Michelle Styles: Hidden Histories

In 1866 Malinda Russell self-published a cookbook containing useful receipts for the kitchen  in the hopes of raising enough money so she could return to Tennessee and attempt to reclaim her property, property she’d been forced to leave behind when she’d fled Northward due to her Union sympathies. Malinda Russell was a Woman of Color, born free by law because her mother Karon had been born after her grandmother, also called Malinda Russell, was emancipated. The US slave system was descent down the maternal line based, a particularly noxious form of slavery which still exists in some African countries (see www.antislavery.org for the definitions of  modern day slavery). It is notable that she does not mention her father's or grandfather’s status. She also doesn’t mention any aunts or uncles who might have been born prior to her grandmother obtaining her freedom and what their status was.

Her book was the first cookbook published by an African-American woman and one of the very few cookbooks which authentically details Southern plantation cooking and as such is a hugely important primary source document. While she mostly focuses on cakes, Russell also includes recipes for cordials and preserves, how to make eggs last longer and how to make various medical ointments. My love of old cookbooks is such that I spent a morning happily enthralled reading the free digital version of her book.

Malinda’s life story reads like fiction – as a teenager she tried to emigrate to Liberia but was robbed and forced to obtain work as a laundress in Lynchburg VA and there she learned how to cook. She married but her husband died, leaving her with a disabled son and so she ran a boarding house in a spa town in eastern Tennessee  and then for  6 years successfully ran a pastry or cake shop until the American Civil War forced her to start over in Michigan. Among other things she was robbed of her considerable life savings by a Guerilla band who threatened her with death if she revealed their names.  I do hope she did raise enough money to return to Greenville Tennessee and reclaim her property.

 I love reading and writing about women with indomitable spirits who struggle against the odds and succeed but Malinda's is not a story I can tell. Thankfully there are other writers who can. At the moment they are often marketed as African-American historical romance writers but they are really saga writers in the tradition of Catherine Cookson, that great doyenne of British woman’s historical fiction who famously claimed she didn’t write romance (meaning books like Barbara Cartland wrote).  Other British saga writers include Josephine Cox, Benita Brown and Penny Jordan when she was writing as Annie Groves as well as Winston Graham who wrote Poldark.

British saga writers differ from historical romance writers in that historical romance writers like me tend to focus on heroes who are of the first estate with the emotional growth of the relationship being the primary focus, whereas saga writers tend to have the heroes being working or lower middle class (the villains are often weak men of the first estate) and the romance is often secondary to the woman’s personal growth. Sagas are sometimes in UK publishing parlance known as Clogs and Shawls or Rats and Rickets books.  When I first moved to the UK, the saga reigned supreme in the UK publishing world with Mills & Boon being basically the only publisher to publish the sort of historical romance I had enjoyed in the US. It wasn’t until more than a decade after she published her last book that Cookson ceased to be the most checked out author in the UK library system. Before I moved from California to Northumberland, I read a lot of Cookson so I could better understand my new home and grew to enjoy this sort of writing.

If anyone else like me loves reading about indomitable women who overcome great odds to thrive,  Alyssa Cole and Piper Huguley write excellent historical sagas. There are other American saga writers but I really enjoy these writers’ novels. They both contributed to The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Anthology which I was privileged to read before Alyssa Cole  received a Rita nomination for  her novella Let It Shine. That anthology can be a good place to start to get a flavour of the books available. Piper Huguley’s Milford College series is also excellent (her prequel The Lawyer’s Luck is free to download). If you enjoy reading Catherine Cookson or Annie Groves (Penny Jordan), you will love Piper Huguley.

 My only regret is that because these books are often marketed African-American historical romance and shelved in the African American section of booksellers that they can be overlooked by readers who go to the romance/women's fiction section, looking for such books which illuminate hidden bits of the American experience and feature strong heroines.  I am firmly of the view that we need diverse romance and that all romance should be shelved together, not softly segregated by skin colour.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romances for Harlequin Historical in a wide range of time periods. Her next Viking-set romance, The Warrior’s Viking Bride, will be published in March 2018. In her free time, she loves reading all sorts of romance because it affords her the opportunity to walk in someone else’s skin. You can read more about Michelle and her books at www.michellestyles.co.uk

Tonya Kappes: Small Towns

I grew up in a small town, and like most I couldn't wait to get out and explore the vast world. Only....the vast world was only two hours from my small town to a city near Cincinnati, Ohio, still in Kentucky.

The older I got I became to appreciate the small town and what it meant to me. I realized moving to a larger city life has become very busy, hustle and bustle, smog, violence, you know.

When I decided to become a writer, I knew I wanted to base a series around a small town and the people in it.

Let's take a look at what you will find in a small town. First you will notice there isn't any traffic, only a few straggling cars. But people! The people are walking around the town with little fear of safety. So much so you can almost feel it. They say hello to you and give you eye contact. They ask about your family, and invite you over to pick some berries or tomatoes out of their garden.

And the buildings! How amazing are those old buildings. They are the core of the town. Generally small town buildings are compact, well organized and centered around the city building. It embraces you, giving you that welcome feel. There is a sense of belonging. And that feels good!

Did you take a big deep breath? No? Well do! How about that?

Fresh air! Clean fresh air. Free of smog!

Have you seen a small town school? Yes, there is no barbed wire around it, or metal detectors. Just kids all over the school yard, laughing, eating, and making jokes. Harmless. The building itself is small, with few teachers, but that's because there are fewer children in small towns. As you can read on the school's marque, the upcoming dances, PTA meetings, and other school spirit activities taking place.

Then there are the business. Local, homegrown doctor (who might be a vet too), locally owned grocery store, feed and seed, post office, and florist.

These are just a few reasons why small communities are being sought after. People are wanting the hometown, good salt of the earth life for their families. Most of these communities are only a hop, skip, and jump away from larger cities where most the families travel to work.

These communities offer charm, a sense of humanity. When someone is sick, the entire community jumps in and helps the family. No matter how hard I try to make this happen in my community, it just doesn't happen. Of course my kids are great, and we love our neighbors, school, and jobs, but there's something to be said about the love and warmth of a small town.

The Magical Cures Mystery Series is  set in my fictitious small town of Whispering Falls, Kentucky. I've built a community around the lives of the residents there who happen to be a village of witches. They own cozy shops that is a "front" for their witchy gift. June Heal, the main character, is a potion maker and her shop A CHARMING CURE is a homeopathic cure shop. When a customer comes in for a homeopathic lotion, June's gift of intuition tells her what the real issue is with the customer. The customer might come in for a bad case of heartburn, but in reality the customer might be heartbroken. Throw in a couple of dead bodies and a charming mystery is created!

Do you live in a small town? Do you like to visit small towns in your reading?

Social Media Book Club

As an author, a life long dream was to be picked up by a book club and have them pick your book. I'm not talking Oprah level book club, though....that would be great. I'm talking just a girl's night out, having fun discussing books. The small town book clubs.

When I got my first novel got picked up by a book club, I was so excited. They were from Harvard and had emailed me through my website. I sent them book marks, a tote bag, and some signed book plates before they had met. A couple of weeks later, I had received a photo of the book club holding up the book and the bags. It was so exciting.

Book club requests were few and far between and I appreciated them so much.

When social media took off about six years ago, I knew this would open up a whole new world for readers. It was going to open up a whole new world for me to connect with my readers. I put it out on my website and newsletters that I'd love to Skype with their book clubs and send some goodies along.

WOW! Did that little newsletter open up the doors to more and more book clubs. It's been amazing.

What I've seen lately that has been even more fun, are groups of readers who have met on Facebook through their favorite authors or favorite genres and formed online book clubs. It's been so fun seeing my readers come together in their own club and reading.

Do you have a book club? Are you a member of an online book club? What are you reading now?

One lucky comment will be picked to win a new Tonya Kappes tote!

Tonya Kappes: Out of here!

It's that time of year to shake off the old year and bring in the new year! AND it's time for everyone to blog about new year resolutions. Not me! I don't make new year resolutions. But I can't help but take a look back at what a whirlwind year it has been!

HarperCollins, my publisher, published the first four novels in my Ghostly Southern Mystery Series. All four! Plus I signed another contract with them to write more.
I'm also thrilled that I signed another three book deal with Henery Press for my Kenni Lowry Mystery Series.

I self published two novels, two novellas and participated in two box sets.

I had twenty-three public appearances and hosted my very first and very own reader event for my readers!

WOW! That was a big writing and publishing year.

2016.... Watch out...here I come!!!

This new year is not going to be any different. I'm planning on introducing a new cozy mystery series to self publish along with my traditional releases.

My second reader event has been planned and already full.

I'm giving two key note speeches and over thirty appearances have been put on the calendar.

All I can say...is bring it on!

What about you? Are you looking forward to the 2016?

Leave a comment to win a fun mystery pack!

Susan Sands: My Writer's Heart is Full

Dear Friends,

I'm writing this following an event that I'm dying to share with you; it was author and reader related and has had me sighing with a deep satisfaction until I realized that yes, my book is still due at the end of the month, and no, I can't just sit here and wallowing in my stretchy pants eating pie for breakfast. I must focus and move forward at a steady clip or stress myself to the point of no sleep and even more pie.

But back to my fun times. A couple weeks ago, I attended the first Milton Literary Festival in Milton, GA. Milton is a small community twenty or so miles Northwest of Atlanta. It's horse country, and while the area has grown in recent years, it's lovely, heavy in local history, and has a small town feel with rich, cultural roots. A group of incredible volunteers devoted innumerable hours to putting on a fantastic event free and open to the community. One of the local public high school's fine arts department sold baked goods to support funding for their visual arts print periodical, which was incredibly well-done. (See Photos) The authors involved with the festival couldn't pull our wallets out fast enough after getting a look at what these talented young men and women were working so hard to fund.

I was involved in two official events during the festival, but found myself pulled into others and attending my fellow authors' panels and presentations. Some wrote biographies, some narrative non-fiction, and others Southern women's fiction. We were quite varied as authors and people. So often, I've been involved in a lot of sameness within my writing life. A lot of romance and women's fiction  writers--mostly women. This was so much fun because of the diversity of the genres and people. We all met at the end of the day for dinner and cocktails at a small local restaurant. It was a rip-snorting good time. Best of all, I feel like I made some new and real friends moving forward.

Some of the attendees were:  Karen White, Ann Hite, Kimberly Brock, Valerie Conners, Nicki Salcedo, Amanda K Williams, Jackie K Cooper, Michael Buchanan, Romily Bernard, Jameson Gregg, Rona Simmons, George Weinstein, Haywood Smith, and Scott Seeke. Sorry if I missed anyone!

It was a rich experience. I'm not a literary writer, but I value those who write the beautiful sentences and words all the time. I'm funny and smart and I'm proud of what I do, but I can tip my hat to those who do it differently and more magnificently. I only hope to gain insight from those folks as I continue my lifetime of learning.

Wish me luck on my deadline journey!! Ack!

Susan Sands
Author of AGAIN, ALABAMA
The Tule Publishing Group


http://amzn.com/B00Z318GNY

Chooo Chooooo!!!!

Years ago...and I mean YEARS ago, I would scour my favorite author's websites for book signings and figure out how I could get there. We didn't have social media where we could friend authors and hope they would friend us back or even acknowledge us. We had to go to book signings and wait in line with a rapid beating heart, anticipating our turn to tell the author how much we love their work, yada-yada....

THEN....my heart dropped when my favorite author gave me a snide smile and pushed my book to the side without a thank you or even eye contact. I couldn't believe it!

When I became an author I knew I wasn't going to be like THAT author. I was going to make sure I took the time to thank each and every one of my readers. Something small and intimate. I wanted them to feel appreciated and know my gratitude.

Along came social media and it was game on for me! Not all authors are social, but when they step into the public arena they need to be somewhat nice. Social media has been a game changer. It was my opportunity to take my dream of connecting with readers the way I wanted to connect with my favorite author (who was no longer on my TBR list!).

Over the years I have been able to connect on a more personal level using social media and make sure my readers have the opportunity to hang out when I'm doing live events. I have hosted tea parties while away at conferences, I rented a cupcake shop while on book tours, and I have hosted coffee parties at various coffee shops around the U.S.

BUT....in January I had an idea. What if I made my own annual weekend reader event, invite another author each year to join me and host it in a different city each year?

I was off and running! I had decided I wanted to do something with mystery since the first four in the Ghostly Southern Mystery Series, published by HarperCollins, was being released this year. I found a few murder mystery theatre trains. After making a few calls, I picked The Old Dinner Train in Blissfield, Michigan which is outside of Toledo, Ohio. Then I called a hotel to reserve a block of rooms, and the closest Barnes and Noble to book my own signing.
(Yes...I do have a publicist at HarperCollins and she was like What? Wow! when I told her what I had done.) I called another mystery author, Duffy Brown (because she is low drama and always up for anything) and we unleashed the graphic.

(me and Duffy Brown)

The tickets sold out within hours! We couldn't believe it. It was January and the event wasn't until October!

The weekend exceeded all my expectations! The train's max was forty readers and it was intimate enough to be able to talk and spend time with each of them. The readers loved it and instead of the typical giveaway of a book bag, I had gotten them spa kits with the weekend logo stamped on the kit along with a donated book from author friends.

The last night of the event, I announced 2016's event and what authors I had picked to come along. Another mystery train, only in St. Louis, MO! I opened up the registration that night and the tickets sold out! I will continue to host a yearly, small, intimate event for my readers! I want them to know how much they mean to me and how grateful I am for them.

Have you attended your favorite author's events? Leave a comment and be eligible to win the first FOUR novels in my Ghostly Southern Mystery Series!

For years, USA Today bestselling author Tonya Kappes has been self-publishing her numerous mystery and romance titles with unprecedented success. She is famous not only for her hilarious plotlines and quirky characters, but her tremendous marketing efforts that have earned her thousands of followers and a devoted street team of fans. HarperCollins and Witness Impulse is thrilled to be publishing this insanely talented and wildly successful author for the first time with her hilarious and spooky Ghostly Southern series.

Check out Tonya's Website and sign up for her newsletter for a free ebook download!