Author Interview – Bette Lee Crosby

What is your favorite place in the entire world? I must say, I love the sun, warm weather and palm trees of Florida and I am fortunate enough to live here, but I would love to spend a month or two in Paris. We were there two years ago and it was enchanting.

When and why did you begin writing? I started writing fiction about twelve years ago. Prior to that I was in advertising and wrote for business. I transitioned to fiction because I have a love for storytelling. Making the change was quite dramatic since the writing styles are so different, but I’ve not for one second regretted my decision.

How has your upbringing influenced your writing? Although I spent much of my childhood in New Jersey, my parents were from the South. Hearing the words of my parents, aunts and uncles in my ear all my life has enabled me to not only write in a southern voice, but to also think as a Southerner. I think that’s what makes my Southern characters come to life as vividly as they do.

Have you ever had writer’s block? If so what do you do about it? Yes, I have. Sometimes it comes as a blank computer screen looking back at you; other times it shows its ugly face as ordinary words that do nothing for the story.  I have learned that when it happens, the best thing to do is leave the computer and go for a walk, play with the dog, or have a cup of tea. Usually five minutes after I am away from the computer, I have a clear vision of where the story needs to go.

Spare Change is an Amazon #1 Bestseller in historical fiction, will you write other books in this genre? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I am now working on what will be a sequel to Spare Change. This is a first for me; all of my previously published novels have been stand-alone books. But with Spare Change, so many readers suggested a sequel and I loved the thought because I wasn’t ready to let go of the characters in that book.

Is there a message in this book that you want readers to grasp? Yes, I’d like them to close the book with the understanding that the best thing in your life can sometimes be hidden under a big pile of troubles.

How did you come up with the title? I believe the title of a book is almost always hidden somewhere in the story, in a poignant thought that suddenly takes on a greater than life meaning and becomes the title of the book.

Reviewer’s Choice 2012 Award Winner! In a story that’s been compared to John Grisham’s The Client, eleven year-old Ethan Allen Doyle has witnessed a brutal murder and now the boy is running for his life. In the time-tested tradition of Southern Fiction, Crosby unveils the darkest side of human nature and then rewards her readers with a beautiful tale of love, loss and unexpected gifts.

Olivia Westerly is the only person Ethan Allen can trust, and he’s not too sure he can trust her. She’s got no love of children and a truckload of superstitions–one of them is the belief that eleven is the unluckiest number on earth. Olivia avoided marriage for almost forty years. But when Charlie Doyle happened along, he was simply too wonderful to resist. Now she’s a widow with an eleven-year-old boy claiming to be her grandson.

With a foul mouth, dark secrets and heavily guarded emotions, Ethan Allen Doyle is not an easy child to like. He was counting on the grandpa he’d never met for a place to hide, but now that plan is shot to blazes because the grandpa’s dead too. He’s got seven dollars and twenty-six cents, his mama’s will for staying alive, and Dog. But none of those things are gonna help if Scooter Cobb finds him.

Winner of Five Literary Awards,BookBundlz Finalist, Voted Goodreads Best Unknown Fiction, FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal Finalist

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Literary Fiction

Rating – PG13

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Connect with Bette Lee Crosby on Facebook & Twitter & GoodReads

Orangeberry Book of the Day - The Mountain City Bronzes by Madeleine McLaughlin

The Mountain City of Bronzes

by Madeleine McLaughlin

I tap my head and wonder how could jail have been so much fun when I was a child? Back then, I remember noticing only good things behind the solid stone walls where my dad worked. Those idyllic times in our small North BC community shine with magic in my mind. Not like the vast, evil prisons I visit in the metropolises I now live in. Following Dad's path into prison guarding, I still learn from experience how criminals take advantage of each other's inadequacies and how much violence resounds through the walls.

Yet I'll never forget those years I spent with my dad in his jail, having a ball. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the cool stone walls against my hands...

The jail was a great refuge in June, but even in the winter, I found it pleasant to play in. There was so much fun imagining the structure when it was full, back in the gold rush. I could almost hear the walls and floors resounding to the voices of the thousands of lawless men that lived back then. In the large, empty vastness of our jail, I loved pretending I needed to find escape routes.

One day after tromping through the halls for an hour, I found a locked door.

Why is it shut tight? What is behind that door? I pounded and twiddled the lock until my hands turned red, but it was large and solid. I even once tried a bit of lock picking, but ran away when I considered how criminal my actions were.

I just couldn't bring myself to break the law and lose Dad's respect. It wasn't even possible for me to miss a day hanging about, as I just wished to be with him. Every day after school, I rushed to see my dad, the jailer for our community. My feet would bang along the path I had beaten down between the school and the jail. I needed to be able to hear his laughter when my breath puffed after landing on those granite legs, as he always let his good boy do.

Even in my struggles over homework, Dad laughed. Especially when he caught me rushing through my loathsome sums. His gentle heart allowed a boy the freedom to be imperfect. When all was done, I played as I pleased.

When paperwork about the jail took Dad's time, I was banned from the office. Exploring the narrow corridors became a favorite pastime as I leaped and smashed the stone walls, proving how tough a mere boy could be. My eyes widened at each corner because mad trappers lurked in my imagination. Of course, as the hero of my own stories, every confrontation became a victory for me. In my dreams, Dad congratulated me, and I became a big man like him. At the end of my play, I wound up in the same place. The door that was always locked.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Horror

Rating – PG

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Connect with Madeleine McLaughlin on Facebook & Twitter

Orangeberry Book Tours – The Woodpecker Menace by Ted Olinger

The Key Peninsula floats quietly through time in Puget Sound but exists more like an island in the hearts of her residents. Descendants of the first peoples and pioneers mingle with newcomers washed ashore from distant cities in these stories of small town life in a community too small to have a town.

Young homeowners grapple with the depredations of heartsick woodpeckers. Anarchist loggers nail indignant poems to roadside trees. Shamanic gardeners work to heal a damaged world one lawn at a time. Deceptively simple stories with deep feeling.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Fiction / Short Stories

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Connect with Ted Olinger on Facebook

Website http://www.woodpeckermenace.com/

Orangeberry Newbie - Time and Space by Shireen Jeejeebhoy

Time is kidnapped by three boys from the future, then dumped in the future past to die. She finds shelter with a mysterious man whose name is Space, and she must either adapt or find her way home before the boys catch her and dispose of her forever.

“I am reading Time and Space by @ShireenJ and loving it! What a great writer!” – @Mariam_Kobras, 26 May 2013

—–

Time is turning 40. But as she does every day of the week, she is on her way to her safe, boring job in the city, never thinking she is about to be yanked into a different space and time. Three boys grab her in broad daylight, pull her into a shiny cube, and take her to their present: a lab in future Toronto. Their prof is not amused. The boys had promised never again to kidnap people from the past, he reminds them. He orders them to leave her where they took the others: her future, their past. The Nasty Time, they call it.

But while they leave her alone in order to prep the cube, bikini girl slips in, instructs Time against her will on how to build a time machine to get back home, and hides just as the boys and prof return. But it’s all gibberish to Time, and she doesn’t want to learn anything about time travel . . . until the boys dump her in The Nasty Time. It’s 2411. She’s still turning 40. She wants to go home. But she can only do so if she learns to believe in herself.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords & Kobo

Genre – Science Fiction / Time Travel

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Connect with Shireen Jeejeebhoy on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://jeejeebhoy.ca/

Orangeberry Book of the Day - Gabriela and the Widow by Jack Remick

Chapter One

And She Left the Dying World

The year the war ended, Gabriela led her sick mother out of Tepeñixtlahuaca. The bones of the villagers still had meat on them then, and the hearths still had fire in them, but the retreating soldiers had chased away the skinny dogs and burned the houses. Scattered in the jungle, the bodies of young women—always the first to pay—had been left to rot. The young men had been killed or turned into soldiers who had, in their own time, committed atrocities.

The path down off the mountain to Paso de la Reina was stony and hard. The journey took eight hours. Gabriela had walked it only three times in her fourteen years, but this time she had the feeling that it would not end well because every few meters along the way, she caught sight of jungle toads staring at her. They were giants, their gray-green bodies covered with warts, their bellies white as cotton. One of them flicked his tongue at Gabriela. When she saw a toad eating a small bird she knew that her mother would not live to see the doctor in Jamiltepec.

At the edge of Paso de la Reina, in sight of the huts and houses and the Rio Verde, her mother begged for a longer rest. Gabriela sat her on a large stone alongside the path in the evening light and there her mother died.

With no one to help her and no one to keep her dead mother company or tell her what to do, Gabriela waited on the path until morning. The men of Paso de la Reina went to work in the fields and the women, on their way to chores, stopped to tell her that she was in luck: the priest—who came once a year to baptize babies, to marry the young, to bless the already interred and to shrive the dying—was in the village.

The priest came and blessed the dead mother. Handing Gabriela a stake, he told her to bury her mother in the red earth beside the path.

With the stake she dug a grave. Not a deep grave but deep enough. She wrapped her mother in the two handwoven huipiles, one dyed deep blue, the other crimson—the only objects her mother had salvaged from the ruins—and buried the body.

At fourteen, she was alone. Her village no longer existed. Her mother was dead. Her murdered father had left a Bible that the soldiers had torn apart, burned, then pissed on, along with a small cache of coins that the soldiers stole before leaving the village to the dead. She was alone and she did not know what to do and she had no place to go.

The priest, a man weary of death but not unhappy to send souls to heaven, told Gabriela that God would provide for her.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Jack Remick on Twitter

Website http://jackremick.com/

Orangeberry Book of the Day - Living Backwards by Tracy Sweeney (Excerpt)

CHAPTER 1 - Jillian

I learned an important life lesson at Carrie Picalow’s slumber party when I was just ten-years-old: Horror movies are awesome…until it’s time to go to sleep. Sure they’re fun for two hours while you scream with your friends, but the following eight hours spent squeezing your eyes shut and attempting to fall asleep are torture. I made a vow to stay away from horror movies from there on out, but it never really worked. If I knew there was a scary movie on, I’d flip by the channel to get a peek. If I felt particularly brave, I’d stop and watch for a few minutes with my fingers partially covering my eyes. Even though I knew I shouldn’t—even though I knew I’d be up all night staring at my closet convincing myself that there wasn’t a scary little girl or a deranged clown inside—I’d watch. I couldn’t stop myself. And just as I would have predicted, I’d spend the rest of the night huddled under my covers.

I got the same feeling every time I stared across the room at the computer on my desk. When I’d sit down and open up my browser, I wouldn’t just check my email. I wouldn’t check the weather or the local headlines either. No. Even though I knew I shouldn’t—even though I knew it would only irritate me—I’d do something worse than watching a horror movie. I’d log onto Facebook.

Thanks to the so-called geniuses behind Facebook, suddenly people felt compelled to broadcast every thought, idea or mindless observation in their head on a minute-by-minute basis. But the worst part was that I couldn’t look away. It probably wouldn’t bother me as much if I actually knew any of the people complaining about having to go to work or needing their morning coffee. I didn’t. Not really. My timeline was full of people whose names I knew—kids who went to my high school and lived in my town—but I wouldn’t call them friends. Sure, I remembered that I had chemistry with that guy, and lived down the street from that girl, but I didn’t hang out with them. Or anyone really. Now, over ten years later, I knew every detail of their lives.

Last week, Tyler Burroughs tagged our whole Reynolds High School class in his Twenty-Five Things About Me post. I couldn’t understand why he thought I’d be interested. I hadn’t seen Tyler in over a decade and I barely knew him then, so I could say without a doubt that I didn’t care that he was still a terrible driver and almost lost his license twice. I didn’t care that he went to Comic-Con and met Joss Whedon in the men’s room. Unless Joss was whipping out long lost Buffy footage, it didn’t interest me. But for some reason, I kept coming back. Facebook had become the horror movie I was destined to watch every day of my life.

I blame my best friend Danielle who practically forced me into creating a profile. “Everyone is on Facebook, Jillian,” she informed me. “Even my papa. Don’t you want to be cooler than my papa?”

I couldn’t argue with that logic so I gave in and joined the world of social networking. Now thanks to Danielle, I was able to view people I barely knew discuss high school parties I hadn’t been invited to, dances I’d never attended and places I’d never been.

It really wasn’t her fault. High school was different for Danielle. We went to the same school, but we didn’t exactly run in the same circles back then. She was popular and outgoing, and I was…well…mute.

Looking back now, I didn’t have a lot in common with that girl anymore. People change. And in my case, for the better, I think. I left the shy me back in the school library, eating lunch alone and chatting with the librarian because everything was different once I left Reynolds, Washington, for New York City.

It was during Summer Freshman Orientation at NYU that I ran into Danielle. Literally. I was walking through the quad daydreaming when I nearly plowed over what I thought was a small child. My backpack and papers went flying in the air, and I landed flat on my ass.

“Jillian Cross!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here? How did I not know you were going to NYU?”

I winced from the pain in my behind and looked up into the pale blue eyes of Danielle Powers. Danielle was someone I had occasionally said hi to, but it was never much more than that. She was in my World Lit class senior year, she was exceptionally perky, and after bouncing off her, ridiculously sturdy for such a small little thing. With her button nose and short, stylish bob, she reminded me more of a cartoon character than an actual person.

“Danielle, wow,” I stammered, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I didn’t know anyone else from Reynolds would be here.”

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Chick Lit

Rating – PG13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Tracy Sweeney on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.tracysweeney.net/

Orangeberry Book Tours - June Specials & Ongoing G!veaways

All special offers are valid on a first come first serve basis until Sunday, 30th June 2013 (midnight GMT time)

 

ALL 3 (THREE) of the Orangeberry packages listed below for only $55 (Usual price is $160.00)

 

1. ORANGEBERRY PAINT THE TOWN is a 15-day book tour. It consists of 12 blog stops, 1 Twitter View and 2 Twitter Blasts. (Usual price is $50.00)

 

2. ORANGEBERRY SPREAD ME sees to it that you and your book receive long-term exposure on the web with 20 blog stops in 20 weeks. (Usual price is $100.00)

 

3. ORANGEBERRY BOOK EXPO will be held in August 2013. Your book cover will be included for the entire duration of the expo. More details about the expo can be found HERE.  (Usual price is $9.99)

 

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1.Upon sign-up you will receive a starter kit with more details about your guest posts and interview questions.

2. Please sign up HERE

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

ALL 5 (FIVE) of the Orangeberry packages listed below for only $100 (Usual price is $280.00)

 

1. ORANGEBERRY SOCIAL BUTTERFLY is a mini book tour (7 days). It consists of 5 blog stops, 1 Twitter View and 1 Twitter Blast. (Usual price is $30.00)

 

2. ORANGEBERRY FLY AWAY WITH ME works for those who would like an “online street team” campaign. More than 50 bloggers will feature your book cover on their blogs and you will receive banner artwork for a FB page . (Usual price is $199.99)

 

3. ORANGEBERRY SPREAD ME sees to it that you and your book receive long-term exposure on the web with 10 blog stops in 10 weeks. (Usual price is $50.00)

 

4. ORANGEBERRY BOOK EXPO will be held in August 2013. Your book cover will be included for the entire duration of the expo. More details about the expo can be found HERE.  (Usual price is $9.99)

 

5. BOOKBUZZR subscription for one month (Author Pro) which includes 3,000 cover views. (Usual price is $12.99)

 

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1.Upon sign-up you will receive a starter kit with more details about your guest posts and interview questions.

2. Please sign up HERE

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

Choose from EITHER Orangeberry Book of the Day or Orangeberry Blast Off

 

ORANGEBERRY BOOK OF THE DAY is a sweet tool if you want your book to appear on the same day on at least 50 different blogs, have social media presence and be given full celebrity status. This is ideal for a book launch or if you’re launching a second book for your series.

What will it cost you? It costs $25.00 (Usual price is $49.99) ***This promotion does NOT include a giveaway, if you would like to include a giveaway, please look below for Orangeberry Blast Off.

 

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1. Please sign up HERE

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

OR

ORANGEBERRY BLAST OFF is a book blast campaign and is ideal for new releases or for getting the word out about your current book.

What will you receive? At least 50 bloggers will feature a promotional post about your book on one single day. This promotion includes a giveaway. All of June, no set up fee will be charged.

Giveaways include Amazon.com gift cards or cash prizes and can range from $50 to $199 (for a Kindle Fire)

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1.Upon sign-up you will receive a starter kit with more details.

2. Please sign up HERE

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

The ORANGEBERRY BOOKSTORE  is open to all authors, books and genres.

What will you receive? This site receives approximately 5,000 views a month so your book will be placed within reach of book lovers, bloggers and other authors.

What does it look like? All books are listed HERE.

What will it cost you? It costs $29.99 for a whole year. Yes, that's $2.50 a month.

Payment is exclusively via PayPal.

1. Please also send us your book cover  (in jpeg or png). Type email subject as "OrangeberryBookstore".

2. Please sign up HERE

Next available date - within 3 to 5 business days.

More questions? Email us at info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

(All proceeds will go towards the Orangeberry Goodie Bag, advertising & site maintenance)

The 2013 Orangeberry Virtual Book Expo  will be held from 1st August to 31st August 2013.

 

Guest 'speakers' will be invited to share on their own writing experiences, the challenges of the publishing industry and the future of ebooks.

Share the event on Twitter with this hashtag #OBExpo

 

Just like a live book expo, the event will open with readers being treated to door gifts. Each day, there will be one guest speaker and other giveaways. Questions will be held via Twitter or a separate forum . If the speaker is an author, readers can also request for a book signing.

Authors, bloggers and service providers are more than welcome to participate in this event. For authors, all genres are welcome but you will have to be specific about your rating (G, PG, PG13).

More guest Speakers will be advised at a later date.

1. Pavarti K Tyler, Founder of Fighting Monkey Press & Marketing Director at Novel Publicity

2. Terri Giuliano Long, Award-winning & Best-selling author of In Leah's Wake

3. Dr. Heather Manley

4. Coral Russell

All sponsorship received from ‘booth’ sales will go towards giveaways, door gifts, advertising and site maintenance.

 

Need more info? Please email us: info AT orangeberrybooktours DOT com

If you have enough info, please:

1. View a sample ‘booth’ and pick your 'booth' size from HERE

2. Fill up the form HERE

3. Proceed to the PayPal page HERE.

OB1 (800 x 200) - You can submit the artwork yourself, or we will do it for you. Banner will link to a page on the OB website where the author can place anything and everything. You can showcase a book trailer, a book excerpt, a book cover and inks to their Amazon page or website. Authors will also need to submit an author interview and a guest post which will be featured on 15 different blogs throughout the entire event. Ideal for authors with more than one book or service providers who have multiple products.

This will cost you $49.99 (that’s about $3.33 a day).

OB2 (400 x 200) – You can submit the artwork yourself, or we will do it for you.  Banner will link to a page on the OB site, which will showcase a book feature and three social media links or Amazon pages. Author will also have to submit an author interview, which will be featured on 5 different blogs throughout the entire event.

This will cost you $29.99 (that’s about $1.67 a day)

OB3 (200 x 200) – You can submit the artwork yourself, or we will do it for you.  Button  will link to author’s blog / website or Amazon page. Ideal for authors and bloggers. Blog hosts who have worked with Orangeberry on a regular basis (minimum 10 tours with no late / missed posts) will automatically receive a slot.

This will cost you $19.99 (that’s about $1.00 a day)

OB4 (130 x 200) – Please submit your book cover which will link to your Amazon / Smashwords page.

This will cost you $9.99 (that’s about $0.03 a day)

*****

Terms & Conditions

1. We reserve the right to reject any author, blogger or service provider. As much as we advocate freedom of expression, we will not accept books / blogs that promote pornography, bestiality, incest or kiddie porn.

2. We will not take any responsibility for communications between a customer and a sponsor. Each service provider has different terms & conditions, it is your responsibility to read these before making a purchase.

3. All sponsorship received is non-refundable.

Ongoing Giveaways

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