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An author blog from a Texas girl who’s seen the world…
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BOOK REVIEW: First Course by Jenn Bouchard

Janie Whitman, the protagonist in First Course, undergoes a life-changing twenty-four hours. First, she loses her job in Chicago and the boyfriend/boss there breaks up with her. Then, hard on those happenings, her parents die in a plane crash, and her sister, Alyssa,...

Enter My Holiday Giveaway!

One lucky participant will win: A hand-made cozy scarf A signed copy of A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE Bookish print swag Click here to enter, or use the widget below. No purchase necessary. The more ways you enter, the more your chances of winning. Good luck and have fun!...

A Halloween story: Morrigan

  Morrigan © Suanne Schafer A whistled song disturbs my sleep. Just outside the churchyard, I lie, warm and drowsy, buried within the earth, roofed by a grove of dark pines whose fallen needles and verdant mosses quilt my bed. Loath to leave a lovely pleasure, I...

New Book Trailer! Hunting the Devil

In case you missed it in my newsletter and here on the front and book pages of my website, here's the new goosebump-inducing book trailer for Hunting the Devil. I hope you love it as much as I do! 😈📚🎬

Enter My Summer-Into-Fall Book Lovers Giveaway!

One grand prize winner will receive a signed paperback copy of A Different Kind of Fire, a handmade beaded velvet bookmark, and a Hunting the Devil book bag. Ends at Midnight/CT on September 5th Good luck and have fun! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter My First Springtime Giveaway

More daylight = more time to read, so it felt like the perfect occasion for a new bookish giveaway! 🌞📚One lucky winner will receive an eBook copy of A Different Kind of Fire, and a $10 Amazon gift card. This one ends a week from today, so get in while you can. Click...
-Blog Updates-
More family recipes … Mocha Nut Cookies

More family recipes … Mocha Nut Cookies

These delicious cookies are the chocolate equivalent of those Mexican wedding cookies that are rolled in powdered sugar. The cookies themselves aren't terribly sweet, which compensates for the powdered sugar. For Christmas, just bake a double batch—you won't regret...

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More family recipes … Mrs. Ray’s Pound Cake

More family recipes … Mrs. Ray’s Pound Cake

I have been baking the pound cake below sixty years. The recipe originally came from an elderly next-door neighbor in Midland, Texas. Her husband was in the posse that killed Bonnie and Clyde on May 23, 1935. It's so simple I don't even look at the recipe any...

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Icelandic Christmas Books & Chocolate Giveaway

Icelandic Christmas Books & Chocolate Giveaway

Now thru Midnight/ET 12.22.18 Who's up for books, chocolate and coffee? The question should likely be, who ISN'T up for books, chocolate and coffee? Nobody here, I'm sure. 😉  I've decided to do an Icelandic-themed giveaway (jólabókaflóð), where the gift is...

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More family recipes … Mema’s Lemon Pecan Fruitcake

More family recipes … Mema’s Lemon Pecan Fruitcake

Unlike last week's boozy fruitcake, this is a "white" fruitcake that can be made at the last minute. It is my grandmother's recipe. My handwritten cookbook shows I also made this one as a newly-wed living in Italy in December 1979, but I remember making it as a child...

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More family recipes … Mom’s Applesauce Fruitcake

More family recipes … Mom’s Applesauce Fruitcake

With the holidays approaching, I thought I'd share some of my family's Christmas recipes. The first is from my mother. My hand-written recipe book shows I made it as a newly-wed in Italy in December 1979 and have made it most years since then. It's a boozy but...

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Interview with Meghan Scott Molin, author of THE FRAME-UP

Interview with Meghan Scott Molin, author of THE FRAME-UP

With Thanksgiving heralding the arrival of the December holidays, I'll remind readers that books make excellent holiday gifts. 🙂 Today I'm interviewing Meghan Scott Molin. Her book, a mystery named The Frame-up (Book 1 of the Golden Arrow Mysteries), will be released...

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Updates on A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE

Updates on A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE

  A Different Kind of Fire is now available in multiple formats: audiobook, ebook (Kindle only, thus far) and paperback. These are available through Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, and Waldorf Publishing.  

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A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE Book Trailer

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE Book Trailer

I can’t believe it’s finally here! A Different Kind of Fire - my debut novel - is available to the world TODAY, and this is my beautiful book trailer. I hope you enjoy it! AVAILABLE @: Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Waldorf Publishing Ruby Schmidt has the...

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Update on A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE

Update on A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE

Great news! A Different Kind of Fire has just been released on Audible, six weeks ahead of the release of the paperback. It's narrated by Ayesha Kleinjan and can be found at Audible.com as well as on Amazon.

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New Artsy Bookish Giveaway – With $10 Amazon Gift Card

New Artsy Bookish Giveaway – With $10 Amazon Gift Card

I had so much fun doing a big, beautiful, artsy bookish giveaway haul last month, I've decided to do it again! This time, I'm upping the ante by including a $10 Amazon gift card in one of the prize combos. It's only on for eight days, so enter while you can... Good...

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Update on A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE

I'm so excited! A Different Kind of Fire was just nominated for the 2018 Readers Choice Awards contest by TCK Publishing! Please vote for it at https://www.tckpublishing.com/2018-readers-choice-voting-page/ It's also up for preorder at...

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Update on A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE

My debut novel, A Different Kind of Fire, has been available in paperback for pre-order on Amazon and at my publisher's website for several weeks and will be delivered on 11/1/18. The digital version should be available for pre-order about ninety days before the...

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More Tarzan

More Tarzan

In one of those random internet searches, I discovered that the United States Post Office issued a commemorative stamp for Edgar Rice Burroughs (ERB) way back in 2012. I don't know how I missed it, but here are some images to illustrate how Tarzan enchanted readers...

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A Different Kind of Fire gets a cover

A Different Kind of Fire gets a cover

Here, Ruby Schmidt is leaving West Texas to study art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia:

Raised to ranch life, hard work did not bother Ruby. She loved the land as much as Bismarck did, but painting enraptured her. Deep in her soul, she knew she had talent. As far back as she could remember, at every free moment, she had drawn pictures. During times paper was scarce, she traced images in the dust with a stick, lamenting the interminable wind that blew them away. When she sketched, she felt as free as Bismarck’s mustangs. If not allowed to become a painter, she would shrivel up inside. But leaving Bismarck had been harder than she thought possible. At the break in his voice when he said goodbye, only her white-knuckled grip on the handrail kept her from falling into his arms. She could turn around. She could go back. It wasn’t too late.
The clacking of wheels on train tracks set the pace of her swirling thoughts. Yes. No. Stay. Go. The train’s whistle announced the stop in Big Spring. Ruby stood, preparing to get off the train, still not certain if she was coming or going, but thinking she should at least stretch her legs. As she descended, she noticed a careworn woman waiting on the platform. Not much older than Ruby herself, the woman was pregnant, had a toddler slung on one hip, and her fingers enclosed another child’s hand.
Ruby closed her eyes. That was her future if she returned home. She got back on the train and announced her final decision with a determined stomp of her foot, loud enough that the men around her looked up in surprise. After an apologetic shrug, she returned to her thoughts. She would stick with her original plan. Bismarck had agreed to wait a year. If her studies didn’t work out, she could always return home. Things would still be the same. Nothing ever changed in Truly.

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A Different Kind of Fire, Nudity, and the Fig Leaf

A Different Kind of Fire, Nudity, and the Fig Leaf

Classical statues and Renaissance statues of the human body, like Michelangelo's David, were modeled on well-toned bodies of athletes. However, their genitalia was portrayed under-sized as artistic depictions of penises of normal size, even flaccid, distracted from...

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The Gross Clinic and A Different Kind of Fire

The Gross Clinic and A Different Kind of Fire

My book, A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE, is about an eighteen-year-old woman who goes to Philadelphia to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). I will be blogging about some of the paintings and artists she encounters while at school. As as former physician, I have always been fascinated by The Gross Clinic, so of course, the painting had to be featured in the book. 

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