Terry Ambrose: Moving So Fast You Can Barely See Him.

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I met Terry for the first time on Saturday, April 20th at the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Well, actually, we met at the Vagabond Inn parking lot a couple of blocks from the USC campus, so that I could load his books and paraphernalia into my car. He didn’t, however, seem like a stranger. We’d been corresponding for weeks prior to the event, brainstorming online and discussing with our co-authors the highest and best use for our booth space. Terry is an easy guy to know right away.

Terry Ambrose

Terry has two mysteries already in print. I took the time to read his cozy-ish PHOTO FINISH prior to the event, because I wanted to know something about each of the other MURDER, WE WROTE authors. PHOTO FINISH is a great book, set in a place I love:  Hawaii. His characters are at once funny, entertaining and realistic. (Like it or not, Terry, I pictured Wilson McKenna as kind of an aging Jim Rockford…)

But back to Terry. I expected him in a Hawaiian shirt, which he wasn’t wearing. “I brought one,” he assured me.

Terry is good at one-on-one selling in the booth. He is, after all, the best person to describe his stories, hooking readers with promises of “twists and turns” – certainly true about his mysteries. Terry also doesn’t shy away from promoting others around him, a fact that endears him to his co-booth-sharers.

Just before our grand weekend at USC, Terry exhibited at the Tucson Festival of Books, where folks were lined up at his booth before he was even unpacked. Despite the snow flurries in Southern Arizona, his books flew off the table.

They say you should write what you know, and Terry does. His protag McKenna is an ex-skip-tracer [a person who locates another person’s whereabouts for any number of purposes] and so is Terry! These guys are actually quasi-detectives who use the same tactics as their big brother P.I.’s. Terry advises:   “My years of chasing deadbeats taught me many valuable life lessons such as—always keep your car in the garage.”

Terry’s latest release is License to Lie, already nearing the top of my nightstand stack. In addition to writing for Examiner.com, Terry is a member of Arizona Mystery Writers and Sisters in Crime and has run his own web design business since 2003. Busy guy, great author and all around super person. IF you can get him to slow down for a minute!

 

Visit Terry at his website, and Facebook . He Tweets at @suspense_writer

This is the second in a series of Murder, We Wrote author spotlights. 

At Long Last: New Release!

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PBingham-Print-Final-WebI began Unmasking Paulie Bingham at least three years ago, possibly four. I finished it quickly then put it away. I wasn’t sure there was a market for this sort of off-beat love story about a confused, romantic, wounded young man with serious questions about love and sexuality. About a hurting, lonely but optimistic young woman who couldn’t help but fall in love, even if it meant giving up conventionality and security. Paulie and Kate’s tale is not terribly uncommon but rarely written.

Not for everyone. But certainly for some.

Here’s what you need to know about this book:  it’s about relationships; uncertainty; love between men and women, men and men, women and women, although it contains no graphic sex; drug abuse, bad decisions and heartache. But it’s also about joy, acceptance, bonds and soulmates; love that transcends genders, time and distance.

Did I mention there is a murder? An arrest? A trial?

Unmasking Paulie Bingham ends at just the right place to take a breath and think about what’s happened, and whether or not you care about what will happen to Paulie next. That next begins with For the Love of Katrina Bingham, Part 2 of the Paulie & Kate series, due out in September.

Paulie loves Kate, and you will love Paulie.

Buy it for your Kindle and Kindle apps:  Paulie’s Amazon Page

 

 

Pomp and Circumstance

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GraduateYesterday, I graduated from College of the Canyons with the class of 2013. If you take time to read the statistics, you’ll find that graduating students ranged from age 17 to 68, a span of 51 years. Interesting, because I started (what was then called) junior college at age 18 and have finished at age 59.

Forty-two years. When I completed the requirements for my Associate’s Degree back in December, the counselor asked if I would be “walking” at the once-a-year graduation ceremony in May. Without a moment’s hesitation I confirmed that yes, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I mean, after all this time, all this effort, I deserve to don that cap and gown and be recognized, right? But as the days grew closer to my big event, I began to feel a vague uneasiness. It was the same kind of discomfort I felt the first time I stepped into a classroom at COC, taking a seat amongst a room full of late-teens and early-twenties. As I joined that group of 600+ students in the Aliso quad, what would I do? To whom would I talk, gab with, excitedly anticipating the grand walk down the concrete steps into the Honor Grove? Who would tell me if my cap was on straight? Laugh with me at the hysterical goofiness of my fellow classmates?

coc053113I needn’t have worried. A young woman named Brandi happened to stand close by and we chatted. She seemed to want someone to stand beside as well, so we moved around together, deciding where the best place would be. We exchanged that minor bit of info, her major, mine, plans after COC, etc. She wasn’t a day over twenty, if that. But she was friendly, kind and also anticipatory. We sat together during the graduation and exchanged jokes about the speeches, the weather, the other students. Thank you, Brandi, for not caring that I finished high school twenty-some years before you were born. You are a charming girl and I wish you the best.

Three memorable—dare I say profound?—statements were made to me yesterday that really struck me. The first was spoken as I crossed the stage and was met by Chancellor Diane Van Hook as she took my hand in congratulations. I squeezed her hand, emotional, thrilled, accomplished, and I thanked her “so much.” I didn’t say what for, assuming it was obvious; Chancellor Van Hook embodies all that is great about College of the Canyons, and I hold her in the highest esteem. She made the school what it is today, and I am enormously grateful. But she tilted her head down and smiled and said, “No, you shouldn’t be thanking us. You’re the one who accomplished this. We should be thanking you.” Wow.

My two sons were in the audience, along with my husband, my sister and another family friend, all of whom had taken the day off from work to see me graduate. One of my sons stayed just until after I received my faux diploma, then he had to go on to work in Glendale. I texted him from my phone, thanking him for coming. He texted back to me, “I’m proud of you!” Wow. Imagine, my child is proud of me.

After all the hoopla had passed, we traveled to my favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. I waxed sentimental in the back seat with my sis, saying how I wished our mom and dad could have seen me. I joked about my lengthy college career. My sister nodded, then said, “Today you put a period on the sentence you began speaking forty-two years ago.” I looked at her in awe. “Where’d you get that? Reader’s Digest?” She just shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seemed right.” Damn. (We are some talented writers, eh?)

What does being a college graduate mean to me? Many things. One, I finished something I started. An important something. I’ve been deemed by a great school to have a well-rounded education in a subject I enjoy. One I live. I’ve learned lots of new stuff, made some new friends, taught others, shared joy. I’ve been a positive example to others. I’ve proven that you can go back, that there is always more to do, to see, to learn.

COC is like a big family. I’ve been invited back. I can still take classes, sit in on film screenings, teach in the tutorial lab, attend programs and seminars. Somehow, I think I will still find myself there from time to time, despite the fact that my tassel has move to the left side of my forehead.

Same Story, Same… Story…

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How many times have you started reading a new book with eager anticipation, only to discover by around page 8 that it’s the same-old, same-old storyline? And yet, these books sell, and sell, and sell. You know what they say, that there are no new stories, only new ways of telling them. Yet as I read through the loglines, the back cover blurbs, the short synopses, I think… haven’t I already read this book? Instead of Blake and Brooke, it was Cal and Kate; one took place in New York, the other in L.A. He was either a financier or a corporate mogul, and she varied between a savvy business owner and a compassionate social worker. They were in bed by page 30 and angry with each other by page 100. They were walking wounded, made stupid decisions, faced unexpected outside traumas and ultimately made up. Welcome to Romance Novels 101.

Of course I’ve over-simplified and generalized and stereotypified. But honestly, it’s more true than not that the elements are all there. Clearly, there’s still—always?—a market for these tried-and-true plots. So what happens when an author flips out and writes something really different? Is love still love if it happens in an unconventional setting… between off-the-wall characters… when all bets are off about the future?

PBingham-Print-Final-Web

I wasn’t thinking about any of that when I wrote Unmasking Paulie Bingham, my erstwhile “contemporary alternative romance” due out this summer. I wasn’t thinking about anything, really. I was just writing. Writing about a strange [read: unstereotypical] couple who find love and struggle to keep it. They meet with unusual challenges and get hurt and do dumb things. They fight and make up. Oh, wait… this is sounding just like the “every” book I described above! Except that… this sweet couple faces one challenge you don’t usually find in those typical romance books. So maybe—just maybe—Paulie Bingham’s unique story will inspire a crooked smile and a happy sigh.

 

Coming this Summer from Beacon Street Books.

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be… Gayle Carline

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Gayle Carline is a fabulous author and my friend.


GayleGayle loves horses and is not even afraid of them. Not even one bit. She doesn’t shudder at words like, “they can sense your fear, you know.” She even has a beautiful and smart equine by the name of Snoopy, who is also a published author. Snoopy and Gayle trade quips and anecdotes in the lunging arena.

Gayle has the most charming copper-colored eyebrows.

Gayle likens herself to Erma Bombeck. I think maybe she sometimes channels Erma. But really, Gayle’s talent is all her own and she only acknowledges Erma’s influence out of modesty. I mean, would Erma really have suggested the discovery of a severed hand in a freezer? No. That’s entirely Gayle’s funny, fertile, comedic wit. (And the hand was wearing a ring. Seriously.)

Gayle is so humble that she talks about herself in the third person. This way, she can’t be accused of bragging too much. I always laugh when I read of her daily antics, as if they are being reported by an unseen companion:  “Gayle Carline… is happy that her book is bouncing around on the charts AND that the rest of her Peri series are selling…”

Gayle has readers who like her so much, they show up at the book festival to see if she has anything new, which of course she does, because she is a REAL author who writes, every day, and always has something coming down the pike.

Gayle loves a good glass of wine. If I had to choose a bottle for her, I’d say Red, maybe.

Gayle wears a tiara. She’s earned every sparkly rhinestone.

Gayle is a former software geek. Really. But don’t ask her how to defrag your disk or how to write a PHP file; she will just smile and hand you THE HOT MESS, turned around, so that you can read the back cover blurb.

Gayle is currently a columnist for the Placentia News – Times. She writes very funny stuff about everyday life with her doting hubby, her brilliant son and her aforementioned writing pal, Snoopy.

Most importantly, Gayle is a generous friend and inspiring writer. Because there is so much more to her than I’ve shared, I hope you will visit one of her many cyber stomping grounds. You can start with http://GayleCarline.com, where she hangs out when she’s not tap-dancing around Facebook!

 

Gayle Carline is a member of MURDER, WE WROTE, a consortium of multi-published, independent California mystery authors currently appearing in the Southland. Watch for future bios on all of our “murderous” members!

LATFOB: An update

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We are about a month away from our big book festival! So thrilled to be rubbing shoulders with such wonderful mystery, romance and suspense authors. Just for fun, I put together this little poster, showing what I hope is the most recent cover of each authors’ books. Take a peek at these intriguing titles!

murderwewrote-2013-a copy

In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing a little bit about each of our outstanding authors, so check back!

Love Triangles: Who Needs Them?

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In celebration of my new Anne Carter Facebook home, we’re talking about what makes a good love triangle and what makes one hero more appealing than the other.

 

Love triangles. Who needs them? They just never end well, right? Oh but wait. It’s about the journey, not the destination! But who gets the girl? Is it the steadfast, loyal, true-blue solid guy or the tantalizing, too-sexy bad boy with the arresting green eyes? Aha. Opinions will differ. Should we vote?

We could vote; but unless we’re all considering the SAME two heroes, it won’t be fair. Hmm… I’m thinking a contest is in order!

Head on over there and enter your vote by “liking” the hero of your choice! Anne’s Facebook Page

Readers: How to @ LATFOB

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Going to the festival as a book reader? I have tips for you, too!!! Because really, we authors are also readers. We escape the booth and walk around looking at all the wonderful books as far as we can see. We struggle, because we need to be behind the table talking up our own books but we want to be out there admiring, thumbing through, turning over and plopping down the plastic for other peoples’ books.

Crowded: 2012 at USC

Crowded: 2012 at USC

 

So here’s how you do this. With a little preparation, you’ll have a great time and come home with exquisite reading material:

Arrive early. Parking is… a little challenging. There are buses, too, so if you take the time to do a little research, it could pay off royally. Driving down to USC from… uh… anywhere can be daunting, so know where you’re going before you get behind the wheel. Parking is $10.00.
Bring sustenance. Food is… a little expensive. April is normally warm, so bring bottled water and sunscreen. Hats are good.
Dress for comfort. Layer your clothes if the weather warrants. Walking shoes are a must.
Budget. Think about how much you want to spend, and expect to spend twice that much. Honestly, it happens! And while you’re thinking about how many books you’ll be toting home, also figure out how you’ll carry them. Some book devourers drag along those folding shopping carts. Others bring wheeled suitcases. Backpacks work, too. Booksellers may or may not have shopping bags.
Money! Bring some cash for those few vendors who are living in the dark ages. Most will take checks, and more are now accepting credit cards.
Get a map, so that you can mark booths you intend to return to. Better yet, buy the darned book when you see it the first time. And get it autographed!

 

Most important:  Come meet the authors of MURDER, WE WROTE! Booth number will be coming soon.

Keep up with our plans by visiting our Facebook page!

How To: LAT FOB @ USC

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For those of you into shorticons and abbreviations, this alphabet soup is the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California. (Whew; see why we shorten it?)

This will be my sixth or seventh year at this crazy, fabulous book event. With the popularity of small press and the influx of indie author/publishers, it’s a great place to pool resources in order to get in the door of an otherwise very pricey venue. This year, there will be NINE of us in the MURDER, WE WROTE booths, hawking all kinds of mysteries.

SAMSUNG

Authors:  Going to exhibit for the first time? Here are some tips to help you prepare for the weekend!

  • Promote in advance. Let people know, via blog, Facebook, Twitter—all the usual places—that you’re be there rubbing literary shoulders with such greats as [last year] Joseph Wambaugh, Anne Perry, Lee Goldberg, Gary Phillips, to name of few. When you get your booth number, broadcast it.
  • Acquire giveaways. Pens, bookmarks, notepads, any number of small, inexpensive promo items you can easily get into readers’ hands. Look for things that might tie in to your book(s).
  • Get a couple of cheap bookstands – Michael’s or even Wal-Mart has small stands that are sometimes sold as plate stands. Arrange your books attractively; go out in front and look at your spot, make sure it’s not so busy your visitors will go cross-eyed trying to see it all.
  • Think about money: will you accept checks? Cash? You’ll need change for those first few buyers who hand you a $20.00. Credit Card? Check out “The Square” or “GoPayment” online for details on small card devices that will attach to your smart phone.
  • Dress the part. You are not a visitor, a student, a street bum; look how you would expect a professional author to look. Promo t-shirt is okay, or even dressing as one of your characters. Inspire conversation!

Keep up with our plans by visiting our Facebook page!

Next up:  How to survive the event and even make money!