Join Susannah Marren in conversation about her new book, Maribelle’s Shadow, at the Palm Beach County Library!
Posts Tagged ‘Author Interview’
A FEW WORDS ABOUT WORDS News!
Monday, August 16th, 2021
Joe Diorio interviewed on Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb
Joe Diorio is the author of the new book A Few Words About Words: A Common-Sense Look at Writing and Grammar.
Q: What inspired you to write A Few Words About Words?
A: The book traces its roots to a compilation of my monthly email newsletter of the same name. Each issue is only about 700 words or so. I had been writing the newsletter on and off for nearly 30 years and figured I may have enough material for a book.
More important, though, is that I wanted to reach a broader audience (The newsletter had a readership of about 5,000 at the time; it’s up to about 7,000 now. You can subscribe at my website – Joe Diorio Writer, editor. – Words on paper. That’s me. (joedioriowritereditor.com)) and I thought having a book could create opportunities to share a message to a bigger audience.
In my case the message is that yes, I’m bad at English grammar, but with work and perseverance I – and anyone for that matter – can become proficient. I decided to inject humor into the book to make it unique.
There seem to be plenty of books about overcoming educational deficiencies. Tara Westover’s Educated comes immediately to mind, and I don’t want to replicate that. I wanted to create something that tells readers that yes, writing can be hard sometimes. But writing can also be fun.
To read the rest of the interview, click here.
To learn more about A Few Words About Words, click here.
To learn more about Joe Diorio, click here.
RED DECEPTION News!
Wednesday, June 30th, 2021
Gary Grossman and Ed Fuller Interviewed on WFSB Channel 3’s Better Connecticut
To watch the five-minute-long interview, click here.
To learn more about Red Deception, click here.
To learn more about Gary Grossman and Ed Fuller, click here and here, respectively.
Get to Know A SMALL EARNEST QUESTION
Monday, July 6th, 2020
Hello, readers!
The first month of summer has officially come to a close, which means we’re that much closer to getting our hands on Book Four in the North of the Tension Line series by J.F. Riordan. A Small Earnest Question–which hits shelves on August 3rd–follows Washington Island’s beloved cast of characters as they prepare for another busy season on the island. Not without its share of small-town politics, unsolved mysteries, and, of course, goat yoga, A Small Earnest Question is another delightful addition to J.F. Riordan’s award-winning series.
Continue reading to learn more about A Small Earnest Question, read an excerpt from Chapter One, and pre-order your copy to start reading on August 3rd.
More About the Book:
It’s spring on Washington Island. Despite her concerns about Roger’s desire to bartend, Elisabeth is eager to plan a grand opening for their newly remodeled hotel, but she quickly realizes that she may also need to make accommodations for Roger’s proposed goat yoga classes.
Bored and lonely, Oliver Robert joins bartender Eddie in forming a great books club at Nelsen’s, and Emily Martin, determined to make her mark on the community, forms a new Committee of the Concerned. When Emily decides that the Island needs a literary festival, complete with a famous author, she imprudently seeks out a notorious celebrity, hoping, as always, to enhance her own prestige.
Real estate agent Marcie Landmeier confides that an unknown someone is buying up the Island’s shoreline, newly-appointed Fire Chief Jim Freeberg contends with a string of suspicious fires, and Pali and Ben have a spiritual encounter that will change them both. Meanwhile, drawn once more into local controversy, and awash in suspicion herself, Fiona Campbell must determine the answers to questions that will affect her future, and the future of the entire Island.
A Small Earnest Question is Book Four in the award-winning North of the Tension Line series, set on a remote island in the Great Lakes. Called a modern-day Jane Austen, author J.F. Riordan creates wry, engaging tales and vivid characters that celebrate the beauty and mysteries of everyday life.
An Excerpt from Chapter One of A Small Earnest Question:
It was early spring on Washington Island, which, as any Islander could attest, is frequently an exercise in disappointment. The grass had turned a vivid green, but there were still piles of snow in the parking lots, mountainous ice shoves along the shoreline, and the lake still resonated with the clunking sounds of breaking ice on the waves. The trees were tinged with the lavender of their buds, and the air had an extra sharpness from the melting snow. But the sun shone, and the warming fields gave off a rising mist that carried the scent of earth and moss and leaves.
Fiona Campbell was sitting with her friend, Elisabeth, on the hotel porch, drinking coffee and watching a noisy group of gulls fighting over something on the pier across the road. Elisabeth’s big dog, Rocco, lay nearby, mostly dozing, but with one eye open to keep watch on things. Fiona wrapped her sweater more tightly around herself in the chilly spring air and held her mug in both hands for warmth.
Elisabeth’s and Roger’s plans to re-open the hotel had not gone precisely as intended. News of the long vacant property’s purchase and subsequent renovations were quickly the buzz of the Island. Even after the construction and decorating work had been completed, Elisabeth had wanted to wait for the right moment—just in time for the beginning of the new tourist season—to celebrate with a grand opening.
But news spread quickly beyond the Island, and months before the building was ready, the calls had begun, asking to reserve the space for a wedding, an anniversary, or a reunion of a group of friends. Before long, Elisabeth had had to concede to demand. Without advertising of any kind, the hotel already had bookings far in advance, and rather than the fanfare of a grand occasion, it had opened with Elisabeth quietly unlocking the front door to admit a group of well-heeled car enthusiasts.
“It doesn’t feel right,” she said to Fiona, as one of the bigger gulls attempted to fly off with the object of the flock’s attentions. “A place like this needs a celebration, and an invitation to the Islanders, and…a party.”
Fiona smiled into her coffee. They had had this conversation before.
“So, have a party. It’s your hotel. Do what you like.”
“I’m afraid it will be disruptive to the guests.”
“The guests will love it. It will be part of their experience.” Elisabeth played with a strand of wavy hair as she stared at the screaming birds. After a long silence she spoke. “Roger wants to bartend.”
Fiona, whose thoughts had already drifted elsewhere, shifted her gaze to Elisabeth. Suddenly the obstacle was clear.
“Ah,” she said.
Click here to read the rest of the excerpt.
Click here to pre-order A Small Earnest Question.
Click here to check out the rest of the North of the Tension Line series.
HIDDEN FALLS News!
Monday, June 29th, 2020
Kevin T. Myers Interview on Rose City Reader
Kevin T. Myers has worked as a stand-up comic, comedy writer, journalist, editor, speechwriter, and media liaison, among other jobs. He grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Portland, Oregon where he works at a spokesperson for Reed College.
Myers’s new novel Hidden Falls launches July 15 from Beaufort Books. It is available for pre-order now.
Kevin talked with Rose City Reader about his new book, Hidden Falls, its New Bedford setting, and what books he likes to read:
How did you come to write Hidden Falls?
When I began Hidden Falls, I was emerging from a dark time when I was processing a lot of old trauma through my writing. I set out to write the book I wanted to read to help lift me out of that place. At the time, my guilty pleasure (read: obsession) was reading the missed connections classifieds. It was a carnival midway of ideas, emotions, magical thinking, hope, optimism, denial, and sometimes depravity. Mostly it was filled with romantic souls exposing their secret desires to the world in hope of finding a connection. So, I started to write a comedic love story whose protagonist was pursuing a relationship through an ad he found.
I don’t write following an outline, and somewhere along the way my protagonist, Michael Quinn, went lookin’ for trouble. The original story almost necessitated that Michael be an unreliable narrator. As I dug deeper into why he was so lacking in self-awareness, his backstory became more interesting to me than what I was writing. Had I not had that false start, I don’t think Michael would have been as interesting, and I don’t think the book would be as fun.
The setting of New Bedford, Massachusetts, is key to the story because the location shaped the personalities of many of the characters. Why did you choose New Bedford?
Well, nobody had ever written a decent book connected with New Bedford. I was going to begin with the line, “Call me Michael.” Kidding. The story of Hidden Falls was invented whole cloth. It is also deeply rooted in the milieu of New England’s lower middle class, where I was raised. As I get older, I find myself becoming more appreciative of what I think was a pretty unique upbringing. In the first draft, Michael was from my hometown of Peabody, Massachusetts, but when the story started taking on elements of crime, I decided to change it to New Bedford. Not because of how it would reflect on the city, but because illegal gambling was so prevalent in Peabody that I didn’t want people to mistake the book for a memoir.
I chose New Bedford because I think it is the archetype of the kind of New England town I wanted to write about. The once great centers of now dead American industries. At one time, Peabody was to leather tanning what New Bedford was to whaling. The towns’ high school teams are named the Tanners and Whalers. We took great pride in an era and trade we never knew. It’s part of our heritage. The people from my hometown have a special bond that’s not easily explained. There’s also a connection to sports, professional and otherwise, that a lot of people who have never been exposed to that environment don’t understand. I wanted to explore those themes and I thought New Bedford was a great place to do that.
To read the rest of the interview, click here.
To learn more about author Kevin T. Myers, click here.
To learn more about Hidden Falls, click here.