Hometown Reads – Wayne Turmel

Come Out and Meet Me in October

I will be part of a lot of book events in the next few weeks, and would love it if people would come meet me (and even buy a couple of books if you are so inclined.) I will have plenty of paperback copies of both Acres and The Count of the Sahara.

Here is what is happening over the next little bit:

October 7 is the Oswego Literary Festival at the Oswego Public Library (Oswego

The Count of the Sahara is now available in Kindle format. Also available in paperback from Amazon or direct from the publisher.

, IL) 20 Local Illinois authors will be on hand to sell/sign/bother strangers about their books. 9 AM-1 PM

October 14 9AM-1 PM Plainfield Public Library Indie Author Day (Plainfield Illinois, Library. There are way more independently published writers in Illinois than you can even imagine. Come join us!

Reading On the Rail at the 2015 Rivulets launch

October 14 1PM-4PM The Naperville Writers Group will hold its annual Rivulets Book Launch. Every year we do an anthology of the best writing from the group. My short story, “Through the Arbor Vitae” will be included. Join us at the 95th Street Library in Naperville. (Of course, you can read the story on my site, by clicking here.)

October 15 Hometown Reads and Centuries and Sleuths presents #readlocalshoplocal I am proud to be hosting this gathering of Hometown Reads authors at Centuries and Sleuths in River Forest, IL. We will read and share our books with pretty much everyone who pops in. If you enjoy meeting and discovering new writers, this is the event for you. If we need to bribe you, there will be snacks.

I will also be sharing plenty of tips for aspiring writers about selling eBooks. As a writer, it can be all too tempting to think that once your eBook is written, then the hard work is done. However, selling copies of your eBook is an entirely different process these days. So, if you have always wanted to learn about some of the best digital e-commerce platforms for eBook authors then this is the event for you. Similarly, if you would like to learn more about some of the latest digital e-commerce software, you can find some useful resources over on the FastSpring website here: https://fastspring.com/solutions/selling-digital-products/.

Please stop by and say hello. I love meeting readers (even those who do not buy my book, although I may steal a lock of hair for a voodoo doll, you will not even miss it)

Who Can Resist the Resistance? Pamela Boles Eglinski

As over-exposed as much of WWII stories can be, I’m a sucker for the French Resistance. It’s an underdog story, it’s spy stuff, it’s got hot French girls (quick, name a movie where the French Resistance fighter isn’t a total babe… thought so. Apparently there was a dress code or something), what’s not to like?

It seems, Pamela Boles Eglinski agrees. Her third novel, The Third Knife, is set in the French Riviera in 1943… well, I’ll introduce her and let her tell you….

So who’s Pamela Eglinski when she’s home?

My life is a little more sedate than that of my characters.

You may view my biography, while cruising though my books on Author Central. I’m a founding member of Read Local: Kansas City, Write Brain Trust, and a contributing author to The Good Life France, an on-line magazine for ex-pats. I am also a proud member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. The Third Knife has propelled me into the status of best-selling international author, and earned the novel a lovely little golden tag that says, “best seller.” I count my “Amazon blessings.”

Show off 🙂 So, what’s the book about?

The Third Knife is an intimate story of young men and women who fought in the French Resistance during WWII. It’s the tale of vengeance and passion, lives lost and saved, and the making of heroes and martyrs.

I’ve always been intrigued by strong women—especially under fire. I created a male/female spy team in my second and third novels [Return of the French Blue, and She Rides with Genghis Khan], and wanted to tell their back-story. I needed to answer this question: what drove my contemporary characters to follow in their parent’s path? Today, my characters take on global terrorism, while their parents and grandparents fought another kind of terrorism—the German Gestapo.

So, I asked myself, what better back-story than the French Resistance? And so, into the chaos of war enters a young woman, Charlotte Beaumont. She is sent by her parents from Turin to Nice—with the hope of finding refuge with her aunt. She carries a family heirloom—a diamond necklace cut from the legendary French Blue.

Why was the time-period intriguing?

The novel begins in 1943. In the chaos of war, Charlotte is unable to find her aunt, and in desperation searches for a childhood friend, Edouard Bonhomme. He now leads a band of French Maquis—a subset of the Resistance. She embraces their mission . . . one of espionage, subterfuge, and guerilla warfare. Set on the French Riviera, this rag-tag team of spies sets out to defeat the Germans—focusing on the Gestapo.

I know we love all our children equally, but what’s your favorite scene in the book?

In researching the novel, I discovered the French village of Vercors—a WWII refuge for Maquis, in the Alps near the Italian border. There is a fabulous PBS series, Wish Me Luck, which depicts what is now a famous and heroic battle between the French Resistance and the Germans. I enjoyed the series so much I watched it half a dozen times. Great characters, true to life, and filled with the mission and passion to defeat Hitler. When writing my novel, I chose to focus on the battle of Vercors—a battle that epitomized love of country.

Where can readers learn more about you and your books?

Readers will gain an admiration of France, the resilience of its people, and deep insight into WWII and the Resistance movement—in both the cities and countryside. The e-book is available on Amazon and the paperback may be found on Createspace.

They can find me on my author page on Amazon as well as

Please join me on: Facebook Goodreads New website under construction!

If you buy and read The Third Knife, kindly leave a review. Thank you in advance, and enjoy the story of the brave souls who fought and won the war against German oppression.

That’s a good point, Pam. Indie authors need reviews. The same is true of The Count of the Sahara and Acre’s Bastard. If you liked it, tell someone!

Life on the Oregon Trail with Theresa Hupp

The opening of the American West is great fodder for writers of historical fiction. Huge vistas, dramatic action, and characters who lived just long enough ago that they don’t feel foreign to us. A lot of people writing in that genre draw on their own family stories, and that leads us to Theresa Hupp, and her series about life on the Oregon Trail.

I met Theresa through our mutual participation in the Hometown Reads program. (If you want to find local authors in your area, this is a terrific resource. Check her out in Kansas City and my work and fellow authors in Chicago.) She’s the author of two historical novels, Lead Me Home: Hardship and Hope on the Oregon Trail (2015), and its sequel, Now I’m Found: Desolation and Discovery in the Gold Rush Years (2016). She has also written award-winning short stories, essays, and poetry, as well as a corporate thriller under a pseudonym. Her short works have been published by Chicken Soup for the Soul, Mozark Press, and Kansas City Voices magazine. Theresa is a member of the Kansas City Writers Group, the Missouri Writers Guild, Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., and Write Brain Trust. She has a B.A. from Middlebury College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and she has worked as an attorney, human resources executive, and mediator. (Editor’s note: now she’s just showing off! )

What’s the series about?

The first book in my Oregon Chronicles series is Lead Me Home. It tells the story of Caleb “Mac” McDougall, a young Bostonian seeking adventure on the Oregon Trail. As he passes through Missouri, he rescues Jenny Calhoun, a lonely girl in trouble. For reasons explained in the novel, Mac and Jenny pose as a married couple. Their journey is perilous and some of their companions untrustworthy. But they both grow in maturity while discovering the beauty and danger of the western frontier.

The second novel, Now I’m Found, opens with Mac deciding to return east, because he does not see a future with Jenny. On his way back to Boston, Mac learns of the California gold strike. He joins hordes of prospectors and also participates in the development of California as a state. Meanwhile, Jenny forges a new life in Oregon, but she must deal with the lie she and Mac told their friends in the wagon company. Mac and Jenny separately confront violence, temptation, and heartache in this second book. Do they find happiness? You’ll have to read the novel.

I am currently working on another book in the series. This third book does not deal primarily with Mac and Jenny, but with some of their wagon train companions. I hope to have it published in early 2018.

Why that time period? What is it that intrigues you about the Oregon Trail?

I grew up near the Whitman Mission in Washington State. Narcissa Whitman, one of the first white woman to cross the Rocky Mountains (in 1836), was my childhood heroine. She and her husband were killed in 1847. Then I found out that one of my ancestors’ family took a covered wagon to Oregon in 1848.

These historical and personal antecedents gave me a huge interest in the Oregon Trail, which led me to write Lead Me Home. I set Lead Me Home in 1847 so my characters could meet Narcissa Whitman before her death.

Now I’m Found simply continues the story through the early California Gold Rush years, which really began in 1848 (a year before the Forty-Niners rushed west). Those already in the West had a leg up on finding the easy pickings. Now I’m Found covers not only the early prospectors, but also the development of California as a state and the impact of the California gold discoveries on settlers in Oregon.

I know this is a completely unfair question, but what’s your favorite scene?

This question really made me pause and think. In general, I prefer writing scenes with lots of dialogue, rather than description. That’s probably the result of spending years as a lawyer taking depositions and listening to testimony. So I like the scenes with lots of tension as the characters argue or don’t tell each other everything.

One of my highlights as a writer was writing a scene in Lead Me Home in which a character dies—I made myself cry, so I knew I was writing well. But for obvious reasons, that isn’t my favorite scene. I loved writing the scenes in Lead Me Home that showed Jenny McDougall’s growth from a scared girl to a young woman who could climb mountains.

In Now I’m Found, I liked the scenes between Mac McDougall and a character named Consuela. Consuela gave Mac advice he didn’t want to hear. She told him things he should have figured out for himself, but it took him the whole novel to get there on his own.

So where can we find out more about you and your books (besides Hometown Reads. Her profile page is here…)

Amazon author site:

B&N author site:

Website: http://www.theresahuppauthor.com

Facebook page:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8078829.Theresa_Hupp

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtheresahupp/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MTHupp