A Q&A Session with Adara

Nicola McDonagh

The heroine from my Sci-fi/dystopian series - The Song of Forgetfulness, doesn't do interviews. It took a lot of persuading, and a bag of realchoc, to get her to do this one. I agreed not to take any photos.

Could you introduce yourself? 

Adara. And, before you go all, ‘What, THE Adara…’ Yes, I am THE Adara-Catcher of birds.

Describe what it was like for you growing up.

Scary mostly. What with the Carnies and their not-so-fun show stealing our kiddles, and the Flashlighters spoiling any fun, and me having to keep shutums about my gift, life was full on frightnight.

Tell us something about the religions and politics of your world. 

Yikes! Even with six fingers on each hand, I’ll struggle to count. Here goes: There’s The OneGreatProvider, Cityplace folk believe in, then there’s the Greenman, the Woodsfolk follow. The Baby Cheesus, Prasiebees adore him, the Onegreatbeing, Christfolk worship and Krishna, the Moocow Monks of the order of Mayer look to for guidance. As for politics, well, there’s only the filthy Agro scum, and their laws that all are forced to obey.

Do you see yourself as a hero? Or as someone just doing his/her job, doing what's right?

I’ve saved a lot of folk. So, some might say I am a hero, but many have died because of what I did. Guess I can’t rightly say I am fit to be called that. I did what had to be done because I have a gift that meant I could.

Would you rather kill or die to ensure the safety of the people you care about?

Kill, most def. Can’t righty save anyone if you’re dead, right?

What are your hopes for the future?

That the Meeks can save us all and the Agros are driven far from our shattered land. Plus, I’d like to see the ocean, they say it is dead, but there are those that say they’ve seen things slither and swim below it’s lapping waters.

Do you have a hero or heroine that you pattern your life after? If so, who and why.

Easy, that would be my Santy Breanna. She’s a S.A.N.T. one of the best. If it weren’t for the Agro war thingy, I would have gone into training to be just like her. She’s the bravest, smartest, and fastest fem I now. Kind as well. Yep most def my Santy.

Tell us about the villains you've encountered.

I’ll choose just two, otherwise I’d be talking till my doom. Both, Agro spy scum. Brother Jude, real name, Atyhtan. He was supposed to be my tutor, teach me how to hone my skill, but he just wanted to use my power before doing me in. His pal, Brother Dominic, real name, Ryce, betrayed us to the Agros, got a lot of folk killed.

What is your biggest regret?

Not getting the chance to spend some proper smoochy time with Marcellus.

What's the one thing, you can't live without?

My Synthbag.

To learn more about Adara and her world please visit The Song of Forgetfulness website:

www.thesongofforgetfulness.com

Visit Nicola McDonagh's Amazon Author page: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nicola-McDonagh/e/B00D4NAH0S/

An Interview With Bitter

The hard copy cover of Bitter - WIP

Thanks so much for agreeing to this interview. Firstly, could you introduce yourself? My name is Bitter. Juanita Bitter. I'm a homicide detective in Sacramento, California.

Describe your family. I have two sons. One is in the US Air Force and the other has a government job. They both play ice hockey. I have a large family; my brother and his wife and kids live in Vallejo and my other siblings live in the Bay Area and in Southern California.

Favorite beverage? Coffee. (She flashes the interviewer a tight smile.) I'm a cop. We all live on caffeine. 

If you could have any accents from anywhere in the world, what would you choose? (Bitter gives the interviewer an irritated look.) I don't need an accent, I'm a woman of Color. I face idiots who think that makes me less-than every day. I speak English (of course), Spanish, Tagalog and a smattering of Choctaw. 

How did you get interested in your line of work? Papá was a cop. I grew up surrounded by cops, he often had friends over to eat. He liked to cook, especially in summer when he'd fire up the grill and they'd hang out in the backyard and talk about their cases.

Name one thing that drives you crazy. One of the officers, O'Malley, is always peering in corners at shadows. He says there's ghosts hiding in the shadows. (She shakes her head, irritated at the thought.) There's no such thing as ghosts. 

What makes you angry? Criminals. Evil people who hurt children or animals. It's my job to find them and give their victims justice. 

If you could choose a magic power, what would it be? Don't be ridiculous. There's no such thing as magic or brujas. Witches are not real. 

Do you see yourself as a hero? Or as someone just doing his/her job, doing what's right? I'm just like everybody else. I get up and go to work every day. My job is to find criminals, and that's what I do. 

The Kindle cover for the short story "Bitter Blood"

Bitter is a tough homicide detective in a Sacramento that's two blocks down and one dimension over from the river city that exists in this reality. She doesn't believe in magic or witches or ghosts, but there's more to her city that she wants to know. Though she's not a believer in the supernatural, she's the cop that cleans up the messy aftermath of murder – and other strange things that happen in the city at night.

Bitter came to life after a conversation with my author friend, Neal Litherland. We were talking about bitterness and the difficult life and choices you have to make when you write for a living, and she sprang into being. I was about 40,000 words into a planned four book urban fantasy/contemporary fantasy series when she elbowed it all aside and demanded that I work on her story first.

While the first Bitter novel is still a work in progress, you can read the introductory short story on my sneak peek website: www.ruthdj.weebly.com. You can also read the first chapter of the fantasy series and some other story beginnings that are waiting on Bitter to be finished.

#Bitter  #RuthDJ  #ASmallGangOfAuthors

Our Guest Today is Author Marci Boudreaux #OurAuthorGang

Welcome, Marci! We are excited to have you with us today.

As a teen, Marci Boudreaux skipped over young adult books and jumped right into the world of romance novels. She's never left. Marci lives with her husband, two kiddos,and their numerous pets. She is a freelance writer, appearing monthly in a variety of local magazines, as well as a content editor.

Romance is her preferred reading and writing genre because nothing feels better than falling in love with someone new...and her husband doesn't like when she does that in real life.

Marci enjoys hearing from her readers and may be contacted at:

Website:  http://www.marciboudreaux.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/marci.boudreaux

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MarciBoudreaux

http://a.co/3qyNh8n 

 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/california-can-wait-marci-boudreaux/

Reporter Andrea Davidson isn't running from her mistakes. There's no escaping the career-ending mess she fell into back home. But she is moving forward, and is halfway to a new life in California when someone breaks into her motel room. She's lost her computer and her dignity, but that's only the beginning of her newest problem: local news editor Graham Bradley.

Graham Bradley doesn't know a thing about the newspaper business. A widow with a promise to keep, he's got more than just his own personal welfare riding on this small-town paper. The last thing he needs is a pushy woman with a secret in her past and a vicious red pen throwing all his mistakes and insecurities front and center on his desk. Faced with an impossible choice, Graham hires Andi, but hopes she's not just the last-and maybe worst-in a long line of bad decisions. Saving the small-town Gazette is the second chance both Andi and Graham need.

But with bill collectors calling, Andi's past catching up fast, and the chemistry between them making work next to impossible, will Andi and Graham get the second chance they both desperately need? Or will their demise be the next big headline?

MOTHER'S DAY

Today we celebrate Mother's Day

The history of Mother's Day celebration

The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. St Andrew's Methodist Church now holds the International Mother's Day Shrine. Her campaign to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Ann Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War, and created Mother's Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. Anna Jarvis wanted to honor her mother by continuing the work she started and to set aside a day to honor all mothers because she believed a mother is "the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world"

Although Jarvis was successful in founding Mother's Day, she became resentful of the commercialization of the holiday. By the early 1920s, Hallmark Cards and other companies had started selling Mother's Day cards. Jarvis believed that the companies had misinterpreted and exploited the idea of Mother's Day, and that the emphasis of the holiday was on sentiment, not profit.

Erika M Szabo

http://www.authorerikamszabo.com

 

My best memories of my mother are when she told me stories. She sat on the couch and I put my head on her lap. She stroked my hair and told me her endless stories about her childhood, family, and everyday life. She never preached at me how to become a good person, I learned compassion, love, acceptance, and respect from her actions and stories. Thank you, mom!

The only time I didn't like her when she made me wear the "bow" and fancy dresses to make me look like a girlish girl. I always preferred the simplest clothes possible and destroyed her fancy dresses the first chance I got so I could get back to my favorite outfit, shorts, and t-shirts. Sorry, mom, I know you loved those ruffled dresses and enormous bows and sorry for making you angry when I "accidentally" ripped the dresses to shreds or "accidentally" fell into the muddy puddles. Love you, mom!

Eulogy for My Mom: 

Mary Prudden-Bonadonna

September 15, 1915 - March 17, 2001

Joe Bonadonna

https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Bonadonna/e/B009I1KYIK

Mom and I - circa 1954

Mom - circa 1935

Happy Mother's Day!

Navonia Thomas, mother to Toi Thomas

My mom and I are very different in many ways, yet we do have a lot in common. I love science fiction and fantasy, but she does not. I'm a bookworm, and while she does appreciate a good book, she doesn't have the same passion for reading as I do. I love to swim and she's terrified of the water. I love to cook and, even, bake from scratch when  I have the resources. My mom can cook, but she doesn't like to; she leaves that up to my dad. My mom is a math whiz, and though I'm not bad at math, I'm not great at it either. My mom can sew anything, even couture. I can sew pillows and hemlines. My mother has an amazing singing voice and I'm tone deaf. I'm an animal lover, but my mom isn't much of an animal person. I'm a bit of a techie and my mom fights with every machine she encounters (except her smartphone).

The things my mother and I have in common- we both love movies (though not always the same kinds). We both have a passion for family, desire to help others, have similar voices, share similar facial features, love each other dearly (she's my biggest fan), and cling to our beliefs. Being the techie that I am, I made a video a few years back to show my mother how much I miss her when we are apart. Check it out.

Toi Thomas

My Wonderful Mom

Ruth de Jauregui

Mom, Dad and that's me!

My mom is still a bustling, busy woman who cooks for events and local organizations, works part time at the schools, an active member of Eastern Star and is crazy busy with her great-grandkids. (My sister's grandkids, mine live in California.)

She never learned to swim (getting thrown off the dock, rescued by her brothers, and thrown off again will cause a lifelong fear of water) but took us all swimming at the river. 

Me, my granddaughter and Mom. 

She's a Master Preserver with the county extension office and teaches classes in canning and food preservation to the locals. She also sews, keeps track of our genealogy and collects stamps. 

She is so supportive of all of us, in all of our endeavors. She reads our stories, even if they aren't in her preferred genres. I dunno though, she called Bitter "cute." Luckily Bitter is a fictional character or she'd take offense LOL. 

Seriously, my mom is the best!

Reflections on Mother's Day

http://www.graceaugustine.weebly.com

It took me a while to figure out just how to word this post.  This is not one of those holidays that we celebrated. It was just another day. The relationship I  had with my mother was odd, from the beginning. I know she did her best with what she had, and I don't fault her at all. I regret there wasn't a closeness that a mother has with her child.  There were very few photos of us together-- one when I was a baby, another at my high school graduation. 

 circa 1954

She was born in Missouri, had a 6th grade education, and in her late teens, ran away from home with her older brother and younger sister "to see the world." They wound up in Montana, of all places.

Because of her lack of education, she was naive on so many levels. Yet, as I said, she did the best she could with what she had. She took in ironing and did babysitting during my high school years to make ends meet. She was personable--people liked her. She was honest and dependable and a very hard worker.

circa 1955

Because of her naivete, I basically raised myself from the 6th grade through high school. I'm so thankful for the substitute "moms" I had who taught me about religion, boys, cooking, and so many other life skills.

So, today, I celebrate the greatest blessing of all...being a mom to two of the most incredible young men. 

circa 2013

The Strongest Woman I know

Rebecca Tran
Rtranbooks.net

My mom and me

My mom and I didn't always have the best relationship. When I was younger I couldn't understand why she did some of the things she did. Mom was always busy and didn't have a lot of time for us.  She was the main bread-winner on and off for years. She took care of the bills and made sure the house was clean. 

Me and my girls

Now that I'm older I find myself in a similar situation. I realize how hard my mom worked to provide for the family, keep us organized and running smoothly. It wasn't an easy task at all. We had super busy schedules and she never missed a game or school function. I look back now and wonder howshe did it. 

Without my mom these last couple years and in the years to come I'd never survive. At 65 she watches my two girls four days a week which is a full-time job. She's also close friend. I call her literally in the middle of the night just to hear her voice. 

I still don't know how she does it all. Whenever I need inspiration for tough heroines I think of my mom. She's the strongest woman I know. I love you mom. Happy Mother's Day.

COMMENTS

demetria rogers

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Hello, I am Demetria Rogers. After being in relationship with my husband for years, he broke up with me. I did everything within my reach to bring him back but all was in vain, I wanted him back so badly because of the love I had for him, I begged him with everything, I made promises but he refused. I explained my problem to my friend and she suggested that I should rather contact a spell caster that could help me cast a spell to bring him back , I had no choice than to try it. I messaged the spell caster, and he assured me there was no problem and that everything will be okay before three days. He cast the spell and surprisingly on the second day, my husband called me. I was so surprised, I answered the call and all he said was that he was so sorry for everything that had happened He wanted me to return to him. He also said he loved me so much. I was so happy and went to him that was how we started living together happily again. The spell casters email is : babayamideshrine@gmail.com You can email him if you need his assistance in your relationship or any other Case.

Doctor Yamide could help you with the following:

1) Love Spells

2) Lost Love Spells

3) Divorce Spells

4) Marriage Spells

5) Binding Spell.

6) Breakup Spells

7) Banish a past Lover

8.) You want to be promoted in your office/ Lottery spell

9) want to satisfy your lover

Contact this great man if you are having any problem for a lasting solution through babayamideshrine@gmail.com

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Chris Weigand

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Wow great stories, makes me regret not writing one of my own. Thank you all for sharing yours.

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Grace Au

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Today we salute our mothers on this special day of mothering and counting our blessings through our children.

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Toi Thomas

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

I really enjoyed writing about my mom, but most of all, I appreciated being able to see the affections of others. It's a reality check and one of those things that lets us know that we are more alike than we are different.

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Toi Thomas via Google+

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Today we celebrate Mother's Day with a tribute to our moms.

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Cindy Smith via Google+

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Cindy Smith

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

<3

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Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Our Author Gang honors our mothers today, with snippets of memories and lots of love.

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Ruth de Jauregui

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Love all the Moms!

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Lorraine Carey

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

What a beautiful tribute to mothers. Well done here. You guys are something else. I shed a few tears.

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Erika M Szabo

8 months ago

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+Lorraine Carey We're happy that you're joining us Lorraine

Lorraine Carey

8 months ago

 

 

+Erika M Szabo It is going to be a real pleasure.

Erika M Szabo via Google+

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Happy Mother's Day!

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Erika M Szabo

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Beautiful tributes to mothers and memories!
Joe that's a lovely eulogy. She must have been a great person and loving mother, and I bet she's still leaving you hairpins on the carpet :)
Toi, your love for your mom shines through every word and I love the video you made for her. I bet she was bawling her eyes out watching it :)
Ruth, no wonder your mom was afraid of water! My mom preserved every piece of fruit and pickled every vegetable too that we didn't eat fresh. The kitchen table was loaded with jars all summer and the pantry shelves lined with jars :)
Grace I'm so sorry you didn't experience the bond with your mom, but it sounds like you have a deep connection with your sons.
Rebecca it sounds like your mom is an amazing person and mother?!

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Toi Thomas

8 months ago

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What a lovely experience.

Nikki McDonagh

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

What lovely posts. Happy Mother's Day.

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Joe Bonadonna via Google+

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Happy Mother's Day!!! Today on A Small Gang of Authors, we pay honor to our mothers, and share some memories with you.

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Joe Bonadonna

8 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Lovely tributes to our Mothers. Beautiful, gang. Beautiful. Happy Mother's Day!