Okay so it looks like I fell off the planet. Promise - I'm still here. The last four years have been ... hard. There's no other word for it. Everything is fine. I'm fine, but I've been the caregiver of my mom who has Dementia. Between her needs, work, etc I seem to have lost control of my time. I am still writing and am trying hard to get back to my blog.

In case you weren't aware Phaze and HSWF which where under the Mundania Umbrella have closed. I was smart enough to get my titles back before all this happened. I'm happy to say the three books I sold to HSWF have been picked up by Melange Books and are available through their Satin Books imprint. I have even sold a new title to them called Magical Quest due out in 2022

I have also been lucky enough to find a publisher for my Vespian Way series. I'm now with Blushing Books under the name of Bethany Drake. I have five titles out with them right now and am close to submitting two more. There's Desire's Destiny, Desire's Duty and Desire's Promise. Then there is two in my werewolf series, Tears of the Queen and Legend of the Tears. I have just finished the rough draft of the third book in the series and have plans for a fourth one the moment I submit it.

I'll probably still be sporadic here on the blog. Unless I win the lottery and can hire someone to help me I can't avoid it, but know I'm still here still working hard in the background and am hoping to do better at keeping my blog alive.

Barb:)



Saturday, October 10, 2015

Welcome my newest Guest - Adam Mann!



I want to welcome Adam Mann.  First I’d love you to introduce yourself.

I live on the outskirts of a small city in a mountainous area, which I prefer to a tropical island.  The sand and the sea look good, but are hot and sticky, unless you have the services of a six star hotel!  The air up here is cooler and cleaner, but it does get hot in the summer months.

Tell us about your latest release.

I’ve been very lucky to have two novels released this month:

BODY HEAT from Phaze Books - Jennifer and Charles team up to start their own 21 day wilderness program, without clothes, food or drink, or a TV sponsored back-up team.  They choose a remote area, and as complete strangers they only meet a day before the adventure starts! Watch the sparks begin to fly, not from the fires they light, but from the passion that somehow ignites between them.

and

Claudia and the Lords of Peterborough from Global Publications Group - Two brothers, heirs to an Earl, meet the attractive and passionate Claudia.  She enters a childless marriage with the elder brother, who dies in a flying accident, but then the younger brother come back from Central Africa to claim the title on the death of his father, the future begins to look brighter!

Now I have a few questions for you – I have found readers do like to know fun things about us writers.

1.) Who is your favorite villain – it can be from a book (even one of yours), movie or TV show. And why?

Fagin from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens – his sense of humour and his villainy.

2.) Who is your favorite character out of your books? Why?

All my heroes I love especially the older ones.  Especially Colin from The Road to Beira, coming from Phaze Books on 13 OCT 2015.

3.) What do genre do you write? What made you pick that one?

Romance – most of the time simple love stories.

4.) What are you working on now?

When I do some research for novels I sometimes come across odd stories.  In 1862 a novel was written called Lady Audley’s Secret, and accidental Bigamy, and that got me thinking…

5.) What got you to start writing?

I have written four historical novels, which are devoid of love and passion, so I began to think about my own life – four wives, seven children, and four grandchildren, and I realized that perhaps I knew a thing or two about romance.

6.) Where do you get your ideas from?

The latest is from the series of TV programs about survival, and some of the contestants who haven’t a clue what they are doing.

7.) What would people who read your work be surprised to find out about you?

I used to be a Rugby Referee, and actually refereed a qualifying match for the Rugby World Cup, but not recently.

8.) Do you have any special talents?

Yes, I love gardening, especially flowers that have a perfume.

9.) What was the one piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author that has stuck with you? Why?

Do your research thoroughly.  Some authors write about places or journeys they’ve never been to which is obvious to readers who have been there or live there.

10.) If you could talk to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would it be and what would you talk about?

Agatha Christie – about her plots.

11.) What song would you say describes your life?

I love all the romantic light operas – any of those, especially the arias sung by a soprano.

12.) If you could come back as any animal – what would it be?

A horse, preferably an Arab stallion!





BODY HEAT – excerpt:

For the rest of that week, she followed her quest for messages, and most of them were inconsequential except for the man in South Africa.
She saw a message from him:
Found that program on Discovery—agree cooperation between man and woman essential for their existence.
To this day, she never knew why she replied to him as she did:
Have you ever thought of trying such a course yourself? I would if you would!
The reply came back to her a day later:
We won’t be able to get on a TV program, but we could do it ourselves. Where would you like to go?
She thought about it, and even emailed her mother to ask where she came from before she met her father in Bangkok. She was careful not to mention the TV programs she had seen.
Her mother’s email surprised her:
I was born in a village near the Thai/Laos border. The nearest town was called Nan. If you decide to go there I can give you some directions to my sister’s house which I can remember from my childhood.
Her reply to Charles on Twitter was:
My mother was born near the Thai/Laos border. Her family could give us local basic support.
She read her message again after she had sent it.
“US!” she read, but she laughed aloud and the girl on duty in the Games Room looked up at her.
Two days later, Charles sent her another message:
Please look at your email for messages from me, Charles.
She rushed to look at the Google mail account, and there was a message from Charles!
Hi Jennifer. Your Twitter messages amused me, but then I began to think that you might be right, it would be very interesting to try an adventure course together, but first we need to establish some basic facts.
What is your full name, age and position? Your CV would help.
I’ve sent you my full details at the end of this message.
You would need to take a month’s leave from your work. Can you do that?
If we can agree I can fly to Bangkok, and then onto Nan.
How would you get to Nan, we really shouldn’t travel together.
How far past Nan would we have to travel, and how?
A short CV from Charles followed, which she read carefully.
First of all, she wrote to her mother:
I want to go to the area beyond Nan on a walking holiday, so could you please give me the names of anyone you know that I might be able to contact, and any addresses, please Mum.
Then, in her office, she opened the file on her office computer with her CV, and copied it on to her USB, which she put into her handbag.
Her mother replied, giving details of her younger sister who still lived there. There was only a postal address, but no telephone number, so Jennifer had to assume there was not one.
At the Games Room, she updated and modified her CV, deleting all the information about her work history. She copied everything on to an email that she sent to Charles. As an afterthought, she also copied her mother’s email to Charles.
The reply from Charles startled her:
Jennifer, could you please arrange to take four weeks off, preferably next month, and tell me the dates so that I can arrange to travel.
I’ll fly to Bangkok, but I don’t think that we should meet there. Make your own way to Nan, and I’ll suppose we’ll have to meet there and travel to the site together.
I’ll hire a small car in Nan so that we can leave our clothes and possessions in it until the end of the twenty-one days, unless you have a better suggestion.
That means we’ll organize our own drop point and our pick up point ourselves, again your comments would be most welcome.
We have to cheat a bit, as we need some maps.
Please tell me what you think we should each take.

Buy Links:

Phaze
http://phaze.com/book.php?title=Body+Heat
ARe
B&N
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Body-Heat-Adam-Mann-ebook/dp/B015YKQW66 

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