From the Scriptorium: Snow in Britain but not Wisconsin

From the Scriptorium: Snow in Britain but not Wisconsin: I'm always fascinated when I see photographs of home, especially those which feature animals or flowers. This one makes the sheep look down...

Snow in Britain but not Wisconsin

I'm always fascinated when I see photographs of home, especially those which feature animals or flowers.  This one makes the sheep look downright frozen in place!

Here in Wisconsin, we would normally have several feet of snow on the ground right now, but the goofy weather patterns have our snow melting instead of falling.  What was a lovely winter scene is now reduced to brown grass and gritty, dirty frozen slush.  Our local ski festival had to cancel all but the last day of competition due to poor snow conditions.

Over in West Yorkshire, this photo shows a typical winter scene.  Not that much snow (in my humble opinion) but starkly beautiful none-the-less.  But just a few inches of snow snarls up traffic, shuts roads and creates a lot of ice.  Britain, after all, is an island and subject to the sea effects.  You'd think all the salt in the water would keep the ice off the roads, but NO!!

This is an incredible photo.  You can certainly see the power of Mother Nature in this frozen waterfall.  We have pictures like this here in the States, but I found this quite powerful.

In 2010, this was the scene from our back door.  It was a rollickin' good winter with lots of snow and plenty of icicles.  This one was especially fun to watch grow but Mick finally had to take it down because it was actually very dangerous. 

Climatologists tell us that as we progress through this decade, our weather here in Wisconsin will slowly turn into the same weather patterns as Southern Missouri.  I hate to think how hot it will be there! Summers can hit over 100 degrees here already, so I suppose we need to see to our air conditioner maintenance!!

This is an aerial view of St. Mary's Church in Horsham, UK.  My guess is those are people down below and not headstones.  Are they sliding down to the church hall for tea and biscuits after services?  Certainly looks cold there, doesn't it?

I'll end my wintry tale with a photograph of a bridge in York.  Lovely, isn't it?  Reminiscent of Central Park in New York City.  Perhaps all park bridges look like this in winter, perhaps not.  It only serves to remind me that no matter where you go in this world, there is always something beautiful about it.

Thanks to the BBC News for these photos.  Most are pictures taken by local folks who have captured some great scenes.  I only wish I could have been one of them!!  Good on ya, folks!!

From the Scriptorium: Book It!

From the Scriptorium: Book It!: Why all this stuff about my books? Well, I'll tell you. When I became more disabled with my Post Polio, I knew something had to change in ...

Book It!

Why all this stuff about my books?  Well, I'll tell you.  When I became more disabled with my Post Polio, I knew something had to change in my life.  Gone was my ability to be out on the road in sales - which saddened me greatly.  Gone was my mobility, added was arthritis in my hands, ankles, shoulders, back and knees.  What joy!  NOT.  So, I needed to do something to earn a living and at age 55, I decided to write a novel.  How stupid could I get?  Plenty.

When I was in college, I took writing courses as part of my degree - English, of course.  I'd written a lot as a child, mostly those silly childhood poems Mom posted on the fridge door and I thought I could draw on that past experience and education. Hmm - faulty memory strikes again.  One thing I did learn is to fine tune your craft BEFORE you begin.  Gone was my common sense, proper punctuation, quotation mark placement, yata yata yata.  Oh the content and story lines were great - and so is the writing, but technically?  I didn't have a clue.  And once the books were in print, it would cost my first born to change them...so I was stuck....and still am.

But I began to learn.  I dealt with rejection from publishers - over 300 of them.  Newbies rarely get noticed by a reputable publisher unless you know someone who knows someone else. I found what I thought was a wonderful publisher and in actuality, it didn't turn out that way.  The publishing business was in the process of changing radically.  EBooks weren't thought of yet, but marketing and strategies were.  Publishing was a whole new ballgame and I wasn't ready.  I was wearing my rose colored glasses then.  They certainly aren't on now.

My first novel, Northwoods Forest Mystery, introduces my main characters, Roan Sanderson and Shauna McGuire, college friends at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.  They'd lost touch over the years then re-established their friendship after Shauna's husband died in a tornado.  She and her son Conor come home to Minnesota after the funeral but no one expects these friends to fall in love and marry. However they do and this story begins a four-book saga of their lives and those of their friends - and enemies.  It crosses continents and decades, plus the first book sets the stage for a mystery which began many years earlier in a logging camp in Bemidji, Minnesota.  A crime was committed - yes.  But not by the innocent man who was convicted.  Roan and his friends work diligently to solve the mystery and bonds are formed which cannot be broken, not even by death.  We meet some absolutely wonderful characters (including Franco, the goofy waiter and Miss Lulabelle Lavinia LaFontaine, Doyenne of literary societies, plus a religious sister who sports a visible tattoo) and folks who you will remember long after you've read the books.  There is love and heartbreak, great joy and much sadness we can all relate to.

This is an excellent first book, but as I mentioned earlier, it is my first foray into writing, so technically I am not pleased.  I have, however, re-written it so it IS technically correct and ready for a new publisher.

The second book, Death Across the Pond, deals with the loss of a character's sight due to a plane crash.  It also introduces a dark character - an internationally sought assassin who begins to follow Roan and Shauna on a European honeymoon. What follows is a deepening mystery - one which will test their faith and strength in dealing with the devil.

There are new relatives introduced, some of which are quite strange (and we all seem to have those, don't we?).  One is a serial murderer, but what happens to him and how is he connected to the 'Ghost'?  "Death" begins to take the characters deeper and deeper into a psychological mystery with plot twists one wouldn't expect.

Book three, The 'Ghost' in Bolton Hall, moves the Sanderson family into an entirely new direction as they restore an ancient family manor house in England, but the 'Ghost' follows them to Britain and wreaks havoc on the family and the people of Bolton-by-Bowland in Lancashire.  This time, we see history, generations of family pride, ownership and greed - greed by the 'Ghost' who plots revenge for the death of his wife and greed from a gaggle of shady characters with centuries of ties to the Sandersons.  The family story line has now become dark and sinister, but with the addition of several new characters - and I do mean characters, the Sanderson family and friends are able to move forward again, only to have their hard work destroyed in a fire.  And Roan must deal with heartbreak and the death of a beloved family member.  This story line never stops moving.

                                                                   
The final book, Murder and Pasta Don't Mix, wraps up the Sanderson saga and goes back and forth between Ireland, Italy, the UK and the States, with Franco, the nutty Italian actually becoming a mature man in love, who, unfortunately, gets his heart broken by his childhood sweetheart.  The Sandersons find out they have inherited a large plot of farm land in Tuscany, near Franco's family home town and what insues is hysterically funny, but also a dangerous time for the Sandersons.  The 'Ghost' is still on the loose - but not for long and they also encounter a crime boss out for his own style of revenge.

These are adult, family-oriented novels (not for children under 18).  Yes, there is violence in them, a tiny bit of blue language, hysterically funny bits and definitely romance, but no sex scenes.  When I began writing these books, it was because the members of a Mom's group I belong to said they didn't like all the gratuitous sex in novels today and could someone try to write a book they could all read?  I took that challenge and ended up writing not one book, but four.  I simply couldn't stop.  But I accomplished my goal and now I was a published writer.

You can find all my book titles listed on our family web site at: http://www.thecookcompanies.com/ and it will give you a few links on how to purchase them.  The eBooks are there, too.  And those are the ones I am most proud of.

And now, being part Irish, I think I will imbibe with one of the famous Irish brews: 

'Tis a grand way to spend an evening, relaxin' by the fire with a pint and good friends.  (I know, I don't have a fireplace - but I can dream, can't I?)

From the Scriptorium: Who plays golf in January in Wisconsin?

From the Scriptorium: Who plays golf in January in Wisconsin?: Right now, in the City of La Crosse, people are playing golf on the local courses. There is no snow, temps in the 50's and the greens are s...

Who plays golf in January in Wisconsin?

Right now, in the City of La Crosse, people are playing golf on the local courses.  There is no snow, temps in the 50's and the greens are still playable.  I must admit, the thought of no snow in Wisconsin as we approach mid-January is rather curious.  Is it La Nina?  Is it El Nino?  Is it some cosmic shift in global warming?  Naah, it's just Red Dwarf coming out of orbit.

This is what I picture.  A crackling fire, a glass of wine or perhaps a brandy.  A cat cuddling by the foot of my chair on the afghan I just finished.  Or just sitting by the window watching the snow falling gently on our yard.  HA - none of those wistful pleasures to be certain.  No fireplace and no cat.  And NO SNOW.  This is the craziest winter I have seen in ages.  Who doesn't have snow in the middle of January in Wisconsin?

Addendum:  The following day, we received over 5" of snow.  Right now temps are in the low teens and the golfing range has closed for the season.  The Mt. La Crosse Ski Slopes are open for business and now don't have to make snow.  Winter finally made it to Wisconsin...January 12, 2012.

I'm excited about the football playoff games.  I can't wait to watch Clay Matthews - No 52 on the right, make his titanic tackles and glamourous takeaways, then do his victory dance to the delight of all the fans in Lambeau Field.  I get positively rowdy watching these men in green and gold.  Naturally I wear my own ensemble of green and gold with custom made necklace and earrings for the support of my team.  I've even thought about making my popcorn green and gold but that might be difficult.  I must be content with the traditional stuff and being a dedicated fan in Packer Nation.  For Greg, Donald, Clay, BJ, TJ, and my other Facebook and Twitter pals, you can count on me to be cheering in front of my little television and raising the roof - so to speak.

I am working on my historical novel, which involves the gentleman on my left - John Paul Jones, the first Commodore of the US Navy.  His flagship, the Bonhomme Richard features prominently in this historical drama about a series of murders committed in 1779 in Whitby, England.  However, his is not the only Bonhomme Richard IN this book.  The Bon Homme Richard of World War II and our current ship, Bonhomme Richard are also featured in the book.  A sailor from each must come through a vortex to use the skills from each century to solve these murders.  Sound intriguing?  Ah ha...this is the best one I've written yet.  "The Marlinspike Murders" should be ready for publication at the end of this year (2012), hopefully in both ebook and traditional paperback formats.

I understand Tesco wants to build a new store on the west side of Holmfirth, close to the setting for "Last of the Summer Wine" television series.  They tried to get planning permission once before and failed, because a store such as Tesco should be placed downtown for shoppers to come to the town centre - not to the fringes of it.  And understandably, one would not want to spoil such a pastoral setting with a store and traffic.  I suppose if the store is placed in an area which doesn't impede traffic and doesn't spoil the countryside views, it might be okay.  Tesco has offered to set up bus service to and from town centre so people can shop in both locations, but being the purest I am, I'm not certain that would fly with Holmfirth residents.  We shall see.  I wonder what Nora, Compo, Clegg and Foggy would think of a Tesco store over by Compo's Cafe?  Would there be a place for Howard and Marina to ride their bicycles away from prying eyes?  Goodness, the shock of it all!!

Don't forget these fine eBooks available through http://www.smashwords.com/

or these

Good reading at a reasonable price.

Until the next time, happy reading.  Stay warm and cuddle with the one you love.

The Town Gray Built

These days we all seem so preoccupied with getting the best deals on "Black Friday."  Funny how we seem to lose the meaning of Advent - lost in the plunder we bring home, but right now, this very minute, we should be planning for the coming of the Christ child - not how much we can spend on something we don't need.

My latest eBook reflects some of the meaning of Advent.  Odd, it didn't start out as that, but the more I read it, the more I realized this IS an Advent story.

"The Town Gray Built" began as a dream.  In fact, this IS the entire dream as it was given to me.  This has happened only twice while I have been an author.  The first was "Always Have - Always Will" and for some reason, I wasn't the writer, only the vehicle to put the message on paper.  God has a funny habit of doing these things.

"The Town Gray Built" tells the story of Mary, a young woman who has been hired to manage a store on an island off the east coast and although she's quite enthusiastic about her new assignment, she finds the task a bit more complicated than just running a store.  The town she moves to looks like something out of the Twilight Zone rather than a happy, bustling town.  The place seems to be shrouded in a gray fog that envelopes everything - and everyone.  Somehow the people of the island feel she can change that for them and Mary wonders what she's gotten herself into.  After all, she is simply one person.  What can she do?

But Mary perseveres in her new quest and this story reflects the success she hopes for.  It's a story of love, redemption and the renewal of Christmas faith.  Mary works her magic for the people of the town, called Sunshine, never thinking of herself in the process, but along the way, an unexpected blessing comes her direction and the sunshine is restored to the entire island.

Once again, "The Town Gray Built" has been published by Smashwords.com and is available now.  The story is a "short" - too long for a short story but too short for a long novel, so I kept the price at $1.99 to make it affordable for everyone (and all these books can be read on a computer - you don't need an eReader for them!).  All my ebooks come with a small price tag, too.  Don't forget these:  "Seven Doors of Time" @$4.99, "Always Have - Always Will" @$2.99 and "Good Old Uncle Norman" @$2.99.  The prices reflect the size of the book.  And of course, my fiction series in print at PublishAmerica.com with "Northwoods Forest Mystery", "Death Across the Pond", "The 'Ghost' in Bolton Hall" and "Murder and Pasta Don't Mix."  Check the publisher for all their latest special prices, as they change quite often or you can get them through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and other book retailers.  And you can check our web site for more details: http://www.thecookcompanies.com/

In this season of Advent, which we are about to enter, perhaps it's good to reflect on the true meaning of the season.  It isn't Christmas, but the prelude TO Christmas.  It isn't about giving gifts or spending money, but taking a look back at our year and seeing where we need to improve. This is a penitential season - one of great love, giving of oneself and faith.  We live in the hope of a better and brighter new year and that we may benefit from the wisdom of reflection.

Heralding Autumn

I adore September, when it rains then produces the most beautiful autumn foliage, however this year we started early, faltered and are now late.  I had hoped for one of Wisconsin's most brilliant autumn displays, but alas, not yet.

Our weather has been clear, sunny and very warm for the past ten days.  Now October, we will continue on this path for the next ten days and by the end of the next week, we should be in the 60's where we belong.  Still, I would love to see some dazzle.

You can see a bit of colour here.  This is the street up from us and it's always pretty.  People are house proud here and La Crosse is a lovely place to live, even if there are no decent jobs here.  Poor Mick has been out of work for eleven months now with nothing in sight.  And that's sad.

But looking ahead, I am in the middle of writing four new novels - all true crime.  No weddings, nothing terribly soppy, but I will be blowing things up, bumping people off, shooting weapons, etc. - the usual stuff.  One has a historical theme to it, another is contemporary with an historic twist and the other two, well, I won't give those away.  Suffice it to say, these are all under 25,000 words and will be on Smashwords.com for $2.99 each before the end of the year.  And as always, there will be a free 20% download of each new book and with Christmas coming up, Smashwords may do a special pricing, so I will opt for that as well.

And just so you don't forget, here are the books currently for sale at Smashwords.com.  You don't need an eReader to read them either.  Just select the HTML choice and you can read the books on your computer.  It's easy, fun and certainly cheaper than a movie and dinner!!

Always Have - Always Will (a Love story)
$2.99





Good Old Uncle Norman - A goofy Crime Drama, also $2.99

Seven Doors of Time

This book is a compilation of seven stories of various lengths, subjects and genre.  This book took several years to write and has over 158,000 pages in it.  Price is $4.99.

So there we are for October.  Another Blog will be coming later in the week on another topic.  My wish for you is fair weather and following seas...and beautiful Autumn colours!

Two new novels have just been published from author Karin Ficke Cook

I am so pleased to announce Good Old Uncle Norman and Always Have - Always Will (at $2.99 each) were just published by Smashwords.com and are available in all formats for your eReader and your computer.  They join Seven Doors of Time, which is a compilation of seven independent stories available at $4.99 - a higher price but for a much larger book.  As always, there is a free 20% download to try out the novels first before you buy, just to see if you like them.  "Seven" is longer, so it has a 30% free download.

Always Have - Always Will is a departure from my usual crime/mystery genre.  This is a love story about a woman whose husband has just died from injuries sustained in a car accident.  It was no one's fault - just a simple accident.  But her heart is broken and she finds it difficult to move forward in her life.

Not wanting to face her first Christmas alone, the main character Molly O'Brien, decides to take a spiritual retreat to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina to see if she can deal with the sadness and pain she isn't able to shake.  She finds much more than she ever expected to find there, including love - love of The Father, Blessed Mother and her Son, but also from a new man in her life.  There are new feelings to deal with and new situations, but in all, Molly finally finds the peace she's craved and a chance at another kind of happiness.

This book has been written for the Catholic/Christian market, but anyone who loves this type of story will enjoy reading it.  At this time of global conflicts, our world is in serious need of positive experiences and people and this story is proof of that.  Hopefully it will inspire you the way it inspired me to write it.

Good Old Uncle Norman is a crime story, but it has a very funny side to it - if that's possible.  Take one slightly dotty uncle, the household staff, his family and some stupid criminals and you get this story line.  Norman and his household staff devise a plan to bring two killers and thieves to justice and do it in a comical way.  The family steps in and jumps into the plan, too.  Even their goofy dog gets involved and the results are side-splitting hilarity.  It leaves the police scratching their heads, too.  Although this has a serious theme, if you want a good giggle, Good Old Uncle Norman and his friends deliver.

Just to keep you aware of all three books now published with Smashwords.com, Seven Doors of Time is the largest of the three.  At around 158,347 words, it comprises seven stories with different plots, time frames and locations.  Character development in these stories is paramount in the plots and I think you will like all of them, except you may want to punch out several of them - but not all in the same story!!!  These stories took me a little over three years to write, while I was also writing others and they make a good mix of themes.  Some stories are longer, two short and the others in between and one even has time travel involved.  They were a blast to write, so I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing their stories.

So now as I turn the corner to age 63, my feet are firmly planted in the literary world.  It's taken a lot of hard work, some imagination and even more blunders to actually publish a good book.  And quite frankly, I never understood just how hard I would have to work to get to this point.  So this is retirement?  I'm certainly not slowing down either.  Two new novels are on their way in the next two months, with another two before the end of the year.  Eventually all this hard work will pay off and my enjoyment will be the reader being entertained with my work.  That's what it's all about for me.

Just go over to Smashwords.com and pull up my page, then take a look at the book descriptions and see which ones you are interested in.  Or you can go to our web site at: http://www.thecookcompanies.com/ and get all the information you need for all seven of my books.  (The other four are paper books available from PublishAmerica.com.)  Enjoy reading and happy autumn!

New Book has Launched

Today, 11 June, 2011, my new eBook, Seven Doors of Time, has successfully launched and is being published by Smashwords.com.  They had the option for a sampling of the book, which I was delighted to accept, so readers could see what the book is all about.

This book is not a novel, but a collection of seven stories written over several years.  Each story is different...different plots and locations, time periods, etc.  One story is very short..only a couple of pages.  Two are much longer and the others are right in the middle.  The book totals 431 pages in the HTML version with over 158,000 words in total.  That's a lot of writing.  It's one of those books you can take on holiday, a weekend getaway or just to read when you want something light before going to bed at night.  Just don't read the crime and murder stories before bed...or the one about ghosts and murder.  You might have bad dreams!!

The link to find the book is: http://smashwords.com/b/66076 and you can either sample the book or order it.  I thought the price of $2.99 US or £1.85 UK wasn't bad for the size of the book.  It certainly beats the price of a movie!!!  And you can have your own treats while you read!!  Try taking a glass of wine into a movie theatre!

I'll be working on keeping things updated on the web sites and pages and you should see the book listed at major electronic retailers within a few weeks.  It takes a little time to get it listed, but this is readable on almost every eReader available. Since this is my first foray into the electronic publishing industry, it will be interesting to see how well it does.  If it is successful, there will be a sequel with seven more stories. But I can't rest on my laurels (nor would I), because there are new projects underway, with the novel about murder in Victorian Whitby, England, plus a very new project, my first ghost writing experience for a true crime mystery novel.  I think I must be glued to my office chair, because all I seem to do it write...it that a good thing?

Even if you don't have an eReader, you can still read the book, because in the formats I have chosen, you can read it on your computer and/or laptop.  Just go to the link above and see what it says.

Happy reading, everyone!