Friday, January 1, 2016

Interview & Giveaway with Emelle Gamble, author of STRANGER THAN FICTION


Stranger Than Fiction (A Classic Romantic Suspense Series)
by: Emelle Gamble
Series: Classic Romantic Suspense
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: August 8, 2015
Publisher: Posh Publishing


Set in New York City and Narragansett, Rhode Island in 1990, meet Claire Kennedy, successful mystery book editor at Cauldron Press. Her most famous client, the reclusive Sarah Winesong, has written her first new novel in five years, and Claire is ready to break out the champagne!
And then, in walks Tony Nichols. He’s gorgeous, angry and full of accusations that start with “Cauldron Press stole my book” and end with “Sarah Winesong is a fraud”.
This contemporary cozy mystery has a stellar cast of would-be villains and one real one who will stop at nothing to eliminate his nefarious scheme from coming to light, including stalk and try to kill Claire and Tony!


Hi Emelle.  Welcome Read Your Writes Book Reviews.  How are you?
Doing lovely, thank you very much. Hubby Phil-the-fist and I were blessed with our first two grandchildren this year, Abigail on June 8 and darling Ruby in London on November 26. Heads spinning, but what a wonderful year! I also released for the first time in electronic format five books I did for Harlequin Intrigue in the 1990s. These classic romantic suspense novels were my first work, and I think they hold up well. I elected not to update them into 2015 because I liked the 1990s vibe, and enjoy the somewhat sweet, by today’s standards, of the romance that grows stronger because of  intelligent conversation, not sexual techniques.


I've seen Stranger Than Fiction classified as a romantic suspense and as a cozy mystery.  Which genre would you classify it as?
When I wrote it for Harlequin Intrigue in the 1990s, it was very much the standard romantic suspense. A tight romantic arc and solid suspenseful plot that kept the heroine in jeopardy. Over time, I think it probably fits more closely now to the somewhat more eccentric character driven cozies. Lots of interesting and complicated secondary characters, an interesting ‘closed-world’ setting in Naragannsett, Rhode Island, and an overall tone of secretiveness which says cozy to me.


How do you write your books?  Do you plan out an outline and stick to it, or do you go where the characters take you?
I always start with a clear idea of what the book is about thematically, how it ends, and what the title is. From there, chaos. HA! Just kidding, but not totally. I do outline, but often the characters take control of the steering wheel and off we go.


Was there anything about Stranger Than Fiction that surprised you?
It was the first book I sold to a publisher, and what surprised me was that they wouldn’t let me keep the original title, MURDER BY MANUSCRIPT. “We can’t use the word murder in a romantic suspense,” the senior editor said. What a difference a few years makes!


When and where do you write?
Only at home, at night from 8-11 and off and on all weekend. I have a day job, and I think about my work quite a bit then, both consciously and subconsciously, as writers always do.


What do you think Claire and Tony would say about, as their author and creator?
I think they would say, ‘slow the heck down!’ HA! My first editor was big on the ‘punish your heroine’ style of plotting, so there are a series of mishaps Claire and Tony survive while falling in love and unveiling a murderer. I’m sure they would have liked a bit more time to get to know each other in more romantic settings than burning houses and spooky warehouses.


Thanks for hosting today, Kim. I am a huge fan of your blog site and have followed you for years. Please let your readers know STRANGER THAN FICTION is FREE for the next month, and that the other 4 classic romantic suspense novels recently released as eBooks are only 99 cents during that time. I hope your readers enjoy these throwback books where the heroine has to rely on her smarts and instincts instead of cellphones, twitter and the internet to help her find the bad guys!


Purchase Stranger Than Fiction from:


You can read an excerpt from Stranger Than Fiction and enter to a $25 Amazon/BN Gift Card here.


You can follow Emelle Gamble’s Stranger Than Fiction Blog Tour here.


Classic Romantic Suspense Books:
(Click on the book covers for more information and/or to purchase from Amazon.)

Emelle Gamble became a writer at an early age. At six years old, she was bursting with the requisite childhood stories of introspection, and this itch to tell tales evolved into bad teen poetry and tortured short works that, thankfully, never saw the light of day, or an editor’s red pen.
She took her first stab at writing a novel in an adult education class in Mobile, Alabama when her kids were in bed for the night. As ‘M.L. Gamble,’ she published several romantic suspense novels with Harlequin Intrigue. She now publishes novels of Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Situations with SoulMate Publishing and Posh Publishing …works ranging from women’s fiction to thrillers and romantic suspense.
Always intrigued by the words ‘what if’, Gamble’s books feature an ordinary woman confronted with an extraordinary situation. Emelle celebrates the adventurous spirit of readers, and hopes each will enjoy the exciting and surprising journeys her characters take.
Emelle lives in suburban Washington D.C. with her hero of thirty years, Philip, and two orange cats, Lucy and Bella. Like all good villains, the cats claim to have their reasons for misbehaving. Her children are happily launched on their own and are both contributing great things to society, their mother’s fondest wish.
Emelle welcomes any reader interested in emailing her at emellegamble@aol.com and hopes they will visit her website, www.EmelleGamble.com or her Author Emelle Gamble FaceBook page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Follow on Bloglovin

23 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read this book. A definite must on my TBR winter list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Misty! I think its a fun and sweet classic romantic suspense...and if you like interesting secondary characters, there are a handful in this book!

      Delete
    2. Hi Misty.

      I hope you enjoy it!

      Delete
  2. Kim, thanks so much for hosting and posting this interview! Your site and your readers are among my favorites. I hope they get a chance to meet Claire and Tony, and let me know via email or posting here what they think of this retro 1990s classic romantic suspense. Happy New Years Read Your Writes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Emelle.

      Happy New Year. I hope you had a really good Christmas, with all the new additions to the family.

      Delete
  3. I enjoyed the interview and the excerpt. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome, Ree Dee. Thanks for stopping in. Be sure and download it while it is free - Smashwords, iTunes, Amazon and B&N.

      Delete
    2. Thanks so much for checking out both the interview and excerpt Ree Dee.

      Delete
  4. Love the blurb and the interview! Already on my kindle app for winter reading! Love retro romantic suspense and cozies! My cup of tea!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Lyn. I hope you enjoy it. I have 4 others in this retro series, all on sale for 99 cents each through January! http://www.amazon.com/Emelle-Gamble/e/B00DXZ2SJA You can see the various titles here at Amazon...I think my favorite is Dead Magnolias - a female private eye and a whole bunch of crazy Southern aristocrats. HA! Reminds me of my days in Mobile.

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This was such a superb book. It contained many elements that I was familiar with some of which were working for a newspaper business, living without computers, cellphones and such, and the world of writing. Not that any of what happened in this glorious book happened to me, but I certainly could put myself into this story so very easily. Even one of the locations that the book refers to was and is very familiar to me, so all I can say is that this marvelous book hit home for me in many ways, and I absolutely loved, loved, loved it. I was overjoyed that this book was kept in the 1990's era and I know of other readers who feel the same way. Thank you to Ms. Gamble for such a brilliant way in which she makes her characters become so lifelike and real.
    Cynthia Blain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cynthia.

      I'm so glad to hear you loved the book so much. Hey, do Emelle a HUGE favor and leave your review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the other review sites. You can just copy and paste what you wrote above.

      Delete
  7. I don't use Twitter or Pinterest or any of the other social medial other than Facebook, so cannot enter under those categories, but I would if I could. I just cannot keep up with e-mail now so cannot add to the messages or time with these other sites, but just wanted the author to know that I follow her in every other way and tell everyone about her books. Thank you.
    Cynthia Blain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No worries, dear Cynthia! Thank you for stopping by and sharing with Kim's readers your lovely review. I hope you win the gift card! XXX Emelle

      Delete
  8. Thanks Miss Betty! Get yourself a FREE copy of this book...its a fun little mystery that seems to surprise most at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Surprise at the end???? Hmmm.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for the chance at the giveaway! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great interview! Thanks for the giveaway :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Replies
    1. Thanks for taking the time to read the book. Please be sure to leave a review on the retail sites.

      Delete

Comments which include links to other sites, or names including links WILL BE CONSIDERED SPAM AND DELETED.

Please be original in your comments. DO NOT comment on multiple posts with the SAME EXACT words. It looks spammy and makes it hard to tell that you are commenting on different posts during comment moderation. ~ For blog tours, don't forget to spread the love, by visiting and commenting at other stops.