Book Talk with Fran Lewis

Lowcountry bar owner and ex-Marine Brack Pelton heads to Atlanta in the wake of a panicked 3 AM phone call. A woman is missing and Brack’s friend Mutt is in danger. Brack’s old flame, investigative news correspondent Darcy Wells, now lives there and is set to marry another man. If Brack was honest with himself, and he usually wasn’t, he’d realize that the missing woman isn’t the reason for his visit. His Semper Fi buddy Mutt can handle himself just fine.When Brack and Mutt team up to find the woman, the Atlanta underworld revolts, the two biggest players target them, and people start dying. Most people would size up the situation, call it impossible, and walk away. But most people are not Brack Pelton. Impossible situations are his specialty. He made it through Afghanistan and when the military commanders mistook suicidal tendencies for leadership qualities they promoted him. Can Brack succeed at finding the woman, protecting his friend, and winning the girl without destroying the Capital of the South? Not since Sherman’s march across Georgia has the city of Atlanta been in this much danger.

Washington Power Play: A political thiller

In typical Topol style, Washington Power Play spins a tale of international intrigue, deception, and corruption at the highest levels of power.

Kelly Cameron, a young FBI agent, has just thwarted a terrorist attack on the Walter Reed hospital in Washington, and is now assigned to a task force let by General Darrell Cartwright to find a mole in the U.S. Government. She soon finds evidence of a plot initiated by the Chinese government supporting General Cartwright to be elected as the U.S. President.

 

Kelly's efforts to thwart this plan are hindered by Xiang Shen, a Chinese diplomat who was once her lover, and Andrew Martin, a powerful Washington lawyer, who has strong ties to the Chinese. Kelly faces danger with repeated attacks on her life and her daughter's kidnapping. At stake in the Washington Power Play is the global balance of power.

 

Allan Topol is the author of eleven novels of international intrigue. Two of them, Spy Dance and Enemy of My Enemy, were national best sellers. His novels have been translated into Japanese, Portuguese, and Hebrew. One was optioned and three are in development for movies.

In addition to his fiction writing, Allan Topol coauthored a two-volume legal treatise entitled Superfund Law and Procedure. He wrote a weekly column for Military.com and has published articles in numerous periodicals including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Yale Law Journal. Join us in the chatroom with your questions. Fran Lewis Just reviews/MJ magazine

Crossing the Street

by Molly D. Campbell

on Tour May 9 - July 7, 2017

This wasn’t the way Beck Throckmorton had planned it. She wasn’t expecting to find herself in her thirties writing erotica and making flat whites for a living while she stewed over that fact that her ex had wound up with her sister. She never saw herself living in a small suburban Ohio town with an octogenarian neighbor best friend. And she definitely wouldn’t have imagined the eight-year-old great-granddaughter of that friend turning her world upside down.

As summer comes around, Beck’s life is unsettled in every way. And that’s before the crazy stuff starts: the sister taunting her with her pregnancy, the infuriatingly perfect boyfriend, the multiple trips to the emergency room. The needy, wise-beyond-her-years little girl finding places in her heart that Beck didn’t even know existed.

Beck has found herself at an emotional intersection she never anticipated. And now it’s time to cross the street.

Welcome to this esteemed panel authors Bernard Maestras, Christina Hoag and Bruce Coffin to talk about gangs in America. Street gangs, in other countries, fighting for turf and territory and how does their real life jobs come into play when writing about gangs, gang wars and those young people that get roped into joining them considering them their family. Young people that get into trouble on the street, do drugs, smoke and drink often find themselves falling prey to these gangs to get money, feel safe and protected. Author Christina Hoag's novel Skin of Tatoos and Bernard's Novel Concrete Smile will illuminate readers about this topic. Bruce Coffin is a detective and deals with this issue in his job. Welcome these great authors to this panel. Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine

I Love You Today

by Marcia Gloster

on Tour April 17 - June 17, 2017

 

Maddie Samuels is a woman of – and ahead of – her time. She knows she doesn't belong in the kitchen, and she refuses to become trapped in a secretarial pool. In mid-sixties New York City, she's not only determined to succeed in a man's world, but to prove her work is as good – or better – than any man's.

With “free love” redefining relationships with head-spinning rapidity, Maddie learns how to push the accepted boundaries of established old-boy networks while refusing to accept the all-too-pervasive harassment by men in power. And yet as a woman in love, she discovers that beliefs and actions are often very different things – especially when it comes to a man like the seductive and charismatic Rob MacLeod.

Set in the era of Mad Men, I LOVE YOU TODAY is passionate, sexy, liberating and deeply moving. With a story as relevant today as it was then, this is a novel that readers will take to their hearts and their souls.

 

 

 

 

Code Blood

Code Blood

by Kurt Kamm

Tour: April 1 - May 31, 2017

 

Colt Lewis, a rookie fire paramedic, is obsessed with finding the severed foot of his first victim after she dies in his arms. His search takes him into the connected lives of a graduate research student, with the rarest blood in the world and the vampire fetishist who is stalking her. Within the corridors of high-stakes medical research laboratories, the shadow world of body parts dealers, and the underground Goth clubs of Los Angeles, Lewis uncovers a tangled maze of needles, drugs and maniacal ritual, all of which lead to death. But whose death? An unusual and fast-paced LA Noir thriller.

The Adventures of the REAL Tom Sawyer chronicles Tom’s multiple exciting careers, from drawing comic books for Stan Lee at age 22, to top advertising illustrator to award-winning filmmaker and on through his Emmy & Edgar-nominated career in Hollywood and beyond, all of it told in wildly entertaining scenes. As one reviewer has said: “Hell, the guy's had more adventures than the fictional Tom Sawyer.”  

Also, here are several blurbs:

“Tom’s delightful memoir, The Adventures of The REAL Tom Sawyer, is a wildly entertaining testament to enjoying one’s life, finding ways to realize your dreams. And having worked with Tom for 12 lovely years, I can honestly say that he knows how to tell a great story.”

                        Angela Lansbury

 

“The Adventures of The REAL Tom Sawyer is way more than a memoir. Tom has written a totally entertaining guidebook for how to grab onto the fun-side of life, pursue your dreams, turn bummers into assets, thumb your nose at the bozos – and win the Game.”

                        William Link – co-creator of COLUMBO & 14 other on-air TV Series This should be exciting.

BADASS SECRETS: TOM SAWYER

In this entertaining and educational 90-page book, each Secret for Putting Yourself in Luck's Way is revealed and demonstrated via excerpts from The Adventures of the REAL Tom Sawyer.

 

Fran Lewis: Just reviews

Brian Freeman: Marathon

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution was created and written to protect the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference. Defined freedom of expressions incorporates the right to freedom of speech, press, and assembly and to petition our government for a redress of grievances and the implied rights of association and belief. Two specific clauses of this amendment define our freedom o religion and the establishment clause disallows the government to create and establish an official religion or preferring one over another thereby enforcing “separation of church and state.” The primary component of freedom of expression is the right to freedom of speech, which gives people the ability to express themselves without interference or constraints placed on them by the government. But, what happens when people decide to voice their opinions in public, create rallies, conferences and want vigilante justice because people in their communities are of different races, ethnic backgrounds and they assume because of what they are they are terrorists, criminals and will do anything to stop these people in the name of the first amendment regardless of the cost to the community and the many lives that might be destroyed and lost. The setting is the Duluth Marathon the place is filled with hundreds if not thousands of spectators as families, friends and passerby’s wait for each one to cross that coveted finish line. Because of what happened during the Boston Marathon Jonathon Stride a Duluth Detective and his wife Serena along with his team are on the look out for anyone suspicious, wearing anything unusual and hoping that this day will end on a positive note. This is a powerful novel

KING GROSSMAN: LETTERS TO ALICE

Meet Frazier Pickett lll, a man who feels that he is just phoning it in. His wife, Margaret  ignores him, his job is on cruise control and there is nothing left to excite him, not even the social injustices that he feels that are his right to protest. Frazier has seen it all and done it all. Then the world is turned upside down when Frazier discovers that beautiful French contemporary artist Anastasie Moreau, not only does he fall for her but makes her his muse.

As Margaret continues to tune out Frazier she slowly comes to the realization that she needs to find courage to claim her birthright and pen the story that is hers alone to write. As she begins to read the letters from Alice for inspiration she finds not only a rekindling with Frazier but the secrets she is meant to tell!

This is a story that spans generations with twists, turns and secrets that will intrigue your audiences. Everyone will want to know… Who is Alice?

Join me when I interview King Grossman and learn more about WHO ALICE MIGHT BE! Fran Lewis. Just reviews/MJ magazine

Ashes

by Steven Manchester

Tour February 19 - April 21, 2017

 

Middle-aged brothers Jason and Tom Prendergast thought they were completely done with each other. Perceived betrayal had burned the bridge between them, tossing them into the icy river of estrangement. But life – and death – has a robust sense of irony, and when they learn that their cruel father has died and made his final request that they travel together across the country to spread his ashes, they have no choice but to spend a long, long car trip in each other's company. It's either that or lose out on the contents of the envelope he's left with his lawyer. The trip will be as gut-wrenching as each expects it to be . . . and revealing in ways neither of them is prepared for.At turns humorous, biting, poignant, and surprisingly tender, Ashes puts a new spin on family and dysfunction with a story that is at once fresh and timelessly universal.