Happy Saturday! If you missed
yesterday's post, there's a huge
Black Friday through Cyber Monday ebook sale in progress through Monday, November 26. All participating ebooks are either free or $0.99 USD (prices outside of the United States may vary; please verify all prices before downloading/purchasing). There's also a book giveaway associated with the sale, and I promised to share details on how to enter. More on that soon!
First, let's hear from
Frankie Bow. Frankie is a fellow mystery writer, and I can tell you her character Molly Barda is fabulously funny. If you enjoy humorous mysteries set in academia, you'll want to check out Frankie's Professor Molly series. Take it away, Frankie!
How much of your real life ends up in your books?
As my bio states,
Like Professor Molly, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. So obviously the fictional Mahina State University has nothing at all in common with my real-life employer.
Okay, maybe my fictional world borrows a little from real life.
In fact, the elements that might seem over-the-top (administrators
changing grades, turning a blind eye to
plagiarism, pushing faculty to
act as students' personal assistants, and generally doing
anything they can think of to keep those tuition dollars coming in) are lifted from real news items.
Which of your books is your favorite? Is it the same book as your readers' favorite?
I like
The Black Thumb for its will-they-or-won't-they romantic subplot, where Molly keeps breaking off and then re-establishing her engagement with Donnie. I had written myself into a corner with Molly and Donnie's romance. Donnie is a dreamboat in many ways—he's handsome, he's a great chef, and he really likes Molly—but he throws up some red flags. Because he was orphaned, he has a really simplistic, almost childlike idea of what a good husband and father does, which is take care of "his" family. So he can unintentionally come across as a little controlling, which Molly hates. He also has a blind spot where his awful son is concerned. Fortunately he's a quick study, and he can adapt to Molly's cues. Now, should Molly stay with him, or not? Heading unquestioningly to the altar wouldn't be in character for Molly, but neither would abandoning Donnie completely. I think I managed to thread that needle in
The Black Thumb, and the following books have the repercussions of some of the decisions that were made.
A reader favorite is
The Nakamura Letters, a novelette in emails told from Emma Nakamura's point of view. I really enjoyed writing it.
Has writing impacted the way you read for pleasure and, if so, how?
Knowing that what you read shapes how you write, I've become much more deliberate about reading well-written fiction. If I find too many typos or awkward phrases in a book, I'll abandon it and move on to something else. I find myself re-reading
Sarah Caudwell's books. She's such a wonderful writer that reading her work is a blend of bliss and envy.
What projects do you have planned for 2019?
I just finished Book 8 of the Professor Molly Mysteries,
The Perfect Body. Molly's had a baby; there's some fairly graphic treatment of breastfeeding and the new-mom experience. I'm currently working on Book 9, tentatively titled
The Fever Cabinet. I'd also like to write another Miss Fortune mystery. I write
licensed fan fiction in Jana DeLeon's Miss Fortune world, and there have just been some
major plot developments in the main series. Possibilities abound!
Thank you, Frankie! And yes, Frankie has a book enrolled in this weekend's sale. If you haven't met Professor Molly yet, now's your chance to
read the series prequel for only $0.99 USD.
If you'd like to learn more about Frankie and her books, you can connect with her on the following sites:
Website |
Facebook |
Twitter |
Goodreads
Now for the book giveaway! Enter the Rafflecopter below by November 26 for your chance to win twenty paperback books (United States only) or twenty ebooks/audiobooks (open to everyone) of various genres. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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