A Candlelight Courting by Joyce DiPastena Day 6 of the Christmas Countdown

Joyce DiPastena dreamed of green medieval forests while growing up in the dusty copper mining town of Kearny, Arizona. She filled her medieval hunger by reading the books of Thomas B. Costain (where she fell in love with King Henry II of England), and later by attending the University of Arizona where she graduated with a degree in history, specializing in the Middle Ages. The university was also where she completed her first full-length novel…set, of course, in medieval England. Later, her fascination with Henry II led her to expand her research horizons to the far reaches of his “Angevin Empire” in France, which became the setting of her first published novel, Loyalty’s Web (a 2007 Whitney Award Finalist). 

When she’s not writing, Joyce loves to read, play the piano, and spend time with her sister and friends. A highlight of her year is attending the annual Arizona Renaissance Festival . Joyce is a multi-published, multi-award winning author who specializes in sweet medieval romances heavily spiced with mystery and adventure. She lives with her two cats, Clio and Glinka Rimsky-Korsokov, in Mesa, Arizona.

Q & A With The Author:

1.  Describe yourself in 50 words or less.

Shy, quiet, old fashioned, likes people but better at listening than talking to them, loves music and playing the piano, was a childhood comic book fanatic (especially Spiderman, Fantastic Four, and Thor), medieval history nerd, BIG fan of chocolate, can be bribed with homemade chocolate chip cookies (no nuts).

2. What do you love most in the world?

My family. (And yes, that includes my cats.)

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When Burthred comes courting on Christmas Eve, Meg rejects his advances. She has her heart set on becoming a nun and insists that he call her Christina, the spiritual name she has chosen for herself. She tries to make him swear on her box of holy relics that he will not pursue her, but he carefully words his oath to allow him to stay in her candlelit chamber and try to change her mind. 

What Meg does not confess is that her reliquary box holds a secret.

Burthred needs a wife, and no one will satisfy him except Meg. He swore on his father’s deathbed that he would marry her. But Burthred has a secret, too. When they come together before the Yule fire, their shared revelations will either join their hearts together or tear them apart.

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Snippet:

Had her father locked the door? She took a step forward to test the latch, then froze, the hairs prickling along the back of her neck. A sky heavy for weeks with snow clouds blocked even a faint glimmer of the stars or moon from filtering through the wooden shutters into her chamber. Even so, she could have found her way to the door with her eyes closed, but she felt her lids instead straining wide. She thought she heard a soft intake of breath. A breath that had not come from her lungs.

“Who’s there?” Her voice came out in a terrified strangle.

A rustling sound, followed by a distinct clearing of a throat, and then, “My lady—”

The gruff male voice topped off her panic. Christina stumbled back against her bed and screamed like a madwoman. 

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If Wishes Were Horses... by Tim Hemlin Day 6 of the Monster Mash Book Blitz Countdown Event

Tim Hemlin is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, having studied with poets Charles Simic and Mekeel McBride.  He has published in poetry journals, anthologies, and magazines--most notably in Ellery Queen.  Currently he has six published novels, two short stories and is included in an anthology.

By day he is an educator; however after teaching ELA for 22 years he decided to put his master's degree to work and is now a high school counselor.  In addition, he is an avid marathoner, fly-fisherman, and outdoorsman.  He lives just outside Houston, Texas with his wife Valerie, two dogs and a cantankerous cat.

Q&A With the Author:

If you could travel to any time in history, when would you visit?

Paris in the 1920s. I've always been fascinated with the ex-patriot writers and artists of that time and would love to meet Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, Eliot, Picasso . . .

If you could have dinner with any of your characters, which ones would you choose? What food would you serve?

Bear, my renegade from The Wastelanders, and C. J. McDaniels from my mysteries. We would have oxtail soup and a few tall pints of Black Silence, a particularly potent dark beer brewed on the Houston Rim. Undoubtedly the beer would loosen their tongues so I could spend hours listening to these kindred spirits swap war stories--both literally and figuratively. I can already hear how C. J. would combat the political rule of the heavy-handed oligarchy called The Water Cartel, to which Bear's response would be, "Marvelous."  

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Find all of Jim Hemlin's Books Here

 

If Wishes Were Horses...

" Neil Marshall is a graduate student in the University of Houston’s creative writing program and a promising young poet. However, facing a financially and emotionally draining divorce has him worried about more than paying tuition. So to make ends meet, Neil moonlights as a chef for a high society caterer.  Just when Neil’s life seems bleakest, his oldest friend, racehorse breeder Jason Keys, is murdered. And Neil becomes the prime suspect.  To avenge his friend, clear his name, and rescue a missing championship thoroughbred, Neil infiltrates the dark underworld of horse theft and illegal breeding. Neil’s friends—his attractive writing teacher, his cooking colleagues, and a freckle-faced teenage horsewoman—offer their support. But their cheers quickly turn to gasps when Neil becomes the hunted."

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Snippet:

I bellied up to a stainless-steel table where a large tub of slaughtered wild doves was waiting. One of our clients had gone on a hunting spree earlier this fall and now wanted to serve the birds as an appetizer. But damn, Claudia must be pissed. Carving out a dove’s barely quarter-sized breast was something Mattie could’ve done. The game meat would be tasty sautéed in cilantro butter with a flambé of tequila, and served on a small toast with a touch of sun-dried tomato sauce. Dealing with them now, however, was grunt work.

After the first couple of dozen, I began to change my tune. Perhaps mindless activity was beneficial at this point. Pull skin. Slice one little breast, flip body, then slice the other. Discard carcass. And thus I bone the bird of peace.

Pull, slice, flip, slice, discard. So what did I have? Sleepless nights. Pull, slice, flip. A hothead with a missing horse that I had located. Slice, discard, pull. A tight-mouthed businessman in Chip Gunn and the enigmatic Dover Hill, whose name gave me the willies. Slice, flip, slice. A headstrong girl with adolescent worries. Discard, pull, slice. Her grandfather who knew more than he was saying, perhaps because he was afraid to say too much. Flip, slice, discard. True Grit still missing and Cecil Brenner most likely threatening all kinds of military acts against Texas, or me. Pull, slice, flip. The friendly Lieutenant Gardner unconvinced I was simply an innocent mourner. Slice, discard, pull. And a hungry prosecutor aching to carry an indictment all the way to the lethal-injection chamber in Huntsville. Slice, flip, slice. Toss in a side order of Susan and Professor Winford. Slice, slice, slice. And for dessert, a married Keely Cohen. Discard. ~ Neil Marshall

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Great Summer Countdown Day 6- DEATH UNSCRIPTED: A Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery by Marni Graff

Marni Graff is the award-winning author of The Nora Tierney English Mysteries, with three in print, ebooks and on Audible. She also writes The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries, also in all three formats, which is based on her real work as a medical consultant for a NY movie studio.
She also writes a crime review blog, Auntie M Writes (www.auntiemwrites.com). A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff is Managing Editor of Bridle Path Press, and mentors the Writers Read program in Belhaven, NC.

Graff has been published in nonfiction, essays, poetry, and wrote for seven years for "Mystery Review" magazine. She is a frequent contributor to multiple magazines revolving around crime fiction.

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Trudy Genova has the best job a nurse could have: working as a medical consultant for a movie studio in Manhattan means no more uniforms, bedpans or white shoes. She's working with a womanizing actor, teaching him to fake a heart attack, when he dies right in the middle of taping--but not before pointing his finger accusingly at Trudy.
When detectives view Trudy as a suspect, she swings into action to clear her name, to the chagrin of NYPD detective Ned O'Malley. Soon the bodies mount up and Trudy realizes she's put herself in jeopardy. Based on the author's real work experience as a medical consultant, this is the book her mentor and friend, P D James, insisted she write.

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Snippet:

How many nurses get to work in The Big Apple where no one is really hurt or dying, and the rocks in a landslide are made of cocoa-covered Styrofoam and oatmeal? Working for a movie studio means no more night shifts or dirty bedpans, no stinky vomit on my white nursing shoes, no real tears, no suffering, no death. Some days I work from home in my pajamas, correcting faxed script pages from movie and television medical scenes.

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