Two New Interviews

Very exciting! I was interviewed twice this week about my books and my life. I’ve posted links to both if you want to check them out

First, I had a Q and A with Jess C Scott about writing, my favorite poets and my novel in verse, The Brubury Tales, which is now available on kindle. (The Brubury Tales made Amazon’s bestseller list #81 in the UK, #40 in Italy, #99 in Spain!)

And, on April 28th I was interviewed by Laura Lme and Cecilia Francisquini on the Verses In Motion Show on GetYourz Radio | Blog Talk Radio. It was recorded live and you can listen to it now.  In the interview I read an excerpt from The Brubury Tales and discussed the book, its inspiration and origin.

Here’s a link to some previous interviews I did with the Cypress Park branch of the LA Public Library and author Susan Whitfield http://frankmundo.wordpress.com/category/author-interviews/

Seven Deadly Samovars: an interview with author Morgan St. James

Follow-up to the award-winning mystery, Corpse in the Soup, Seven Deadly Samovars is the second installment to the Silver Sisters Crime Caper series by real-life sisters Morgan St. James and Phyllice Bradner. The third book in the series, Vanishing Act in Vegas, is in the works. 

Now, you might be wondering what a samovar is, let alone a deadly one. Prior to reading Seven Deadly Samovars, I had no clue. To me, seven deadly samovars sounded like a squad of android samurais, a hybrid samurai/ninja killing crew who, for whatever symbolical reason, only hung around in deadly groups of seven. 

Man, was I ever wrong? Turns out, a samovar is actually a kind of fancy teapot or tea urn used in Russia and Eastern Europe and other places around the world where people drink a lot of tea. Often beautifully crafted, samovars can also be elaborate works of art prized by collectors, especially if they’re antiques. 

And that’s where our story begins, in the Silver Spoon Antique Shoppe in Juneau, Alaska, owned and operated by Goldie Silver, an aging flower child and twin sister of Godiva Olivia Dubois, who couldn’t be more different than Goldie (more about her later). Goldie is trying to track down a lost shipment of imported Russian samovars, one of which is supposed to be a departing gift for a local retiring priest. Unfortunately, the priest’s replacement is murdered before the gift is ever delivered, becoming one of two big stories swirling around this normally quiet and peaceful community.

The second big story around town is the arrival of Goldie’s sister, Godiva Olivia Dubois, a wealthy and manipulative nationally-syndicated advice columnist from Beverly Hills, and her handsome celebrity-chef boyfriend, Cesar Romano, who arrive just as the lost samovar shipment reaches Goldie’s shop. The samovars, much more beautiful and elaborate than what Goldie had ordered, sell quickly and even more quickly earn their deadly title as one customer is murdered and the others are attacked and their samovars are stolen. 

Despite what seems an obvious connection between samovars and the unusual crime spree, the police are not convinced and arrest an innocent local drunk who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. What follows is a clever and very funny adventure, from Alaska to Seattle to Los Angeles, as Goldie, Godiva, their eighty year-old mother and uncle, Flossie and Sterling, former vaudeville magicians, attempt to save an innocent man and warn the remaining customers (including Cesar Romano) who have no idea of the danger they face – not to mention picking up Flossie’s husband’s lifetime achievement award and meeting Godiva’s column deadlines. 

What I really like about this book is the long list of zany characters who we meet along the way, a recurring motif about doubles and twins, and the fact that no one, on the surface, is who they seem to be. 

You can purchase Seven Deadly Samovars by Morgan St. James and Phyllice Bradner at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com or SilverSistersMysteries.com in paperback, audio and eBook formats.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Morgan St. James about her book and her life. Please take a few more minutes to read the revealing interview at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

Also check out Frank Mundo’s new book The Brubury Tales (with a foreword by bestselling author Carolyn See) on BBOTW and Amazon.

Live It, Love It, Earn It: An Interview with Bestselling Author Marianna Olszewski

April is not just National Poetry Month, it’s also tax time. And while it’s safe to say that we’d all prefer a visit from Uncle Walt than Uncle Sam this month, many of us will likely be spending some or all of the next ten days paying the price for our months of procrastination.

The good news is, whether you’ve already filed or you’re just getting started, tax time is a great opportunity to take control of your finances. After all, by the time you’re done filing your taxes, all the data you need in order to make real changes in your financial future is right there in front of you in black and white. All you need is a plan, the right information…and a little motivation.

That’s why the LA Books Examiner is pleased to introduce money and life coach Marianna Olszewski, bestselling author of Live It, Love It, Earn It: A Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom.

But wait! All of the men out there who suddenly lost interest, don’t stop reading just yet…

This is not one of those financial guides that advise women to freeze their credit cards in ice. Marianna’s the founder of Madison Financial Management LLC, a multi-million dollar financial marketing company that she built from scratch before she was thirty, while earning an MBA and working on Wall Street. In the book, she offers nine fun but practical strategies that empower women to undo bad habits and take full responsibility and control of their finances – and not to rely on anyone to ‘save’ them, including you or anyone else in their lives. Most importantly, Marianna teaches women, in a language they can relate to and understand, how to overcome what she says are, for a lot of women, serious emotions (anxiety, anger, even shame) surrounding money and debt, and then helps them to realize that there’s nothing wrong with wanting, making, and having money. 

There’s a lot for men to learn here, too. While Live It, Love It, Earn It is made up of interviews with high-profile business women you might only recognize from the business world, including designer Diane von Furstenberg, shoe mogul Tamara Mellon; Elaine Crocker, president of Moore Capital, Nina DiSesa, chairman of McCann-Erickson North America, and Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, it also includes stories of everyday women who are overcoming financial challenges, getting out of debt, cleaning up their credit, and learning to prosper by following their passions — the women you might recognize in our lives: our girlfriends, wives, sisters, mothers, and aunts. And what could be better than learning about and sharing with them the tools that might help them live the kind of lives they’ve always wanted?  

Live It, Love It, Earn It by Marianna Olszewski is available now in book stores and online. You can learn more about Marianna at her website, where she offers a preview of the book and fun bonus features that make getting serious about your finances much easier. 

I had the great opportunity to interview Marianna Olszewski about her book and her life. Please take a few more minutes to read the revealing interview in Live It, Love It, Earn It, Part Two.

Wrongful Death: an Interview with author Robert Dugoni

Author Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni, New York Times Best-selling author, has been writing his entire life. Born in Pocatello, Idaho, Dugoni was raised in Burlingame, California, where his dream of being a writer was cemented in the seventh grade.

Dugoni’s love of writing took him to Stanford University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in journalism before obtaining his doctorate of jurisprudence from the UCLA School of Law.

For 13 years, Dugoni practiced law full-time, but never wavered from his writing dreams. In 1999, he decided to give up his full-time practice and moved to Seattle to write novels.

10 years and 4 novels later, his award-winning books, now published internationally in 17 countries, have established Dugoni as an A-list writer in the crowded Legal Thriller genre. His books include the non-fiction expose, The Cyanide Canary, and three Legal/Political Thrillers, Jury Master, Damage Control, and his latest book Wrongful Death, which many critics are calling his best work yet.

In Wrongful Death, Dugoni brings back fan-favorite attorney David Sloane from Jury Master for the biggest challenge of his legal career: Seeking justice for the wrongful death of a soldier named James Ford, Sloane, a military veteran, uncovers a ruthless conspiracy in a case against the United States Government that is impossible to win.

Wrongful Death is available at www.robertdugoni.com, where you can learn more about Dugoni’s work as a lawyer, writer, and teacher.

I met up with Robert Dugoni recently at The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood, where I had a few questions for him.

Read the full interview with Robert Dugoni.