.

NL: Many of your characters are based on, or at least named for, real cavies you have known. Do their real personalities ever get in the way of the characters you are trying to develop for the stories? I’m assuming these tales have rather run away from their origins as fun adventures for your own pets!
JP: Yes, my boys (sorry, pets) don't get up to these sort of adventures on their own!  Although it's amazing how close some of the characters stay to the characters of the original animals.  Humphrey in Book 5 is pure Humphrey as I knew him.  Colman (Book 5 onwards) is the problem character, since when I wrote him in the first place, the guinea pig had not been with me long, and resented having been rehomed from a very loving home.  He was angry with me for having taken him from his former 'Mum' and let me know it with his teeth, a lot!  Ten months later he decided I wasn't so bad after all, and now he is the most loving of all the pigs I have (although he occasionally reminds me of George), and has reached the grand old age of 7, which is well over 90 in human equivalent.  But he's still the baddie in the books, along with Smallweed, who he used to live with. Finding baddies for the books is a problem, although the character interviews on my blog of Ludo (not a guinea pig) and Smallweed (someone else's), show that some of these characters have some decidedly nasty streaks!

NL: Totally unfair question: who among your characters is your favorite?
How long have you got?  Fred and George, Victor and Hugo will always be very special to me, as they were in life.  It's why, despite writing him out of the timeline as the baddie in the first book, Hugo (Mariusz) will just not go away!  The favourite is probably Kira, though.  I don't have any female guinea pigs, which is why, especially in the first book, it seems such a male-dominated society.  That changes as things go on.  Kira is the sort of person I'd really like to be.  She's a real hero.

NL:  George is constantly inventing new things, especially forms of transportation. In what way are these bringing him closer to fulfilling the promise made to Mariusz at the end of the first book?
JP: At the end of book 6, Bravo Victor, we get a pretty good steer from George where he thinks these inventions are leading.  When I wrote Book 1, I had no idea what was going to happen, except that they did fulfill their promise.  In a way I wish I hadn't put that epilogue in the first book, but left it open ended.  On the other hand, if I can write it well enough, I hope I'm going to be able to create a sort of 'will they, won't they' tension, like I saw in a fabulous musical called 1776, which is about the writing of the Declaration of Independence.  You really can't believe that they'll come to an agreement by July 4th, as the days tick down off the calendar at the back of the set!

Anyway, I haven't answered the question yet.  Yes, you'll see that George's flying machines get more elaborate as time goes by.  He's learning, and other people are learning and sharing their ideas, and that's how technology progresses – mostly by small steps, but sometimes by giant leaps.  And most giant leaps are due to conflict, I'm afraid to say.  'Necessity is the mother of invention' is very true.

NL:  While we are on the subject of George’s inventions, how do you see them impacting the essentially feudal agrarian society in which the books are set?
JP: This is a fascinating subject, the social change that is brought about by technological change.  Look at the changes in society brought about by the Industrial Revolution, people leaving their lives as peasants on farms and working in factories and in mines and so on, and the changes in the way urban life was organised as a result.  I'm trying to avoid mining in my Realms, but there is a small amount going on, in order to make metal goods – and glass.  Social change in the 20th Century is another example – from lords and servants to a far more egalitarian society.  People don't have such specialised jobs any more and look what we are doing with the massive computers we keep in our pockets!  Reading books written by authors we would otherwise never have heard of, chatting to people on the other side of the world from our bedrooms, or on buses.

The trouble with social change is that if you start with a feudal world with some people who set all the rules, there is a tendency for some of the 'peasants' to say "hang on, we are capable of doing this ourselves, who gave you the right to tell us what to do?" So there is going to be a huge change in the world of the Princelings.  After book 6 the vampires mostly leave because of the garlic in the strawberry juice fuel cells!  Displaced people and population growth are becoming pressure points, and this will be made worse by kings who exile 'troublemakers', i.e. people that disagree with their right to rule.

NL: Sounds like there's a lot of interesting stuff to look forward to!
One final question: The series currently has 6 books (I’m not sure, but I think The Princelings and the Pirates might be my favorite. Or maybe Talent Seekers. Or Bravo Victor…). Do you have an idea how many more books there will be? There is a story to complete still, so I know there will be more (even though it’s been a long wait while you write for a more grown-up audience)!
JP: Interesting that you picked Pirates first.  My out and out favourite is Lost City, despite its dark secrets. I'm planning two more Princelings books, with working titles, Chronicles of Willoughby the Narrator (I think I've written about a third of it, but it's too long) and Princelings Revolution.  From what I've said about change you might guess that revolution is on the way.  I'm just not sure where Willoughby's story stops and where the last one starts.  I think I need to write them both, to make sure all the detail ties up.  As you have spotted, I'm writing a science fiction series for grown-ups, the Viridian System series, the first of which, The Perihelix, is due out this winter, and the second probably for the following autumn/winter. Then I can immerse myself back in the turmoil of the Princelings world.  Maybe we're talking about Willoughby coming out in 2017.  That would work well for me, since the last book will end in 2021, even though it will probably come out before that.
There'll probably be a short story or two about the Princelings world before that, and I usually do a serial for Christmas on the Princelings website each year, the last two of which have taken events in their world forward and introduced Willoughby to the fans. That helps me measure the pace of change in the Realms, too!

Thanks for inviting me to your website today, and good luck with your own books – I'm a fan of the Ninja Librarian too!
Cheers
Jemima

And thank you so much for coming! I look forward to the next books, both in the Viridian System and the Princelings.

Author Bio:

I’ve been writing since I was 8 years old.  I still have a small booklet I found in my mother’s box of treasures, written in a very childish hand, entitled The Little Stream.  It reads very much like the story of Smetana’s Vltava, or The Moldau as it was called when I was young, so I must have been into classical music at an early age (I blame my brothers’ influence).   My early fiction attempts failed for want of suitable inspiration: I couldn’t get characters or plot that seemed interesting, and my first attempts were derided by a ‘friend’.  I had the bug for writing, though, and wrote articles and event reports for newsletters and magazines whenever I got the opportunity. My career in business and in environmental research kept me chained to a desk for many years, but also gave me the opportunity to write manuals, reports, science papers, blogs, journals, anything and everything that kept the words flowing.  Finally the characters jumped into my head with stories that needed to be told….


Excerpt from The Princelings of the East:

Fred sat staring at the tunnel, lost in thought.  George waited.  This might take a while.  He could hear soft sounds of crackling flames in the fire on the other side of the wall, and in the distance the occasional pitter-patter of footsteps echoing down the corridors.  He wondered what would happen if they ventured out of this castle into the tunnels.  When he had been out in the marshes, he’d never gone a long way from home; the castle was always visible in the distance, light glinting on its spires.  He’d never been out overnight, either.  He identified a strange feeling inside him.  They might be on the edge of a Great Adventure, but he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t rather be safely tucked up in bed.

Fred stirred.  “We need to go and investigate this Great Energy Drain,” he said.  “We must find out whether it is a widespread phenomenon, and whether the causes are known.” 

George nodded; this was elementary procedure for an investigation.  “And then?” he asked. 

“And then,” answered Fred, “we shall come up with some ideas for how to solve it.”

“Good idea!” said George, knowing that you can never know exactly how you are going to do something until you have made the preliminary investigation and tested out a few theories.  But the aim was set, and all they had to do now was decide... to go or not to go?

BUY & TBR LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE US – http://www.amazon.com/Princelings-East-ebook/dp/B006F3SME2

AMAZON KINDLE CA – http://www.amazon.ca/Princelings-East-ebook/dp/B006F3SME2

AMAZON KINDLE UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Princelings-East-ebook/dp/B006F3SME2

AMAZON PAPERBACK – http://www.amazon.com/Princelings-East-Jemima-Pett/dp/1320685005/

BARNES & NOBLES NOOK – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-princelings-of-the-east-jemima-pett/1108002300

SMASHWORDS – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/112021

ITUNES – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/princelings-pirates/id543180968?mt=11&uo=4

GOODREADS – http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13231509-the-princelings-of-the-east

SHELFARI – http://www.shelfari.com/books/26506746/The-Princelings-of-the-East

BOOK DEPOSITORY PAPERBACK - http://www.bookdepository.com/Princelings-East-Jemima-Pett/9781320685009

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Interview today...

Today I'm appearing on "A Voice Above the Crowd," the blog of audio artist Karen Commins.  Drop over and say hi, read the interview, and leave a comment or question! 
http://blog.karencommins.com/?p=3650

Princelings of the East Blog Tour, Author Interview, and Giveaway!

I'm pleased and honored to be a part of the  Princelings of the East by Jemima Pett blog tour.  I've been reading and reviewing the books in this delightful series, so it was fun to interview the author and get the inside scoop!  When you finish reading here, check out the other blog stops and support some great bloggers as well as Ms. Pett--and don't forget to enter the Giveaway!

About the Book
Title: The Princelings of the East (Princelings Trilogy, Book 1)
Author: Jemima Pett
Year published: originally published 2011
Publisher: Princelings Publications
Number of pages: 103
Recommended age: 10+
Summary (Amazon):
The Princelings of the East is the first of a trilogy telling of the adventures of Fred and George. When the King's Birthday feast is ruined by an unnatural power drain, our Princeling heroes leave their scientific experiments to set out in search of answers. They encounter the enigmatic businessman Hugo, the impressive Prince of Buckmore, the wise Lady Nimrod, the irrepressible barkeeper Victor, but find themselves threatened by those with vested interests. The scene shifts from a rural, feudal setting to the towers and heights of the curious Isle of Hattan, but where, or when, are they? Time is of the essence in solving this puzzle, and our heroes must keep their wits sharp and their heads clear if they are to survive. Suitable for good readers aged 10 and over, The Princelings of the East is a fantasy adventure with the charm of the Wind in the Willows in a world reminiscent of Anne MacCaffrey's Pern.

Eight questions (because everyone does ten!) with Children's Author Jemima Pett

1. What are your books about and who is the audience?
Start with the difficult ones, eh?  When I originally wrote the books, I was just writing stories for the fun of it. They are the adventures of my guinea pigs living in their own world where they are kings and princes and goodies and baddies and have their own complicated society.  After the first book I realised I didn't have enough female interest in them.  Lost City addresses some of the problem of only having male guinea pigs and introduces issues about male dominance and wasting half the resources of the world, i.e. women.   From there my stories continue to develop in a changing society, where population growth and new technology all start to put pressure on the old feudal society. But that's not what they're about.  They're about doing things and using your talents and initiative and friends to solve the problems you come across.


My first audience were my fellow guinea pig owners, and some of them were reading them to their 6-12 year old children. So when I came to the stage of publishing, I found it very difficult to classify them.  I think they are fantasy stories for good readers about 10 and up.  They are the sort of stories I like,  and I think they are the sort of stories I would have enjoyed at that age.  But as someone said in an interview recently - today's kids are different from how we were at that stage.  I take guidance from fellow-bloggers and reviewers on the appropriate age group, but I think there is a big cultural difference in what is seen as suitable reading for kids in different countries.




2. What is the best thing about being a writer?
Letting all those people out of my head!  I realise I've always lived in this alternative world, where adventures were happening while I carried on with all the everyday stuff like school and work.  I expect most of us have fantasies and daydreams, but some of us get more lost in them than others.  Don't let them take over your lives, though. And if they start telling you what to do, get some help. LOL!  I'll try to remember that!  




3. Do you write longhand or compose at the keyboard?
 I am chained to my keyboard and screen.  Fortunately I bought a wifi keyboard so now I can take it in the garden if I fancy, since the keyboard on my laptop is too small to be used for serious writing.


4. Which authors have influenced you the most and how?
I suppose Kenneth Graham must have influenced me from a very early age.  He wrote for children and adults at the same time – I used to skip the chapter “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” when I was a kid because I thought it was boring; now I read it and it’s just so beautiful!

I read a lot of Enid (pronounced Ee-nid) Blyton and she probably influenced me in terms of story telling.  I remember I was told not to mention her at my interview for secondary school (age 11-18) because she was out of favour at that time, but I did and I defended her style (early campaigner)!

More recently, Anne McCaffrey and J K Rowling,  for world building and the background detail required in a story for nerds like me, and JRR Tolkein, who was an expert in that, but also the prose style, which I love.  Me too!  We share a lot of old favorites!


5. So. . . if you could invite any 5 authors to dinner who would you choose?
Well, my first thought was Julie Grasso, Rebecca Douglass, Steve Lothian, Sally Harris and Stanley and Katrina (can they count as one?)  because that would be really cool!  If any of them can’t make it, then Paul Hewlett and Krista Michelle Breen! I know I’m suppose to think of more famous authors, but really, that’s who I’d like!
 Wow, thanks!  I accept the invitation--it'd be a great evening!




6. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I used to have this conversation with my dad over the dinner table. I'd talk about the places I'd been lucky enough to visit and how nice it would be to live there (like Australia or New Zealand), but they'd be too far away, and anyway they have most of the same socio-economic problems as the UK does, although in different shades.  We discussed a few more countries.  I like a number of European ones, influenced by the nice people and colleagues I've met in them, but when it comes down to it, I'd really rather live here, where I am, in Norfolk, on the east coast of England, in the UK.



7. About that--You mentioned your garden.  Do you focus on vegetables or flowers?
I focus on vegetables and enjoy the flowers!  Vegetables take planning and cossetting and coaxing, and protecting, but it's rewarding especially as I eat the good bits and the guinea pigs eat bits I wouldn't.  OK, they eat bits I would too. I tend to have flowers that inhabit odd corners and come up year after year like old friends.  They spread around and I pull them up when they are in the wrong places.  The Michaelmas Daisies that I planted around Fred and George's grave have bloomed non-stop from July this year, and it makes me feel good about them.
Aw.  It's sad to realize that the real Fred and George are gone, but great about the flowers.  And, of course, they have a whole new life in the great books about them!  And by the way--I like best the garden I can eat, too :)

8. And finally: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?
“Snorkeling with guinea pigs – the woman who learnt a lot about many things, but never went into any of them too deeply.”  I might write it :D
Well, you are deep enough into some great writing now, but if you write that book I'll be queued up to buy it!  Thanks for coming by and answering my questions!


Follow the links for my reviews of Ms. Pett's first three Princelings books:

The Princelings of the East

The Princelings and the Pirates 

The Princelings and the Lost City

 

 Purchase

Amazon (US) * Amazon (UK) * Barnes and Noble * Smashwords

 

The Buzz

"Jemima Pett has woven a suspenseful mystery featuring a cast of memorable characters headed by the two charismatic guinea pigs, Fred and George. Pett dives into the story right away introducing Fred and George and establishing the crux of the plot early in the book - namely, the mysterious Energy Drain. The plot line, with its many twists and turns, is very intricate and complex; thus, making it enjoyable for older tweens and even adults. Science fiction aficionados in particular will be interested in the element of time-travel in this book." ~ Mother Daughter Book Reviews, 5 Stars

"It was easy for me to settle into Pett's writing style; it's been a while since I've read anything by Anne McCaffrey or J.R.R. Tolkien, and Pett's writing is a welcomed reminder of how that style of writing can really add to a good plot-line. I have to say that I was impressed with the novel overall. Although it is for older children, it's still written in a way that will appeal to many adults." ~ Megan, Amazon, 5 Stars

"After reading The Princelings of the East, I felt as if my IQ had gone up a few points with Ms. Pett's vocabulary choices - what refreshing text. This true adventure book which includes a fight, time travel and mysterious strangers is reminiscent of Wind in the Willows - with a twist...I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading the next book in the Princelings series." ~Christine M. Goodreads, 5 Stars.

 

Book Website: http://princelings.co.uk/

Author Website: http://jemimapett.com/

Twitter: @Jemima_Pett

Facebook: The Princelings of the East

Pinterest: Jemima Pett

Google+: Jemima Pett

Goodreads: Jemima Pett

 

*** The Princelings of the East Blog Tour Schedule 2013*** 

Mother Daughter Book Reviews (Launch)

Black Words - White Pages Kids (Review)

September 24

Brooke Blogs (Review)

Reviews by Karen (Review)

September 25

Fiona Ingram (Review)

Stitch Says (Author Interview)

September 26

Amanda's Books and More (Review)

September 27

Reading List (Review)

September 28

swlothian | author (Review)

Create With Joy (Author Interview)

September 29

Christy's Cozy Corners (Review)

September 30

Black Words - White Pages Kids (Author Interview)

Fantasy Fun With Kirstin Pulioff (Review)

October 1

Houseful of Chaos (Character Interview)

Published Bestsellers (Review)

October 2

Fiona Ingram (Author Interview)

Stitch Says (Review)

Deal Sharing Aunt (Review)

October 3

Donna L. Sadd (Author Interview)

October 4

Magical Middle-Grade Literature (Review)

October 5

Every Free Chance Book Reviews (Spotlight With Excerpt)

October 6

Tales of a Bookworm (Review)

Mommasez (Character Interview)

October 7

My Devotional Thoughts (Review)

The Ninja Librarian (Author Interview)

 

*** The Princelings of the East Blog Tour Giveaway ***

               
 Prize: One winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card or PayPal cash + a paperback copy of The Princelings Trilogy by Jemima Pett  
Contest runs: September 23 to October 20, 11:59 pm, 2013
Open: WW  
How to enter: Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.
Terms and Conditions: A winner will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. If you have any additional questions - feel free to send us an email! a Rafflecopter giveaway