Welcome my Latest Guest Kim McMahill returns! @KimMcMahill

I want to welcome Kim McMahill.  First I’d love you to introduce yourself.

Thank you for having me on your blog.

I grew up in Wyoming, which is probably where I developed my sense of adventure and love of the outdoors. I started out writing non-fiction, but my love for exotic world travel, outrageous adventures, stories of survival, and happily-ever-after endings soon drew me into a world of romantic suspense. Along with writing adventure novels I’ve also published over eighty travel and geographic articles, and contributed to a travel anthology and cookbook. I’ve recently relocated to Colorado, which I’m very excited about. Not only am I right next door to my home state and much of my family, I’m back in my beloved Rocky Mountains. When I’m not writing, I enjoy gardening, traveling, hiking, and cheering on the Wyoming Cowboys and Denver Broncos.

Tell us about your latest release.

A Taste of Tragedy is the second novel in the Risky Research Series. In the first novel, A Dose of Danger, a researcher and her team believe they had discovered a miracle weight loss pill, which makes them the targets of a deadly group intent on controlling the multi-billion dollar-a-year diet product industry. In A Taste of Tragedy, a company uses and promotes a potentially deadly sweetener in its Healthy and Delicious Foods line. The product turns the company into a global powerhouse, but when their newest vice president uncovers evidence that the healthy foods she’s been hired to promote may be dangerous, she is forced to reevaluate her priorities. As questions mount and the body count rises, she finds herself caught in the crosshairs of an organization that will stop at nothing to hide its secrets and protect its profits.

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 author? Do you feel you write like them?

Clive Cussler is my favorite author and the king of adventure novels. I would love to write like him, but our different life experiences and my female perspective on the adventure novel will always provide a unique spin on any story.

2.) What was your favorite book growing up?

Charlotte’s Web

3.) Are you a plotter or a pantser and why did you choose that method?

I’m a little of both, and the degree of each depends on the story. Shrouded In Secrets had so many complex scenarios to keep track of that I had note cards and maps pinned to a cork board and a fairly detailed chapter-by-chapter outline. I always keep a running chapter-by-chapter cheat sheet at a minimum, but if the story is flowing, I just let it go and see where I end up.

4.) Do you consider writing a career or a hobby? Why?

Definitely a career. I put too much time and effort into my craft and into marketing to consider it anything less.

5.) What are you working on now?

I’ve got the basic plot fleshed out in my third novel in the Risky Research series, A Foundation of Fear. The fourth is still in my head. The series explores the lengths a deadly group of criminals will go to in order to control the 40 to 100 billion dollar-a-year diet product industry.

6.) What one piece of advice would you like to pass on to an up and coming author?

Keep your expectations realistic. No matter how good your work may be, the competition is tough and getting noticed takes as much work and skill as writing that great novel.

7.) If you had the ability to time travel and your first visit was to see a younger version of yourself what would you say to that younger self?

Don’t sweat the small stuff or worry about the future. You will be one of the fortunate few who find the love of your life and soulmate, and you’ll get to experience a magnificent journey together.

8.) You just got a million dollars, whether it’s from an inheritance, the lottery, or a sweet book deal doesn’t matter. What would be the first thing you would buy for yourself?

I would take my husband on a very long exotic cruise.

9.) If you could un-invent one thing in the world what would it be?

The smart phone has changed society in immeasurable ways, and I can’t say very many of them are good. The device has made certain things easier, but it seems almost like a drug and being addicted to anything is scary.

10.) What is your favorite movie/TV Show? Why?

One of my all-time favorite movies has to be Sahara. It is based on a Clive Cussler novel of the same name. It is an entertaining adventure where the characters are trying to stop an ecological disaster of epic proportions, yet somehow Cussler always weaves in a few things that make you laugh or at least smile. I’m also quite fond of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Everyone always dreams of a little adventure, but it takes strength to go outside your comfort zone and grab it.

Blurb:

Morgan Hunter sacrificed everything for her career. She had yet to encounter anything she wasn’t willing to do to succeed . . . until now. When she uncovers evidence that the healthy foods she’s been hired to promote may be dangerous, she must reevaluate her priorities. As questions mount and the body count rises, she finds herself caught in the crosshairs of an organization that will stop at nothing to hide its secrets and protect its profits. With no one else to trust, Morgan is forced to seek help from the man she drove away, but whom she never stopped loving.

Excerpt:

“Here, let me help you,” Morgan said as she draped Devyn’s arm around her shoulders.

Morgan tried to relieve as much weight as she could from Devyn as she helped her hobble to the waiting vehicle. Once Devyn was seated in the cramped back seat, Morgan dug out her emergency supply bag. She handed Devyn a blanket and a bottle of water. “I have a first aid kit, but I think you need something a little more than a bandage.”

“It’s just a few scratches. I’ll live.”

Morgan could see why Nick trusted Devyn with his back. As she looked at the battered and bruised woman, who had taken off into the desert in the middle of the night in bare feet to prevent a criminal from getting away, she had to admire her. Devyn had to be in extreme pain, yet not a complaint escaped her lips.

“Make room in the back,” Nick huffed.

Morgan looked up to see Nick trudging toward her with an inert Aaron slung over his shoulder. She raced to the tiny back cargo area and moved a few items around so Nick could squeeze the body in the vehicle.

“Is he dead?” Morgan whispered.

“Not quite, but we need to get him medical help A.S.A.P. The bullet didn’t hit any vital organs, but I’m not sure how much damage he suffered from the knock to the head”

Morgan watched as Nick set the man down in the vehicle, and then she joined Devyn in the back seat. Turning around and kneeling, she was able to lean over the seat and assess Aaron’s injuries. She folded up a handkerchief and placed it over Aaron’s gunshot wound and applied pressure. She wasn’t sure which was bleeding more, the bullet hole or the bump and cut to the head, but she had to try and slow the blood loss any way she could.

“That’s all we can do for now,” Nick said. “Just keep the pressure on the best you can.”

Morgan nodded as Nick secured the back and then got behind the wheel.

“You okay?” Nick asked as he turned to face Devyn.

“I’ve had better days, but sadly, I’ve had worse.”

Buy link:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DTE29U2/

Social Media Links:

Website: http://kimmcmahill.com

Blog:  http://kimmcmahill.blogspot.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimmcmahill.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/849945.Kim_McMahill

Meet My Latest Guest - Diane Burton!

I want to welcome Diane Burton. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.

Thanks for having me here, Barbara. I’m a wife, mom, grandmother, and a writer. Not necessarily in that order. Apologies to my grown children and husband, but Nana duties come first. <g> I write science fiction romance and romantic suspense. The commonality between my books is adventure. I love action/adventure movies, especially if a relationship develops between the main characters. Romantic comedy movies is another favorite, so I try to incorporate humor in the stories I write. I live in West Michigan and can never get enough watching Lake Michigan sunsets.

Tell us about your latest release.

The Case of the Bygone Brother is a PI mystery. It’s the first in what I plan as a series of adventures featuring Alexandra (Alex) O’Hara as a private investigator carrying on her retired father’s business. You won’t believe the scrapes she gets into trying to find a missing man.

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?

Professor Snape in the Harry Potter books. I know he isn’t really a villain, but he acts like one until the end of the series. He is so skillfully written that the reader doesn’t know his intent.

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

Oh, gee. That’s like asking me my favorite child. I always love the heroine in the book I’m writing. Jessie in Switched has a special place in my heart. Her story was my first published book.

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

As I mentioned above, I write sci-fi romance. I fell in love with Star Wars. Action, adventure, and romance all in one. That’s the kind of science fiction I love to read—not weighty tomes with so much technical data that I’m put to sleep. (I know others love that. Just not me.)

I also write romantic suspense, which I love to read. My PI mystery, The Case of the Bygone Brother, has a little romance, but it’s more mystery oriented. Again, I write what I like to read.

4.) What are you working on now?

I’m working on the 3rd book in my Outer Rim series—stand-alone stories connected by the locale and recurring characters—about strong women on the frontier of space. In this one (no title yet), the heroine tries to take down a slave ring that dares to come into her colony.

5.) What got you to start writing?

The prospect of an empty nest. My children were in their last years of high school and would be going off to college. I was fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom and was a volunteer in sports, scouts, school, and church activities. I kept the family together through all the moves with my husband’s job. I figured it was my turn to do something for me. I loved to read so how hard could it be to write a book? LOL I found out.

6.) Where do you get your ideas from?

I don’t know. I used to clip newspaper articles that I thought would make a great story. I never used them. I think my Muse must work overtime, whispering in my ear while I sleep.

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

That I hated science in high school. And now I write science fiction romance. Go figure.

8.) Do you have any special talents?

Besides being able to quote movie lines? LOL I love to garden. I always took small sections of plants from my garden at one house to the next. I still have plants that originated in my grandmother’s garden (lilies of the valley) and my mother’s (irises, tiger lilies, and Shasta daisies). Arthritis in my knees and back make gardening difficult, though, so Hubs does the work while I “supervise”. I also like to quilt and hope to get back to it soon.

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

Don’t give up. We all hit bad times, either in our writing careers or personal life. Persistence will win. Friends from my writers’ group (Mid-Michigan RWA) had to remind me of that advice when I was going through a bad personal time a few years ago.

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

Madeline L’Engle. I read A Wrinkle in Time to whatever elementary class I was teaching when it came out. I would ask her what inspired her to write that series. It was so far ahead of anything I’d read at the time.

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

You Don’t Always Get What You Want.

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

A family dog. Faithful, loyal, and fetches slippers. LOL At least I wouldn’t have to cook.

The Case of the Bygone Brother Blurb:

After taking over O’Hara & Palzetti, Confidential Investigations from her dad and his partner, Alex O’Hara’s bottom line has taken a plunge. So when a femme fatale offers her the case of a lifetime along with a huge advance, Alex sees her finances on a definite upswing. But someone doesn’t want her to find the long-lost brother. Complicating matters is the return of Alex’s old heartthrob, Nick Palzetti. Is he really there just to see her or does he have an ulterior motive? The Lake Michigan resort town of Fair Haven is abuzz with the news that O’Hara & Palzetti are together again.

Excerpt:

“Hello, gorgeous.”

I whacked my head on the display shelf.

Well, what would you do if you were lying across the top of a four-drawer lateral file cabinet, and your arm—yardstick attached—was wedged between the wall and the cabinet, trying to retrieve the license renewal application that if you mangled, crushed or couldn’t get would mean the end of your business, and the ex-love-of-your-life stood in the doorway looking at your butt?

The shelf shook on its braces from contact with my head. Never mind that the encounter didn’t do much for the aforementioned body part. The Fair Haven Chamber of Commerce awards rattled, and signed Detroit Tigers baseballs pelted my head, shoulders, and the back of my thigh. I dropped the yardstick and swore.

“I thought you promised your mother you wouldn’t swear anymore.” He would remind me of that vow.

“Relapse,” I muttered as I looked over my shoulder.

In that loose-limbed, cocky manner I once thought scary, sexy, and so cool, Nick Palzetti stood in the doorway to the spare office. He even dressed the same in a black leather jacket, black knit shirt, and jeans that molded his hips. Lordy, he could still make my mouth go dry.

As I wiggled back and sideways across the long cabinet, I felt my skirt ride up. Of all days to wear a skirt. With my foot, I searched for the desk chair I’d climbed to get on top of the cabinet. I’d kicked off my high heels before standing on the chair, probably the only smart thing I’d done so far.

“Red panties, you naughty girl.”

Buy links:

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00P1GPR0Q

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/489085

Bio:

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched and Outer Rim series, she is the author of One Red Shoe, a romantic suspense, and The Case of the Bygone Brother, a PI mystery. She is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in Michigan. They have two children and two grandchildren.

For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com

Connect with Diane Burton online

Blog:  http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dmburton72

Facebook:  http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor

Goodreads: Diane Burton Author

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/

Meet My Latest Guest Kim McMahill!

I want to welcome Kim McMahill.

First I’d love you to introduce yourself.

I grew up in Wyoming, which is probably where I developed my sense of adventure and love of the outdoors. Since leaving Wyoming I’ve had many opportunities to see the world and I’ve lived in some amazing places. I started out writing non-fiction, but my passion for exotic world travel, outrageous adventures, stories of survival, and happily-ever-after endings soon drew me into a world of adventure fiction and romantic suspense. Along with writing novels I’ve also published over eighty travel and geographic articles, and contributed to a travel anthology and a cookbook.

Tell us about your latest release.

Shrouded In Secrets is an international thriller in which the reader is taken on an adrenaline-pumping adventure around the globe to locate a deadly group of terrorists striving to bring thirteen mythical relics together. As an international team led by the ruggedly handsome, but emotionally scarred CIA agent, Cash Luker, closes in on those responsible for the massacre of an unarmed South American village, destruction of one of the greatest manmade wonders of the world, and multiple museum thefts, he must conquer past personal demons in order to save the woman who has captured his heart, and prevent destruction of legendary proportions.

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?

Zara from Shrouded In Secrets is my favorite villain. She is very good at her job, unfortunately that’s pretty deadly for anyone who gets in her way. But on a more personal side, she didn’t start out her career as a villain.  She grew up struggling with her identity, deciding where she belonged, battling conflicting loyalties between family and country, and feelings, somewhat misplaced, of betrayal.  

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

I always try to develop strong leading men, but I’d have to say that Jack from Marked In Mexico may be my favorite.  He’s not your typical hero. He’s not your big buff macho brash hero. Jack is somewhat reserved and reluctant to jump into the fray, but once he commits he won’t turn away. He has many hidden, and at times frightening, talents, and despite having the skills to survive against formidable odds, he also exhibits a sensitive side that can’t help but melt any woman’s heart.

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

Adventure and Romantic Suspense.  I love reading novels that take me on adventures around the world. Though I’m not a true romance writer, relationships always add to a story, project a more personal element the reader can relate to, and gives the hero an extra incentive to do extraordinary things.  My novels vary in degree of romance, but always contain ample suspense and grand adventure.  My favorite authors are Clive Cussler, James Rollins, and Dan Brown, and even those authors generally incorporate a bit of romance.

4.) What are you working on now?

A Dose Of Danger is under contract and is currently undergoing initial edits. It’s scheduled for a spring 2015 release.  It’s a romantic suspense novel set in Wyoming on a remote rural ranch in the midst of one of the nastiest winters in decades. A researcher, a local deputy, and a group of paid assassins collide in a battle for survival over a pharmaceutical breakthrough with potential consequences of epic proportions.  

5.) What got you to start writing?

It wasn’t an immediate ah-ha moment. In high school I had a creative writing teacher who noted on one of my papers that with more character development I had a novel. I packed that paper around for years, and one day I decided to give it a try and the result was, The Lodge.  Shortly thereafter I found myself living in a remote cabin with no phone or TV. While my husband was gone for three weeks at a time fighting forest fires I started writing seriously out of necessity for my sanity, and have continued to hone my craft ever since.

6.) Where do you get your ideas from?

Occasionally from dreams as in, Deadly Exodus, but most of the time from travel (I’ve written several novels set amid Mayan Ruins – love those), or from exaggerated past experiences. I grew up riding horses and spending every weekend in the summer at rodeos, and we recreated as a family in the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming a lot, which is the inspiration behind Big Horn Storm.

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

I’m an easy-crier, which probably explains why I like to read, write, and watch adventure and suspense, to limit the shedding of tears. When I hear the term “feel good” book or movie, I usually avoid it, since it’ll probably make me cry and I’m not particularly fond of crying.

8.) Do you have any special talents?

I can grow tomatoes. I don’t know why, but no matter where I live or what variety I plant, I seem to grow enough to supply the neighborhood all summer and fill my freezer with plenty to last all winter.

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

I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but everyone tells you to keep writing, and I’ve grown to see the necessity of that advice. I learn something new with each novel I write, and now when I look back at some of my earlier work that I thought was so great, I can see how much I’ve improved.

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

Author, Clive Cussler. I’ve read all of his novels in the Dirk Pitt series, but those are only a small portion of his body of work. I would love to hear about some of the actual experiences, if any, in his life that are woven into his stories, and how he’s been able to remain such a prolific writer for so many years.

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

I can’t think of a song off the top of my head that describes my life, but it has been a long-standing joke with my husband that when I handed him my Charlie cassette and asked him to play, It’s Inevitable, nearly thirty years ago, maybe he should have been nervous.  Charlie’s version aside, I believe there’s a lot in life that’s inevitable, and sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

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

An eagle - the ability to soar high in the sky and watch everything unfold below would be remarkable. 

Excerpt from Shrouded In Secrets by Kim McMahill

Olivia wandered into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She watched from the doorway as Cash stood in front of the stove frying something. She had never been particularly susceptible to good-looking men, but he exuded a magnetism she couldn’t fight. His body bore too many scars to be considered classically handsome and the rough edges added to his allure.

He wore only a faded pair of blue jeans, resting low on his narrow hips, and the sight nearly made her sigh aloud. The damage marring his tanned, muscular back reminded her of the dangers associated with his job, and of how little she knew of his past. She cringed at the sight of all the fresh wounds, though those accounted for only a small proportion of his total scars. He didn’t turn around as she closed the distance between them, but she had no doubt he was aware of her presence.

“Where did all these come from?” she asked, tracing a disfigurement running diagonally from his left shoulder and disappearing beneath the waistband of his jeans.

She felt him tense the moment her fingers glided over his warm skin, but as she stroked his back, the tension drained away.

Cash clicked off the gas burner on the stove and turned toward Olivia, expecting her to retreat. She held her ground just inches in front of him as he placed his hands on her shoulders, enjoying the smooth silk of her short robe against his rough palms. Starring into her eyes, he recognized compassion and curiosity. He seldom talked about his past, and he never discussed the disastrous mission responsible for most of the scars, but for some reason, he wanted to tell Olivia.

“Here and there, but the majority are mementos from an assignment gone bad. A long-time trusted contact was supposed to meet my partner at a warehouse in Hong Kong, where she had arranged to sell him restricted documents, specifically a list of names and the locations of all our Middle East field agents. The buy was the proof I needed to expose her as a double-agent. Before the exchange could go down, an explosion rocked the warehouse. The entire structure collapsed. A metal beam crashed down across my back as I dove toward a blown-out window to escape the flames. The building, an abandoned fireworks factory, burned so thoroughly, the authorities found no bodies, not even the remains of the six agents I had staking out the place.”

“Zara?”

Cash nodded. “She’s ruthless and skilled¾the best I’d ever worked with. Together we were a force to reckon with, but when she turned, the smart ones got out of the way. I didn’t, and a lot of people died¾all the wrong ones. I’m still here, and apparently, so is she.”

Olivia could see the pain, guilt, and anger etched on Cash’s face. She placed a hand over his heart and felt the strong, rapid beat. His flesh was warm and his muscles hard beneath her touch. The power in this dangerous and reckless man radiated from his body, but at the moment, he seemed lost and distant. She loathed seeing a warrior’s spirit so beaten down.

Sliding her hands up his chest, lacing her fingers around his neck, she pulled his lips toward hers and kissed him gently, stealing his mind back to the present. Slowly she sensed him edge away from the pain of the past, his focus no longer scattered, as he returned her kiss, deepening the intimacy, gathering her closer in an embrace that made her knees weak.

“I’d better be sleepwalking and this is just a nightmare, or someone is going to regret getting out of bed this morning.”

Diane’s voice made Cash jump back like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He was impressed with how Olivia maintained her composure as she turned and smiled at her sister.

“Good morning, Diane. Did you sleep well?”

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