**GIVEAWAY***Shadow of Night plus a conversation with Deborah Harkness–"Whereas A Discovery of Witches focused on the literature and symbolism of alchemy, in Shadow of Night I’m able to explore some of the hands-on aspects of this ancient tradition."

**GIVEAWAY** is one copy of the just released paperback edition of the novel courtesy of Deborah's publisher Viking Penguin
See details below–open to residents of US only.

Today I'm celebrating the paperback release of this fabulous novel by reposting the Q&A I originally posted when Shadow of Night was first released in July of 2012. So enjoy the Q&A and enter to win your very own copy.

Praise for Shadow of Night:
The #1 New York Times–bestselling sequel to A Discovery of Witches is as “enchanting, engrossing, and as impossible to put down as its predecessor” (Miami Herald)   J. K. Rowling, “Harkness shines again with ‘Shadow of Night’ …[which] takes us places we’ve never been before.” (USA Today)” Shadow of Night is such rich, period fun, particularly delightful in its witty characterization of historical immortals.” (New York Daily News)
“a great spell, the one that can enchant a reader . . . is cast.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Harkness proves she’s not suffering from a sophomore slump with this addictive tale of magic, mayhem and two lovers.” (The Chicago Tribune)
“Readers who enjoyed the first book’s striking detail and complex world-building will be equally as thrilled with this second book in the trilogy…” (Library Journal Reviews)
“Harkness delights in lining up the living dead and modern academic history … [her] tale of a feminist Yankee in Queen Elizabeth’s court charms …” (Publisher’s Weekly)

A CONVERSATION WITH DEBORAH HARKNESS

Q: A Discovery of Witches debuted at # 2 on the New York Times bestseller list with publications following in 37 countries.  What has been your reaction to the outpouring of love for A Discovery of Witches? Was it surprising how taken fans were with Diana and Matthew’s story?

A. It has been amazing—and a bit overwhelming. I was surprised by how quickly readers embraced two central characters who challenge our typical notion of what a heroine or hero should be. And I continue to be amazed whenever a new reader pops up, whether one in the US or somewhere like Finland or Japan—to tell me how much they enjoyed being caught up in Diana’s world.

Q:  Last summer, Warner Brothers acquired screen rights to the trilogy, and David Auburn, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer of Proof, has been tapped to pen the screenplay. Are you looking forward to your novels being portrayed on the big screen?  What are your favorite casting ideas that you’ve heard from friends and readers?

A. I was thrilled when Warner Brothers wanted to translate the All Souls trilogy from book to screen. At first I was reluctant about the whole idea of a movie, and it actually took me nearly two years to agree to let someone try. The team at Warner Brothers impressed me with their seriousness about the project and their commitment to the characters and story I was trying to tell. Their decision to go with David Auburn confirmed that my faith in them was not misplaced. As for the casting, I deliberately don’t say anything about that! I would hate for any actor or actress to be cast in one of these roles and feel that they didn’t have my total support. I will say, however, that many of my readers’ ideas involve actors who have already played a vampire and I would be very surprised if one of them were asked to be Matthew!

Q: SHADOW OF NIGHT opens on a scene in 1590s Elizabethan England featuring the famous School of Night, a group of historical figures believed to be friends, including Sir Walter Raleigh and playwright Christopher Marlowe.  Why did you choose to feature these individuals, and can we expect Diana and Matthew to meet other famous figures from the past? 

A. I wrote my master’s thesis on the imagery surrounding Elizabeth I during the last two decades of her reign. One of my main sources was the poem The Shadow of Night by George Chapman—a member of this circle of fascinating men—and that work is dedicated to a mysterious poet named Matthew Roydon about whom we know very little. When I was first thinking about how vampires moved in the world (and this was way back in the autumn of 2008 when I was just beginning A Discovery of Witches) I remembered Roydon and thought “that is the kind of identity a vampire would have, surrounded by interesting people but not the center of the action.” From that moment on I knew the second part of Diana and Matthew’s story would take place among the School of Night. And from a character standpoint, Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman, and the other men associated with the group are irresistible. They were such significant, colorful presences in Elizabethan England.

Q: In SHADOW OF NIGHT, we learn more about the alchemical bonds between Diana and Matthew.   In your day job, you are a professor of history and science at the University of Southern California and have focused on alchemy in your research.  What aspects of this intersection between science and magic do you hope readers will pick up on while reading SHADOW OF NIGHT?

A. Whereas A Discovery of Witches focused on the literature and symbolism of alchemy, in Shadow of Night I’m able to explore some of the hands-on aspects of this ancient tradition. There is still plenty of symbolism for Diana to think about, but in this volume we go from abstractions and ideals to real transformation and change—which was always my intention with the series. Just as we get to know more about how Elizabethan men and women undertook alchemical experiments, we also get to see Matthew and Diana’s relationship undergo the metamorphosis from new love to something more.

Q: SHADOW OF NIGHT spans the globe, with London, France, and Prague as some of the locales. Did you travel to these destinations for your research? 

A. I did. My historical research has been based in London for some time now, so I’ve spent long stretches of time living in the City of London—the oldest part of the metropolis—but I had never been to the Auvergne or Prague. I visited both places while writing the book, and in both cases it was a bit like traveling in time to walk village lanes, old pilgrim roads, and twisting city streets while imagining Diana and Matthew at my side.

Q: Did you have an idea or an outline for SHADOW OF NIGHT when you were writing A Discovery of Witches?  Did the direction change once you sat down to write it?

A. I didn’t outline either book in the traditional sense. In both cases I knew what some of the high points were and how the plot moved towards the conclusion, but there were some significant changes during the revision process. This was especially true for SHADOW OF NIGHT, although most of those changes involved moving specific pieces of the plot forward or back to improve the momentum and flow.

Q: A Discovery of Witches begins with Diana Bishop stumbling across a lost, enchanted manuscript called Ashmole 782 in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, whose secrets Diana and Matthew are still trying to uncover in SHADOW OF NIGHT. You had a similar experience while you were completing your dissertation.  What was the story behind your discovery?  And how did it inspire the creation of these novels?

A. I did discover a manuscript—not an enchanted one, alas—in the Bodleian Library. It was a manuscript owned by Queen Elizabeth’s astrologer, the mathematician and alchemist John Dee. In the 1570s and 1580s he became interested in using a crystal ball to talk to angels. The angels gave him all kinds of instructions on how to manage his life at home, his work—they even told him to pack up his family and belongings and go to far-away Poland and Prague. In the conversations, Dee asked the angels about a mysterious book in his library called “the Book of Soyga” or “Aldaraia.” No one had ever been able to find it, even though many of Dee’s other books survive in libraries throughout the world. In the summer of 1994 I was spending time in Oxford between finishing my doctorate and starting my first job. It was a wonderfully creative time, since I had no deadlines to worry about and my dissertation on Dee’s angel conversations was complete. As with most discoveries, this discovery of a “lost” manuscript was entirely accidental. I was looking for something else in the Bodleian’s catalogue and in the upper corner of the page was a reference to a book called “Aldaraia.” I knew it couldn’t be Dee’s book, but I called it up anyway. And it turned out it WAS the book (or at least a copy of it). With the help of the Bodleian’s Keeper of Rare Books, I located another copy in the British Library.

Q: Are there other lost books like this in the world?

A. Absolutely! Entire books have been written about famous lost volumes—including works by Plato, Aristotle, and Shakespeare to name just a few. Libraries are full of such treasures, some of them unrecognized and others simply misfiled or mislabeled. And we find lost books outside of libraries, too. In January 2006, a completely unknown manuscript belonging to one of the 17^th century’s most prominent scientists, Robert Hooke, was discovered when someone was having the contents of their house valued for auction. The manuscript included minutes of early Royal Society meetings that we presumed were lost forever.

Q: Unlike Twilight’s Bella and Edward—hormonal teenagers who meet in the halls of a high school—your leading characters Matthew and Diana are established academics who meet in the library of one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.  This is a world where vampires and witches drink wine together, practice yoga and discuss philosophy.   Are these characters based on something you found missing in the fantasy genre?

A. There are a lot of adults reading young adult books, and for good reason. Authors who specialize in the young adult market are writing original, compelling stories that can make even the most cynical grownups believe in magic. In writing A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, I wanted to give adult readers a world no less magical, no less surprising and delightful, but one that included grown-up concerns and activities. These are not your children’s vampires and witches.

Thank you Deborah for taking the time to answer these questions
Visit Deborah's website here to learn everything you ever wanted to know about Deborah and her All Souls Trilogy.

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Today enjoy a conversation with #1 New York Times Bestselling author Karen White who talks about her brand new novel The Time Between–"I write as true to real life as I can, and in real life—with notable exceptions—there are no completely good or bad people."

Reviews
**Top Pick 4 1/2 stars**
"White writes complex, heartbreaking novels with just enough pathos and plenty of redemption."
—RT Book Reviews

"White...once again crafts characters who transcend their romantic roles through their frailties and weaknesses"
—Kirkus Reviews

"White moves smoothly between narrators as well as different time periods, crafting an intriguing and romantic family drama."
—Booklist

"...The Time Between weaves a story as intricate and sturdy as a sweetgrass basket, with the fresh, magnetic voices of its headstrong characters."
—ArtsATL

A Conversation with

Karen White

Author of

THE TIME BETWEEN

One of the recurring themes in your books is the bond between sisters.  What is it about sisterhood that provides so much inspiration?

Because I grew up with three brothers, my life long wish was for a sister.  I was horribly jealous of my friends who had sisters, knowing in my heart that my life would never be complete without a sister.  My mother was the oldest of six children—five of them girls—and my fondest childhood memories are listening to my mother and aunts doing their “southern sister girl talk”.  It is their voices and mannerisms that I hear and see in my head while I’m creating my fictional sisters.

Your books often play with real events or historical facts—did THE TIME BETWEEN have a real-life inspiration?

     

For this particular book, I was inspired by a news story about two elderly twin sisters who’d once sung with Bing Crosby and were renowned beauties.  And then, for some inexplicable reason, they stopped leaving their house, or returning phone calls, or answering their door.  This went on for years until they were found deceased in their home—from natural causes.  They had died within days of each other.  I wanted to know why they’d become recluses—what happened?  This question kept on pecking at my brain, and I knew that I had the seeds for a book.

Why did you decide to make Helena and Bernadett Hungarian?  Is Hungary a country you’ve ever visited?

After deciding that the book would have World War II as a foundation of one of the plot lines, I knew I had to use Hungary.  Hungary had a very unique and precarious position during the war.  It was an Axis power, allied with the Third Reich as a lesser of two evils.  The Hungarian government was more afraid of the Russian Communists than of Hitler, and so an uneasy alliance was formed.  But it was because of this that the Jewish citizenry, although not immune, escaped much of the terror that Jews were facing in Nazi occupied countries.  At least until the very last year of the war when Hungary tried to ally itself with the Allied powers and failed—leaving itself vulnerable to Nazi occupation, and the forced deportation of nearly 500,000 Jews in a three month period in 1944.  It is as unbelievable as it is heartbreaking, and I knew it would be a powerful backdrop for my story.

I read a lot for the research for this book, but I was lucky enough to schedule a trip to Budapest while writing the book.  I am so glad I did!  I think the details and ambiance of the city really added to the “immersion” into the story that I like to provide for my readers.

The story begins with a near-death experience—is this something that has ever happened to you or someone you know?

I have never had a near-death experience nor do I know anybody who has.  However, when I was in middle school, I read my first account of a near-death experience and I’ve been fascinated by the concept ever since.  There is so much documentation on the subject, from people from all over the world and throughout history, that it does give one pause.  And for me, I knew it would be great fodder for a novel.

There are no villains in this story, which is something the reader realizes once they “see” it from the other characters’ point of views—is that why you decided on three different narrators?

Absolutely.  When I first started the book, I thought I’d only have two narrators—Eleanor and Helena—since both plot lines revolve around them.  But then I realized how important Eve’s character was to both Eleanor’s past and present.  Seeing Eve through Eleanor’s eyes made the reader very biased against her and I thought that made her very one-dimensional.  The best way to flesh Eve out for the reader was to let the reader into her head.

Is it hard to write a story with no real villains, only protagonists?

I write as true to real life as I can, and in real life—with notable exceptions—there are no completely good or bad people.  Everybody makes mistakes, or bad choices.  It’s how we live with them that make us the people we are.  Eleanor and Helena have made mistakes and bad choices—but they have learned from them and are more interesting characters because of it.

What was the hardest thing for you to write in THE TIME BETWEEN?

Helena’s story was the hardest part to write.  It’s truly heartbreaking.  I had to put myself in her shoes, on a dark night with bombs falling from the sky, and figure out what she would have done with the information she had at the time—and there really was no other answer.  The consequences were devastating, but not intentional.  She’s one of my favorite characters I’ve created because of how strong she is—how she was able to move forward despite the guilt she carried for so many years. 

Visit Karen's website here

Go here for a current list of Karen's books

Today The Reading Frenzy celebrates Harlequin's More Than Words Award- meet the 2013 recipients and learn their stories

Those who know me well know how much I love Harlequin and all her brands so it pleases me today to celebrate the HARLEQUIN MORE THAN WORDS AWARD with you- you'll meet the 2013 recipients and be able to download for free two previous Award Novellas.

The Harlequin More Than Words Award for 2014 Nominations are open Through August 9^th 2013

About:
Somewhere right now, a woman’s compassion is improving the quality of life in her community—not only for herself but for those she cares about most.

With each act of kindness, each word of support, she is proving that heroines do exist. And at Harlequin we believe her story should be told!

We solicit nominations of women who have made extraordinary contributions to their communities. With your support, we hope to turn awareness into action, and mobilize others to become engaged and make a difference in their community.

Information detailing how readers can get involved in their own communities in projects related to the award recipients’ chosen causes will be available both in print and on our web site.

The Harlequin More Than Words program is responsible for the administration of Harlequin’s social responsibility initiatives dedicated to the well-being of women.

Mission and Objectives

The Harlequin More Than Words program aims to enhance the well-being of women. Our goals are to:

·       Raise awareness about worthy causes that are of concern to women

·       Provide financial assistance to these important charities

·       Engage employees, authors and readers and the general public in worthy causes and provide opportunities for them to make a difference

Here are the 2013 recipients­­––

2013 Recipients
Click on their names for more about the women and their causes

Cheryl Sesnon

Jubilee Women’s Center

Nikki Berti

Goodie Two Shoes Foundation

Elizabeth Roelfs

Diller Community Foundation

Here’s their Novella;

Read an ExcerptBuy the Book

Contributing Authors

·       Sherryl Woods

·       Christina Skye

·       Pamela Morsi

    Here’s a link to all the previously issued More Than Words Novellas

·       
Download two free ebooks inspired by our 2010 More Than Words Award recipients.

Here's an interview with Sheila Roberts
a former author contributor

  

Sheila,
welcome to my blog, you were my guest when you released Better Than Chocolate in
October of last year.
I remember! Thanks for having me back again.

Sheila, you’re a previous author of one of these very inspiring novellas.
Can you tell us what it meant to you to be able to write one of these women’s
stories?
It was a thrill to be able to, in some small way, help a worthy cause. Of course,
I write for a living, but I love being able to also put my training as a writer to use
for something more than a paycheck. 

The Novella was called Good Neighbors (you can download it for free at B&N
and Amazon.
Can you tell us what it was about?
This particular tale is set in my fictional town of Icicle Falls, and centers around a
man determined to help kids and a young widow with a son who’s trying to make a
new start. And a cabin that both of them think they own!

Did you get to meet the recipient you wrote about?
I had the chance to meet Sally Spenser, the power behind Youth Assisting Youth,
via phone. She’s a dedicated and inspiring woman, determined to help at risk youth.
After visiting with her I was definitely pumped to write the novella.

Can you tell us how the authors are chosen?
I’m afraid I can’t help you on that. I’m not sure how authors are picked for this project.
I only know I felt honored to be one of them.

How long has Harlequin been doing this?
I believe the program was established in 2003. So, needless to say, many deserving people
have been helped! I think this is a truly wonderful program and it says a lot about my
publisher that they’re willing to invest time and money in helping others.

Will you be on the rotation in the next year or so?
I’m sure Harlequin will want to give other authors a chance to participate.

Tell us what you’re working on now.
Right now I’m enjoying seeing my newest release “What She Wants” out in stores.
This is the third book in the Icicle Falls series and it follows a group of poker buddies
who are all trying to fix their woman problems by using romance novels as textbooks.
Great fun! (Said she modestly.) I just turned in book four for this series and am about to
start on book five. 

Sheila thank you so much from a huge fan of yours and of Harlequin. It’s so
inspiring when a company gives something back like this wonderful program.
Good luck to you in all your future endeavors.
I agree! And thanks again for having me.

Week Three discussion of Friendship Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Don't forget there's still time to enter for the Nook Simple Touch giveaway click here for details

Now let's get to our discussion for week three

Week three discussion of
Friendship Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Well we’ve come to the end of the novel so let’s talk about the last part

I only have a couple of questions for you in this section as I want to encourage each of you to ask a question of your own, something that perhaps you think I missed or avoided or just something you wondered about on your own.
So without further ado let's get to week three.

First resolutions:
Did the girls accomplish what THEY wanted individually and for the group?

Second let’s talk about the future: ( you know I’m (in)famous for this question)
Set the clock for these characters ahead five years where are they?

June is busting out all over at The Reading Frenzy with a great feature read, tons of author interviews and giveaways too!!!

First to celebrate my blog reaching 100 followers I'll be having a winner's choice contest, it's still in the planning mode but it will happen sometime during June. Thank you all for your wonderful support. 

June is going to be a blast so make sure you mark your calendars

Our June feature Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend begins Monday June 3rd and the author Matthew Dicks will be joining us for the entire read.

Here's the reading schedule for our June read:

Week one June 3-9 Chapters 1-21
Week two June 10-16 Chapters 22-42
Week three June 17-23 Chapters 43-end

There's still time to enter for a copy of the paperback version until May 24th click the link here to enter.
I'll be introducing Matthew and the feature in a direct post soon but why not get to know Matthew a little, visit his website here.

Here's my interview line up for June:

Tuesday June 4th Interview with Diane Kelly about her new novel Death, Taxes and Hot Pink Leg Warmers.


Wednesday June 5th Interview with Patti Sheehy who talks about her new debut novel based on a true story The Boy Who Said No


Thursday June 6th Interview with Donna Grant about her new fantasy novel Midnight's Kiss


Friday June 7th Interview with Cat Devon who chats about her new novel Sleeping with the Entity


Tuesday June 11th Interview with Ron Irwin about his novel Flat Water Tuesday


Thursday June 13th Interview with Zoe Archer about her new release Sweet Revenge


Friday June 14th Interview with Erika Marks who talks about her new novel The Guest House


Tuesday June 18th it's my long awaited interview with Barbara Delinski about her novel that releases that very day Sweet Salt Air


Tuesday June 25th I talk to Paula Treick DeBoard talks about her debut novel The Mourning Hours


Wednesday June 26th I'll post an interview with friend and past guest author Laura Griffin who's talking about her newest Tracer series release Exposed. In the mean time be sure and join the Tracers Team on Facebook


There will be more added in, some giveaways and more good stuff so be sure and check in everyday to see what's going on.

**GIVEAWAY** plus interview with Lian Dolan author of Elizabeth The First Wife who talks about her novel, her life and her wish to be in The Tournament of Roses Parade––"Some people dream about being on Broadway, I just want to ride down Colorado Boulevard on a float."

Elizabeth the First Wife


Overview
Elizabeth Lancaster, an English professor at Pasadena City College, finds her perfectly dull but perfectly orchestrated life upended one summer by three men: her movie-star ex-husband, a charming political operative, and William Shakespeare.

LibraryJournal-Starred review:VERDICT This novel owes its success to the wonderfully developed cast of characters, especially Elizabeth, a fully grounded adult who deals gracefully with life (no chick-lit slapstick clutziness here). Fans of Katie Fforde and Jill Mansell will find much to like here.—Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

FOR THE GIVEAWAY PLEASE FOLLOW THE RAFFLECOPTER INSTRUCTIONS - CONTEST LIMITED TO THE US AND COURTESY OF  WUNDERKIND PR

_______________________________________

Lian, it’s great to have you chatting today celebrating the release of your newest novel Elizabeth The First Wife.

I’m so happy to chatting with you.

Tell us a bit about the new novel

Elizabeth the First Wife is the story of a Shakespeare professor in her mid-thirties who finds herself really stuck in her life; she never quite got over her first husband; she’s overwhelmed by the expectations of her high- achieving family; and really, she’s been wearing the same Frye boots for years. Now, out of the blue, she has a chance to shake-up her life, really define who she is in terms of her career and finally establish a clear indentify for herself within her family. She’s ready to take ownership of who she is. In the middle of all that is her now-famous actor ex-husband, an avant-garde production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a political scandal and very sexy relationship over Skype. Plus, a fun, contemporary take on Shakespeare.

Lian you have an impressive background in the media as well as being a bestselling author.
Where did your love for writing come from?

I have always loved to write and to read. I think the two go hand-in-hand. I grew up in a big family where great storytelling and being entertaining was the only way to get heard at the dinner table.  And reading and discussing books was a regular part of the conversation at home. As the youngest of eight kids, I had a lot of exposure to literature, thanks to my brothers and sisters. I just took the verbal skills I learned at home and started putting them on paper. Over the years, from high school on, I’ve written everything from restaurant reviews to sports videos to TV pilots. But it really took me a long time to work up the courage for fiction writing. A novel seemed like a monumental task and I was 45 when I say down to write Helen of Pasadena, a social satire. I felt like I’d finally found my full creative voice.

Now onto your broadcasting side.
Tell us how you and your real sisters started Satellite Sisters.
Does this program still air and if so when and where can we listen?

Satellite Sisters began with the idea that you rarely hear real women on the radio talking about the real issues that we talk about all day long: family, work, current events, news, our haircuts, cheap celebrity gossip.  We wanted to bring the sound of friendship to air, discussing the whole range of interests that women have. My four older sisters and I thought that we could do that on the radio, just like we did at home over dinner or on the phone, even though we had no radio experience. Satellite Sisters debuted in 2001 on public radio and we moved to ABC a few years later. We spent a great ten years on the air, talking about everything under the sun, laughing, crying, interviewing newsmakers and writers and everyday people.  Best job ever.  Currently, we produce one podcast a week. You can still hear Satellite Sisters online at iTunes or our website satellitesisters.com.

Can you tell us about your “Chaos Chronicles”. What are they and how did they come about?

The Chaos Chronicles is the name of my podcast and blog about my adventures in modern motherhood. For seventeen years, I’ve been a working mom in a house with three men and big dog. It started out at humor segments on Satellite Sisters, then it became a monthly column at Working Mother magazine for fours years, then morphed into a blog and now its back on the air as a podcast on iTunes and chaoschronicles.com. With Chaos Chronicles, I try to make the day-to-day issues of parenthood fun, relatable and tied to the news or current events. Talking about my roles as a wife and mother gives me an opportunity to gain perspective on those roles. I love that part of it. The Chaos Chronicles is a storytelling, advice, comedy and sometimes just flat-out whining.

Both of your novel’s feature women protagonists who’re from Pasadena and you live in Pasadena.
Is there a reason your characters are your neighbors?

I have always been drawn to books or films or TV shows with a strong sense of place. I’m not a fan of the “generic midwestern city” sort of locale.  I like to really get a feel for the setting, as if it’s part of the story. Pasadena has been my home for the last twenty years and I’ve spent those decades making a lot of observations. Even before I wrote about Pasadena, I thought it was a great setting for women’s fiction. It’s a big multi-cultural city with a broad socio-economic spectrum, but right in the center of civic action is a tightly bound group of people who have been here for generations with their own very specific traditions, rituals and code. As a writer, that makes for a lot of great contrasts and conflicts to work with.  There are also an astonishing number of world-famous cultural institutions, from Caltech to the Huntington Library, that really serve my plots well, as I like to mix in a little history with my romantic comedy.  And, of course, the glorious Rose Parade with all its pomp and tradition. Who doesn’t love a good parade?

How was releasing your second novel different than releasing your first?

Totally different. There were zero expectations with my first book, outside of selling a few copies to people that weren’t my relatives. Helen of Pasadena did very well and the reviews were so positive, I tried not to let that freak me out when I sat down to write Elizabeth the First Wife.  I feel like I found a very different story to tell with a very different main character but with enough of the same humor and heart to satisfy readers who loved Helen. With the release of the second book, I already have a built in audience, which is a great gift for a writer.

Do you have a target audience for this novel?

Shakespeare enthusiasts, theatergoers, women who like Anthropology, dog lovers, real estate looky-loos, girls who never got over their college boyfriends, suckers for romance, English majors, gardeners, foodies and readers who fell in love with someone on Skype. I think that covers everybody.

Is there another novel in the works?

Barely, but yes. In the research and conceptualizing stages.  Once again, it involves a contemporary woman who is inspired by a historical figure as she muddles through her own life. Sorry, as I do live near Hollywood and have developed a writer’s paranoia about people stealing my ideas (because they DO!), that’s all I’ll reveal at this time.

Now let’s talk about your dream of appearing on a Tournament of Roses parade float.
First tell us how and why this dream came about and then we’ll hop on over and get you a Facebook page fans can like to see if we can make this dream a reality.

I have always loved parades since I was a kid. And I happen to live in Pasadena where the Rose Parade is truly an event that brings the community together every year. Seeing the Rose Parade in person is a miraculous site. It’s bigger, brighter and bloomier!  Plus, it’s put together with such respect for tradition. I just love it.  Some people dream about being on Broadway, I just want to ride down Colorado Boulevard on a float.

I have had the thrill of being named an Honorary Rose Queen and if that’s as close as I get, I am at peace with that.

Do you have any signings or events for this novel where fans could meet you in person?

I have a ton of events this time around. I’m thrilled to be out and about in May, June and July. I’ll be in: Pasadena; Manhattan Beach; Maplewood, NJ; Sag Harbor, NY; Westport, CT; Madison, CT; Ashland, OR; Bend, OR; Portland, OR; and Chicago, IL. The best place to find the compete listing with locations, dates and times is here at http://www.liandolan.com/books/the-book-tour-continues-in-spring-2011/

Lian, thank you for chatting with us for awhile, good luck with the novel, your talkshow and getting that seat on a Rose Bowl Float (make sure you practice your royal parade wave).

As the Rose Queens taught me, the key to the wave is: Elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist.

Visit Lian's website here

 

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