Blurb: LIVE, LOCAL, AND DEAD follows New York City DJ Jaye Jordan’s new start at a tiny Vermont radio station, after her husband survives cancer but their marriage doesn’t. She thinks she’s got enough trouble with protests because she replaced angry talk with love songs…and then the talk show host turns up dead in a snowman in front of the station. Plus, her second-chance romance with her old crush – the governor – turns out to be much more dangerous than either of them expected. Add in a colorful cast of locals, the cranky station cat Neptune, and Charlemagne the Moose, who has flatulence issues…and it’s more fun than anyone should be allowed to have in maple sugaring season.

Publisher (Crooked Lane Books): Live, Local, and Dead by Nikki Knight: 9781643859453 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Amazon: Amazon.com: Live, Local, and Dead (A Vermont Radio Mystery): 9781643859453: Knight, Nikki: Books

B&N: Live, Local, and Dead by Nikki Knight, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

BIO: Nikki Knight is the pen name of award-winning New York City radio news anchor Kathleen Marple Kalb. She’s been on the air since she was a teenage DJ in her small Western Pennsylvania hometown, working in newsrooms in Pittsburgh, Vermont, and Connecticut – and never losing her love of radio, or her hatred for snow. She also writes the Ella Shane historical mystery series for Kensington, and her short stories appear in several anthologies. Her Vermont story “Bad Apples” was an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Black Orchid Novella Contest. She, her husband, and their son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

LINKS:

Website:  https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/nikki-knight

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NikkiKnightAuthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/NikkiKnightVT

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleenmarplekalb/

Birthdays: Anthony Hope (1863), Amy Lowell (1874), Thomas Bernhard (1931), Lionel Fanthorpe (1935), J. M. Coetzee (1940), Alice Walker (1944)

Amy Lowell won the 1926 Pulitzer for Poetry.

J.M. Coetzee won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the National Book Award for “The Color Purple”

Quote: “Fiction is such a world of freedom, it’s wonderful. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.” – Alice Walker

That quote above is why I write fantasy and science fiction. I can have my characters do whatever I want. Want to fly with a dragon? I can do that. Want to do magic? Yep. Want to live on the moon? Got you covered. Building new worlds is so much fun. Writing lets your imagination soar.

Tip: Make a list of words that sound good to your ears. They might be onomatopoeic (words that sound like what they describe like buzz, sizzle) or simply words that suggest particular emotions or qualities. Keep them on hand for when you need a specific feeling.

Jumpstart: He stared at the key in his hand…the key to everything…

New books from The Wild Rose Press:

Birthdays: John Ruskin (1819), Jules Verne (1828), Kate Chopin (1850), Elizabeth Bishop (1911), Lisel Mueller (1924), Neal Cassady (1926), Donna Jo Napoli (1948), Barbara Joosse (1949), Rebecca Wells (1952), John Grisham (1955), Rachel Cusk (1968), Mary Robinette Kowal (1969)

Elizabeth Bishop won the Pulitzer and National Book Award and was US Poet Laureate from 1959-1960.

Lisel Mueller won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer for Poetry.

Quote: “Write a page every day. That’s about 200 words, or 1 000 words a week. Do that for two years and you’ll have a novel that’s long enough. Nothing will happen until you are producing at least one page per day.” – John Grisham

Tip: Switch writing gears. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper or an article for your writer’s group newsletter. The change of pace can revitalize you.

Jumpstart: One of your characters keeps something in a box, buried where no one will ever find it. What is in there? What is the significance of the object? Where is it buried?

New books from The Wild Rose Press:

Birthdays: Thomas More (1478), Charles Dickens (1812), James Murray (1837), Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867), Sinclair Lewis (1885), Fred Gipson (1908), Marion Cunningham (1922), Gay Talese (1932), Eric Foner (1943), Karen Joy Fowler (1950), Patrick McGrath (1950), Emma McLaughlin (1974).

James Murray was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is famous for her “Little House” series.

Sinclair Lewis won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Fred Gipson is best known for his 1956 novel “Old Yeller”

Marion Cunningham was noted for her work on The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Eric Foner won the 2011 Pulitzer for History for his book “The Fiery Trial”

Quote: “The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will’. Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.” – Charles Dickens

Tip: Your main character(s) should grow and change through the story. By the end, they should have changed for the better and grown in positive ways.

Jumpstart: Your character is building a new house. What does it look like? Give details.

Check the review pages for new ones under Romance, Mystery, LGBTQ+ for Adults, and Nonfiction.

Birthdays: Louis Dudek (1918), Carl N. Degler (1921), Keith Waterhouse (1929), Tom Brokaw (1940), Daniel Yergin (1947), Michael Pollan (1955), Kevin Trudeau (1963), Kathryn Stockett (1969),

Carl Degler won the 1972 Pulitzer for History for “Neither Black nor White”

Daniel Yergin won the 1992 Pulitzer for Nonfiction for “The Prize”

Quote: “I sit in my little office and I feel like I’ve got all my readers staring at me.” – Kathryn Stockett

Tip: Get your mind off your WIP (work in progress) and read something totally different. Don’t analyze, don’t critique, don’t make notes. Just relax and read.

Jumpstart: You have to evacuate your home quickly due to a natural disaster (or some other emergency). What do you take? What do you leave behind?

New books at The Wild Rose Press:

Birthdays: Herman Charles Bosman (1905), William S. Burroughs (1914), Margaret Millar (1915), Andrew Greeley (1928), Stephen J. Cannell (1941), Bill Strauss (1947), Terence Blacker (1948), David Wiesner (1956), Tom Eaton (1977)

David Wiesner Won the 1992 Caldecott Medal for “Tuesday”, 2001 for “The Three Pigs” and 2006 for “Flotsam”.

Quote: “For it is not the story that counts. What matters is the way you tell it.” – Herman Charles Bosman

Tip: Go for a walk or do other exercise for at least ten minutes—more is better. Do this especially if you’re stuck on something. Fresh air and movement gets the blood flowing – and wakes up the brain.

Jumpstart: Your house is haunted. Who is haunting you and why? Are they friendly? Or evil?

New books from The Wild Rose Press:

Birthdays: Charles Lindbergh (1902), MacKinlay Kantor (1904), Betty Friedan (1921), Russell Hoban (1925), Stanley Karnow (1925), Siobhan Dowd (1960), Stewart O’Nan (1961), Ben Lerner (1979)

Quote: “…every day I don’t write feels like a lost day. I never believe that a story will be finished until I’ve typed the last period. And it is always a miracle if I get it down before being run over by a juggernaut.” – Siobhan Dowd

MacKinlay Kantor won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Andersonville”

Betty Friedan is best known for her 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique”

Russell Hoban wrote books like “Bread and Jam for Frances” for children

Stanley Karnow wrote about the Vietnam War and won the 1990 Pulitzer for History

Tip: Get a notebook – a three ring binder is best – add paper and pockets and start adding stuff to it to use in future stories. Pictures, thoughts, etc. You can also do this in Pinterest or OneNote or other programs online.

Jumpstart: Write a voice mail message for a literary character or author but do it in the “voice” of the character. For instance, Hamlet: To answer, or not to answer, that is the question…

Birthdays:  Sidney Lanier (1842), Gertrude Stein (1874), James Michener (1907), Richard Yates (1926), Joan Lowery Nixon (1927), Paul Auster (1947), Henning Mankell (1948), Ransom Riggs (1980)

Gertrude Stein’s memoir “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” made her a literary cult figure.

James Michener won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948.

Quote: “I’m not a very good writer, but I’m excellent rewriter.” – James A. Michener

Tip: Get to know your character: what does s/he like to watch on TV? Music? Movies? Clothing? What sets her apart from other characters?

Jumpstart: Describe where your character works. How did s/he get the job? Does s/he like it? Does s/he get along with his or her coworkers? What does s/he do? Write a scene with him or her at work.

From The Wild Rose Press:

Check them out and you could enter the contest to win a prize package or find a really good book to read, like:

Birthdays: James Joyce (1882), Johnston McCulley (1883), William Rose Benet (1886), Ayn Rand (1905), James Dickey (1923), Ina Garten (1948), Judith Viorst (1931),Thomas Disch (1940), Josephine Humphreys (1945), R. Scott Bakker (1967), Santa Montefiore (1970)

James Joyce wrote stream of consciousness form in works like Ulysses.

Johnston McCulley created the character Zorro.

William Benet won the 1942 Pulitzer for Poetry for “The Dust Which is God”

Ayn Rand is most famous for her book “Atlas Shrugged”

James Dickey was the eighteenth Poet Laureate of the US and author of the novel “Deliverance” which was made into the 1972 movie.

Judith Viorst is most well known for her children’s books like “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”

Quote: “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.” – Ayn Rand

Tip: Most books are built around a central theme—a social problem, moral issue, intellectual question, etc. What is your story about?

Jumpstart: You’re stranded on a desert island. What do you have with you and what can you do to save yourself?

Vann Noble did his duty. He served his country and returned a shell of a man, wounded inside and out. With a missing limb and battling PTSD, he seeks healing in an isolated cabin outside a small Texas town with a stray dog that sees beyond his master’s scars. If only the white rune’s magic can bring a happily ever after to a man as broken as Vann.

On the run from hired killers and struggling to make sense of her unexplained deadly mission, Nakina Bird seeks refuge in Vann’s cabin. She has secrets. Secrets that can get them all killed.

A ticking clock and long odds of living or dying, create jarring risks.
Will these two not only survive but find unexpected love along the way? Or, will evil forces win and destroy them both?

PURCHASE LINKS: JAGGED FEATHERS

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Jagged-Feathers-Jan-Sikes/dp/150923943X/

BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jagged-feathers-jan-sikes/1140380666?ean=9781509239436

I’ve been an avid reader all my life. I can still remember the excitement that surged through me the first time I realized I could decipher words. Many summers, I won the highest award possible from the Hobbs, NM Public Library for reading the most books.

There’s nothing I love more than losing myself in a story.

Oddly enough, I never had any ambition to be a writer. But I wound up in mid-life with a story that begged to be told. Not just any story, but a true story that rivaled any fiction creation. Through fictitious characters, the tale came to life in an intricately woven tale that encompasses four books. Not satisfied to stop with the books, I released music CDs of original music to match the time period of each story segment.

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