THE SAMARITAN'S PISTOL by Eric Bishop: BLOG TOUR

 

 

Today we welcome fellow author, Eric Bishop, to our blog to talk about his exciting new book, THE SAMARITAN'S PISTOL.  Filled with action and suspense, this Rocky Mountain Thriller is also full of characters you can't get out of your head. 

 

Thanks, Eric, for visiting and sharing your thoughts with us:

 

"How the role of cowboy has changed in novels or movies over the years, culminating in "The Samaritan's Pistol."

 

           Western Writers of America Membership Chair, Rod Miller, asked me once, "Why do people want to write about another planet? There's plenty of strange stuff right here!"

            Rod’s a very good writer, better than I’ll ever be. I agreed with him at the time and still do, but not totally. Some elements of Star Trek and Star Wars hold my attention. Not all western writers will make the admission, but I think most like watching Captain Kirk and Han Solo cowboy across the stars. There are too many similarities between the genres. Trade the Millennium Falcon for a temperamental but Kentucky Derby fast horse, the blaster for a six-shooter, an Apache wingman named Tonto for a wookie and let the fun begin.   

            The cowboy rides into a new town and adventure waits. He walks into the bar full of seedy, threatening characters. The town’s tough guy, crooked sheriff, or Pinkerton Detective lurks in the shadows, ready to fight. Remember Han Solo blasting Jabba the Hut’s debt collector in the Mos Eisley cantina? As for Mr. Hut, is he that much different than a wealthy cattle baron?    

            Westerns have suffered in the bookstore and box office. Compared to their science fiction counterparts there just aren’t many movies being made or stories finding their way to best seller lists. For the genre to regain some luster it needs to keep the familiar while borrowing the appeal of other genres. 

            I grew up on Louis L’amour, but eventually tired of the formulaic writing. My reading interests drifted toward Thrillers, Crime, Adventure and Mystery.  Somewhere along the way, I wondered why some of my favorite books couldn’t happen on a ranch or in the mountains. 

            Star Wars and Star Trek aren’t westerns in space. They are science fiction franchises, dripping with success. A cash cow for Hollywood, but they borrowed the western persona. The rugged, damn the torpedoes individualistic and reckless Han Solo and Captain Kirk got beamed into starring roles, riding hyperdrive fast carriages across the galaxy. The industry was smart. Why limit cowboys to roles near a corral, mountains or saloon?  

            My debut novel, The Samaritan’s Pistol, attempts this in reverse. The opening chapter takes pinky ringed mobsters and plops them in a cowboy’s back yard to fight with each other in a predominantly Mormon community. Call it a new age western, an effort to bring the tension of thriller, crime, mystery and suspense to wide open spaces.

            For now, the aliens remain galaxies away some place near the Mos Eisley Cantina.  

             Rod Miller gave me an enthusiastic blurb for the back cover. Perhaps The Samaritan’s Pistol hits the right mixture of “strange stuff.”

 

Eric Bishop  

 

Thanks, Eric!

 

Hey!  If you'd like to know what we think of this great reinvention of the western novel, see our review HERE.

Want to know more about this great book?

 

 “Pull a trigger, save a life.” 

When faced with a perilous choice, Desert Storm veteran Jim Cooper makes this decision without hesitation—but not without consequence. His small-town life is hurled inside-out as he finds himself in the midst of four criminals—three of them dead by Jim’s own bullets and one wounded, willing to offer a large reward in exchange for help. 

Faced with the challenge of balancing his kind heart with a desire to protect his own life, Jim finds himself on a trip to retrieve a truckload of stolen Mafia cash near the Las Vegas strip, never more than a few minutes away from mobsters who’d like nothing more than to see him dead. Even if Jim and his partner-in-crime escape with the money, will his conservative neighbors provide sanctuary for their local Samaritan? Will he live in fear of Mafia revenge for the rest of his life?

 

Released August 24th, The Samaritan’s Pistol is set to reinvent the Western-based genre, weaving a classic tale that is reminiscent of writing-greats Dean Koontz, Mark Twain, and Louis L'Amour. Bishop’s powerful prose is reflected by his rugged characters, and yet, Bishop’s characters, just like his writing, possess a soft, human side that will leave readers tantalized. With a fast-paced plot full of mobsters and cowboys, this novel is poised to resonate with fans of every genre and influence and put the Western U.S. back on the fictional map.

 

ERIC BISHOP is known to his friends and family as an “author version of Clint Eastwood.” As the owner of a successful financial firm, Bishop spends most of his time on his Utah ranch writing with the music of his adolescence bouncing off the walls. When he's not writing, Bishop enjoys spending time with his wife and four lovely daughters at his home in Nibley, Utah. Unlike Jim, Bishop hasn't had any run-ins with the Mafia. Yet.

 

Find Eric Bishop at: 

Blog:  www.eric-bishop.com 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ericbishopauthor

Twitter: www.twitter.com/EricBishopWords

 

WHAT IT TAKES TO WRITE AS A TEAM

Ammon is in Black & Gold on Right

When my son, Ammon, played basketball for Monarch High School, my wife and I cheered enthusiastically from the bleachers. 

We soon found out that not all his teammates were "team players."  Most notable were those whose whole ambition was to get the ball and drive hell-bent down the court to make a spectacular layup. 

As a 6'4" forward, Ammon was especially good at working the boards, rebounding and driving in to pass off at the last second, allowing another player in a better position to score. 

Had to document that Ammon (#35) did make baskets!

During a particularly heated game, we heard the Dad of one of the players, who was seated behind us, comment, "Ammon is too nice.  He won't get the stats."

I thought, "That's because he's a team player."

In any team sport, there are two driving forces that must be kept in balance:  what’s best for the one versus what’s best for the whole.  In the end, team work means doing what’s best for the whole team first, before doing what might be best for any individual, including yourself.

Great teams come together only when each player cares as much about the success of the other team members as he cares about his own. 

Back Row: Berk 3rd from Left, Andy 2nd from Right

Now, brotherly relationships can be notoriously complicated, with a lot of old baggage, but in our case, I enjoy my relationship with Andy and value his friendship.  As writers, I think the different experiences and skills we bring to the table are complimentary, and the product of our joint efforts is greater than the sum of its parts.

We discovered this only as adults. 

Growing up, I was always in the “big-kids” group of siblings, while Andy was always in the “little-kids” group.  Big kids were allowed by our parents to do things that the little kids were not.  This created a gap between us, and when we did interact as children, it was often when the big kids were playing dirty tricks on the little kids. 

Fortunately, Andy survived, and we had similar growing-up experiences, though the events in Andy’s life came a half-dozen years after mine.  While we both became lawyers, we both eventually decided to try something new.

Scary stories have always been a family specialty.  I started writing a young adult science fiction series, and when Andy also tried his hand at writing fiction, it didn’t take long for us to come together as The Brothers Washburn on a young adult horror series.  We find that once we start telling a horror tale, any bounds on the story are limited only by our own creativity and imagination. 

Telling tales is way more fun than being a lawyer.

As brothers, we get along well and have a healthy level of mutual self-respect, so we can freely share ideas and challenge each other without worrying about egos.  We are more creative when we are bouncing ideas off each other and discussing a general storyline, but we actually write separately, conferring afterwards on what we have been doing. 

In some ways, we are very different in how we approach a story.  Andy used to be a planner (a habit he got from writing like a lawyer), but in fiction writing, he no longer likes to plan ahead.  He likes to develop his characters, and then let them take the story wherever it is going to go. 

On the other hand, I am definitely still a planner.  I am always making lists and outlines, not only for the current story, but for future stories as well.

For both of us, background research is important in the theoretical sciences as well as in the local Trona geography.  The Dimensions in Death series is an ongoing horror story based on principals of science rather than on demons, devils or magical creatures, so an understanding of scientific theory is necessary and fun. 

However, Dimensions in Death is not a science fiction series with a few scary scenes.  It is horror, suspense and fright in a fast pace narrative with a little science sprinkled on for spice as the truth is gradually discovered by our heroes in the story.  Separately, the local geography in the story plays a critical role in setting the mood of the tale.  Trona, California is a real place in this world located in a desolate region of the Mojave Desert by Death Valley.  We grew up there and try to keep the series settings as real as possible.

The general outline for Pitch Green, the first book in the horror series, came together in November of 2010.  We were attending a writer’s seminar together in Manhattan and listening to panel discussions by top literary agents during the day.  One night, as we rode the subway from one end-of-the-line stop across town to the opposite end-of-the-line stop, and then back again, we mapped out the basic elements we would need to expand a favorite childhood scary story into a full-length novel.  Andy wrote the first rough draft, and then, in our typical tag-team effort, I took that draft over to edit and expand the tale. 

In the writing of the first book, the ground work was laid for both the sequels and the prequels in that series.  The whole tale is long and complicated.  However, as The Brothers Washburn, we are having more fun in the spinning of it than should be legally allowed.

But that’s okay--we know some good lawyers.



For the original of this post, go F.J.R. Tichenell, our blog tour host extraordinaire, here. Thanks, Fiona.

BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY: Ann Marie Meyers & UP IN THE AIR

 

BW:  Hi, Ann Marie.  We're excited to have you here as part of your Blog Tour for Up In the Air.  Hope you are having a great day. 

AMM:  I am thrilled to be here as well Berk and Andy. Thank you so much for having me.  

BW:  This is a particularly special day because it is also the official release date of Up in the Air.  We love parties and have looked forward to personally wishing you HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY!

AMM:  Yay! Another birthday to celebrate every year. That leaves me smiling. 

BW: We've got to say we've read the book and think it has all the markings of a classic. 

AMM :  I’m speechless. Thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed reading Up In the Air. It’s a book that’s very close to my heart.

BW:  Up In the Air is a magical fantasy on many levels.  As part of your visit today, would you share your ideas on what makes good fantasy?  

AMM:  I’d love to. 

What Makes Good Fantasy

In a sense, what makes good fantasy goes hand in hand with what makes a good story, except there is the added element of an invented world that form the soul, heart and backbone for the events of the story.

Fantasy can take you anywhere and everywhere. It is wide open to whatever the mind can imagine. Yet within an invented world, there have to be rules. Anything can happen, true, but the events should not be arbitrary. The boundaries, as with any book, are what help to create tension and drama.

That said, a book of fantasy should strive to be original enough that it stands out from all the other novels of the same genre. This can be a challenge given the hundreds of fantasy books on the market. But originality can take many forms, from approach to plot, and it’s up to the individual author to find it.

Whatever choice is made, fantasy books should snag readers and pull them into their make-believe world, where readers will want to go willingly and happily, to be entertained and taken for the ride of their lives.

However, a book of fantasy in and of itself, isn’t enough. Definitely, the more an author knows the world he is creating, the stronger and more ‘realistic’ the story will be. However, good fantasy cannot exist without what most good stories have: 

1.    A character (or characters) the reader can connect with and care about
 

2.    Something must be at stake

3.    The greater the conflict, the greater the tension, the more intriguing the story

4.    Of course, basic elements of style, tone, tension, drama, pace, etc. must come into play
 

5.    And all the above must blend in seamlessly with the world of the fantasy created.
 

Of the five points I mentioned above, characterization, to me, is the most crucial. A strong character can keep a reader’s attention even if there are flaws in a story, because once readers connect with the character(s), a relationship is established, emotional connections are made, and readers become vested in  the character’s journey. They want to see how their newfound ‘buddies’ will get out of the mess they’ve gotten themselves into.

And here is where the fantasy world can step in and establish itself as King and/or Queen. The elements of the invented world can then shape the options at the disposal of the character(s). Beware though that characters, as all writers know, love to take the lead and shape the world they are placed in for their own ends.

So, the way I see it, good fantasy all boils down to strong, likeable characters; a world that fascinates and intrigues; conflict, and a story into which readers can lose themselves and suspend disbelief for a few hours of immeasurable joy and fascination.

BW:  Thank you, Anne Marie.  Now, if anyone is wondering what WE think of Up In the Air, hop over to OUR REVIEW.  Be sure to check out the GIVEAWAY below!
 

Here is where you can get Up In the Air: 

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

BW: Now comes the part where we get to brag a bit about Up In the Air and Ann Marie Meyers.

 

Meet Ann Marie:

 

ANN MARIE MEYERS grew up in Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. She has a degree in languages and translates legal and technical documents from French and Spanish into English. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and energetic daughter. Meyers is an active member of SCBWI and facilitates a children's writing group twice a month.

 

Find Ann Marie online at: 

Facebook

Twitter

Website

 

The official synopsis from the publisher:
 

Ever since she can remember, ten-year-old Melody has always wanted to fly.

 

And when she leaps off a swing in the park one day and lands in the mystical realm of Chimeroan, her dream finally comes true. She is given a pair of wings. She can fly! Life cannot be any better.

 

Yet, dreams do come with a price. Even with wings, Melody realizes she cannot outfly the memories of her past. The car accident that has left her father paralyzed, and her unscarred, still plagues her with guilt— she believes that it was entirely her fault.

 

In Chimeroan, Melody is forced to come to terms with her part in her father's accident. She must choose between the two things that have become the world to her: keeping her wings or healing her father.

 Praises for Up In the Air 
 

 “Although Up in the Air is an easy read aimed at young readers, it is a story that will enthrall even the most serious of adults.  What begins as a seemingly hopeless story takes us up and over and into the place where our deepest desires lie waiting.  Chimeroan gives Melody (the main character) and the reader a sense of new hope by reminding us all what it is to dream, and what can happen if you just trust and follow your dreams to their fullest potential. The hopeful message that Up in the Air gives the reader—entwined beautifully with fairies, dragons, witches and the like—is one that is clearly relevant and indeed necessary today.”—Dawna Joy Whitman, actor and playwright, Life as a Pomegranate, The Hush Baby, Containers

 

”Full of adventure and fun characters, I would recommend this to anyone wanting to fulfill their dreams.  Or even to those who wish to guide someone on their way. A great all around book.”—Casey, Goodreads First Reads reviewer

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BLOG TOUR: Teri Harman talks about BLOOD MOON

 

SYNOPSIS

Willa dreams of true events and her best friend is a ghost. Simon can heal any wound with a touch and senses others’ emotions, intentions. All their lives they’ve felt alone in their bizarre abilities, hiding behind a facade of normalcy, wondering why and how. The night Simon walks into the Twelve Acres Diner and meets Willa face to face, in a swirl of electric heat, they are bound to one another and glimpse the magic of who they are.

 Across town a witch is held prisoner in the derelict basement of an old Victorian house. One night as it rains, she dares to reach her filthy, scarred hand out the window. Willa, walking home from work, recognizes the pathetic hand from a recent, terrible dream.

 After a daring rescue of the witch, Willa and Simon are catapulted into the alluring but dangerous world of witchcraft and the magic of The Six Gifts. Answers to all their questions are within reach, but they’ve stepped into the middle of a deadly fight for the Powers of the Earth. Do they stay, risk their lives on the promise of power, or walk away?

 

We are excited to welcome fellow author Teri Harman to our blog today to talk about her book, BLOOD MOON, newly released by Jolly Fish Press on June 22, 2013.  (If you want to know what WE think about her book, go here: Our Review of BLOOD MOON )

First off, here are her answers to questions we’ve wanted to ask ever since we read BLOOD MOON. 
 

1.  What inspired you to write a novel about witches?

It was actually a Halloween party. Every year I host a witch themed Halloween party for the women in my family. In 2010, I found an incredible location: 100 year old school house out in the middle of nowhere. The Camp Floyd School House was so perfect I needed a party to match. I started reading up on witches and magic to get ideas for the party, but was so fascinated by what I read that it soon became inspiration for a novel.

2.  Where did the many detailed magical elements in your book come from?

As I read up on witches, I came across a technique/belief system known as Natural Magic. Natural magicians believe in the power of nature and that every rock, tree, plant, herb, drop of water has specific magical powers. I loved this; it fell in line with how I thought witches should be. So I developed the magic of the Moonlight Magic around this system, adding my own flare and imagination.               

3.  What is the draw of magic for readers today?

I think we all like to imagine there are things mystical and wondrous, things that do not fit into reality. The escape of magical books, movies and TV is tonic to the stress and, sometimes, monotony of life. Plus it feeds the imagination and is lots of fun.

4.  Is there a scene in your book that is especially significant to you and why?

Chapter 8. The scene of a pale, dirty hand reaching out a basement window was the first scene I wrote for BLOOD MOON. It was inspired by a dream I had of this hand reaching out the window to touch the rain. The person attached to the hand is very important to Willa and Simon, my main characters, and her rescue a critical turning point in their story. 

5. What is the writing process like for you?

 

It’s chaos. I’m a stay-at-home mom of three kids, ages 7, 5 and 3. I write when I can and am constantly interrupted. But when I do write, I write instinctively; I’m not an outliner. This makes for some messy manuscripts that require a lot of fixing and cleaning up, but it works for me. I have a ‘crazy person wall’ where I keep each chapter and scene on a big index card. This helps me keep track of everything and makes it easy to rearrange scenes so that everything flows well. I also have a binder in which I keep notes.

It takes me about 8-12 months to finish a manuscript. Before it’s done I often wonder if it will be possible J

Thanks, Teri!
 
Written words alone cannot do justice to this fun and gracious lady.  We'll let her tell you herself how BLOOD MOON came to be.

You can find BLOOD MOON on Amazon  and Barnes & Noble

To learn more of Teri Harmon visit her on:
Facebook
Twitter
Website  

Before you leave, be sure to check out the Giveaway below.    Happy Reading!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour is Here . . . with Giveaway

Today is the BIG DAY!  The blog tour for the release of Pitch Green begins.  Check our Events Page above for where we will be stopping by to visit with our great blog hosts. 

Our hosts have amassed reviews, interviews and blog posts on an amazing variety of angles--all relating to Pitch Green, but each one individual to our interviewers.  Some taxed our brains (!) but all are fun.

As part of our blog tour, Jolly Fish Press is launching a Giveaway.  The Giveaway will last from March 10th to March 30th.  Come share in our excitement. Enter below to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Pitch Green will be released on March 16, 2013-- a circled, red-lettered, and neon day for us.  The countdown clock is ticking its last ticks.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Berk   &  Andy

 

A LITTLE MEANDER INTO HAWAII WITH LEHUA PARKER

       Here in Colorado,  leaves are off the trees, snow is on the ground, and the air is definitely nippy.  It's time to take a break and talk warm, breezy, and verdant Hawaii!  We're excited to welcome to our blog Lehua Parker, author of One Boy, No Water.  She also answers to "Aunty Lehua".


If you want to know what we think of this fine book, read our blog post last Friday, November 9th.

Aloha, Berk and Andy! Thanks for letting me drop by to answer a few of your questions about my MG/YA novel One Boy, No Water, book one in the Niuhi Shark Saga. It’s available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon in hardback, trade paperback, and ebook.

What inspired you to write One Boy, No Water?

There’s an image burned in my brain from a movie I saw when I was seven years old, sprawled on the cool, polished cement floor in Kahului Elementary’s cafeteria.  It was from the Legends of Hawaii series and was about villagers who kept disappearing and it was feared they were eaten by a large shark. There’s a moment when they rip the cloak off the shoulders of a young man to reveal a gaping shark’s mouth where his back should be! Since then I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the idea that his parents kept this secret hidden his entire life and that he was eating people he knew. All the answers to the why, how, and what if questions I asked myself eventually turned into the Niuhi Shark Saga.

 Were any of the characters and situations drawn from your own life?

Yes, a lot of them are! While I never had an allergy to water, I did experience a lot of the bullying Zader does, particularly when I was in elementary school and the only blonde, blue-eyed kid in the school district. Not class, school district, including all the faculty and staff.  I wished I had a brother like Jay or a friend like Char Siu or someone like Uncle Kahana to guide me through it all.  Most of the things Zader and his friends do, I also did as a kid, from surfing to kite flying to dancing hula.  In the book, there’s a lot of pressure on sixth graders to get into a good private school.  That’s also real; I went through the same thing.  Fortunately, like Zader I had a teacher, Mr. Waters, who went out of his way to make sure his part of my private school applications were stellar.  Getting into The Kamehameha Schools for seventh grade changed my life, much like getting into Ridgemont will change Zader’s.

 

Where does the Niuhi Shark legend come from?

Throughout the Pacific there are stories about shape shifters who can change from human form to something else like a tree, molten lava, a gust of wind, or a shark.  While not specifically based on any one legend, the series does echo some of these ideas.  In Hawaiian, the word niuhi means ‘a shark large enough to eat a human,’ and is usually translated as ‘large tiger shark.’  I took the word and created a people who are sharks that can appear as human.  That’s key.  They are not humans shifting into sharks; they are sharks masquerading as humans on land.

 

Why did you have many of your characters speak in Hawaiian Pidgin English?  What difficulties did that present?

In Hawaii, language can immediately identify you as an insider or an outsider.  As a kid on Maui, everyone spoke a heavy one-generation-from-the-sugar-plantation version of Pidgin, including the teachers.  The only time I spoke standard English was at home.  Growing up, Pidgin was the language of friendships and secrets. If you travel to Hawaii as a tourist, chances are you won’t hear anything but proper English and a phrase or two in Hawaiian.  Speaking Pidgin—or even just having a bit of accent in your English—instantly identifies you as belonging.  Most Pidgin speakers can spot another speaker in an instant, even if the person talking hasn’t lived in Hawaii for decades.  The way my characters talk in One Boy, No Water is authentic to the way locals talk in Hawaii when they are among friends and family.

Of course, using Pidgin dialogue and still conveying what’s going on to non-Pidgin speaking kids was tough. Fortunately, since kids are constantly acquiring new vocabulary, they’re pretty adept at figuring out meaning from context.  I consciously chose to use a version of Pidgin that’s more typically spoken today, more heavily based in English that what I spoke on Maui, and cheated a little by using standard English spelling which often doesn’t mirror how Pidgin sounds.  However, to keep it real I tried to maintain Pidgin’s rhythms and grammar, with the hope that  non-Pidgin readers get the gist of “more better we go library later; the waves stay pumping now,” and Pidgin speakers reading the same words hear “mo’bettah we go li’barry latahs, da waves stay pumpin’ now” in their heads.  As a last resort, I wrote a glossary and included it in the back of the book.

What is one event in your book that was most riveting to you and why?

There’s scene in the book where Uncle Kahana tells the story of a shark attack he witnessed as a child from a toro boat.  The inspiration for that scene came from an infamous fatal shark attack that happened off Lanikai beach in 1958.  Six boys ranging from 9-15 years old were resting on surfboards and air mattresses in choppy water and had a small toro boat anchored nearby.  A large tiger shark estimated between 15 and 25 feet silently bit the leg off one of the boys.  None of the other kids realized it until he started drifting away from the group.  As a teenager I heard this story and its unpublished details from people who had been there. This beach was literally my Dad’s backyard, these were his friends, and the death of Billy Weaver affected him and the rest of Hawaii profoundly for decades.

In the book I tried to capture the horror of a Jaws-sized shark silently and efficiently killing and what I imagined it must have been like for a kid in the toro boat off  Lanikai beach to watch people he cared about choosing to stay in the water where a gigantic shark was circling in order to save their friend. I combined these images with the idea that the shark knew what it was doing and that the whole incident could have been avoided if people had only followed the ancient kapu or fishing restrictions.  The scene is chilling to me on many levels, and I hope it rivets readers as well.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

That it’s impossible to write anything well unless you clearly define your audience.  One Boy, No Water and the Niuhi Shark Saga started out as an adult novel called Like One Fish Out of Water. It ballooned over the years, in fits and starts, was way too complicated and meandering, and never went anywhere until I made some concrete decisions: 1) how I was going to handle Pidgin; 2) that I was telling the story to kids; 3) that the kids I wanted to excite about the story were specifically those who didn’t like to read because they’d never read a book with characters who lived and talked like they do.  Once those things were decided, it all fell into place.

Taken on Maui during Washburn family vacation 2005!

 

Many thanks, Lehua, for sharing a little of Hawaii--and yourself--with us today.  

Or perhaps we should say, "MAHALO!"

 I'm feeling warmer, already.  

 

A little Background on our Guest:

Lehua Parker is originally from Hawaii and a graduate of The Kamehameha Schools and Brigham Young University. So far she has been a live television director, a school teacher, a courseware manager, an instructional designer, a sports coach, a theater critic, a SCUBA instructor, a poet, a web designer, a mother, and a wife. Her debut novel, One Boy, No Water is the first book in her MG/YA series the Niuhi Shark Saga. She currently lives in Utah with her husband, two children, four cats, two dogs, six horses, and assorted chickens. During the snowy Utah winters she dreams about the beach.

Here's how you can connect with her.  Do it.  You'll enjoy every minute.

Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/LehuaParker

Blog: www.LehuaParker.com

Twitter: @LehuaParker

Goodreads: Lehua Parker