A Refuge for Rosanna!

Recently, I got the opportunity to interview regency author Susan Karsten who has a new book out, A Refuge for Rosanna. It was a great read and I highly recommend it. Here’s the interview.

I became a writer of Regency fiction long after I became an avid reader of Regency romance fiction.  I love the genre because of its usually gentle and intelligent nature. The language, social mores, historical events, and fashions are also aspects that appeal to me.

When I am working on a book, writing time is constrained or shaped by my other responsibilities, so I have to be flexible. I am not one to stay up until all hours just to squeeze in word count.  Ideally, however, I like to write in the mornings, after getting a few household matters taken care of (like putting a load of laundry in the machine). The place I write is at a desk in my home’s formal living room.

The many Regency novels I have read certainly give me a lot of inspiration due to the fact that when I sit down to write my own Regency romance fiction, the words flow. I guess you could say I am steeped in the genre.  I have used snippets of real life romances to add details to the love stories of my characters

The third book in the Honors Point Series, An Escape for Ellie,  is waiting in the wings. Since there’s such a lot of time from completing a book to the day it’s published and out in the world, I have explored some other genres with my writing in the meantime.

I do not have a regular day job, but I have worked several part time and temporary jobs since my children have launched.

I started writing about 8 or 9 years ago and my friends have been super excited about it. The readers among them are fascinated by the whole process of writing a book, and they ask a lot of good questions.  Some of my friends make jokes about me becoming rich and famous, and I just try to bring them down to earth. That tells me that they have a high opinion of writers and writing, even though the reality is much more work and rejection, mixed in with small successes.

According to one of my recent reader reviews, you might not be able to put it down!  But overall, my readers like historical romance and historical fiction. Reading one of my Regency romances is like stepping into the past, and having a whole story world come alive on the pages. You’ll be rooting for the hero and heroine to make it to love’s altar. You’ll cringe when the badmen appear to be about to win. You’ll swoon with the intensity of leashed passion. Basically, you’ll read my books because you love a good story

Readers might get a chuckle to know that my son had to correct my fight scenes. “Mom, nobleman would never hit from behind or punch someone in the stomach, they’d only go for the face and head!” I had to be instructed also that the hero in my first book was crying too much (he was recovering from a beating and out of his head, but I took out the tears).

As you read my novels, you’ll notice that some of my characters are people of Christian faith, but don’t worry, the stories are fun, and full of life and good humor.

Biography

Susan Karsten lives in a small Wisconsin town, is the wife of a real estate broker, mother of three (two married, one engaged), and grandmother of three. Her hobbies include fitness, quilting, and reading.

Her interest in writing developed while in college where she earned a BS degree in Home Economics (Apparel Design & Manufacturing), with a minor in Speech.

With child-rearing days at an end, Susan now invests time in fiction writing. With four contracted Regency historical romances, a humorous chapter book, and a cozy mystery complete, she is working on an Amish Romance with a twist.

Social media: https://www.facebook.com/puresparklingromance

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The Caged Bird full critique WEP 999 words

by Dixie Jo Jarchow

Kayla walked to the corner store and bought him cigarettes.

She winced as she inhaled too deeply. He’d really kicked her hard last night. He’d brought over one of his friends and they’d been partying. Kayla still had a booming headache from it. Then, his friend tried to kiss her. She’d pushed him away. He reeked of tobacco and motor oil.

“It’s okay, Kayla,” Russell pushed her towards the guy. “I don’t mind.”

But she just couldn’t. She hid in the bathroom and the man eventually left, disgusted. When she came out, Russell threw her on the floor. He stood over her like a giant. Then, he’d pulled back his leg and kicked her hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs. Not just once, but a bunch of times.

“I owe him a lot of money, Kayla, and we gotta pay him one way or another. It’s not like you’re a virgin or anything.” He left then, slamming the door, It rattled in its frame in the same terrified rhythm as her heart.

Kayla turned the corner and saw a group of boys in the alley, throwing stones at something. The pain in her ribs forgotten, she ran.

“Stop it. What are you doing?” She yelled.

Their circle opened, fear and shame mixed on their round faces.

“Oh, you wicked, wicked beasts,” she ran forward and picked up the large bird, unmindful of its sharp beak or razor like claws. Black as the deepest shadow with one cauled eye, the bird was exhausted.

“It’s a raven. They’re bad luck,” one boy called after her.

“It’s a crow, you jerk,” she retorted bundling the unresisting bird into her plastic grocery bag on top of the cigarettes.

She got back to the apartment and gently spread the bird’s wings. “You’re a beauty, ain’t you. The purple dances in the sunlight on your feathers. Don’t look like anything’s broken. Maybe you’re just tired,”

She put an empty shoe box on the wide ledge of the only window in their apartment. The old fashioned window opened in the center like doors and were Kayla’s favorite part of the apartment. She poured a tiny bit of milk into the lid of a jar and soaked some stale bread in it. The crow ate, keeping his good eye fixed on her.

“Maybe Russell will let me keep you for a pet. Would you like that? You and me, besties?” She giggled when the bird cocked his head, as if listening to her. He seemed content to rest in the box.

The door banged open and Russell stood glaring at her. He had a black, swollen eye and a bruise that ran from his broken nose to his chin. Clots of blood edged his nostrils and he breathed heavily through his mouth. He closed the door softly and Kayla began to shake.

“I took a beating because of you, girl.” He said quietly, taking off his worn leather belt.

“For me?” Kayla’s thoughts darted unfocused. What had she done? Was it the boys in the alley?

“If you’d screwed Josh, even once, maybe just a blow job, this wouldna happened, but no, you didn’t want to,” he made his voice a falsetto, mocking her. “We’ll see if I can beat some sense into your stupid head, you cow. Then, next time he comes around, you do what I tell you.”

Kayla stared mesmerized by the full arc of the swing but when the belt hit her, tearing the tender flesh along her back, a buzzsaw rang through her head. The pain blossomed through her growing larger and larger. Wetness pooled around her feet, was it blood or had she peed herself? Her eyes rolled back in her head and she tensed for the next blow.

PLastic rustled, “Thanks for the smokes, babe.” He lit up.

“CAW!”

“What the fuck is that?” He roared. The crow moved his body to look at Kayla and then at Russell. “Are you some little pet of Kayla’s? Did I say you would have a filthy bird?” He sucked on the cigarette, making the tip glow and moved toward the bird, holding the lit end like a stick.

“Stop it. It can’t fly!” She screamed.

“No? Let’s help it then.” Russell picked up the box and bird and threw them as far as he would out of the window. They both strained to watch the box as it plummeted to the street, but before it hit, the crow burst out, powerful sweeps of its wings gaining altitude.

Russell turned his back to the window, and plugged the smoke back in his mouth. “See, all better.”

The back of his head exploded with black feathers, hair and blood. The impact dropped him to all fours. He rolled over moaning and clutching the back of his head. There was blood on his hands when he pulled them away. Kayla’s teeth chattered in her mouth and she fought to keep air moving in and out of her lungs. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused.

Then the screaming began, bouncing off the walls and reverberating through the tiny room. The sound amplified to a wailing crescendo then cut off in an abrupt silence.

Kayla heard the clicking of claws on the sill.

She opened her eyes. The room had been painted spatter red and bits of flesh adhered to the rough walls. Russell lay on his back on the floor, his face a pulped mess of bloody holes. His intestines glistened from a gaping cavity in his abdomen.

Russell lay on the floor, his face a mass of ragged holes. A sheet of blood crept across the floor toward Kayla.

“Caw!” The bird looked at her once, cocking its head and leapt from the sill, caught a thermal and floated away from the world, never looking back.

Kayla crawled over to the body and curled up with her arms around it in the spreading blood.

A new Book

by Gail Pallotta

If you’re looking for a new reader to binge on, we’re lucky enough to get a sample chapter of Gail’s new book, Stopped Cold. Enjoy!

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for-dixie-stopped-cold-re-release-1Download

The Jewel Box by D. Jarchow Full Critique

There once was a sultan who ruled a prosperous happy land. His people’s fields flourished and he felt it was time to take a wife. Or two. The first wife he chose because she was the best cook in the kingdom.

“I must have my comforts,” he declared. And Cook Wife, whipped up a glorious feast of delicacies for him. After a year, he chose a second wife with broad hips and generous bosoms.

“She will bear me many fine sons,” he declared, And the Childbearing Wife produced a new son every year for ten years. But then, her womb dried up as a tree finishes its cycle of bearing fruit,

“She looks like a map that has been creased once too many times.” He complained but then, an answer came to him.

“I’ll build her a palace and she will stay there all the rest of her days so I won’t have to look at her homely face and sagging breast.

She bragged to the Cook Wife, “Look how much the sultan values me, you stupid cow. While you labor in the hot kitchen, he has built a glorious tribute to me!” And the Cook Wife bent her head, her eyes smoldering like hot coals.

The building was perfection itself. The gleaming white quartzite sparkled and the rare copper gleamed in the sunlight.

The sultan brought her to the building and showed her the rooms and passages.

“It’s beautiful and I shall fill it with exquisite things! Thank you, my sultan!” She bowed to him and he hit her a devastating blow on her head with a bust of herself, ending her life.

“He called out to the crowds outside. “She slipped on the stairs. My sorrow fills these rooms.” He tore at his clothing and declared a week of mourning and held feasts to commemorate the sons she gave him.

A month later, he married a tiny beauty from a far part of his kingdom. She had flashing dark eyes and soft hair that swirled past her round bottom. Her toes were like the petals of a flower at the end of long shapely legs. Her voice was that of a child and indeed, if not for her generous bosom, one might take her for one. But a peasant’s practicality hid behind her feathery lashes.

It was said to be the custom of her tribe to put jewels in their nether regions to increase a man’s pleasure. But no one said what it did for the woman.

The Cook Wife redoubled her efforts to create delicious meals for the Sultan after the death of the Childbearing wife. She saw to his every comfort and took over running parts of the kingdom that were tiresome to him. He began to have stomach problems, not unusual in a man who has denied himself nothing. He picked at the cook’s offerings and she despaired.

One day, the Beauty came to the Cook. She stalked around the kitchen like a tigress over her kill. Finally, she stood before the Cook, slim arms crossing her ample bosom,

“Old woman, the sultan nears his end. He has no need of rich foods anymore. His seed is dry as well and rarely can he do more than admire my jewel box.”

“You are no one’s fool,” the Cook Wife nodded. And they both pondered the custom of cremating wives alive after the sultans died.

“Something must be done.” The Beauty muttered and walked to the herb garden. “I know this plant: Poor Woman’s Nightshade. We use it to help with sleep.”

The next day, she sent the fastest rider in the stable back to the distant hills of her home with a list. She spent the day pacing and worrying. The rider dragged a lathered horse back to the stable and the Beauty rushed out to meet it, tearing the package away from the rider.

“What are you doing?” Asked the sultan.

“I’m going to make you a delicacy from my land, from the cocoa bean. Once you try it, you’ll forever want it.”

“I have a wonderful cook but even she cannot make my appetite come alive again.”

“But she can’t make what I’m making, Just wait.”

The sultan patted her bottom. “I think I’ll nap.”

She watched him waddle painfully away.

She ground the beans into a feathery powder, adding liberally of the Poor woman’s Nightshade. She spun the sugar as she danced in the candle light and crafted her delicacy.

In the pale dawn, she bathed and scented her body with fragrant flowers. She had her servants thread more flowers through her long hair. She draped her body in fabric as thin and silky as the web of an orb spider and found the sultan.

“Your beauty shines like the silver moon. I despair that I can only admire your beauty.” She bowed gracefully and presented him with a dark shiny square on a silver platter. “I made this for you.”

The sultan studied the woman before him and the square of dark chocolate she offered. He pulled her to him and shoved the sticky thing into her mouth. She tried to scream but the air was denied her. Her body jerked with spasms and yellow foam slid out of her mouth, mixing with espresso ganache icing. He thrust her limp body away and wiped his hands on his robes.

The next day, the sultan kept a cloth to his face to hide his grieving but everyone could hear the tortured sobs. Cook Wife made a small bowl of his favorite soup, as his appetite was small in grief.

After just three delicious spoonfuls, his heart seized and he died. The Cook Wife buried him next to the Beautiful Wife in a lovely ceremony. She pulled the remaining Nightshade from the herb garden and brushed over the fine soil as if nothing had ever grown there. And then the Cook Wife, whose name was Arlene ruled the land for a 100 years.

WEP February challenge: 28 days

Full critique By Dixie Jo Jarchow

“Hey what’s this?” Jeva grabbed a piece of glistening dark green leaf from the platter and popped it into his mouth. The crunch was satisfying.

“Kale. I baked it with olive oil and garlic. Isn’t it delish?” Marinta dimpled. “I had a taste for it”

“It’s great. I can’t stop eating it.” Jeva pushed another crisp onto his tongue, savoring the spices and residual oil on the chip. “We should have it more often.”

“Did you see the latest? They’re calling it the Purge day 27.” Marinta said, scooping a generous amount of kale onto his plate.

“What species committed suicide yesterday? It’s kind of hard to care after almost thirty days of this,” Jeva complained and reached for more kale.“Was it mackerels?”

“No that was Tuesday. Ugly fish.”

“Oh, yesterday it was beavers. They just jumped into streams and rivers all over the world and drowned themselves. They say it won’t affect much industry though. The environmentalists are up in arms.”

“Aren’t they always? Ever since this purge thing started they don’t listen to the government. It’s just a normal cycle. The government understands this stuff. The earth is purging itself of toxins through animals and fish. They eat the toxic stuff that is stored in plants and then kill themselves. It makes perfect sense. The earth has been through this cycle before.”

“I was listening to the news…” started Marinta.

“Fake news,” Jeva muttered around the wad of kale in his mouth. “You should know better than to watch that crap.”

“I know but it just happened to be on before my talk show. They had a scientist on who tested the beavers and said they had really high levels of toxic chemicals. Like, out of this world high levels. It drove the animals nuts or something. No one really understands it.”

“Then it is probably good they died.” Jeva took a piece of salt encrusted kale off Marinta’s plate. “See, it all works out.”

She swatted away his hand. “Not really. When they decompose, all the toxins go into the water where they died. Like the stuff from the whales went into the sand and the heavy metals in the beavers goes into the water.”

“Have you lost weight?” Mahinta was still lovely but he barely listened to her anymore. Hard to take someone seriously who had three pinterest boards on thigh exercises.

“I think this is important,” Mahinta pouted.

“Is there more of this kale? I can’t stop eating it.”

“No, that’s the last. I was planning on getting more at the farmers market today.”

“While Alric is at the birthday party, we can hit the market. It’d be a nice way to spend the day.”

“Funny that I never liked kale. Now, I can’t get enough of it.”

A thunderous pounding came from the stairway. Alric, their ten year old son, glared from under a shock of black hair. “What’s this?” He pointed at her plate.

“Take out your earbuds. It’s kale. Try it, it’s delicious. If you don’t want it, I’ll take yours.” His father said.

Jeva and Mahinta held their breath as he chose the smallest piece and chewed it.

“I like this.” He shoved another forkful into his mouth.

“We need more,” Jeva eyed the disappearing kale and licked his lips. “Let’s go now, before the party.”

“There isn’t any more?” Alric frowned at his mother. “I’m starving. Let’s go.” He got up and slid bare feet into his shoes.

“Have you got Robert’s present?” His mother grabbed an empty shopping sack and her purse. “We can drop you on the way back.”

Alaric slid a slim hand into his back pocket and pulled out a shiny gift card for a video game store. “Ready to go.” He left and Jeva hurried Mahinta out to the car.

Jeva revved the motor and drove over the limit to get to the market in the center of town. “Way to put the hammer down, dad.” Alaric gave his dad a grin and they fist bumped across the seat. Mahinta rolled her dark eyes.

“Let’s find the kale,” his father left his door open in his haste to get to the market. Mahinta paused, looking at the door as if she might say something but then hurried to join the throng heading towards Main Street.

In the main street of the market, a makeshift table of planks and saw horses had been cobbled together by the vendors. Heaping piles of kale sat on it, some cooked and steaming but most raw. Both sides of the trough were packed with people stuffing kale into their mouths, one handful after another.

Jeva shoved into a small space between two people and Alaric slid under his elbow. Jeva snarled but then his eyes softened and he allowed the boy to stay sheltered under him, eating. Mahinta was able to squeeze into an area just a few people down.

The sound of teeth clicking and molars grinding was the only sound on the fine summer Saturday, the twenty eighth day of the Purge.

“Hey, Robert,” Alaric called across the trough, “here’s your birthday present.” And he threw the silver card across the narrow wooden plank.

Robert looked up, eyes glazed at his best friend.

“I don’t think I’m going to make it to your party,” Alaric said around a mouthful of kale.

“I’m not either.” Robert stared at the card laying on the fresh kale and continued eating.

As the kale grew sparse, people looked at each other. Jeva searched for any missed bits of kale on the filthy ground but it had all been picked over by the smaller kids.

He turned toward the sea, could hear the sound of moving water beconning over the silence of the market.

Everyone moved towards the sea en masse. Jeva pushed Alaric but whether it was to guide him or move him out of the way was unclear. Mahinta fell in behind her husband as they marched towards the sea.

WEP Ribbons and Candles full critique

WEP contest Dixie Jo Jarchow FC. Full critique 983 words

“Your offer is appreciated, Ryan. We admire your resolve to make a difference but we have selected other candidates to be featured in the Ribbons For Cancer calendar.” Ryan tossed the letter across the table to his mother. “I guess I don’t have that “cute” cancer look they’re searching for. No sense in applying for next year.” He stalked to his room.

“Ryan!” His mother sobbed. All she did was cry. At least he’d tried to make a difference with the 13 years he’d been alloted.

“I should gone with my own calendar.  Only problem is it would be a half year calendar by the time I’m done,” he muttered, looking at the corkboard wall of refusal letters.

He’d written the FBI body farm, teaching hospitals even the Children’s museum and no one wanted his cancer ridden corpse. No takers.

“I just want to make some kind of difference before I die. Even the organ donor people said no.”

“You’ve made a difference to me,” his mother stood in the doorway, sniffling. The ache inside him felt like a hollowed out pumpkin. Thirteen years on this Earth and nothing to show for it.

“You got another letter.” She held out the slim envelope to him. Maybe one of the testing labs he’d written to could use his tissues for research. Ryan snatched the letter and tore it open.

“Crap. Eighth grade birthday party. Lame.” Ryan tossed it aside. He had more important things to do with the time he had left. He just had to figure out what.

His mother picked up the invitation. “You should go. Enjoy yourself. Maybe a new idea will come to you. You could make a friend.” Her lips were pursed so tight, he wondered her lips weren’t bleeding.

“It’s a pity invite,” he scoffed.

“So what? Maybe you’ll touch someone’s life while you’re there.” She stabbed a pin through the invite, attaching it onto the wall. “And it wouldn’t hurt you to have some fun. Just be careful, you know what the doctor said.”

Ryan glanced at the invitation. A Halloween party. Should he go as “cured”?  Be careful. The doctor had explained it in gruesome detail.

“Ryan, you have a rare side effect of cancer, hemophilia. Do you know what that is?” The eyes peered over his dirty glasses at Ryan as if he were an interesting bug.

“Yeah, if I get cut, I bleed to death.”

“Not just that,” the doctor said with enthusiasm. “If you hit your head or your hand too hard, there can be catastrophic internal bleeding. If you cut yourself, chances are you’ll be okay if it is shallow. Deeper, definitely call 911, let them know your condition.” He smiled at Ryan as if he wasn’t dying.

“Maybe I’ll go.” He told his mom just to get her off his back. Her smile rewarded him. “I think I actually know this kid.”*****

“Here, we spiked the punch.” Jerry handed him a plastic cup. “Oh wait, you can have stuff like that, right?”

“Yeah,” Ryan sipped the pink drink, grimacing at the bitter taste. “Uck”

“Vodka’s an acquired taste,” Jerry smacked him on the back.

Ryan winced, thinking about internal bleeding. Dying at a party would be more interesting than laying in hospice.

He sipped the drink again. What would happen when it mixed with all the other crap the doctors had him taking? It burned his throat and his head spun, but not unpleasantly.

Jerry slipped away into the crowd. Ryan watched him. He knocked on a door. A bedroom door? It cracked and Ryan could see the room was lit by candles, a girl he knew peeked out and then admitted Jerry. Ryan knocked gently on the door. Jerry opened the door a crack. “Hey Ryan.”

“What’s going on?”

Ryan glanced back and then opened the door to admit him. “We’re an edgy group. You know?”

“No, what does edgy mean?” Ryan said looking around the dim room. No one met his eye.

“We’re cutters, Ryan,” the girl whose name he couldn’t recall said to him.

“Cutters?”

“We cut ourselves,” Jerry took Ryan’s arm and drew him into the candle-lit glow of the room. The door shut behind him.

“Jesus, why?” Ryan asked. He looked at the proffered arm of the girl and saw the parallel slices that marched up her arm like stitches.

“It feels good.” She told him. He watched in a horror of fascination as she took a new razor blade and drew it across her arm, above the crook. She hissed and closed her eyes as the blood seeped out of the inch long cut.

“Is this healthy at all?” Ryan wondered aloud.

The girl shrugged her thin shoulders. “We like it. It isn’t that bad. Not as bad as smoking. Nobody’s forcing you to.” She turned away.

Ryan felt an invisible curtain fall between him and the group of cutters. They bent over their arms and busied themselves with slicing their tender flesh open.

Ryan turned away. It was wrong, it revolted him but what could he do about it?

Make a difference, he thought grimly. He would make a difference.

“Give me the razor,” he said quietly.

“Dude!” Jerry patted him on the back. “One of us.” Murmurs of welcome ran the room and the girl handed him a new razor blade, unwrapping it for him.

Ryan caught the light with the razor and made several deep slices across his arm.

“Whoa, try one at a time. Savor them,” she told him.

He savored them, the cuts, the ribbons of blood reflecting the candlelight. He savored his life dripping away in the darkness. Maybe his sacrifice would shock them, make them stop this destructive behavior. He hoped his story would outlive him.

He heard the screams as if in a dream.

Anita Klumpers Has a New book Out!

Dinah loves Christmas. She loves history, the old Wagner House, and the elderly women working to preserve its heritage. She loves almost everything except Mick Wagner, her childhood nemesis.
But if they want to save the Wagner House and solve a mystery that’s been hiding in the attic for almost eighty years, they’ll have to join forces. And they have to do it quickly, before one of them dies trying.

 

Bio:
Anita Klumpers is Midwest born and bred, except for a brief and exhilarating few years in Denver when she was small. She received a teaching degree sometime in the previous millennium and used it mostly to homeschool her three sons. These days Anita chases her grandchildren around, waving books at them and suggesting everyone cuddle up for a good story.
Good stories are her passion, especially if they are well-written, have a dose of humor, just a tickle of romance, and a decidedly non-gory mystery. On the other hand, she lists “Frankenstein” and “Fahrenheit 451” as two of her favorite books. Go figure.
Creating skits was Anita’s first foray into writing. Always up for a challenge and a reason to postpone defrosting the freezer, she tried her hand at a full-length novel. It only took five years, but she did it!
Daily (honestly) she marvels at how much she loves coffee and her husband; her family, friends and church. Even more, she is astonished at how much she is loved by her Lord and Savior.
Her blog is “The Tuesday Prude” ( https://thetuesdayprude.com/) and she’s had two books published by Pelican/Prism Books (“Winter Watch” and “Hounded.”)
“Christmas Passed” is due December 2018 and “Buttonholed” is contracted with Pelican/Prism Books.

 

Amazon:

Barnes and Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-passed-anita-klumpers/1129760586?ean=9781522398110