Straight From the Mouth of Mystery Author JB Miller

 

The Inspiration Behind Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction? You Decide...

By JB Miller

In my book, Is Truth Greater Than Fiction? You Decide..., I explore the intricate connections between three stories, each grounded in pivotal moments of my life. The inspiration to write this book stemmed from my own experiences and my belief that the truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. 

I've always found that life’s most defining moments can shape us in unexpected ways, and it was this insight that motivated me to craft a book that weaves together mystery, reality, and imagination. 

The three tales in the book reveal different facets of my life, and I hope readers will be intrigued by the challenge of unraveling the threads that connect them.

The first story was particularly challenging to write. Its subject matter is sensitive, and its implications are significant, especially as it pertains to a well-known public figure. I carefully considered whether to include it, knowing the potential impact it could have on this person's legacy. My intent was to encourage readers to delve beneath the surface and think critically about the ways in which public figures can sometimes project a certain image, while their private realities may be vastly different. This story explores themes of perception and identity, pushing readers to consider the nuanced truths that can exist within our everyday interactions.

The second story is an unflinching look at raw, unfiltered emotions. I felt compelled to include this story because of its stark reminder that sometimes, confronting uncomfortable truths is necessary to better understand ourselves and the world around us. The emotions portrayed in this tale are intensely personal, and I wanted readers to feel the weight of these emotions. By exposing readers to these raw feelings, I hoped to forge a deeper connection between the story and those who read it, allowing them to relate in ways they may not have expected.

The third story has the feel of a high-speed chase, with twists and turns that reflect the unpredictability of life itself. This tale is designed to keep readers on the edge of their seats, mirroring the frenetic energy that often accompanies life's most chaotic moments. The pace and structure were carefully crafted to reflect the intensity of such moments, giving readers a sense of urgency that matches the story’s rhythm. In a way, this story serves as a metaphor for the rapid pace at which life can sometimes unfold, leaving us to navigate its complexities as best as we can.

Each story stands on its own but is connected by subtle, thought-provoking links that readers are encouraged to discover. This interconnectedness was intentional, as I wanted to create an experience that goes beyond simple storytelling, inviting readers to engage with the narrative and piece together the clues that reveal a bigger picture. 

The book is a puzzle, with each story contributing to a larger, cohesive narrative that blurs the lines between truth and fiction. 

By creating this book, my goal was to offer readers not just a series of tales, but a holistic experience that challenges their perceptions and engages them in the journey of discovery.

Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction? You Decide... is available at Amazon & Other Retail Outlets.

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JB Miller is a best-selling author of many books of fiction and non-fiction. Miller has a background in television, is a TEDx speaker, top podcast host and writer of numerous articles and blogs. She resides in Oregon and California.

The MISOGI Method

From Drift to Shift

Hired!

No Time for Love

The Perfect Gift

The BIG Little Book of Happiness

The BIG Little Book of Work Happiness

Psyche (coming soon)

Nike (coming soon)

Victory (coming soon)

Praise for J. B. Miller’s work

“Miller is a master storyteller, weaving together complex characters and compelling plot lines with ease.” – NY Book Reviewer

“Miller’s writing is intelligent, engaging, and always thought-provoking.”      – Online Book Review

J.B. Miller is an accomplished author, TEDx speaker, thought leader, podcast host, and founder of Reel Media Agency. Contact her at: miller.jody@icloud.com

Visit JB Miller on the web:

Website: www.truth-or-fiction.com and www.jodybmiller.com

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/JBMillerAuthor 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JodyBMillerAuthor

 

 

 

Straight From the Mouth of Christian Nonfiction Author J.A. Cox

 

The Inspiration Behind The Beauty of Tribulation

By J.A. Cox

The Beauty of Tribulation was written to provide answers based upon scripture to help us understand things such as:

• The purpose of tribulation in the life of a believer.
• Reasons why it is necessary.
• How God uses it for our edification and his glory.
• How God is not the author of our tribulation.

At the root of it, the greatest purpose is to depict the beauty of our painful, frustrating, and most hopeless moments when we allow God to complete the work he is trying to accomplish through them. As you turn the pages of this book you will be taken on a journey that will delve you deep into the tribulation process and come away with a firm understanding of it, perhaps like never before. Every premise is backed with scripture, focused on what the bible says rather than my own ideas.

J.A. Cox hopes that all who read will walk away with a greater appreciation and devotion toward the Lord in regard to this troublesome subject and inevitable part of our lives.

PRAISE:

“…I think The Beauty of Tribulation will be relevant for Christians seeking a deeper understanding of their faith, as well as for those grappling with questions about the presence of evil in the world and the nature of divine justice. Cox’s approach which blends insightful queries, scriptural citations, and logical explanations, facilitates a comprehensive and engaging learning experience. The book encourages a connection to the experiences of Jesus and offers a perspective on suffering as a path to dignity and honor, both in heaven and on earth. Its insightful and reflective nature makes it a valuable read for people looking to deepen their understanding of Christian theology and the human experience within it.” – The Literary Titan

The Beauty of Tribulation is available at Amazon & Other Retail Outlets.

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J.A. Cox is a husband, father and disabled veteran. He is passionate about Jesus Christ and has a desire to allow God to use his writing to bring glory to his name and reach others for him. His other passions lie in: 1) Empowering people by teaching about things that he is knowledgeable in in a simple and fun as well as interesting manner. 2)Inspiring others that they may realize how the true potential to overcome their perceived dilemma lies right between their ears and how they allow it to manipulate what their eyes behold. 3) Helping people to realize that being healthy truly begins with realizing how important it is for them to be intimately acquainted with their own body in order for others to help them resolve its maladies that beset it. Along with those, he enjoys entertaining with fiction based on the concept that fact is stranger than fiction and then stretching it just a tad to create some memorable page turning moments that you will likely recall for some time to come.

Author Links  

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

 

 

Straight From the Mouth of Mystery Author Mike Martin

 

 

The Inspiration Behind Better Safe Than Sorry

By Mike Martin

Better Safe Than Sorry is a light mystery with some heavy themes underneath it. In some ways it captures the essence of a Sgt. Windflower Mystery. Dealing with difficult things while still managing to maintain a positive outlook. The story begins when the main protagonist, Sgt. Winston Windflower is on a break from his job as a Mountie, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He is spending more time in the small town of Grand Bank, Newfoundland with his young family, but feeling a little restless.

That all changes when a new kind of drug threatens the community. A deadly drug called a Green Monster which combines a number of potent drugs into a killer combination. That’s the starting point of the story and in real life there are such drugs circulating around all our towns and cities. You can’t ignore it and when faced with that reality, neither could Sgt. Windflower.

But crime and death and murder and mayhem are only parts of the story of Better Safe Than Sorry. There is also Windflower’s family and spiritual life, steeped in the lore of his people. He is a Cree from Northern Alberta. He sees things that others may miss, even in his dreams. And we are brought back to his love of food and music. He is exploring classical music these days under the tutelage of a trusted friend. 

He uses music to make a connection with what some may see as an unsavory character but together they listen to each other’s taste in music, finding a common appreciation. Above all Windflower stories like Better Safe Than Sorry are about finding a point of contact with people. One that is driven by his kindness and compassion and his openness to lifelong learning. 

Better Safe Than Sorry is the 14th book in the award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, but it, like all the other books in the series, can be read as a stand-alone story. The books have been nominated for many awards and Darkest Before the Dawn, Book 7 in the series, won the Bony Blithe Mystery Award as the best light mystery in 2019. All That Glitters, Book 13 was an Amazon best seller and shortlisted for the LOLA Must Read Book of the Year for 2024.

Better Safe Than Sorry is available at Amazon & Other Retail Outlets.

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Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 14 books in this light mystery series with the publication of Better Safe Than Sorry. 

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

His latest book is the mystery, Better Late Than Never.

Author Links  

Website | Facebook | X (Twitter)

 

Straight From the Mouth of Crime Fiction Thriller Author Jennifer Chase

 

10 Things You Might Not Know About The First Girls: Detective Katie Scott Book 11

By Jennifer Chase

1. The series takes place in a town called Pine Valley located in Sequoia County California, along with several nearby towns that are made up and entirely from my imagination.
2. The commands and search techniques used in the story are some of what I've learned firsthand training my own German shepherd for cadaver/forensic search.
3. This has been a series that I've wanted to write for some time—more than five years before I pitched to my publisher.
4. Detective Katie Scott's partner Detective Sean McGaven's character is based on someone I once worked with. 
5. I've studied nearly one hundred homicide crime scenes, which contributed to the body count and creativity in The First Girl.
6. Inspiration for the large rural areas in the story was based on my own observations in visiting similar places.
7. I sketched on paper the crime scenes and farmhouses, areas of escape, and where bodies would be located before writing those particular chapters.
8. In The First Girl, I loosely outlined the story before beginning to write, but I love to create the guessing game of who the killer is and how the ended is going to be crafted. I had fun with this story.
9. On my walks or when I'm doing errands, I sometimes take photos of places, locations, and buildings that helped to inspire this story's locations.
10. I always balance out how many times Detective Katie Scott uses Cisco, her retired military working dog, in area searches surrounding the cases.

The First Girl is available at Amazon & Other Retailers.

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Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and USA Today Best Selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. Her latest book is The First Girl.

Website & Social Media:

Website -> https://authorjenniferchase.com/ 

Twitter -> https://twitter.com/jchasenovelist 

Facebook -> https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferChase 

Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/jenchaseauthor/ 

Goodreads:->www.goodreads.com/author/show/2780337.Jennifer_Chase

 

Straight From the Mouth of Business & Careers Author Dr. Helen Ofosu

 

10 Things You Might Not Know About How to be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work

By Dr. Helen Ofosu

1. This book was inspired, in part, by someone in my business network who said he planned to write a psychology book. He had no work experience or formal training in psychology. I thought, “If he can do it, I can definitely do it!”

2. The book started as a pandemic project to give me something to do that wouldn’t bother my husband or son during the lockdowns.

3. Fourteen publishers rejected this book before Routledge accepted it. Although that sounds like a lot, many famous authors had their first books rejected many more times. Stephen King, Alex Haley, and James Patterson are a few examples. 

4. My approach to writing is based on advice from a close friend named Amber. She's a former journalist and an extraordinary writer who helped me find my authentic voice when I started blogging in 2013.

5. I wrote this book for many reasons. One of them is that I believe if I had learned the lessons shared in this book earlier in my career, I’d have been more successful much sooner.

6. My original title for this book was simply The Resilient Career. The marketing folks at Routledge strongly encouraged me to change it to How to Be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work.

7. Although I am very proud of this book, the ideas and content I set aside for future projects are at least as compelling—but also more niche and possibly more provocative. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on leadership challenges unique to people who are part of traditionally marginalized groups. If you’re curious, check out my recent blogs and podcast interviews. 

8. How to Be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work has been nominated for a 2024 Trillium Award! This prestigious award is the province of Ontario's leading award for literature. Past Trillium winners include Margaret Atwood (author of The Handmaid's Tale) and Michael Ondaatje (author of The English Patient). The Trillium Award is open to books in any genre: fiction, non-fiction, drama, children’s books, and poetry. I could not be more excited. 

9. Through the magic of analytics and algorithms, it’s clear that the key messages in this book are not reaching the people who could benefit—especially if they have traditionally been marginalized. This book does not spark outrage or polarization—it’s mostly helpful and affirming. This means my book’s reach has been limited.

10. This book is also available on Audible. When my young adult son started listening to it on Audible, he said it felt amazing, like I was talking just to him. Other listeners who are not close to me have said the same thing.

Pick Up Your Copy at Amazon

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In good times and bad, resilience is one of the major keys to success – including career success. Dr. Helen Ofosu believes this applies to employees and entrepreneurs, individual contributors, subject matter experts, leaders, and executives.

That’s why her approach to career and executive coaching is to help people get ahead in a way that insulates them from future setbacks – or recover if things have gone sideways. This is also why, as a consultant, she helps organizations become stronger and more resilient, so they are ready for both the anticipated and the unexpected challenges that all organizations face at some point.

Part of what sets her apart from many career and executive coaches is her experience on the inside, as an HR and professional development professional, within large corporate workplaces and her intimate knowledge of typical HR processes and systems.

Clients come to her when the stakes are high. They can count on her to share insights and customized services that few others can deliver. They love that she has developed countless hiring tools and helped to resolve many HR problems over the years.

Her “insider” experience gives her clients an edge in getting hired and promoted in the public (and private) sector, and in managing their careers as they progress.

And as an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (her field is more commonly known as Work and Business Psychology), she takes an evidence-based approach by using the latest research and best practices to increase the odds of her clients’ success.

Author Links  

Website | Brainz Magazine | Podcast Interviews | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

Straight From the Mouth of Women's Fiction Author Evy Journey

 

 The Inspiration Behind The Golden Manuscripts: A Novel

By Evy Journey

Are you ever curious how picture books and, by extension, even graphic novels, first began? Has it ever occurred to you that picture books might have illustrious beginnings?

Like most mothers, I read to my son when he was a boy, and I understand how wonderful children’s picture books can be. Pictures in books are not only entertaining, they also teach.

Today, we take picture books for granted. We love images. We whip out our cell phones and take pictures to preserve memories of instants in time.

I love illustrations in fiction and wish we did more of them. One of my favorites is an old almost tattered copy of a collection of Jane Austen’s novels featuring illustrations of scenes from her stories by a nineteenth century artist.  Before Masterpiece Theater and my exposure to films of 19th century England, these images shaped my limited conception of everything that was old English. Now, I have an ebook copy of an old illustrated Jane Austen collection.

When an art history class introduced me to manuscript illuminations, I was amazed at the thought that illustrated books likely have medieval beginnings dating back to Charlemagne’s reign in the 9th century. While he revived classical art, his most lasting achievement is the flourishing of picture bookmaking. Most people in the Middle Ages couldn’t read, so he championed the creation of picture books to teach them about God.

Historians called those early picture books illuminated manuscripts or manuscript illuminations. They were handwritten and illustrated on parchment (dried and stretched animal skins), often by the same creator who painted the pictures.

An illumination is a picture or illustration in a book that conveys the meaning of a piece of text. It’s “illuminated” through the use of gilding—gold or silver decorations on letters and figures.  In medieval times, these manuscripts represented a high art form.

This intro compelled me to do extensive research into illuminated manuscripts. One of the articles I unearthed told of an actual theft by an American soldier during WWII of a couple of these rare manuscripts. It was eureka moment. I was left with no choice but to write a story around this theft of illustrated books.

To make the story more intriguing, and in keeping with the overall theme of the second set of standalone novels in my Between Two Worlds series, I chose a young biracial heroine who’s rootless and anxious to find a home for herself. The product is a literary novel based on actual events, into which I’ve woven mystery, historical, and romance elements.

Pick Up Your Copy at Amazon

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Evy Journey writes. Stories and blog posts. Novels that tend to cross genres. She’s also a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse. Evy studied psychology (M.A., University of Hawaii; Ph.D. University of Illinois). So her fiction spins tales about nuanced characters dealing with contemporary life issues and problems. She believes in love and its many faces. Her one ungranted wish: To live in Paris where art is everywhere and people have honed aimless roaming to an art form. She has visited and stayed a few months at a time.

Author Links  

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

 

 

Straight From the Mouth of Horror Thriller Author Jens Boele

 

 Why I Wrote Urbex Predator

By Jens Boele

Imagine exploring an abandoned barracks, only to run into a gang of ruthless thugs, with no police in sight to intervene if things go south. Sounds like the plot of my book, right? Well, replace the barracks with an abandoned hospital, and that's where I found myself.

As an urban explorer and amateur photographer, decay and ruins have always fascinated me. It all began several years ago during a visit to California when I stumbled upon an abandoned water park in the Mojave Desert. The place had an eerie yet captivating atmosphere, reminiscent of "Zombieland." Picture the desert heat, scorching sun, and remnants of civilization laid bare before you, enveloped in absolute silence. It was a moment straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie, sparking my love for urban exploring—a passion I indulge in when I'm not writing.

Inspiration strikes from the things that move me, the experiences I can feel. Sometimes, it's just a single spark that ignites an idea. In "Urbex Predator," Nela and Tess stumble upon an abandoned barracks overrun by a gang of hoodlums, mirroring an encounter I had with a friend. The what-if scenario that followed became the seed for the story. In the fall of 2021, after a day exploring and photographing on the Canary Islands, I sat down with a beer and outlined the plot, drawing from the amalgamation of abandoned military sites I'd encountered across Europe since the end of the Cold War era.

Every horror story requires an initial sin, an enclosed setting, and a monster. I've always been intrigued by the darker facets of human nature—what drives people to commit acts of evil and crime. In "Urbex Predator," we confront a group of neglected youths who form a toxic alliance, embodying the desolation of the abandoned buildings they inhabit. As night descends, the hunt begins.

After months of crafting, the story finally took shape and the book was born. I hope you enjoy the journey it takes you on.

Purchase Information for Urbex Predator

Pick Up Your Copy at Amazon

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Jens Boele, a veteran media designer in the entertainment industry, brings over two decades of cinematic expertise to his writing. Born in Germany in 1975, Jens embarked on his writing odyssey in his youth, culminating in the publication of his debut book, “Sunshine,” in 2015. This was followed by “Hurensohn,” and his latest spine-tingling creation, “Urbex Predator.” Jens is a genre-bending author, specializing in horror and crime thrillers. His narratives often blur genre lines, weaving intricate tales that plunge readers into the darkest corners of the human psyche. Jens’s storytelling brilliance lies in his fascination with the criminal mind; his villains are always profoundly human, offering readers a chilling examination of the psychological aspects of the criminally insane. Jens sets himself apart by seamlessly integrating classic horror with the gritty authenticity of the present day. This innovative fusion imbues his narratives with a dynamic quality, seamlessly blending archaic thrills with contemporary intrigue, resulting in an immersive reading experience that resonates with both vintage enthusiasts and present-day readers alike. Jens Boele’s latest endeavor takes his work across borders, as “Urbex Predator” becomes his first book to be translated into English. A globetrotter with deep connections to the United States, Jens’s passion for exploration and his international perspective, nurtured by family and friends in the US, shine through in his writing, offering readers a captivating blend of horror and cultural diversity. Visit Jens’ website at https://jensboele.com/.