Great Summer Reads Day Eleven: Tarragon Key Keeper by Karlie Lucas

Karlie Lucas is a school crossing guard by day and a writer/artist by night. 

A graduate of Southern Utah University, Karlie received a B.A. in Creative Writing, with a minor in art. She is a member of Sigma Tau Delta, The International English Honor Society, SCBWI, as well as ANWA, the American Night Writers Association.
Karlie is interested in all things magical and mysterious, especially elves and dragons. She is an avid fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling.

When not writing, Karlie can often be found drawing, baking, watching her favorite old school shows, or just spending time with her family.

She currently resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband and a cat named Kally. 

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 For hundreds of years, the gates of Tarragon have been sealed from the outside. Prophecy speaks of the day the last Key Keeper will return and wake the dragons from their spell-cast slumber, returning them to their rightful home.

Seeking to fulfill her father's dying wish, Anwen Porter travels to the Drakonii Mountains where she meets Tyler, a mysterious local with a secret. With his help, she learns more about her clouded past and her own abilities. But when Courtney, a lovesick mage, tries to insert herself into their plans, things begin to go horribly wrong.
With death threatening at every turn, Anwen must learn to rely on her newfound friends to survive. 

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Q&A With the Author:

1.   What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I like to bake, cook, watch movies, draw, paint, spend time with my hubby and/or cat (pending on who's home), spend time with friends, and just do normal stuff, I guess.

2.  What was the hardest part of writing your book, and how did you overcome it? The hardest part of writing this book was probably getting from point a to be to c. The idea started as a dream, which turned out to be the middle of the book, so I had to figure out how to get to that point and where it led once I got there. I prefer to be a pantster when it comes to writing so I just had to pick a point and go.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I would love to go visit Ireland, partly because I have ancestors from there, and partly because it just seems like such a magical place. A lot of legends come from there.

4.  Where do you get information and ideas for your books?
The ideas for my books either come from dreams, day dreams, or snippets from real life. This particular book started from a dream. Other books started from day dreams or something I saw in real life and wanted to elaborate on and make my own. My next project is based off of a parakeet in a grocery store, something that actually happened this Spring, with my own imaginary scenario of what would happen after meeting this bird.

5. Tell us a bit about a future project you are working on? Do you have any little sneak peeks you can share?  
My next big project is probably going to be a children's book about meeting a parakeet in a grocery store (yes, really happened), but from a first person perspective about how the bird just decided to visit and didn't leave. Unfortunately, no sneak peeks just yet. I've got a lot of projects going on at present so I need to make sure I don't overdo on anything.

6. Now that we've gotten to know each other, tell us a story of a favorite childhood activity you used to do during the summer. It can be long or short. Funny, sad, or somewhere in between. Just make sure it's yours. Tell us a story?
When I was a kid, we used to play make-believe games where my siblings and I would pretend to be characters from our favorite movies or television shows. One of our favorites was Batman. I usually ended up being Bat Girl, with one of my brothers being Batman. We would run through the corn rows of mom's garden to "transform" in our "bat caves" before fighting of villains, also played by our siblings. Alas, I don't remember any specific details, but I do remember it was fun. That and we used to make "stews" in the tire swings dad made for us, using dirt, grass clippings, weeds, and water. And mud pies with the metal baking pan toys we had on hand. The one that really got us in trouble was using mom's bread pans to make "bricks" when the garden overflowed from watering.

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Great Summer Reads Day Ten: Hermana by Becca McCulloch

Becca McCulloch is a wife, mother, professor, and writer but rarely in that order (if in any order at all). At night, she transitions from mild-mannered educator into mild-mannered artist, writing about LDS (Mormon) issues in a modern and complex world. In 2016, she won the Storymakers' First Chapter Contest/General Fiction category. In 2019, her novel, Hermana, was named the General Fiction category winner for the LDS Publishers Media Association.

Becca resides in Utah with her husband, 2 children, Great Dane, two cats, and a pesky, yet friendly raccoon that won't leave the outdoor shed.

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WINNER! 2019 general fiction book of the year from the LDS Publishers Media Association.

Bookish and street-smart Lannie Lewis wants to be more than the child of a broken home who flunked out of music school. Full-time mission service will carry her away from the problems with her dad and immerse her hands in the work of God, or, it would if she’d stop hiding in the bathroom and wishing the island had better bug spray. When a disaster transforms her mission into a world of peril and overwhelming need, she will have to learn to hear the Lord’s voice for herself, even if it means she stands against the crowd. 

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Q&A With the Author:

1.   What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I have 4 children that range from 11 years to 6 months of age. When I'm not writing (or working the day job), I'm cleaning up after someone or trying to settle an argument.

2.  What was the hardest part of writing your book, and how did you overcome it?

I had a lot to learn about story structure. I wanted the book to be very honest about the missionary experience, but wise editors told me it also had to work as a novel. I spent almost an entire year reading books on story structure, watching webinars and working with editors and other writers to create the book. There are still moments where I decided to sacrifice structure to achieve my artistic vision, but overall the novel is stronger for having been put through the pain of fitting into a more traditional format.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I have always wanted to explore Italy. I love music and food, so Italy is a natural heart-home for me.

4.  Where do you get information and ideas for your books?

I'm curious about the human experience, so most of my ideas come from the world around me. I love to explore experiences that have an assumed truth - like the experiences of missionaries. I find beauty in the peeled-back layers. The hidden story behind the standard story fascinates me.

5. Tell us a bit about a future project you are working on? Do you have any little sneak peeks you can share? 

I am working on a co-authored novel right as part of the Liv Bartlet Kat & Bea series. Off Script, the second book in the series, ended with a main character running away from her troubles. It seems like a joyful choice for her, but I wanted to explore the idea that the experiences we bury deep inside still stink over time. Bea reunites with her friend, Kat, who is re-evaluating her own choices. This book has very much grown out of my own maturity. As I've entered my 40s, my priorities for relationships, career, and success have shifted significantly. I'm excited to write about middle-aged, successful women who reexamine their priorities. We also wanted to present really healthy romantic relationships (and the kinds of men who create them).

6. Now that we've gotten to know each other, tell us a story of a favorite childhood activity you used to do during the summer. It can be long or short. Funny, sad, or somewhere in between. Just make sure it's yours. Tell us a story?

When I was 13, my mom decided that my 12-year-old brother and I were old enough to care for our 6 year old brother over the summer while Mom worked. My youngest brother was a lovely child but exceedingly gullible and annoying. Neither of us really wanted to care for him. So we decided that we would trade off days being stuck with him. At first, we were quite good at it. We watched his awful cartoons and fed him cereal and macaroni. But as the summer went on, we had better things to do. I preferred the library while my brother liked to explore the Snake River. We drug our brother along on whatever we did with often-false promises that "tomorrow" would be his day. For a while, this arrangement worked, but then my brother got a loose tongue. He told about the day he got leeches while on a float down the river (my brother insisted he wouldn't have gotten leeches if he'd not overreacted to the rapids and jumped off the inner tube). He blabbed about the day I left him alone at story time so that I could go shopping with my friends (honestly, why couldn't the librarians watch him for an hour or so?). And then he told my mom that we'd used his allowance to rent videos and not paid him back OR purchased the promised ice cream (we did buy it - we just ate it without him).

My mom didn't say much. We knew we were caught. We spent August being stellar babysitters (well, except for that day we lost him at the swimming hole...). But the next summer, my brother and I were enrolled in a summer-long computer programming course and my brother had a nanny. We were well into adulthood before we realized why.

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Great Summer Reads Day Nine: The Temple of the Exploding Head Omnibus by Ren Garcia

REN GARCIA, is a Science Fiction/Fantasy author and Texas native who grew up in western Ohio. He has been writing since before he could write, often scribbling alien lingo on any available wall or floor with assorted crayons.

He attended The Ohio State University and majored in English Literature. Ren has been an avid lover of anything surreal since childhood, he also has a passion for caving, urban archeology and architecture.

His books are published by Loconeal Publishing and include: The League of Elder: Sygillis of Metatron, The Hazards of the Old Ones, The Dead Held Hands, The Machine, and The Temple of the Exploding Head. LoE Book VI: Sands of the Solar Empire was released in July, 2012 and Book VII: “Against the Druries” was released in 2013. His next set of books,  “The Shadow tech Goddess” was released in 2014 with the most recent book, Stenibelle, released in June 2015.

 He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, and their three dogs.

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Starfarers and explorers, the League settled on Kana thousands of years ago. They found it to be a paradise, a perfect, virtually uninhabited planet waiting just for them in the cradle of space.

Lovely Kana … it was too good to be true …

But, all was not as it seemed. Simmering beneath the ground was a demented god who had soaked Kana in blood for untold ages, luring in victims, lying to them, and rejoicing in their suffering as they died at the hands of his dark angels.

And there will be blood again … From his Temple in the ground, the Horned God stirs.

When Lord Kabyl of Blanchefort, a young man troubled by the weight of the world, dares give his heart to a girl from a mysterious ancient household, one that pre-dates the League itself, he comes to know the shadows of the past that hover over her.

He comes to know of the Horned God, and for love he is destined to face him. All roads lead to the Temple of the Exploding Head, a place of evil and death, rooted in the ancient past, but also tied to the distant future.   

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Q&A With the Author:

1.   What do you like to do when you're not writing?[Ren Garcia]  Not much. I play games with my wife and take pictures of clouds. I feed my dog. I hide from the Bug and hand sanitize relentlessly.

2.  What was the hardest part of writing your book, and how did you overcome it?[Ren Garcia]  Trying to stay original. I try to cover new ground with every book. After 12 epic books, finding new ground gets tough.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?[Ren Garcia]  I’ve always wanted to see the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park in Montana. It was featured at the beginning of “The Shining”, and I’ve always wanted to see it for myself, riding in the old-timey red buses chugging down the road. We were going to go this year, but the Bug happened. Maybe next year.

4.  Where do you get information and ideas for your books?[Ren Garcia]  Just comes out of my head. The advantage of writing a totally fictional universe is I get to make the rules, and I don’t have to do much research.

5. Tell us a bit about a future project you are working on? Do you have any little sneak peeks you can share?  [Ren Garcia] I’m working on finishing the Shadow tech Goddess series, and a few more that are early in the works. I’m also dabbling with a semi-fictional recounting of an old family story told deep in Texas—the old country. Such a story will get me ex-communicated from the family, but that’s ok.

6. Now that we've gotten to know each other, tell us a story of a favorite childhood activity you used to do during the summer. It can be long or short. Funny, sad, or somewhere in between. Just make sure it's yours. Tell us a story?[Ren Garcia]  We were some of the original D&D gamers. The game, using nothing but pencil, paper and dice, told orally, was a mystery to our folks. It was a mystery to a lot of folks. We were forbidden to play it. The game would send our souls to Hell, they said. We should spend our time better, playing Lawn Jarts, or fiddling with the old Hit/Miss motor that took my cousin’s hand during a mishap. We played in hidden places, in old campers, in a drainage junction when it was dry and often deep in the woods where nobody could hear or see us. Eventually we grew up and went to college. Eventually, I wrote a bunch of books, all laced with the hidden days of hot summers playing D&D.

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Great Summer Readsy Day Eight: Artesans of Albia Trilogy by Cas Peace

Cas lives in the lovely county of Hampshire, southern UK, where she was born. On leaving school she trained for two years before qualifying as horse-riding instructor. During this time she also learned to carriage-drive. She spent thirteen years in the British Civil Service before moving to Rome, Italy, where she and her husband, Dave, lived for three years. They enjoy returning whenever they can. Cas supports many animal charities and owns two rescue dogs. She has a large collection of cacti and loves gardening. She is also a folk singer/songwriter and is currently writing and recording nine folk-style songs to accompany each of her fantasy books. You can listen to and download all the songs from her website: www.caspeace.com 

See the video of her performing live at the King’s Envoy book launch here: http://www.caspeace.com/cas-peace/the-wheel-will-turn

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Taran Elijah’s quest for knowledge uncovers a plot that threatens the world...

Desperate to learn how to control his innate Artesan powers, Taran embarks on a foolhardy plan to acquire the teaching he craves. The military backlash his action unleashes forces Albia’s High King to send Major Sullyan as an envoy to the Fifth Realm. But a dark and treacherous power is moving through the realms and all will feel its influence.

Captured and tortured by the power-hungry Lord Rykan, Sullyan is trapped in Andaryon. Aided by the unlikeliest sources, the major formulates a plan to defeat Rykan and end his quest for the throne. But Sullyan’s strength is fading fast and time is running out. The only thing that can save her is Rykan’s mysterious Staff, which lies buried in the ruins of Taran’s cellar.

Sullyan’s lover, Robin Tamsen, sets out to recover the artefact, but the enemy is two steps ahead of him. If Robin fails to secure the Staff, Sullyan’s life, the Artesan craft, and the very existence of their world is under threat.

Review:

"Cas Peace's Artesans of Albia trilogy immediately sweeps you away:  the drama starts with King's Envoy, continues unabated in King's Champion, and climaxes in King's Artesan, yet each volume is complete, satisfying.  The Artesan series  propels you into a world so deftly written that you see, feel, touch, and even smell each twist and turn. These nesting novels are evocative, hauntingly real. Smart. Powerful. Compelling. The trilogy teems with finely drawn characters, heroes and villains and societies worth knowing; with stories so organic and yet iconic you know you've found another home—in Albia. So start reading now. I, for one, can't wait to find out what will happen next.

Janet E Morris: Bestselling Author of The Sacred Band of Stepsons series; the Dream Dancer series; I, the Sun; Outpassage; The Silistra Quartet;and editor of the Bangsian In Hell series. Famed contributor to the shared universe fantasy series, Thieves World.

  
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Q&A With the Author:

1.   What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I have two rescue lurchers, so walking is a big part of my life. So is
singing and recording folk songs, and caring for my large collection of
cacti.

2.  What was the hardest part of writing your book, and how did you
overcome it?
The hardest part was actually gathering the courage to show it to
someone. I hadn’t planned on being a writer, so had no confidence in
what I’d written at first. Laying myself open to criticism—however
constructive and well intentioned—was terribly hard for me. Luckily, it
all worked out ok!

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
There are many places in the world I’d still like to see. The Great
Barrier Reef, for the fish and coral; the Maldives to swim with giant
Manta rays; and more of the US national parks because they’re so
beautiful.

4.  Where do you get information and ideas for your books?
Many of my ideas come from watching fantasy and sci-fi films and reading
books in the same genres. I then let my imagination run and spawn new
ideas. If I need to research anything, I use the internet and I also ask
my fellow writers. The writing community is awesome and so helpful.

5. Tell us a bit about a future project you are working on? Do you have
any little sneak peeks you can share?
I’m currently writing a YA prequel to my Artesan series. I’m focusing on
Sullyan’s early life, how she developed her Artesan powers, and the
traumas and experiences that shaped her and made her the person she is.
It’s wonderful to be able to expand on characters in her past that
appear only briefly in my triple-trilogy series. For example, I’m loving
exploring her relationship with Fiann, the exiled Sinnian bard, and
discovering more about why he was exiled and how his experiences
impacted in her psyche.

6. Now that we've gotten to know each other, tell us a story of a
favorite childhood activity you used to do during the summer. It can be
long or short. Funny, sad, or somewhere in between. Just make sure it's
yours. Tell us a story?

When I was a child, I was fascinated by butterflies and moths. My
parents and I used to love countryside trips and I would take along a
butterfly net to catch and identify any I could find. I then became
interested in breeding them and we made netting cages so I could rear
the larvae and watch them hatch into beautiful butterflies. I’d then
release them an watch them fly away. My biggest joy was spotting a
Purple Emperor butterfly on one walk – they were rare even then, and I
felt like some great, intrepid explorer for having seen it!

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Great Summer Reads Day Seven: Max's Royal Adventure by Wendy Leighton-Porter

A graduate of Exeter University in the early 1980s, I spent 20 years as a teacher of French, Latin and Classical studies, before a change of career led me to writing children's fiction. Currently residing in Abu Dhabi, I live with my husband and our beautiful Tonkinese cat.

The Shadow of Atlantis is the first in a series of time-travel adventures, featuring 3 children and a rather special cat called Max. I'm now working on the 17th book, The Shadow of the Great Fire. The series also includes several novellas that feature Max the talking Tonkinese cat undertaking solo adventures. As I take my young readers on a magical mystery tour through the past, I'm hoping that my love of history, myth and legend will rub off on them too. 

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Book 16 of the Shadows from the Past is a solo adventure for the feline hero of the series, Max the talking Tonkinese cat. The story is set in 1651, during the English Civil War:

The rightful King of England is on the run. With a price on his head and in fear for his life, Charles Stuart is desperate to escape his pursuers, the Parliamentarians who executed his father. A rich reward has been offered for his capture and everyone is on the lookout for the young man. Nowhere is safe. How will he ever manage to flee the country without help?

Never fear – the Guardians of Time have a Special Agent lined up for the job … but he just so happens to be a cat!

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Q&A With the Author:

How many books do you have out, and do you have a favourite?

16 titles in my Shadows from the Past series have already been published, and I’m currently working on book number 17. My personal favourite in the series so far is The Shadow of the Tudor Rose, set in Elizabethan England in the year 1588 when the threat of the Spanish Armada was imminent. My young time-travellers join forces with one of Queen Elizabeth’s spies, a playwright by the name of Christopher Marlowe, with whom Max (the talking Tonkinese cat) develops a touching friendship. Packed with history and including some famous figures from that era, the story is also an exciting adventure, steeped in mystery and intrigue.

How do you come up with character names?

Some of the people in my books are real historical figures, but when it comes to choosing names for my fictional characters I go to my family tree. I have several hundred years’ worth of names to choose from there, having done some fairly extensive research on my family history. For example, my young heroine Jemima Lancelot was named after my 5-x great-grandmother.

Do you have a favourite author?

I couldn’t pin it down to just one. I read so many different genres; from the classics to thrillers, to historical fiction, to detective fiction and even to rom-com, from the favourite books of my childhood to more recent books for young readers, fiction or non-fiction, it doesn’t matter. I admire any author who can hold me spellbound, lost in their narrative and unable to stop turning the pages.

What is your favourite or some memorable books that you’ve read?

There are many books that I could happily re-read endless times. When I was asked to list my 10 favourite books, I had real trouble limiting myself to only 10 – if it had been my 100 favourite books, I would have found it much easier! However, I really enjoyed The Ghost, by Robert Harris, a brilliantly atmospheric thriller, Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, and To Catch a King, a recent historical non-fiction work by Earl Charles Spencer. I also found Adam Kay’s This is going to hurt a fun read.

What is one piece of advice you could give to a new author that you wish someone had passed to you?

Revise, revise, revise! When you’ve finished writing your masterpiece, you’re so eager to see it in print that it’s tempting to speed up the process and skimp on the editing, but you can never be thorough enough.

What is the best Holiday you ever went on?

Two spring to mind. One was less of a holiday, as I was taking a group of my students on a tour of Classical Greece, taking in some of my favourite sites from the ancient world, including Athens, Delphi, Olympia and Mycenae. I hope they found it as wonderful as I did! The second was a proper holiday with my husband. We spent 2 weeks on a Gulet (a traditional Turkish boat), sailing down the coast of Turkey from Bodrum to Fethiye, visiting archaeological sites, mooring in quiet coves or small harbours and enjoying the beautiful Aegean coastline. Being a true Cancerian, I love being on the water and with my passion for ancient history and archaeology this was my idea of holiday perfection!

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