Connecting with Fellow Authors

Hello, writers and readers!

Can you believe it's already October? The summer just flew by, didn't it? We had a wonderful season here in Western NY. Plenty of good "swimming" days and one of the best growing seasons ever. I fed seven different families with my tomatoes and cukes this summer! The weather has been phenomenal, perfect for morning walks, where I snapped this photo of Jerulsalem Artichokes and wild purple asters. 

I'm working on my twenty-ninth book, book 13 in the LeGarde Mystery series. But it's going slowly. Sometimes I feel discouraged, but when I reach out to my author friends, things get better fast. ;o)

One of the best ways to feel connected with other writers is to share in the process of creation and to finish the cycle by reviewing your friends' work. 

Some of my closest writer pals and I swap chapters as we write them. We catch errors and provide feedback to each other as the stories develop. It's incredibly rewarding with well-chosen writing partners.

I also belong to a group of wonderful authors who swap books and post honest reviews for each other. Fortunately, each of the members was carefully selected by our leader and so far I've really enjoyed each title. 

I thought I'd share some of these books and reviews with you today. Sound good?

Happy reading and writing!

Aaron

Aaron Paul Lazar
USA Today Bestselling Author
www.lazarbooks.com

Reign of Fire by Casi McClean

Reign of Fire by USA Today bestselling author, Casi McClean, is the first book in the Deep State Mysteries series. Set in dazzling Washington DC, this fast paced mystery is also part political thriller, part steamy romance, and part paranormal.

I’m not going to rehash the plot, because you can easily read about it in the book description or in the many other reviews. I’d rather tell you what I enjoyed.

Several characters dominate the story, including the fiery protagonist, Emily Rose, dynamic detective Ashton Frasier, Emily's murdered twin sister Alyssa, who appears as a spirit, her amazing war veteran brother, Wyatt, and the brave Pets for Vets dog, Duke.

As always, although it wasn’t the primary theme in this story, I absolutely love the elements of the wounded warrior and the dog who I’m hoping will become his best companion in the next books in the series.

I also really appreciated the deep sense of true patriotism shown by the author in her analysis of what’s gone wrong in government, why we need to return to our ideals as a nation, and how the “Deep State” has taken control of so many aspects of our lives purely for power and money. Many of the fundamental ideas discussed by the characters rang true to me and I cheered them on as they tried to “drain the swamp” and expose the sleazy politicians.

While there is a great deal of political theorizing and revelation going on, there are also many action-packed scenes that move the plot forward. My favorite scene was the sting set up between the heroes and the villain in a Washington park at night. The tension was high, the action was well-depicted, and the environment was beautifully described. I felt as if I were right beside Ash and Emily. I could feel the cool March breeze on my face, smell the cherry blossoms, and relate to the adrenaline shooting through the heroes’ veins.

Anyone who reads this first story in the series will want to continue to see what ungodly secrets our new heroic team discovers about our government. I, for one, will be cheering them on throughout the series!

www.casimclean.com

Overdose (Ash Suspense Thrillers with a Dash of Romance Book 3)

Overdose is the third volume in the “Ash Suspense Thrillers with a Dash of Romance” series. I’ve enjoyed all three books and must say this one was just as good if not even a tad better than the others!

Ash is a young college girl to whom terrible things happen, but she always comes through with guts and courage to survive, thrive, and get even with the villains. In this edition, Ash becomes a victim of a very powerful player, whose name I’ve withheld so as not to spoil the story for you!

The characters created by Ms. Poznansky are vivid and truly enjoyable. I especially love the dialog and relationship between Ash and her mother, otherwise known as “Ma.” We didn’t see much of Browny (her beloved dog) in this episode, but I’m sure he’ll be back for more in the future. Love the dog!

After surviving a harrowing ordeal in the last book, where she barely survived a horrible attack and ensuing coma, Ash now suffers from mysterious and frequent headaches with other bizarre symptoms. Buy the book and discover the nefarious plot behind her symptoms that has far-reaching consequences.

I read both the eBook and listened to the new audiobook, which I found extremely well done. The narrator was a pleasure to listen to.

I’ve always enjoyed Ms. Poznansky’s writing. It is smooth, lyrical, and original. Well done!

Highly recommended by Aaron Paul Lazar.

http://uviart.blogspot.com/

Dark of the Moon (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 9)

I’ve loved every one of the DeathSpeaker series, in spite of the fact that I don’t normally read this genre. I’m usually an “it’s all mysteries” kind of reader. But it’s the author I love, and her amazing ability to create addictive characters whose worlds become so real you truly think you’re there standing alongside Gideon Black and his family and friends.

In this book, Dark of the Moon, everything is racheted up tenfold! The action, the wild and colorful environments, the emotions…. Oh, the emotions! If you read the last heartbreaking edition, you’ll know what I mean.

Gideon is suffering from a terrible, black-hole kind of loss. His brother, Taeral, died in the last book to save Gideon’s life. This crusty, grumpy, wonderful, and also lovable guy was a huge loss, and I was MAD at Bateman for taking him away from us.

But in this book, well, let me say without spoiling things that Bateman has a chance at redemption.

The vivid descriptions of lands you could never imagine in your whole life, the ACTION (oh my gosh, the action was incredible), the nonstop suspense and the thrills were just out of this world. Well, much of it did happen “out of this world,” but really, no pun intended. ;o)

Give yourself a treat and read what may become your very favorite of all the great books in this series!

www.sonyabateman.wordpress.com

Revelations by Robert Sells

Revelations by Robert Sells captured me from page one. The story is full of suspense and doesn’t let up for a minute. I’m normally a “mysteries only” kind of reader, but I made an exception for this book as I’ve enjoyed many of Sells’ previous titles, including Reap the Whirlwind, another story that required incredible imagination. I found Revelations to be engrossing and immensely entertaining.

Robert Sells has a background teaching physics, and his knowledge is beautifully showcased in this book. Not only is he a man of science, but he’s also one heck of a writer.

I loved his ability to put together a story from multiple points of view set over the expanse of the entire nation. His characters jumped off the page, used “true to life” genuine dialog, and made you either root for them or jeer them as the story progressed. Being invested in the characters is the most important element for this reader. If you don’t care about them, you might as well stop reading!

You have to be a bit impervious to gore in certain sections, because the nature of a fight against alien insect-like creatures must, by needs, be brutal!

My favorite characters were by far scientist Aster Worthington and the army Ranger Brock Adamson, who was assigned to help protect her and beat the teeming hive of aliens living in the giant Dome. Loved the oppositional personalities (at first) and the surprising resultant relationship.

Well done, Mr. Sells!

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Coming Clean...and Queen.

Hello, friends!

For the past year I've been trying to gloss over what was happening to me when I posted. After all, who wants to hear about a writer who's too sick to write??? Sure, I mentioned a bit about the strange form of esophageal reflux I had (LPRD) but I really didn't share the whole truth. Now that I've had surgery and am feeling pretty darned good again, I thought I'd "come clean."

So, it's a long and complicated story, but I'll try to spare you the gory details. After one year, eight very specialized "specialists," a gazillion tests that were absolutely not fun, and multiple appointments every week, I'm finally getting back to my old self. Since last May I could barely walk to the mailbox and back without getting horribly out of breath and coughing up a storm. I was even breathless when I bent over to tie my shoes! Ack! And I could barely get out to the garden to pick my beautiful tomatoes. My flower beds and veggie garden sported four foot high weeds...a nightmare for the gardener in me. They put me on oxygen at night and tried to figure out why my O2 dropped to 75 every time I did any little thing. On top of that, work cut me to half time due to business pressures, and we have been seriously struggling ever since.     

 

Well, long story short, they found that although I have existing issues with scarring in the lungs, and I've always had big time asthma, the whole mess was exacerbated by tons of acid coming up from my stomach and going down into my lungs. So, I got fundoplication surgery ("toupet" variety, this is where they fix the esophagus/stomach interface to make the valve stronger) on April 3rd. I was back to work 3 weeks later, and now at 9 weeks later I'm so sore all over I can barely move, because I WEEDED my gardens for hours and hours every day this past weekend! Woo hoo! I know that's a weird thing to be happy about, but I was outside! I was in the sunlight and felt the fresh breeze on my skin! And guess what? In mid-May, I planted my garden full of tomatoes, kale, collards, squash, melons, cukes, beets, beans and more. ;o) Everything's doing great and we even had a few strawberries this week. The flower pix I'm inserting within here are all my morning walks through my flower beds - they have been the most lush I've ever seen this year. ;o)  

I honestly thought my gardening and writing days were over, which I'm sure contributed to the deep depression. Thank goodness, that's over.  

So, I guess you could say, I'm "back." And although last year I didn't have any energy or even care about writing much, now I've got the writing bug back and I'm planning the next Gus LeGarde mystery. I have ideas that are starting to gel, and some of them will be based a little bit on stuff that happened to me.  

No, Gus and his family won't be getting sick. My gosh, I've had enough of that! But I think my Chopin-lovin' guy is going to fall in love with some rock music that might surprise you. I'm tempted to tell you all about it, shall I? I know this article is already too long by conventional standards, but here goes.

When I was in college for engineering (1973-81) I basically tuned out modern day music. I turned back to classical, started playing my Chopin waltzes and mazurkas again, and went nuts for opera, finding and falling in love with the best tenors and sopranos. It goes without saying, Pavarotti was my all time favorite. My wife and I had loved rock and blues and folk in the sixties and early seventies. We went to all the concerts. We saw Led Zep in 1969, as well as tons of other "new" British bands who performed in Boston in tiny little clubs. Oh, we just loved The Doors, Stones, Beatles, Jeff Beck, J.Geils, PP&M, Rod Stewart, Traffic, and so many more cool bands. But we thought it all ended there and that "nothing" in modern day (translate that to 1973 and beyond) rock would ever, ever touch the beauty of the bands we already loved. 

Boy, were we wrong.  

Dale and I saw Bohemian Rhapsody a month ago. We had known absolutely nothing about the band Queen. Nothing! Okay, so a few songs like "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You" were familiar from television, etc. But we both were absolutely seriously and fundamentally moved by that film, and immediately watched the live concert, then bought the greatest hits album. Now I play these tunes EVERY SINGLE day on my way to work, and while I'm weeding outside, and while on the treadmill, etc. My wife is doing the same and blasts them from our apple TVs. We are so hooked And I'm just amazed at how incredible the musicianship is, including the beautiful ballads, complex harmonies, arpeggios that make my spirit soar, and of course, the driving beat. Wow. Now we discovered (yes, we were absolutely like aliens coming down to earth for the first time in this regard!) that there's another "greatest hits II" album and a ton of individual albums as well. Can't wait to explore them all.

Just imagine Gus tooling down the country roads with hard rock blasting out of his car windows. I can just see the looks on his students' faces as he pulls into the school parking lot. Heh heh.  

What else will happen in this new book? What about Sig and Lily, who are pregnant with their first child? Now living in their new log cabin, Sig and Lily will have their baby (boy or girl? What's your guess?), Shelby will get into a lot more trouble than usual, and there will be a new creepy neighbor who buys the old Marggrander farm next to Gus. We have to have a villain, right? So stay tuned for more as I start writing this one soon. ;o)

Speaking of rock music, have you read Spirit Me Away? This LeGarde Mystery takes place in Boston in 1969 (when I lived there) and is full of hippies, music, and mysteries galore. Gus even gets chased by a peacock while trying to rescue Elsbeth. And yes, that also happened to me. LOL. I'll tell you about it some day.

Here's a bit about the story:

Boston, Massachusetts: It’s the summer of ’69—the parks are flooded with flower children and a hot new band called Led Zeppelin is set to appear at the Boston Tea Party. But for one newlywed couple just beginning their lives together, there will be no peace.

In the cradle of sex, drugs, and rock ’n roll, Gus and Elsbeth LeGarde are music students attending the New England Conservatory of Music, after a wedding kept secret from their families. When they discover a bruised and sobbing teenage girl on the Boston Commons who can’t remember who she is, or how she got there, the couple decides to “adopt” her to help uncover her identity.

But Gus and Elsbeth aren’t prepared to be plunged into a violent world of rape, abuse, and a ring of white slave traders who’ll stop at nothing to take back their property—or to acquire new flesh in the form of Gus’s beautiful young bride.

At times nostalgic, heart-stopping, and breathlessly dramatic, Spirit Me Away is a thrilling romantic mystery set against the colorful backdrop of the sixties—with an unforgettable conclusion at the greatest rock festival of all time.

Chapter 1

June 28, 1969

The girl slumped on a park bench clutching a battered old guitar case. Long copper curls tumbled forward in an untidy mass, nearly obscuring her eyes. She covered her face with her hands, and it was at that moment I noticed her shoulders shaking.

The poor thing was crying.

Concerned, I stepped closer to the balcony railing to get a better look, wondering what was wrong.

I’d just wandered out to our terrace after working for two solid hours on my music theory homework. I needed fresh air, because I didn’t think my brain could process any more post tonal theory, 12-tone series, octotonic scales, or especially the impossible analysis of Bartok's String Quartet Number 4, first movement. And although the scenes on the Boston Public Garden were usually quite lively, filled with hippies sitting cross-legged on the grass, mothers pushing strollers, and dogs chasing Frisbees, I hadn’t expected to see this poor creature sobbing on the park bench.

I called to Elsbeth, who’d been playing a salty Brazilian tango on our beat-up baby grand. “Honey? Can you come here for a minute?”

The expression in Elsbeth’s dark eyes swung from musical enchantment to mild curiosity. She pushed back from the piano and joined me on the balcony. “What is it?”

I pointed to the girl. “Over there.”

My wife peered across Beacon Street to the sidewalk bordering the park, where the girl sat on the bench, weeping harder now.

“Oh, the poor thing. Another lost flower child.”

“Yeah.” A pang of empathy banged through me, which was always a bad sign. It meant I’d probably do something I’d regret. 

Regardless, I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the girl, who looked to be about our age, maybe eighteen or twenty. She wore typical hippie garb, like most of our Bean Town flower children, with patched bellbottom jeans, sandals, a tie-dyed tee shirt, and a suede vest with beaded fringe.

I slid my arm around Elsbeth’s waist, watching the street below bustling with activity. Groups of vibrant young hippies, flowing with beads, long hair, and whorls of colorful fabric, tripped and laughed, floating across the park to gather and play music.

Fat pigeons gathered and cooed at the girl’s feet, as if in tune with her sorrow. Their green metallic feathers winked in the sunlight. 

Strains of the Doors’ “Break on Through” wafted from someone’s transistor radio. Taxis, cars, and buses engorged with passengers trundled past, honking and billowing black smoke. Throngs of businessmen hurried through the park, dressed in neatly pressed suits and crisp white shirts, ignoring the forlorn figure on the bench.

No one stopped. 

No one gave her a second glance. 

I turned to my wife. “We can’t leave her there.”

“I know.” She grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the door. “Come on.”

Read more here.

Spirit Me Away on Amazon

Donations to Pets for Vets

Remember the Love Under Fire boxed set, with 21 books? It was only available for a short time, and we told you we'd give half of our profits to Pets for Vets. I promised the pictures when they were available.;o) 

We were honored when Kathryn Knight, one of our authors, presented this wonderful organization with $1,725.00 in their Maine chapter. Two of the other authors in the set just presented our other donation...another check for $1,725.00 to Pets For Vets, Washington, D.C. Chapter! Thank you to everyone who helped raise this money, and if you'd like to learn more about the set and support the authors involved, you can read more here.

Following are a few deals from author friends. Enjoy!

DO NO HARM is an extraordinary, limited collection of medical thrillers written by USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon best-selling authors!

99 cents on Amazon for a limited time. 

And check out this FREE story by wonderful author and artist, Uvi Poznansky. 

Get Apart from Love on Amazon FREE

IN SUMMARY...

Thanks for reading my rant today. I know many of you are amazingly supportive folks who I consider friends, so thanks again for all you do to pass on the word of this starving artist!  

Send me an email if you have any comments, ideas for Gus's new book, or questions. If you don't know this already, I LOVE hearing from my readers. It's the best part of being an author.

Best always,


Aaron Paul Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

aaron dot lazar@yahoo.com 

Finding the Right Plot - by mystery author Susan Cory

Have you ever wondered what could happen if you didn't totally wipe your hard drive before getting rid of your old computer? Or what could happen if any of the blank checks sent by credit cards fell into the wrong hands?

I live in a close-knit community in Cambridge, Mass. Most of us know Joe, our long-time mail deliverer, and he knows us. So when Joe was instructed to forward a certain household's mail to an address in a neighboring town, he knew that the family hadn't moved. He alerted the police who discovered a ring of con artists who were diverting people's mail in order to steal their identities and checks.

While this scam was coming to light, I was busy trying to figure out how to get rid of my old computer.  Some computer stores and charities advertise that they'll remove your personal information before recycling your old equipment, but what if one of their employees is less than honest?

These two ideas came together to suggest a plot for my third book in the Iris Reid mystery series, DOPPELGANGER. A family of grifters uses Iris Reid's stolen identity to commit a crime. While stripping Iris' data off of her old computer, Rosica Bakalov, notices her own striking resemblance to this new “mark”. She becomes fascinated with Iris and starts to stalk her. Meanwhile, Iris, out on bail, is desperate to pick up her doppellgänger's trail before her case goes to trial.

Kirkus reviews says: “The plot becomes more unnerving as it progresses, and an impressive twist leads to a lengthy final act featuring Rosica (the Doppelgänger) at her most ferocious...Cory’s concise prose establishes a consistent pace that never wavers, and even her descriptions of architecture are exhilarating. An engagingly nerve-wracking tale with gradually escalating suspense.”

I'd love to know how YOU get rid of your old computers, and also, what you think of DOPPELGANGER.

By the way, my husband smashed my hard drive with a hammer before I took my last computer to be recycled. I wasn't taking any chances...

Let me know on my author's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorsusancory

or check out my author's website: http://www.susancory.com/

CONUNDRUM, FACADE and DOPPELGANGER are all available here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V2LWNX/

Susan Cory lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her architect husband and bossy rescue dog, Chloe. Like her sleuth, she is a residential architect practicing out of a turreted office. Also, like Iris Reid, she has a brown belt in karate.

Susan grew up in New Jersey devouring mysteries and loved seeing order restored by ingenious sleuths. But the visual arts were her medium of expression. As an Art major at Dartmouth, she imagined that designing buildings was just a larger-scaled version of creating sculpture. Susan soon discovered the many differences. At graduate school at Harvard's G.S.D., she found a setting—insecurities and egos riding a runaway train of Design Obsession—just ripe for murder.

Conundrum, Facade and Doppelgänger are odes to her profession and all the deviously clever practitioners within it. She's hard at work on Book 4 in the series in which Iris Reid will continue to uncover the architecture of evil in her world.

Happy Easter: FREE AUDIOBOOK SAMPLES!

H

 

Happy Easter!

 

I wish you a blessed day and hope you get a bit of warmth and blooming flowers today. We've had some beautiful days this past week but it's gotten all cool and rainy again. Today dawned with heavy fog! I hope the Easter Bunny can find his way out there. ;o)

 

I haven't posted in a while 'cause I had surgery a few weeks ago, on April 3rd. It was to hopefully fix my reflux that was getting into my lungs and stopping me from doing pretty much anything, such as walking to the mailbox or carrying a laundry basket or especially planting or weeding. You should have seen the weeds last summer! It wasn't a fun experience, but the operations is in my past now and I'm getting a little bit better every day. 

 

The Asylum has just been released as an audiobook, and it you'd like to listen and review I will have a limited amount of special codes to share soon. It's recorded by the phenomenal Gwendolyn Druyor, who can create any voice type in the world. The way she represents Carmen and Rosita, my two Mexican American heroines, or Rocco, a warmhearted African American gentle giant, is simply outstanding. She really "gets" my writing and every nuance is just as I intended. 

 

I'll only be able to choose a few special listeners to do this, so let me know if you'd like to review. ;o) 

 

All of my books are available as audiobooks and if you haven't tried them yet, it's really easy and fun. You just download the Audible app on your phone and sign in. You can even use your Amazon account ID and password. Once you select a book, you can listen while you walk, drive (via Bluetooth), fall to sleep, or do household chores. I love audiobooks and listen constantly. ;o) The cool thing is you have them forever in your Audible library, to listen and re-listen whenever you wish. 

 

I'm often asked which of my books is my favorite. It's a hard question to answer. I enjoyed writing them all so much. The Seadog springs to mind first. I'm not sure if it's because I can uncover secrets on Cape Cod again, or because of the awesome dog, "Bubba," who my character, Scout, gets to adopt.  Then there's The Disappearance of Billy Moore, a green marble time travel novel steeped in nostalgia and mystery. Lady Blues: forget-me-not, is another favorite, where Gus is an integral part of saving a man's memory and reuniting him with his forbidden, lost love. And then there's Essentially Yours, with a case of the most delicious unrequited love supporting one of the wildest chase scenes through the Adirondack wilderness. But if I was forced to choose, I think I'd go back to Gus's childhood, in Don't Let the Wind Catch You, where young Gus befriends a hermit and the spirit of a Native American girl in the woods. Riding horses in the woods with young Siegfried and Elsbeth is the best. And the secrets Gus uncovers include some deep life lessons about tolerance and love. 

 

It's hard to choose. Almost like picking a favorite child, which is impossible!

 

I've decided to load up some audiobook samples for you to listen to at Soundcloud.com. Just click on the play button and see who is your favorite narrator of all. I'd love to hear what you think. ;o)

 

I've  included some books by fellow authors, below, for you to browse and enjoy. 

 

I hope you have a wonderful Easter Sunday and can enjoy family and friends today. 

 

Best wishes always,

 

Aaron Lazar

www.lazarbooks.com

 

 

 

Free audiobook excerpts (click on image for sound link)

 

 

The Asylum, narrated by Gwendolyn Druyor:

 

 

The Seadog, narrated by Gwendolyn Druyor:

 

 

The Disappearance of Billy Moore, narrated by George Kuch:

 

 

Lady Blues, narrated by David Kudler:

 

 

Don't Let the Wind Catch You, narrated by Erik Synnestvedt:

 

Don't Let the Wind Catch You

When young Gus LeGarde befriends a cranky old hermit in the woods who speaks to an Indian spirit, he wonders if the man is nuts. But when the ghostly Penni rattles tin cups, draws on dusty mirrors, and flips book pages, pestering him to find evidence to avenge her past, things change. 

What Gus doesn’t understand is why his mother hates Tully, until his relentless investigation uncovers a hint of scandal about Tully and Gus’s grandfather, Marlowe Wright. 

On horseback, Gus and his friends ride through woods overlooking Conesus Lake to Tully’s abandoned house, reportedly still infected with the Genesee Valley Fever from the 1700s. Unafraid, they enter and find shocking evidence that could rewrite history. 

Can Gus convince his mother to forgive Tully? And will the proof he found free Penni’s spirit? Gus summons courage beyond his years in this poignant and powerful telling of the summer of 1965.

Don't Let the Wind Catch You - Amazon

Don't Let the Wind Catch You - Audible