Last month 5DP authors dished about saying goodbye to characters not of our own making. This month we’re honing in on the real deal, the pain of saying goodbye to our very own beloved (and sometimes not so much) creations. Ariadne Apostolou: How can I say goodbye to Ashiri, an indigenous Ainu woman in my recently completed novel, One Sky Above Us? I hold great affection for her, though we share no common language, come from different cultures, and live in different time perio

In addition to our own Joan Schweighardt’s Before We Died (Rivers, Book 1), due out any day, here are a few suggestions for those soon-to-arrive autumn days, as well as one for those of us not yet prepared to let go of summer! Fredrik Backman, Beartown (Washington Square Press, 2016) Beartown, by the Swedish novelist Frederik Backman, differs in scope from the more intimate A Man Called Ove (my Books We Loved pick for April 2018), yet central to both novels is the relationshi

Lots of activity this month, especially in reference to C. P. Lesley’s Legends of the Five Directions series, now officially drawing to a close. In addition to a revised edition of the first book, The Golden Lynx, and the appearance of the last—The Shattered Drum—Lesley has made minor changes to the three other novels and combined them in box sets. Alas, the economics of small-press publishing mean that we can release the box sets only for Kindle, but if you have an e-reader

You’ve stated that you were inspired to write Rewind when your kids asked you about “the olden days.” What made you decide to write about Karen? When my oldest two children were at high school, they were excited about getting tickets to see The Red-Hot Chili Peppers in Oakland, and I called the band "The Red-Hot Chili Peas." They thought that was hysterical. Then my youngest, who was at middle school, asked if she could go snowboarding with her friend’s family, and I thought

When did you start writing, and how does it tie into your “regular life”? Oh my… I started writing fiction when my oldest child was born, and she is now 31 and going to have her first child herself! I wrote the world’s worst romance novel, and a publisher called me and asked if I could rewrite it as a Regency…I didn’t do it but I was hooked on writing. Since that day, back in the mists of time, I’ve written 5 published “women’s erotic fiction” books under a pen name, a m

Courtney J. Hall takes a detour from sixteenth-century Europe in A Holiday Wish, the first book in the Silver Bells series. In what is sure to be an entertaining journey, Hall brings readers to contemporary small-town America, where secrets, betrayals, and lies combine to create a perfect storm of mystery and romance set against the glittering backdrop of the Christmas season. When wedding planner Noelle Silver's fiancé ditches her for another woman, she can't think of anythi

Don’t miss the release of The Falcon Flies Alone, book 1 in Gabrielle Mathieu’s Falcon Trilogy, on August 3, 2016. You can find out more on her book page—including purchase links when they are available. But the cover and a short description follow. Orphaned Peppa Mueller just needs a job to tide her over until her twentieth birthday, when she can collect her inheritance. But when she wakes up naked on her new employer's roof, haunted by flashbacks of a brutal massacre, money