RIP Ray Bradbury

One of the brightest lights in the literary world blinked out today. Although Ray Bradbury was not a Florida writer, no one can deny that he was fabulous. He was one of the writers who helped me fall in love with the beauty of the written word. His coming-of-age novel, Dandelion Wine, remains one of my top five favorite books, and his writing possesses an incomparable lushness and humanity. This is a very sad day for readers everywhere. We've lost a true national treasure.

Kristin Harmel - The Lit Chick

Florida writer Kristin Harmel’s seventh novel, The Sweetness of Forgetting, (scheduled for release  Aug. 7 from Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), is a real departure for the Orlando-based novelist, who grew up in St. Petersburg. She wrote her first published book, a laugh-out-loud chick lit novel called How to Sleep with a Movie Star, at age 24, and quickly followed it with three more chick lit tomes from and two young adult novels. Her books have been published in numerous languages and are sold all around the world.

Harmel’s writing career began earlier than most. As a 6-year-old, she penned her first novel, which she describes with a laugh as “a little hand-written, stapled-together Bobbsey Twins book.”  At sixteen, this “obsessive reader” started writing for a local newspaper, and months later, she was covering minor league and high school sports for the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times). After earning her degree in journalism and communications from the University of Florida, she began writing for People magazine, where she’s still a contributor more than a decade later.

At age 23, Harmel spent the summer in France. That summer changed her life. “It taught me to slow down, to appreciate what I had, to look inside myself,” she says. “It gave me the courage to get out of the rat race and attempt a novel, which is something I’d always dreamed of doing. Two months later, I started my first book.” In 2006, How to Sleep with a Movie Star was published. Praised as “hilarious” by Cosmopolitan magazine, it tells the story of a 26-year-old reporter whose life is turned upside-down after an encounter with a movie star. This was followed a year later by The Blonde Theory, the tale of a corporate attorney who goes undercover as a “dumb blonde” to see if her love life improves. Harmel calls her first few books “Bridget Jones-esque, entertaining reads about women striving to be better versions of themselves and trying to find their way in life – set to an amusing backdrop.” The Blonde Theory was followed by The Art of French Kissing (set in Paris), and Italian for Beginners (set in Rome). Harmel also wrote two novels geared toward young adult readers : When You Wish and After.

Now, at the age of 33, Harmel’s writing has grown up with her. The Sweetness of Forgetting moves away from her chick lit roots to tell the story of a 36-year-old bakery owner who discovers that her grandmother, now suffering from Alzheimer’s, has a mysterious past buried in 1940s Paris. “It’s a completely different kind of book for me,” Harmel explains. “It was a transition I’ve been ready to make for a long time. I’m so proud of the depth of the story I was able to tell here, and I’m hoping that readers are as touched by reading it as I was by researching it. I was able to touch on some topics that mean a great deal to me, including Alzheimer’s, the Holocaust and interfaith cooperation.” Already, the buzz both here and abroad has been wonderful, and translation rights for The Sweetness of Forgetting have already sold in a dozen territories overseas. In August, Harmel will set out on a book tour that includes New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Chicago before heading to Italy to promote the release of the Italian language version of her novel. But whatever the language, The Sweetness of Forgetting has a plotline that takes readers deep into a surprising interfaith tale based both in Holocaust-era Europe and modern-day Cape Cod. The novel also includes nine original recipes from the main character’s bakery. Harmel describes the book as “ a story of family, love, honesty…and baked goods.”

While writing is her passion, Harmel, who is now the travel and dating expert for The Daily Buzz, (a  nationally syndicated morning television show) doesn’t find it difficult to set time aside for reading, cooking, and traveling. She’s seldom in her Orlando home for more than a month at a stretch, and she likes spending time with friends. But according to Harmel, what she loves most of all is "being able to tell a story that will hopefully amuse and inspire. It’s a privilege to be able to do that with the written word.”

For more on Kristin Harmel, visit her website at http://www.kristinharmel.com/.

Next: Diane Gilbert Madsen - History and Mystery

Robert Tacoma - Laughter's the Key

What do a Key West cat juggler, the sexy leader of a California cult, a mysterious Everglades hermit, two bumbling criminal brothers on the lam, a womanizing Wal-Mart greeter, and a former possum rancher named Taco Bob have in common? They’re all the comic creations of the delightfully wacky imagination of Gainesville writer Robert Tacoma. Tacoma describes his books as “Florida fiction that’s stranger than fiction.

Tacoma, who grew up in Tampa, didn’t set out to become a writer. A former construction worker, Tacoma was a huge fan of Florida writers like Carl Hiaasen, John D. MacDonald, Randy Wayne White, James W. Hall, and Tim Dorsey. But it was a book by California writer Christopher Moore that changed his life. According to Tacoma, “I’d read a book by Tim Dorsey, and in the back of that book was a list of some books with funny names. I found one of the books and read it. It was by Christopher Moore. I went to his website, and he had a discussion forum. I’d written a few little silly things, and I started putting some of them on there. One day, he wrote back and said, ‘You know, that’s really funny. That’s great.’ He encouraged me, so I can blame it all on Christopher Moore.”

Three years later, Tacoma completed his first novel, Key Weird. “I have no idea where the idea for that book came from,” he says. “The ideas just came to me as I started writing.” It marked the debut of Tacoma’s signature character, Taco Bob—a down-on-his-luck Texas possum rancher who wanders into Key West after a string of bad breaks. “I needed a character that could go through the stories unaware of what’s going on," Tacoma explains. "Even though Taco Bob’s the central character, the action usually takes place all around him but doesn’t directly involve him.” In spite of the similarity in their names, Tacoma says that “there’s not as much of me in Taco Bob as you might think. He’s a lot more laid back.”  The two do, however, share a passion for fishing. “One of the things I like best about living in Florida, besides the climate and the water, is the fishing,” he says. “I’ve been fishing the Hillsborough River for over fifty years. I wanted to write about Florida and have a good excuse to go fishing.”  

Tacoma continued the fishing theme in Key Weird’s sequel, Key Weirder. In it, Taco Bob decides to travel the state searching for the ultimate trout recipe. Unbeknownst to him, he is being pursued by an assortment of unscrupulous characters in search of a golden idol that Bob has been inadvertently using as a doorstop. Tacoma includes several original recipes in this book (including one for a killer smoked fish spread). Key Weirder was followed by Key Witch, a story that includes a little lovestruck space alien whose observations conclude each chapter. Key Manatee, Tacoma’s fourth novel, is “a parody/homage to the Travis McGee series.” It was the hardest book for him to write. “I really enjoy John D. MacDonald’s books,” he says. “I’ve read every one of them twice. I wanted to stay close to Travis McGee while telling my own story. And I wanted the ending to have everybody get what’s coming to them.” Tacoma’s spirit of fun continued with Color Me Weird, a small volume he describes as “a coloring novella for grown-ups.” This was followed by three more novels – Key Lucky, Possum Surprise, and Sheriff Skunk. Tacoma’s latest offering, Key Dali, is the story of a Key West street performer who pairs up with his old friend, Taco Bob, to save an orphanage from an unscrupulous bank (with predictably hilarious results.)

Tacoma really enjoys his writing career, and he doesn’t think he’ll be running out of weird ideas for his stories anytime soon.  The way he explains it, “There’s this sifting thing that happens here in Florida. All the really strange stuff seems to find its way into Florida and the Keys.” He hopes his offbeat stories will bring smiles to his readers’ faces. “My number one job is for my readers to have a good time,” he says. “There are so many bad things going on today. I want to make people laugh and have fun.”

To find out more about Robert Tacoma’s books, you can visit his website at www.tacobob.com

Next: Kristin Harmel - The Lit Chick

Karna Small Bodman - A Look Inside the Beltway

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a Washington insider, pick up a book by Naples writer Karna Small Bodman. After being appointed by President Reagan as Deputy Press Secretary, Bodman spent several years moving in D.C’s inner circles.  It was her job to explain domestic policy initiatives to the national press corps, and she was involved with some of the most important issues of the time. She met almost daily with President Reagan, often travelling with him on Air Force One, and was sent to South America and the Far East to give speeches on the President’s economic priorities. Later, Bodman became a Senior Director and spokesperson for the National Security Council. She attended arms control talks with the Soviets and traveled with the team that briefed the leaders of Great Britain, France, and Italy, as well as Pope John Paul II.  When Bodman left the White House to become Senior Vice-President of a public affairs firm, she was the highest ranking female on the White House staff.

Her years in the White House gave Bodman an opportunity to observe how the executive branch of the government works and the challenges it faces. Since she had always wanted to write a book, Bodman decided to use her insider knowledge as the basis for a novel. “I’d been writing news scripts, briefings, magazine and newspaper articles my entire career, but the premium was always on brevity,” she explains. “I had to learn how to take ideas and extrapolate.” Her writing was influenced by her favorite authors: Nelson DeMille, Charles McCarry, and Vince Flynn.  Drawing upon her fascination with President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, Bodman came up with the idea for her debut novel, Checkmate. It tells the story of Dr. Cameron Talbot, a brilliant young scientist who devises a computerized system that can take over incoming missiles and send them back to their points of origin. When a group of militants send an agent to Washington to steal the new technology, Dr. Talbot finds her work and her life in imminent danger.

Bodman spent months researching the technical aspects of the novel. “The most difficult part of writing for me is organizing the research,” she says. “I probably over-research.” And it was her research that inspired her main character. According to Bodman, “Cameron Talbot isn’t based on any individual. I started with the technology and molded a character to fit. And I blended in many of the very smart women I knew in Washington.” The result is a novel that seamlessly melds fact and fiction into a political thriller with a strong romantic twist.

Since then, Bodman has written three more novel, each focused on a different threat to our national security. The characters work on the White House staff as well as in and around Washington, DC and in hot spots overseas. While there are international plots and political intrigue in all her books, Bodman also weaves a love story into each one. All her novels have hit #1 in Thrillers on Amazon. 

Bodman is most excited about her newest international thriller, Castle Bravo which will be released on June 1,  in time for her signing at the big publishers’ convention, “Book Expo,” in New York.

The plot of Castle Bravo centers around the White House Director of Homeland Security receiving intelligence about the possibility of a staggering new threat.  What if a hostile country or group was to obtain a small nuclear device, and instead of aiming it at one of our cities, they detonated it high in the atmosphere? The result would be the creation of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse or “EMP” sending shock waves that would fry all electronics on the ground in its line of sight.  There would be no electricity grid, no internet, no communication, transportation, refrigeration, ATMs.  Could it really happen here? Bodman hopes you will read the novel and decide for yourself.

A number of New York Times bestselling authors have already weighed in with their opinions of Castle Bravo. Christopher Reich calls it “Smart, slick, and exciting as hell. Castle Bravo is one great read. Karna Small Bodman has an insider’s feel for the corridors of power.  As you quickly turn the pages, you will find yourself wondering if the book is truth or fiction. A winner!” According to Steve Berry, “Bodman skillfully moves her players around on a global chessboard, presenting a provocative concept that rings all too real. You’re there, in a labyrinth of intrigue, where danger and drama abide. It’s fresh and relevant and makes you clamor for more.”

Bodman hopes readers will enjoy Castle Bravo, as well as her other novels, Checkmate, Gambit, and Final Finesse as she endeavors to make arguments about the importance of national defense.  As George Bernard Shaw said, “The best way to get your point across is to entertain.” Bodman’s books will certainly entertain while taking readers on an unforgettable journey inside the beltway.

To find out more about Bodman’s books, you can visit her website at www.karnabodman.com

Next: Robert Tacoma - Laughter's the Key

Tina Wainscott - Romance with a Thrill

Tina Wainscott was born and raised in South Florida and is a self-described “true cracker,” but the story of her life really begins in Pennsylvania. “I was conceived at a drive-in movie outside of Philadelphia, believe it or not. I guess the movie was pretty boring,” she says. “Then my parents, who were just kids, moved to Florida and discovered they were expecting. They collected shells from the beach to sell to souvenir shops to pay the doctor’s bills, and they managed to get the bills paid days before I arrived. They were the original shell seekers.”

Wainscott’s talent for storytelling developed at an early age. As a child growing up in Naples, she loved to direct make-believe movies with her neighborhood friends and create adventures where characters were caught in dangerous situations. When she was seven years old, she wrote her first story: “Pathways to Death.”  According to Wainscott, “I had a happy childhood and a stable home (as my mom is eager to tell people). But I grew up on Alfred Hitchcock.”  She took business courses after graduating high school because she “wanted to be sensible,” but she also enrolled in creative writing courses at night to satisfy her desire to write. She eventually took a job as a sales support manager for a software company, but she continued to write short stories in her spare time. One of those short stories “got too long” and developed into her first full-length novel. In an ironic twist, she was laid off from her job the very month her first book, On the Way to Heaven, was published. She has been writing ever since.

Wainscott describes her books as “romantic suspense with a paranormal twist.” Of her twenty-three published novels, seven are set in Florida; two of them in Naples. Her favorite, Unforgivable, was inspired by an actual event. “A little girl was giving away kittens in front of the local Publix,” she recalls. “A man came out, took one of the kittens and threw it against the window. Luckily, the kitten survived, but I was so incensed, I sat down and started writing. I imagined what might happen to the girl’s life as a result of that incident, and the whole story came together. I call it my gift book.” Wainscott later got to meet the actual kitten that inspired the story.

Wainscott’s career has taken twists and turns (much like those in her novels) from paranormal romantic suspense to straight suspense with some romance, and now, plunging back into paranormal romantic suspense again as Jaime Rush. "I took a pseudonym because I'd gone away from romance and paranormal and my new publisher wanted to bring me out as a fresh new author," she explains.

Her “Offspring” series, for Avon Books, is about a group of people with extraordinary psychic abilities and a shady government agency out to kill them. "In the first four books, each couple is dealing with being thrown together with strangers and being hunted down,” she says. “They've got to solve the mystery of who's behind it and how their parents were involved, parents who are now dead. I call it X-Files meets Lost. The fifth and sixth books in the series (Beyond Darkness and Darkness Becomes Her) are more stand-alone as far as the plot arc goes. You can pick up any book and jump right on the train, but it's always nice to start a series at the beginning to watch the characters evolve."

Wainscott is also doing some stand-alone novellas in the “Offspring” series so new readers can get a taste of her writing for $1.99. The Darkness Within is available now, and a spin-off story will be out soon.

Wainscott continues to evolve in her writing. "I'm finding that my writing is veering into more traditional paranormal elements. For example, in the “Offspring” series, I discovered there really is a Darkness. Some of the characters in Darkness Becomes Her and the novellas actually possess Darkness … or does it possess them?"

Wainscott is “wildly excited” about a whole new series that's scheduled to come out starting April of 2013, called “The Hidden”. In the series, Crescents (humans who hold the essence of deities) walk the knife’s edge between the glamour of Miami and the “Hidden,” a place filled with dark magic. Dragons, angel hybrids, and sorcerers, Crescents must fight the dissention among their kind and the lure of their darkest nature. "I'm having a ball creating a world, a history, different kinds of beings, and yet all anchored in the quasi-normality of a real city,” Wainscott says. “Playing with magic really opens up the possibilities.” She was inspired by “those mysteries in our everyday lives, like where our socks go, and why things are in a different place than we know we put them.”  Her Crescents can see the dangers in this other world that exists right along with ours. They have to deal with this without revealing it, or their own magic, to regular humans. Wainscott will be writing as Jaime Rush for these books and plans to releasre two related novellas prior to the series’ launch.

While her deadlines keep her writing for more than eight hours a day, she sets aside weekends for “family time” with her husband and daughter. She also enjoys reading, swimming, and watching favorite shows like Supernatural and Once Upon a Time. But being a writer is her true calling, her passion and her obsession. “It’s so exciting when an idea first blooms in my mind,” she says. “I love the writing process, especially when everything’s flowing.  And I love creating people and worlds and drama. But, as I was preparing a talk for the Friends of the Library, I discovered the real reason I write. My characters come to the story with baggage, with hurts and vulnerabilities as well as strengths. And while I put them through hell during the course of the story, they come out on the other end stronger. Not only do they find love, but they love themselves. We all have baggage. Isn't it nice to know there's hope that we can overcome anything?"

For more about Tina Wainscott, visit her website at http://www.jaimerush.com/

Next: Karna Small Bodman - A Look Inside the Beltway

Cynthia Thomason - A Place for Romance

Cynthia Thomason’s romance with romance novels began more than twenty years ago. This former English teacher turned auctioneer was looking for something more stimulating to do with her time, so when her son started school, she started writing. Her first novel, a historical romance titled River Song, took her almost three years to complete. Published in 1998, this tale of a beautiful con artist and a gambling plantation owner won Thomason a Romantic Times K.I.S.S. award. Since then, she has penned twenty novels including historical romances, contemporary romances, historical mysteries, and a time travel anthology. But romance remains her favorite genre. “I enjoy writing books and stories for and about women. I love historical romance because I enjoy doing the research. Contemporary romance is shorter but more fun.”

For Thomason, writing romances presents its own unique challenges. “Characters and ideas don’t come easily to me. I have to work at it. The most difficult thing is coming up with something fresh and new, taking the tried and true plot line and finding a hook to make it uniquely mine.” For example, one of her mystery novels features an auctioneer as an amateur sleuth. The idea for the character came from Thomason’s years as the owner of an auction company, and identifying with her characters is something Thomason really enjoys. “The thing I like most about writing is getting into the characters’ heads. It’s like being an actor and getting to play all the parts.” She hopes her readers will take from her characters a sense of common humanity. “I’d like readers to come away from my books with the understanding that we all have failings, but we can overcome them.”

An avid traveler, Thomason finds inspiration for her stories in the places she’s been. “I’ll be somewhere, and an idea will come. One thread that seems to run through her books is the small town setting. She and her husband, Walter (also a writer) have traveled extensively throughout the United States. “I can honestly say that I have found something to admire about every locale,” she says, “but I am always drawn back to America's small towns like the one where I grew up. For example, my husband and I went ot Cedar Key on a pleasure trip. It was such an interesting, artsy little town that I thought, ‘Wow, I could set a book here.’” The idea eventually evolved into a three-book series. One of Thomason’s historical mysteries, Stagestruck, is set on a Mississippi riverboat. Two other novels, Gabriel’s Angel (Maggie Award Finalist) and Return of the Wild Son, (HOLT Medallion Winner and National Readers Choice Award Finalist) were inspired by lighthouses. “Lighthouses are a common setting for me – I just like them,” she explains. She even gets ideas for characters from places she’s visited. “My main characters are often an outgrowth of a setting. They come from my imagination, but they’re usually more exciting than I am.”

This South Florida writer calls the Sunshine State “a very rich place for a writer looking for settings.” Her latest novel, Christmas in Key West, tells the story of a young Key West native who returns home to care for her father and rekindles a romance with her high school sweetheart. Windswept, a historical romance set in pre-Civil War Key West, was praised by the Detroit Free Press as “A fresh Caribbean breeze of a romance.” But whether it’s a lighthouse in Michigan, an artist colony on the Nature Coast, or the Florida Keys at Christmas, Cynthia Thomason’s readers know they’re in the right place for romance.

For more about Cynthia Thomason, visit her website at http://www.cynthiathomason.com/

Next: Tina Wainscott - Romance with a Thrill

James Sheehan - The Thinking Man's Grisham

When James Sheehan decided to set pen to paper eighteen years ago, he was looking for a hobby that would ease the stress of his job as a trial attorney. Today, he is the author of three thought-provoking legal thrillers that inspire readers to ponder the complexities of life.

Sheehan, a native New Yorker, came to Florida over thirty years ago to study law at Stetson University. After working for a firm that represented major corporations, he decided to go into private practice where he could represent individuals who were downtrodden or discriminated against. His desire to “humanize” the death penalty issue inspired him to write The Mayor of Lexington Avenue, the tale of Jack Tobin, an idealistic trial lawyer fighting to exonerate an innocent man on death row. Praised as “A terrific novel, a genuine literary achievement” (Booklist), the book established Sheehan as an insightful new voice in the legal thriller genre. By seamlessly weaving together the stories of two childhood friends whose lives take vastly different paths, Sheehan gets readers to examine the thorny subject of capital punishment in a new light.

A year later, Sheehan revisited the death penalty question in The Law of Second Chances, the story of Henry Wilson, a death row inmate, and Benny Avrile, a man facing the death penalty for his role in a robbery/murder. Their lives intersect when Jack Tobin finds himself representing both men. Unlike The Mayor of Lexington Avenue, The Law of Second Chances is based on an actual case. “People always asked me if Mayor was based on a true story. It wasn’t, but I thought I’d do that with Second Chances,” Sheehan explains. “So I researched death penalty cases until I found the one I wanted.” Sheehan was also looking for a character as compelling as the one he created in his first novel. “I had such a great character in Rudy (the innocent inmate in Mayor) that I wanted to come up with one just as good. I think I did that with Henry Wilson.” It seems that the critics agree. The Law of Second Chances has been called “An involving thriller that is also a moving meditation on love and friendship.” (Booklist)

Sheehan’s third book, The Lawyer’s Lawyer, is another in the Jack Tobin series. According to Sheehan, “A lawyer’s lawyer is the lawyer other lawyers look for when they get into trouble, and Jack certainly fits that bill.” The story begins in a small Florida town that is being ravaged by a serial killer. A suspect is eventually arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death. Ten years later, as the execution date draws near, Jack Tobin is asked to revisit the case. This sets into motion a series of events that lead to Jack being tried for murder. Now he must find his own lawyer’s lawyer or risk becoming the newest resident on Florida’s death row. The Lawyer’s Lawyer is slated for release in January, 2013.

In his spare time, Sheehan keeps his brain sharp by reading, his body fit by competing in triathlons, and his soul nourished by spending time with his five grandchildren. In addition to teaching full-time at Stetson Law School, his alma mater, he has finished his fourth novel, The Alligator Man, a legal thriller that could have come straight from today’s headlines. The Alligator Man tells the story of a young Floridian whose life is decimated when the company he works for is driven into bankruptcy by corporate greed, and he decides to avenge himself by murdering the former CEO.  The idea for the book came from Sheehan’s desire to explore what causes a person to become a criminal. “As a society, we treat people in a black-and-white way, but most things aren’t that clear cut,” he says. “The message from my books, and from fiction in general, is that there are lots of layers to life. And books provide a tapestry for life. That’s why people enjoy them so much.”

For more about Jim Sheehan, visit his website at www.james-sheehan.com

Next: Cynthia Thomason – A Place for Romance