Special Spring Bargain

Want a scary read for only 99 cents? Pick up Lisa Cronkhite's Deep in the Meadows Thursday April 3rd through Saturday April 5th for this rock bottom price. If you're an Amazon prime member, it's free.

If you miss this sale, you can still get it for less than 1/2 price -- only $1.99 -- on April 6th & 7th.

If you like horror or murder mysteries, you'll love this book.

BLURB:

Bianca “Bee” Thompson’s brother, Jimmy has been dead for ten months, yet she still feels his presence lingering. And one question haunts her: Was Jimmy’s death an accident?

Probing into the events on the night of Jimmy’s death, Bee hears strange voices. The voices lead her to a blood-splattered room, a terrifying threat, and a deadly trap. Is Bee on the trail of her brother’s murderer, or is she entangled in a totally different and much more diabolical plot?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mid-West author Lisa M. Cronkhite fell in love with writing when she was a teen, while journaling about her first boyfriend in high school.

Today Lisa writes about different things she’s in love with—paranormal mystery and suspense thrillers for teens. You can find Lisa’s work online and in print magazines such as The Skyline Review, The Storyteller, Ruminate Magazine, Poetry Salzburg Review, Ascent Aspirations, and more. She is also the author of three other novels, Dreaming a Reality (2011), Demon Girl (2011), and Disconnected (2014).

Lisa now lives near Chicago with her loving husband (that same boyfriend) and her two children. She spends most of her days writing outside on her patio table and thinking of her next YA novel.
Friend Lisa on Facebook, Twitter, or read her blog.

Famous Authors Offer Help and Encouragement

I have a really cool opportunity coming up. I get to meet Charlaine Harris, Dean James, and Carolyn Haines. That's right—I'M MEETING FAMOUS PEOPLE.

 

As a writer, the best thing you can do is pick the brain of another writer. What do you do? How have you done well? What should I not do? Do you have a magic wand that made you famous?

These authors will be coming to the Delta to promote three books: Harris' new graphic novel, Cemetery Girl: Book One, The Pretenders, James's The Silence of the Library written under the pseudonym Miranda James, and Haines's The Seeker written under the pseudonym R.B. Chesterton.

 

I've read them all, I love them all.

 

Although they aren't YA books, they are all mysteries and Haines' book is pretty scary (I may or may not have slept with all the lights on in my house that night).

Cemetery Girl is the story of Calexa Rose Dunhill, who woke up in a cemetery and has no memory of who she is. Taking her name from the graves she is surrounded by and from the cemetery itself, Calexa searches for answers on who she is, how she got there, or who left her for dead.

 

The Silence in the Library is the fifth book in The Cat in the Stacks Series and is about the town librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat Diesel. During National Library Week, the library plans an exhibit to honor the centenary of famous novelist Electra Barnes Cartwright—creator of the beloved Veronica Thane series. Charlie, who admires Cartwright and has a collection of her books, is excited to meet her and learn that she will be making a very rare public appearance. The news of her appearance goes viral and soon collectors are swarming the small town. A rumor begins that there are unpublished Veronica Thane novels, and Charlie soon realizes these collectors will stop at nothing—even murder—the get what they want.

 

The Seeker tells the story of a young graduate student, Aine Cahill, who travels to Walden Pond to work on her dissertation to prove her aunt Bonnie was Henry David Thoreau’s lover during his supposed solitary time at Walden Pond. Upon arrival, Aine's cursed family past comes back to haunt her, and she must fight to hold onto reality while the spiritual world and her sinister legacy attempt to take over her life. Lastly, she must discover whether or not there really is a young girl lurking in the woods surrounding her cabin.

 

When you have the opportunity to talk to talk to a writer ho has been successful you should always do so. You never know who they know or what they know what might be helpful. So, I got to ask these authors several questions, and I am going to share the answers I thought were the most interesting.

 

Harris

 

Harris is the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books, which inspired the True Blood TV series. I haven't watched it yet, but I feel a Netflix marathon coming on.

As a writer I was excited to ask Harris some questions that were more for me rather than for my article. Come to find out, she used to work for the same newspaper I write for! She worked in the offset darkroom for $1.60 an hour, "standing on concrete all day. Quite a job." I can only imagine! How cool that this amazing author got a similar start, right down to us being in the same building.

God knows EXACTLY what He is doing.
 

What inspired the story?



Inspired. I really don't like that word. That implies the process is magical. I believe if you're a writer, the ideas come because that's what you're supposed to be doing.



What advice could you give to aspiring writers?



Writing is hard work. You have to enjoy being by yourself. You have to be self-motivating. And you have to be persistent.



I had told her about my experiences writing and that I recently received some rejections. This was her response:



This is a tough business, Courtney, and it's not for sissies, that's for sure.



FOR REAL!



James

Who do you prefer, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple and why?

Miss Marple is my favorite. Having grown up in a Southern family, with steel magnolias in the form of grandmothers, great-aunts, and aunts, I really enjoy characters like Miss Marple.

What advice could you give to aspiring writers?

Read, read, and read some more. Read good books and try to understand what makes them good, what makes them satisfying to readers. Read a few bad ones, too, so you can identify the mistakes you need to avoid in your own writing. Above all, write and hone your craft. Writers often find critique groups helpful. I get great feedback from my critique group.



Haines



Haines is definitely a favorite author of mine. I wrote a paper about her in grad school a few years ago and was able to speak to her then about her Sarah Booth Delaney Series. She was great, and we are Facebook buddies now. Pretty cool if you ask me.

I've read several of the Bones books, and they are incredibly different from The Seeker, tell me about writing dark and writing light. How is it different and why did you choose to do it?

 

I am a dark reader, for the most part. I grew up in a haunted house, and my mother and grandmother were wonderful storytellers. We would all gather up in Grandma's room, and Mama and Grandma would have all of us kids (there were 3) shivering under the covers. I was a huge Poe reader as a young person, and a ghost story or haunted house is irresistible to me. But I also love humor--and while I am terrible about scaring people, I am equally bad about playing practical jokes to make people laugh. So I think it's only natural that I enjoy both humor and fun and a little walk on the dark side now and again. My writing simply reflects my personal preferences, and I also believe that by allowing my creativity to run rampant, I keep myself fresh as a writer. If I could only write one kind of story each time, I'm afraid I would grow stale and boring.

Why did you choose to write under a pseudonym?

Part of it is a courtesy to my Bones readers. I never want a reader to buy a book expecting a particular kind of read and end up disappointed. The pseudonym (though we never tried to keep it secret that R.B. Chesterton is me) is a signal – hey, this is different. Look before you leap. And also there is a prejudice that women can't write scary, so I took initials. My book is "gentle" horror, or what might be termed "British" horror. It isn't bloody or gory (not my cup of tea), but it is creepy. 

So, like I said, SUPER COOL opportunity. Anytime you have an opportunity like this, TAKE IT! You never know what you may learn.

 

I was iced in for days and had three wonderful books to read. Now, go out there and rub elbows with some famous people.

 

 

ABOUT THE BLOGGER



Courtney Warren is a writer for her local newspaper, as well as a graduate student at Hollins University where she is pursuing a degree in Children’s Literature. She has a bachelor’s degree from Delta State University, the home of the Fighting Okra (which she is incredibly proud of). She loves to read just about anything placed on the shelves but has a special place in her heart for the Harry Potter series.

When she is not writing about herself in third person, she loves to write stories about middle schoolers with spunky attitudes who intend to save the world, as well as drinking Earl Grey tea from a very prissy teacup.



Check out her blog, Tea, the Spirit, & a Pen.

Murder Mystery Author: Lisa M. Cronkhite

With danger, intrigue, and bloody messages on mirrors, Deep in the Meadows by Lisa  M. Cronkhite is a mystery sure to chill you. Here's a blurb for this murder mystery releasing on January 31, 2014:

All Bee wanted was to fit in somewhere, to pick up the pieces after the abrupt loss of her big brother, Jimmy. Now, almost a year later, Bee is feeling Jimmy’s presence more than ever. As Bee starts to unravel her brother’s secret about the night he never came home, she realizes Jimmy’s death may not have been an accident after all.

We asked Lisa to stop by and answer some questions about herself, her writing, and her latest book.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A movie star, of course! (Aiming a little high, I know.) But after being in the “poor readers” group for years and doing horribly every time I read out loud, I realized I wouldn’t make it as an actor.

When did you start writing?

I journaled in high school, but stopped abruptly. Then after I was diagnosed bipolar in 2004, my therapist suggested it as a coping skill. I always wound up writing poetry—deep, dark twisted poetry. I showed a poem to someone, and they suggested I submit it to a magazine. I did and got accepted right away. So I became addicted to getting “accepted.” But after so many, I yearned for more of a challenge. I took a writing course at the Institute of Children’s Literature and fell in love with it. But I still wrote all over the place, writing from children’s to adult horror stories. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I found my young adult voice—the strongest voice within me.

In school what were your best and worst moments?

Unfortunately, I had a lot more “worst” moments than best. I was bullied 7th grade till sophomore year, and then things slowly started tapering down. All the best moments I had were with my boyfriend, now my loving husband. Believe me, we had our hard times too, but he always remained by my side—the ultimate friend.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

Every moment I had to read out loud. Seriously the most embarrassing moments of my life.

What advice do you wish you could give to your younger self?

Try not be so dependent on others.

What hobbies and interests do you have?

My hobby was and still is writing, which I kinda took to the extreme. My interests? I’m an ID Network addict. Need I say more?

What made you write Bee’s story?

This is the worst fear for any family -- to suffer through a loss of a loved one. It amazes me how people can get through it. I think writing it was more of a purge than anything. But ultimately I will never completely wipe those fears away. No one will ever really understand it unless they’ve been through it. This was just my way of trying to understand the complexity of it all.

Do the characters in the book have any connection with your real life?

Absolutely. Jimmy is very much like my son. He’s been playing hockey since he was 5 (on skates at 3), and he’s going on 20 now and he still plays to this day. And Bee and her father’s relationship is a lot like my daughter and my husband. She’s definitely daddy’s little girl, and I think the relationship between Bee and her father is the strongest presence in the book. As for the mother, I’ve had firsthand bipolar episodes, and some of the material in the book isn’t fiction.

What is one thing you hope readers will take away from your book?

Cherish the ones you love, because they’re not always going be there.

Can you give us an idea of your writing process?

I start writing off the top of my head until I can’t anymore. Then I reread what I have, and it sparks up again. If I get really stuck, I sometimes do a brief outline (but I never stick to it, but sometimes it does help.) I have this fetish of writing something, then printing it out, rereading it, and editing that way. Big mess, I know, but it helps me look at it differently—literally.

Which authors have influenced your work?

Anne Rice, most definitely. I still argue with my husband that the Queen of the Damned book was much better than the movie. It just irks me every time because he didn’t even read the book, ha. But I think of all authors, I must pay homage to my girl, Carol Goodman. The first book I’ve read of hers was The Lake of Dead Languages. I read it in 3 days. It was the first book I had ever read that fast. As I mentioned I was always a poor reader, but when I opened that book, she opened my eyes to a whole new world. She’s has the most breathtaking prose out there.

 Any tips for new writers?

Join a critique group, number one thing. Places like AbsoluteWrite.com or WritingForums.org are always good. Test the waters in other genres if you think the one you’re in now isn’t working. Find your true writing voice. Again, test the waters, try adult, young adult, middle grade, etc. But I think critiquing other’s work and getting feedback on your own is vital to the writing process. This is a win-win situation. You get to help others and will get better with your own work and make friends too. 

 Any tips for more experienced writers?

Keep writing and doing your thing. Keep producing work. And always, always keep your submissions active. Please don’t ever stop submitting. Do a very thorough research on the ones you’re submitting to. Check Preditors & Editors, Bewares and Background Checks on AbsoluteWrite.

If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?

1. I wish (and hope) my kids will live very long, happy, healthy and prosperous lives.
2. I wish (and hope) we could move to the West Coast one day.
3. I wish I could be a cat hoarder and have at least 30 cats (but no chance of that).

What is something most people don't know about you?
I hate watermelon.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

Florida

Have you ever climbed into or out of a window?

Every time I forgot my keys, I had to—which was often.

Where can readers find out more about you?

At my blog

Cover Reveal: Deep in the Meadows

Lisa M. Cronkhite's mystery is guaranteed to haunt you the way the death of Bianca “Bee” Thompson’s brother, Jimmy, haunts her.

It's been ten months since the car accident that took Jimmy's life, but Bee still feels his presence lingering. And she still wonders: Was Jimmy’s death an accident?

Probing into the events on the night of Jimmy’s death, Bee hears strange voices. The voices lead her to a blood-splattered room, a terrifying threat, and a deadly trap. Is Bee on the trail of her brother’s murderer, or is she entangled in a totally different and much more diabolical plot?

Watch for DEEP IN THE MEADOWS. Coming in January 2014.

To be sure to get your copy, you can pre-order now from the Leap Bookstore.