TLC Book Tour: Heart of Lies by M.L. Malcolm

Welcome to the first stop on the TLC Book Tour for  M.L. Malcolm's debut novel:

  Heart of Lies

Back cover: "Meet Leo Hoffman, a dashing young Hungarian, born with a gift for languages.  After his dreams for the future are destroyed by WWI, he attempts to use his talent to rebuild his life, only to find himself inadvertently embroiled in an international counterfeiting scheme.  When he discovers he's wanted across the European continent for a host of crimes including murder, he escapes with his love to Shanghai, taking with him a stolen treasure that will prove to be his salvation or his death warrant.  But he soon learns that the gangsters who control the decadent city do not intend to let him outrun his past, and when the Japanese invade, one wrong move costs his everything he holds dear.  Inspired by the author's family history, Heart of Lies is an epic tale of intrigue, passion, and adventure, and heralds the debut of a remarkable writer."

Heart of Lies is a well written historical novel that draws you into the life of Leo Hoffman.  He is hired to go to Paris and be an interpreter for a group of influential powerful men.  One of the men, Karoly, the chief of police of Budapest asks him to do a personal favor.   Go into Cartier and buy his mistress a certain necklace for him.   He can't turn down the chief of police, so he agrees. While he is exploring the city, he runs into Martha, a beautiful young woman whom he falls in love with instantly and spends the night with her.   He is shocked when he reads in the newspaper the next morning that one of the men was arrested passing counterfeit bills.  He realizes the money Karoly had given him to buy the necklace was fake.  Life gets complicated really fast and he has to leave the country, leaving only a note for Martha that he will send for her in six months.  If you want to know what happens, well you'll just have to read the book.  The story is full of suspense, twists and turns, deceit, romance and surprises.  Once you start reading, you won't want to put it down.  The sequel, Heart of Deception (originally published as Deceptive Intentions) is being reissued next year and will continue Leo's story.  I look forward to reading it.

 Be sure to check out the rests of the stops on the tour:

Wednesday, June 9th:  I’m Booking It

Thursday, June 10th:  Books for Breakfast

Monday, June 14th:   Diary of an Eccentric

Wednesday, June 16th:  Rundpinne

Tuesday, June 22nd:  Raging Bibliomania

Wednesday, June 23rd:  Peetswea

Monday, June 28th:  Heart 2 Heart

Tuesday, June 29th:  Chefdruk Musings

Wednesday, June 30th:  Dolce Bellezza

Thank you to TLC Tours for inviting me to be a part of the tour, M.L. Malcolm for writing such an interesting book and the publisher for providing me with a courtesy copy.

Pages:  336

Publisher:  Harper Paperbacks

Release date:  June 8, 2010

Genre: Historical fiction

M. L. Malcolm is a Harvard Law graduate, journalist, recovering attorney, and public speaker. She has won several awards for her short fiction, including recognition in the Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Competition, and a silver medal from ForeWord magazine for Historical Fiction Book of the Year. She has lived in Florida, Boston, Washington, D.C., France, New York, and Atlanta, and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Sunday Salon: Are happy endings passe?

Are happy endings passe?

I just finished reading John Grisham's "The Appeal" and even though it was well written and an excellent story that captures your attention,  the bad guy wins.  There have been a few books I've read in the past year in which the ending were totally dissatisfying.  Made me want to throw the books across the room in disgust.  As I got closer to the end, I'm expecting a happy resolution to at least some part of the story. But no....  

 

What was interesting about the story?   Long story short:  Mr. rich guy with a chemical plant in a small town has been illegally dumping for years and tainted the town's drinking water.  Lots of people get sick and the corporation gets sued.   The husband and wife small town lawyer duo take on the big corporation, practically bankrupting themselves in the process and win a judgment in favor of their client for 41 million dollars.  The corporation appeals of course to the Mississippi supreme court.  Here's the interesting and devious part.   Mr. rich guy decides they need a friendlier judge on the court who will vote in their favor and dismiss the suit.  

 

In Mississippi, the judges are elected, not appointed.  He orchestrates, behind the scenes of course, the grooming of a young lawyer to run and oust the female judge.  Throws millions of dollars toward getting this guy elected, including smear television ads.  Meanwhile the small town lawyers are debt up the wazoo and behind in their mortgage payments to the bank.  Mr. rich guy gets another rich guy to buy the bank and then has the new bank owners demand immediate payment of  their loan or they'll foreclose.  Very manipulative....

 

Anyway, his hand picked guy wins the election and in the end has the deciding vote when the case come up to the court.  Unfortunately, the hand picked guy's kid  gets majorly beaned by an aluminum baseball bat and brain damaged.  Major wake up call for him, but it's a bit too late. After he reluctantly agrees to vote in favor of dismissing the case,  he's disgusted, he's done  and takes a leave of absence.  The small town lawyers are bankrupt, the plaintiff gets nothing, people are still sick and dying and the town is left with having to truck in clean water because they can't drink theirs.   At the end, the rich guy sails happily away on his yacht.  Blah!  

 

Remember the movie, Wag the Dog?  This book sort of reminded me of that.   Manipulating the press, people, deliberately creating false news and misleading people.  Unfortunately, I can see that happening in real life.  Not that I bury my head in the sand, but I read for entertainment, to escape.  I read many different types of books - paranormal, mystery, thrillers, science fiction, romance and classics.   I like books that make you stop and think, expand your mind or expose you to a different way of looking at things.  But in the end, I like happy endings, I like justice to be served.    I like characters with moral fiber, strength and integrity.  I like to feel some satisfaction at the end of a story. Don't you?

Put this in the "now I've seen it all" and "just have to share" column

Excuse me? You want me to do what?

Now that we've turned 50, our HMO sent both father and I a delightful little present in the mail.   You want me to do what and send it in the mail?  Oh Gag! The poor postman.....  I don't think so.    Negative, absolutely not, no way in h e double toothsticks, no how, uh uh, never in a million years.....

      

GO BIG or GO HOME! Plus a little contest

Go Big or Go Home

Say YES!!!!

Motivation and Commitment... two things I've been working on when it comes to writing.   Have you ever stood at the bottom of what seemed like a simple looking staircase.  Looks are deceiving sometimes and the staircase you chose to walk up becomes endless with multiple landings.  You can only climb so far, then you need to stop and rest.   I'm at one of those landings, looking down, looking up, contemplating how far I've walked so far.  Will I reach the top?  Do I have the motivation, the commitment to keep climbing....    I'm trying. 

I've been following quite a few aspiring and published authors for a while now and every time I read one of their inspiring posts, it spurs me up a few more steps.  Today, it is Christine who has helped light a fire under my butt. Occasionally I need a spark or two.    She talks about being consciously committed to your writing and persevering. She quotes Christina Katz - The Prosperous Writer who says:

…commitment reminds us of what is really important. It grants us space to screw up. To say the wrong thing. To have a fight that doesn’t end in divorce. To be ourselves. To express ourselves. To reveal ourselves. And perhaps most importantly, to trust ourselves.

So Christina asks:

Are you committed to improving the craft of writing?

Are you committed to learning the business of writing?

Are you committed to growing your platform in whatever way is most productive for you?

Are you committed to continuing to grow no matter what happens – what failures occur, what fights with your muse you have – are you still committed?

If you can shout YES to the above, then you are seriously ready to go for it!

And to provide a little bit of extra motivation, Christina is having a contest to reward those who are ready to go for it and shout Yes.  Leave a comment on her blog, earn a few extra points by blogging, tweeting,  and spreading the love and enter to win a $20 Barnes and Noble gift certificate and a 10 page critique. 

Are you ready - cover your ears....

YES!  

Life is full of commitments and very busy what with taking care of our household, my husband, our son, our business, home schooling, etc.   But this is one thing that is totally me - all for me and no one else.  It totally belongs to me.  It is a commitment to me.  I know I've probably said this before, but it bears repeating and have to keep reminding myself.   This is for me.  Just like my Liberal Arts degree, because I want the satisfaction of finishing it and besides, I'm enjoying learning.  Since I have two classes left, I've been giving more thought about what I'll do when I'm done and more thought about writing goals.  And you know, writing is very much an educational process...in more ways than one.  So, yes I am committing to writing - setting goals, learning and growing and enjoying the process.  

Contest ends Sunday, June 6 so head on over to Christine's, find out more, blog about it, tweet about it, shout about it.    Loudly! 

Taking the plunge: Notes from Underground Writing Contest.

I've decided to take the plunge, instead of just dipping my toe in the water.   My Nobel Literature class is over with the final next week, and I will be taking the summer off which will free up my brain and and I will be able to write to my heart's content.   Less stress equals a more creative mind....hopefully.    The beautiful minds of Davin, Scott and Michelle at The Literary Lab have come up with a new contest for the 2nd annual Genre Wars Anthology.

What's it all about Alfie:

What is "Notes From Underground"?

The title comes from a novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky that is part rambling narrative and part story. It's a piece of writing that is both highly experimental and deeply personal. For the contest, we want you writers to feel that same freedom of expression, taking out the judging process to the best of our ability.

To do that, we have two steps to the selection process. The second step will be completely non-competitive.

Step 1:

By August 15, we want to see a 5-page free-form application that convinces us that your writing should be included in the anthology. This will be the "contest" part of the contest. You can use words, images...whatever you want (that can be e-mailed). It doesn't have to be the story that you want to publish, even though that would be all right. It doesn't have to be a story at all. It could be a proposal, a resume, a story idea, poetry, flattery...anything. Got it? Anything.

From this first pool of applications, we'll pick 25 winners that we are excited about showcasing. These writers will be announced on September 15 and they will be guaranteed 10 pages in our anthology. Then, for them, it's on to the next step.

Step 2:

The actual writing! The 25 writers selected in Step 1 will now have 3 months to finish the story that they would like us to publish. Here, aside from the 10-page space limitation, you are the boss. We will do no judging, no critiquing, nothing unless you ask it of us. Whatever you turn in on December 15 will be exactly what we publish to the best of our ability. This writing will be an expression of you, you, and only you.

So, I'm going to let my mind, muse and pen loose and set what happens.  Head on over to Literary Lab, check it out and make up your mind.  I'm going to give it a go. What about you? 

Versatile Blogger!!!!

I received a surprise award from a new blogger friend the other day - Buffy of Buffy's Write Zone.   She is one of the brains behind Inkwell - a new group for writers and illustrators.   Thanks, Buffy.    As the recipient of the award, I'm suppose to tell you 7 things about myself and pass it on to 15 other bloggers who you think are fantastic.

Are you ready:

1)  I meet my husband in 1992 when I placed an ad in the Sacramento Single News Magazine. We'll be married 13 years in August.  Who knew you could meet your soul mate through a want ad!

2)  When I worked for KVIE, our local PBS station, I played the cookie monster from Sesame Street for an event. Yep, dressed up in the blue suit, stuffed with pillow cases and all the kids thought I was the real thing. 

3)  I got adventuresome back in the 80's (especially since I'm an introvert) and took a vacation all by myself and went to Buccaneers Creeks Club Med in Martinique.  Meet many interesting people!

4) Guilty pleasure:  I love celebrity gossip and check out X17online everyday.

5)  Back in the 90's I bought a retired police chaser Ford Mustang from a police car auction. It was a souped up v8 and for all the time I drove it, never got stopped or ticketed.  Found out later, the registration showed it as an undercover car.  Always wondered why police cars would pull up beside me, the officer give me a nod and keep going.  ;o

6)  I don't like watermelon or jello - it's a texture thing. 

7)  Expensive pleasures:  I love french wine and champagne.  My husband introduced me to Bordeaux wines and Dom Perignon a few years back and spoiled me for life. 

Instead of just 15 fine folks, I'm passing this on to all my fine followers.  You all are such versatile people, but so quiet.  Please tell me 7 things about yourself in the comments or leave a link to your blog post. 

Unicorn Pegasus Kitten painting and fan fiction contest! Whatever!!!!

Greetings Wil Wheaton peeps!  

For those who found my blog and this post through his tweet or storytime reading about Unicorn Pegasus Kitten, please go to

www.unicornpegasuskitten.com 

to read "Clash of the Geeks."  Thanks for stopping by.

For those of you who don't follow Mind Voyages, thought I'd let you in on a Fan Fiction contest surrounding a painting created by Jeff Zugale for John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton.  For the story behind the painting go to Whatever.  

Unicorn Pegasus Kitten

featuring

Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi

Artist Jeff Zugale

What's it all about!

The Unicorn Pegasus Kitten Painting was unveiled at the Phoenix Comicon over the weekend and   John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton, along with Subterranean Press introduced  in a contest to benefit the Lupus Alliance of America.

"Write a 400 to 2,000 word story describing the picture above. Any form of fan fiction is acceptable except slash. The winner of the contest will be paid for their story (10 cents a word), win a prize pack of books from Subterranean Press, and will have their story published in a special electronic chapbook featuring stories about the painting, written by Scalzi, Wheaton, Catherynne Valente and Patrick Rothfuss, to be published later this year, with profits to benefit the Lupus Foundation of America. E-mail the stories with the text in the e-mail to fanfic@scalzi.com by 11:59pm Eastern, June 30, 2010. One entry per person."

Go to Whatever for more information where you'll also find some amazing video of John and Wil performing "Don't Stop Believing."  And if you haven't been following these guys, you don't know what you've been missing.  

What do you think?  Think you could come up with a story about the painting?   I've never tried fan fiction before but maybe......