New (to me) Authors of 2015

One of the most enjoyable things about reading is discovering new authors. In the past my goal was to read at least 100 books (mainly novels) each year. I rarely made that goal. Nowadays my goal is to read at least 50. A lot of that has to do with my poor eyesight. In 2015 I read only 45 books and out of those only three were new authors to me. But I considered their books to be outstanding and I wanted to share my thoughts about them.

They are not necessarily new authors just coming out. I simply had never encountered their books before. The following is not a list beginning with the best of the three but the order in which I read these books. I find new books that are recommended by Amazon Kindle Daily Specials or offered as specials by sites such as Bargain Booksy or posted on the Facebook site Saturday Self Promotion Extravaganza for Suspense/Thriller Writers. And one was given to me. But I loved each one.

1. Secrets in the Fairy Chimney by Linda Maria Frank. I loved this book so much I gave it a score of A++!!! It's a wonderful romantic, suspenseful tale of a dig near Istanbul, Turkey. The heroine and her soon-to-be fiancé become involved with evil smugglers who have stolen artifacts from Iraq. Two precocious children, a brother and sister, are involved also. This is my favorite kind of novel--danger, intrigue, romance and an archaeological dig!

2. Cinders' Bride by Kathleen Ball. This is a romance novel, Book One in the series Mail Order Brides of Texas. This novel was a welcome change from all the murder and mayhem type books I usually read. However, there is violence, which appeared in the beginning of the book. The heroine goes to Texas as a mail order bride and is stunned (to say the least) that the man who bought her was not the rancher she thought he was. But a good-hearted rancher does come to her rescue. The research for this book was very impressive. 

3. Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman who continues the series started by her father Tony Hillerman (one of my all-time favorite authors). This is a Chee and Leaphorn mystery with Bernadette (Bernie) now married to Jim Chee. It begins when Bernie and Joe Leaphorn leave a café and he is shot. From there begins a search by Bernie and Chee for the person who shot him. The journey takes them through Indian country from Shiprock to Santa Fe. The climactic scene is one of the most terrifying I've ever read but Bernie overcomes all odds. It felt wonderful to be back in the world that the author's father created. 

It's a wonderful feeling to discover new authors and know that there are many of their books waiting for me to read.

  

Tributes: Ann Rule, E.L. Doctorow, Terry Pratchett, Colleen McCullough, Jackie Collins, Ruth Rendell

It's that sad time of the year again--saying goodbye to the authors whom I've read and have left us in 2015. For some of these authors I have read only one of their books: The Thorn Birds by the Australian author Colleen McCullough, Loon Lake by E.L. Doctorow and Mort by Terry Pratchett. 

I'm not sure how many of Ann Rule's books I read but I was always intrigued by her research into real life crimes and how she told those stories. Because I'm a fan of the mystery genre, I found her books fascinating in how they related to fictional mystery.

I read Jackie Collins many years ago and was impressed by her knowledge of celebrity lives. She went to California from England to live with her older sister Joan Collins but, after trying acting, she found her calling in writing scandalous, steamy romance novels, which were great fun to read. 

I read McCullough's The Thorn Birds and then watched the mini-series on television, which became the second most watched mini-series (behind Roots). She went on to write more novels.

Doctorow's tale is from the Great Depression when a young man finds himself alone and cold by a railroad track and sees a train go by with intriguing people inside two of the cars. He follows the track to an estate at Loon Lake. 

Terry Pratchett suffered from early onset Alzheimer's Disease, which eventually took his life. Mort, the novel that I read, was a rip-roaring ride of satire through an imaginary flat discworld. In fact, he wrote an entire series titled Discworld. 

Ruth Rendell was or still is one of my favorite authors. I have read quite a few of her Inspector Wexford mysteries. There was only one of her books, Master of the Moor, that I disliked intensely. That one was a standalone, which did not include Wexford. But at least I can look forward to reading many more of her Wexford novels. 

Food in Novels?

Since this is the season to eat and be merry and let the diets begin in January, I thought I might mention a criticism I received lately regarding food in one of my novels: Death by Salsa. Of all the things one could criticize me for, I thought that one was weird for this particular book. Granted my characters in most of my books do seem to eat a lot but I had no idea that there are readers who object to it. After all eating is one of the enjoyable perks of life and fictional people should enjoy it as much as “real” people.

But salsa is a central part of the plot of Death by Salsa and the fact that my two heroes spend most of their time looking for the best peppers, it never occurred to me that a reader might object. But object she did and complained about all the eating my characters did.

When I read her critique, I immediately thought of the culinary mysteries that are so popular these days and that many of those authors publish recipes at the end of their books. I also published recipes after each book in my (Human) Zoo Trilogy: The Pig Farm, The Pool Lizards, The Groundhog Lounge. Therefore I had no idea that eating was such a sin in mystery novels.

And then I remembered two of my favorite authors, Dick Francis and Lawrence Sanders, whose main characters actually found time to eat. In fact, Dick Francis gave me the idea for one of my favorite breakfasts: an egg scrambled with mushroom soup on toast. And in the Deadly Sin series by Lawrence Sanders, his protagonist is forever making delicious sounding decadent sandwiches. I have even copied those down and included them in my own personal recipe collection.

So will I let the person who criticized me for having too much food prevent me from feeding my characters in subsequent novels? Of course not. Besides, she (or he?) gave me the idea for this little essay.

My Favorite Things

When it comes to things I enjoy the most, I’ve been told that I’m old-fashioned. What difference does that make? I’m the one enjoying them, not my critics.

Over the years there have been a lot of TV shows that I have liked but none have come close to the enjoyment I’ve had watching Fawlty Towers—over and over again. And I laugh and laugh each time. John Cleese only made twelve episodes but, in my humble opinion, they are twelve episodes of pure hilarious genius.

My favorite movie is Charade starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. I haven’t watched it in a long time but I can’t imagine any movie coming close to the mystery and excitement of that movie, not to mention the fabulous settings. Other favorite movies are The Seven Year Itch starring Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe, Local Hero starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster, Bandits starring Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton.

My favorite piece of music is Donna e Mobile from the opera Rigoletto by Verdi. The song has become such a part of our popular culture that nowadays it’s used to promote pizza! Other favorites are Jamaica Farewell as sung by Harry Belafonte, Hey Jude by The Beatles and listening to the Blue Tango played by almost anyone.

And then there are my favorite books and too many to list but I will mention the ones that have influenced my reading pleasure. I’m not sure how old I was when I first read Huckleberry Finn, probably in the 5^th or 6^th grade but I know I reread it in Jr. High and high school. A childhood favorite was the original Peter Pan and unlike everyone else, my favorite character in that book was Tiger Lily, simply because she was an Indian. I have no idea how many times I read and reread that book.

Gothic romance beginning with Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was my reading choice for a while. Then the Regency romances by Georgette Heyer captured my attention.

My Brother Michael introduced me to Mary Stewart and, in a way, changed my life. During my first year of teaching in Las Vegas whenever a new Mary Stewart came out, I would call in sick and read the book. I also discovered Helen MacInnes that year beginning with Decision at Delphi. International intrigue became my favorite reading, especially when a few years later I discovered Robert Ludlum.

And then humor entered into my reading foray: books by P.G. Wodehouse, Carl Hiaasen, Janet Evanovich, Elmore Leonard and Ben Rehder. But there were standalones: Savages by Shirley Conran (hated the ending and not too crazy about the beginning either but loved the pages between); A Cluster of Separate Sparks by Joan Aiken; The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier (I hated the ending of that one also but it influenced my Vv Tiger time travels-still to come). And I loved all of the books by Tony Hillerman.

And there are many more old favorites too numerous to mention here. Besides, I have already blogged about the ladies of the Golden Age of Mystery. I am continuously discovering new favorites but that would be another topic altogether.

And apparently books have always been my favorite things.

“The Characters Take Over”

Many authors say when they start to write a story that the characters take over and dictate what happens. When I first started writing, I thought that sounded ridiculous. I knew what I wanted to write. I even had the last chapter or last paragraph worked out in my mind for many of those stories.

But lo and behold, when I look back on many of my stories, the saying seems to be true. Very seldom do I end up with the story I had in my mind. I don’t know how it happens. I create characters and think I know them but when I get inside their minds, something happens. They become real, living people and don’t act or react the way I thought they would.

One example of this is my short story Nicholas in my booklet The Doorbell Rang. Originally, I had intended for Nicholas to be a rather unlikable guy and my lead female character was going to kill him in the end. That didn’t happen at all. Whether Nicholas turned out to be a likable guy, only readers can decide. But the ending to that story was in my very humble opinion, the best I’ve ever written. In fact, the story I wrote (or rather the characters wrote) bore no resemblance to the story that circulated in my head for years.

In that same booklet, the three other stories also had twists and turns that I had not envisioned when I was planning them. The first story Margarita took root when I was in my twenties after living in Mexico for a couple of years. When I finally wrote it years later, Margarita herself completely fooled me as did characters I hadn’t imagined in the beginning. Over all, the story is one of my favorites out of all I’ve written.

In my first published romance novel, A Caribbean Summer, I daydreamed about that story for years, even before I went to the Caribbean where I lived for four years. Nothing in my life happened that resembled that daydream. But when I started to write it years later, again the characters became real with minds of their own. And I let them dictate to me what was happening.

In The Chameleon Chase I had the beginning worked out but not the rest of the story. Luckily, my characters took over and the book became one of my favorites.

This has happened over and over. But I feel lucky in that my characters seem to be smarter than I am and can create stories better than those in my head.

How do Authors Get Their Titles?

Obviously I can’t speak for anyone else and usually my titles come out of the blue. But sometimes I have a title for a book before I even start writing it. This was the case for my first published book (not the first written), The Pig Farm, also the first book in my (Human) Zoo Trilogy. Not only were no pigs harmed in the writing of this book but no pigs appeared either unless one considers the human kind. But something happened when I lived on a real Caribbean island that gave me the idea and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I also had the titles in mind for the next two books in the trilogy: The Pool Lizards and The Groundhog Lounge. No lizards or groundhogs appeared in those books either but something or someone just happened to inspire those titles.

My first title choice for Amorous Ambush was Airport Ambush but that was a ridiculous choice for a romance novel. And the ambush in the novel was very amorous in my humble opinion.

While I was writing my first group of Twisted Tales (Margarita, Phoebe, City Girl-Country Girl, Nicolas), I hadn’t thought of any particular title for the whole collection. After I read through all four of them, I discovered something repetitious in each of them and, at first, I was dismayed. In each book there was a pivotal scene where the doorbell rang. And then it hit me—that should be the title of the book. Never mind that many authors have used that title but titles can’t be copyrighted. So, for Part One of Twisted Tales (another common title), I titled the little book The Doorbell Rang.

The easiest title was Death by Salsa because it referred to two real life friends who were arguing over who had the hottest salsa. I jokingly said, “I could write a book with the title Death by Salsa.” And I did.

A Caribbean Summer was a fantasy I had before I went to the Caribbean where I lived for four years. Nothing in the book resembled anything that happened to me in real life and I created the fictional island of Palmaltas to replace the island where I had lived.

I can’t remember when I came up with the title The Chameleon Chase. The story began in my mind during the 1980s and 1990s but it was the only title that could fit the story.

And so it goes. I may start with a title already in mind (such as The Pig Farm or Death by Salsa) or eventually discover something that holds the book together (The Doorbell Rang). Sometimes I write a story and still don’t know what the title should be after I have completed it. I wrestled with A Colorado Destiny for a long time before the title jumped out at me.

But titles are important and play a big part in how some readers choose what to read. Many people look at The Pig Farm, The Pool Lizards and The Groundhog Lounge and think they are for children. They aren’t. Yet, those are the only titles that fit the stories.

A Day in the Life of a Boat Owner

This week my son Jaime R. Hernández is my guest blogger. He tells a true story about adventures in boating.

What a day! Where to begin....
My friend Sandra's dad came over with his new chainsaw and cut up all the dead branches from the storm we had last month. I mowed the lawn and restrung his weed eater. Then we worked on the boat and got it going. So our next logical step was to take it out for a test run (keyword here is test). We picked up uncle Bruce and headed for the Wayne B Stevens boat ramp but on our way we decided to get sodas and made the impromptu decision to go to the Curtis Lee Johnson boat ramp off San Juan instead (this will be not so great choice later).

We put the boat in and fired up the engine, no issues, she purred. So we got underway on our "test" run. We were in a no wake zone for a bit and basically trolled to the first bridge. No issues, we were loving the breeze and our drinks. Three old guys on the water living it up. Soon after the first bridge we throttled up a third and worked on trimming out the boat. After the next bridge we turned North and headed towards downtown Jacksonville. At this point we full throttled and did some more trimming. It was a blast! So much fun, I forgot we were TESTING the engine...

Next two bridges were a railroad drawbridge and a busy road near Ortega drawbridge. They lifted the railroad bridge but kept down the one near Ortega because we were small enough that there was no need. We went under, jumped when the cars flew over the metal grate and then opened the throttle wide as we headed towards St Vincents.

It suddenly dawned on me that we were "testing" the engine. A sick feeling came over me so I throttled down and turned the boat about. I said we should head back to the dock. Everyone agreed...

On our way back as we approached the first bridge I had to do circles while the boat ahead of me stopped for the incoming boat. They looked unsure of themselves so I completely understand why the boat ahead of me stopped. After the boat passed, we both continued on our trek back. I kept my distance as to not make a huge wake for the smaller boat ahead.

As we approached the second bridge on our way back I noticed two ladies on paddleboards, one standing and one sitting, trying to traverse the across the river. So I throttled down to kill my wake. I wound up shutting down the engine. And then it happened...

We were dead in the water. I could not restart my engine. The engine temp was increasing. My initial reaction was an overheated engine. So we drifted to let the engine cool. I noticed the current had us, so I broke out the paddle and made my way to an upscale marina. My thought was that we could moor, troubleshoot the engine and get some help if need be.

I soon realized the battery was draining from our troubleshooting and trying to restart the engine. I noticed the sun going down. I researched and found the nearest boat ramps were the original one I set out to and the one we actually used. They were far far away.

So I called SeaTow. WOW are they expensive if you're not a member. $300 and hour and the closest boat was in Julington Creek. There went that idea...

My next thought? Start waving down inbound boaters. You can not imagine how many people would not turn their head in our direction as I waved my hands like a mad man. I could see them looking at my out the corners of their eyes. I was blown away! Over an hour of waving people down.

I see a smaller boat coming down the river, two guys looked like they had been fishing. I start my waving and the younger one turns his head and looks right at me. I holler out "is there ANY chance you could tow us to the San Juan dock?" but he couldn't understand me. He turned to the older fella and then turned back at me. He crawled forward on their boat towards me as to indicate they were going to approach us. As they got in conversation distance I restated my request for help. The older guy said he could take us to the Wayne B Stevens dock. I said THANK YOU LORD, I will take you up on that offer. We threw him the line, made it taut and tied it off to our bow. His boat was small but had just enough horses to pull us all the way. As we got close to the dock about a half hour later I asked them if they had Google Wallet. They both looked at me as if I was speaking Russian. I explained that I wanted to pay them some money for helping us out. I explained how many people had ignored us. They both waved us off and said absolutely not. It was the right thing to do. Yeah I got choked up...

Pete called Sandra  to come get me and drive me back to the Curtis Lee Johnson boat ramp. She asked what happened and after her dad explained she said "bless his heart, he has been trying to get that boat going forever" LOL But to tell you the truth, I actually felt blessed at that moment. The help of these two strangers, Sandra and her daughter dropping everything to come get me. Pete and Uncle Bruce having such an awesome attitude about the whole thing. Bruce said he would do it again in a heart beat. And I would also and you know what? I will. Only this time I will already be a SeaTow member so my tow is free ‪#‎lessonlearned‬