When it comes to the imagination, the sky’s the limit for Gail Daley. With three science fiction and fantasy series underway, the Central Valley author feels as much at home exploring distant galaxies as she does creating memorable characters who leap off the page. Kings River Life spoke with Daley about inspiration, genre bending, and writing’s biggest rewards.
It was like being struck by lightning—the sudden and electrifying urge to pick up a pen. And that was the moment that inspired Sierra Nevada fine artist Vicki Thomas to add “author” to her career title. Kings River Life spoke with Thomas about her remarkable journey as a young adult fantasy writer, as well as the adventures that await her young protagonist Ivan Kimble.
Tallie Graver may have left behind her life as a Desperate Housewife to her ex-and-now-late-husband Walden Phillips III, but that doesn’t mean that she can avoid uncomfortable reminders and awkward interactions. Unpleasant even when Tallie was married to high society’s “Waldo,” Present Prescott’s obnoxiousness kicks into high gear now that her new cleaning company is in competition to win a contract for his aunt.
For the Asian Night Market being held in Northeast Ohio’s Asia Village, Lana Lee is helping out at a booth serving some of her family’s Ho-Lee Noodle House specialties. The event is the first of what are to be weekly summer festivities promoting Asia Village businesses and attracting new tourists.
Until her broken ankle heals and she can return to her soloist position with the New England Ballet Theater, Allie Larkin is recuperating and helping out with her aunt’s Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack in Mystic Bay. Although business is already booming for the kitschy, mermaidabilia lobster restaurant, Aunt Gully enthusiastically jumps at the chance to be the caterer for Stellene Lupo’s annual Fourth of July party.
Josie Prescott is an antiques appraiser, seller, and collector. She’s set to appraise her friend Mo’s newest acquisition, a Japanese woodblock print. It’s hard to know which are real prints and which are counterfeit, but Josie and her team are up to the job.
Being the mistress of one’s own fate is beyond compare especially at age eleven. Such is the case with Alan Bradley’s sleuth, Flavia de Luce, and is apparent from the first pages of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009) through all nine novels in the series thus far.
Rob Soliz and Frank Pierce are partners at the Dallas Police Department. They don’t always play by the rules and dance between solving the case and getting in trouble for how they did it. When they get called to the boss’ office, their first thought is, “What did we do now?”
Alexia Gordon has garnered praise introducing us to thirty-six-year-old African-American Gethsemane Brown, a highly educated (Vasser, doctorate from Yale) talented musician and ex-pat in Dunmallach, Ireland.
Julienne ‘Julie’ LaMere, event coordinator and manager-in-training at an upscale resort in Colorado Springs, is frantically finalizing details for the Leadership Luncheon with many local community leaders with frequent last-minute changes. Lobster? No, scallops. Red? Blue? No, white tablecloths, Music? No, no music. Then back to scallops again? “This event must be executed with precision and perfection,” her boss expected.
