Aphrodite's Whisper by W. C. Furney

Meet author W. C. Furney, a renaissance man.

He's here to discuss his book Aphrodite's Whisper.

 A romantic look back to a time

when the world was changing at a rapid pace.

If you love the historical genre, you'll

enjoy this book.

          1.    What was your hardest scene to write?

Without giving too much away…the ending.  The concept for Aphrodite’s Whisper began with three clear scenes in my mental outline, one at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end.  From the first day of writing, I knew what fate would befall the main character.  When the time came to actually write the scene, I put Enya’s haunting song Exile (https://youtu.be/7AensT8ntoY) on loop and fortified myself with a wine glass and a bottle of Chardonnay.  Though it totally betrays the manly exterior I’ve carefully cultivated over the years, I literally had tears streaming down my cheeks from beginning to end.  To this day, I tear up whenever I hear that song.  Of course, I had to rewrite the scene several times when I was sober, but the experience was truly cathartic.  

Other than that, the love-making scene.  It’s REALLY hard to write about meaningful sex and not cross the line into something that’s too graphic.  I think I pulled it off, but I hated the process.  I had to consider every sentence and almost every word a hundred times before I felt it was right and appropriate.

          2.    What makes you run screaming?

In life, arrogant @ss clowns.  In writing, adverbs and the word “murmur” and it’s variations.

          3.    You’re about to be dropped in a remote spot for a three-week survival test. Where would you go? What three tools would you take?

That’s easy.  Drop me onto a (remote) Hawai’ian island armed with a satellite phone, a surfboard, and an American Express Platinum Card.  Not what you were looking for?  Hmmm…  OK.  I think it would be something like the island Tom Hanks was on in Castaway.  A good, sharp knife would be nice.  I don’t think I’d need a flint, but that would make starting fires easier.  And a non-stick frying pan.

         4.    What behind-the-scenes tidbit in your life would probably surprise your readers the most?

I was confirmed in Grace Episcopal Church, Plymouth, NC, and was an acolyte.  For real.  It was my introduction to the blessing of wine.  I would also mention the fact that my two sons and I earned black belts in traditional Okinawan Kenpo karate.  I was 45 years old at the time.  They were a lot younger.  

        5.    If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?

There are two ways to look at this question.  Do I pick a place I would really like to visit and then create a story for the setting?  Or do I already have the story and its setting in mind and choose that place?

If it’s the former, it would have to be Ireland.  There is something about Ireland that calls to my soul.  I know I have a little Irish in my DNA, but the calling is far stronger than I can explain.  If it’s the latter, it’s got to be New Orleans.  I know exactly what I would write about and exactly what research I would need to do.  New Orleans occupies a unique place in American history and there is no other city like it anywhere.  PLEASE, patrons of the literary arts, provide me with funding for an apartment in the French Quarter, preferably on Bourbon Street.

        6.    If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Don’t be so hardheaded and don’t be such a dumbass.  Buy stock in Amazon and Microsoft.  Don’t fry bacon in the nude.

7.    What does literary success look like to you?

Having a NY Times #1 best seller would be wonderful.  Making more money on my writing than it costs me to produce would be pretty nice too.  One thing I’d really like is to be traditionally published.  I know from reviews written by people who don’t know me and don’t have a family/friend “obligation” to say nice things, that my writing and storytelling are very good.  Most would say excellent.  I mean, readers get so wrapped up in my characters that most of them cry at the end of the story.  That’s the highest praise a writer can receive.  It’s really frustrating to see less worthy books being picked up by literary agencies and put out by established publishers.  That might sound like a whine, but it’s not.  It’s a dispassionate, sober evaluation of the situation based on the unbiased opinions of people I don’t know but felt compelled to tell me how much they like my books.

I’ve gotten very close to breaking into traditional publishing but haven’t quite made it over the finish line.  To put it into perspective, I had two agents with reputable literary agencies tell me that I write just like a famous author.  One said that I write just like Nicholas Sparks.  (I don’t think that’s accurate, but I said thank you anyway.)  The second one said that I write just like John Grisham.  (I think that’s closer to the truth and said thank you very much.)  In the next breath, each of the agents then said, “But I don’t like the way he writes.”  As a writer, what the hell do you do with that?  It’s like the NY Yankees saying, “Sorry Mr. Furney, but we don’t need another left-hander who can throw a hundred-mile-an-hour fastball.”  Aren’t they in this to make money?  Haven’t Grisham and Sparks made like a bazillion dollars?

Aye Yai Yai!

8.    Tell us about the book you’re working on now.

For my third novel, I’m writing something completely different from the first two.  In addition to being written in first person, it’s a mystery set in contemporary times, though the detective is tracking down a serial killer whose crimes are committed over a 20-year period.  The main character is terribly flawed and becomes obsessed with finding the killer when he discovers a connection they’ve shared for decades.  The connection is so strong, he begins to discover things about himself better left unknown.  In his own words; “I grew up thinking I was going to be John Wayne, decided to settle on Charles Bronson, but ended up being more like Artemus Gordon...smart enough, capable enough, and with a few tricks up my sleeve…but not, exactly a bad ass who makes bad guys piss their pants.”

Unlike my other novels, this story probably won’t make you cry.  (Or will it?)  But I promise it will be a page-turner that will keep you in suspense and keep you guessing the whole way through.

Aphrodite's Whisper

Aphrodite's Whisper is an epic story that begins in the winter of 1903 with the grounding of a private yacht during a brutal nor'easter on North Carolina's dreaded Diamond Shoals. Caelyn Canady, a moneyed-class misfit from New York, becomes a castaway forced to save herself and the man who should have rescued her. During her journey home, she finds love on the desolate dunes of the Outer Banks, witnesses man's first flight, and becomes the woman she knows she is meant to be.

Ethan Roberts, her would-be rescuer, is a veteran of the Spanish-American War tormented by the deaths of his best friend and an innocent woman. In becoming a surfman, he has found refuge in the untamed isolation of Cape Hatteras where the next call for help may be the one that finally frees him from his guilt and pain. Whether it be through redemption or death he no longer cares - until the stoic Missourian's passion for life is rekindled by the slight woman who saves him.

Read my Review HERE!

William Charles Furney was born and raised in the "Down East" region of coastal North Carolina where pirates are local legends and their folklore lives on still. A former soldier, journalist, and communication professional, William tapped into a lifetime of experiences and adventures to craft a pirate tale in the tradition of Captain Blood and Treasure Island.

After arming himself with a BS degree from the University of Colorado's School of Journalism in Boulder, he ventured out into the world as a reporter where he proceeded to hone his skills at pissing people off with the written word.

Along the way, he earned degrees in public relations and advertising. He became one of the first five people in the country to become a Certified Communicator in Public Health. He had his own column in the Jacksonville Daily News. He was a director of public relations for private industry and the director of communication for several government agencies. He established two public information offices where none previously existed; one for the State Health Director's Office and the other in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response - the state agency created in 2001 to oversee preparedness efforts associated with biological attacks and pandemic outbreaks.

Find Bill Furney HERE!

***

Thank you, Bill, for your participation.
Congratulations! 
Aphrodite's Whisper
is a powerful story!

Readers, if you could tell your younger writing self anything, 

what would it be?

The Girl With the Crystal Soul by Barbara Dargan

Welcome, Barbara Dargan, author of

The Girl With the Crystal Soul.

Historical fiction with a hint of romance

and mystery.

She’s here to share a little about herself

and her first novel.

            1. What was your hardest scene to write?

It would have to be the scene/chapter where Olga described her and her family’s murder to May. It was gruesome, horrible and sad and made me feel as though I was in the room too when they were all killed.

          2.   What makes you run screaming?

I really don’t like earwigs or wasps. 

    3.   You’re about to be dropped in a remote spot for a three-week survival test. Where would you go? What three tools would you take?

I would go to a remote island in Fiji, on a beautiful beach and would take my sunscreen (of course), a box of matches and a cooking pot.

           4.   What behind-the-scenes tidbit in your life would probably surprise your readers the most?

I got a tattoo of an elephant on my ankle done for my 40^th birthday. Back then it was a shocking thing to do, and close friends and family were amazed that I had done it! Some still are, mind you!

                     5. If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?

Adelaide, Australia, where my great, great grandfather lived.

          6. If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Don’t doubt yourself. If you want to write a book, then write it! Find the time and stop procrastinating. You know that you are good enough!

7.    What does literary success look like to you?

Having people like my books and enjoying reading them. I’d love to have a following who looks forward to my next release. I’d like to make a living from writing, but to me, that is secondary to having a following.

8.    Tell us about the book you’re working on now.

This is a novel (I am 7 chapters in), about a real event that took place in Adelaide Australia. My great, great grandfather was involved in an incident where a man died in a boardinghouse. Was it suicide or murder? Years later, the daughters of both men look to try to unravel the mystery and, in the process, uncover a murderer as well as discovering who their fathers really were. It’s called ‘Fathers of Hindley Street’ and I hope to have it out before Christmas.

The Girl With The Crystal Soul

by Barbara Dargan

This is a novel based on Olga Romanov, her last few months of life, her death and burial. It is also the story of May Dawson, a forensic scientist who assists in the examination and identification of Olga and her family's remains in 1991. May feels a connection with Olga and a desire to tell her story, and to solve the mystery of the two missing children; Maria and Alexey and will not rest until Olga and her family are all reunited.

           Read my Review HERE!

*****

I have always wanted to tell Olga’s story. I have been fascinated with her for many years, ever since reading ‘The Summer Day is Done’ by Robert Tyler Stevens. It remains one of my all-time favorite books.

I spent years procrastinating and doing nothing because I didn’t think I could write before my health deteriorated and my lifestyle changed. I enrolled in a creative writing diploma course with the NZ Institute of Business Studies and doing that has given me the confidence to finally start writing.

The Girl With The Crystal Soul is my first novel and I have started my second.

I enjoy genealogy and am finding lots of inspiration for plots amongst the deeds of my ancestors.

I was born in New Zealand and have lived here all of my life. I have two grown children and two gorgeous grandchildren. I live in Opunake, a seaside town in South Taranaki and have a wonderful view of Mt Taranaki out of my front window. My best mate is my little dog Indie, who is turning 14 this week.

I enjoy gardening and raising monarch butterflies.

Find Barbara Dargan HERE!

***

Congratulations, Barbara, on your first novel!

Wishing you all success and many sales!

So readers, have you ever used a place or time in history to set your novel?

Of Gods & Sorrow by Christine Rains

Welcome, Christine Rains, author of 
Of Gods & Sorrow. 
One of my favorite authors.
Christine is here to share a little about herself and her latest book.

Of Gods & Sorrow 

    

1.    What was your hardest scene to write?

The ending. Endings are always tough for me as a pantser because I don’t know how it’s going to resolve itself. I want the protagonist to win, but I love stacking the odds against them. I want it to be believable and satisfying for the reader, and I want it to resolve itself in a way no one expected. This was especially difficult with Erin’s situation at the end with the cult, but hopefully, I achieved what I set out to do.

2.    What makes you run screaming?

Nothing. I don’t like to run and I’m not a screamer. I’ve always been a face your fears kind of person. Though I give a very wide berth to spiders and snakes!

3.    You’re about to be dropped in a remote spot for a three-week survival test. Where would you go? What three tools would you take?

The Canadian wilds. Not too far north on the tundra, but it’s cold enough as it is. I’d take a Swiss army knife, a fire-starter, and proper clothes. I’ve watched a lot of survival shows over the years, and hopefully, that helps.

4.    What behind-the-scenes tidbit in your life would probably surprise your readers the most?

That I never take detailed notes while writing. I love to have many-layered characters and several crisscrossed relationships and a web of sub-plots, but I store them all in my head. I usually start with the good intention of keeping a notebook of a book, but the story takes off on its own and I just go with it.

5.    If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?

Hm, that’s tough. I want to live in so many places! I would say a cottage in the English countryside near mysterious ruins. Oh, the magic of such a place!

6.    If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Don’t care so much about what other people think about your writing. I hid what I wrote for so many years until I gathered the courage to submit stories to publishers. Sharing a piece of our soul with the world is tough, but it’s more than worth it.

7.    What does literary success look like to you?

This has changed for me over the years. It was once having been published by one of the major presses and being as big as Stephen King. These days, I want to publish stories that I love to read and find readers that love to read them too. I don’t need to be the next Stephen King, but it would be nice to pay off some of our monthly bills with income from my books.

8.    Tell us about the book you’re working on now.

I’ve jumped into a new genre, LitRPG or GameLit. It’s fantasy fiction based on characters who get sucked into the game world they’re playing. Jumanji is a great example. My protagonist is playing a tabletop role-playing game I created called Khthonia. She and her friends must find a way to lift the Specter Plague curse and win the game to get home. It’s a geeky and exciting fantasy with some horror thrown in.

Of Gods and Sorrow (Of Blood and Sorrow Book 2) by Christine Rains

Stopping the undead will seem like child's play when the Cult of Ammut comes calling.

Even after losing most of her adopted family, Erin Driscol continues to console clients at Putzkammer & Sons Funeral Home. Keeping the funeral business working smoothly is no longer the walk in the graveyard it used to be. Grieving demons are fighting in the halls. Eyeballs are showing up in teapots. And a so-called psychic and member of the Cult of Ammut claims Erin's boss Cort is a god. All Erin wants is a friend to lean on and a sense of normalcy. But as the cult kills people and repeatedly attacks the funeral home, she must stand strong or lose Cort to the Lake of Fire.

****

Read My Review HERE:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she's not reading or writing, she's going on adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of S.C.I.F.I. and Untethered Realms. She has four novels and several novellas and short stories published.

                                    Find Christine HERE: 

*****

Thank you, Christine!

Wishing you all the best on your newest project- LitRPG!

Congratulations on all your success!

 Christine was wondering if you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be?

Not Guilty & The Great Timelock Disaster by C. Lee McKenzie

Talented author C Lee McKenzie is here today to share some of her secrets.

And share her two recent releases

Not Guilty
&
The Great Time Lock Disaster

1.   What was your hardest scene to write?
I actually think it was the first scene in The Great Time Lock Disaster. I’m a novice at writing sequels, and I was scared about not setting up the story so it would follow the tone and capture the characters from the first book, Alligators Overhead. I must have written that opening scene ten times before I was satisfied.

2.   What makes you run screaming?
Bears do the trick, but since I’ve only encountered one of those and it was on the other side of a creek, I might have to go with something else— launching a book, for example. I’ve had a few moments of terror in my life—landing in a plane on the tail-end of a typhoon, falling into a Class V rapid from a raft, raising a teenager—but launching a book is at the top when it comes to inducing fear.

3.   You’re about to be dropped in a remote spot for a three-week survival test. Where would you go? What three tools would you take?

For a truly dangerous challenge, I’d choose Australia’s Outback. After reading Bill Bryson’s book, I know that continent has some of the most poisonous critters on the planet and all kinds of natural disasters to survive. I guess I’d take a hefty supply of water, sturdy hiking boots, and a native guide. I see no reason to try this on my own. I’m not ready to die.

4.   What behind-the-scenes tidbit in your life would probably surprise your readers the most?
I once lived in a war zone. That experience taught me a lot about why war is not only futile, but a true “comedy” of errors. Whoever, decides to go to battle, should go himself and not send others out to do the job.

5. If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?
This answer would change with each trip I take. However, the south of France is high on my list of places to be while writing. Of course, every place I go is full of distractions: castles, vast deserts, pyramids, beaches. I’d do better to stay home that year to write and not be tempted by those unexplored treasures.

6.If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Enjoy every moment and learn from the best. Read everything, and find out what those authors do that engage you.

7.What does literary success look like to you?
If you’d asked me this question when I first started writing to publish, I would have said, being a published author. Later, I would have said getting good reviews. Today, I’d say, writing good books that people will enjoy reading for many years. 

8.Tell us about the book you’re working on now.
It’s not a middle grade and it’s not a young adult book. I’m a bit worried because it falls between the marketing cracks, and the closest label I have is New Adult. It’s a contemporary/realistic story that deals with a young skier who becomes a paraplegic due to a calculated “accident”. There’s a mystery, but there’s also what I hope will be a life-affirming story about overcoming the biggest challenges life can hurl at us.

*****

At heart I’m a Californian, maybe even a Valley Girl who grew up and found out Dorothy was right. “There’s no place like home.”

I have a Master of Arts, in Linguistics.

My Passions: 

Besides reading and writing, I love to do two things: I love to hike. I love to practice Yoga. Well, three things if you count eating. I love to eat. That’s why I love to hike. Might as well make it four things, because I love to spend time with my family and friends. Wait! I love to grow my own salad. And cats—I love to grow them too, so now I’m up to six things I’m passionate about. I know there’s more, but I’m out of space and you don’t need to be bored.

My Favorite Books:

Anything with Hobbits. Anything Stephen King writes, except I don’t like some of those stories at night when I’m alone or even if I’m not because I’m a real sissy in the dark. Anything with a dragon in the title or on the cover. Barbara Kingsolver’s books. Edgy Joyce Carol Oates books. E.B.White’s Essays, and stories that start, “Once upon a time . . . .”

The Great Time Lock Disaster (The Adventures of Pete and Weasel Book 2) by C Lee McKenzie

No YouTube. No smoothies. No Manga. Not ever again. Unless Pete figures out how to reverse his bad spell and free Weasel and him from the past. A young wizard accidentally opens a time lock and he and his bookish friend are swept into Victorian England, where they will be trapped forever if that wizard-in-training can’t find a way to reverse his bad spell by the next full moon--just three days away!

Read My Review HERE:        

Not Guilty by C Lee McKenzie

"NOT GUILTY is a compelling, engrossing, and ultimately uplifting and rewarding read. I couldn't tear myself away!"—Cheryl Rainfield, author of Scars, Stained, Hunted and Parallel Visions.

A blood-smeared knife. One young man’s word against another. A lifetime dream crushed. The evidence points to Devon Carlyle. He was there when it happened. Everyone knows he had it in for Renzo Costa. And Costa says Devon was the one. In the judge’s rap of a gavel, Devon’s found guilty of assault.

The star of the Oceanside High’s basketball team loses his shot at the one thing he’s worked so hard for—the championship game where college scouts could see how good he is. Now he makes his great shots in Juvenile Hall with kids far different from those that have always been in his life.

Angry?

 Hell, yes.

He’s bent on finding who did the crime. He’s bent on making them pay because he’s Not Guilty.

But can he prove it?

     Read My Review HERE:

*****

Thank you, Lee. 

Congratulations! 

You are one talented woman and I think many of us will agree

WAR should be fought only by those determined to solve their problems by it!

Best wishes on your New Adult novel!

Well folks, do you have a question for Lee?

WEP - Café Terrace Shantytown

Café Terrace Shantytown

          “You remember, don’t you? That week in Paris?” James asked as he put a cup of hot cocoa to his wife’s lips. “Take a sip, it’ll warm your insides. Just like that hot toddy that evening in Paris.”

          Jeana smiled. “That’s so good, did you slip some brandy in it?” She winked then sighed. “How could I forget about our honeymoon? We were so young, so in love. Foolish really, but despite our missteps in life, I’ll never regret one day, not a one!”

          “You’d wanted to have a drink at an outdoor terrace, just like in the Van Gogh painting, The Café Terrace. Then you just had to have the print. It cost almost as much as one night at the hotel,” James said as he held his wife close in their handmade haven, a cardboard box. 

          It was the deluxe model. Its former occupant had been the latest in cold food storage. The Viking Professional 5 Series 48-Inch 29.05 Cu. Ft. Built-In Side-By-Side Stainless Steel Refrigerator/Freezer. 

          The Stewarts have always had the best. He’d worked in retail all his life, and she’d taken time off to care for their young but put her time in as a clerk in an accounting office.

          But now that fancy house was gone. Their twenty-year-old car had finally given out, and while social security came in monthly, it had been whittled down to a little more than an allowance that allowed the Stewarts a few morsels of food and kept Jeana supplied with medication. Universal health care, the promised solution never happened, and Medicare had gone bankrupt years earlier. Every hospitalization whittled away at their savings then took their house and belongings. All they had left were each other, a few blankets and cherished mementos, and the cardboard box they now called home.

          Under the bridge near a slow-moving river, they shared the area with twenty other individuals. Each family had a cardboard box covered with a plastic tarp. A makeshift outhouse had been created for everyone’s use, and for the most part, neighbor supported neighbor.

          Jeana scoffed. “Ever the penny pincher, but that print has graced each of our homes, even this one.” Her eyes wandered to the print of the Café Terrace, salvaged from their house before foreclosure. “I can still hear the bells, see the Eiffel Tower, and taste the eclairs and wine.” Jeana giggled. “I think it’s the first time I ever got drunk.”

          “All it took was one glass.” James laughed.

          “That never changed, but I’ve always felt safe with you.” She blinked away tears. “The fun we had James, such wonderful memories.” Jeana looked into the tired eyes of her spouse. “We had a good life, didn’t we?”

          “The best Jeana, the absolute best.” James kissed the top of her head and resituated the blanket around her frail body.

          “How cold is it going to get tonight?” she asked.

          “They’re saying well below freezing. We need to move outside with the others at sunset, near the fire. If we stay here, we’ll die in our sleep.”

          “Not the worst way to go. Don’t you just fall asleep?” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

          “What are you thinking?”

          “Just that I’m tired. So very, very tired.”

          James sighed. “I know, sweetheart. I know. You rest, I’ll keep you warm. In my arms, you’ll always find warmth.”

…..

         After the ground thawed, a hole was dug. James and Jeana Stewart, still in their cardboard haven, were buried on the outskirts of the cardboard shantytown.

587 words / FCA

Yolanda Renée © 2020

Read more WEP entries HERE!