Check out my interview with Jeanette SapphireJBlue as we talk about The Fall of Jake Hennessey.
Category: Uncategorized
Venturing Into Audio Books #IWSG The Insecure Writers Support Group
April 6 question – Have any of your books been made into audio books? If so, what is the main challenge in producing an audiobook?
It’s the first Wednesday of April and time for another post for the Insecure Writer’s Support group. The awesome co-hosts for the April 6 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Jemima Pett, Patricia Josephine, Louise – Fundy Blue, and Kim Lajevardi!
At many book-signing events, I get asked if I have audio books. Sadly, the answer is no. I’ve looked into the possibility, but I can’t afford to do it right. My books aren’t selling enough copies to justify the expenditure.
I’m well aware that there are authors that can do it all — write, create covers, edit, and do their own audio. I’m not one of them. Frankly, I wouldn’t wish having to spend several hours of listening to my voice as I read one of my book on anyone. Heck, I don’t want to listen to myself for that long!
Of course, then throw in #Audiogate, (you know, another of Amazon’s ways to hurt authors) and the desire to publish audiobooks with them goes away. I have been watching Draft2Digital’s progress in the way of audiobooks as an alternative to Amazon.
For the authors on this hop who have published audio, more power to you! I hope you are selling oddles of books!
Thanks for stopping by. Don’t forget to check out other writer’s on this hop. Just follow a few of the links below. And, as always, until next time, please stay safe!
The Fall of Jake Hennessey #NewReleases #Suspense
This isn’t the kind of Harmony Duprie story you are used to – this is pure Jake Hennessey at his best – and his worst – in his own words and his point of view.
Tagline: Jake Hennessey is always on top of his game, anticipating the next big play…until Harmony Duprie changes everything.
I didn’t expect to write this book. Four or five years ago, I’d tried to write a short story from Jake’s point of view, but he wouldn’t talk to me. When I wrote “The End” after finishing The Ranger’s Dog Tags, I thought I was done with Harmony Duprie and her friends. But as I was doing research for a story featuring a female PI in Pittsburgh in the 1980s, Jake intruded. This book is the result.
Description: Jake Hennessey deals in selling fine jewelry of an illegal nature. The thrill of getting away with it is his addiction. When he hears a rumor about a rare old book in the personal collection of a small-town librarian, he gets the urge to try a new game.
After all, even jewel thieves get bored.
But the librarian, Harmony Duprie, isn’t what he expected and the challenge becomes serious business.
In order to win, Jake’s going to have to play by a new set of rules—and make them up as he goes along—because this time, he’s playing for the rest of his life.
Here’s a short excerpt:
The Bargen house was simple to break into. It was well-maintained, but Jake knew the tricks. The windows were the easiest point of entry once the family left to go to a concert. With the police busy controlling the crowds, the neighborhoods were unguarded.
The locked doors would be easy to pick, but that left behind traces a good cop would find. The first window Jake tried was firmly latched, and he didn’t want to break a window if he didn’t need to. But they’d left the kitchen window open a crack. He had to go through at an angle to get his shoulders through the narrow opening and use his arms to pull the rest of his body past the sink and onto the floor.
He waited a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness. Older people favored nightlights throughout their house. They gave him all the light he needed to work. There hadn’t been time to scope out the interior, so he crept from room to room to find the main bedroom.
The door stood open, but he slipped on the latex gloves he’d swiped from the motel before he entered. If he got lucky, the case and the brooch would be sitting on top of the dresser. He hoped Mrs. Bargen hadn’t worn it. But the cluttered tray held no jewelry box.
He worked quickly, opening and closing each drawer, not finding what he was looking for. The next place to check was the closet. He turned on the light and closed the door behind him. And hit paydirt.
The Fall of Jake Hennessey is available at the retailers below, and will soon be available with Nook Press, I hope you’ll pick up a copy today. If you enjoy it, please leave a review, and thank you!
COVER REVEAL! The Fall Of Jake Hennessey
Jake Hennessey is always on top of his game, anticipating the next big play… until Harmony Duprie changes everything.
When I decided to release “The Fall of Jake Hennessey,” one of the first things I did was to confer with my cover artist, K.M. Guth. I knew I didn’t want the book to look as if it was another Harmony Duprie Mystery because the story is crime/suspense. Still, I wanted to pay tribute to the series, which provided inspiration for this story.
We studied the covers of best sellers and drew ideas for what we wanted and what we didn’t want, and her marvelous brain went to work. Once she’d developed a general concept, it didn’t take her long to bring it to life.
She fiddled with the placement of the graphics and letters, decided what fonts looked the best, and how to pay homage to her earlier designs. I think she’s a genius, and I watched in awe as she pulled all the needed elements together until we were both happy with it.
But before we get to the cover—you haven’t peeked, have you?—here’s a short excerpt.
The flash of metal reflecting a blinking neon beer sign in the front window had Jake on his feet and halfway across the bar in a second.
“Settle down, Duane,” the bartender said, backing up a few feet.
Jake recognized Duane’s type. Too skinny, pockmarks in his face, scabs on his arms, shaking so hard Jake didn’t know how he remained standing. If Duane was crashing, he became doubly dangerous.
Chairs scraped as other customers moved out of reach of the steak knife Duane waved, aiming at everyone and no one. There’d be no happy ending to the situation, at least as far as Jake foresaw. He circled to get in behind Duane.
“Put down the knife,” said one of his friends from several feet away.
“Take it easy,” said the other.
Duane didn’t pay attention. The weapon traced aimless circles in the air. He advanced two steps closer towards the bartender. “Don,” he slurred. “Don cheat me.”
“Nobody’s cheating anybody,” the bartender said. “Put down your knife and go home and sleep it off.”
It was easy to predict Duane’s next move. Jake had seen it repeated too many times. The druggie lunged at the bartender, but Jake reacted first and grabbed his arm. A dangerous maneuver, because tweakers often found bonus strength out of nowhere. He’d been in fights where it took three bouncers to subdue one meth head. Fate was on his side this time. The knife clattered to the floor, and a kick to the back of his knee ensured Duane did, too.
While all hell broke loose, with everyone yelling at Duane and Duane’s friends yelling at everyone else, Jake slipped out the front.
The Fall of Jake Hennessey will be available on April 2nd at the usual retailers.
Now, on to the cover!
Jake Is On The Way!
Do you love Jake from the Harmony Duprie Mysteries? Well, he finally shared his secrets with me, so I could write his story. The result is The Fall of Jake Hennessey.
This book is a prequel to the Harmony stories, written from Jake’s point of view. Here’s the description:
Jake Hennessey deals in selling fine jewelry of an illegal nature. The thrill of getting away with it is his addiction. When he hears a rumor about a rare old book in the personal collection of a small-town librarian, he gets the urge to try a new game.
After all, even jewel thieves get bored.
But the librarian, Harmony Duprie, isn’t what he expected and the challenge becomes serious business.
In order to win, Jake’s going to have to play by a new set of rules—and make them up as he goes along—because this time, he’s playing for the rest of his life.
Watch for it on April 2nd at all the usual retailers. (Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo)
A New Interview With SapphireJBlue
Did you catch the interview I did with Jeannette (SapphireJBlue) on Wednesday, December 8th? We talked about the origin and motivation of Dot McKenzie, the main character of Wolves’ Pawn. (and more.) You can listen in on BlogTalk Radio. The link is below.
Favorite Young Reader Novels #OpenBook Blog Hop
Nov 29, 2021
What was your favorite young reader novel growing up?
Was that even a category back in the dark ages? I had to look this up, because the definition of young reader baffles me.
What does young reader mean?
Both middle-grade books and young adult fiction are for young readers. Middle-grade fiction is comprised of books intended for readers between the ages of 8 and 12, while young adult fiction targets readers between the ages of 12 and 18.
That’s from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/whats-the-difference-between-middle-grade-fiction-vs-young-adult-fiction#what-is-young-adult-fiction. And that’s a really broad spectrum of readers. The difference between the reading ability between an 8-year-old and an 18-year-old is light years.
Now, for your consideration. I read James Michener’s Hawaii the summer after eighth grade. That made me 14, probably. And I read it in one weekend. I was also devouring Nancy Drew books in that same time frame. And cereal boxes, if I had nothing else nearby. In other words, I read whatever I could get my hands on.
To make it cleaner, let’s eliminate the adult books I was reading and stick with the ‘approved’ ones. In eighth grade, I was still in my ‘read a book a day’ phase. I’d get a book out after school, read it on the way home and after my homework was finished, and return it to the school library in the morning. I was also reading a lot of bibliographies and historical fiction. I never thought of reading only from one category. I’d read whatever looked interesting or a book the librarian suggested.Then there were the Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. I’m not sure how many years my mother bought them, but I’d devour them in no time flat. Sure, they might have ‘condensed out’ the more adult portions, but they introduced me to authors I might not have come across on my own.
So, that’s stacks of books, many I don’t remember. That doesn’t mean some small piece of them didn’t stick with me. But, I won’t claim any of them as my favorite. I don’t have one.
Back to where we started – I still can’t wrap my head around the young adult definition. A good book is a good book. I may be old, but I can enjoy a well-written story about teens, and I hope the opposite is true.
Let’s see what the other writers think. Just follow the links below.
As always, until next time, please stay safe.
Nov 29, 2021
What was your favorite young reader novel growing up?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
Sports In My Little Town #OpenBook Blog Hop
Oct 18, 2021
Are any of your characters fans of a particular sports team?
There’s not a whole lot to do in most small towns unless you plan your own event or go somewhere else. That’s why high school sports take on an almost cult-like following. And Oak Grove, my fictional town in the Harmony Duprie series, is a true small town. Harmony may not belong to the cult, but she still keeps an eye on local teams. I pay homage to that in the books.
‘Football Coach Predicts a Winning Year.’ That one made me smile because Coach Henderson had predicted the same thing for the last fifteen years, and it hadn’t happened yet. The school was too small to field a team that matched its rivals. But there was always hope. From The Baron’s Cufflinks
Not much was going on in Oak Grove that night, with most of the high-schoolers out of town for a football game. From The Marquesa’s Necklace
I’ve explored that concept more in my work-in-progress. (I’m still playing with potential titles, but let’s call it The Thief and The Angel for now.) This is from a conversation between Jake and Harmony.
“I see they’ve hired Coach for another year,” she said.
“Is that a good thing?”
“Oak Grove is too small to have a decent team.” She closed the sports section and laid it on the stair behind them. “We haven’t had a winning season in years. But the alumni and school board don’t want to give up on it. And every year, at least one boy gets a college scholarship, so they keep the team going. In a good year, two or three boys will get scholarships, even if they are to colleges no one ever heard of.”
While none of my characters are huge fans of a particular team, many of them follow sports in general. I can use sports as a way to establish time and personality. If I write about American football, it’s fall. Basketball belongs to winter and spring, while baseball is summer.
Then there’s personality. In The Ranger’s Dog Tags, I imagined Detective Timothy Horace as a football linebacker. When I figured out that he was a golfer, it changed how I wrote him. (his physical size remained the same.) Although he was could use his size as a physical weapon, he preferred a more subtle approach to his job.
I have a coworker who can recite stats on numerous baseball players (not just one team.) so, it would be easy for me to write that into a character. I just haven’t done it yet. But I’m playing around with a new plot in my head, so who knows?
Let’s find out if any of the other authors have superfans in their books. Just follow the links below.
And, as always, stay safe until the next time.
Oct 18, 2021
Are any of your characters fans of a particular sports team?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
Second Interview With SapphireJBlue
If you missed it live, here’s the interview I did with SapphireJBlue on September 24th. We talked about Her Ladyship’s Ring, the second book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. SapphireJBlue chats
Interview with SapphireJBlue
I had the honor of being interviewed for SapphireJBlue blog radio on Thursday. We talked about the Marquesa’s Necklace, and the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. It was fun and thought-provoking and we had a great time. If you missed it, you can catch it at the link below.
And this coming week, we’re going to do it again! On Thursday, September 15th, we’ll be discussing Wolves’ Pawn. Jeanette is a fan of the paranormal, so this should be interesting.