Maggie Petru talks about Love, Obey & Betray and The Widow Lindsay

Escape with a Writer Sunday welcomes Maggie Petru!

Born on an Ontario dairy farm with no siblings or neighbour children for playmates, Maggie Petru discovered story telling (no, NOT fibbing) before she entered public school. By the time she outgrew paper dolls, she had learned to write. Writing became her hobby and preserved her sanity from that time onwards.

She attended Toronto Teachers’ College directly out of Gr. 13 and spent eight years between full time and supply teaching. By the time her own three children had all entered school full time she wanted to go back to work, but definitely not as a teacher. She’d been writing during their afternoon naps and now had a firm grip on how to handle her language. She went off to Sheridan College for the journalism training which led to 30 years of reporting for Ontario daily and weekly newspapers and the Canadian Press wire service, as well as awards for both agricultural writing and investigative reporting.

In her last years at a small weekly, she began dividing her time between reporting and taking notes for deaf students at the University of Toronto. During those same years she began dusting off story ideas and hooked up with Guelph’s Sun Dragon Press to produce three novels.

After a brief attempt at retirement, she discovered Sheridan College was offering degree courses with the U of T. The Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing and Publishing program seemed a perfect fit and offered the potential to expand her knowledge of her chosen third career. One year almost down. Only three more to go.

1. At the moment my life has gone haywire. Last year I discovered Sheridan College was offering an Honours BA in Creative Writing and Publishing and I enrolled. As a retired journalist with three published novels, how hard could it be? Well, let me tell you, it involves topics I never even dreamed of -  such as writing video games and movie scripts, in addition to research essays and dissecting “literary works” word by word. And this is only year one. There’s 3 more to go. It consumes so many hours I have no time for my own writing and all those other hobbies I enjoy - knitting, sewing, crocheting, quilting, smocking, embroidery - have completely fallen by the wayside. I may not even get a sweater done for my youngest great-granddaughter’s second birthday unless I cut back to part time. I love to travel too, but you can bet that’s not happening again any time soon. Even my cats are complaining they’re neglected when I shoo them off my lap to finish a piece of homework. I keep questioning why I’m doing this but I know I’m simply too stubborn to let it beat me. If only everything didn’t have to be done on a computer I’d have assignments finished in half the time.

2. I am actually working - sort of - on three books. One will eventually be a collection of short stories. That’s waaay down the road since I only have half a dozen of them so far.

A second book is half done and stalled. I’ve found my police/security source to help me with how money moves from a Canadian bank to the Caribbean and eventually to China but we haven’t sat down and really talked yet, so that book is also at least three or four years in the future.

The one that’s in revisions is getting hung up with my class work. I never expected working on my degree to entail as many hours of homework as it is turning out to be. Maybe this summer I’ll be able to clear my head enough to sit down and re-do all the sections that don’t suit me at the moment.

3. The only thing I consistently have difficulty with is adding emotion to my work. Anger, sure. Flows like water but other emotions take a lot of work. I now recognize the need for them, but I still struggle to add enough to keep my beta readers content. Never saw myself as a buttoned up person but I guess I must be since it wouldn’t naturally occur to me to cry or scream over things that apparently move others and apparently my heroines too, to such reactions.

4. Since I only write mysteries of some sort, research is usually a matter of coming up with a situation I can twist into a mystery. I expect my stories to be accurate so I have a couple of ex-cops in my circle of family and friends that I can turn to when I need authentic methodology. Since I hate technology, to date I have set my stories in the 1900s in order to avoid it. This is also my era so research is pretty much my own memories or a quick scan on Google to find a precise date, etc. That’s largely what’s holding up my current books. They’re both set since 2000 and that involves a bunch of stuff I’d prefer to avoid. Unfortunately, the thefts couldn’t have happened without the web and the internet so I’m stuck with this. 

5. I love history and mystery. Romance gets an occasional nod but only by virtue of being part of something else, like a mystery. Favourite authors would fill your whole page, Anne Cleeves, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, Giles Blunt, Baldacci, Vince Flynn, Greg Isles, John Sanford, Jonathan Kellerman, Louise Penny, Michael Connelly, John Lescroat and more.

I have to confess that while I love the work of a lot of mystery writers, I wouldn’t call any of them particularly inspiring. On the other hand, I see a lesson from almost all of them. They have marked out a particular type of story - a setting, an era, a profession, something that is unique to their work and it’s taught me to look for something that will mark my writing as mine and only mine. Not sure I’ve found it yet, but I’m hunting.

6. I think the only person who hinted that I should keep writing was my Gr. 13 English teacher. She used to tease me about good stories - if only I could remember I was writing in English and stay away from French spellings. Unfortunately she also thought I’d be good at teaching so she badly missed the mark. 

My website - Maggiepetru.com

Love, Obey and Betray

Vladymyr Horbatsky emigrated to Canada at the end of WWII in search of safety and security. Over the ensuing 20 years steady work and a Canadian family create his personal paradise. Then an American Defense Department consultant comes to work for his employer and Vlad discovers that the man was his wife’s boss in her days as an Allied spy. Memories of his childhood escape from Communism and enslavement by the Nazis flood back, alerting his Cossack instincts to the fact that paradise has just developed a huge viper.

Buy here at:  Amazon. com

The Widow Lindsay

Newly widowed, her Manitoba home and family wrecked by WWI, Lydia Lindsay envisages a fresh beginning at ShadyBrae, the Ontario family farm she inherits from her soldier husband. One hundred fertile acres, a solid barn, a stone house verging on a mansion. What more could she want?

Until she encounters her brother-in-law, Jacob, who has no scruples about using murder, arson, and his own little daughter to coerce Lydia into a marriage that will get him the farm over which he has obsessed since childhood.

While her neighbour Roddy McCullough will risk both their reputations to protect Lydia, they need ShadyBrae's old ghost, Aunt Agnes, to cope with kidnapping.

Buy here at Amazon. com

Rita Lee Chapman talks about The Poinciana Tree

Escape with a Writer Sunday welcomes Rita Lee Chapman!

Rita Lee Chapman was born in London and moved to Australia in her early twenties. It was only when she retired that she wrote her first novel, Missing in Egypt, the first in the Anna Davies Mystery series. Missing at Sea is Book#2 in the series and Missing in London is Book #3. All can be enjoyed as stand-alone books.
Winston – A Horse’s Tale was written for horse lovers like herself. “It was the book I had to write.”
Dangerous Associations and The Poinciana Tree are crime mysteries.
When she’s not writing or reading, Rita enjoys playing tennis, walking and entertaining.

Website: www.ritaleechapman.com

1. Tell us about your life outside of writing.

I am retired and I live on the coast of Queensland, Australia with my husband. We play tennis three days a week and walk our beautiful beaches, the river and the lake.  We are fortunate to have a great group of friends through tennis and we entertain regularly, hence the need to walk!

2. Do you have a work in progress?

No.  I’m still busy promoting my last book, The Poinciana Tree but I do have a couple of ideas brewing.

3. What was the most difficult section/piece you ever wrote? What made it difficult?

My first book was the hardest.  The problem was I could write about anything I wanted but what was it going to be?  In the end I fell back on the old saying “write what you know” and I combined some of my working life with a holiday I had recently taken in Egypt.  As I am self-published it was also a huge learning curve.

4. What sort of research do you do for your work?

A lot of my information comes from having lived to retirement age and from my travels, but Dr Google is an amazing source for research.

5. Which books and authors do you read for pleasure? Is there an author that inspires you?

I read quite a wide variety of books, from memoirs and biographies to mysteries, murders and horse books. 

6. Was there a person who encouraged you to write?

I had a teacher in junior school, Mrs Jolly, who encouraged my essays and my mother has been a great support since I started writing.

Round Robin Blog Fest March 21 2020

Happy Spring 2020.... such as it is! I truly hope you're all healthy and staying self-isolated as is the buzzword of the year. In any case, welcome back to yet another Round Robin Blog Fest!

I've been away for a while with work and writerly type things as well as picking up my youngest from college due to the Covid 19 virus. Since the world seems to be coming to a standstill, this is great time to catch up on some blog posts!

This month's question is:  What draws you into a story? 

With all the uncertainty and surrealism in the world right now, a good story is anything that takes our minds off the craziness!

I enjoy a strong opening that makes me curious about what comes next. The story should not only make a reader ask questions, but give them tidbits of information about the characters without overwhelming them with information. I don't mean the laundry list of height, weight, appearance and full backstory all in one lump. Those sorts of long, rambling paragraphs can make a reader's eyes glaze over! For me, I prefer to learn that sort of information along the journey as I read.

A well-written story should flow. Not only with a solid story with a timeline that makes sense to the readers from start to finish, but also one that moves along well from scene to scene. Writing with long, slow sections then dialogue with no tags tends to be confusing and jarring. A smooth blend of dialogue woven with description and action makes for a nicer read.

One of the best ways to draw me into a story, is to have a strong main character with a compelling plot. Whether it's a plot that's overdone or not, there can always be fresh elements or great lines. 

I'm a sucker for good humor. Not so much the slapstick and inane, but clever one-liners and puns. I enjoy characters (and writers) who don't take themselves too seriously. But enough about me! 

Stop by and visit my fellow writers. They're a talented bunch with a lot of great humor and amazing stories to tell!

Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1RR
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

Reed Stirling talks about

Welcome to this week's author Reed Stirling!!

Reed Stirling lives in Cowichan Bay, British Columbia, and writes when not travelling, or painting landscapes, or taking coffee at the Drumroaster, a local café where metaphor and metaphysics clash daily. His shorter work has appeared in Maple Tree Literary Supplement, Nashwaak Review, Valley Voice, Out Of The Warm Land II and III, StepAway Magazine, PaperPlates, Eloquent Atheist, Senior Living, Green Silk Journal, Fickle Muses, Fieldstone Review, Ascent Aspirations, Feathertale, Filling Station, Hackwriters Magazine, Dis(s)ent In Words, The Danforth Review, Montreal Writes Literary Magazine, and Humanist Perspectives. 

Shades Of Persephone is his first published novel, 2019. Lighting The Lamp will be published in March, 2020. He is presently working on a third novel tentatively titled Square Saint-Louis.

1.LIFE OUTSIDE OF WRITING

Before retiring and taking up writing fiction as a past time, I taught English Literature. (Several talented students of mine have gone on to become successful writers.) My wife and I built a log home in the hills of southern Vancouver Island, and survived totally off the grid for twenty-five years during which time the rooms in that house filled up with books, thousands of student essays were graded, and innumerable cords of firewood were split. Life outside of writing now includes painting landscapes, reading, fishing, cycling, skiing, and travel.

2. WORK IN PROGRESS

I am working on a first draft of a work tentatively titled Square Saint-Louis, where the troubles in a contemporary family mirror those of the tragic poet Émile Nelligan.

Brendan Young, a Calgary based businessman who travels more than he’d like, admits to having absolutely no patience for the intransigence of his music-obsessed, teenage son, Elliot. Ongoing domestic disputes have intensified over the years: antipathy now verges on hostile rejection. Elinore, an equally conflicted wife and mother, is threatening separation, a source of great anxiety for Brendan who turns to alcohol for the understanding that eludes him on the home front. His sojourn in Montreal, a city not unfamiliar to him, leads him incident by surreal incident, towards greater understanding through familiarity with the tragic story of Émile Nelligan, who, as a nineteen year-old, enjoyed a successful entry into the artistic community of Montreal in the last decade of the 19^th century, and then fell victim to madness. Reconnecting with Emery St James Montesquieu, among old antagonists he encounters at a Yamaska College reunion, proves not only enlightening for Young in its mirroring effect — the troubles in his family are reflected dramatically in those of the young afflicted poet — but also redemptive. Elliot, the musician, will have his apotheosis.

  3. MOST DIFFICULT PIECE

The most difficult piece I’ve had to deal with, a chapter, in fact, from Lighting the Lamp titled “Glorious Disorder,” was published in Humanist Perspective (Fall 2019).

On the one hand, the selection deals in a straightforward manner with the nature of metaphysical belief, which can be a very sensitive topic for some readers. On the other hand, my characters have to come to grip with the destructive nature of the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Deeply conflicted about the whys and wherefores of the devastating illness his granddaughter suffers, my protagonist explains that the tragic situation facing the family is not divinely sanctioned but “is simply a disorder arising out of the seeming randomness of the evolutionary process that the cosmos contrived, one that brought us into being, and one that can take us out.”

In reality, my neighbours’ young daughter suffered for months at the hands of this insidious affliction. The whole family was displaced and suffered much. In time, the girl recovered, as does my imagined character.

4. RESEARCH 

More recently I research things online. However, the reference books I consult (be they literary, mythological, philosophical, architectural, psychological, historical, scientific, geographical, linguistic) I find on my own shelves or on those of our local library. Most enjoyable is research done in situ, Greece for Shades Of Persephone, for example, and Montreal in large part for Lighting The Lamp and the novel I’m presently working on. Reading other fiction can also be a source relevant information. Simple observation of people helps in many ways, verisimilitude being the objective of the observation whatever the setting. I lean towards mystery in my writing, with romantic entanglement an integral part of the plot development. Greek mythology and literary allusion underpin a great deal of what unfolds. Irony is pervasive.  

5. BOOKS, AUTHORS, & SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

      

I read widely, and have done so for decades, the classics included. At present, works by Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, and John le Carré await. The muse visits me most often when I read the novels of John Banville.

My reading has definitely influenced my writing. Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandrian Quartet provided the impetus for Shades Of Persephone. John Fowles’ The Magus gave me the Greek setting. Joyce’s Portrait inspired more than one scene in Lighting The Lamp, as did the philosophical musing of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Marcel Proust plays a part here as well, as do Richard Dawkins, Emily Dickinson, and Albert Camus. The poems of Émile Nelligan are working thematically into Square Saint-Louis.

Teaching literature has had an influence on my writing. When you introduce young minds to the great works of great artists, (e.g., Hamlet, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Portrait of the Artist As A young Man, Gulliver’s Travels, The Handmaid’s Tale), you are constantly challenging yourself to get it right, to understand not only who, what, and when, but also how, and to elucidate on these considerations as discussion ensues. In your own writing, you want to emulate, difficult though it is to do so, but you have to try.  

6. ENCOURAGEMENT

      Greatest support and understanding comes from my wife, travel guide and firewood organizer supreme.

WEBSITE & LINKS: 

reedstirlingwrites.com

reedstirling@gmail.com

Books We Love Publishing — http://bwlpublishing.ca

BWL authors group Facebook

Shades of Persephone

Shades of Persephone is a literary mystery that will entertain those who delight in exotic settings, foreign intrigue, and the unmasking of mysterious characters. Crete in 1980-81, more specifically the old Venetian harbour of Chania, provides the background against which expat Canadian Steven Spire labours in pursuit of David Montgomery, his enigmatic and elusive mentor, who stands accused in absentia of treachery and betrayal. The plot has many seams through which characters slide, another of them being the poet Emma Leigh, widow of Montgomery’s imposing Cold War adversary, Heinrich Trüger. In that the setting is Crete, the source of light is manifold, but significant inspiration for Steven Spire comes from Magalee De Bellefeuille, his vision of Aphrodite and his muse. “Find Persephone,” she directs him, “and you’ll find David Montgomery.”  Her prompts motivate much of the narrative, including that of the Cretan underground during the Nazi occupation, 1941- 45. 

            Shades of Persephone presents a story of love and sensuality, deception and war, spiritual quest and creative endeavour. The resolution takes an unanticipated turn but comes as no surprise to the discerning reader. Like Hamlet who must deal with his own character in following the injunctions of his ghostly father, Steven Spire discovers much about the city to which he has returned, but much more about himself and his capacity for love.

Buy links:

http://bwlpublishing.ca

Shades Of Persephone/Amazon.ca/Reed Stirling/Books

            https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bookswelove

wwwbarnesandnoble.com>shades-of-persephone-reed-stirling

            wwwgoodreads.com>Reed Stirling

            wwwchapters.indigo.ca>Reed Stirling

Lighting the Lamp

 Lighting The Lamp dramatizes the efforts of Terry Burke, a sympathetic, at times caustic and critical, but ordinary old guy, to come to grips with who he is and what his life has been. His struggle to accept retirement and to interpret the iterations of the voice in his head spreads to concern over the mysterious death of a wanderer. Terry’s obsession to solve the mystery fuses directly with his personal history and leads him in and out of fascinating, half-remembered mythological landscapes. 

A restive Terry is enjoined to revisit the haunts of his youth. Family dynamics of the present, mirrored in Irish heritage of the past, come into play as do contrarian opinions encountered among cronies, distant friends, and lost loves. Motivated by his muse to tell all, what he seeks in addition to understanding is truthful voice and the purest possible point of view. Aware that remembrance of things past in not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were, this quixotic Everyman eventually reaches beyond self, beyond mystery, and beyond theodicy to a philosophical embrace of cosmic apotheosis. In Lighting The Lamp, Montreal provides more than a background for potential jihad-sponsored terrorism, or ghosts out of the past, or a romantic trip down memory lane; the many-layered city takes on the function of a defined and demanding character and declares in a voice Terry hears clearly: “Know me and know yourself!”

Stuart West talks about "Bad Day in a Banana Hammock" and "Peculiar County"

Welcome to featured author Stuart R West! 

Before we get to the nitty gritty, I have to admit I've read  and reviewed a couple of Stuart's books (Nightmare of Nannies and Murder by Massage.) They are definitely not what I expected, but a thrill-a-minute ride with a quirky sense of humour! Zach and Zora are two of the most entertaining sleuths I've read in a long time! Stuart writes about Zora and her kids in such a way that I could totally related to all the crazy things they do, especially after raising three boys!

Cheers,

Diane

Stuart R. West is a lifelong resident of Kansas, which he considers both a curse and a blessing. It's a curse because...well, it's Kansas. But it's great because, well, it’s Kansas. Lots of cool, strange and creepy things happen in the Midwest, and Stuart takes advantage of them in his books. Call it “Kansas Noir.” Stuart writes horror, thrillers and mysteries usually tinged with (the darkest of dark) humor. (P.S., if you read all of this in a Morgan Freeman narratorly voice; we’ll get through this process easier.)

Stuart spent 25 years in the corporate sector and now writes full time. He’s married to a professor of pharmacy and has a 27-year-old daughter who’s dipping her toes in the nefarious world of banking, working for The Man.

To be one of the cool kids on the block, visit Stuart’s Amazon page at: http://bit.ly/StuartRWestBooks

If you're still reading this far, you may as well head on over to Stuart's blog at: http://stuartrwest.blogspot.com/

BAD DAY IN A BANANA HAMMOCK blurb:

Zach wakes up with no memory, no phone, and no clothes except his stripper g-string. And oh yeah! There’s that pesky naked dead guy in bed next to him. Problem is Zach's not gay. Or a murderer. At least, he doesn't think so.

Only one person can help him, his sister, Zora. Of course Zora's got problems of her own—she has three kids at home and is eight month's pregnant with the fourth. So she’s a bit cranky. But that’s not going to stop her from helping her brother.

With kids in tow, the siblings set how to find the true killer, clear Zach's name, and reassure Zach he's not gay.

PECULIAR COUNTY blurb:

Growing up in Peculiar County, Kansas, is a mighty...well, peculiar experience. In 1965, things get even stranger for Dibby Caldwell, the mortician's fifteen-year-old daughter. A young boy's ghost haunts Dibby into unearthing the circumstances of his death.

Nobody—living or dead—wants her to succeed. James, the new mop-topped, bad boy at school doesn’t help. Dibby can’t get him out of her head, even though she doesn’t trust him. No, sir, there's nothing much more peculiar than life in Peculiar County…except maybe death in Peculiar County.

UPDATED LINKS:

*Stuart R. West’s brand-spanking new website!
*Amazon author page.
*Stuart R. West's (totally inconsequential) blog: Twisted Tales from Tornado Alley
*And the rest (like on Gilligan's Island): Facebook, Twitter