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 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 F.M. Meredith

 

Spiritual Advisor or Fortune Teller?

By F.M. Meredith

Bernadette Wolfort billed herself as a spiritual advisor and displayed diplomas from the University of Las Vegas for a BA in Social Work, and a Doctor of Human Services from Caldwell University and a certificate declaring her to be a minister in the Universal Life Church in the small home where she lived and conducted business.

What kind of people paid her to advise them?

1.     A college professor from Santa Barbara University who was depressed by his wife’s infidelity

2.      A big-name realtor who paid a lot to rid herself of a curse put on her by her ex-husband.

3.      A female doctor from Ventura who wanted help because of discrimination by the male doctors.

4.      The 70 year-old gentleman who wanted his girlfriend back.

5.      The Bunco player who visited Bernadette because she was a good listener.

6.      The owner of a construction company who thought Bernadette was a babe, and treated her to dinner out whenever she’d agree.

7.      A teenager who wanted help with a family problem and only had $100 to pay for the fortune teller’s advice.

Ms. Wolfort’s other clients paid far more money for the woman’s advice.

When she’s discovered murdered, it is up to Detectives Doug Milligan and Felix Zachary of the Rock Bluff Police Department to investigate the case and find out who the killer is. But as they begin interviewing people, they discover even more suspects than those Ms. Wolfort’s customers.

In my latest mystery, Reversal of Fortune, you can find out all about how the investigation

What about you? Have you ever gone to a fortune teller either to learn about the future or receive help with a problem?

Years ago, a friend who was a new widow asked my husband and me to go to a restaurant that besides a special dinner was offering a few minutes with a fortune teller. We joined her and enjoyed a lovely dinner.

The three of us sat in a booth, my husband, me and then our friend. We offered no information about ourselves.

The fortune teller predicted that in the near future my husband and my friend would be going on a lovely romantic trip. It was obvious she thought my husband and my friend were married and we didn’t bother to correct her. And no, there was no romantic trip for any of us, but we did have a good laugh.

In order to write Reversal of Fortune, I did some research and found spiritual advisors/fortune tellers who advertise on the Internet. I also learned that despite the fact that people pay huge amounts of money for advice from these charlatans and when disappointed, often go to the police. The police usually don’t do much about what’s happened. After all the “victim” chose to consult the fortune teller. If too many complaints are made, the fortune teller may be asked to take her business elsewhere.

I’d like to hear from any readers of this blog if they’ve had any experience with a fortune teller and how it turned out.

F.M. Meredith who is also known as Marilyn Meredith

If you’re interested in reading Reversal of Fortune, it’s available in paperback and on Kindle.

 https://www.amazon.com/Reversal-Fortune-Rocky-Bluff-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B09XKRGFJB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SZD0P8EFZSM4&keywords=Reversal+of+Fortune+by+F.+M.+Meredith&qid=1649769908&s=books&sprefix=reversal+of+fortune+by+f.+m.+meredith%2Cstripbooks%2C171&sr=1-1

You can visit me on Facebook, https://facebook.com/marilynmeredith

Website: http://fictionforyou.com/

F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn Meredith, has had 48 books published as well as two short stories, most are mysteries, but also a few Christian horror, a roman with supernatural elements, and a cookbook. She’s taught writing in many venues including for Writers Digest and many conferences. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra with her husband.

Her latest book is the mystery, Reversal of Fortune.

You can visit her website at http://fictionforyou.com/ or her blog at https://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Straight from the Mouth of Political Thriller Author Michael Bowen

THE SELF-IMPORTANT AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

By Michael Bowen

        

         I thought that Percival’s Question was a brilliant title for a political crime story set in Washington just after the victory of the West in the Cold War.  Percival was the knight who found the Holy Grail – the successful completion of the ultimate quest for King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table.  Percival had dedicated his life to this quest and now it was complete.  What does he do the next morning?  He’s just written the first line of his obituary, for crying out loud.  Wouldn’t killing a pesky dragon or evicting trolls from underneath a bridge seem a little meh for him now?  In the same way, the Cold War had basically defined my life from the day of my birth in a hospital at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where my dad was stationed after being called up for the Korean War, to those air raid drills in grade school, to the Berlin Wall going up, to the space race, to the last of our soldiers being choppered out of Saigon, to Carter’s failures and Reagan’s successes, all the way through to the Berlin Wall coming down.  So, like Percival, what would we do now that we’d won? 

         As my story careened toward printing and distribution, however, my editor at St. Martin’s Press, Anne Savarese, called with unpleasant news.  She said that SMP’s salespeople hoped that I could come up with a different title.  It would take too long to explain to bookstore owners, she said, so we needed something, you know, simpler and less cerebral.

         I pushed back a tiny bit.  I was really proud of the title and the deep thinking it reflected.  Couldn’t we discuss this a bit.

         “We can discuss it all you’d like, Mike,” she said.  “But you’re talent and they’re sales.  Sales versus talent, sales wins.”

         Right.  Good to know.

         Anne also pulled the short straw on my next story with SMP, Corruptly Procured.  She sent me the cover art on a 2 x 2 Kodachrome slide “for approval.”  (This was the early ’nineties.  No email.  Sort of a time-capsule experience.)  I called her with my assessment.

         “I really like the concept,” I said.  “It captures key elements of the plot very well.  But the premise of this story is that a man would commit treason to have a relationship with the femme fatale, and I don’t want to come off as too sexist, but I wouldn’t run a red light to have a relationship with the woman on the cover.”

         “Yes,” she said understandingly.  “It looks like the artist had some trouble with the female figure.”

         “Okay,” I said.  “Do you think we could ask the artist to try again?”

         “I don’t think so,” Anne replied, “because we’ve already paid him.”

         I paused, but just for a moment.

         “Okay, Anne, I understand.  I’m not Robert Parker and I can’t throw a temper tantrum over this.  But, under the circumstances, why did you send me the cover art ‘for approval’?”

         “Oh, Mike,” she said in a tone you might use to soothe a six-year old after telling him that he can’t have a pony, “we were just being polite.”

         I did appreciate the politesse. 

         I carried those valuable lessons forward, and I think they saved me a lot of frustration.  The publishing world that was already emerging and that fully blossomed after 2000 – the world where an author whose books aren’t bestsellers is, strictly speaking, not terribly important if, by “not terribly important” you mean has no importance whatsoever – came as a rude shock to many authors.  Not to me.  I had been thoroughly and gently prepared for it.  I had my expectations properly under control.

Michael Bowen is the author of twenty-one published novels including nineteen mysteries.  False Flag in Autumn, published in October, 2019 and exploring “October surprises” intended to influence the 2018 and 2020 elections, is his most recent.         

 

Title: False Flag

Genre: Political Thriller

Author: Michael Bowen

Website: www.michaelbowenmysteries.com              

Publisher: Farragut Square Publications

Find out more on Amazon

About the Book:  

Josie Kendall is an ambitious political apparatchik whose memoirs will not be titled Nancy Drew Goes to Washington.  Josie has no objection to the truth—but she doesn’t let it push her around.  When a rogue White House aide tries to use her as an unwitting pawn in a plot for a spectacular October surprise before the 2018 mid-term elections, Josie calls on her D.C.-insider husband, her edgy uncle, and colorful denizens of the Louisiana demi-monde to help her out-hustle the hustlers.  But then Josie finds herself facing an even more daunting question:  is there a false-flag attack planned in order to influence the 2020 presidential election?  Josie will be forced to decide whether to venture out of the Beltway cocoon—where the weapons are leaks, winks, nudges, and spin—into a darker world where the weapons are actual weapons.  Josie will end up on the side of the angels even if, Josie begin Josie, the angels play a little dirty. 

Straight from the Mouth of Dr. Randy Overbeck, Author of 'Blood on the Chesapeake'

IT’S NOT ALL FANFARE AND APPLAUSE

…OR SUNSHINE AND ROSES

When you ask a successful author—even using the word success here loosely—to reflect on what it took to reach the pinnacle, they will usually give you the good stuff. You know, the sterling reviews, the excitement of that book signing, the enthusiastic response of readers.

I’m no different. I’ve been thrilled by the early response to my new novel, Blood on the

Chesapeake. Early reviewers have been kind and even effuse in their praise. (“Blood on the Chesapeake is a tale to be savored in a darkened room, with an eye to all the possibilities lurking just out of sight.”—William Kent Krueger, Edgar Award winner and best-selling author of Ordinary Grace) And I can’t wait for the first book signing to look across at an excited reader and ask, “Who should I make this out to?”

 But that only tells one part of the story.

When asked, I usually leave out the soul-crushing responses I received from almost 100 (count them) agents, who politely, or not so politely, turned down the manuscript, after I meticulously researched them, selected them and sent them a carefully scripted query. (Not to mention the agents who never even bothered to acknowledge my query or send a “no thanks.”) I’m usually too embarrassed to mention the several writing conferences I attended—and the money and time invested—in hopes of talking with an agent, face to face, who might recognize the possibilities of my new novel. I also don’t usually bother explaining about the numerous agents (fifteen, maybe) who asked for partial or complete manuscripts, only to have NONE do anything with it. “I really liked your manuscript and believe it has potential, but I’m just not in love with it, so I’m passing.”) Give me a break.

I’ll also leave out the funds I put out for an editor to review my manuscript with the hope of “fixing” it so it will be closer to what “they” are looking for. And I certainly do not tell them about the “Query Conference” I attended in New York City in the frigid cold—which boasts that one-third of participants secure an agent by the conclusion—only to have to admit I wasn’t in that hallowed number.

Still, with the launch of Blood on the Chesapeake, published by a small, but formidable press, The Wild Rose Press, set for this month, I’d say the struggles have been worth it. When I’m sitting at the book signing, autographing copies for some excited readers, I probably won’t be thinking of all the trials then. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten. Even if my Blood on the Chesapeake does have some success, I’ll know I have to climb that proverbial mountain all over again to get the next one to print. Maybe, I’m a glutton for punishment, but I’ll probably stick my shoulder against the boulder, ala Sisyphus, and start pushing all over again.

Dr. Randy Overbeck is a writer, educator, researcher and speaker in much demand. During his three plus decades of educational experience, he has performed many of the roles depicted in his writing with responsibilities ranging from coach and yearbook advisor to principal and superintendent. His new ghost story/mystery, Blood on the Chesapeake, will be released on April 10, 2019 by The Wild Rose Press. As the title suggests, the novel is set on the famous Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, home to endless shorelines, incredible sunsets and some of the best sailing in the world. Blood is first in a new series of paranormal mysteries, The Haunted Shores Mysteries. Dr. Overbeck’s first novel, Leave No Child Behind, a thriller about the terrorist takeover of a Midwest high school and one teacher’s stand against the intruders, won the 2011 Silver Award for Thrillers from ReadersFavorite.com. Dr. Dr. Overbeck is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and an active member of the literary community. You can follow him on Twitter @OverbeckRandy, friend him on Facebook at Author Randy Overbeck or check out his webpage, www.authorrandyoverbeck.com