Welcome, Floriana Hall

1: Thank you so much for being here, Floriana Hall. First up is the obligatory

question. When did you first begin writing?

I was inspired in church when I was 68 years old to write my first published
poem LOVE NEVER DIES, which won the Editor’s Choice Award. It literally popped into my head when the pastor was giving his homily. Since then, I have won many prizes. I have written over 700 poems and have been published all over the world. It seems that most poems just pop into my head at 5 AM and I have to put them on the computer right away so as not to forget them. It usually takes me 20 minutes to write a poem.

2: What inspired you to write?

After I wrote some poetry, my fifth grade teacher daughter asked me to write
my first nonfiction children’s book. She could not find an exciting true story
about The Great Depression that included history and prices. I typeset SMALL
CHANGE and it sold well. The printer passed away a few years ago. THE
ADVENTURES OF FLOSSIE, ROBBIE, AND JUNEY During The Great Depression took its place and is read in many schools and libraries. I speak to the students after the fifth grade teacher reads the book to them. I have over 200 letters from the students saying that they learned not to take life for granted after reading THE ADVENTURES.

3: What do you like the most and least about writing?

I love to write and have two new books in the making. Perhaps I am not too
fond of promotion because I cannot, at almost 83, travel far.

4: What do you for fun and relaxation when not writing?

I love to get together with family and enjoy our great-grandchildren
immensely. I just had a total hip replacement so I continue to go to water exercise five days a week to help rehabilitation. I have always loved swimming, too. I love to read but mostly autobiographies and memoirs. I used to hike and perhaps will be able to do that next year. I have twenty-five shields for the Hiking Spree. I belong to several clubs including the Red Hats.

5: Which authors do you like to read?

As I said, I prefer autobiographies and really enjoyed Kirk Douglas’ THE

RAGMAN’S SON and Lauren Bacall’s JUST ME.Also, I like Debbie McComber’s style of writing, Lisa Wingate and Maeve Binchy for fiction.

6: What’s the one thing you’d most like people to know about you?

That I am a strong and positive person and always have been, even as a child growing up without enough food to eat or the necessities of life. I learned to work for what I have. My wonderful mother was a positive influence because she taught us morals, manners and cleanliness and to live each day to
our best ability with a smile on our faces.

7: Tell me about your current novel, where I can find it and your website/blog.

FRANCIS, NOT THE SAINT is the true story of my family’s struggle to overcome
adversity during The Great Depression and World War II. Our dad left our wonderful mother many times for jobs and for other women. We found out he had three families when I was sixteen years old. He had trouble juggling all three and constantly begged our mother for forgiveness. She, being a staunch
Catholic, would never have asked for a divorce. Francis lied about everything and we all learned that he could not be trusted. However, none of his children
wanted to be like him, and are not. FRANCIS, NOT THE SAINT has been translated into Spanish, FRANCISO, NO EL SANTO.

8: Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

It takes a while to have your name known so be patient and keep on writing. The first book may never be picked up by an agent or publishing company, so try to publish it yourself.

9: Do you base your characters on real-life people?

Most of my books are nonfiction. However, I do change names in most of my stories in order not to be sued.

10: Where do you get your ideas and what inspired you to write this book?

After I wrote the first book, the children’s book, people asked me to write the continuation of the first book. Thus DADDY WAS A BAD BOY was published by Sterlinghouse Publishers.

11: What are you currently working on?

www.PublishAmerica.com asked me to write a new memoir, which will be titled

MISS FLOSSIE’S WORLD - Coping with Adversity During The Great Depression Then and the Recession Now. It should be on the market in 2011.

I have a trilogy of three young children’s books in the process, also. The trilogy is called SIMPLE PLEASURES.Twelve years ago, I founded and still coordinate THE POET’S NOOK a group of
local poets at the Cuyahoga Falls Library once a month. I am putting together the fifth book of poems by twenty poets titled POEMS OF BEAUTIFUL OHIO – Then and Now.

12. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?

My husband and I have been married for 62 years on Dec. 31, 2010. We have five children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

My priorities in life are church, family, friends, and helping people. My motto is THE SECRET TO LIFE IS NOT TO TAKE IT PERSONALLY.

Welcome, Hera, Queen of the Olympian gods

1: Thank you so much for being here, Hera. I understand you’re a Queen of the Olympian gods. What are you goddess of?


Thank you so much for having me. I hold providence over two areas. I serve as Goddess of both marriage and childbirth.

2: Are you married?

I’m divorced. Anyone who knows about me will be well acquainted with my ex-husband’s many adulterous affairs. I finally decided I’d had enough and divorced him.

3: Do you have any children? If so tell us about them.

I have three wonderful children. The eldest is my son Hephaestus. He’s God of the Forge and all I can say is don’t believe everything hear about me and my son.

My second born is Ares God of War. I love him dearly but I do worry that he needs to seriously grow up.

The youngest is my only daughter, Hebe. She’s the Goddess of Youth and her personality very much fits her Goddess powers. All three are the center of my world.

4: Do you have any pets? If so, tell us about them.

I don’t have pets but I do have animals who are sacred to me. The peacock is a very sacred bird to me and if you want to stay on my good side you better be nice to these birds.

5: How about friends? Do you have a best friend?

I’m afraid I have very few friends. History has done me few favors. But I have one in particular who is my best friend and I cherish her. Iris is the Goddess of the Rainbow and my best friend in the whole world. I can always count on her.

6: So, I’m curious, why did you come down to earth?

Well, to be blunt the Gods are broke. Not many people worship us anymore and those that do stopped leaving us offerings of money. So, in order to make a living we’ve all come down to earth and taken jobs.

7: How do you like being on earth? Were you excited about coming here?

At first I was scared to be coming down here. I have never been on my own in eons of living. But now I quite like it and actually prefer my earth home to the palace on Mt. Olympus.

8: What do you do here on earth? To earn a living I mean. And where do you live?

Well, I decided not to use my marriage skills since my own marriage ended in divorce. Instead I became a midwife and opened up a practice right in my home in Vermont.

9: I’ve heard you were vindictive, is this true?

Again, don’t believe everything you hear. I did lots of things to try and fix my marriage to Zeus, but I never hurt anyone in the process.

10: Have you met anyone interesting since you’ve come here?

Oh yes. I have met two really scrummy guys. Both are single and for some reason both guys want me too. Time will tell though what will happen between us, if anything.

11: What’s the one thing you’d most like people to know about you?

I’m not vindictive. I have never hurt anyone while trying to get Zeus to stop his philandering. That’s most important to me.

12. What do you for fun and relaxation?

Sundays are my day off. Barring a call to a delivery I just like to stay home, sit on my porch swing and watch nature.

13. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?

Hmm let me think. Well, yes actually. Athena, Aphrodite and I did not cause the Trojan War. We actually had nothing to do with it in spite of what people say.

Thank you again for joining us today, Hera. To learn more about Hera, go to: Kat Holmes blog site. http://katluvr130.blogspot.com/

Wecome Rebecca Ryals Russell

1: Thank you so much for being here, Rebecca. First up is the obligatory question. When did you first begin writing?


I wrote a lot as a preteen until I began teaching as a young adult. Then it was sporadic. But once I retired a few years ago and the kids were teens I began writing again in earnest and finished the first book of the series I’m working on.

2: What inspired you to write?

My father wrote poetry for special occasions and after he died I discovered an unfinished manuscript. I’ve always had the desire to write, so I guess it’s in my blood. My son, age 16, aims to be a journalist. See what I mean?

3: What do you like the most and least about writing?

I love writing because it stretches my mind. Since I write Fantasy I create new worlds and creatures and such. The thing I like least about it is the marketing. I’d much rather just write, write, write.

4: What do you for fun and relaxation when not writing?

That almost never happens. Writing IS relaxing for me. I carry my laptop or a pad everywhere I go. BUT, I have been known to go to a movie with my daughter or sit on the front porch and have a beer with my husband. Then it’s back to writing until 3am.

5: Which authors do you like to read?

My favorite is Ray Bradbury. I also enjoy Stephen King, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey (dragons of course), Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling. There are so many more! I love YA lit. I just bought Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey because I attended an SCBWI conference and she was a speaker. Can’t wait to start it.

6: What’s the one thing you’d most like people to know about you?

I guess that would be that I’m genuine. Sometimes I come off as conceited or uncaring and tactless, but it’s usually because I’m a one-track person and not because I meant any slight. I usually say what’s on my mind, I hate playing mind-games and despise politics. I’ve tried to change, and hopefully I’ve gotten better, but I’m passionate about things and that sometimes is read wrong.

7: Tell me about your current novel, where I can find it and your website/blog.

My website/blog is Plotting Worlds. I also have a book website called Seraphym Wars, which is also the title of my series. I’ll be posting current book info at that site, while Plotting Worlds is all about helpful links and tips for writers as well as info about me and the series. Readers can also go to the Dragon’s Lair page for links to all of the sites I’m on (like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.)

18-year-old Myrna is drawn into the middle of an epic battle between Seraphym and Demons. An average High School student from Florida, she wakes one morning on the Steampunk planet of Dracwald, home of the demon-dragons responsible for her brother’s death and many other atrocities in the news. She meets Michael (19), who becomes her guide and explains that according to prophecy, Myrna must gather the remaining six Vigorios (teen warriors with special talents) then train with the Majikals on an enchanted island.

Reluctantly, and knowing it is her only way to get back home, she agrees to lead, battling dragons and monsters while crossing swamps and mountains, forests and seas. She discovers love when three very different men join her quest—a seasoned demon/dragon-slayer who irritates but beguiles her, a tender and sweet mentor in whom she trusts completely and a roguishly handsome Scientist who sets her senses aflame. How is she expected to lead the others and keep everyone safe with so much inner turmoil?

Will love and lust, jealousy, greed, deceit and distrust break the delicate tie that binds these teen warriors called The Vigorios? Can a troupe of teens help the Seraphym finally defeat the massive empire of evil dominated for eons by the demon-dragons of Dracwald?

8: Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

Don’t wait to start your marketing. Blog, create a website, join ALL of the author-related websites, read editor/agent blogs WHILE you are writing the book of the century. If you wait until you are finished writing, it will take a few years of platform-building before anyone will look at your book.

On the writing side--write, write, write. It takes practice to get it right. (lol) And read other author’s book in your genre, underline and circle good passages, take notes on description, characters, etc.

Then spend months editing. Put it away for a month then edit again and don’t be afraid to revise, even to the point of completely changing the story, if it’s for the better.

9: Do you base your characters on real-life people?

I did. Early on they were closely based on my own children, but through the evolutions of editing and rewrites they have meshed and become amalgamations. I like them much better than the original characters. Anyone who knows my kids and reads the books will be able to tell who is based on whom.

10: Where do you get your ideas and what inspired you to write this book?

My ideas come from news articles, mostly. This particular series is based on atrocities reported in the news over the past few years that is worse than I could EVER imagine. I’ve been writing a version of this series for the past 30 years, off and on. It wasn’t until I retired three years ago that the final version came pouring out onto the page.

11: What are you currently working on?

I’ve been thinking about a MG series involving a dragon (of course) and a little boy. I want it to be Historically and or Science-based so it can be used in classrooms. When I was teaching I used a lot of novels to help teach subjects. It would be cool to be on the other side of that coin. I’d be curious to know if readers would prefer a boy or a girl character. Maybe readers could leave a comment on this blog or mine and let me know.

12. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?

I want readers to know that I am passionate about books. I love to read and instilled that passion in my students and my own children. I’m not in this business to make a ton of money (remember, I was a teacher lol). I want to get my story read because I think it’s a good one and Myrna is dying to tell it. Literally.

An Excerpt From Chapter 16:

Traveling alongside the dark and foreboding Humac Forest in a car had been a piece of cake compared to the scoots. We stayed on the far left margin of the road, careful not to fall into any of the millions of potholes lining its edge. The sky was as light and bright as it got here on Dracwald. Although I glanced at the edge of the forest often, I had yet to see evidence of the monstrous zombies said to live inside its borders. I tried to put them out of my mind by thinking about our next phase on this quest and just how far we had come in only two days.

We had been grinding the road for a few hours when the sky began to darken. Glancing up I feared the dragons had returned, but was even more chagrined to realize we were losing daylight. Michael glanced back quickly. I nodded fiercely, acknowledging that I had noticed. Moments later he swerved to the right nearly into the forest itself. I panicked and swerved as well, following his lead. Sure enough there had been a pile of fallen branches in our path. Had they been put there deliberately?

As I swerved back onto the left edge of the road I felt Tien yanked away from me. I screamed and Michael turned his head to look. Tien screamed insults and curses into the darkness. Michael swung his scoot around and roared back toward me. I stopped, unsure what was happening. I could still hear Tien swearing and screaming, but she was becoming fainter. Once he was past, I swung around in time to see Tien, kicking and screaming as a Phosboor dragged her by the ponytail into the forest. I screamed again and sped forward. Michael had already disappeared into the forest. Unsure what I should do I waited. I walked the scoot to the edge of the forest so I could see in a little better, although with darkness falling the forest was nearly pitch black. Fear clattered my teeth together and whooshed the blood in my ears.

Once my eyes adjusted I could just make out Michael roaring across the pine needle and leaf strewn, slippery forest floor after the Phosboor who had Tien. Her arms flailed trying to grasp trees as the Phosboor galloped away hauling her by the hair. She dug her feet into the soft forest floor but the needles just bunched up giving her no hold. Michael swerved around the Phosboor, grasping Tien around the middle and sped back toward the road. She continued screaming and cussing every foul word I had ever heard and then some. The Phosboor, refusing to release his grasp on her hair, dragged behind the scoot, causing an imbalance which nearly threw the scoot sideways.

A blur out of the dark landed on the Phosboor, growling and snapping until sections of the poor rotten zombie lay scattered across a ten foot stretch of forest floor. The blur continued following Michael as he now sped through the forest avoiding trees, his rear tire slipping on the forest litter. Tien clung tightly to his back, head lowered.

Suddenly I was assaulted by a huge furry creature that leapt from the dark forest landing on the rear of my scoot with his paws on my shoulders. I screamed and gunned the scoot forward when I heard a soft purring voice in my head, “Calm yourself, human. I’ll not hurt you. I’m here to help. Be ready to ride momentarily.” While ordinarily I wouldn’t have been calmed by such a statement, there was a wash of peace throughout my being that quelled fear. At that moment Michael jumped the edge of the road onto its surface where his tires found purchase and he sped away toward the distant lights of Hallsea Village, leaving a long scratch of burned tire on the asphalt. The smell of burning rubber reminded me of our night in the repair station avoiding the Shubons. A tan blur ran behind him before I could gun my own scoot into action.

Welcome Paul Green

1: Thank you so much for being here,Paul. First up is the obligatory question. When did you first begin writing?

Well that’s a tricky question...I have been writing in my business life for more than 20 years. Each role I have had, whether it be my own company or larger corporate gig’s I have enjoyed writing white papers, promotional materials, training manuals and the like. As far as this book goes, I started it just over 8 years ago, LOL. I divorced in 2000 and went through a “mid-life” attempt to re-capture some of the things I thought I had missed out on. I got a tattoo, bought and learned (badly) how to play the guitar and started playing around with plots and character development for a crime thriller. Life kept moving on and I started and stopped it seems like a hundred times before I settled in about 14 months ago and really put rubber to road as they say. I spent the better part of 6 months almost isolated writing chapter after chapter until I was ready to share it with anyone. Once I received some feedback, I was even more driven to complete it. As I look back, this book is the culmination of many years of thinking, jotting down, tearing up and re-working...it has been a truly amazing process, one I hope never to forget.

2: What inspired you to write?

I have realized over the past year or so that inspiration for me comes in many forms. I like to think of myself as a student in human behaviour. My post secondary education is in psychology and counseling and I think my whole life I have enjoyed people and how we interact with each other. I am driven from an odd place. One where others think I should be doing something else, something better or something less complicated...something different than what I am doing at the time. It has taken a long time for me to finally just sit down and do what I have been telling others and myself to do...Just write...complete something and if it does nothing more than that, then it will be great...why??? Because I did it, I wrote my novel!!! Now I have the fire within burning strong...my inspiration comes from many people, places and many things...mostly from my dear friend Lisa and my two boys, Evan and Zack!

3: What do you like the most and least about writing?

I think, for me the best thing about writing is the creativity, the complete and total freedom to invent a person, a group of people, places and events. I like being able to take some of the characteristics I have encountered in my life and build them out into my story. How I can weave together all the various plot lines and how each character interacts with another, directly or indirectly. It is simply amazing for me when I am reading a book to find that one paragraph, maybe even just a single sentence, you know the one, that captures me and almost pulls me into the book. I want to write that great moment. I believe I have it in me and in digging deep this past year and a bit I have found it. I hope to put my words in such an order that readers become captivated. Where turning the page is a must. Where the reader looks at the clock and tells themselves just 5 more minutes, many times over. That is the best thing about writing for me...creating that moment, that paragraph, that chapter, that one sentence that grabs the reader so completely they just “have” to read on.

As far as what I least like about writing...well...I guess right now it is all the other life events that have to keep going on...I would love to be able to write full time and enjoy that kind of freedom, but I can’t right now, so it is a time issue I guess. The other component to writing that I struggle with is simply the fear of rejection. I am a pretty thick skinned guy, but having a whole book out there for the first time has been scary...exciting, most enjoyable, even exhilarating, but scary at the same time. I’m not sure this ever goes away, so I am using it to motivate me further down the road on the second book. I want it to be better than the first and my fear is driving me harder than the first, so we will see how it all plays out. I will keep you posted.

4: What do you for fun and relaxation when not writing?

LOL!!! Lisa and I have an active life. Fun, for me, has become very simple. Cooking a nice meal, having a great conversation, walking down at the beaches on a hot, sunny day together, curling up and watching a great movie and reading to her each night...I am not the big out at the club kind of guy anymore. Sometimes we take off and go up north to a lake, or south to a friend’s place where we tune everything and everyone else out and just be together. In reality, each day brings fun and relaxation. If it didn’t then the “everything” becomes a series of chores, of “musts” and “shoulds”. Everything opens itself to become boring, mundane and difficult to swallow. Therefore, I try to find the fun in anything I do, because as someone once told me it is easier smiling than it is frowning, it is healthier if we can laugh out loud, with others and at ourselves and I have learned that activity is the appetizer to the best relaxation. I choose to look at the world through rose colored glasses as much as I can, not stained ones.

5: Which authors do you like to read?

I enjoy a number of different authors. I like James Patterson, Stephan King, John Caldwell, Jack Welch, Anne Rice, Stephanie Meyer and have just started reading Danielle Trussoni ... I find her phrasing and descriptive language fascinating, brilliant even.

6: What’s the one thing you’d most like people to know about you?

Hmmmmm...there are so many answers I could give here, the heavy ones or the more lighthearted ones. I am a firm believer in the power within each of us to change. I have been in a bad spiral down for a long time. The divorce really rocked my world, but after numerous attempts and much support that I ignored, someone finally broke through and I have once again found that fire within. So no matter what anyone’s circumstance may be, each of us has the power to change. That would be the heavier answer. On a lighter note, I am a huge Springsteen fan and an even bigger Toronto Maple Leaf fan. I hope that answers the question.

7: Tell me about your current novel, where I can find it and your website/blog.

Darkness on the Edge of Town can be found at www.xoxopublishing.com. It is available both as an e-book and in an eco-friendly print version. As I am writing these answers I don’t have the specifics on the various retailers that will be carrying it, but should that become more clear before June 11th, I will update you.

My blog is: http://paulgreeneexperience.blogspot.com/


Please feel free to join up and interact as I go along. I set out to write something each day, but writing the sequel and life’s other twists and turns have made it more a once every three or four day event. I will get better as the first book gets integrated more into the mainstream and I am not so involved in its launch...I HOPE!!!

8: Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

Yes...Never stop!!! Find a mentor or trusted friend that you can share with and get honest feedback from...two or three of these are better because one may not like the genre or type of story, but regardless it is their feedback you will most value...and oh yes, never stop!!! Always believe. If you can simply complete your first book the power to move forward and continue is absolutely incredible!!!

9: Do you base your characters on real-life people?

Yes and no. In an earlier answer I talked about characteristics I have encountered in people I have and do still know. I have taken some of these and created a new person. If you are asking if anyone in my story is more real that fictitious...I am going to leave that to everyone’s imagination. Those tidbits are one of my great joys...although I have written this in the hope that others will read it and like the story, there is deeper meaning in it for me and those moments within the book are very precious to me.

10: Where do you get your ideas and what inspired you to write this book?

I cannot tell you where the first idea for this book came from. I mentioned earlier that it has been an evolving concept for more than 8 years. What amazes me is that the basic plot has held firm all this time. Now with the second book I know a news article inspired the basic plot. Flash Drive wraps itself in a real life global issue and narrows down to a specific story that centers around my lead character, Steve Hicks. The third book in the series will also come from a real life series of events that a good friend has recently gone through. It captures perfectly the need to raise another central character’s profile while at the same time moves the whole connectivity along for my readers. As I said earlier, inspiration seems to come in many different forms at the quirkiest of times.

11: What are you currently working on?

The next book, as I just dropped, is called FLASH DRIVE and is the second in a planned 3 book series with Steve Hicks at the core. I also have a book started in a completely different genre, romance and have started the layout on a children’s book that is inspired by both of my boys and Lisa’s 3 wonderful children. It should be a lot of fun!!! But my primary focus is dedicated to the Steve Hicks series. I have so much more for his character and those around him. When I sit down to write the words come flying out. I think the struggle will be what to include in book two and what to save for book three. Relationships are a wonderful thing...writing them to be believable is sometimes the challenge I think.

12. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?

Another tough one...I guess that I have made a tremendous amount of mistakes in my life. That today I choose to be simple in my ways and try and be the best person I can be. I love my two boys dearly and have found great love and joy in my relationship with Lisa. I hold great hope for my future no matter where it leads me and that integrity and brutal honesty are paramount to a happy, healthy life.



CHAPTER 3

Baby this town rips the bones from your back

It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap

We gotta get out while were young

`cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run.

Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run, 1975

What a perfect day I thought as Springsteen blasted through the sound system in the truck. The lake house will be a sight for sore eyes I kept reminding myself. I had driven the past 4 hours straight and had only 30 or so minutes to go. I was running, escaping, everyone knew it and I did not care. I had spent the last couple of years working what seemed like 24/7. My down time was spent trying to clear my head in the concrete jungle by walking my dog Tasha, a beautiful Malamute Husky or passing out from sheer exhaustion. I had decided enough was enough. I needed some time away if not a permanent change…I needed my little slice of heaven and my home on the lake was just that. I needed to be close to the people that mattered most in my life, my two boys.

As I left the city behind, I thought of all the people, places and things I would miss…it was a short thought. The people, places, and things I would not miss crept into my thoughts and they took me much longer to review. Clearing my head, I told myself...Out with the old and in with some fresh new perspectives. God how I needed this! Tasha and I had not been up to the lake house in more than a year, almost two. I could not wait and judging from her excitement as I turned on to the last stretch of familiar highway, neither could she. Together we would relax, re-energize, and make some decisions on the next steps, in the ongoing journey of ours.

As a homicide detective working the special crimes unit, I had been involved in some of the cities worst cases over the years. My job had cost me a marriage, lost time with my two boys, friendships and both my mental and physical health, hence the leave of absence. The past three years had been especially difficult. I had been working with a select group of detectives on a high profile serial case. Nine murders spanning 3 years all committed by some lunatic that liked to play ritual games with his victims and the police. He dropped us notes, left blood-painted messages at his crime scenes, made the odd phone call to us on the task force and then there was his bizarre signature, ritualistic killing style. I shook my head hard to lose the imagery.

All this and with the exception of some constantly evolving behavioral profile bullshit from the department Psych Unit, we were no closer to catching this guy than we were on Day One. He had gone into hibernation again as he did each September 22, one day after his final kill of the year. He went silent from then until the first day of spring each March. He told us he did not like the cold and added some bullshit about the importance of the seasons changing and then he would disappear for close to 6 months.

Well, this time I was pulling the disappearing act. Spring was coming, the lake would be beautiful and I did not have another season, let alone another day of this freaks show left in me. I was positive he would start up again and I figured it best I leave now before he got rolling. I wrapped up my files and transferred all my information to my rookie replacement on the team, Sean Krieger. I then packed up my personal belongings and put the few sticks of furniture I had in storage. It took me all of two days to put all of my city affairs in order.

Today, Wednesday March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day, I loaded Tasha and our few simple boxes into the truck and we left the city, the job, and the insanity behind. Tasha has been with me for the past 9 years. She needed this return to the lake as much as I did, maybe even more. “There’s the sign Girl,” I said...it read Wolf Lake 15 KM.

She sat up and I could feel her energy and excitement across the seat as her tail wag speed increased. It was great to see her so happy! Walking her in the city doesn’t hold a candle to the wild runs across the land we have out here and when spring and summer hit she can’t get enough of the lake water! This will be great for the two of us. I felt the darkness that had been my life for all too many years now, slipping away already.

Welcome, Heather Haven

Richard blogs about his sister, Lee Alvarez, from Murder is a Family Business.

My sister is the best but she can drive a person crazy. She takes chances, she doesn’t listen to reason, and she certainly doesn’t listen to me. Maybe that’s because she’s three years older. Lee’s pretty smart, but don’t tell her that; I like to pretend I’m the smart one in the family. I’m a computer genius, if I’m to believe any of the write-ups in Wired, but Lee’s got this other talent, which is pretty awesome.

She’s a natural born ferret. She can find anything or anybody, anytime, anyplace. That’s why she’s got a reputation as one of the best investigators at Discretionary Inquiries. Some people might say that’s only because our mother is CEO of D.I., but nepotism will only take you so far, especially with Lila Hamilton Alvarez. Behind her back, I call Mom ‘Our Lady’ and she’s designer tough. I’ve known her to crack open a coconut just by staring it down. We’re quite a family.

But back to Lee and her ferreting, I remember when I was in the 6th grade, this bully a year or two older, started beating me up after school for no reason. Lee found out that his dog had been missing for three weeks and he was taking his frustration and anger out on me. Wearing her non-judgmental hat, Lee went to him and said that she would find his dog if he promised to leave me alone after that.

Even I didn’t think she could pull that off and I knew about her skills from day one. This kid laughed in her face but she got him to promise. Long story short, Lee took her bicycle out every day after school and found the guy’s dog five days later chained in a yard in East Palo Alto. She had to walk back with dog in tow, because she’d traded her Schwinn for him. The bully turned out to be pretty nice guy after that, serving in Iraq now, and we still keep in touch at Christmas.



Anyway, that’s the kind of sister Lee is. She’s got your back. Which is good. She may drive me crazy but when Murder is a Family Business, she’s exactly who you want to be hanging out with.

Read more about Heather and Murder is a Family Business at
http://www.heatherhavenstories.com/