|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christmas, 2011
Dear Readers, 
The holiday season is upon us. How do I love it? Let me count the ways.
I love that Newport is quiet again. That the air has a bite to it. That we can
have cozy fires. That I can wrap myself in soft sweaters and watch Masterpiece
Theater without feeling guilty that I'm not outside Doing Summer Stuff. That the
garden's asleep. That the birds are safe there, with heated water, lots of food,
and shelter in our shrubs. That I can experience, once again, the sweet joy of
arranging a Christmas village on our mantel.
But the season is really about family, isn't it. The noise, the laughter, the fights, the hugs -- all the ups and downs of mixing it up with people you know so well, but who will always have the ability to ... well, surprise. I was thinking very much of family dynamics when I wrote KEEPSAKE, in which one man has the power to throw an entire family -- an entire town -- into a state of dread. Stonemason Quinn Leary is determined to clear his father's name of a murder he didn't commit, and he's willing to walk over anyone who tries to stop him. But Olivia Bennet, the town princess and a school rival when Quinn fled Keepsake with his fugitive father seventeen years earlier, is a grown woman now, and she's not afraid to cross her arms and say "Not so fast." Can you be soul mates and bitter enemies at the same time? You can if your loyalties are divided. This is a story of conflicting loyalties, and of second chances for happy ever afters. Oh, and about that Christmas village on my mantel: this year is a nod to the opening scene in KEEPSAKE in which Quinn arrives at the village green just in time for the Christmas tree lighting. I didn't have a little gazebo for my village, so I made one. (Total cost: fourteen cents. Sometimes it's the humblest objects that bring the sweetest pleasure.) Click on the Christmas button at the top of this page or on the village below to enter my Christmas site and see this year's mantel creation. Happy Holidays! October, 2011 Dear Readers, The calendar tells me it's Fall, and if the weather would just cooperate here in New England, we could get on with it. (Who wants to rake leaves when it's 87 degrees out?) Fall is the season for riotous color, bracing winds, wooly sweaters, touch football and crunchy apples. Cornstalk decor. Stacked-up firewood. Pick-your-own pumpkins -- the season, in short, for Halloween. 
When I think of Halloween, I think of witches. When I think of witches, I think of Salem.
Which is why I've decided to release Beyond Midnight: A Tale of Modern Salem in e-book
format this month. It just seems right. Some of my stories are lighter in tone, some
of them darker (never fear; all of them are fun). Beyond Midnight is a spooky tale, one
in which the owner of a prestigious pre-school in Salem, Massachusetts finds her family
and fortune imperiled by a modern-day witch hunt. I'm especially fond of the characters
in Beyond Midnight. We've all been teenagers, known clueless fathers, mourned a true love,
been charmed by a toddler. They're all here, and their stories are our stories. We'll
wring our hands for them, watch them develop, and in the end, we'll rejoice with them.
Enjoy ... the story, and the season. Summer, 2011 Dear Readers, Thank you for your enthusiastic response to my decision to make my books available in eBook format. I've loved hearing from you again, and your online posted reviews and ratings are very welcome and appreciated. TIME AFTER TIME, a lighthearted romp, is now available in e-book format at a limited introductory price of 99 cents. It's the kind of beach read that will leave you smiling; you'll hardly notice the sand all over your blanket and in your food. I'll write more -- and I'll upload more books -- as soon as the weather breaks. Meanwhile, I'll be on the beach myself, wiping the sand from the cup of my lemonade slush. Spring, 2011 Dear readers, There are valid explanations for some behavior, and then there are excuses. I can't offer a decent version of either one to account for the long lapse in my novel writing. I don't have a dog, so he couldn't have eaten my homework. I haven't been hospitalized (well, okay, briefly, after I jumped off a moving bike and broke my leg, but other than that). And I haven't been hijacked by pirates while sailing the local seas (New England hasn't had a decent pirate in over 200 years). So how to account for my writing coming to a screeching halt after my last book, A Month at the Shore, was published? I'm going with the joy of freedom. I was taking a break to consider a new direction in my writing, and meanwhile my husband decided to take an early retirement, and then ... well, that freedom thing became addictive. It was awfully nice to pretend I was twelve again. Except, of course, that I wasn't (see my previous reference to the bicycle incident). It's only recently that I realized I don't have to give up my freedom in order to write. In a word: e-books! The concept has changed my view of the world. Finally I can write what I want, when I want, how I want -- and as an added bonus, I'm married to a computer geek who's been just itching to make my previous and future books available for Kindle, NOOK, and other e-readers. If that's not a working definition of "freedom," I don't know what is. As readers of my books know, some of my novels have paranormal elements in them, and some of them don't. Some have a more humorous feel, some have a more serious feel. I'm what one reviewer called a "writer that's hard to pigeonhole," and I like it that way. What all of my books do share are vividly rendered New England settings with heroes who are quietly strong, heroines you can relate to, and normal family and friends wandering through to balance off the quirky ones. No superheroes, serial killers, or buckets of blood are featured in my stories; I've found you can have page-turning suspense without them. So in the coming months, look for the first seven of my previously published books to come out in e-book formats, with the rest to follow. EMILY'S GHOST and EMBERS are available now as e-books, and BELOVED will be available in April. I'll keep announcing books on this page as they roll out in Kindle and NOOK. So -- hello again. It's nice to be back. Warm wishes, 
|
|
