Desert Breeze and Me ~ 2nd Anniversary Blog Tour

I’m trhilled to be part of the Desert Breeze Second Year Anniversary Blog Tour. Heck, I’m thrilled to be part of Desert Breeze. Period!!! [Gail would never let me get away with using three exclamation points in my novels, so I'll do it here. Giggle. I'm such a bad girl.]

I’m a new kid on the block at Desert Breeze. My debut Novel, BURNING HEARTS, will release on May 15^th. I couldn’t be happier at DBP. It’s a nice place to be.

I went the usual route. About five years ago, I thought I had a novel or two in me. Thought I had a calling to write. It took a year of tossing the idea around to get me to actually sit at a computer and start putting words together. Then it took another year to write a really, awful…as in terrible first novel.

Then it took another three years to learn the craft of fiction writing. It’s not the same as writing an “A” paper in college, not by a long shot.

I entered a few writing contests and was told I had a unique voice for suspense. Then while going to various Christina writing online writing sites, I met several Desert Breeze authors, who it were the nicest and most helpful souls.

I attended a writing conference where I had the usual fifteen-minute appointments with agents. Again heard that I had a unique voice for suspense. But I was also getting comments that my technical writing style had an equal measure of suspense, action, romance, and a good ‘n heavy dose of humor. An agent asked for my full manuscript and I sent it to her as soon as I got back from the conference. She loves reading murder mysteries, but represents straight romance. So, she turned me down.


It was then that I paid attention to a quiet inner prompting. Desert Breeze came to mind at the oddest times. I prayed about it and had peace.

So, I looked up the submission requirements — always a good idea. I submitted and Gail offered a contract for my Sanctuary Point series. BURNING HEARTS is the first in the series.

Can a sheltered young seamstress, disillusioned by the horrors of WWII, escape an arsonist/murderer who has killed her employer and mentor, while trying to decide if she can trust the dashing war hero who’s ridden into town on his Harley—who some say is the murderer?

Erica Brogna’s parents doted on her and taught her to think for herself. Many boys she grew up with have fallen in the war, shaking her childhood faith. In rides a handsome stranger, at the hour of her most desperate need. A woman who is her best friend and mentor is trapped in a burning house. After making an unsuccessful rescue attempt, Erica stands by as this man rushes into the inferno and carries her friend’s lifeless body out.  

Lorne Kincade can’t out run his past on his Harley Davidson WLA, the civilian model of the motorcycle he rode in the war. He’s tried. He’s been a vagabond biker in the year since the war ended. His Uncle Ivar bequeathed him a ramshackle cottage in Sanctuary Point, on the Great South Bay of Long Island, NY and now he’d like to hope for a future again, repair the miniscule place, and settle down. The only problem is, a young woman with hair the color of mink is starting to get under his skin and that’s the last thing he needs.

BURNING HEARTS Cover Unveiled

I’m thrilled to give you the cover for my debut novel, BURNING HEARTS, book one in the Sanctuary Point series set in 1946, Long Island, NY on the Great South Bay. — Cover design by Jenifer Ranieri.

Can a sheltered young seamstress, disillusioned by the horrors of WWII, escape an arsonist/murderer who has killed her employer and mentor, while trying to decide if she can trust the dashing war hero who’s ridden into town on his Harley—who some say is the murderer?

Erica Brogna’s parents doted on her and taught her to think for herself. Many boys she grew up with have fallen in the war, shaking her childhood faith. In rides a handsome stranger, at the hour of her most desperate need. A woman who is her best friend and mentor is trapped in a burning house. Erica stands helplessly by as this man rushes into the inferno and carries her friend’s lifeless body out.

Lorne Kincade can’t out run his past on his Harley Davidson WLA, the civilian model of the motorcycle he rode in the war. He’s tried. He’s been a vagabond biker in the year since the war ended. His Uncle Ivar bequeathed him a ramshackle cottage in Sanctuary Point, on the Great South Bay of Long Island, NY and now he’d like to hope for a future again, repair the miniscule place, and settle down. The only problem is, a young woman with hair the color of mink is starting to get under his skin and that’s the last thing he needs.

BURNING HEARTS will be available on May 15th at Desert Breeze Publishing as an ebook. 
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/StoreFront.bok

And will also be available on Kindle at Amazon.

Redeeming Christian Crime Fiction

It wasn’t long ago a wonderful Christian crime fiction writer was blasted for “objectionable content” on Amazon by a Christian reader. Then another Christian wanted to know how fellow Christians could recommend a particular noir Christian suspense novel.

I really had to ponder this before committing words to cyber space.

It’s sad but true that some Christian readers think of Christian crime fiction, the more noir variety, as something too nasty to read. The best of it, to my mind, is a journey that faces down evil and calls for justice. A story where flawed characters, all capable of their own wrong doing, seek justice for the crime victim and some sort of resolution for the victim’s loved ones.

In the midst of the hunt for the killer, the detective/hunter is faced by the true, unvarnished nature of evil and encounters his/her own dark capabilities. It’s not easy to look into the eyes of a demon and it’s even harder to look into our own souls and find the proclivity toward what is not holy. Yet this is where modern crime fiction dares to go.

This brings to mind the Scripture, Romans 3: 9-10    What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;  as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one…[American Standard Version].

As this is the Easter season, my mind turns to the concept of redemption and naturally as a writer I think about redemption themes in writing. To be redeemed, one needs something to be redeemed from. If we don’t have the capability of sin, what need have we of the Holy Spirit?

This Easter, is the eve of the release of my debut novel, BURNING HEARTS (arson/murder and romance). This novel is set on Long Island, NY in 1946, at the close of World War II. The era appeals to me as it’s one in which ordinary Ameican citizens had a great deal of class and dignity. But it’s also a time of loss of innocence for Americans. They’d seen the horror of a world war, on the heals of the first world war which had been billed as the war to end all wars. They had to face 405,000 American dead in the war and 671,000 wounded.

I don’t see my writing as noir, but I do see it as crime fiction. BURNING HEARTS has an equal measure of suspense, action, and romance, as well as a good dose of humor thrown into the mix. I have tried not to shy away from the reality of an evil presence on the earth and the capablility of evil lurking somewhere in the corners of the souls of my characters, even my Christian characters.

I hope I walk in the path forged by Robert Liparulo, J. Mark Bertrand, Sibella Giorello, Mike Dellosso, Steven James, Eric Wilson, and others. These authors have asked some of the big questions in their stories. Those are big shoes prints to follow. I might have to call forensics and have a few plaster casts made.  

Debut Novel ~ Burning Hearts ~ About To Bursts Forth

Burning Hearts will be here soon, available and among us.

When I got my contract with Desert Breeze Publishing, needless to say, I was ecstatic, but I didn’t panic. I knew instinctively (also due to my background in publicity) that after the contract, the work is just beginning. But, I didn’t have to be Perfect Penelope. Anyone who knows me in this industry knows you ain’t gonna get perfect from me. No way! So, although I wasn’t relaxed, I also wasn’t apoplectic.

Now, I await my cover. And I HATE waiting. I’m not good at waiting. I need some real spiritual growth here. All prayers for my peace of mind are appreciated.