Today’s interviewee is author Ann Simas. She writes mystery-thriller-suspense novels with a love story and paranormal or supernatural elements. She lives in Oregon but, having grown up in the Rocky Mountains, is a Colorado girl at heart. An avid reader since childhood, she penned her first fiction “book” in high school. An award-winning watercolorist and a budding photographer, Ann enjoys needlework and gardening in her spare time. She is her family’s “genealogist” and has been blessed with the opportunity to conduct first-hand research in Italy for both her writing and her family tree. The genealogy research from decade’s old documents in Italian, she says, has been a supreme but gratifying challenge. Ann is a member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Northwest Independent Writers Association, and Italian-American Writers Association. She publishes under the Magic Moon Press imprint.
SS: Writing is undoubtedly a lonely occupation. John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) says writing is a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don’t want to make eye contact while doing it. P. D. James (Cover Her Face) says it’s essential for writers to enjoy their own company. Do you see yourself along those lines? Are you a natural loner?
AS: Writing is a solitary endeavor, but the outside world doesn’t understand that. I get phone calls when I write. People come to the door. My husband talks to me. I stop writing and hope I don’t lose the thread of the story I’m working on. The older I get, the less I care about being social. I enjoy spending time with my husband, my kids, and my grandson. I like playing Mahjongg with friends every two weeks. However, much to my surprise, I find that in addition to be a social person, I am also a natural loner. As my Mom used to say, “Whodathunkit?”
SS: Do you generally write in one genre? If so, what is it? And what can readers expect from one of your books?
AS: I started out writing romance and joined Romance Writers of America. I sold my first book, a novella entitled The Sugar Cup, in 1993 to Harlequin/WorldWide. My editor later told me they struggled with whether or not to buy the book because it wasn’t strictly romance (it also had a mystery and ghost dog). Over and over again in future rejection letters, it was always, “Not enough romance, too much mystery.” Regardless, I continued to write, and then one day I gave myself a mental slap and said, “Write a mystery!” I did, but the manuscript languished, along with all the other books I’d written, including three that were RWA Golden Heart Finalists. Eventually, I wasn’t working a day job any longer, and I decided to get back to writing.
At that point, I decided I didn’t want to publish with a traditional publisher. I had no intention of using a vanity press, either, but I did my research and decided to go indie. I created my own publishing company, Magic Moon Press, and after a great deal of research and updating all my work, I published Chloe’s Spirit, First Star, and Blessed Are the Eagles, my three Golden Heart finalists. With the exception of my Grace Gabbiano Mysteries and my Christmas Valley Romances, all my books are cross-genre—thriller/mystery/suspense with a love story and often paranormal or supernatural elements.
SS: If you could write about anyone, fictional or nonfictional, who would you write about?
AS: Nikola Tesla or Glenn Miller.
SS: Then you would enjoy Diane Byington’s new novel, If She Had Stayed. It features time travel and Nikola Tesla. When you are creating a story, do you avoid reading books in the same vein so as not to be influenced by others, or do you seek out all possible variations for maximum inspiration?
AS: While I’m writing, the only thing I read is nonfiction, which is generally research for my current work-in-progress or the next book I plan to write. I don’t want to be influenced by another fiction author’s work.
SS: What writer would you be most thrilled to hear wants to meet you?
AS: Dean Koontz.
SS: Which of your characters surprised you the most for the decisions they made?
AS: Sophie Doyle, from Heaven Sent. Sophie is hit by car and dies. She comes back, but then has another near-death experience (NDE) in the ER. At that time, she’s given a mission from God to save Bella from the Dark Place (Hell), where the child’s mother is intent on taking her. Research is a marvelous tool. In the beginning, I didn’t know how Sophie would accomplish this task, but I discovered a medical procedure that might work. I contacted the cardiologist who developed it, and he was extremely helpful. I also discovered mirror-gazing, which Sophie uses to help facilitate the process she would undertake. Honestly, Sophie is frightened, but once she met Bella, she is determined to save the girl’s life, even at the expense of her own. Was I surprised by her courage? Absolutely.
SS: What is a fun or strange source of inspiration that ended up in your book (a name, location, line of dialogue, etc.)?
AS: My husband and I enjoy watching the night skies during the summer months. I’ve seen things up there that I can’t explain, and I used some of those sightings in Taken to Die (Grace Gabbiano Mysteries, Book 5). That was a really fun book to write. As you can imagine from the title, Grace experiences something first-hand with the Greys, and she’s still dealing with the aftermath of that experience in book 6, Praying to Die, which is a July 31, 2020 release.
SS: Do you ever incorporate something that happened to you in real life into your novels?
AS: I got the idea for First Star when I worked at the District Attorney’s Victim/Witness Services Program. A local real estate agent was being stalked, and the guy stalking her did really creepy things. Alex, my female protagonist in First Star, is a real estate agent who has a stalker. While the stalker in my book does different things, they are still traumatic. In Black Moon Rising, the book starts out with Sunny having five different visions of a bike rider’s crash. I stopped to help a young woman sprawled on the side of the road one day along Car-Dealer Row. She assured me she was fine, so I went on my way. A car salesperson, however, reported me to the police. Fortunately, the girl had informed them I wasn’t responsible for her accident, but Sunny isn’t that lucky in my book.
At my last job, I was tasked with finding a new building to move into for the research center I worked for. From the first day we were there, I smelled smoke that no one else could smell. Years later, I figured out how I could use that in a story and the Andi Comstock Supernatural Mysteries were born. At the time, there was a crematorium on the opposite corner of the block, but I soon discovered that it did not emit smoke during cremation. I still don’t know what that smoky smell was. I wrote Heaven Sent because of my mother. Though this is book is not my mother’s story, she did experience several NDEs. Upon her death, we found a written summary of her experiences. Hers were so poignant, I had to tackle writing about a near-death experience.
SS: Are you looking to entertain or illuminate?
AS: I definitely want to entertain readers with my books, and I hope they enjoy learning about something new as they delve into my stories, or at least enhance their knowledge of things they already know about (e.g., mirror-gazing, alien abduction, near-death experience). To me, learning qualifies as illumination. One thing I don’t do is get political or lecture in my books. That would take away the entertainment value in a New York minute.
SS: What are you currently reading? What was the first book you fell in love with? Which book(s) do you return to again and again?
AS: I’m currently reading The Only Book of Wicca Spells You’ll Ever Need, which is research for The Wrong Wicca (Andi Comstock Supernatural Mysteries, Book 5). As for books I fell in love with, I read two in high school that have stayed with me—Alice in Wonderland and Gone With the Wind. As to the books I refer to over and over again, those would be my dictionary and Rodale’s Synonym Finder. Both are invaluable.
SS: Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones? Does a bad one affect your writing?
AS: I always read my reviews. The good ones make me feel good, and the bad ones sometimes make me wonder how the reader got what they got from what I wrote. Those remind me of college lit classes where we had to dissect books like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and The Great Gatsby and The Iliad. Writer’s aren’t always sending a message. Sometimes, they’re writing for the sheer enjoyment of it. As for readers who may find a typo, an email is always welcome, as it allows me to make a correction.
SS: What’s something memorable you’ve heard from your readers/fans? What’s been the best compliment?
AS: I got one review that is both memorable and a compliment, and it still tickles my funny bone. Here it is: “Loved ‘Here and Gone’ couldn’t hardly put it down, but my animals and husband needed to eat.” (Fossil, Colorado Books, #1).
SS: That is too funny! Where and when is your book set? How did you decide on the setting? The time frame?
AS: After I wrote Here and Gone, I decided to write three more books featuring Noah Ward’s siblings, Brant, Simon, and Juliette (Jules). I decided to call the four-book series Fossil, Colorado Books, after the town Hannah Mason relocated to in Here and Gone. In that book, Hannah discovers that her husband and son, who she thought drowned in a sailing accident, are actually alive and well. She makes it her mission to find her son and get him back.
In the second book, Disappearing Act, Georgie Flannery’s story begins eight years after she’s gone on the run, hiding from her step-brother, who attempted to take his obsession with her one step too far. Brant Ward, the oldest of the Ward siblings, is featured in this book.
I grew up in Colorado, and about half my books are set there. Fossil, Colorado is a fictional town in fictional Pike County. All the other towns and places I use are real, except for Highway 18, which leads to Fossil, but doesn’t actually exist. The books are contemporary and take place during the snowy season in Colorado, which generally runs from about October through May (I’m not kidding, either. They just had a June snow there.)
SS: I grew up in Craig, up in northwestern Colorado. One year it snowed on Memorial Day and snowed again on Labor Day. Back to business, though. Is there a phrase or quote about writing you particularly like or that inspires you? What are common traps for new authors?
AS: Years ago, I read an article about Cynthia Freeman, a woman who started writing in her sixties. To paraphrase, she said: “Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from the thrill of trying.” Her advice means something to me, even today. Writing can be intimidating, and being rejected is even scarier.
The biggest and most common trap for new authors is thinking that writing will make them rich. The fact is, most writers don’t make a living wage. You have to write because you love it, not because you think you’ll make money at it. If you don’t try, you’ll never get published, and therein lies the thrill Freeman was talking about.
SS: I started writing at sixty, so I’m right up there with Cynthia Freeman. And I can guarantee most writers don’t make enough to live on! An exception might be one of my favorite authors, Patricia Cornwell (the Scarpetta series). She worked in a morgue to research her books. What is the darkest place your research has taken you? Val McDermid (A Place of Execution) consults with a forensic scientist. What lengths do you go to make sure you get the science right? Do you prefer tidy endings, or can you leave a few loose ends?
AS: The question I get the most is, “How do you come up with this stuff?” The answer is, I pay attention to what’s happening around me, I have a good imagination, and I do my research. For me, that’s a winning combination.
I haven’t worked in a morgue, but I did visit the local morgue once. Locally, it’s called Surgery 10 by law enforcement. The diener (pathology assistant) was welcoming, funny, and informative. The autopsy room was exactly as I pictured it. I’ve also taken a Forensics class, taught by the head of the local branch of the state crime lab, and a Criminal Investigation class, taught by twelve different law enforcement officials. I did a police ride-along, too. I’m not afraid to approach anyone in my efforts to get my facts and procedures straight, and correct.
In my Grace Gabbiano Mysteries, there are always few loose ends woven through each book, but ultimately, they always resolve in later books. In a series, I think it’s to be expected that some threads will finish in later books, especially if they’re secondary storylines. However, in my Christmas Valley Romances, I don’t leave any loose ends, although most of the characters crop up in more than one book.
Lightning Round
Describe your books in 3 words: fast-paced, exciting, happily-ever-after
When writing, are you a night owl or morning person? More of a night owl.
Pantser or Plotter? Pantser
Your favorite guilty pleasure: Taking time to do counted cross stitch.
Your favorite detective or spy protagonist is: Bond. James Bond.
What is your favorite thriller or mystery movie? I have two, The Sixth Sense and Signs.
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Here and Gone (Fossil, Colorado Books #1) and The Disappearing Act (Fossil, Colorado Books #2) are available through Amazon.
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An excerpt from Here and Gone (Fossil, Colorado Books #1)
Noon came and went, but Hannah couldn’t make herself pick up her phone. Instead, she sat rooted in her chair, staring at the video playing over and over and over again on her laptop.
Jason taking Sabine in a passionate embrace.
Jay, squished between them, unheeded, never acknowledged until Sabine shook him like he was a dirty rug or something. Her son managed to wiggle out of her grasp, and in typical little-boy fashion, took off. That netted him a spanking, which the security guard interrupted with a warning to move on.
After four hours, Hannah pushed away from her desk and stood up.
Every muscle and bone in her body protested.
She picked up her forgotten breakfast plate and her cold, but full coffee cup and moved with wooden motions back to the kitchen.
Her cell phone rang for the sixth time.
For the sixth time, she ignored it.
All those late nights and weekends Jason was away from home. Hannah had asked him point-blank once if he had a woman on the side. He’d laughed and pinched her cheek in that pseudo-playful way he had that she loathed.
His words rang in her ears, even now. Of course not, Hannah. You’re the one and only girl for me.
Girl. Hannah was a woman, not a girl. She’d recognized at the time that the words lacked sincerity, but fool that she was, she hadn’t dwelled on it.
And then there was the day he’d walked out the front door holding Jay’s little hand in his. Taking the birthday boy out for a sail, he’d said. Expect us back when you see us.
Of course, Jay had been excited and scared all at once about his first trip out on the sailboat. Hannah had run after them, begging Jason not to take him yet. It was the Pacific Ocean, for God’s sake. Jay had just turned five. Sure, he’d had swimming lessons, but his little body was no match for an ocean that covered half the world.
Hannah, Did you at least get him a life vest?
Jason, Don’t worry. I’ve got everything covered.
Jay, ’Bye, Mom. I love you! Don’t worry about me.
Dissecting Jason’s words now was too little, too late.
Expect us when you see us. She should have realized how ambiguous that statement was at the time.
I’ve got everything covered. Translation, I’m taking Jay with me and we’re meeting up with my lover, Sabine, and you’re out of my life forever, Hannah. Screw you!
Hannah dropped her dishes into the sink. They shattered on impact, but she never noticed. She grasped the edge of the counter and began to sob. Her body shook so badly, her knees gave out on her. Inch by inch, she went down and crumpled into a heap on the hardwood floor.
Wracked with emotions that ranged from anger to fear to hatred to vengeful, she had only two coherent thoughts—Jay was alive and Jason was going to pay for what he’d done.
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