A Real Tree

Welcome to Christmas on Keira’s Corner. We will be discussing everything this month from Holiday movies to TV specials and everything in between and I will also have featured books.

A little about Ms. Jefferies

C. Michelle Jefferies practically grew up in a library. The oldest daughter of four, she spent hours devouring books with her mother. When she was ten, she realized that she wanted to write stories like the science fiction books she loved to read. In high school, she met another writer that inspired her to write a novel instead of just short stories. She finished that 189 page handwritten novel the summer of her junior year.

A mother of seven, she put her writing on the back burner while she focused on raising her young children, and volunteering as a breastfeeding counselor in her community. When her children were old enough for her to spend a few hours on the computer, without them burning the house down, she returned to writing and hasn’t stopped since. Often writing or editing with a baby in her arms or under her feet.

Married to the guy her high school boyfriend introduced her to; she claims the last 20 + years as her education and mission experience. With a love for natural mothering, and a passion for secret agents and all things Asian she writes about bad boys turned good and fantasy of the urban type. All while beating herself up three times a week in Karate class as she works toward her black belt in Tang Soo Do.

Ms. Jefferies has a story in a Christmas anthology. Her story is entitled, A Real Tree...

What does Christmas look like hundreds of years in the future and on a completely different planet?

A little bit about the anthology...

 

Sing We Now of Christmas: An Advent Anthology

Christmas carols capture the spirit of Christmas like nothing else, and Sing We Now of Christmas brings beloved carols to life like never before. Walk in the footsteps of good King Wenceslas. Experience anew the bells on Christmas Day. Witness the journey of a soldier who lost his voice as he participates in the miracle of Silent Night. Experience all this and more in these heartfelt, entertaining tales donated by a team of authors from across the country, teaming together for a good cause.* Covering twenty-five stories--one for every day through Christmas itself--this anthology is ready to become a new advent tradition for your family! *All the proceeds from sales of the anthology are donated to the National Down Syndrome Society.

What other writer’s had to say about Sing We Now of Christmas.

This book has so many great ORIGINAL STORIES. So often I look for Chirstmas stories to find the same ones. These are all new, never been read before. It will be a great family tradition to start and continue in the coming years! The fact that they are linked to Christmas carols makes it great fun!  ~ By JOWrite

There's no shortage of Christmas anthologies on the market; most of them based on memoir. Sing We Now Of Christmas takes a unique approach. Each of the 25 stories relates to a carol, with the selections meant to be opened and read like an Advent calendar; one day at a time leading to Christmas. It could be the start of a new tradition; with members of the family taking turns reading one story aloud each evening.

Michael Young, a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, conceived the idea. He then enlisted writers and editors across the country, who donated their stories and technical skills. All royalties from the book go to the National Down Syndrome Society.
 ~ Amazon Review

Buy it now in Print on Amazon

Oh we are not done yet... C. Michelle Jefferies was awesome enough to answer some questions about her novel Emergence and some personal questions as well. So stick around :)

Interview between Keira Kroft and C. Michelle Jefferies

 

Keira: You had a story recently come out though Walnut Springs Press entitled Emergence. What is that about?  

It’s about an atheist assassin who is called as a prophet. And what happens to him as his life deconstructs after being called.  

 

Keira: Is writing your only talent?

 

 No, I also love to sew and make some types of crafty stuff. I am SO NOT a scrapbooker.  I’m also an amateur book binder and shoe maker.

 

 Keira: Why are you a writer?  

 

Because otherwise these amazing scenes happen in my head and then go to waste. I love the art of story. I also love the way words play and sound together.  

 

Keira: How many hours a day do you dedicate to writing?  

 

I try to get at least two hours of writing and an hour of marketing in a day. I have five kids at home so my time is limited and I should use my free time more efficiently.

 

 Keira: Do you use a particular writing method?  I use two methods, for the bare bones of the story I use Larry Brooks Story Architecture (Storyfix.com). It gives me a “recipe” of sorts as to where specific things go. Then when the structure is done I use my master chapter outline to put the structure in order and then I get to free-write between those points.  

 

Keira: Please share a particular detail about one of characters, please.  

 

Antony my MC has two marks on his body. One a birthmark around his ankle that looks like a snake biting its tail and a tattoo he can’t see and doesn’t even know he has.  

 

Keira: What advice would you give to an unpublished writer?

 

 Learn to love re-writes, edits, and revision. It’s not critiquing you as a writer; it’s making your story better. The faster you learn this, the faster you will be published.  

Let’s get personal…

 

 

Keira: What is your favorite food?  

 

Definitely Chinese. I love almost everything except the spicy stuff.  There is this little place where I used to live that made the best pot stickers.  

 

Keira: What is your guilty Pleasure?  

 

Shopping for old Pyrex dishes at the local thrift store. The locals don’t have any idea what treasures they’re donating.

 

 Keira: What is your favorite Smell?  

 

Lemons. Especially Lemon bars.  

 

Keira: If you could change one your physical feature? Would you? What would it be?  

 

I’d be thinner.  

 

Keira: What is your favorite color?

 

 I’d have to say orange. Like fall leaves and pumpkins.  

 

Keira: Do you have pets?  I have a dog, seven chickens, and one finch.  

 

Keira: What are you reading?  

 

I just finished Beautiful Creatures. Amazing book.

 

 Keira: Can you share your blurb with us?

 

Of course. 

A Hitman with a Conscience.

Assassin Antony Danic has never killed an innocent man. At least the corporation he works for has never given him a reason to think otherwise until now. Reeling from a series of demanding assignments, Antony is desperate for some downtime. As he sits on a beach in Tahiti watching his wife play in the ocean, a messenger from his employer delivers a death threat. Suddenly, the hunter has become the hunted. While Antony struggles to find a way out of his till death do us part contract, he's faced with the decision of a lifetime: kill another man who may be innocent, or do what's right even if it puts his family in jeopardy.

 

Buy it now on Amazon

 

Where to find the awesome C. Michelle Jefferies

Blog

Website

Email

 

Happy Holidays :)

Hugs,

Keira Kroft
www.keirakroft66.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/keirakroft
http://twitter.com/#!/KeiraKroft66

Interview between Keira Kroft and Sci-fi author Edward McKeown

Hello Edward. Welcome. You have conducted many interviews, about your books and your personal life and your hobbies, so today...let’s talk about Edward the reader :)

 

Keira: How many books do you read per year?

Not as many as I used to before I was writing and in a writing group.  Since I am usually doing 3-4 chapters every two weeks from the group that cuts into it.  However I normally have a fiction and non-fiction book going so I would say better than thirty a year.  Before I was writing it would have been two or three times as many.

Keira: Who is your favorite literary character?

Oh you are killing me.  How do I keep it to one?  If I have to commit to one, let me go with Dard Nordis of the Stars are Ours, brave, decent and devoted he was a real young person trying to fit into a universe that did not make easy allowance for him

Keira: Is there one author that you have read every book that they have written?

There are two.  Andre Norton and CJ Cherryh

Keira: In your opinion what is the best movie adaptation of a book that you've read?

It would have to be the Lord of the Rings.  Jackson did a near perfect job of balancing the needs of the movie with respect for the text

Keira: When you are browsing book stores what is the first section you go to?

What I read, SF & F, then over to the History Section.

Keira: If you had the chance to have a sit down with any author alive or deceased who would it be and why?

I have been fortunate to sit down with some living ones.  Of the living I have yet to meet would be CJ Cherryh.  Of those who have gone into the great beyond, Andre Norton.

 
A little bit about Edwards work.

 

Was Once A Hero, for sale now.

 

Reluctant privateer Robert Fenaday searches the stars for his lost love, Lisa, a naval intelligence officer whose ship disappeared near the end of the Conchirri War. He’s joined by the genetically engineered assassin, Shasti Rainhell, whose cold perfection masks her dark past. Both are blackmailed by government spymaster, Mandela, into a suicidal mission to the doomed planet Enshar. Leading a team of scientists and soldiers, they must unravel the mystery of that planet’s death before an ancient force reaches out to claim their lives.

The classic Planet Stories of S/F have suffered abandonment, without a rescuer, until now. Edward McKeown's "Was Once A Hero" combines adventure and romance with the dark humor and human complexities absent from a more black-and-white age. Robert Fenaday and Shasti Rainhell are real people. They make mistakes, they hurt, they stumble in the dark emotionally, and they save the world. They are flawed, wounded heroes, and they make you realize, as you hungrily turn each page, that the best fiction contains excitement and passion; and the best aspect of life is the possibility of personal redemption. Was Once a Hero provides both." Tim McLoughlin, author of "Heart of the Old Country" (Movie Title: The Narrows) and Editor of "Brooklyn Noir"

Buy it now on Amazon

 

Coming in the late fall of 2012

 

Fearful Symmetry is the second of three novels concerning Robert Fenaday’s search for his wife Lisa, and his companion and sometime lover Shasti Rainhell’s search for her humanity. The trilogy is written so the reader can pick up any of the books and have a complete SF adventure in hand, yet all three form the overarching story of Robert’s quest and Shasti’s emotional voyage of self-discovery. Robert Fenaday, reluctant privateer, and the genetically engineered, but emotionally crippled, Shasti Rainhell have survived the terror of the doomed planet Enshar. Fenaday, now wealthy, returns to New Eire to restart his life. Something unexpected has grown between he and Shasti. Love? Perhaps, Shasti cannot tell. Her hard, cold life has little prepared her for such feelings, which both exhilarate and terrify her.

On a mission to Earth, Shasti is intercepted by the Confederate spymaster, Mandela, who offers her one of her heart’s desires, revenge on her abusive creator, Jalgren Pard, leader of a guild of assassins on her homeworld of Olympia.

Torn between a new life and an old hate, Shasti falls back on what she knows best, death. She joins a Confederate team dropped on Olympia to assassinate Pard. But disaster overtakes the team. Shasti and the survivors must flee and hide on a world rife with murder and intrigue. Fenaday learns of the mission and launches a rescue, gathering old friends and new, as well as an old enemy, the cyborg, Mmok, who serves only Mandela.

 

 

Edwards tour will be concluded on

November 16th – Jaidis @ Juniper Grove (Interview)

 

 

Thank you for stopping by :)

 

Hugs,

Keira Kroft

www.keirakroft66.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/keirakroft

http://twitter.com/#!/KeiraKroft66

Introducing Emergence by C. Michelle Jefferies

Keira’s Corner would like to introduce C. Michelle Jefferies. This is the first of two stops that this awesome writer will be making here. Look for her December 12^th. I will be conducting an interview and we will chatting about her Christmas themed story.

A little about Ms. Jefferies

C. Michelle Jefferies practically grew up in a library. The oldest daughter of four, she spent hours devouring books with her mother. When she was ten, she realized that she wanted to write stories like the science fiction books she loved to read. In high school, she met another writer that inspired her to write a novel instead of just short stories. She finished that 189 page handwritten novel the summer of her junior year.

A mother of seven, she put her writing on the back burner while she focused on raising her young children, and volunteering as a breastfeeding counselor in her community. When her children were old enough for her to spend a few hours on the computer, without them burning the house down, she returned to writing and hasn’t stopped since. Often writing or editing with a baby in her arms or under her feet.

Married to the guy her high school boyfriend introduced her to; she claims the last 20 + years as her education and mission experience. With a love for natural mothering, and a passion for secret agents and all things Asian she writes about bad boys turned good and fantasy of the urban type. All while beating herself up three times a week in Karate class as she works toward her black belt in Tang Soo Do.

A little bit about Emergence

 

A Hitman with a Conscience.

Assassin Antony Danic has never killed an innocent man. At least the corporation he works for has never given him a reason to think otherwise until now. Reeling from a series of demanding assignments, Antony is desperate for some downtime. As he sits on a beach in Tahiti watching his wife play in the ocean, a messenger from his employer delivers a death threat. Suddenly, the hunter has become the hunted. While Antony struggles to find a way out of his till death do us part contract, he's faced with the decision of a lifetime: kill another man who may be innocent, or do what's right even if it puts his family in jeopardy.

What other writer’s had to say about Emergence

This swift read engages your emotions, from anxious, high-speed action to the tender pursuit of love and forgiveness. ~ Pendragon Inman, author of the Shinehah Saga

With a combination of expert storytelling and imaginative plotting, Emergence will keep you flipping pages as fast as you can read them.~ Tristi Pinkston, author of the Secret Sisters Mysteries

Buy it now in Print on Amazon

Note: if it says 'out of stock', new copies have been provided and you if you order now you will still be able to enjoy your awesome copy of Emergence in a very timely fashion.

Thank you for stopping by :)

Hugs,

Keira Kroft
www.keirakroft66.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/keirakroft
http://twitter.com/#!/KeiraKroft66