Craving the Supernatural

I am tickled pink to have my dear friend, Camy Tang (AKA: Loud Asian Chick) on scene with us today to celebrate the release of her newest book, Single Sashimi. I have to say, this is probably my absolute favorite of her books--there is just something about Lex in this book that rocks!!

GUESS WHAT???

TODAY IS CAMY'S BIRTHDAY!!! Make sure you zip on over to her site and leave her a birthday blessing. http://www.camytang.com/ Yep, her birthday is why I signed up for her blog tour on this day. I love that I get to honor her hard work and HER in one sha-bang! LOL HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love ya, girl!

Camy and I have just returned from the ACFW conference in Minneapolis, where--I am pouting--we didn't get a chance to hang out like we did last year (yeah, that photo's from last year...sigh). Both of us were so busy. I missed you, Camy!!! :-D

OH!!! And Camy won FIRST PLACE in the DEBUT AUTHOR CATEGORY of the 2008 Book of the Year contest. Congratulations, girlie!!!

Camy created this Survey Meme, and I'll post my responses tomorrow or this weekend. But for now, the spotlight is on my wonderful friend. So, without further ado....

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Survey meme

1. What time did you get up this morning?
10:00 AM (I have no children, just a dog who likes to sleep)

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
The sad thing is that I can't remember. Return of the King, maybe?

4. What is your favorite TV show?
24

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
homemade yogurt with fruit

6. What is your middle name?
Mie (it's Japanese)

7. What food do you dislike?
I love practically all food! But I do dislike uni sushi--uni is raw sea urchin, and it's yellow and slimey and pungent tasting. My father, on the other hand, loves it. And the irony is that I turned in the title Only Uni for my second book because I was desperate for title ideas and figured the Marketing Department would never use it ... and then they picked it! Doh! Note to self: don't suggest a title you don't really like!

8. What is your favorite CD at moment?
The Scarlet Pimpernel musical (concept album)

9. What kind of car do you drive?
Toyota Camry

10. Favorite sandwich?
hot pastrami

11.What characteristic do you despise?
manipulation (and lying goes hand-in-hand w/that) (I stole this from Ronie)

12. Favorite item of clothing?
socks (I tend to get cold really easily, even when Captain Caffeine is hot). My second favorite is scarves, for the same reason.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Italy! For the food!

14. Favorite brand of clothing?
Don't really have one.

15.Where would you retire to?
Here in Northern California--the weather is great!

16.What was your most recent memorable birthday?
Captain Caffeine proposed to me at my birthday dinner.

17. Favorite sport to watch?
volleyball

18. Furthest place you are sending this?
the world wide web

19. Person you expect to send it back first?
dunno

20. When is your birthday?
TODAY!!!! September 25

21. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Definitely a night person!

22. What is your shoe size?
Depends. 7.5 or 8 narrow

23. Pets?
My wonderful dog Snickers

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
I've got a cool website contest going on right now! I’m giving away TEN BOXES OF CHRISTIAN BOOKS and 30 COPIES OF MY NOVEL, SINGLE SASHIMI! Go to my website contest page for rules and how to enter: http://www.camytang.com/contest.html

25. What did you want to be when you were little?
a physicist. No, really. Barring that, I wanted to be a writer. LOL

26. How are you today?
Great! It’s my birthday!

27. What is your favorite candy?
See's toffee bites

28. What is your favorite flower?
roses

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
A retreat in October put on by my literary agency in Sonoma!

30. What is your favorite pastime?
knitting

31. What are you listening to right now?
the dog whining

32. What was the last thing you ate?
strawberry yogurt

33. Do you wish on stars?
No.

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
PINK! PINK PINK PINK PINK PINK!!!

35. How is the weather right now?
sunny and clear (when I was writing this)

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today
Robin Caroll (although it was actually her answering machine)

37. Favorite soft drink?
I try not to drink sodas because the citric acid eats at my teeth enamel. But I love Diet Coke.

38. Favorite restaurant?
Alexander's, a steak and prime rib restaurant

39. Real hair color?
Dark brown

40. What was your favorite toy as a child?
all 40 of my stuffed animals

41. Summer or winter?
Winter

42. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs

43. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Vanilla most of the time

44. Coffee or tea?
Tea with milk and honey

45. Do you want your friends to email you back?
All the time

46. When was the last time you cried?
This past weekend, hearing a woman in the NASCAR ministry talk about the women she ministers to

47. What is under your bed?
lots of dust

48. What did you do last night?
talked with Captain Caffeine, cleaned out my overflowing email Inbox

49. What are you afraid of?
Falling/heights

50. Salty or sweet?
Salty! Esp when paired with potatoes in any way, shape, or form

51. How many keys on your key ring?
five

52. How many years at your current job?
3 years writing full time. Before that, 11 years as a biologist researcher

53. Favorite day of the week?
Don't have one

54. How many towns have you lived in?
seven

55. Do you make friends easily?
I think so

56. How many people will you send this to?
Everyone on Ronie’s blog and a few from my blog

57. How many will respond?
Dunno

Thanks for having me here, Ronie!

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website at http://www.camytang.com/ for a huge website contest going on right now, giving away ten boxes of books and 30 copies of her latest release, SINGLE SASHIMI.

What is the name of your novella, and where in the collection does it occur?

Tamela: My novella is FIRES OF LOVE, and takes place first.


I know that working on a collection that weaves together takes a lot of work. How did your team schedule the work?

Lena: Working with this team was a joy. We set out our various storylines. Tamela’s and mine were more closely connected, so we had to work more closely together. That wasn’t a problem for me, because I really like Tamela, and we both wanted the best story possible. So we ironed out any inconsistencies rather well.


When you aren’t writing or spending time with your family, what is your favorite activity?

Susan: I love to travel and have recently been able to do a fair amount of that on business. My three sisters and I also take a trip together, known as Sister Week, once a year. Last June we borrowed a beach house in Avalon, New Jersey for our getaway. My next excursion will be a week in Alaska to do research for some upcoming books.


What part of the country do you live it? And why do you like that part of the country?

Darlene: I’m the only one of the four of us fortunate enough to live in fabulous Colorado. Like Susan, I’m originally from Maine. After I left home, I felt restless and kept moving west (with stops in New Jersey, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma) until I arrived in Colorado. When I arrived here, I knew I had come home. The mountains do the same thing for my spirit that the ocean used to. Because my story is set at Denver’s Brown Palace, Mom and I treated ourselves to a weekend stay during last year’s Christmas season. As I said, how I “suffer” for my art! A beautiful, fabulous place.

Bios:

A native Virginian, Tamela Hancock Murray has been writing all her life. She interned on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Department of State before graduating with honors in Journalism from Lynchburg College in Virginia.
An award-winning, bestselling author, Tamela has over 20 fiction and nonfiction books to her credit. Upcoming releases include LOVE FINDS YOU IN MAIDEN, NORTH CAROLINA, and THE MASTER'S MATCH. She has discussed her work on radio and television. Her professional affiliations include Trois Riviere Fiction Writers and American Christian Fiction Writers. Tamela enjoys being an agent with Hartline Literary Agency, and she takes turns with her fellow agents writing a column for Christian Fiction Online Magazine http://www.christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/.
When she's not writing, Tamela spends wonderful times with her husband and their two daughters, as well as extended family and friends.

Lena Nelson Dooley holds a BA in Speech and Drama, and she completed many graduate hours as well. She has served as a drama director for several churches. In addition, she has been the administrative assistant to two different pastors.
Snowbound Colorado Christmas is her 18th book release. Four more books will release in 2009. She is often a speaker at women’s events, writers’ meetings, and conferences. She’s an award-winning, bestselling author. At present she serves as vice-president of DFW Ready Writers, the local chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers. She has a website, http://www.lenanelsondooley.com/ . In the monthly newsletter, she gives away copies of her books and features reviews of her recent reads as well as what’s new that month in Christian publishing. Her blog, http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/ , is popular with readers, because she promotes authors and their most recent works.

Susan Page Davis is the author of ten historical novels, six romantic suspense, and two young adult books. She has co-authored a cozy mystery series with her daughter, Megan Elaine Davis. Susan’s historicals have won awards in the Book of the Year and Inspirational Readers’ Choice Contests. She’s a homeschooling mother of six and grandmother of five. She and her husband Jim live in Maine, where Jim is a news editor.

Award-winning author and speaker Darlene Franklin resides in the Colorado foothills with her mother and her Lynx Point Siamese cat Talia. She is the mother of two children. Her daughter has gone ahead of her to glory; her son lives in Oklahoma with his family. She loves music, reading, and writing. She is the author of five novels, and has contributed more than 150 articles to numerous magazines, anthologies, and devotionals. She has also written curriculum for children’s Sunday school.

Blog Tour Schedule:

August 24 – Lena nelson Dooley
http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/

September 1 – Janice Olson
http://www.janiceolson.com/

September 5 - Brittanie A. Terrell
http://www.abookloverforever.blogspot.com/

September 10 – Ronie Kendig
http://supernaturalcraving.blogspot.com/

September 15 – Tiffany (Amber Miller) Stockton
http://www.ambermiller.com/

September 16 – Tricia Goyer
http://triciagoyer.blogspot.com/

September 23 – Lisa Buffaloe
www.ShoutLife.com/LisaBuffaloe

September 23 - Deborah Khuanghlawn
http://books-movies-chinesefood.blogspot.com/

September 30 – Linda Crowhttp://www.2nd-cup-of-coffee.blogspot.com/

It is with great pleasure that I post a glowing review of Miss Fortune, the debut novel by my fabulous friend and crit partner (and Double Crit business partner), Sara Mills. She has a very distinct voice that lends itself so naturally and fluidly to mystery writing that you can't help but fall in love with the characters (especially Jack, but don't tell Sara I said that!). If you love Humphrey Bogart, the Maltese Falcon, Casa Blanca...you're going to absolutely love Sara's 1940s-era mystery!! And I hear she's cooking up a *killer* contest, so be sure to visit her website: www.saramillsbooks.com

Check out the "official" blurb:

They call her the P.I. Princess

It's 1947 and Allie Fortune is the only female (and perhaps the best) private investigator in New York City.

But she's kept awake at night by a mystery of her own-- her fiance disappeared in the war and Allie is haunted my by the unknown than by finding out the worst.

Her work is a welcome distraction, and she's just been hired by a client who isn't telling the whole truth. Mary Gordon's claims of innocence don't fit with her ransacked apartment, being shot at, and the two Soviet agents hot on her trail.

Meanwhile the FBI is working the case because a legendary and mysterious treasure has gone missing...again. The only catch for Allis is her new 'partner' Jack, an attractive single agent who knows how to make her smile.

As Allie and Jack chase after the gold, they must contend with the Soviets who also want the priceless treasure back-- after all, they stole it fair and square.

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Sara is getting awesome reviews on this book. Trust me, y'all--it's not a mystery you will forgive yourself for missing!! HURRY!! RUN! DON'T WALK!!!!!!!!!