Interview with Author Amy Vansant

 

Welcome to the Pen Dames March 2025 blog! This month we are interviewing the bubbly and super funny author Amy Vansant. She is the author of the Pineapple Port Mysteries, Shee McQueen Thrillers, Kilty Urban Fantasies & Romcom Collection: He’s Got to Go being the latest. You can find her on her website:
https://AmyVansant.com

You can buy her books at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Amy-Vansant/author/B001K8WXV0

Read on for the interview with Amy and a contest for her upcoming release or a Kindle reader, plus get three free books!

 

What can you tell us about YOU that will allow us to get to know you better—where you live, your background, jobs, interests, etc.?

I was a freelance writer for years and East Coast Editor of Surfer Magazine back in the early nineties, which was funny because I was also freelancing for Modern Maturity Magazine at the same time. Slightly different audience between those two!

I’d started building websites when websites were new, and because it was easier to make money doing that, I put writing on the back-burner and started a web development company. One morning I woke up and realized I was supposed to be writing!

 

What books were your favorites as a child? How and when did your writing journey begin?

Pooh. When I was little, I actually wrote “Winnie the Pooh,” complete with crayon drawings. I was about six years old, so the prison sentence for plagiarism was relatively lax. With time out for good behavior, I was free before naptime.

 

What genre is your book? What do you like about writing in that genre?

I bop around to keep from getting bored. I write cozy mysteries (Pineapple Port Mysteries), action thrillers (Shee McQueen) Romances (He’s Got to Go & Slightly Stalky) and urban fantasies (Kilty). The common thread is humor. I’ve tried writing very dark serious books but it just never works. I keep adding jokes.

 

What inspires you to write?

Always felt like I had to. I used to write books for the girls at the barn where I took riding lessons and sold them their own stories for 25 cents each.

 

What is the setting of your book? Please describe it.

Most of my books take place near the beaches in Florida—Pineapple Port was based on my mother-in-law’s place on the west coast. Shee is in “Jupiter beach” where I live in Jupiter on the east coast. He’s Got to Go was in Miami. Kilty was in Los Angeles.

 

Why did you choose this setting?

I grew up in Sea Isle City, NJ, a small beach town, so I’m a sucker for beaches!

 

 Is your book part of a series or a standalone?

All series.

 

Which of your main characters is your favorite and why?

I’m in love with whatever characters I’m writing. I particularly love a lot of the characters in the Kilty series—Broch, the time-traveling highlander who’s obsessed with modern showers, Kilty’s Con and then Uncle Seamus in the Pineapple Port series are my Irish rogues. I loved writing Stephanie my serial killer’s daughter in Pineapple Port… Usually the most badly behaved characters are my favorite.

 

If you could spend an afternoon with any of your secondary characters, who would it be and why?

Mariska from Pineapple Port is literally my mother-in-law, so I actually do hang out with her. 😊

 

What writing projects do you have on the horizon?

I’m working on a new thriller series I love so much I don’t even want to share details yet. It’s about a girl named Cricket—and oh boy, does she have some secrets!!

 

What is your best advice for aspiring writers?

Keep Writing. That’s the only way you get better and make any money.

 

What is your favorite book marketing tip?

Build your own newsletter list. It’s the one thing over which you have control. Social media comes and goes—changes, blows up, makes it harder and harder to be found/heard. Your list is YOUR list.

 

And now for the contest!   Amy Vansant Contest and Free Books

 

We hope you enjoyed this interview with Amy Vansant and we’re sure you’ll love the three free books she has for you! Good luck with the contest. If you win, please let us know.

 

Introducing Guest Author: Mary Lu Scholl

 

Introducing Guest Author: Mary Lu Scholl

Happy October to all our Pen Dames readers! We hope you are enjoying cooler weather as autumn approaches. 

We are eager to introduce you to our next guest author, Mary Lu Scholl, a fun-loving, creative writer of Cozy Mysteries, who writes wherever she happens to land. 

Here is the Book Blurb for Fatal Philandering:

Patty Decker is just trying to get along in her new-ish life in a 55+ mobile home and RV Park (well, kind of trying.) She can't help it if she's Johnny-on -the-spot when there's an unexplained death! Of course, they didn't HAVE unexplained deaths until she moved there... 

She's a crotchety old woman who is just a little socially awkward (all right, a lot socially awkward) who struggles with tact, diplomacy, you know, empathy. 

In Fatal Philandering (book 9 of Trailer Park Trevails), a couple of actors show up to get a brief respite from the star-struck life they normally lead; just a little health break. Whoops. 

She didn't do it, but she's in the thick of it again...

A fun interview with Mary Lu: 

1. What can you tell us about YOU that will allow us to get to know you better - where you live, your background, jobs, interests, etc.? 

I'm a retired Postal Manager, but have done dozens of other jobs to keep body and soul together when young, and because I could, after retiring. I've been everything from a waitress to a landscape worker, picked tomatoes and cared for Developmentally Disabled Adults. 

2. What books were your favorites as a child?

Mmmmmm . . . I read a lot of science fiction, and most of the classics in elementary and middle school - The Dune Trilogy, anything by Heinlein or Clarke. Then there was Stephen King. All the mysteries, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew. Others included Jane Eyre, Forever Amber, The Master of the Game by Sydney Sheldon, and Tolkein. Johanna Lindsay wrote remarkable characters. 

3. How and when did your writing journey begin? 

As a young adult, I wrote a couple of novels and had an agent for a while, but couldn't seem to break through. After I retired, I wrote another novel, set in western Colorado. Then I moved here and was, coincidentally, living in a mobile home and RV park for a while . . . That was in 2018. I have written twelve novels since then.

4. What genre is your book? What do you like about writing in that genre?

I write cozy mysteries. I do like it. Blood, guts, gore and sex are 'off screen' implied. There is no - or very little mild profanity depending upon your perspective. My parents told me that profanity was the mark of a lazy vocabulary and I could make my point much more succinctly using real words.

5. What inspires you to write?

I like to make people laugh. I enjoy exploring the foibles of human nature. I've had a very varied life with a lot of experiences. Using them in the narratives of my books lets other people experience them. I have learned so much from books. I need to perpetuate the gift.

6. What is the setting of your book? Please describe it.

Citrus County, in Lecanto, mostly. In nine of the books, Patty Decker lives in a fictional trailer park on Gulf-to -Lake Hwy. (A 55+ community with two main roads and amenities like a pool, horseshoe pits, shuffleboard, a laundry and shower house, plus a clubhouse for community events.) The other three existing books are dovetailed to this series, but have a male protagonist living nearby the park. Bernie Murphy lives in a Sears House with a very big barn. He's a handsome Irishman returning to his roots. He finds his Irish mythology came with him, or was it already here?

7. Why did you choose this setting? Is it a real place or did you create it for the story?

It's fictional, but nearly all the situations, most of the conversations, and many of the details are straight out of my life.

8. Is your book part of a series or a standalone? If it is a part of a series, describe the series.

There are two series - In Trailer Park Trevails. Patty Decker has moved to Lecanto (aka Paradise in West Central Florida) to soak up sun and write novels in a twenty-five foot camper. What WAS she thinking? Camper Catastrophe sets the scene . . . The second one is Bernie Murphy in Nature Coast Calamities. He has returned to Citrus County and finds that the Irish mythology of his childhood might be real. (The Lecanto Leprechaun, Big Foot and the Bentley, and InverNessie.)

9. Describe your main character- life, personality, motivation- whatever you think will make us want to know this person.

If you want to get to know Patty, it's mostly to convince yourself that YOU are not like her. You have tact.

10. If you could spend an afternoon with any of your secondary characters, who would it be and why?

Patty's best friend is Dr. Catherine. She's very smart. 

11. What writing projects do you have on the horizon? 

Since I just released a Patty book, I'm writing my next Bernie book now. My last Bernie book, Pooka and the Pirates just received a 5 star review. 

12. What is your best advice for aspiring writers? 

Don't lose heart. Keep writing for yourself even if you never share.

13. Which authors/books are on your keeper shelves?

Too many to name. I keep authors I know - have met one way or another. I keep the classics, plus Kay Hooper and Jules Verne.

14. If you could meet any author, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Frank Herbert - because WOW. Or, Tolkein! 

15. What is your favorite book marketing tip? 

Elevator speeches - 90 second clips to capture your audience.

16. What do you like to do when not writing?

I garden and do needlework.

Excerpt from Fatal Philandering:

Chapter Five- Later Thursday - Patty

People were watering things they'd never watered before, just so they could be outside whrn the actor came. I was front and center, behind a shrub.

A car came. It was predictably, a convertible. Didn't they all drive convertibles?

At least until the squirrels ate the canvas.

JJ had a gold Sebring convertible. He had learned the hard way to protect the top from the adorable rodents with poison and Irish Spring soap.

Two men got out. Two? One was tall, had salt and pepper hair and a full beard, trimmed neatly and just long enough not to be confused with that nasty scruff the younger generation cultivates. He was neatly dressed, and stood with his hands in his pockets while waiting for the other man to join him. The second man was short and kind of soft looking. He had an amazing nose. He did have nice hair, even if the improbable cut (a mushroom shape?) was an improbable shade of strawberry-blonde for a man who had to be in his 50s. He carried a laptop case and wore those fancy big sneakers that make your feet look like aircraft carriers.

"Did Desiree say two of them were moving in?" I asked Doris.

I happened to be standing next to her, while she was carefully pruning a plant that had never been pruned before and would probably die from her enthusiastic ministrations.

"Give me those." I took her clippers away from her. "Text Pete."

Before she could do more than pick up her phone, she had an incoming text from Pete. Desiree says there are two of them moving in.

I read unashamedly over her shoulder. "How does he do that?" He seemed to always know when Doris wanted him and what she needed.

Doris just smiled. She was a newlywed and still under the impression that Pete was patient, perspicacious, and alliteratively perfect in every way.

"I'm the one in the bottom picture. Well, maybe the one in the top picture, too."

To contact Mary Lu, use the following social media link:

https://www.facebook.com/maryluschollauthor?mibextid=ZbWKwL

To buy Mary Lu's books, use this link:

https://amazon.com/author/maryluscholl

How to Indulge in a Little "Me" Time

 

Are you lost in the shuffle of day to day living? At times that’s how it seems to me. Tasks such as grocery shopping, cleaning house and preparing meals often take precedence over “me” time.

I looked up the word self-indulgence and here’s what I found, “Eating whatever you feel like, even if it’s ice cream for breakfast; you just do what you feel like doing.”

One great way to indulge yourself is to kick back in your favorite chair with your favorite beverage or snack and with an intriguing mystery novel. Please enjoy the blurb and excerpt from book #3 in my Doc Holliday Mystery Series…

 

                                                          Lights…Camera…Murder!”

                                                                        Blurb

When a stuntman is shot while rehearsing a scene from cowboy hero Cody West’s newest movie, everyone considers his death an unfortunate accident. Veterinarian and amateur sleuth, Tullah Holliday, doesn’t hesitate to get involved. Her empathic senses tell her he was murdered. She suspects Cody West is the killer. As Tullah begins to put together the pieces of the case, West is stomped to death by a young stallion being trained as a stunt horse. Her life is endangered when she attempts to stop the horse trainer from shooting the stallion.

When two women confess to murdering the movie star, and also point the finger at a third accomplice, Tullah soon discovers the entire movie crew seems to have had a motive to kill him. Who killed Cody West—the horse or…



                                                        Lights…Camera…Murder!”

                                                                        Excerpt

I squatted over the body. The man’s arms were held against his chest. Clutched in his left hand was the neck of a broken bourbon bottle. His eyes looked into mine, but they were motionless. There was no need to check for a pulse. I touched my chin to my chest and whispered his name. Only the corral’s sullen silence and the patter of rain on my head and shoulders answered me.

“Damn. It’s…” Boyd stood over me and gagged. Once he caught his breath, he commanded, “Give me my rifle. That horse needs killin’.”

“Ella,” I yelled above the storm. “Call my dad. It’s Cody West, and he’s dead.” I also instructed her to back the horse trailer all the way down to the barn’s open outer doors.

My heart pitched with anger. “Mr. Boyd, I’m taking custody of both horses until the cause of Cody’s death is determined.”

His hands shot out. He grabbed me by both wrists and yanked me up. “Determined? The hell you say. It’s obvious that killer stomped Cody to death.”

So who killed Cody West? You’ll find the answer in Lights…Camera…Murder! Available in print and Ebook.

I also appreciate when readers leave a review. So, thank you in advance. I look forward to you telling me (in the comments below) if you guessed who killed Cody West (no spoilers, please) or did you have to read all the way to the end of the book to find out?

HAPPY READING!

Visit me on Facebook

Loretta

 

 

April Fool's Day--NOT!

 

It’s happened to most of us. We try to pull an April fool’s joke, and it backfires or someone pulls a joke on you and it’s more hurtful than funny. Well, today isn’t about fooling our readers. Actually, I have some exciting book-related news. On April 21st, book #2 of my Doc Holliday Mystery series releases. 

Don’t you just love the cover?


Enjoy a sneak preview of “The Boneyard.”

“This place gives me the creeps,” grandmother’s voice sounded strained. “Tullah, you’re white as a sheet.”

Dad adjusted the .45 on his hip as if expecting trouble. I felt as if someone was walking on my grave without me being in it. Part of me wanted to turn around, get on my horse and race away from this place. The other part was held by a voice inside my head saying I’m here. We’re all here. Find us. Please find us.

I could feel that the voice was in a place—a deep dark place. I felt it in me, and it clawed its way up my spine. I knew it would come out my mouth like a regurgitation of emotion if I let it.

I inhaled. I would never get used to these surprised visits of the mind that iced my blood and burdened my heart. I never had them when my mother was alive. Had she somehow in death gifted me with this curse?

I stood there, listening to the hum of mosquitoes and my dog’s whines, and staring into the dark marsh until I became aware of the welling of tears in my eyes. I gripped his arms. “Dad, this is a place of death.”

The Boneyard available in print and Ebook at Amazon. com

 https://amzn.to/2GBb0iI

WAIT…Don’t Go!

If you are a book lover, you don’t want to miss novels by our wonderful Pen Dames. There’s a genre for every reader.

Do you need to escape from reality? Then Flossie Benton Rogers’ fantasy novels are the perfect gateway to magic and romance. For a list of her books visit Flossie at: https://flossiebentonrogers.com/

Love mermaids and mermen? Then be swept away by Katherine Eddinger Smits enchanting tales of adventure and mystery. Visit Katherine at: http://katherineeddingersmits.weebly.com/

If you are inspired by women who fought the good fight, then Linda Tillis’ historical western romance are just the books for you. Visit Linda at:

https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Tillis/e/B01I1SY3K0%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Jennifer Taylor’s historical romance novels immerse readers into the lives of our foremothers, and help us appreciate how far we have come. Visit Jennifer at: https://jennifertaylorwrites.com/

And this, dear readers, is no joke. Happy April fool’s Day!

 

Peter Pan Can Really Fly-Yes, No, Hmm?

 

Do You Believe Peter Pan Can Fly?

Hello, readers, Loretta Rogers coming at you live on a dark and stormy day. As I’m writing this, thunder is vibrating the house. I’ve taken precautions and unplugged my laptop to avoid getting zapped by lightning. However, it’s not the weather I’d like to discuss rather it’s a writing term called, “suspending disbelief.”

Suspending disbelief is temporarily allowing oneself to believe something that isn't true, especially in order to enjoy a work of fiction.

An example would be, knowing that Superman cannot, in reality, fly – and then pretending that you don't know he can’t. The storyteller tells the audience that, in this story, a man can fly. The audience suspends its disbelief and goes along with that premise.

In other examples, such as in the fantasy Lord of the Rings, we set aside the reality that such magical creatures do not exist so we can enjoy the movie while munching on popcorn. Let’s not forget the wonderful Disney characters that we’ve come to cherish such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Bambi. We know these characters can’t, in reality, talk, but for the sake of enjoyment, we willingly set aside this fact for a couple of hours of entertainment.

What does all of this have to do with my post? Recently, I tuned in to a FB conversation where readers were vehemently complaining that authors, and yes, they lumped all authors together, needed to fire their editors, hire professional editors, or perhaps stop writing altogether because they (the authors) needed lessons in writing. The complaint stemmed from the fact that readers were frustrated because in certain novels heroines could cook dinner, feed the kids, get them to bed, then dress for a party, and get it all done in twenty minutes. One reader went on to say that these type heroines made her feel inadequate as a woman, and a failure as a mother. WOW! So sad.

Some of the reader’s comments were much harsher than what I’ve shared. But, as an author, the comments did make me think twice about whether or not I am making sure that the setups in my novels are relatable; because as Samuel Tylor Coleridge said, “The key to making someone believe the unbelievable is to include human interest and a semblance of truth.”

I hope you enjoy this excerpt from FATAL PASSION, book #1 of my new Doc Holliday Mystery series. I’d really appreciate if it you would answer the question at the end of this passage.

            Grandmother sighed when she tossed the remaining three donuts in the trash. “If I were a betting person, I’d put my money on Beverly Rakestraw, and she had good cause. Apparently, Forest couldn’t seem to keep his pants zipped. Still infidelity is never a justifiable reason for murder.”

            I handed dad copies of the file. He cautioned me to stay alert, and I promised. I wrapped my arms around grandmother and whispered, “I’m sorry for making your angry.”

            She kissed me on the cheek. “It’s the situation that made me angry. Not you.”  She hesitated. “I’d almost forgotten. There’s another name to add.”

            Dad and I each gave grandmother an incredulous look. Together we said, “Who?”

            Dad quirked his mouth to one side. “Is this more gossip?”

            “Not exactly.” Grandmother’s voice was hushed as if the walls were listening. “I went to church to do my weekly confession, and before I went inside the confessional, I heard someone sobbing. It was Luanne. I must have caught her at a really weak moment because you know what a sour puss she is.” Grandmother heaved a dejected sigh. “I asked if I could be of comfort and that’s when she told me about her and Forest.”

            I nearly choked. “Luanne Sterns…the priest’s sister…that Luanne?”

            Grandmother nodded. “Luanne said in a weak moment she allowed Forest to visit her on more than one occasion, and sometimes they’d have a secret rendezvous at a secret location.”

            “Grandmother, she isn’t even remotely attractive. What would entice Forest to sleep with her?”

            “Only he knows that and he’s dead. Anyhow, apparently Forest said all the right things about loving her and them having a future together, and made a bunch of false promises, all to get inside her bloomers, and then he laughed at her, called her ugly, and said he bedded her because she was always mooning over him and he felt sorry for her. She needed to confess her sins but couldn’t at least not to her brother. So, in a moment of desperation, I became the substitute.”  Tanti glanced around. “Here’s the thing, after spilling her beans, Luanne got bull stompin’ mad and the things she threatened to do to Forest, well, let’s just say, were pretty drastic. Of course, I didn’t take any of it seriously. She was a woman scorned and blowing off steam.”

There you have it dear readers, did I set up the scene so that I suspended disbelief to your satisfaction? Under the circumstances, would Luanne, or any woman, confess her sins to someone she barely knew, other than her priest, especially if she were overly distraught?

Thanks for dropping by. I’d love to hear your comments.

Loretta C. Rogers, Pen Dames

By the way, grab your copy of FATAL PASSION, available in print or Ebook at Amazon.com in the US and UK, as well as other online stores.