Bready or Not Guest: Fiery Surprise Cupcakes by Wendy Nikel, author of THE CAUSALITY LOOP
I’m happy to welcome Wendy Nikel back for another bout of cupcakes and a time travel novella! The Causality Loop finishes up her four-book sequence from World Weaver Press, and it’s fantastic. The perfect end for the series. (Disclaimer: I have indeed read them all, courtesy of WWP.) As novellas, each book makes for a quick read… but not so quick that you can’t enjoy a cupcake (or two) as you snuggle into your reading nook for a much-needed escape from our current timeline.
If you haven’t yet, check out Wendy’s past visits:
THE CONTINUUM and Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes
THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX and Cherry Cupcakes
CASSANDRA COMPLEX and Chocolate Blueberry Cupcakes
THE CAUSALITY LOOP
Fiery Surprise Cupcakes
by Wendy Nikel
It’s release day for THE CAUSALITY LOOP, the fourth and final Place in Time novella, which means that once again, it’s time for me to pull out my mixer, cupcake pans, and frosting tips, and share with you something delicious to celebrate my new book!
I have loved coming up with new cupcake recipes for each of these books. In a way, it’s kind of like being on Cupcake Wars or Sugar Rush – some of my favorite Netflix competition shows. In each of these, the judges provide a theme or challenge for each round, and bakers have to come up with ways to meet it by producing a delicious dessert. And while the previous books were a bit easier to figure out – space-inspired chocolate coffee cupcakes with galaxy-swirled frosting for THE CONTINUUM; Midwest county fair-inspired cherry chocolate cupcakes for THE GRANDMOTHER PARADOX; and a blueberry cupcake for THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX, which was inspired by an old Fred Harvey recipe – this one was a bit more difficult to figure out, but I had a couple elements I knew I wanted to include.
The first of these was fire! As you can see from the cover, fire plays an important role in this book. The opening pages (which you can read here) start out with an act of arson, which our main character Dodge Greenley hopes will protect his family – and the scent of smoke follows him throughout the book.
The second element I wanted to include was a callback to the previous books. In many ways, this final novella brings things full circle, pulling in story threads, characters, and elements from the previous three books, so I wanted to tie that into my celebration cupcake somehow. I scoured recipe books and baking blogs, searching for the perfect combination.
I pulled out my favorite basic cupcake recipe and grated the zest of one lemon to balance out some of the bolder, more “fiery” flavors I was planning to add later.
After mixing all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder) in one bowl and the wet ingredients (sugar, butter, eggs, lemon zest) in another, I combined them with a bit of milk. Then, it was into the cupcake trays and into the oven for 16 minutes at 350 degrees.
While they were cooling, I started on the orange frosting. I blended the orange extract and orange food coloring (I used the gel kind for a bright hue) into the butter until it was smooth, then alternated adding the powdered sugar and milk until it was the consistency I wanted. Then it was time to try out a new tip I’d run across in my research – a pastry bullet.
The idea with these is to lay out plastic wrap, drop your frosting directly onto it, and then twist it up into a “bullet” that’s easier to handle and tidier to clean up. Tie one end close to the frosting and leave a few inches of twisted plastic wrap on the other end. I was really pleased with how this worked out. When it was time to frost, I could just throw it all into the pastry bag, thread the longer end through the piping tip, cut off the extra, and be ready to frost without the mess of trying to maneuver the frosting into the very bottom of the bag or the excess frosting coming back out the back of the bag.
But first, it was time to add my surprise! I found large, round sprinkles in the colors of each of my previous book covers – blue, red, and purple – and mixed them together in a dish. Then I took each of the cupcakes, cut a hole in the middle, and had my assistants (my kiddos wanted to help with this part) drop the sprinkles into the center of the cupcake.
Then we took the inner section we’d cut out of the cupcake and placed the top of it back onto it to cover the hole we’d made. Ta-da! Now when you bite into the cupcake, you’ll get a confetti-like surprise!
After we frosted the cupcakes, I threw them back into the fridge while I prepared the next step: our fiery cinnamon Red Hot drizzle. I dumped about half a cup of Red Hots into a saucepan and just barely covered them with water. Stirring constantly, I melted these over medium heat.
Once they were melted and I pulled them off the stove, I could drizzle them onto the frosted cupcakes. The drizzle thickens fairly quickly; I had to put it back onto the hot burner a couple times to thin it out again to make it easier to dribble onto the cupcakes.
I topped the cupcakes with orange and white sprinkles (if you do it while the Red Hot drizzle is still hot, they stick to it pretty well).
And now our fiery surprise cupcakes were finally ready for consumption!
About THE CAUSALITY LOOP:
Dodge Greenley is tired of being the go-between for his time-traveling family. All he wants is for them all to be able to live together peacefully in one era—is that too much to ask? But after breaking all the Rules of time travel in a desperate attempt to retroactively free his parents from the threat of the secret organization his father worked for a hundred years earlier, Dodge makes a startling discovery. It turns out there’s someone else stalking his family up and down the timeline, and this time, the menace may be coming from within the Place in Time Travel Agency itself.
Enlisting the help of his 22nd century coworker, Dodge sets off to the year 1915 to rescue his sister from a threat that might have originated at any point in their past, present, or future, proving once again that the greatest threat to time travelers is other time travelers.
THE CAUSALITY LOOP: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes/Apple Books | World Weaver Press
About the author:
Wendy Nikel is a speculative fiction author with a degree in elementary education, a fondness for road trips, and a terrible habit of forgetting where she’s left her cup of tea. Her short fiction has been published by Analog, Nature: Futures, Podcastle, and elsewhere. Her time travel novella series, beginning with The Continuum, is available from World Weaver Press. For more info, visit wendynikel.com
THE CAUSALITY LOOP Fiery Surprise Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks 2 sticks
- lemon zested zested
- 4 eggs
- 3 Tablespoons milk
Frosting ingredients:
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks 2 sticks
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 6 Tablespoons milk
- orange food coloring
- 1 teaspoon orange extract
- Red Hot candies
- sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Sift together flour and baking powder. In separate bowl, blend sugar and butter. Grate lemon zest into the mixture.
- Add eggs to sugar mixture one at a time.
- Gradually add the dry mixture and milk into the sugar mixture until well blended.
- Fill cupcake liners half full and bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool.
- Beat butter, food coloring, and orange extract until creamy. Alternate adding 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons milk, mixing well after each addition, until all ingredients are mixed in.
- When cupcakes are cool, carefully cut a hole into the top of each cupcake. Pull out the inner section of cake and set aside. Fill hole with sprinkles, then replace the top of the cake and frost!
- Melt Red Hots on the stove. Drizzle melted candy over the frosted cupcakes. Top with sprinkles and enjoy with a good book!
Guest Author Jennifer Lee Rossman Visits with an Excerpt of Jack Jetstark’s Intergalactic Freak Show
I’m happy to welcome Jennifer Lee Rossman as a guest today! Jennifer’s book Jack Jetstark’s Intergalactic Freakshow is out from World Weaver Press today, and it sound awesome! The title alone is enticing, but read on and grab a copy of your own today.
Back cover summary: Jack Jetstark travels the universe to seek out the descendants of superpowered freaks created long ago by VesCorp scientists. The vibrations encoded in a particular song transform the members of Jack’s crew into a firebreather and an angel, a wildman and telepathic conjoined triplets, so they hide the truth of who they really are with the theatrics of a carnival.
The song plays every night through the receptor Jack carries with them, but when one night it has a different ending and their temporary powers become permanent, Jack believes the change is a signal from the woman who sent him on this quest in the first place. He and his freaks must navigate a universe at war to protect the love of his life.
But does the ruler of VesCorp really need protecting?
Excerpt:
Not a lot of money in the traveling carnival business anymore. Enough to make a living, but not like it used to be, back when fleets of enormous ships traveled the skies, bringing roller coasters and virtual reality machines to the residents of the universe. Sometimes it felt like we were the only ones out there, with our meager rides and food stalls offering unhealthy fried things on sticks; nothing special that couldn’t be found at any summer funfair on any planet, moon, or decently sized asteroid.
But people wanted to see the unusual, to be scared out of their wits by the alien creatures from the far-off places they could only dream of visiting. Therein lay the appeal of the sideshow, without which our profit margins would wither to nothing and the Rubeno and I would be stuck delivering cargo again. She was built for that kind of work. Me, not so much.
I much preferred life as a space carny. If nothing else, it was a more enjoyable way to make a buck, and far less lonely. In a world that shunned and ridiculed, our little piece of space was a welcoming reprieve. It was a home, it was a family.
Merulo warmed up dinner in an old food heater, setting chipped plates on the table while he attempted the impossible task of wrangling his unruly mop of black hair. The triplets eased their pained minds by chatting among themselves and watching game shows on a screen made mostly of static. And Lily sat in front of a lighted mirror, removing the heavy mascara that made her eyes pop while undoubtedly planning our route to the next planet in her brain that never slowed down.
She noticed me watching and arched a thin eyebrow. “What?”
“It’s just nice,” I said. “All of this. It isn’t like the world out there. It’s real.”
A small voice spoke from behind me. “It’s fake.” I turned to see the girl, the one with the bits of hay in her red braid, standing in the doorway. Shock and disillusionment cast shadows over her freckled face, the horrors of the show paling in comparison to this glimpse backstage.
“How did you get in here?” I demanded, not expecting any trouble but sure that I had locked up the carnival entrance as well as the stairwell leading to our living quarters.
“Is any of it real?”
I looked back at my crew, this time through her eyes; disturbing sights to say the least. A wildman in a robe and eyeglasses, a jovial grin on his chubby face. Conjoined triplets separated and sitting on opposite sides of the room, the sickly pallor having been wiped from their dark skin. An angel in jeans and a crocheted shawl, her beak transformed into a nose and her bare shoulders showing no sign of ever bearing wings.
Even I’d changed since the show, from the fiery barker who spouted words with ease to a broody slacker in a vest who’d couldn’t turn a phrase to save his life.
Not hard to understand her surprise. The only thing worse than seeing terrible, man-eating monsters was seeing them without their disguises, seeing that; deep down, they were only human, same as anyone else. I liked to keep that particular fact a secret, as people tended to pay much more to see anatomical anomalies than they did to see ordinary people, but I didn’t see a way out of this. She looked too smart to fall for anything I could pull out of thin air.
“Is it all fake?” she asked, stepping into the room.
I put my arm out to stop her. “I asked you first; how did you get in here?” I tried not to sound too upset, but the thought of someone trespassing on my ship, my secure ship where my people expected to be safe, infuriated me. If a mere girl could get on board without triggering the alarms, why not a crew of galactic pirates?
The girl retreated, her gaze flicking from one person to the next before landing on me. “I’m sorry. It’s just… it’s what I do.” She fiddled with her hands and tugged down the sleeves of her red and black jacket.
“What does that mean?” Lily asked, coming to my side and taking over the interrogation while the others watched with caution.
“It’ll be easier if I just show you.” The girl closed and locked the door behind her, then knelt to peer at the electronic lock. She placed her palm over the device and the lock clicked open a moment later. She pushed open the door and turned to us, the faintest hint of a smile on her lips.
“That’s impossible,” Theon said as he came to inspect the lock, sounding almost insulted at the breach in security. “I installed it myself. It only opens with our keycards.” He gave the girl a sideways glance, his dark, deep-set eyes narrowed. “They’re electronic.”
She shrugged, offering a wide grin that showed too many teeth. “So am I.”
Buy the book in paperback or ebook!
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World Weaver Press
Jennifer Lee Rossman is an autistic and physically disabled sci-fi writer and editor. Her work has been featured in several anthologies, and she co-edited Love & Bubbles, a queer anthology of underwater romance. She blogs at jenniferleerossman.blogspot.com and tweets @JenLRossman
Read MoreAuthor David Walton: The Importance of Food When Telling a Story
I’m delighted to have author David Walton as a guest! His new book The Genius Plague came out last week, and as you might guess with a glance at the cover, mushrooms–and other foods– play important roles in the plot…
Everyone eats. To some people, food is central to their experience of family or national culture, a thing to be cherished and enjoyed. To others, food is a sterile necessity. How and what a person eats can tell us a lot about them. When creating a character in a novel, then, it’s important to get the food right. In one sense, it’s who they are.
In my newest novel, THE GENIUS PLAGUE, a South American fungus takes center stage. That means a lot of the novel takes place in Brazil, with main characters who grew up there. For me, that meant not just researching Brazilian food, but also talking with a native of Brazil to understand what food meant to him, and translating those feelings to my character. Brazilian flavors include a mix of indigenous and Portuguese influences, mostly involving beans and rice. In fact, beans and rice is such a common part of everyday life that the phrase “beans and rice” is a Brazilian expression meaning common or ordinary.
When one character goes to his parents’ home and his father cooks shrimp bobó, the delicious flavor means a lot more to him than just a good taste. It’s comfort food that brings back memories of childhood experiences and better times. Times when he and his brother weren’t on opposite sides of a bitter argument. Times when his father wasn’t dying. When he shovels a third helping onto his plate, it’s more than just food he’s eating: it’s memories and nostalgia and hope.
Another character is a mycologist–someone who studies mushrooms. When he and a woman he barely knows are stranded deep in the Amazon, food isn’t a matter of taste or culture — it’s only his knowledge of what mushrooms are safe that allows them to survive. I personally love to eat mushrooms, but I’m the only one in my family who does. Which means a lot of mushrooms being passed over to my plate! The mushrooms in the story, however, are not entirely safe, as it turns out…
Food is an essential part of who we are, both to stay alive and to form relationships and cultures. If you are a writer, be sure to think about the food your characters are eating and what it means to them. If you’re a reader, a story may not tempt your taste buds or fill your stomach, but I hope you’ll notice how food can enhance the flavor of our books, even as you are devouring them.
Look for THE GENIUS PLAGUE online or at your local bookstore!
Bready or Not Guest: Spencer Ellsworth with Un-Ruinable Gluten Free Brownies
I’m happy to welcome Spencer Ellsworth with a Bready or Not guest post! His debut novel is out today. I was lucky enough to read A Red Peace a few months ago, and blurbed it: “This is space opera candy!” Seriously, if you love space opera, GET THIS. It’s fresh and fun, mixing up cozy tropes in fantastic new ways.
Which is pretty much what Spencer does with this recipe today, too. He shares a recipe for gluten-free brownies that look absolutely delicious. I bet they’d be perfect to eat in accompaniment with a brand new space opera novel…
I’m Spencer, and I have two big things in common with Beth: we both like to write a good swashbuckling adventure (here’s mine) and we both like to bake.
Unlike Beth, I have celiac disease, which means, although I bake all the time, I use gluten-free flours. I was diagnosed way back in the dark ages of 1985. I did all of elementary school in the 1980s gluten free. Let us all turn and salute my mother, who had to bake “special cupcakes” every time someone else in the class had a birthday and brought in gluten cupcakes.
*Salutes Mom*
Ahem.
Celiac disease is, like Crohn’s, arthritis and lupus, an autoimmune disease. Our immune systems, upon consumption of gluten, attack and inflame our intestinal lining, preventing the absorption of any food. Because autoimmune disease is on a spectrum, people often have reactions to gluten that are tricky to diagnose without an endoscopy or colonoscopy.
There are two great lies about gluten-free food
1) you can just substitute GF flour mix in most recipes
2) gluten-free food just doesn’t taste as good
1 isn’t true because different proteins act differently in different grains. Gluten-free flours are not sticky like wheat. You don’t need to knead any gluten-free bread product; you just need to mix the dough and let it rise. You may find certain GF flours, like sorghum or millet or brown rice, less palatable than wheat. But most celiacs can find a preferred flour mix.
This picture shows plain rice flour (the fine-textured flour), a gluten-free mix, and a gluten-free pancake mix (the one with dark specks).
However, that leads me to…
2 isn’t true because there are a LOT of celiacs out there making a LOT of amazing food. But you do have to do some baking on your own. The best gluten-free food is made at home, with patience. Commercial kitchens can’t take the time and ingredients necessary.
So if you’re new to GF baking, here’s an un-ruinable recipe to start. Peruse Gluten-Free & More (formerly known as Living Without) for anything else you need, or just contact me through my website.
Un-Ruinable Gluten Free Brownies
These are totally un-ruinable because they can be made with just about any gluten-free flour, flour mix, or pancake mix. They will have a slightly different consistency depending on the flour, but they work with anything from plain rice flour to Pamela’s pancake mix.
Your celiac friends will appreciate the attempt to make real brownies, rather than those flourless peanut butter cookies or rice krispie treats we ALWAYS get.
Make sure to clean ALL your work surfaces very well first. All counters and bowls should be scrubbed clear of any trace of gluten. Use non-porous materials like Teflon or glass. Make sure they are scrubbed completely clean of every last scrap of anything that ever contained gluten. (Even better, use the excuse to treat yourself to a new dish and new mixing bowl.)
4 eggs
1 cup sugar (add more to taste, especially if not using chocolate chips)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa powder (I much prefer the darker, richer Ghiradelli’s over the chalky Hershey’s)
1/2 cup butter, margarine or coconut oil
1/2 mushy avocado (this is weird, but it makes the whole endeavor much fluffier)
1 cup of any gluten-free flour, baking mix or pancake mix
2 tsp baking powder (if not already included in your mix)
Chocolate chips & nuts to taste
Set oven to 350.
Beat the eggs with the sugar and avocados.
Melt the butter or oil in a saucepan or microwave-safe dish, and add the cocoa powder and beat until smooth.
Allow the butter/cocoa powder mix to cool a bit, then mix into eggs, sugar and avocado.
Mix your flour in with the rest. Add baking powder if you simply have a basic flour mix.
Pour into a greased baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes on 350.
Bready or Not Guest: Spencer Ellsworth's Un-Ruinable Gluten Free Brownies
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup white sugar add more to taste, especially if not using chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder I much prefer the darker, richer Ghiradelli’s over the chalky Hershey’s
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine or coconut oil
- 1/2 mushy avocado this is weird, but it makes the whole endeavor much fluffier
- 1 cup of any gluten-free flour or baking mix or pancake mix
- 2 tsp baking powder if not already included in your mix
- Chocolate chips & nuts to taste
Instructions
- Set oven to 350.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar and avocado.
- Melt the butter or oil in a saucepan or microwave-safe dish, and add the cocoa powder and beat until smooth.
- Allow the butter/cocoa powder mix to cool a bit, then mix into eggs, sugar and avocado.
- Mix your flour in with the rest. Add baking powder if you simply have a basic flour mix.
- Pour into a greased baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes on 350.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
A Red Peace, first in Spencer Ellsworth’s Starfire trilogy, is an action-packed space opera in a universe where the oppressed half-Jorian crosses have risen up to supplant humanity and dominate the galaxy.
Half-human star navigator Jaqi, working the edges of human-settled space on contract to whoever will hire her, stumbles into possession of an artifact that the leader of the Rebellion wants desperately enough to send his personal guard after. An interstellar empire and the fate of the remnant of humanity hang in the balance.
Spencer Ellsworth has written a classic space opera, with space battles between giant bugs, sun-sized spiders, planets of cyborgs and a heroine with enough grit to bring down the galaxy’s newest warlord.
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Interview with Sara Dobie Bauer, author of BITE SOMEBODY ELSE
I’m happy to welcome back my good friend Sara Dobie Bauer! We’ve been IRL friends for years, though she’s now moved to Ohio, we keep in touch–and we love each other’s books! Case in point: her new release Bite Somebody Else from World Weaver Press. In this sequel, she delves into the POV of raunchy, ’80s-loving vampire Imogene. The book came out this week–and be sure to check out the first book, Bite Somebody.
You’re an ex sexpert for SheKnows and your characters sure enjoy rambunctious love lives. Your love scenes read so easily—do you find them easy to write? What types of scenes DO you have a hard time writing?
Based on reader reaction (and my penchant for landing in erotica anthologies), I’m apparently good at writing sex. Honestly, though, sex scenes take time. A two-page sex scene can take me an hour to write as most of that time is spent staring at the screen and choreographing in my head. I also tend to mix dialogue within the sexual choreography, so not only do I stare at the screen, but I also talk to myself. This is why I don’t write in public. Plus, since I’m choreographing sex scenes in my head, I can only imagine the ridiculous faces I might make. That’s the long story.
The short story: sex scenes are my specialty. I enjoy writing them. I’m good at writing them. But they are “a process.”
Action scenes are hard to write. Talk about choreography! There are several fight scenes in Bite Somebody Else, and you almost literally need to work these out with a partner. (Bahaha, I guess a partner helps in writing sex scenes, too … there might be a short story there …). ANYWAY. Fight scenes are difficult. Oh, so are dance scenes, of which there are a couple in Bite Somebody Else because, duh, Imogene.
Your muse is Benedict Cumberbatch. What would happen if you saw him in person? Would security personnel be involved?
My husband is legitimately worried that, if I ever met Benedict Cumberbatch, I would become a black hole and destroy the universe. Honestly, though, if I ever met the British stud in person, I imagine it would be a lot like the time I met Neil Gaiman. I smiled, panted a little, and he took pity on me and gave me a hug. I like to think I’d be all cool and collected and sexy (like Imogene), but I’d be more like Celia, drooling and stuttering and saying a bunch of really dumb shit.
It’s funny, but both male leads in the Bite Somebody Series are based on different incarnations of Mr. Cumberbatch (because, as you said, he is my muse). Ian in Bite Somebody is laid back, behind-the-scenes Benedict. Nicholas in Bite Somebody Else is suave, red carpet Benedict. No wonder the two characters get along so well …
Imogene loves her rum punch. Do you love it, too?
I do love rum punches. The first time I had a rum punch was in Belize on Ambergris Caye during my honeymoon. I don’t know if it was the drink or the location or my husband—but I was euphoric. I’m pretty sure I almost drank the island dry that week, but I did figure out the recipe! Simple. Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour a double shot of Captain Morgan’s on top. Fill three-quarters of the way with strawberry-banana juice and one quarter peach juice. Stir and slurp, preferably on a beach or while reading your shiny new copy of Bite Somebody Else.
Bite Somebody was told from the viewpoint of Celia, who is more of a frumpy every-girl. In the sequel, you get deep into Imogene’s POV. She is more like a force of nature, profane, crude, and utterly honest. Was it easier to get into one character than the other?
Not really. As women, I think we encompass both characters depending on the situation. At times, we can all be nervous and frumpy. Other times, we can be fierce. Celia and Imogene represent two extremes, but the rest of us float somewhere in the middle. That said, in my daily life, I’m a bit more profane and honest, like Imogene. My sense of humor is the Bite Somebody Series to a T, so it was easy to write both books—probably because I was just having so much fun!
What’s next for you?
Sleep until Halloween? No, better not. Ummm, I have short stories in a couple upcoming anthologies. My story that has caused the most arguments about how we define “sexuality” will be in Stoneslide Corrective this fall. (Keep an eye out; see if it pisses you off.)
Next year, I’m part of a three book series with Pen and Kink Publishing called Enchanted. A bit about that …
In modern day Charleston, lonely white witch Cyan Burroughs has waited her whole life to lead the battle against dark witches and eventually meets the man she is fated to love. A tragic trolley accident brings Liam Cody into her life. He is her destiny, but he’s also in love with someone else. Now, Cyan and her magic family must find the dark witch who caused the accident while Cyan fights her feelings for Liam—a charming Irishman with secrets of his own.
With the release of Bite Somebody Else comes a certain amount of freedom. As you can attest, finishing a series is sad because you have to say goodbye to a bunch of people you’ve spent years hanging out with. However, finishing a series is also a relief, as you are free to think about other projects with a clear head. I have two finished manuscripts to rewrite (both a bit darker than the Bite Somebody Series), so come July, it’s time to dive in. Wish me luck, and remember … only bite the people you love.
Sara Dobie Bauer is a writer, model, and mental health advocate with a creative writing degree from Ohio University. Her short story, “Don’t Ball the Boss,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, inspired by her shameless crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. She lives with her hottie husband and two precious pups in Northeast Ohio, although she’d really like to live in a Tim Burton film. She is a member of RWA and author of the paranormal rom-com Bite Somebody, among other ridiculously entertaining things.
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Guest: Rebecca Roland Author of Shattered Fates Talks About a Favorite Book
I’m happy to welcome Rebecca Roland to my site again! Shattered Fates is the final book in her trilogy with World Weaver Press. I read it as an early draft, and it was awesome. To celebrate the release, Rebecca has new covers for all three of her books. She’s here today to talk about an old favorite book of hers.
Years ago when I was in grad school, a friend of mine who was a voracious reader pressed a book called Shards of Honor into my hands and said, “I think you’ll like this.” Eager to read a new book, I took it home and started it. And… it was slow. I read a few pages, then brought it back to her and said I couldn’t get into it. “Keep it,” she said. “Try it again.”
I tried it again and couldn’t get past the first few pages. But I held onto it because I knew if I brought it back to my friend without having read it, she’d be really disappointed in me. And I knew she wouldn’t steer me wrong. Eventually, I picked it up for a third time.
I don’t know what changed, but I got past the first few pages, and then barreled right through the rest of it. The book was great. Once it got going, it never let up. Shards of Honor and the next book in the series followed Captain Cordelia Naismith, but then the series switched over to her son, Miles Vorkosigan. As much as I love Cordelia, Miles is one of those characters who leaps off the page at you. He’s brilliant but flawed, and he gets into the biggest messes. He’s a man of honor. He’s witty and romantic. He’s so energetic, and he thinks so far ahead, that he keeps nearly everyone around him constantly on their toes. The other characters never knew what he was going to do, and neither did I. In short, he’s a fantastic character. He’s one where you can let him loose on the page, and he will write the story for you.
I love stories about unique characters. I love cool idea stories, too, but it’s the characters who burrow under my skin and stay with me, and Miles Vorkosigan is my favorite by far. When I write, I try to make my characters as multi-dimensional as Bujold made Miles Vorkosigan. I try to push my characters into situations where there appears to be no coming back, and I try to make them flawed and real. There’s a real joy in writing when the character is genuine and doing what they do.
I borrowed all of the books in that series from my friend. Then I went out and bought copies of my own. I’ve read them all several times now, and each time is just as enjoyable because there are always some details I’ve forgotten, or some new insight I gain.
About Rebecca’s book Shattered Fates:
The magic barrier protecting the Taakwa from their enemies, the Maddion, is gone. Malia, who led the Taakwa against the Maddion in the Dragon War, must convince the magical being, the changer, to repair the barrier before the Maddion invade to take revenge on her people and the winged Jeguduns who also call the valley home, even if it means reversing the healing the changer wrought for her.
Chanwa, the wife of the Maddion leader, uses the disorder created by the changer to lead a coup against her husband in a desperate attempt to ensure she and the other Maddion women are treated as equals. Her life, and the future of every Maddion woman, depends on her success.
Both women know the only way to succeed is to come together in an unlikely alliance.
Available for at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and direct from the publisher, World Weaver Press.
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