Author Spotlight - Excerpt from "Invitiation to a Wedding"

Thank you so much for supporting Michelle's week in the spotlight. Michelle has written a short Christmas story, that she will post on her website as a PDF that readers can download.

The title is "One Small Child," and takes place just before Christmas at the end of Year One in the Tabor Heights Series. There's a nice blank gap between the last story of Year One, which ends in November, and when Year Two starts in early January.

The links for Michelle's website are at the bottom of the page.
Enjoy the Excerpt!
Smiles
Moderator Steph

**********

"Are you two fighting about something?" Drake asked.

"We'd have to be talking to fight." Dinah lifted the cutting board and scraped the celery off it into the bowl. "She hasn't come by, hasn't called, since I got home."

"Maybe she didn't know when you got home, and she's been waiting for you to call?"
"She has a point, dear," Mrs. Ashcroft said.

"Gretchen left messages for her." Dinah shrugged and reached for the tomato and concentrated on coring it before slicing. Drake knew it didn't take that much effort to take out the area where the stem attached. Something bothered his sister.

Still, he couldn't help snapping at her. "You left it up to Gretchen to tell Stacy you were home? Mom, what's wrong with this picture?"

"Gretchen has been very helpful. She's been helping even before the girls came home." Mrs. Ashcroft handed him the divided glass dish to hold the olives and artichokes. "All the things I would have asked Stacy to help with, Gretchen already thought of and took care of them."

"You wouldn't have had to ask Stacy, either. If she knew what was going on." He grunted as he got the second jar open and dug in with two fingers to scoop out a piece of artichoke heart. He grinned when his mother slapped his shoulder -- after he had the piece in his mouth.

"Something is bothering her," Dinah said, plopping the pieces of tomato onto the top of the salad. "She hasn't come by, hasn't called. She hasn't emailed, either."

"Did you email her? Call her? Stop by her house?" Drake sighed when his sister just shook her head and wouldn't look at him. "Di, you're the one with the open schedule. Stacy has to work. You know she'll drop everything for you, but you have to let her know you're here, first."

"She obviously knows I'm home, because she brought that present by."

"We did send her an invitation to the party," Mrs. Ashcroft offered.

"Stacy shouldn't need an invitation. She's just about family." He settled down on a stool pulled up at the counter. What was wrong with his mother and sister that they didn't seem to realize something was very wrong? Or was something wrong with him, that he thought Stacy was being hurt?

"True," his mother said. "Did she say anything was going on, the last time you two talked, Dinah?"

"We haven't really talked..." Dinah slid the salad bowl into the refrigerator. She barely met Drake's eyes before turning to their mother. "I got a Christmas card from her. That's about all the contact we've had for the last year or two."

"How come? What'd you do to make her angry?" Drake asked.

"What makes you think I did anything?" She glared at him and turned to walk out the door.

"Because Stacy is like a duck -- most of the time it rolls right off. Takes a lot to get her angry," he said, catching her arm to stop her.

"I wouldn't know. She just stopped writing."

"Did you ask her what was wrong?"

"If you're so concerned about Stacy, how come you don't write to her? How come you have to find out how she is by asking me?"

"Dinah!" their mother scolded. She stepped over, somewhat blocking her in, so Dinah had to step around her to get out of the kitchen. "Why did Stacy stop writing? What did she say in her last email?"

"I can't remember... exactly." Dinah wouldn't meet her eyes now.



FIND MICHELLE AT:

www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com

buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Michelle Levigne casts the characters!

This is a story where I had the germinal idea, and had to fill in all the blanks. Sometimes, I start with a character in a situation, and have the situation "come to a head," and work through it. For instance, for "The Family Way," in other books I had already talked about what a nasty man Mr. Montgomery was, and how people pitied his daughter-in-law, and I had even introduced Lisa and Todd and their on-again/off-again romance in a rough draft for a Quarry Hall novel (Blatant plug for the new Women's Fiction series, here!). So I had characters and situations already established for me, which actually gave me material to work with and a foundation to work on.
So, starting from scratch, how do you cast a story?

The germinal idea -- and I even mention the source of it within the story -- came from half an episode of "Northern Exposure." Anyone remember that show? How, you ask, could I work from half an episode? Well, I saw the first half, and never watched the second half! I think I was at a friend's house and watching TV while I waited for her to finish getting ready to go out. The story: a local celebrity was having his annual blow-out party -- gourmet food, fancy decorations, fancy plates, fancy invitations, etc. The new guy in town, the doctor, hears from everyone else what a great party it is. And of course, the doctor is invited -- but his invitation is lost. And before I turned off the TV, he was already facing the dilemma of not admitting that he didn't get an invitation to the big fancy yearly party.

So, that's where "Invitation to a Wedding" started. What happens if your childhood friend is getting married, and you're invited, but someone doesn't just lose the invitation -- they make sure you don't get the invitation?

The first question is: Why would someone do that? What kind of person is the heroine, that someone would want to keep her from going to a wedding?

Other questions I had to ask, so the story was believable -- especially when Stacy and Dinah don't get a chance to talk and fix things in the first two chapters -- dealt with why they weren't talking, compressing the timeline and circumstances to make it believable that Stacy wouldn't be included. Then I had to work on the hero -- what kind of a guy was he, that he would find out Stacy wasn't coming to the wedding, at a very late date, and be so upset that he had to do something about it?

What I came up with was: 1) Heroine is low on the social scale -- not that it matters to the hero and her childhood best friend. 2) Bride has been living in another state and lost contact with heroine. 3) Hero has been away from home for years, in the military and then seminary. 3) Bride eloped, so it isn't a wedding, but a weekend trip home for a wedding reception months later. 4) Childhood nemesis is living near the bride and pretends to be changed, so she is trusted with party details, and no one suspects when she takes over.

Compressing the time element of the story helped with the "why don't the idiots just sit down and TALK?" factor. I don't know about you, but I hate stories where the conflict could have been resolved in chapter 2 if the two main characters could have just been face-to-face for half an hour.

What I ended up with was a Cinderella story, and a year-long correspondence between the hero and heroine that gives everyone an overview of what else will be happening in Tabor Heights in Year Two.
Enjoy!

FIND MICHELLE AT:

www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com

buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Michelle Levigne talks about bullies

In "Invitation to a Wedding," our heroine faces the ultimate nasty trick, played on her by the "mean girls" who have come back to town for the wedding celebration of her best friend from childhood.

Stacy was the housekeeper's granddaughter, and even though the Ashcrofts treated her like a member of the family, obviously the other "social elite" families in Tabor Heights didn't agree with them, because their daughters grew up trying to keep Stacy in "her place," and interfere with her friendship with Dinah Ashcroft.

I've never had anyone play such a nasty trick on me -- try to keep me from a friend's party, or cut me out of an activity where I had every right to be there, but I've suffered other "slings and arrows" of abuse, criticism, mockery, and people telling two different stories to keep two sides apart. (Does that make any sense?) The best tactic when dealing with "social bullies," as I call them, is communication. Stacy and Dinah drifted apart and stopped communicating. The bullies never would have gotten between them if they had talked to each other.

Instead of believing someone when they say, "Jenny doesn't want to hang around with you," confront Jenny directly. I wish I had learned that lesson years ago. There are people who believe I hate them, when it turns out that a third party told me they didn't want to be around me, and then told them the same thing about me!
I dream of the day when these people who discouraged me and bruised my feelings and my dreams will want something from me ... and yes, I admit, I want to "get some back" at them.

It's not nice. It's something I'm working on. My favorite scenario, practiced many times in my imagination, is for them to come up to me at a booksigning with some friends they want to impress. They'll exclaim about how great I look, and how well my books are selling, and they're so glad for me -- and when they try to hug me, I'll pull back and say, "Sorry, I don't recognize you. Where do I know you from?"
I hope I grow to the point that I forget about the bruises, the hurt feelings, the lies people have told about me, the mockery -- so that when someone shows up, claiming to be an old friend, it's the truth when I say, "Sorry, I honestly don't recognize you. Where do we know each other from?" And when they tell me, I'll be glad to see them.

That's the biggest triumph over bullies. To lose the hurt they tried to inflict on us. To succeed despite their mockery and lies and trying to put us in what they believe is our "proper place."


FIND MICHELLE AT:

www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com

buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Michelle Levigne

STEPH: I don't know much about "Invitation to a Wedding." What's it about?

MICHELLE: Drake Ashcroft, ex-Marine now in seminary, comes home for the wedding reception for his sister, who eloped with his best friend from the Marines. He finds a present on the back step, left there by Stacy Belmont, granddaughter of their former housekeeper. The problem is that Stacy grew up with Drake and his sister, Dinah, and he knows the two girls promised to be each other's maid of honor -- so why isn't Stacy helping with the preparations for the party?

As Drake investigates, he learns that the some people in town haven't outgrown their childhood rivalries and petty nastiness, and the "mean girls" still have it in for Stacy. It turns into a race against time to get Stacy to the party, but he's going to do it, even if he has to kidnap her.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

MICHELLE: The first draft took me a month. This year, I rough drafted six of the eight novels for Year Two, giving myself a month for each one. Then, after letting it sit for five months, I went back and revised it. I had to wait until all the books were roughed so I could put together my calendar of when and where things happened in Tabor Heights, because I needed to refer to that calendar when Stacy and Drake correspond for most of the year. I was starting to panic, because the deadline was approaching for turning the book in, and I hadn't started the revisions yet! But I made it. Somehow. And I'm pleased with the story. At least, I think so ...... Still too tired to be sure it turned out right!

STEPH: How much research did you have to do?

MICHELLE: Not much. I already had the setting, a good idea of the characters, their shared history -- and lots of experience with the problems caused by lies and social maneuvering and "mean girls" trying to rule the world. The biggest chore on my list was getting all the other books written so I knew what happened when in the different storylines, so Stacy could mention some of the events -- but definitely not all of them! -- when she emailed Drake through the year.

STEPH: How does the cover reflect the story within?

MICHELLE: I think it arouses some curiosity, from the moment someone realizes it's an invitation that's been tossed into the wastebasket before it even got mailed. It's not an accurate picture, because the evil Gretchen didn't actually throw away Stacy's invitation, she just made sure it never got mailed. But as it reflects the "heart" of the story, the conflict, and the problem to overcome, it's spot-on. Jenifer and her staff always do an incredible job with the artwork.

STEPH: Stacy is the heroine. What are her strengths? Weakness?

MICHELLE: She is smart, and she is generally an upbeat, caring, kind, generous person. Right now she's going through a rough time in her life -- she just had her first Christmas without her grandmother, who raised her, and the family that treated her like she was one of their own has basically left her out in the cold because of some crises of their own that they went through over the holidays. Plus, a year of silence between her and her best childhood friend has culminated in "Retchin' Gretchen" (yes, you'll find out where the nickname came from!) acting as maid of honor, when Stacy and Dinah promised to be each other's maid of honor. Stacy doesn't want to dwell on her hurt, but it's hard. She has some pride issues, although the people who love her would argue with that. She's trying so hard to be strong and not let the "mean girls" know they hurt her, that she's hurting herself even worse.
She needs a Prince Charming.

STEPH: What does Drake find appealing about her?

MICHELLE: There's no one specific characteristic in Stacy that smacks him between the eyes. She's the perfect minister's wife -- but Drake doesn't want to use that label, because Stacy herself is important to him, not just what she can offer. She has always been there, a key part of his life, but he doesn't realize it until she's gone, until there's silence when he expects some input from her. It's a situation of, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." As he scrambles to make things right, to bring Stacy back into the family circle where she belongs, he realizes that she's no longer an adopted kid sister to him -- she's become someone very important, and he needs to take some time to analyze just how and why she is important, and figure out what he's going to do about it. One thing he knows for certain: He's not letting Stacy slip out of his life again.

STEPH: What is the theme of the novel?

Ugh. I hate these questions! I'm thinking about the people, not what I want to say through them. In theater class and playwriting class, we were always told, "If you want to leave a message, use Western Union."

But the overall concepts being explored deal with communication, with ideas of family that extend past blood bonds, with the subtle ways we hurt the people we love without even realizing it, and maybe how we are so busy we lose things and people who are precious to us, and don't even realize it until it's nearly too late.

STEPH: As a writer, where do you draw inspiration from?

MICHELLE: Is it a cop-out to say "Everywhere and everything"?

STEPH: Yes! (grin)

MICHELLE: Inspiration comes from things that catch my attention. Like a snippet of a story or situation in a TV show or book or movie that sticks in my mind. Case in point, the half-episode of "Northern Exposure" that I mention in another entry on this blog. It presented an unhappy situation for someone, and it stuck with me, so when I was looking for story ideas, that one was waiting to be used.

Inspiration comes from things that make me angry -- issues and situations and injustices that I want resolved. Or I want to totally humiliate bullies, or bring about justice for someone who in real life will never taste justice. Things that make me say, "Wow -- cool." Even things that make me shudder and take a step back and avert my eyes -- but the image is still there, lingering at the back of my imagination, to eventually come out of hiding and say, "Use me!" when I need a painful or terrifying or unbalancing situation.

Story ideas don't come to me in one piece. I put all sorts of pieces together and trim them to fit, or melt them, or add water or whack them really hard a couple thousand times until they change enough to slide into the opening available. Some stories need major surgery before they work. Others just slide together as if they were always meant to be. Sometimes I only do two or three drafts. Other times I write and rewrite and rewrite and put it away for a year or two and bring it out and rewrite again and put it away and bring it out again and ... put it away, in the hopes that someday, I'll figure out what's not working, so I can fix it.
Writing is craft and talent and inspiration and luck and stubbornness, all mixed together.

STEPH: Do you have an ebook reader? If so, which one?

MICHELLE: I have one of the first Nooks, plus I have an iPod Touch and iPad with Nook, iBooks, and Kindle loaded on them. I like the flexibility offered by the three different programs. For instance, I have all the PDFs of my own books in iBooks, so I can show them to other people, let them read a few paragraphs if the situation presents itself, and I can also go through the PDFs to refresh myself on different people's stories. Much easier than getting into my computer and digging up the PDF. I like the instant connection of reading on the iPad -- no need to wait for the system to boot up and the menu to appear, like I do on the Nook. However, there's something simple and easy about my Nook, and I enjoy being able to sit down and read and not be able to do anything but read while I'm using it.

STEPH: Fun question: Do you put a star or an angel on the top of your Christmas tree?

MICHELLE: I don't have a Christmas tree! (waaaaaaah!)

I do have a ceramic Christmas tree my Mom made years ago, with an electric light inside it and clear plastic colored bulbs.

This year is my first year in my new place, and I've pulled out Christmas ornaments I haven't seen or used in years. I bought a spool of wide ribbon -- white with red snowflakes -- with wire reinforcing on the edges, and put a length across the wooden mantle of my fireplace, and another across the wooden frame of my living room window. Then I hung my ornaments on these ribbons. It looks pretty cool.

Maybe at the end of the holiday season, when everything is on sale, I'll go shopping for a tree topper to use next year ...

FIND MICHELLE AT:

www.Mlevigne.com
www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com

buy:
http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-383/Tabor-Heights-Year-Two-cln-/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Excerpt from Accidental Hearts

Michelle and I hope you've enjoyed her week in the spotlight. Here's an excerpt from Accidental Hearts. Leave a comment here on this post today, Saturday and Sunday along with your email and I'll pick a winner from the post to receive a PDF copy of Michelle's story.

Smiles
Moderator Steph

*********
(The set-up: Abby and Tyler have taken their respective monsters ... err, nieces and nephews ... out to a recreation center with mini-golf, games, ice cream, laser tag)

"Uncle -- "
Tyler jerked around when Pam shrieked and barely closed his eyes in time as the golf club slammed into his face. He threw himself backward and flung up his hands, deflecting the worst of the blow.

And ended up sitting in three inches of slightly scummy water.

It occurred to him that if Pam hadn't yelled, he wouldn't have turned and put his face directly in the path of Danny's golf club.

Then again, he should have checked before he bent to take his violet ball out of the hole. He knew it was a mistake to put himself and Abby ahead of the children, even though he knew the game would go much faster that way. That was what he got for hoping to leave the children several holes behind so he could have some private time with Abby. Trying to get away from them seemed to encourage the children to play fast, which brought Danny up on his heels playing without looking ahead. How hard was it for the boy to see an adult male standing two feet away on the putting green?

"Tyler?" Abby knelt on the edge of the shallow water hazard and reached for him. "Are you all right?"

"Am I bleeding?"

"No."

"Then I'm all right. I think." He tried to smile and regretted it. The tiny movement sent a spike of pain crashing through his head. Now he knew how Frankenstein's monster felt, with that seam around the top of his skull.

Twenty minutes later, he and Abby sat in a corner of the snack bar, all by themselves, while he pressed a paper towel full of crushed ice to his forehead. According to the tiny mirror in Pam's pocket, most of the damage consisted of a half-inch wide mark down his forehead, dark red and turning into a bruise. Nothing on his nose, though it felt like the bone was ready to crumble. No blood, thank goodness. He had felt sick enough when Abby had hurt her knee. Seeing her blood had made him feel helpless and angry and slightly twisty in his stomach. Tyler didn't want to know how he would react to his own blood on his hands.

"Feeling better?"

"It's quiet, there's no one arguing within a mile of here, and I have ice cream.
Which, I might add, I don't have to share with those two monsters of mine. What more could a man want?" He tried to smile and was relieved when his head didn't threaten to split open again.

"I like a guy who's easy to please." Abby spooned up some of her sundae. There was an odd flicker in her eyes that made him wonder if she was about to say something and then changed her mind.

"Honestly, I am feeling better. Would you stop trying to feel guilty?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. It was Pam who shrieked and Danny who hit me. I don't see any way you could have foreseen or stopped them, and Chad and Candy weren't involved at all."

"Well, if you put it that way ..." She fought a grin. "How's your sundae?"

"Fine."

"I'd believe that if you were actually eating it."

"Oh." His face warmed, which felt rather odd against the chill of the paper towel.
The truth was that between trying to drive the ache in his face away, wondering what kind of an idiot he looked like, and gloating over Abby's concern for him, he hadn't had any attention to spare for eating.

He liked staring into her eyes as she sat across the table from him. Tyler wished he could ensure she would be there every morning and evening -- but how could he say that? Most of their time together had been either full of interruptions, embarrassment, or accidents. The last thing he wanted to do was drive Abby away. He wanted to do everything in his power to make sure she wanted to be there, with him.
Short of brainwashing at this point in their relationship -- did they even have a relationship? -- what could he do?

*****

Web site: www.Mlevigne.com
Trailer: www.Mlevigne.com/tabor-main.html
OR www.MLevigne.com/trailers.html
Buy link: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-326/Tabor-Heights%2C-Ohio-cln--Accidental/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Michelle Levigne wants to hear your story!

Tell me YOUR story.

Abby and Tyler have a lot on their individual plates, and it takes some determination, some whining, some prayer, some interference on the part of nieces and nephews, before they can finally get together and speak their hearts. Have you experienced something like this in your life? Not just in the area of romance, but in things you need to do, want to do? Getting an education? Taking a vacation? Obtaining a life-changing experience? Overcoming obstacles, especially the ones thrown at you by people who think they're being helpful but they're actually working against you? What part did your faith play in it? Can you point to something that clearly wouldn't have happened if God hadn't stepped in? Or maybe you wish God HAD stepped in? Maybe even slapped you backwards and said, "Nuh uh. This ain't the way, babe." (Okay, maybe God doesn't talk like that, but how can you be sure?)

Speak up -- either when the blog here is open for comments, or post comments to the Tabor Heights Today blog: www.Tabor-Heights-Today.blogspot.com. I will publish the top 5 on the blog, the most inspirational stories of overcoming, and everyone who gets published with receive a mousepad with the cover art for all the books of Year One.
We wanna hear from you -- and who knows? Maybe I'll like your story so much, it might just slip into a subplot in Year Two ... (Not making any promises, I'm just saying it might happen ............)

***
Part of this week's giveaway: Post your stories! Michelle will pick 2 commenters in a random drawing to win a mousepad of the story.

Web site: www.Mlevigne.com
Trailer: www.Mlevigne.com/tabor-main.html
OR www.MLevigne.com/trailers.html
Buy link: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-326/Tabor-Heights%2C-Ohio-cln--Accidental/Detail.bok

Author Spolight - Michelle Levigne talks about Tabor Heights Year Two

Happy New Year!

ACCIDENTAL HEARTS is the 12th book in Tabor Heights, and the final book in Year One, which coincides with the 12th month of the year. So in essence, this is New Year's Eve, and the book that comes out in December, INVITATION TO A WEDDING, is New Year's Day.

And just like on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day you have traditions, and you look forward to the new year and make plans and resolutions, INVITATION will give you just a tiny taste of what is going to happen in Year Two of the Tabor Heights books. People you've met and cheered for in the previous year/12 books will show up, and you'll hear about their weddings, changes in their lives, and resolutions of their stories. Some, like Officer Mike Nicholls, will be mentors to the heroes and heroines of the stories of Year Two.

We're going to have 2 collections of short stories in Year Two, both of them dealing with Butler-Williams University students. Some of them, as in the dorm sisters in A BOX OF PROMISES, aren't even looking for love, but somehow love -- or the potential for it, anyway -- finds them!

Just like Abby and Tyler in ACCIDENTAL HEARTS. They are so busy taking care of their families, helping their siblings and nieces and nephews, they aren't looking for something for themselves. But when God drops someone nearly on your head and says, "Hey, look what I've got for you!" well ... you gotta listen. And fight for that true love. Even if the entire world seems to be conspiring to keep you apart.
Just like Abby and Tyler.

Web site: www.Mlevigne.com
Trailer: www.Mlevigne.com/tabor-main.html
OR www.MLevigne.com/trailers.html
Buy link: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-326/Tabor-Heights%2C-Ohio-cln--Accidental/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Michelle Levigne talks about Redemption

Redemption -- I'm not talking about taking a story that you wrote a long time ago, dusting it off, and performing a little plastic surgery to make it workable. With ACCIDENTAL, I had to do some major redemption. I wrote this story I don't know how many years ago, before I started pulling the Tabor Heights stories together. Before I realized it was a Tabor Heights story. I had to change the hero's last name, his sister's marital problems, and bring the heroine's parents back from the dead. Along with minor details like street names, city names, and current events. But that's not what I mean by redemption.

Big confession time: There was a period in my writing when I succumbed to the allure of writing "sexy" -- and the requests of some of my editors, and the pressure of the people around me in RWA. When Tyler plans the "get to know you better" getaway for him and Abby, in the original version of the story, he was planning on proposing, convincing her to fly to Vegas to elope, and even packed a lacy negligee to surprise her with. Ummm, NOT the Tyler and Abby we know now! And in the original version, they were seriously considering having the honeymoon first, before they were interrupted by their rescuers. (Hope that doesn't give away too much of the story...)

I have other stories I've put back into storage that I hope to redeem someday, take away the sex and concentrate more on the relationship and the action, the conflict, the challenge in the story. It's going to be hard, but I've been learning -- and maybe God has been teaching me -- that you don't need the hormones going at 300MPH to have a good story!

Web site: www.Mlevigne.com
Trailer: www.Mlevigne.com/tabor-main.html
OR www.MLevigne.com/trailers.html
Buy link: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-326/Tabor-Heights%2C-Ohio-cln--Accidental/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Michelle Levigne

STEPH: I don't know much about "Accidental Hearts." What's it about?

MICHELLE: Tyler Sloane, who we first met in COMMON GROUNDS as Xander's college friend and new roommate, has come to the rescue of his sister Tanya, whose marriage just imploded. He has her and her two children, Danny and Pam, come live with him.

Abby Morgan, who we first met in THE SECOND TIME AROUND, is the cousin of Dr. Daniel Morgan of Bulter-Williams University's theater department. She is helping her widowed brother, Al, raise his children, Chad and Candy.

They meet at summer camp, when, after dropping off their nieces and nephews, Tyler's Corvette breaks down and blocks traffic. Abby, who happens to be a pilot and has some mechanical skill, steps up to help. They're both interested, but with jobs to do and kids to help raise, who has time? Somehow, accidents keep throwing them together -- and when the accidents start pushing them apart, they realize they want to be together.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

MICHELLE: I can't remember how long the first draft took, because it was so long ago, but I spent about 2 months, on and off, doing the revising. Boring answer, huh?

STEPH: How much research did you have to do?

MICHELLE: Not that much. I had to look up some things like if there was an airport in Davenport, Iowa, and a little terminology for small aircraft, but the rest was taken from experience and all the things I had already established for the Tabor Heights books. For instance, where Tyler gets his hand smashed by the knucklebuster on the theater curtain ... *sigh* ... that was ME!

STEPH: How does the cover reflect the story within?

MICHELLE: I love Corvettes. What else can I say? I always give Jenifer such a challenge for my cover art, because I'm not a very visual person, but she always comes through. It's a great cover. I think the hood being propped up on a Corvette, signalling something is wrong ... that says it all.

STEPH: Abby is the heroine. What are her strengths? Weakness?

MICHELLE: She's responsible, reliable, dedicated, has a slow fuse -- but she's so used to putting herself last for the sake of her family that she feels guilty when there's something she wants and she feels resentment and frustration because it seems eternally out of her reach. Meaning a relationship with Tyler.

STEPH: What does Tyler find appealing about her?

MICHELLE: Maybe unconsciously, he likes that she doesn't seem to need rescuing, like his sister. Even though Tanya is strong -- she has to be -- she let her jerk-face husband scam her and then steal from her and her children. Tyler likes that Abby is independent and takes care of others. It helps that she's pretty, but she's not a glamour chick. And it helps a LOT that she understands the world of theater, because Morgan is her cousin. You can't believe the conflict and stress that can form in a relationship where one person doesn't understand the world that the other one lives in. (Well, maybe writers with spouses can understand -- especially the spouses/kids/parents who don't understand that when the fingers are moving across the keyboard, or you're staring into the distance, yes, you ARE working and interruptions about anything less important than blood or fire will destroy that scene you're building in your head.)

STEPH: What is the theme of the novel?

MICHELLE: Life gets in the way -- but you gotta decide what's really important to you and go for it. No matter what. No matter who.

STEPH: As a writer, where do you draw inspiration from?

MICHELLE: I HATE this question. Because honestly, ideas come from everywhere. Some stories come from dreams that stay in your head long after you wake up. Other stories come from watching a TV show or movie or reading a book that you hate because you KNOW it should have gone a different direction. Or the old standby: "I can write better than THAT!" You get images in your head, or someone asks a question, or you have a favorite story you'd like to see from a different angle. A friend dares you to retell an old story. Or, in the case of some of my SF, I made a world so "real" and secondary characters so solid that they developed lives and histories of their own, and I knew I had to tell those stories, too.

STEPH: Do you have an ebook reader? If so, which one?

MICHELLE: I started with a Palm Tungsten, then ordered one of the first Nooks. When my Palm died (temporarily!), I needed another MP3 player, so I got an iPod Touch, which lets me load e-reader software, so I have Nook, Kindle and iBooks on my iPod and my iPad. I have too many gizmos and too much luggage! But I would be lost without my iPad -- I can read in the line at stores or riding in a car (NOT driving), check my email without having to go through the fuss of logging in online, keep notes and lists and iTunes University is proving to be incredible for research purposes.

STEPH: Fun question: Are you a candle fan? What's your favorite candle to burn? Any autumn scents you'd like to gush about?

MICHELLE: I like scented candles, but don't really take the time to burn them. I have a Bath & Body Works 3-wick candle sitting on my desk, half-burned, that I got last Christmas. It's called Winter Night. I really like it, but as you can guess, I haven't burned it in a long time. And I keep it sealed to preserve the scent. Maybe when the cold weather comes back and I don't have my windows open for fresh air anymore, I'll start burning the candle.

But you know, I'm hoping to get my own place soon, so maybe I'll start getting candles and burn them regularly ... READERS? Any suggestions from you?


Web site: www.Mlevigne.com
Trailer: www.Mlevigne.com/tabor-main.html
OR www.MLevigne.com/trailers.html
Buy link: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-326/Tabor-Heights%2C-Ohio-cln--Accidental/Detail.bok

Author Spotlight - Excerpt from "The Mission"

Thanks so much for supporting Michelle during her spotlight week. Leave a comment here on the excerpt post today, Saturday, and Sunday and I'll pick a winner randomly to receive a mousepad from Michelle. Don't forget to leave your email so we can get in touch with you if you win. Enjoy the excerpt!
Smiles
Moderator Steph

**********

(Note for new readers who haven't met Tommy yet -- he's in a wheelchair)

"I'm sorry." Paul turned to Claire. "That was..."

"Unavoidable?" To his relief, amusement glimmered in Claire's eyes. "Poor Jennifer. She'll probably get the same treatment from all the desperate bachelors next week." She patted Paul's arm and stepped away, heading for the office. "No harm, no foul."

"I think I better have a talk with Sammy," he said, and turned down the hall. He could barely make out the silhouettes of his daughter and Tommy, outside in the bright sunshine, framed in the doorway.

"Tell you what, shorty," Tommy said as Paul drew close enough to the end of the hall to hear them speak. "You and me, we'll be partners in this, okay? We'll make a pact."

"What's a pact?" Sammy said, tipping her head back. She perched on Tommy's knees, gripping his wrists, and leaning backwards.

Paul nearly called out in a jolt of panic, but he saw the way Tommy's big hands held onto Sammy's wrists in turn, and he knew the young man wouldn't let his daughter fall.

"It's like a solemn promise. Just about as serious as one you make to God, understand?" Tommy waited until Sammy nodded.
"Okay, this pact says you and me, we're going to protect your dad from all those stupid girls who want to drag him down the aisle."

"And do what?"

Paul muffled laughter at the total confusion in his daughter's chirping voice.

"You don't want to know." Tommy's voice temporarily dropped to a sepulchral level. "And we'll get Claire to relax and go out on dates with him. That protects both of them from really stupid people who want to run their lives for them. Okay?"

"Okay." Sammy nodded. "Do you like my daddy?"

"Yeah, he's a great guy. I think he'd be good for my sister."

"When Daddy marries Miss Claire, you'll be my uncle, right?"

"Yep."

"Can I call you Uncle Tommy right now?"

"You bet, shorty." Tommy laughed when Sammy launched herself forward and wrapped her arms around his big, muscular neck. "Hey, I like you, too."

"Do you got a girlfriend, Uncle Tommy?"

"I... well, I'm not really sure. I had a girlfriend. I was dating a girl who lived in the dorms right over there." He gestured in the direction of the dormitories across Cane Street from the Mission. "But she's home for the summer -- she lives in Canada -- and I've got the feeling she's not coming back in the fall. She got scared last winter. Lots of bad memories."

"That's so sad." Sammy settled down on his lap, facing him again. "If you want, when I grow up, I'll be your girlfriend."

"You know, I think I'd rather have a niece." Tommy grinned, but the sunlight glanced off a suspicious wetness in his eyes that Paul could see, even standing back in the shadows of the hallway, fighting a new ache in his chest. "Me and Claire, we don't have anybody in the entire world for family. I'm gonna like being an uncle. Lots more fun." He tipped back in a wheelie, earning a squeal from Sammy, who clutched at the front of his shirt. "You know, it's like a law here in Ohio. Uncles have to give their nieces ice cream at least once a week."

"Really?"

"Absatively. Let's go introduce you to Joe, and see what he has in the kitchen, okay?"

Paul ducked out of the way, into the gymnasium doorway, as Tommy bumped up over the threshold and back into the building, with Sammy perched on his lap. He watched them go, blinking away ridiculous tears.

"Thank You, Lord. This was definitely the right move," he whispered.

And resolved that first thing in the morning, he'd build a ramp in that doorway.

Author Spotlight - Characters are Everything

Characters are everything.

Sounds like that slogan you hear on USA -- or is it TNT? I can never keep them separate -- they run some of the same shows!
Anyway, The Mission, my newest Tabor Heights release, is in some ways a tribute to my brother, Dean.

Tommy Donnelly, Claire's "little" brother, is very closely based on Dean, who has Cerebral Palsy and has been in a wheelchair all his life. His various physical limitations forced him to find creative outlets for interacting with a world that expected him, as physically handicapped, to be meek and quiet and slooooow. Can we say "Tiny Tim Syndrome" here?

Or -- the only other handicapped role model he could find -- end up like Igor. "Yesssss, Massster! Shall I dig up another brain for you, Masssster?"

Dean became a comedian. He learned to have a witty comeback when people made stupid remarks or just plain assumed that physical handicap = mental handicap. His strategy was to learn how to play with people's brains until they bounced around the room. Some of the things that come out of Tommy's mouth came from Dean's mouth, first. His attitude is pretty close, too.

Gimps are people, too. And even if I'm pretty sure that when he went to camp, Dean and his buddies were plotting the overthrow of the able-bodied world ... I'm proud to have a gimp in my life.

By the way, Tommy gets his own book in Year Two -- entitled "Wheels," and based on a script I almost sold to "MacGuyver." Only don't tell MacGuyver what I did with his character ........

Author Spotlight - Michelle Leviigne talks about RT - Romantic Times

RT, anyone?

That's the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, which will be in Chicago this year.

A LOT of Desert Breeze Authors will be there. We're even heading up a panel talking about Inspirational Romance, and how it's changed. We're not buggies and bonnets anymore. (Thank goodness -- I don't know about you, but I could never get into "prairie romances." I'm sorry, but I'd be too cranky in those corsets and heavy skirts to ever fall in love!)

Please come look for us at RT and say hi. We'd all love to see you. We'd love to get feedback from you, our readers, on what you enjoy about Desert Breeze books, and maybe stories you're waiting for from us.

PLUS: Desert Breeze Authors are giving away a Nook Color. We're having a contest -- details to be released at RT -- but it includes finding us in the crowd, getting our signatures, and then turning in the paper for the drawing. So make sure you look for the contest details and LOOK FOR US!

Let's make a deal: Find me at RT, and I'll have a special goody for everyone who identifies themselves as Desert Breeze readers AND you've bought one of my Tabor Heights books. What could it be? You'll have to show up at the conference and find me and find out! But if you want to help me plan ahead and have enough goodies to give you -- or even make arrangements to MEET THERE .... post a comment here, with your email address, and I'll contact you.

Do we have a date?

Author Spotlight - The Tabor Heights Series - Who's your Favorite Citizen?

The Mission is my 11th Tabor Heights novel, and only one book away from the "end" of Year One of the Tabor Heights books. While my readers are settling in to revisit the town and old friends, and find out what's happening with people who they've only glimpsed previously, I'm working on rough drafting Year Two of Tabor Heights!

I'm trying to carry on the pattern I've already established with the first "year," in that events during the year will be mentioned from one book to another. In fact, the first book of Year Two, "Invitation to a Wedding," will have a large section in the middle that is all correspondence between the hero and heroine. He's going to seminary in the West, and she's keeping him updated on what's happening in town -- the relationships, weddings, tragedies, scandals. And along the way, you learn a little more about the two of them and their relationship with each other. But to do that, I have to know what's happening in all the other books!

Why do I keep punishing myself like this? I mean, I like challenges, but not ridiculous ones!

Well, I hope that my readers enjoy it!

How about posting comments here on the blog, and let me know if there are any citizens you've met in Tabor Heights who you think you'd like to see find a happily-ever-after in Year Two?

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Michelle Levigne

STEPH: I don't know much about "The Mission." What's it about?

MICHELLE: The Mission, the building, is an old school that Tabor Christian Church bought and is using as a community outreach. They have a daycare, a kitchen that puts together meals for shut-ins, and a senior center. Now that the Arc Foundation has partnered with them, they have the funds to make renovations and start using those locked up, damaged rooms, and start expanding their services.

Paul Hunter comes in as new head custodian -- he was introduced in "Forgiven," as friend and mentor to Brock. He is taking the place of Rich Thomas, who had been stealing from the Mission and ended up putting Pastor Wally in the hospital when he was caught. Paul is a widower with a 5-year-old daughter, Sammy.

Claire, our heroine, is Pastor Wally's right hand. She and her wheelchair-bound brother, Tommy, have been in Tabor about 6 years now, and as far as anyone knows, they are alone in the world. Which, the reader soon learns, is only partly true. There was a big schism in their family, partially resulting from the accident that put Tommy in his wheelchair when he was a child. Their past tries to catch up with them during the events of the story.

STEPH: "The Mission" is part of the Tabor Heights Series. What's the underlying theme of the series that ties the books together?

MICHELLE: It's funny, but I don't really think about themes when I write the stories, but I always end up with one. I think the general theme is facing your past, learning when to forgive, and when it's a waste of time to give someone a second chance, because you'll only get hurt!

Paul has a bad past -- he rescued his wife from an abusive family situation, and in the process was falsely accused of kidnapping her, and served some jail time. Those abusive, powerful, lying relatives don't have any use for him or Sammy, his daughter, until it profits them. At the same time, Claire is facing a recurring "family problem," that she thought had been left behind forever -- to the point that no one in town even knew she had more family than Tommy.

Then there is a "secondary" relationship/couple, who have to learn to look past a pretty rotten shared past -- her mother had an affair with his father, destroying both their families. How far do you let the ripple effect from those bad choices impact your life? It's one thing to say you're both innocent of the crimes of your parents, but how do you live like you believe that?



STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

MICHELLE: Well, I wrote the first twenty pages or so about ten-plus years ago, then I had to put it aside. It just wasn't going anywhere. Last summer, I picked it up again and wrote the first draft in August -- for the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge. Then I did three revisions and turned it in to Gail in November. So it was a fast, fast write and revise process. And I had a really sparse outline to work from, so I had very little idea what I originally planned on writing when I first started the book so many years ago.

STEPH: Did you have to do a lot of research for the novel?

MICHELLE: No -- mostly because I had been getting brainstorms and snippets of ideas for months, since I started revising all the other Tabor Heights books, and had a good idea how other people's stories would impact The Mission -- once I got it written, of course. There are some events or incidents that closely echo actual events or relationships that I either witnessed or heard about -- would you call it research?

On the other hand, I had to do a lot of looking back through other people's stories in Tabor Heights to make sure that I didn't contradict the days/dates of events, and that I didn't have people show up on one side of town when they should have been on the other side of town. That sort of stupidity that I thought I had handled -- but no matter how carefully you keep those calendars and notes and maps ... something slips through. It's frustrating, but still fun. It's like a puzzle that's half-blank as you put the pieces together, and the picture only appears once you have some of the pieces in place. If that makes any sense ........
Sometimes, writing my stories is like hearing someone tell me the story as I'm going along -- I didn't plan for something to happen, or I didn't even know that person existed, but it's like they step up and tap me on the shoulder -- or sometimes whack me across the back of the head to get my attention, like Gibbs on NCIS -- and say, "Hey, what about me? Don't forget to tell them about me!"

I love when that happens.

STEPH: What was the inspiration for the story?

MICHELLE: Don't laugh, but in a roundabout way, it was "MacGuyver."

I was trying to sell a script to the show, in what turned out to be the final season. My script featured MacGuyver working with a community outreach group that had a handicapped awareness day project, and he spent the day going around town with a guy in a wheelchair who happened to be a comedian. The "threat" through all this was that the wheelchair comedian's brother-in-law had criminal connections in his past, and they were threatening the whole family to get this guy to rejoin their organization. Of course, MacGuyver saves the day.

Anyway, I got the "brilliant" idea to turn that script into a Tabor Heights book, but I had to have a set-up, establishing the family in town. I already had established the Mission elsewhere, and I had put Claire in charge -- why not give her a handicapped brother with an extremely smart mouth? But there was the little girl and the husband with criminal connections ... where have they been all this time? So, in a roundabout method, to be able to eventually write Tommy's romance, I had to write Claire and Paul's romance, first.

STEPH: The cover has a construction sign displayed on a fence in front of a building. What's the meaning of the cover?

MICHELLE: Well, it's generally referring to all the new construction and renovations about to take place on the Mission itself.
If you want to get philosophical ... the construction and renovations taking place in the lives of the characters? Nah ... let's not get philosophical. I sometimes do a lousy job filling out the art questionnaire, and Jenifer always does a fantastic job, finding artwork near to what we ask for, or she goes off in a different direction and that alternative works better than what we writers envisioned. She's incredible, and we're so lucky at DBP to have her to make our stories "pretty" and catch reader's attention long enough to read the blurbs and consider buying the books.

STEPH: How long have you been writing?

MICHELLE: *sigh* More than 30 years. At least, that's how long I have been writing with the conscious intent of getting published "someday." High school, definitely. I had this story in my head and it was interferring with studying for semester exams. We were a college prep high school, and those semester exam grades were dang important, so I had to kill this story to let me study. Always before when I tried to write down stories, they died in agony. This one didn't. The rest is history.

STEPH: Do you have an ebook reader? If so, which one?

MICHELLE: Dedicated readers: Nook

Multiple-use gizmos that have e-book programs on them: iPod and iPad, with software for Nook, Kindle, and iBooks.
I also had a very old Palm Tungsten that was my first e-book reader. It still works! I'm holding onto it for sentimental reasons, and also because there are some books on it I haven't loaded onto other readers yet ....

STEPH: What's your writing space like?

MICHELLE: Right now it's a very crowded mess, because it's full of projects to get ready for RT -- I'm making T-shirts and mousepads for other authors to give away, and filling up boxes with freebie stuff to mail ahead of me. And notes all over the place for projects and updating my web site, and my walls are covered with charts and maps and notes to myself of things to do. It's wall-to-wall furniture with shelves full of books, and a computer hutch, and a drafting table where I do most of my work, and a rolling cart with my stereo on it and ... And a NordicTrak in the center of the room that I should be using at least three times a day, but I'm lucky if I get on it once a day. I am not going to lose all that weight for RT that I had hoped to ....

STEPH: Fun question: What do you do for St. Patrick's Day?

MICHELLE: Nothing, except maybe eat corned beef and cabbage. Yeah, I'm booooooooring!

When I worked Downtown Cleveland, we would stop and watch the big, noisy, fun parade that went down Superior Avenue, right under our windows. That was convenient. People would show up first thing in the morning, so there were always people in costumes and carrying all sorts of Irish-y stuff on the bus and the Rapid. It was fun!

It's not that big a day for me. Sorry.
Part of it might be that I'm Italian, not Irish.

What's the song Joanne Worley sang, in that dramatization of "The Gift of the Magi"? Something about mixing Minestrone with Irish baloney ....

Author Spotlight - Michelle Sutton talks about "setting"

When I wrote When Love Collides years ago, I had it set in another state. I ended up pulling it off that series and making it a stand-alone book. Part of that required a change of location, so I decided to switch it to the county where I live. There is a lot of unpredictable weather in Arizona during the summer monsoons in the high desert, so I thought that would fit the mood of the story. Sometimes Raquel gets in a mood and it's because she can't control her symptoms. You can't control monsoons either. You just work around them.

There is the opening scene where Raquel is shivering on the table and feeling like a drowned rat. She's just glad she doesn't know anyone at the clinic. So what does a good writer do? I make sure that the one person she doesn't want to see her looking like a drowned rat is the person she runs into. Then when they meet again the next day and Scott is waiting for her, he's a nervous wreck. I toss in some thunder when he's already jumpy and moody and it works very well for the setting. There are other times when things start to look hopeful and bright. That's when the clouds go away, the sun starts beaming, and a rainbow appears in the sky.

Once I started making the weather as unpredictable as their emotions each day, I think it added to the tension between them and the fear of not knowing what to expect. It fits the story well, which is why I love the cover. In it the hero is holding an umbrella over the heroine in a protective gesture, which is very symbolic of their relationship. So that is how I use the setting to compliment or add to the emotion in the story.

Author Spotlight - Excerpt from "That Syncing Feeling"

Enjoy this excerpt from "That Syncing Feeling" by Michelle Levigne.
Moderator Steph

*****

The airlock signaled all clear, pressure equalized, and something small and dark stepped into the shadows of the airlock. Nureen watched all the sensor readouts, both displayed in front of her and what came through her ship link, straight into her brain. Everything looked good -- at least, nothing had been detected that would endanger her life. That meant nothing, because Rovers knew, better than anyone else, that there were weird and wonderful and terrifying things out there beyond the range of the most modern technology and sensors. Just because the equipment couldn't see or sense something didn't mean it wasn't there.

Okay, I give in, she silently groused. I need some shore leave badly.

In response, the airlock pinged, signaling it was ready to open. She made one more check of the readouts, took a deep breath, and sent through the mental signal to open the airlock.

Two seconds later she nearly went to her knees. Nureen managed to hold back the automatic "awwwww" as she stared down at her visitor.

It was less than a meter tall, with enormous emerald eyes and big tufted ears. Its fur was silver shading toward lavender, and its four arms and four legs were short and chubby and sported four fingers or toes with blunt silver nails.

It was all she could do not to go to her knees and scoop up the creature in her arms to cuddle it.

"Hey, wait a minute." Nureen took two steps back from the goomibah. For good measure, she held her breath, in case the totally mythical, appears-only-in-children's-entertainment-vids-creature gave off mind-altering substances that registered as totally natural. They wouldn't set off red flags in her sensors, even as her brain melted and she lost three-quarters of her intelligence rating.

Oh, I'm so sorry, that buzzing voice said into her brain, without the creature's lips moving. I thought this form would make it easier for you to accept me.

This form? Nureen definitely needed shore leave. Metamorphic creatures were the stuff of legend, just like the goomibah.
We don't have time to discuss history and fable. The Synch is going to catch up with us. Those horrid hive creatures damaged my ship, and I certainly can't leave you out here unprepared. You'll have to trust me.

"Trust you for what?" Nureen dodged sideways, guided by instinct before her conscious mind registered that the goomibah was ... flying, straight at her. Without wings.

She shrieked, biting back a string of curses, when it flattened and wrapped around her neck and shoulders. All right, it was warm and soft and smelled of vanilla and ambrosia apples -- but it shouldn't have been able to do that. And wasn't there a parasitic flying plant on Congress IV that smelled like paradise when it wrapped around its victims' heads, rendering them unconscious before digesting them?

I'm protecting you! that voice insisted. Look outside your ship!

Nureen listened to her gut instinct more than the warm, soft sheet enfolding her, and braced herself for the worst as she looked.

It was worse than the worst. Mostly because she usually only imagined one thing at a time as "the worst." The "worst" she could imagine right now was to see the Talroqi ship bearing down on her.

She was wrong.

The vortex had expanded and was reaching out greedy fingers for her.

It had already grabbed hold of the Talroqi ship and was tearing it apart.

She figured if the vortex had the Talroqi for dinner, she was dessert.

********

REVIEWS FOR: THAT SYNCING FEELING:

Many thanks to Candy at Single Titles for a great review of my Borealis novella, "That Syncing Feeling."



Star Rating: 4.5 Stars


Rover Pilot Nureen Keala’s joy ride comes to an end when she receives an SOS from an alien running away from a Talroqi queen ship. Nureen rescues the telepathic shapeshifting creature named Tessur. The anomaly that captured Tessur suddenly grabs Nureen’s ship and tosses her into an unknown dimension ruled by a dictatorship called the Trans Planetary Protectorate (TTP). The TTP is a corrupt government out to rule their entire universe. Nureen’s appearance lets them know that there are new and unexplored areas of space left to conquer. To keep the TTP from her homeland, Nureen depends on Tessur and a dead hero from her own dimension. Can a simple pilot stop an invasion?

Five years earlier, Tedrin Creed fell into the same anomaly that captured Nureen. Creed hopes Nureen can help him get home. First he must convince her that he is really Tedrin Creed. According to Nureen, Tedrin Creed died fifty years ago during a space battle. Creed must convince Nureen that the anomaly captured him and that he did not die. Creed is a hero to Nureen. He was her grandfather’s best friend. Will Creed convince Nureen of the truth before the TTP can invade their universe?

Michelle Levigne takes a young pilot and tosses her into a situation that will change her life forever. Nureen had a crush on Tedrin Creed and dreamed of fighting aliens at his side. The anomaly presents Nureen with her fondest wish, but she does not trust Creed. He is too young to be the hero of the Talroqi war. The Trans Planetary Protectorate rules most of the known universe and is a brutal dictatorship. Ms. Levigne presents a story with lots of action and a forbidden love that should not be possible. Will Nureen help Creed return home and prevent the TTP from learning how to navigate the anomaly?



Major thanks to Long and Short of it and Night Owl review sites for their very kind words about my SF books.



First off:
Borealis: THAT SYNCING FEELING
New from Desert Breeze Publishing




Here are some snippets from the review:
Rating: 4.5 Books

Reviewed by Foxglove


That Syncing Feeling is a sweet and delightful love story, filled with adventure and humor, and unusual creatures. 

Michelle Levigne has added to the Borealis family with a romantic story of finding love where you least expect it, and with the most unlikely couple. I found this to be a fun filled and action packed adventure, with tongue in cheek humor, sweet first love and lots of danger along the way. 

Nureen Keala is smart, courageous and a bit of a dreamer. She is following in her grandfather’s footsteps, and trying not to disappoint those in command of the Fleet. ... I loved Nureen, with her daring attitude and her sassy remarks. I liked that she didn’t instantly believe Creed was the real deal, but made him prove his identity. ... I like Creed’s determination and his tenacity, and the way he finally was able to come to terms with his feelings for his best friend’s granddaughter.

The secondary characters in this are few but interesting. Tessur is a morphing shape changer, able to become anything that is even remotely organic, and this talent saves the day more than once in this adventure. My favorite comic relief was the addition of three TPP scientists assigned to keep watch over Tedrin Creed, Drs. Moek, Kerli and Lairy. They were clueless as to Creed’s intentions, and his ability to trick them was priceless.

There is a bit of adventure and danger as the trio of Nureen, Tedrin and Tessur make their escape from Borealis, and I was on the edge of my seat through most of the story. Do they make it back to their dimension and find a life together? You’ll just have to read That Syncing Feeling to find out.

Author Spotlight - Michelle Levigne talks about the inspiration behind "That Syncing Feeling"

Like I said on Monday, there were certain elements I wanted to play with. I wanted to have fun and be silly. I wanted a "merry chaos" story, where the main character kept muttering, "Why ME?" as one weird, inexplicable thing after another happened, and no matter how hard she tried, it just all kept going downhill.

I had this shapeshifting character named Tessur that I had created for a series of Star Trek fan fiction stories for the club I used to belong to. Essentially, my character, Lt. Mikara (animal telepath, cultural anthropologist) meets up with Cyrano Jones on her way to join her ship. Yes, that Cyrano Jones, of "Trouble with Tribbles" fame. Poor Cyrano, trying to get rid of this little three-legged stool that could walk ... and Mikara meets Tessur. They torment her captain with things that he's sure he shouldn't see, and Tessur gets Mikara out of trouble when she's temporarily assigned to the Enterprise (she's positive it's a death sentence) and "loses" her landing party team to a planet-wide mental "reprogramming" field.

In "Syncing," Tessur takes on various faces/bodies to get Nureen and Creed out of tight spots, and acts as a translator for her when she lands in an alien dimension. And he drives her crazy the first time she sees him "melt" into new shapes that shouldn't exist.

I torture my characters. It's fun!

Author Spotlight - Michelle Levigne talks about her favorite Science Fiction Show

Right now, it's Warehouse 13.

Essentially: Secret Service agents travel the world, looking for weird, magical, sometimes malevolent gizmos that are wreaking havoc in people's lives. Like Edgar Allen Poe's pen, that makes the things it writes happen. Or Marilyn Monroe's hairbrush, that turns a woman's hair platinum and makes her act like ... well, a dizzy blonde bimbo! Or stones from the Tower of Babel, that scrambles languages. On and on. The agents neutralize the gizmos and take them to Warehouse 13, where they're controlled and kept from hurting people.

All the weird gizmos are great. The challenge of short-circuiting the dangerous gizmo that is either malfunctioning or has fallen into the wrong hands. Or identifying what crazy things is suddenly creating havoc.

But more important is the cast of characters. They're all unique, they're all individuals, and they care about each other, even as they're sniping at each other and teasing and griping and being totally frustrated with each other. I love the ensemble, the family feel -- don't we often want to just strangulate our family, despite how much we love them? Pete and Mica are so different, but such a perfect team. Pete is the big, goofy little brother who enjoys all the weirdness. Mica is the smart, anal-retentive, analytical big sister trying to get Pete to be serious for more than two seconds in a row. Then there's Claudia, the super-geek rocker, so smart she scares herself. Like she said one time to Artie, "I'm not even my own age." There's Gina, who certainly deserves more screen time, who cares, who looks after them. Artie, the overburdened, frustrated, "can we get serious now?" father of this brood. And scary Mrs. Fredric! Love her. I sure hope that watch that McPherson left for Artie has what it takes to fix things. The last we saw of Mrs. Fredric, she was a pile of dust and bones on Gina's living room floor!

Warehouse 13 has humor and snarky fun. It's clean. It saves the world at least twice every season. And there just aren't enough episodes.

Author Spotight - Michelle Levigne talks about her passion for writing Science Fiction Romance

I just like the flexibility, the extra possibilities available in the whole SF genre. I guess I write romance because relationships are important in the stories. One of my friends pointed out that my stories were very "domestic," meaning the relationships were a large partof the story.

There are more "toys" to play with, writing SF. More things to do, more places to go. But the important thing is to make sure that the "toys" and the otherworldly settings and situations are integral to the plot -- if you took them out of the story, the story would fall apart, it couldn't be written without them. If you can take away the ray guns and the spaceships and have the same story without a hitch, then maybe it really isn't an SF story, you know? I'm working on a series of short stories where I take faerie tales and turn them into SF romances. This is possible, maybe even necessary, because of the "unearthly" elements in faerie tales -- the magic, the creatures, the strange landscapes, the curses, the quests, the characters -- it translates well into SF settings and characters. The genie can turn into a sentient computer. Goblins turn into aliens. The Beast turns into a hero infected with a mutating disease. Beauty is the intrepid doctor who works to cure him. On and on.

A classic example is a story idea I had, where a rich, powerful, ruthless man, kidnaps a young woman who turns out to be his daughter. He couldn't get away with it for long in our modern world. However, put the story in a star-spanning civilization, where every planet has its own laws, and communication and tracking people isn't easy between worlds, suddenly it's very possible. And the daughter he kidnaps was originally bred for him for a specific purpose, for possible genetic gifts that will make him even more powerful. If he can get her to think like him.

So the possibilities are broader and more convoluted in SF, and you can have all sorts of tools and toys and settings and sidekicks that you can't find in our modern world that has become so very small and familiar.

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Michelle Levigne

STEPH: I don't know much about "That Syncing Feeling." What's it about?

MICHELLE: It's a tie-in to my full-length novel SF romance, "Blue Fire." Nureen, the heroine of "Syncing" is childhood military brat friend with Rhianni, the heroine of "Blue," and even shows up several times.

Nureen is a hot-shot pilot, out having a snit-fit in a scout craft, because she's stuck patrolling dead space instead of being in on the action, supporting Rhianni. She gets a distress call, and ends up falling through a vortex into another dimension -- the Borealis universe -- with a shapeshifting creature named Tessur. On the Borealis, she runs into Tedrin Creed. He's been there 5 years, after falling through a similar space anomaly. Problem: Nureed knows who Creed is, her grandfather's best friend, a war hero, who is presumed dead after a massive space battle 50 years ago. Naturally, she doesn't believe he is who he says. Creed has bigger problems: they only have so much time to get to the space anomaly and get home before it closes. Maybe permanently.

STEPH: How did you become involved in writing for the Borealis Science Fiction Series?

MICHELLE: Gail asked for more victims -- err -- intrepid writers willing to try to play in her playground. I got my start writing fan fiction, playing in someone else's playground, and it sounded like it might be fun!

STEPH: What inspired your story?

MICHELLE: I wanted to give Nureen an adventure. I had to figure out how to get from the "Blue Fire" universe to the Borealis universe. Answer: Space anomaly. Then I thought about all the trouble you can get in if it's not only distance, but time that's messed with. Then I had this shapeshifting critter I created for a bunch of Star Trek stories years ago, that I wanted to take out of retirement. And I wanted to have some fun.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

MICHELLE: Maybe 1 week for the first draft, then maybe 2 days each for each revision. When you're having fun, the stories just flow.



STEPH: How did you come up with the title "That Syncing Feeling?"

MICHELLE: Tessur, the shapeshifter, refers to the space anomaly/vortex as the Sync -- as in "synchronizing" as well as "sinking." And I wanted to get a little silly -- play on words, "Sinking Feeling."

STEPH: Have you read other Borealis stories?

MICHELLE: Yes! Fun. I read them for research before I got started. Big shoes to fill!

STEPH: Did you grow up with a passion for Science Fiction?

MICHELLE: I think so -- I can remember playing Star Trek on the elementary playground. The climbing tower was our spaceship. We slid down the poles for our "transporter." I always got to play Spock because I was the only one who could do the Vulcan salute.

There's always been SF around. I loved it when they started publishing the Star Trek novels. Then the original Star Wars came out when I was in high schoo. I can remember going to the SAME theater to see Star Wars for my 16th and 17th birthdays.

STEPH: What's your writing space like?

MICHELLE: Right now it's a mess. Lots of bookshelves at one end of the room. computer desk and worktable at the other end of the room. Papers everywhere, notebooks on the floor, where I'm organizing/sorting/ridding notes for upcoming books. Don't even look in my closet, where it's always a jumble of promo materials and packing boxes and projects I haven't finished yet. But it's all MY mess, and it's a comfortable place with a big chair that's good for sitting and typing for a looooong time. I have my music to shut out the rest of the world, a window that looks out on the back yard with a creek and trees and bluejays and deer walking through.

STEPH: How long have you been writing?

MICHELLE: Feels like forever! I can remember scribbling stories in junior high, daydreaming and rewriting TV shows that didn't satisfy me, or continuing the storyline of movies and books that really caught my attention. I started seriously writing books, actually FINISHING them, in 10th grade. So yeah ... forever!