Author: Marissa DeCuir

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN MATEO, California – Set during one of the most politically divisive eras in American history, Thread for Pearls is a coming-of-age tale that takes the reader on a wild ride as they experience for what it was like to be a child of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Readers follow young heroine Fiona Sprechelbach as she experiences bomb scares and be-ins, ashrams and acid trips, finding her path to adulthood.

“Those were unsettling times to grow up in, and many were left feeling a bit estranged and unseen, like unicorns” author Lauren Speeth said, adding, “I wrote the book to help heal that feeling, while still honoring that unique element in us all.”

Like the book, the author book tour will celebrate resilient hope and post-traumatic growth. Author readings will take place at selected nonprofits whose issues resonate with the storyline in some way audience purchases during those evenings to the nonprofit host.

Lauren Speeth has shared her stories in film and print over the years with audiences around the world, to critical acclaim. Her diverse storytelling interests cover many mediums: from books about the American experience to 3-D films about Irish spirituality, to music about love and life. In this, her first novel, she shares what she has come to understand as the fundamental human experience of resiliency and hope. When not dreaming up stories, Speeth leads Elfenworks Productions, LLC, a pro-social business with internationally acclaimed media content, and The Elfenworks Foundation, where she has assembled a team of social entrepreneurs who work together daily on projects that foster the greater good.

About the Book

A near-death experience in a car with her ; running from tear gas at a Vietnam War rally hand-in-hand with her op; a year in India learning side-by-side the country’s untouchables the highs and lows of living on a rural Pennsylvania commune…and all before Fiona Sprechelbach’s thirteenth birthday.

Set during one of the most politically divisive eras in American history, Thread for Pearls is a coming-of-age tale that takes us on a young heroine’s journey to faith and freedom amidst a turbulent family dynamic. Two decades of American history, 1962 to 1982, are conveyed through the eyes of young Fiona Sprechelbach. It’s a story of resilient hope that questions whether it’s the events of our lives that define us or the thread on which we choose to string them.

“Thread for Pearls: A Story of Resilient Hope”
Lauren Speeth | Elfenworks Productions
Paperback | 978-0-9997071-0-4 | 16.95
eBook | 978-0-9997071-1-1 | 9.99
Historical Fiction | Coming of Age

An Interview with Lauren Speeth

How long did this book take to write?
It took about ten years. Why it took so long is that I had a lot of research to do, and I did it in fits and starts, also taking care of the other responsibilities of my life.

You have a very busy life. When do you make time to write?
I write on Fridays. I carve out the day and don’t go in to work at all.

Why did you write this book?
Why does anybody write anything? I wrote because it just had to be written. There was a story that wanted to be told and wouldn’t let me alone until I told it.

Any suggestions for would-be authors?
Get started. Just get everything down on paper. Then, you can edit later. Don’t be your worst critic.

What are your hopes for this book?
I love getting lost in a book, and entering another world. I wanted to try my hand at giving people that. My hope is that people will immerse themselves in the world of young Fiona Sprechelbach, and emerge with more hope – plus a few tools for life’s journey.

Who’s the audience?
Everyone… I hope. But seriously, maybe students who are the same age as Fiona towards the end of the book, or else people who’ve lived through the times I tell.

There are some very hard moments in the book. Yes, there are. But then, every one of us faces hard moments. A book without them wouldn’t be very interesting or real. It certainly wouldn’t be a book that would interest me to write.

Why did you include the ones you did?
Fiona is a young girl, and with the #metoo movement, it felt right to touch on something that’s so common as to be almost universal in our consciousness. But I could have chosen any number of other issues to write about the aftermath. What do you do with such experiences? That’s a key question explored in the book. I speak to students all over the world and some of them have faced things that are much worse than I depict in Thread for Pearls. Some are almost crushed by them. Others seem so lost and depressed. I think we could all use more stories of hope. I have tried to craft a book with post-traumatic growth, ending it on a strong note of hope.

Do you think a book set in the 1960s and ‘70s has relevance?
Absolutely. I started with the idea of focusing on a time in our American history that was quite difficult in a lot of ways, to bring an overarching message of transcending our circumstances that is always relevant. But as the writing progressed, I began seeing so many echoes from the ‘60s and ‘70s . There are protests, unrest, war… so many parallels to those days. Let’s see if the readers agree.

Why did you choose some of the character names that you did?
I tried to choose names that told you a little about the character you were meeting. For example, I had a lot of fun with a character who nicknamed himself “Cassowary” Cass. People who know their zoo animals understand that the cassowary is a bird that can be deadly, so this fellow was trying to say, “Look out!

Last book to make you cry?
The book by Ursula LeGuin called No Time to Spare, because I was reading it at the time I found out she passed away. She was one of my favorite authors, growing up, and I’d so wanted to send her a copy of my book, imagining that somehow, she might say something kind to me about it. I miss her, even though I’ve never met her. Getting to know an author feels personal, somehow.

What genres do you avoid?
As a reader, I find I avoid horror. I have a vivid imagination, and my mind tends to run with the images I see, so I like to feed myself images of consolation, not desolation. That said, horror can be a great genre for really exploring some important social issues. In my own case, though, I opt for a sci-fi setting, because it helps me remember that what I’m seeing isn’t actually real.

What’s the most interesting thing you learned in a book recently?
Madeleine Albright’s most recent book Fascism, A Warning, gave me a great new definition of the word. To her, a fascist is “someone who identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary including violence to achieve his or her goals. So, a tyrant needn’t be a fascist, though a fascist is very likely a tyrant. I love language, and this definition really fascinated me.

Best book you’ve read about cooking?
Oh, that’s a funny question. It’s an open secret that I’m a terrible cook. I’ve actually shattered Pyrex with my attempts. My first cookbook was The Joy of Cooking, though “joy” and “cooking” don’t really go together in my mind. I love cleaning up after other people cook.

What’s something readers don’t know about you?
I have always had dogs, but I’ve always secretly wanted a kitten, even though I’m very allergic to cats. I just think they’re so adorable. I guess The Rolling Stones were right that you can’t always get what you want. I do have what I need though, with my two puppies, Ginger and Nutmeg. They’re the best.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Boston, MA – N. Lawrence Mann follows up on the critically acclaimed suspense novel, “Full Breach,” unleashing the second installment of the Blue Warp series. These paranormal thrillers find their core identity in the “Addiction Fiction” subgenre, with “Coma Dreams” (LPS Publishing, September 15, 2018) its latest addition. Stunning action, unexpected sci-fi themes, and realistic addiction-based events make for an unusual blend in a book series meant to be a gateway to conversations about addiction, and an apology to those Mann hurt in his past.

Struggling with inner demons after the loss of his child, Retired Air Force Colonel Brett Stafford is in search of missing pieces in his life when he is involved in a single-car accident and slips into a coma for six months. Using his newfound—and unrefined—ability to heal, Brennen Reynolds attempts to revive the colonel on the day his life support is to be terminated. Brennen is only partially successful, as the person awoken is not Colonel Stafford. This colonel is dangerous. Pressured by time, Brennen and his friends must try to piece together what went wrong and how to reverse the process before further tragedies occur and the colonel loses himself forever.

N. Lawrence Mann is the author of the Blue Warp book series and a lifelong reading fanatic. His works are largely described as suspenseful, but frequently incorporate components of fantasy, science fiction, and humor. As a recovered addict, Mann provides a unique perspective in his books that blends the psychological and physiological effects of addiction. Mann spent many years working as a songwriter, creating soundtracks for independent films. His first novel, “Full Breach,” was a International Book Award Finalist. Visit him at nlawrencemann.com to learn more.

“Coma Dreams”
LPS Publishing | September 15, 2018
Paperback | ISBN: 978-0-692-93995-6 | Price: $ 15.99
EBook | ISBN: To come | Price: $2.99
Genre: Suspense

In an interview Nelson can discuss:
* “Addiction Fiction” as genre and why it matters
* His writing process: the addiction scenes come first, the mystery unfolds after.
* How writing fiction is like songwriting
* N. Lawrence Mann’s own relationship with addiction and how writing has helped him
* His writing process: writing as lived apology
* Blending supernatural elements with a mystery plot
* What is the “Blue Warp?”

An Interview with N. Lawrence Mann

You have addiction in your own background—how has your own recovery story influenced your writing?
Well, if it weren’t for that decade of my life, I probably wouldn’t have ever committed to writing at all. If fact, writing was (and continues to be) a way to make that time period meaningful. Instead of attempting to block it out, I incorporate it into the narratives I write and use it as a reference whenever I need the reader to understand what it is to be puppeted by addiction. For instance, in the first book, our protagonist, Brennen, is at a time in his life where any choice he makes that doesn’t involve quitting drugs is the wrong choice. In this second story, he is struggling with how he perceives his world after quitting, which is a time period rarely talked about in many recovery stories, and is one of the most difficult stages. To write accurately about it in a way that conveys this to an audience, that life experience (as bleak as it was) can be a great asset. Legal thrillers are usually best when voiced through the experiences of a writer with legal experience, whether that experience was as a lawyer or judge. It’s the same with me, except my life experience is a decade of addiction. You could say that I hold a doctorate in poor life choices.

How do your books fit into the “addiction fiction” genre?
Thinking about my work in terms of a genre classification of “Addiction Fiction” helped me to stay on track when writing stories. As mentioned earlier, I want to be able to make meaning of the darker days of my life. To accomplish this, I want to be sure that at least one central character in any given story is battling inner demons stemmed from addiction. Whether it’s alcohol, prescription meds, street drugs, or gambling, I want to make sure the addicts are represented. These books embody that 100%.

What is unique about your writing process?
I spent a lot of time, mostly my twenties and half of my thirties, in front of a computer and a mixing board, working for very little return as a songwriter. Writing stories was a natural progression for me. Since it was no longer feasible to spend money on expensive recording gear, I found a way to get the same creative satisfaction working on a laptop where I can pick it up any time, anywhere. Although it has been liberating to write in a new medium, I still approach my stories the way I approach a song. In fact, I no longer see a difference between the two. You start with a tempo and a beat (a plot), add a bass guitar or synth bass (central character), your rhythm and lead guitars (secondary characters), you make them work together through intros, verses, choruses and bridges (story points and subplots) and add your reverb, distortion and other effects (story enrichment), and you have yourself a book.

Dreams show up as important plot and character motivators in Coma Dreams (and its title focuses on them as well!). What inspired this different take on moving the action along in a thriller?
Dreams, as common as they are, are largely unexplained. The opinions about the meaning of them, and the purpose behind them, have been interpreted through various cultures and sub-cultures since humans began to contemplate them. In my humble opinion, they may be jigsaw pieces to a larger, perhaps infinite puzzle: How exactly the human brain works, what its true potential is, and how it is connected to the universe/multiverse. If it is true that we only use 10% of our brain’s potential, then it is easy to understand why we don’t have a concrete understanding of dreams. If we keep fitting the pieces together and add a few more percentage points, zoom outward to see the puzzle as a whole, we may look back and see that dreams were merely the beginning stages of advanced communication between human beings—evolution knocking from beneath the depth of our consciousness. Of course, I could be entirely off base (and am comfortable with that), but the concept of it was just too rich to pass up without including it into the storyline of the series. Besides,with Brennen’s experiences in the first story, it was only natural that dreams were to play a bigger role in this one.

What is your take on the relationship between science fiction and culture?
Good question—and one that probably deserves much more page space than we are allowing today. I always loved the concept that what is improbable in ten years may be inevitable in a thousand. In other words, science fiction allows us to keep ourselves in check with a far searching eye. That same optical muscle that helped us evolve through our measly 3 plus million years by remembering star patterns at various times of the year is the same we use when thinking of alternate realities, or the realities of the future. I think it’s a muscle that needs to be flexed and science fiction is a way of doing that. It was great revisiting Back to the Future in 2015 to see what they got right and wrong—as it pertains to our current culture—when writing it back in the mid ’80s. There was a surprising amount of accuracy.

So if any given current culture can aspire to the wonderment of its science fiction, or heed the warnings of it, then perhaps the more secure it can be. In a healthy culture, life and art should have some flexibility to imitate each other.

What do you hope readers will take away after reading “Coma Dreams”?
It would be great if people would, after reading it, put the book down and re-examine their ideas as to the nature of reality—if only for a moment.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, the story revolves around the human condition. There are good people who have done bad things. There are people who have caused others pain through no fault of their own. There is forgiveness to be asked for. So I would say that if this story makes just one person to concede that time on this planet is short and release an old grudge, or perhaps call an old friend whom they have been estranged, forgive someone or allow themselves to be forgiven, this story will have been well worth the time.

What the hell is the Blue Warp?
Good question. You came to the right person. The Theory of Relativity (our best explanation of the very large) and Quantum Mechanics (our best explanation of the very small) don’t get along. At all. Like Scott Barrett from the first book says, “Until the two are reconciled, all cosmic bets are off.” In other words, we can’t completely discount the possibility of the impossible just because we don’t currently have the capacity to understand it.

Within this disconnect lies the Blue Warp—the possibility of an infinite consciousness by which we are all connected. The Blue Warp is a proposal—both a “what if” and a “why not” that are tapped into and personified by addict, Brennen Reynolds.

That’s the short version.
So, yeah. There’s that.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TULSA, OK – IPPY award winning author of “Harebrained” Meg Myers Morgan and successful Tedx speaker is releasing her latest self-help title “Everything is Negotiable: The 5 Tactics to Get What You Want in Life, Love, and Work” (Seal Press, December 4, 2018) deconstructs our preconceived notions about adulthood, parenthood, and career paths, and illuminates how they can limit us.

“Everything is Negotiable” draws from author Meg Myers Morgan’s experiences mentoring and professionally coaching her graduate students, raising her kids, and achieving success as a speaker with TED Talk “Negotiating for Your Life” for TEDxOU in 2016 and as author of Foreword Review: Book of the Year “Harebrained: It seemed like a good idea at the time” to provide lessons in balancing work and life for high-potential women. Chock full of powerful advice, case studies, and laugh-out-loud stories, this humorous yet commanding book will inspire you to clarify goals, overcome doubts, achieve work life balance, and set the terms for the life you want.

Dr. Meg Myers Morgan is an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma and the director of graduate programs in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management on the OU-Tulsa campus. She speaks publicly about recruiting and retaining talent; negotiating in work and life; and developing women as leaders. Meg holds a PhD and an MPA from the University of Oklahoma, and a degree in English and Creative Writing with honors from Drury University. She trained in Executive and Leadership Coaching at Columbia University. She lives in Tulsa with her husband and their two young daughters.

“Everything is Negotiable: The 5 Tactics to Get What You Want in Life, Love, and Work”
Meg Myers Morgan | December 4, 2018 | Seal Press
Paperback ISBN: 978-1580057899 | Price: $16.99
Self-Help

In an interview Meg can discuss:
* How women can expand their concept of negotiation beyond just salaries to empower every aspect of their lives
* Balancing her work as a speaker and teacher with her writing career
* How “Everything is Negotiable” shows an encouraging side of self-help that can be used in life and business instead of pressuring readers to have their lives all “put together”
* Her work as Board President of the women’s empowerment organization YWCA of Tulsa

An Interview with Meg Myers Morgan

What drew your attention to seeing the difference in ways men and women negotiate?
We all know that women negotiate for salaries at alarmingly lower rates than men. But salaries are just one of the negotiations women neglect. Some of the most important negotiations start long before we ever get to the money. Women are missing out on a host of chances to set better terms in their life and work. As a faculty member and the lead of a graduate program, I meet with so many people who are considering going back to school. I began to notice strong differences between how men and women approached their conversations with me. Men typically talk to me about tactical concerns: cost, schedule, course load, etc. Women would talk to me holistically, often citing their family obligations, career expectations, and, frequently, their own insecurities. In general, women tend to negotiate against themselves in a way I never really see my male students do. Those negotiations against themselves are part of why they never get to the part of negotiating for higher salaries.

How did your experience as a speaker and teacher prepare you for your writing career?
As a public speaker, and during my time in the classroom, I have to get people comfortable, and trusting me, so they can listen to what I have to say or teach. That means I have to be commanding and comforting. I need to have powerful things to say, but I want to tell it in a funny and relatable way. To me, humor is the best conduit for any lesson. This book is like listening to a powerful lecture, but with the humor and comfort of a chat with friend over happy hour.

How does your book differ from a lot of “tough love” self help books, and why is this an important distinction?
I think the trend of “tough love” development books has its place, but that’s not my writing style. Or how I mentor women. I find women are extremely thoughtful and reflective and like to take every choice in their lives and roll them around so they can examine them from all angles. That’s what this book is: a thoughtful and reflective look at our relationship with our own ambition and with ourselves.

How did your experience with motherhood play a role in your decision to write this book?
Women are conditioned to think motherhood is the end of certain things. This is why so many women I talk to will tell me they are considering graduate school or a promotion, but need to make sure it doesn’t conflict with their timeline to have kids. We’ve asked women to pit all their wants against each other and then walk around asking, “Can women really have it all?” I wanted to speak to that specifically. This book dives deep into idea of women negotiating for everything they want–family, education, career, and happiness.

Where do you find inspiration for these lessons in life, love, and work?
My children are gold mine! I watch them at their young age be so self-possessed and determined. But then I see my peers, or women I mentor, lack that confidence. How do young girls go from, “Watch me, I can do anything!” to growing up and saying, “I’m worried if I ask for a higher salary I’ll seem greedy.” I’m also incredibly inspired by my students. I teach in a professional graduate program so every student is juggling a demanding job and a busy personal life–often with kids–and yet they are in class, investing time and energy. I can’t think of anything more inspirational than watching these professionals working to have it all.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

By Samuel Marquis

In Spies of the Midnight Sun: A True Story of WWII Heroes, Book 3 of his WWII Series, historical fiction author Samuel Marquis recounts the courage and tenacity of female Norwegian Resistance operatives Dagmar Lahlum and Annemarie Breien in their efforts to defeat the Nazis, as well as the tragedy of their post-war lives.

At the close of the Second World War in Europe, a climate of paranoia and retribution permeated newly liberated Norway. Norwegian Resistance operatives Dagmar Lahlum and Annemarie Breien contributed greatly in the fight against the Nazis—and yet soon after the war trumpets faded these two women were tormented by their countrymen as “collaborators” and locked up as common criminals. For a country that was complicit with the Nazis during WWII and failed to thwart Nazi aggression, there was a fervent need in 1945 for the country to find culprits—and both Lahlum and Breien were undeservedly snared in the post-war reckoning known as the landssvikoppgjør (The Settlement with the Traitors).

As Richard Overy, author of Scandinavia in the Second World War states: “For all the discussion in present-day Scandinavia about the failure to uphold universal human values, there was a strong sense of retribution at the time against those deemed to have failed those values…in Norway, 20,000 were imprisoned [for collaboration] and 30,000 lost their civil rights.” At war’s end, Norway had an inferiority complex and a public-relations nightmare on its hands: it had to convince itself and the Allies—which had expended billions of dollars and spilled copious amounts of blood while Norway had cozied up to the Nazis and offered only token resistance—that it had been a steadfast resister and stalwart ally all along.

Lahlum and Breien were the collateral damage of this post-war witch-hunt. Their only crime—which was, in fact, no crime at all—was having an intimate relationship with the enemy, or in the case of Dagmar Lahlum, with a perceived enemy, while actively working to topple Nazi Germany. From April 1943 through March 1944, Lahlum fell in love with and spied alongside former safecracker, Lothario, and British double agent Eddie Chapman, who was only pretending to work on behalf of the Abwehr, the German Foreign Intelligence Service, in Occupied Norway. Similarly, from May 1942 through May 1945, Annemarie Breien maintained a humanitarian-relief-based relationship with German Captain Siegfried Fehmer, the handsome and charming yet brutal police investigator of the infamous Sicherheitspolizei Abteilung IV (Gestapo) at Victoria Terrasse in Oslo. In getting close to Fehmer, Breien managed to secure the release of 80 to 90 of her countrymen from prison. But there was a price. By the fall of 1944, her relationship with Fehmer had become intimate and her lawyer husband, unhappy with the time she was devoting to her humanitarian mission and the Gestapo bloodhound, left her. For these wartime indiscretions in the name of defeating Hitler and his Thousand-Year Reich, both women suffered a lifetime of abuse and emotional damage following the end of hostilities.

History shows that they should have long ago been recognized for their wartime achievements just like celebrated male Norwegian war heroes Max Manus, Gunnar Sønsteby, and Knut Haugland. British and Norwegian records indicate that Lahlum not only risked her life working as an unofficial MI5 spy on behalf of British double agent Eddie Chapman (thought by the Norwegians to be working in the Abwehr), but as an operative in the Norwegian Resistance, most likely Militær Organisasjon, or Milorg. As Ben Macintyre, author of Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal, states, “Dagmar Lahlum, model and dressmaker, was…secretly working as an agent for Milorg, the spreading Norwegian resistance network. Though neither knew it, Eddie Chapman and his ‘beautiful and adorable’ new lover were fighting on the same side.” During Chapman’s time in Norway, Lahlum became his skillful subagent, assisting him in intelligence-gathering activities and enabling him to blend in and act as a sponge within the Oslo community. With Lahlum’s help, Chapman was able to construct an accurate picture of the Abwehr in Occupied Norway and identify the Germans’ key military installations in and around Oslo.

Similarly, Annemarie Breien performed inestimable service on behalf of the Norwegian Resistance, serving as an unofficial operative with Milorg as an intelligence gatherer, courier, go-between, and unofficial humanitarian relief worker on behalf of the Allied cause. According to brilliant Norwegian Historian Kristina Hatledal, author of Women Fighting: The History of Norwegian Female Resistance Fighters based on her detailed Master’s Thesis on Lahlum and Breien, and other Norwegian researchers, Breien carried letters, packages, and suitcases bearing food, clothing, and hidden money to incarcerated Resistance figures and delivered communications to her Milorg compatriots about forthcoming raids based on intelligence given to her by Fehmer—or that she was able to overhear, coax, or steal from him. She also succeeded in convincing him to soften his interrogation procedures on prisoners and to remove one or more of his most brutal Gestapo torturers from his interrogation teams. Her primary Milorg contact she reported to was a dentist and captain named Knut Reidar Bergwitz-Larsen, and she also maintained contact with key executives in Milorg through Else Endresen, who in turn reported to Jens Christian Hauge, the head of Milorg. On the night of May 7 and 8, 1944 at the Gestapo headquarters at Victoria Terrasse, she was an instrumental and trusted liaison between Milorg and Fehmer in helping bring about a peaceful end to hostilities and transition to Allied control.

Thus, while most of their 40,000 Milorg comrades in arms did nothing but tromp around in the woods performing useless training exercises until April 1944 when Allied victory was imminent, Lahlum served as a courier for the Resistance and worked unofficially with British intelligence combatting the Nazis, and Breien secured the release of 80 to 90 of her countrymen from prison and garnered critical intelligence on behalf of the Allies—and yet both suffered post-war incarceration and ostracism. Again, their only crime was getting unacceptably close—at least in the eyes of the Norwegian police and their countrymen—to German officers in order to gather intelligence on the enemy. In doing so, they were disparagingly called tyskertøs—German whores—an unfair label that unfortunately still persists to this day.

Lahlum was locked up in Bredtveit Prison in 1945, convicted of treason in 1947, and had to serve a total of 378 days in incarceration. Breien suffered a less stringent sentence for her supposed collaboration with the enemy, but her post-war life was just as tragic. Ironically, it was the Norwegian police that was largely responsible for the harsh sentences of both women—the same police department that only two years earlier had been staffed by more than fifty percent pro-Nazi Nasjonal Samling Party members and had terrorized Norwegians, especially the Jews sent to Auschwitz, as much as the Germans. But the Norwegian government had to make an example of someone—and Nordic women who had been romantically involved with German officers were as good a retributive target as any. Neither the Norwegian police nor the British government that Lahlum ultimately made her appeal to (as Chapman had instructed her to do) cared a whit about their good deeds fighting on behalf of the Allied cause.

The judgments against Lahlum and Breien for “sleeping with the enemy” and their undeserved reputations as tyskertøs dogged both women for the rest of their lives. They were repeatedly harassed in their hometowns. Lahlum’s neighbors back in Eidsvoll whispered within earshot that she was a “German’s tart,” but she ignored the affronts and never told her presumptuous neighbors that she had spied on behalf of the British Secret Service and Norwegian Resistance during the war. Breien was punched in the face and subjected to other forms of violence. Even though she had far more supporters, friends, and family members than Lahlum that had served in the Resistance and testified on her behalf at her trial, her life after the war wasn’t much better and her countrymen continued to abuse her. Breien obtained a job at the United States Embassy in Oslo but was let go without any reason. More tough breaks would follow. During their lifetimes, Lahlum and Breien would never be able to escape their past, and even today most references to the courageous Breien mistakenly and slanderously refer to her as “Fehmer’s mistress,” which Randi Evensmo, whose Resistance-warrior husband Sigurd was saved by her, took grave exception to, and rightfully so.

Both Annemarie Breien and Dagmar Lahlum should be officially honored by Norway for their wartime service on behalf of the Allied cause. They were the collateral damage of a nation that was desperate to purge its ugly past and have clear-cut heroes who actually killed Nazis and blew up ships and plants, like Max Manus and Gunnar Sønsteby. But today we know better. We can make restitution and call them what they truly were: WWII heroes.

Biography
The ninth great-grandson of legendary privateer Captain William Kidd, Samuel Marquis is the bestselling, award-winning author of a World War Two Series, the Nick Lassiter-Skyler International Espionage Series, and historical pirate fiction. His novels have been #1 Denver Post bestsellers, received multiple national book awards (Foreword Reviews Book of the Year, American Book Fest Best Book, USA Best Book, Beverly Hills, Next Generation Indie, Colorado Book Awards), and garnered glowing reviews from #1 bestseller James Patterson, Kirkus, and Foreword Reviews (5 Stars). Book reviewers have compared Marquis’s WWII thrillers Bodyguard of Deception and Altar of Resistance to the epic historical novels of Tom Clancy, John le Carré, Ken Follett, Herman Wouk, Daniel Silva, and Alan Furst. Mr. Marquis’s newest historical novel, Spies of the Midnight Sun, is the true story of legendary British safecracker and spy Eddie Chapman, the British Double Cross Spy System, and courageous Norwegian female Resistance operatives Dagmar Lahlum and Annemarie Breien. His website is samuelmarquisbooks.com and for publicity inquiries, please contact JKSCommunications at info@jkscommunications.com.

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

‘New York Times’ bestselling author Ellen Tanner Marsh returns to the world of romance with the publication of her award-winning novels in ‘The Forbidden Gems Trilogy’

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Thirty years ago, Ellen Tanner Marsh took the romance world by storm with the publication of her first historical romance novel. An instant New York Times bestseller, the book garnered critical acclaim and earned the young author legions of fans.

Known for her flair for writing high adventure and steamy romance, Ellen is back with the beloved characters of her first bestsellers cast into new stories written for a contemporary audience. A love saga that spans generations and continents, “The Forbidden Gems Trilogy” will sweep you into the darkly passionate world of British India with “Diamond Dark” (July 2018), sail away to antebellum Charleston in “Diamond Fire” (September 2018), and follow the love story of a new generation in “Diamond Deep” (January 2019).

Woven through these lush tales of love is the re-imagined fate of the Kohinoor Diamond, now a priceless part of the British crown jewels.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Although born in Germany, Ellen Tanner Marsh has lived in the Lowcountry near Charleston, South Carolina, for nearly forty years. She’s still married to her high school sweetheart, a lifelong surfer, with whom she raised two sons. When Ellen isn’t writing, she tends her flower garden and fruit trees and volunteers with local animal rescues. Living close to the beach means plenty of walks with her own rescue dogs. And after all this time in the South, she’s finally developed a passion for steamed oysters, shrimp & grits, and sweet iced tea.

DIAMOND DARK
The splendors of India, a priceless diamond…
From the wild Cornish coast to the tumultuous frontier of British India, feisty Raven Barrancourt must sail halfway round the world to seek a fortune that will save her beloved ancestral home. But what she finds in India is worth more than silver, gold, or any fabled jewel…
Sea captain Charles St. Germain doesn’t need the distraction of a black-haired beauty on the voyage to India, where a dangerous mission awaits him. Mutiny, espionage, and the search for a coveted diamond threaten his duties, but far more dangerous is his growing passion for a woman he knows he can’t have.

As book one of the “Forbidden Gems Trilogy,” “Diamond Dark” brings the sweeping romance of India to tempestuous life.

“Diamond Dark” | Ellen Tanner Marsh
July 2018 | Monkeypaw Press | Historical Romance Paperback | 9780998135588 | $14.99
Ebook | 9780998135533 | $2.99
DIAMOND FIRE
A love more splendid than any jewel…
Strong-minded Raven Barrancourt has sailed to faraway India hoping to save her beloved Cornish home from ruin. But when an Indian empress entrusts her with a fabled diamond said to carry a dangerous curse, Raven’s own life may well be at stake. With northern India on the edge of revolt, Raven must entrust her safety and her priceless secret to the one man who rejected her.

Blinded by passion, Charles St. Germain would sail to the corners of the earth to make Raven his, though fate in the form of the world’s rarest gem could conspire to keep them apart. From the splendors of

British India to antebellum Charleston, duty and betrayal threaten the love he has found in a woman worth more than any fortune.

As book two of the “Forbidden Gems Trilogy,” “Diamond Fire” brings the sweeping romance of India and antebellum Charleston to tempestuous life.

“Diamond Fire” | Ellen Tanner Marsh | September 2018 Monkeypaw Press | Historical Romance

DIAMOND DEEP
The tempestuous tale of the St. Germain women and the men who capture their hearts continues in stunning fashion…

When a collision between two ships hurls Sable St. Germain into the sea, fate has a clear hand in choosing the man who saves her.

Battle-scarred sea captain Morgan Rhys Carey refuses to return his lovely passenger to her family while on a reckless mission to save the life of a friend. But he soon finds himself risking everything to keep Sable by his side and in his bed.

Though Sable is determined to flee the man who’s abducted her, she can’t help responding to the passion he has awakened within her. And while Morgan believes his destiny lies elsewhere, his obsession with this bewitching beauty holds him captive as well.

In this last book of the Forbidden Gems Trilogy, two unforgettable characters discover a love more precious than any jewel.

“Diamond Deep” | Ellen Tanner Marsh | January 2019 Monkeypaw Press | Historical Romance

An Interview with Ellen Tanner Marsh

Why did you decide to rewrite your former best sellers updated for a modern audience?
After 30 years of raising a family and being a full-time freelance book editor, I was finally able to turn some attention to my former best sellers. Many of them were written while I was fresh out of college, when my writing skills were admittedly poor and historical romances followed plotlines that today are considered unacceptable: cold-hearted and occasionally cruel heroes—the definition of manly at the time—and bullied heroines whose sexual encounters with the hero often bordered on rape.

Re-reading my novels after all these years, I found them unsophisticated and very “1980s.” Since I still love the characters and settings, I decided to have some fun updating their stories and at the same time improve the poor writing. How many authors are lucky enough to have the chance to do a total makeover?

How do diamonds play a role in the trilogy?
The original bestseller that I converted into “Diamond Dark” and “Diamond Fire” (books one and two of the trilogy) loosely involved the fate of the Kohinoor Diamond, now a priceless part of the British crown jewels. Expanding on the tale, I wove diamonds and other precious gemstones through all three books. I’ve had a love affair with jewels since the third grade, when I bought a book at my elementary school book fair describing how rubies, sapphires, and opals are mined. From that point on, I intended to be a geologist when I grew up—until around eighth grade, when I realized my math skills were absurdly bad. But my twin sister is married to a geophysicist. Does that count?

As someone who grew up in Germany and resides in Charleston, SC, why did you decide to set your books in the British Empire?
I suppose it’s pretty much like a French Michelin star chef who prefers to binge on other foods besides French cuisine, like burritos and burgers. Charleston is my research laboratory. It’s a perfectly preserved old city with rich historical resources that inspire me to imagine my characters sailing off to other exotic locations outside the lab.

What exciting changes can readers who have previously read your work expect? While the heroes and heroines in my new books are the same, they’ve evolved. Their tales are told in the first person to give them a sense of immediacy and to provide readers with the intimacy of seeing everything through their eyes. The heroes are no longer hairy knuckle-draggers but sensitive and caring men—though it takes some hard work by the plucky heroines to tame them.

Do you have any other romance titles on the horizon?
After “The Forbidden Gems Trilogy,” I’ll be releasing “The Rogue in Her Bed,” the retelling of my first and most popular “New York Times” bestseller, as well as two others. There’s a contemporary romance in the works too, a reworked gothic romance (remember those?) that takes place in a castle in modern-day Scotland.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, California – When surgical resident Emily Hartford returns to the small town where she grew up after more than a decade away, she is confronted with issues from her past, and a mystery from the present.

Her father, the local coroner, has had a heart attack, and is unavailable to autopsy the body of a girl found in suspicious circumstances at a horse stable. When he asks her to take over in his stead, she is resistant, especially as that would mean working closely with the sheriff, who just happens to be her ex-boyfriend.

Emily worries about her father’s declining health and tries to tend to her tenuous relationship with her fiance from afar. And as she and Nick delve more deeply into what happened to Julie Dobson, Emily realizes they will be in danger if they keep poking around where they aren’t wanted.

Fans of crime drama and strong female characters will love this twist on a detective novel that will leave your heart racing and keep you turning pages until the end.

Jennifer Dornbush is a writer, speaker, and forensic specialist creating a diverse range of stories that shed light on the dark places of the human experience. As a daughter of a medical examiner, she investigated her first fatality when she was 8. She has several crime dramas in development, and a feature film inspired by her novel, God Bless the Broken Road, is slated for release Sept. 21, 2018. She is also the author of Forensic Speak: How To Write Realistic Crime Dramas, hailed as a north star to creating authentic crime dramas. Jennifer teaches seminars and speaks on writing crime fiction for screen, forensic fundamentals, and death investigation. She hosts webinars on crime writing through Writer’s Digest; and has collaborated with The Writers Store and Script Magazine to produce a video on crime writing for writers. She also hosts a YouTube channel on forensics and the writing life. She teaches screenwriting and mentors aspiring writers through the Act One Program, Regent University, and Universita Catholica Milano. She is a member of the Writers’ Guild of American and the Mystery Writers of America.

About the Book
Summoned from her promising surgical career first to her estranged father’s bedside, and then his post as medical examiner when his small town needs urgent help with a suspicious death, Emily Hartford discovers home is where the bodies are in this pitch perfect mystery debut. Recently engaged and deeply ensconced in her third year of surgical residency in Chicago, Emily Hartford gets a shock when she’s called home to Freeport, MI, the small town she fled a decade ago after the death of her mother. Her estranged father, the local medical examiner, has had a massive heart attack and Emily is needed urgently to help with his recovery. Not sure what to expect, Emily races home, blowing the only stoplight at the center of town and getting pulled over by her former high school love, now Sheriff, Nick Larson. At the hospital, she finds her father in near total denial of the seriousness of his condition. He insists that the best thing Emily can do to help him is to take on the autopsy of a Senator’s teen daughter whose sudden, unexplained death has just rocked the sleepy town. Reluctantly agreeing to help her father and Nick, Emily gets down to work, only to discover that the girl was murdered. The autopsy reminds her of her many hours in the morgue with her father when she was a young teen—a time which inspired her love of medicine. Before she knows it, she’s pulled deeper into the case and closer to her father and to Nick—much to the dismay of her big city fiancé. When a threat is made to Emily herself, she must race to catch the killer before he strikes again in The Coroner, expertly written and sharply plotted, perfect for fans of Patricia Cornwell and Julia Spencer Fleming. ​

An Interview with Jennifer Graeser Dornbush

Obviously being the daughter of a medical examiner had a big influence on you. Did you ever want to follow in your father’s footsteps?
As a teenager, I was rather grossed out and embarrassed about what my father’s job at M.E. These were the days before CSI and Forensic Files made death investigation exciting and cool. When my friends found out my dad did this, they took great interest, so that lessened the embarrassment on my part. And while I do love the sciences, I always knew my calling was to be on the storytelling side of crime solving.

You’re also the author of an inspirational novel and feature film about an Army widow, and a nonfiction book about the science of forensic investigation and crime dramas. How did writing a mystery differ?
Storytelling is storytelling no matter the genre. All genres follow the same story rules and arcs. I find it takes the same amount of time, effort, thought, energy, and research to develop a story whether its for book or screen. Creating a screenplay requires the same amount of story work as it does for a novel. The only difference is that I can write a screenplay in a fraction of the time it takes me to write a novel because most of the backstory and ground work never shows up as words on the page. Nonfiction is a whole different ball game. It requires a lot less emotional energy. And in that sense, it feels less exhaustive. I love the challenge and results of all of them.

Did you plan out the mystery before you started or did you see where you writing took you?
I’m a plotter. That comes from my screenwriting training. When I start a new mystery I pretend I’m the investigator and I create a case file for my “case.” From there I create a rough skeleton outline of the mystery plot. After that I flesh out the character’s arcs and emotional journeys, and B, C, and D stories surrounding the case. Then, I create a treatment. Workshop it. Then, a first draft. More workshopping. I’m a collaborative writer. It’s more fun, makes the project stronger, and gets the project done faster.

What is something that you frequently see the media portraying incorrectly in regards to forensics?
I have my top ten and they all have pet names. One of my favorites is what I call, “Sex Appeal.” You see this a lot on television. The good-looking, well- dressed investigators show up in heels, skirts, or suit to a crime scene investigation. Their hair and make-up are perfectly done. They are fresh and well-rested. A lot of times they aren’t wearing any proper protective gear. It’s not a criticism. I understand it why they do this. Shows want to portray a certain sex appeal from their actors. But it’s not a reflection of how real life investigators show up to crime scenes.

Why did you decided to set most of the book in a small town?
The Coroner harkens to my experiences growing up in a small town and seeing how death investigation works in a rural area. I like to expose the reality that resources in rural areas are often limited and different than they are in big cities. I’m not saying they are not professional. They are. But the elements of staffing, equipment, education, experience, and budget all factor in and vary vastly from county to county. Secondly, I think it’s interesting to explore how small communities react when one of their own is taken from them. No one remains anonymous in small towns. Everyone plays a role. Everyone is affected. Everyone has an opinion and a stake.

The cliffhanger leads me to think we’ll be seeing more of these characters – can you tell us anything about their futures?
We’ll be continuing the journey of Dr. Emily Hartford as Coroner. Her love life becomes more complicated as she struggles with calling off her engagement, tests the dating waters, and explores any remaining sparks with Nick. And she will be have to solve a brutal cold case murder… much darker than the first book… with Nick as a key suspect.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Dr. Charles Smith has opened his remarkable storehouse of memories and revealed a treasury of experiences which will be a blessing to all those who read them.”- Winfield Dunn, Tennessee Governor 1971-75

Nashville, TN — Charles Smith’s grew up in small town—not a silver spoon in sight—as an average-at-best student whose first job was editor of the hometown newspaper he delivered as an eight year old.

Forty-two years later Smith was living in Washington D.C., serving in George W. Bush’s administration as executive director of the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP), an inside player of arguably the most impactful federal initiative to improve education in modern times.

“Journal of a Fast Track Life and Lessons Learned Along the Way” contextualizes Smith’s life story with lessons learned from a half century spent in top leadership roles across three professions. He explores the jobs, appointed positions, experiences and litany of governors, presidents, CEOs and other leaders that shaped his life and provides the reader with an introspective view of crucial crossroad moments, and the processes which have guided his decision making over the years.

In more than five decades of professional life, Charles E. Smith has held primary leadership roles in education, journalism, and state/federal government. During his years in Tennessee, he served as chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents for six years and as the Tennessee Commissioner of Education for seven years. He also served as chancellor of two University of Tennessee campuses, as vice president over two separate divisions of UT’s statewide university administration, and as editor of both weekly and daily newspapers in Tennessee.

About the Book
“Journal of a Fast Track Life: And Lessons Learned Along the Way”
Charles E. Smith | September 6, 2018 | Charbar Press
Hardcover | $29.95 | ISBN 9781732123403
Softcover | $14.95 | ISBN 9781732123410
E-Book | $9.99 | ISBN 9781732123427
Biography/Memoir, Leadership, Management ​

In an interview Charles can discuss:
* The guidance provided to him by mentors throughout his decorated and prolific career in education, journalism, and federal and state government
* How he bridged the partisan divide in serving as a University Chancellor under a Republican Governor and Commissioner of Education under a Democratic Governor
* His time as executive director of the Nation’s Report Card in the George W. Bush administration
* How the state of education has evolved in the U.S.
* The balance between power and integrity, trust, and open communication in politics and in other leadership positions

An Interview with Charles Smith

What inspired you to write this book?
In the latter stages of my career, particularly during my years in Washington, D.C., I began to realize that I had accumulated an exceptional number of career mileposts, far beyond any expectations for a small town guy. Trying to decipher how and why I had been able to achieve a storybook life became a passion. In time, I concluded that the keys to my successes were the lessons learned and applied from a series of outstanding and strong boss/mentors and a fascinating string of career experiences. Perhaps my boss at the Nation’s Report Card in Washington captured it best when he noted in his endorsement of my book that he had been impressed by my credentials and professional experience but had “no idea of the depth and richness of his (Smith’s) journey to the top of three professions” before reading my draft manuscript. Thus, a book was born.

The book is broken into bite sized pieces of your life, how did you decide to write it in this format?
Early on, I had to make a judgment as to how best to tell my story. I concluded in the early stages that a traditional, chronological autobiography tracing my journey and the destination would not be compelling. My career experiences taken individually were not necessarily unique, but collectively they produced a substantive package of successes against all odds. That conclusion then led me to focus on how and why it all came to be. Bottom line, I decided that the lessons learned and applied over a half century paved the way for my success along the way. Thus, the book is divided into 32 chapters of lessons learned, with specific examples, relevant anecdotes, and ultimate outcomes.

What would you consider some of your proudest moments working in education?
Clearly, leading Governor McWherter’s landmark education improvement initiative in the early 90s is at the top of my list. A close second would be integrating The Nation’s Report Card into President Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative and taking the reporting of results from the backrooms of education researchers to the main street of public policy making at the local, state, and national levels. While these two “proudest moments” top the list, many individual-focused initiatives rank high.

Who were some of your biggest teachers and influences during your career?
My best classroom teacher was Dr. Ida Long Rogers, a professor at Vanderbilt/Peabody in Nashville. She was much more than a knowledgeable instructor; she inspired, challenged, and congratulated. As a graduate student working full time and a parent of two small children, I benefited greatly from her willingness to work with me on weekends and at night. Then, as I made the move up the ladder as a university chancellor, newspaper editor, and state commissioner of education, she took the time to have lunch with me periodically to critique my efforts, to offer substantive advice, and to encourage me. Outside the classroom, I had the good fortune to work for a series of strong and effective bosses, who like Dr. Rogers, apparently saw my potential and challenged me to be the best that I could be. I devote a chapter in my book to the value of bosses who inspire by word and deed.

Of all your various leadership roles, which one did you enjoy most, which one was the most challenging, which one was the most rewarding, and why?
On reflection, both the most enjoyable and most challenging role was state commissioner of education. It forced me to reach back into all the lessons learned as a newspaper editor, university chancellor, and press secretary to a candidate for governor and apply that experience to a new set of leadership requirements. I had not had any previous experience in k-12 education. I had to learn quickly the language of the profession, the nuances of working with the scores of special interest groups that populate the k-12 landscape statewide, and the multiple issues confronting the public school system. The complexity of the k-12 world far exceeds anything I ever experienced in higher education and the media. I have witnessed many commissioners who tried and failed simply because they lacked the substantive “boot camp” experience of leadership in big tents preparatory to assuming top level roles.

If someone were to only take one lesson away from this book, which one should it be?
The central lesson learned from a half century in high profile leadership roles is that success stories in politically charged environments are dependent on mutual trust, respect, and open communications. Multiple chapters in my book make and document that point. While my book steers clear of politics per se, solutions for the current broken political system at the national level and in most states, including my home state of Tennessee, are embedded in the chapters of lessons learned. Bottom line, the key is mutual trust, respect, and open communications. I honestly believe that our nation’s political leadership could benefit greatly from the lessons presented in my book.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TORONTO, Ontario – Martin Reese is a man of unusual interests. The devoted father and husband retired from his job after selling his tech company for a hefty profit, and he now fills his free time with camping trips.

But those trips are only a cover for Martin’s true passion – tracking down the undiscovered graves of serial killers’ victims and uncovering their bodies. He has always had a problem fixating on certain women, but he sees his hobby as a safe way of channeling that energy into something productive. The families of the victimes get closure that the police couldn’t provide, and Martin gets to scratch an itch that won’t go away.

But all that digging brings unwanted attention, both from a police detective obsessed with catching “The Finder” who has been embarrassing the department, and from a man whose work Martin has been disturbing. To escape their clutches and keep his family safe, Martin may have to access a part of himself he’s been hiding from for most of his life.

Nathan Ripley is the pseudonym of Naben Ruthnum. Naben grew up in Kelowna and spent most of his twenties in Vancouver, making frequent trips to the Pacific Northwest setting of Find You In the Dark to see concerts and, eventually, to conduct research. His interest in pulp, thriller, and horror fiction never flagged even when he was focused on writing criticism and literary fiction. Stepping into the Nathan Ripley pseudonym to write crime fiction was a natural step, as Ruthnum continued to write short stories, eventually winning the Journey Prize. Find You In the Dark is his first novel. He lives in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto.

About the Book
In this chilling and disquieting debut thriller perfect for fans of Caroline Kepnes’s Hidden Bodies and Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series, a family man with a habit of digging up the past catches the attention of a serial killer who wants anything but his secrets uncovered.

For years, unbeknownst to his wife and teenage daughter, Martin Reese has been illegally buying police files on serial killers and obsessively studying them, using them as guides to find the missing bodies of victims. He doesn’t take any souvenirs, just photos that he stores in an old laptop, and then he turns in the results anonymously. Martin sees his work as a public service, a righting of wrongs. Detective Sandra Whittal sees the situation differently. On a meteoric rise in police ranks due to her case-closing efficiency, Whittal is suspicious of the mysterious source she calls the Finder, especially since he keeps leading the police right to the bodies. Even if he isn’t the one leaving bodies behind, how can she be sure he won’t start soon? On his latest dig, Martin searches for the first kill of Jason Shurn, the early 1990s murderer who may have been responsible for the disappearance of his wife’s sister. But when he arrives at the site, he finds more than just bones.

There’s a freshly killed body—a young and missing Seattle woman—lying among remains that were left there decades ago. Someone else knew where Jason Shurn left the corpses of his victims…and that someone isn’t happy that Martin has been going around digging up his work. And when a crooked cop with a tenuous tie to Martin vanishes, Whittal begins to zero in on the Finder. Hunted by a real killer and by Whittal, Martin realizes that in order to escape, he may have to go deeper into the killer’s dark world than he ever thought…

“Find You in the Dark”
Nathan Ripley | June 19, 2018 | Atria Books Hardcover | 978-1501178207 | $26 e-book | B078M1T19K | $13.99 Thriller

Praise for “Find You in the Dark”
“Ripley … has come up with a fresh angle to the serial murder game. There’s a certain Silence of the Lambs feel to the twisty narrative.” —Kirkus Reviews

“While Find You in the Dark has dead bodies aplenty, it is a psychological novel that employs characteristics more self-consciously literary than standard genre fare.” —Quill & Quire

“Dirt is always a problem – a thing to be disturbed in just the right way, gotten rid of, or somehow escaped. Where the novel differs from others is that the grime that pervades the text is always counterbalanced by a sterile cleanliness – and at each point that the dirt is cleared away, what is revealed underneath is somehow more disturbing than what came before…Find You in the Dark is a fast-paced book that one can blow through in a weekend, but it isn’t exactly a beach read. It is more akin to dark British crime TV dramas such as Broadchurch or Luther, satisfyingly sinister and unsettling in their explorations of the violent possibilities of humanity.” —The Globe and Mail

“Nathan Ripley’s twisty, haunting new thriller delves into the sinister darkness buried in obsession. Clever and diabolical.” – Kirkus Reviews ​

An Interview with Nathan Ripley

How did the rise in true-crime interest influence you to write this book?
For one thing, I think this interest has always been with us, whether it was confined to the True Detective-style photomags or TV news magazines — I just think that there’s slightly more NPR gloss associated with the latest spate of podcast and documentary true crime. Bill James makes a great case for true crime being essential social history in his book “Popular Crime,” and I think he’s right — well-written and non-exploitative writers have known this for a long time, and there’s a great legacy of their work to look back on. But there’s also some mutilation-obsessed, grotesque true crime that is strangely mainstream, works that deal with the violent deaths of women, especially, in a way that always bothered me. So I thought about a true-crime obsessee who was one step beyond the hobbyist, someone who was actually drawn to studying these crimes out of a need to suppress his own desire to commit one. The tough line here was making my protagonist, Martin Reese, someone that the regular true-crime—and crime novel—reader could partially see themselves in, not the kind of monster that we eventually meet in the book in the form of the serial killers, past and present, that Martin confronts.

How was the experience of writing this book different from your first?
I almost answered this by saying “This is my first book!” because it is indeed my first published novel under any name, and Nathan Ripley’s first publication. But as Naben Ruthnum, I published a long essay in book form called Curry: Eating, Reading and Race, which was a research, reading, and memoir-intensive process that I found strikingly different—and much harder—than writing fiction is. I’ve always been a writer of fiction first, and came to criticism by accident (and out of a need to find paying writing work!) But the long and lonely process of writing Find You In the Dark over several drafts, before having an agent, a publisher, or any real confidence that I could get it out to readers, was challenging in its own right, of course.

How did you walk the tightrope to create a character who has some not-so-normal interests, but who is still likeable to some extent?
I found it was essential to give him one very pure relationship that he was extremely good at: Martin’s a great father, and this one driving motivation to keep his family intact and his daughter safe was a crucial part in making his disturbing hobby at all palatable. There’s also, of course, a good side to what Martin has been doing with his police files and shovel all these years — he’s helping families reach some version of closure, by finding the remains of their loved ones.

Who would be your dream castings for the book’s main characters?
The book has been optioned for television, and we were just talking about dream castings this week! What I learned from that meeting is that I am absurdly out of touch with modern actors. My dream Martin would be circa 2004-ish John Cusack.

Why did you decide to set the book in Seattle?
While I strictly avoided naming any real serial killers in this book, which is all about rummaging through crimes of the past, the Pacific Northwest has long been an active site of serial killings, particularly from the 60s through the 80s. This means there are many undiscovered remains of victims out there, something that I think a lot of my readers will be aware of. I also love the city, and it made sense for someone with Martin’s tech career background to live there.

Will we see these characters again?
I think so.

Can you talk a little bit about some of the benefits and drawbacks to writing under a pen name?
There aren’t many drawbacks — though I think some people may think that I’m trying to hide my cultural background, or that I was asked to by publishers, which is emphatically not true. I like writing some material as Nathan Ripley, some as Naben Ruthnum — it lets me talk to different publics, and to have a career that spans genres.

Despite this being a thriller featuring women who are victims of serial killers, you don’t highlight the violence against them. Was this a concious choice?
Definitely. I wanted this book to point to our cultural fascination with this kind of violence without gratifying that fascination —but at the same time, I didn’t want to avoid the fact that most of this kind of serial killing victimizes women. So there was a balance, here, between talking about where an obsession with violence can go and indulging too much in depicting that violence.

Do you think everyone has a little bit of this darkness in them or do you think it’s limited to certain people?
I think everyone has a varying dose of darkness — and I think some people with no darkness at all end up having immense insight into troubled people.

What kind of research did you do for the book?
Reading and watching true crime and fictional crime, the same as the readers I’m hoping to reach! This book was grown out of the interest that I had in this field, and in imagining that interest turned sinister. I think Martin Reese is as much like a reader as he is a detective—he’s a fascinated audience member who can’t stick to the sidelines, eventually, but what he thinks of a game on some level quickly pulls him in to a dangerous reality that he has to fight against until the last page of the book.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BURSINEL, Switzerland – Producer Louana Higgins isn’t a fool – she knows when a fling with a member of a rock band is just that: a fling. The only problem is that she can’t seem to keep Jake Riley, drummer for The Spades, out of her mind. And judging from his texts, she’s on his mind too. The two lovers hesitantly start to wonder if their fiery sexual chemistry could be the foundation for something more serious.

Jake discovers the stability he’s begun to crave after more than a decade of a rock and roll lifestyle, and as much as she doesn’t
want to admit it, Louana might be in love. But Jake comes with a complicated past and a bandmate who seems determined to keep him from finding happiness. And his inexperience with monogamy leaves Louana unsure that the
relationship can work long-term.

When secrets from Jake’s past are revealed, Louana must decide if it is the final straw, or something she can look past to see a future with the charming musician. Romance fans will rejoice as Deana Birch’s “Faster” presents them with a couple to root for, steamy sex scenes to get lost in, and a story that will keep them riveted.

Contemporary romance and erotica writer Deana Birch was named after her father’s first love, who just so happened not to be her mother. Born and raised in the Midwest, she made stops in Los Angeles and New York before settling in Europe where she lives with her own blue- eyed Happily Ever After. Her days are spent teaching yoga, playing tennis, ruining her children’s French homework, cleaning up dog vomit, writing her next book, or reading someone else’s.

About the Book
After a quick but memorable fling, Louana Higgins leaves the drummer for The Spades exactly where he belongs: a tour bus. The junior producer knows she’s dodged a bullet. Because, despite his melt-your-heart chocolate eyes and rising fame, Jake Riley is not boyfriend material. And those messages he sends in the middle of the night get filed under, “drunk text, best to ignore,” without delay.

Twelve grueling years of paying dues has finally resulted in a hit song for Jake. But, knowing the new zeroes in his bank account come with as many ways to blow it, he craves stability. So, stocked with an arsenal of charm, and a reminder of what happened against her front door, he persuades Louana to see him again the next time he’s in town. Now, certain he’s found the calm to his storm, he asks her for the previously unthinkable: Monogamy.

Hesitant but smitten, Louana agrees. And as if long distance and groupies aren’t high enough hurdles, Louana’s new beau also comes with a malicious lead singer. Having lost his favorite partner-in-crime, the front man is ready to tear the couple apart by revealing a secret from Jake’s not so distant past. Unable to discuss it with Jake for fear his bandmate’s betrayal would mean the demise of his flourishing career, Louana must now decide if she can live with Jake and his secret or leave the rock star she loves.

Faster
Deana Birch | June 26, 2018 ebook | 978-1386718321 | $4.99 romance | erotica

An Interview with Deana Birch

Were you a fan of love stories growing up?
Not really. I rooted for the Wicked Witch of the West. When Wicked, the book, came out, I danced for joy. I love a great villain.

What inspired your love of writing?
Reading and discussing books in college. I started writing poetry during some dark days and then put writing down for a few years. Then I went through a period of reading only non-fiction. When I finally got back on the fiction wagon, I looked at stories in a different light. I still read a lot and am a member of a monthly bookclub.

Do you plan out a story in advance or just wing it as you write?
Both! I always start with my characters and they simmer in my head for months—usually when I’m alone in the car they speak to me the loudest. I work on their goals and fears and get to know them. When I sit down to write my first draft, I have a lot of happy coincidences. Or so I like to think.

Romance novels can be taboo in some circles – how do you respond to that?
Writing is writing, and stories are stories. It’s true that Romance as a genre can get overlooked, but the readership is strong. That being said, it’s not for everyone. I have sub-genres of Romance that I refuse to read and am not a fan of certain tropes. I like strawberry ice cream and you like chocolate. Don’t order strawberry.

What inspired you to give Louana such strong female role models?
I consider myself a strong woman and I try to show that to the younger women and girls around me. But strength comes in many forms. Louana’s mother is quiet, but stable while her grandmother is vocal and fierce. I was just chatting with a writer friend of mine who writes Historical Romance about the importance of showing strong women. Showing them succeed in fiction helps inspire reality. And visa versa.

Are any of the characters based off of real people?
Uhhhh…. Not Jake! Jake is an alpha man child fantasy. I definitely was inspired by things people do or have done around me, but I usually would take something like their job and then completely change their looks and personality. I am guilty of not looking too far for names.

Do you have any tricks to work through writer’s block?
I am not someone who writes something new everyday. I write in bursts and spend most of my time editing. I also read, read, read.

Why did you decide to make Jake a musician?
As if I had a choice! Jake and Louana showed up in my head and would not leave me alone for months and months. But music is something I am familiar with and was comfortable ground.

Will we see Jake and Louana again?
Yes! Slower will be in my editor’s brilliant hands very soon.

What are you working on now?
I have an Erotic Romance I just finished with my Critique Partner and we are just starting to shop that around. I also have a stand-alone Contemporary Romance completed and it will get my full attention this fall. There are two new characters building in my mind and I hope they will be as loud as Jake and Louana.

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A happy occasion turns deadly when scattered body parts turn up at a wedding.

A severed head. A philandering husband. A skeleton in the basement. This was not the perfect wedding Rita Avery planned for her daughter Zoe!

Rita Avery and her detective husband Cliff arrive at New Jersey’s Tawnee Mountain Resort prepared to greet Zoe’s wedding guests in just three hours. Who would have expected to find a man’s torso in their closet?

Things explode into high gear when the victim’s head shows up at the golf equipment shack. A good look at his social media makes Rita wonder if a wife murdered her husband as revenge for infidelity. Or did a secret admirer decide to liberate the wife from her scoundrel husband?

Worse, is Zoe in life-threatening danger . . . again? And will Rita and Cliff escape the trap in which the murderer snares them? Murder and a passel of twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Zoe’s wedding is the most exciting you’ll attend!

Deadly Reception is a part of the Tawnee Mountain Mysteries series, a collection of seven brand new mysteries, from seven award-winning and bestselling authors, taking place at the same final destination, the Tawnee Mountain Resort.
Deadly Reception features characters from Karen Randau’s Rim Country Mysteries series.

Deadly Reception
Karen Randau | April 16, 2018 | Short on Time Books Paperback | 978-1984380807 | $7.99
E-book | B079DGBW37 | $2. mystery/thriller

www.JKSCommunications.com
237 Old Hickory Blvd., Suite 201, Nashville, TN 37221
Ellen Whitfield
(616) 258-5537
ellen@jkscommunications.com

Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.

Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

booksforward.com/about-us/marissa-decuir/