Video Interview w/ Debut Author Pamela S. Meyers

Follow Pam on Twitter @PamelaMeyers
Website: http://www.pamelasmeyers.com

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Where the Past Meets the Present: Setting and The Hound of the Baskervilles

I've been on a bit of a Sherlock Holmes kick lately, and I recently finished The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. What a story! Definitely thrilling and mysterious. In considering what makes this story so terrifying, the setting stands out almost as a character in its own right. It's a living force that swallows victims whole and cries in the night. It's just downright creepy!

Below is an image from the Crime Scraps Review blog to set the mood:

So what can we learn from this story that will help us master the setting?

• Force - The moor is a force to be reckoned with, especially the Grimpen Mire, where people and creatures can be sucked into the mud and never be seen again. (Oh, how I detest thoughts of quicksand and the like! *shudder*) Watson sees and hears a pony dying in the mire, and it certainly adds to the terror of the story - especially with characters on the hunt (or the run), and just one misstep can be very dangerous indeed... While some of us might not be writing mysteries or suspense, our settings in all our stories play a huge role. What challenges will the setting present to our characters? Think of Wild West stories and how the ruggedness of the land really creates a sense of adventure and/or hardship.
  

• Fear - The moor leads to an emotional reaction in most of the characters, namely fear. The howling of the hound on those dark nights, the thrashing of the trees in the wind by Baskerville Hall, the one pinpoint of light or the silhouette of a man signalling a presence in the wilds of the moor... No matter the setting, if it's a good one it will elicit some emotion. Contentment at a cozy resort. Awe at the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains. Sorrow at the cemetery. Happiness at the beach. You get the idea! And the more senses involved in the descriptions the better!

• Foundation - The moor gives the characters a place to hide, Sherlock a place to play ;) , and a stage for the mystery to unfold. While setting isn't everything, per se, it's important as it can either limit or expand the action of the story. Will your characters move during the course of the story? How does the contrast in settings fit in with the theme? Will your characters travel? Or does the setting serve as a trap for them?

Let's connect the past with the present! Where is your current WIP set? What can you learn from The Hound of the Baskervilles and the scary moor that might help you use setting to deepen your story?

And one last, very important question - anyone else excited to see this story in the second season of the PBS Masterpiece version of Sherlock coming in May 2012???

(Moor picture from Crime Scraps Review. Book picture from Penguin.com.)

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Winners!!

Happy Saturday, BB fans! Thanks to everyone who participated in our "puzzling" Friday giveaway! Keep all those facebook and Twitter notifications, coming!

This week's winners (both of whom had MULTIPLE entries in the drawing) are:

ida ~ Ten Plagues by Mary Nealy
Marjorie Roy ~ Remembering Christmas by Dan Walsh

Congratulations to you both! Please use the button in the upper right side of this page to email me with your mailing address so I can forward your information to the authors. Then, sit back and wait for your books to arrive.

Thank you all so much for stopping by The Borrowed Book!

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Weekly Drawing

It's fun Friday at The Borrowed Book, and you have several chances to win. Here's how - instead of leaving a comment, leave the time it took you to complete the puzzle in the comments section. Winners will be drawn from ALL of the times, so the person with the fastest time may not be the actual winner, but by leaving your time, you double your chances.

Want another entry? Tweet your puzzle time and mention The Borrowed Book, get another entry.

Post your puzzle time on BB's Facebook wall and...you guessed it...get another entry!

Post it on your OWN Facebook wall and you could get as many as FOUR entries.

It's all a way to spread the word about the great giveaways on BB. So c'mon! Help us spread the word, and have a little fun at the same time. :-)

This week's puzzle feature is brought to you by Mary Nealy and her new release, Ten Plagues, and Dan Walsh with his book, Remembering Christmas.

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Dan Walsh Interview

I'm delighted to welcome Dan Walsh to The Borrowed Book today. Dan is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). His first novel, The Unfinished Gift, won 2 ACFW Carol Awards. The sequel, The Homecoming, received 4.5 stars from RT Book Reviews. His 3rd noel The Deepest Waters, released this past April. His newest book, Remembering Christmas, just came out in September. Dan writes fulltime in the Daytona Beach area, where he lives with the love of his life,Cindi, his wife of 35 years. They have two grown children, both married, and one grandson. As they await more grandchildren, they enjoy the company of two mini-aussies, Bailey and Darcy.

Welcome, Dan. It's great to have you with us today. We're all eager to hear about your book Remembering Christmas that released in September. Tell us a little about it.

Here's a paragraph some very skillful folks at Revell put together to describe it. (I'm terrible at condensing an entire book into a short space.)

Rick Denton is a young successful CPA who lives his life on his own terms. He works hard, plays hard, and answers to no one. So when his mother calls on Thanksgiving weekend begging him to come home after his stepfather has a stroke, Rick is more than a little reluctant. He's never liked Art and resents the man's presence in his life, despite that fact that his own father abandoned the family when Rick was just twelve. What was supposed to be just a couple of days helping out at the family bookstore turns into weeks of cashing out old ladies and running off the homeless man who keeps hanging about. Slowly but surely, the little bookstore and its quirky patrons, as well as the lovely young woman who works at his side each day, work their magic on him, revealing to Rick some startling truths about his family, his own life, and the true meaning of Christmas.

Well, you've got me hooked. I can't wait to read it. I know it's been called a modern day prodigal parable. How does coming home change your hero Rick Denton's life?

It changes everything, literally. But unlike the prodigal story, Rick isn't coming home broke and begging for mercy. He sees himself at the top of his game and is totally broadsided by the changes coming his way, expecially the ones in his heart.

Besides the prodigal comparisons, I think there's an Ebeneezer Scrooge element at work in this story, as well. Except instead of ghosts appearing at night, we have a number of quirky store patrons and a homeless man who inadvertently help Rick see some things he really needs to see, but can't without some help.

Remembering Christmas is set in 1980. What made you choose that time period?

I'm not totally sure. The story is loosely based on a real bookstore called The Book Nook. The real store looked just like the one in the book (my wife actually worked there for a few years). As I pondered and thought about the story, I just saw it at this time. My editor was initially apprehensive about the time period, until she read the book. Then she said,"It's perfect!"

I know your book The Deepest Waters was based on a true event in history. Is that true of Remembering Christmas?

As I said in the last question, some of it is based in reality, but not near as much as in The Deepest Waters. The bookstore was real, set in a church basement and in an old downtown area, just as I described. I based the little town on a fictitious version of Daytona Beach where I live. Sort of a "what if" thing (what if Daytona Beach had stayed small, had never become a major tourist town and the home of NASCAR?) The wonderful couple in the book, Are and Leanne Bell, were inspired by a real couple who owned the real Book Nook. But all the other characters come from my imagination.

Speaking of those characters from your imagination, tell us about a few of these quirky folks and how you came up with such interesting individuals.

You know, it's funny, but I don't know where I get all these characters. Not just in Remembering Christmas, but in my other books. People ask me that a lot, assuming they must be based on real people, because they seem so real to the reader (they feel real to me, too).

There's JD, the homeless man who keeps hanging around the store, hoping to get more Egg McMuffins. And Father Charlie, a sophisticated church bishop whose learned a simpler approach to faith by spending time with Art. And the two elderly sisters from upstate New York, Molly and Fran. And Mack the surfer dude who just came to Christ a year ago.

Congratulations on recieving a 4.5 star rating and a top pick from Romantic Times Magazine for the book. How did you feel when you heard that?

Relieved, then amazed. I hoped they'd give it a decent review but had no idea things would go that well. My editor at Revell, Andrea Doering, did. She won ACFW's editor-of-the-year this past September (had to say that, so proud of her). She loved the book the moment she read it. I guess it's harder for me to see my work the way others do.

Tell us what's next for you. I've heard you're writing a 4 book series with Dr. Gary Smalley.

I am, and it's so exciting. Gary's a wonderful man, and he's done some great things for the Lord, both with his books and his marriage/family seminars over the years. At first I was a little intimidated by the idea. I mean, it's not as though we play in the same league. He's written or co-authored 16 bestselling books and appeared on national TV shows like Oprah and the Today Show. His series with Karen Kingsbury was hugely successful (over 1.5 million copies sold). But I've gotten to know Gary in a behind-the-scenes way over the last year. He's the real deal. gracious and humble and really loves the Lord...and people.

I'm actually working on our first novel right now (just finished chapter 10). I'm drawing from material in two of Gary's latest books. I send the chapters to him as I write, and he sends back his thoughts and input. He's been so easy to work with.

This first novel will come out in the spring of 2013. Between now and then, I have two more of my own coming out in 2012, both with Revell. The Discovery releases in April, then The Reunion in September.

It sounds like you've really been busy. As a parting thought, what Christmas message would you like to give our readers today?

Draw near to the Lord every day and allow His love and mercy to fill your heart. Let His peace impart to you the strength to face all of life's ups and downs. He can and wants to do this. It's why that little baby came to Bethlehem, so that we might know the Father's love and experience it, firsthand, as we humble ourselves and live in a close, dependent relationship with Him (like Jesus did).

Do this, and you will most certainly have a Christmas worth remembering.

Well said, Dan. Thank you for being a guest on The Borrowed Book today. I'm sure our readers have enjoyed finding out about you book Remembering Christmas.

Dan is giving away a copy of his book this week. If you'd like to be entered in the drawing for Remembering Christmas, leave a comment about something you remember from a past Christmas.

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101 Reasons to Love Chicago!

More fun facts:

The world’s largest commercial office building is Merchandise Mart located at 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza

The world’s largest illuminated fountain is Buckingham Fountain located in Grant Park

The world’s largest public library is Harold Washington Library Center located at 400 S. State St.

The Lincoln Park Zoo, one of only three free major zoos in the country, is the country’s oldest public zoo with an attendance of three million people.

The world’s tallest masonry building is Monadnock Block located at 53 W. Jackson Blvd.

The world’s largest free-admission food festival is the Taste of Chicago located in Grant Park

The world’s largest convention facility is McCormick Place located at 2301 S. Lake Shore Drive

The world’s highest steeple above ground is at the United Methodist Church, 77 W. Washington St.

The world’s busiest futures exchange is the Chicago Board of Trade located at 141 W. Jackson Blvd.

The Chicago Park District has the nation’s largest municipal harbor system.

The world’s largest stand-alone theater is the Uptown Theatre located at 4810 N. Broadway

The world’s largest parochial school system is the Archdiocese of Chicago

The world’s largest water filtration plant is the Jardine Water Purification Plant located at 600 E. Grand Ave.

Chicago produced the first Roller skates in 1884

Chicago produced the first Elevated railway in 1892

Chicago produced the first Cracker Jacks in 1893

Chicago produced the first Zipper in 1896

Chicago produced the first Steel-framed skyscraper in 1885

Chicago produced the first Window envelope in 1902

Chicago is home to eleven Fortune 500 companies, while the rest of the metropolitan area hosts an additional 21 Fortune 500 companies.

McCormick Place, Chicago’s premier convention center, offers the largest amount of exhibition space in North America (2.2 million square feet).

The first Ferris wheel made its debut in Chicago at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Today, Navy Pier is home to a 15-story Ferris wheel, modeled after the original one.

The game of 16-inch softball, which is played without gloves, was invented in Chicago.

In 1900, Chicago successfully completed a massive and highly innovative engineering project – reversing the flow of the Chicago River so that it emptied into the Mississippi River instead of Lake Michigan.

Chicago was one of the first and largest municipalities to require public art as part of the renovation or construction of municipal buildings, with the passage of the Percentage-for-Arts Ordinance in 1978.

The Chicago Cultural Center is the first free municipal cultural center in the U.S. and home to the world’s largest stained glass Tiffany dome.

When it opened in 1991, the Harold Washington Library Center, with approximately 6.5 million books, was the world’s largest municipal library.

The Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 110 stories high. Its elevators are among the fastest in the world operating as fast as 1,600 feet per minute.

The first steel rail road in the United States was produced here in 1865.

The first mail-order business, Montgomery Ward & Co., was established here in 1872.

The world’s first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Company, was built here in 1885.

The first televised U.S. presidential candidates’ debate was broadcast from Chicago’s CBS Studios on September 26, 1960, between John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Richard Milhous Nixon.

**This Field Trip Feature was brought to you by The Borrowed Book and Mary Nealy, author of Ten Plagues (Barbour Books, 2011). Check out ALL of Mary's books, and visit her at A Season of Suspense.

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Interview with Carol Award Finalist, S. Dionne Moore

S. Dionne Moore started writing in 2006. Her first book, Murder on the Ol’ Bunions, was contracted for publication by Barbour Publishing in 2008. In 2009 she moved on to writing historical romances as an outlet for her passion for history. In 2010 her second cozy mystery, Polly Dent Loses Grip, was a 2010 Carol Award finalist and she was also named a Barbour Publishing 2010 Favorite New Author. In 2011 her first historical romance, Promise of Tomorrow, was nominated a 2011 Carol Award finalist.

For more information, visit her Website at www.sdionnemoore.com. 
Follow her on Twitter: @sdionnemoore 


Tell readers about your newest release: 

I have two this month, which is really exciting! Promise Brides, my first 3n1 historical, is available EVERYWHERE (rather than just the Heartsong Presents book club). A Shepherd’s Song is available through Barbour Publishings, Heartsong Presents Bookclub. A Shepherd’s Song is the first book in a new historical romance series set in Wyoming. 

Renee Dover made a foolish decision. . .

When fiery Renee Dover seeks adventure and searches for a gang of outlaws, she never expects she’ll find them. Captured by the gang and certain her recklessness has gotten her brother killed, she escapes right into the arms of Tyler Sperry, a quiet sheepherder with a mysterious past.

Compelled to accompany him on his journey leading sheep to summer pasture, Renee finds it impossible to return home. She must endure the silence of this man and the solitude he’s chosen. And Tyler must decide what to do with Renee as every option he sees risks her life or challenges his.

Along the way, Renee discovers there’s much more to this shepherd who keeps his history hidden. Something he’s found that she desires. But when Tyler’s past comes back to haunt him, it just might get them both killed.


Promise Brides, is a compilation of three historicals, Promise of Tomorrow (a 2011 Carol Award finalist), Promise of Yesterday and  Promise of Time, set in 1889 Johnstown, PA., Mercersburg/Greencastle, PA, and Gettysburg, PA, respectively. 


Love never comes without sacrifice.


Promise of Tomorrow
Alaina Morrison loves Jack Kelly. So why won t he realize that all she wants is to get married and begin their new life together? She doesn t need a large home or new clothes or other things. She only needs him to actually spend time with her and to show how much he loves her. As dangerous floodwaters threaten their home of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, will Alaina and Jack allow God to bridge their growing differences with His unifying love?


Promise of Yesterday 
Escaping the horrors of slavery, Chester Jones returns home after many years. After meeting the enigmatic Marylu, sparks fly as he gently pushes his way into her heart. As love blossoms, secrets from Marylu's past arise, causing her to question her newfound feelings. And then what about those rumors linking Chester to a murder. . .? Will Marylu allow God to heal her heart or will it be shattered again?


Promise of Time
Ellie Lester sees time stretching endlessly after the death of her husband in the war. She manages to find some purpose in helping slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. When her husband's cousin arrives, however, time seems to stand still. Is her heart awakening to something new? Theodore Lester is determined to reach his cousin's widow in the North with the truth of her husband's death, even if he must flee from the Confederate Army. Seeing her again sparks something in his heart and makes him want to stop running. But he can t escape from his dreams. . .or himself.

What made you choose the setting for A Shepherd's Song? 

I became fascinated with the Johnson County Wars. Early on, I read that much of the tension was between sheepherders and cattle barons, though that was later discounted. But the career of herding sheep intrigued me and I knew it would make a good story. Using Psalms 23 as a parallel, I rediscovered and came to better understand why God used that particular analogy in that first verse. And I read. . .

A book on a woman's adventures as a sheepherder which helped shape some of the tragedies and challenges inherent in those who undertook the career. And the loneliness. Many men of Basque descent came to the states to be sheepherders. If you ever get the chance to see some of the carvings the Basque sheepherders left on Aspens in the high elevations during the lonely months of herding sheep, it's an interesting glimpse into the psyche of the men as they worked to overcome the terrible separation from family and friends as they fulfilled their contracts.

What does your office look like?

Oh dear. Messy right now, but here it is in all its glory. For those who might be interested, I'm working on editing the third book in the Wyoming series.

Parting words for those interested in become published?

Writers write. They don't talk about it or imagine it, they do it! That might seem over simplistic, but you wouldn't believe how many people have said, "Oh, I'd love to write a book one day." But they never do. LOL! Maybe it's not their calling, and that's fine, but if you truly want to pursue publication, you'll have to discipline yourself to make the time for writing and learning about writing.

Comment to win an autographed copy of A Shepherd's Song. 

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