I am ashamed to say that I had never heard about this until now:

In what became known as the Brooks and Loundes Counties lynchings (in south-central Georgia near the Florida border), a mob killed Mary Turner for "loudly proclaiming her husband's innocence." The pregnant woman was hanged by her feet, gasoline was thrown on her clothing, and she was set on fire. "Her body was cut open and her infant fell to the ground, to be crushed to death by the heel of one of the white men present." The mother's body was then "riddled with bullets" according to NAACP reports. . . Although the NAACP publicized these events and provided Governor Hugh M. Dorsey with the names of two leaders and fifteen participants in the mob, state officials acted with indifference, and none of the killers was prosecuted.

Welcome!

Recently, I got together with some authors to ask them a few questions.  Read on as we talk with these 4 authors just a bit.  Thank you for joining us today.

Kitty's Book Spot! Interview with Nicki Chapelway:

1. I write to music as often as I can- especially during the more intense scenes.

 

Do you make playlists of music for your books?

2. I have unofficial playlists of music for my books, but I have yet to rise above manually finding all the different songs I want, to actually putting something together with them.

 

What book was your favorite as a child/teen?

3. That is a hard question since I went through so many phases with so many genres and so many favorites. But the closest to being a supreme favorite would probably be The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope. 

 

What genre do you hope to write someday that you have not had a chance yet?

4. Ooh, that's a hard one, because I feel drawn to both the romantic comedy and the psychological suspense. I have aspects of both in most of my books, but I've never really just focused on them- it seems so much easier to write about spies and superheroes!

 

What do you hope readers take away from your story(ies)?

5. I want readers to know that they are not alone in this world and in what they are dealing with. They have God and me- though sometimes we work through our characters to show it.

 

Can you tell the readers one thing about you nobody knows?

6. Genuphobia is the fear of knees, your own or someone else', and the act of kneeling. 

 

How do find you online?  What is your favorite social media site?

7. Well, some of the cavemen next door were grunting about this thing called wifi, so I thought I'd try it out. So far, I've only gotten as far as Goodreads. Have to keep time for my cave painting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitty's Book Spot! Interview with C. B. Cook:

 

1. Do you write to music?

I don't usually write to music, as it makes it harder for me to focus. But if there's a lot of commotion or conversation around me, I may play some instrumental music (especially movie soundtracks) while I write to block out the other noise.

 

2. Do you make playlists of music for your books?

Not usually. I think that's something I might try in the future, though!

 

3. What book was your favorite as a child/teen?

When I was younger, I loved going back and rereading The Chronicles of Narnia at least once a year. It's still one of my favorite series, but I've gotten out of the habit of doing that. I grew up reading that series, and it's one that I love.

 

4. What genre do you hope to write someday that you have not had a chance yet?

I'd love to write some kind of fantasy book or a mystery that doesn't involve superheroes. I love to read both of those genres, and I'd really like to try my hand at writing them, too!

 

5. What do you hope readers take away from your story(ies)?

I hope that readers are able to learn something about truth from my books, and I also hope that they can learn that you don't need a story to be dark to be enjoyable. Mostly, I want my books to provide some lightheartedness and cleanness that a lot of stories today, especially in the YA category, seem to be lacking. 

 

6. Can you tell the readers one thing about you nobody knows?

I can't think of anything that no one knows, but very few people know that I'm actually a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do!

 

7. How do find you online?  What is your favorite social media site?

I have a blog (The World of the Writer) and accounts on Goodreads and Pinterest! Pinterest is probably one of my favorite social media sites because I love the pictures and writing ideas I get on there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitty's Book Spot! Interview with Loretta Marchize:

 

1. Do you write to music?

Nope! I know a lot of authors who do, and quite honestly I'd love to, but I write in my family living room with my siblings and mom around, so it would be hard to do.

 

2. Do you make playlists of music for your books?

No, although occasionally I will hear a song and think 'oh hey- this goes with so and so book!'

 

3. What book was your favorite as a child/teen?

Well, I still am a teen, but as a child I loved Ella Enchanted, and the classics- especially Cinderella.

 

4. What genre do you hope to write someday that you have not had a chance yet?

Science fiction or historical fiction!

 

5. What do you hope readers take away from your story(ies)?

I mostly want readers to go away from the book happy, glad that they read it. It's an easy read, mostly just a 'fun' read.

 

6. Can you tell the readers one thing about you nobody knows?

I actually like Star Wars. I've never really told anyone, but I actually really love it! I know a lot of random facts about it. I make a pretense of not really knowing much about it though. Otherwise my brother would bombard me with Star Wars all day, and I don't care for it that much.

 

7. How do find you online?  What is your favorite social media site?

Well, I have a blog: lorettamz.com but I'm also frequently on Goodreads! I don't do much (any) other social media (although I do have a Wattpad account).

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much to Jes Drew, Loretta Marchize, C.B. Cook, & Nicki Chapelway for joining us on the Spot!  Thank you readers for being here with us to get to know them.

 

 

 

 

Please check out their latest novels and enjoy!

 

 

Ambassador Janel is proud to have finally brokered an alliance with the powerful Haraden. What cinched the deal? The Haraden warriors want brides. Since war ravaged her planet’s male population they actually have a surplus of women looking for husbands. It seems like a win-win.

General Kordan, the austere Haraden negotiator Janel spent days wearing down, approaches her out of the blue. She’s not married—and the warrior general has his eyes on her. For some reason, she feels compelled to go to him.

Unfortunately her timing for a visit to a Haraden home world could not have been worse. Was she being courted or confiscated

Review

Sigh. Just when this romance was really going to take off and we were going to get couple time, cultural adjustments, and courting, the plot turns into betrayal on a global scale lameness.

Bummer.

I really don't have much more to say about the audiobook that I didn't say about the original, but I wanted to get something up -- so if this seems largely familiar, it is. But not entirely ...

Working as a Genrenaut was like being a member of a theater troupe run by a burnt-out hippie who melded Devising with MBA management: the ideas were outlandish and random, but the execution was 100% corporate.

The second episode in Michael R. Underwood's Genrenauts delivers on the promise of Episode 1, and demonstrates that his special alchemy of Leverage + The Librarians + Quantum Leap + Thursday Next (just my current guess at his secret recipe) has legs -- and will hopefully go a long time.

Leah has had about a week to get used to this new reality since her adventure in Western World -- a week filled with meetings, reading assignments and trying to wrap her head around things. In the meanwhile, everyone at Genrenauts HQ is trying to prepare for the next breach (in the midst of a spike of 15% over the norm, for your corporate types), probably in Romance World. Which obviously means it'll be pretty much anywhere else, like say Science Fiction World.

The station of Ahura-3, in the space opera region, to be specific. I'm sure the similarity between the name of the station and a certain Communications Officer is a huge coincidence. Ahura-3 is everything you want in a space station -- it's a melting pot of very-alien-looking/acting aliens, it's a culture to itself, with strategic location, and very delicate intergalactic politics.

Leah's excitement about being in "honest-to-goodness, Sally Ride is my homegirl zero-g" space was infectious (especially in this format). But even more fun was the amount of SF references Underwood fit into half of chapter 1 -- truly astounding, and didn't feel forced or overcrowded. He deserves a tip of the cap right there. But the fun's not limited to the references and allusions -- it's in the alien cultural practices (and appearances), the various factions (human and otherwise), businesses, and just watching the whole Science Fiction World thing at work.

Mary Robinette Kowal did another bang-up job. I'm still not crazy about her voice for King, but I listened to this one using my earbuds instead of my car speakers and she's much easier to hear with that voice that way, so it doesn't bother me as much. I liked her alien characters a lot. Shirin and Leah are great (I think I like the audiobook take on Shirin better than the one in my head when reading, actually)

Good way to spend a little time -- very entertaining all around.

THIS TIME, ON GENRENAUTS!

Space X shuttles are crashing! Technology is going on the fritz! This can only mean a story breach on Sci-Fi World, and a job for...The Genrenauts!

Dr. King and Company are traveling across dimensions to tackle SF story tropes and save an abducted ambassador before she can sign an agreement to form an interstellar alliance aboard the Ahura-3 space station.

As he did with the first installment, The Shootout Solution, Michael R. Underwood has crafted a loving ode to pulp genre fiction set against a slowly developing meta narrative, and peppered it with a few spot-on pop culture references and a whole lot of fun. Fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5 should find plenty to enjoy here, the story rife with diplomatic shenanigans, sci-fi action sequences, and lots of loose flowing fun.

One of the things that I'm really growing to appreciate with this still-young series is the character's own recognition of genre tropes and plot conveniences that define the story worlds they visit, and the ways they harness those familiar storytelling devices to further their own ends. There's also a nice bit of subtle commentary on how genres overlap, allowing us, the audience, to accept particular tropes as-is thanks to a particular bit of story telling osmosis. The Action Hero mold can fit nicely alongside other familiar tropes in Sci-Fi World due to similar generic devices demanded by the plot. This allows our Earth Prime heroes to defy all kinds of logic in the various story worlds because we the readers are attuned to expect those absences of logic, and it creates a fun bit of meta fiction.

Fun, of course, is of the utmost importance in these stories, and you can tell Underwood is keeping himself mighty entertaining with these characters and the set pieces they encounter. Sticking to the episodic nature of the series, he furthers the overarching narrative in inches and gives us a few new wrinkles and teases character backstories just in time to --

NEXT TIME, ON GENRENAUTS!