A new Blog Hop!

 
Hi, all!  

These Blog Hops have become pretty popular. Today's venture features a new Twilight Times Books author, Dora Machado. We welcome Dora to the TTB stable of authors. ;o)

 

Dora Machado is the award winning author of the epic fantasy Stonewiser series. She holds a master's degree in business administration and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in history from Georgetown University. She was born in Michigan and grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she developed a bilingual fascination for writing, a preference for history, and a taste for Merengue. After a lifetime of straddling such compelling but different worlds, fantasy is a natural fit to her stories. She enjoys long and winding walks, traveling, and connecting with the amazingly clever readers who share in her mind's adventures. She lives in Florida with her indulging husband and three very opinionated cats.

To learn more about Dora Machado and her award winning novels, you can email her at Dora@doramachado.com, find her on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.

Here is the blog hop list of links:



Please check them out at your leisure! 

The Stonewiser Series

What would happen to our world if our history was erased? What would our world be like without books or without the internet? Without the history and assurances that those sources provide? What would happen to our sense of self, to our culture, to our institutions, if we didn't have any reliable way to trace our past?

Awards and Recognition

• Winner of the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Debut Novel
• Finalist for the 2009 ForeWord Book of the Year Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy
• Winner of the 2010 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Gold Medal for SF/F
• Finalist for the 2010 ForeWord Book of the Year Award for SF/F

Dora Machado is the author of the award-winning Stonewiser series, which tells the story of Sariah, a powerful stonewiser who can imprint and retrieve tales stored in rock, the only thing that can withstand the rot destroying her world. But even the stones aren't telling her the whole truth anymore...

"Stonewiser is a finely crafted fantasy with unique concepts, and a vivid living world that will draw readers in and not let go." – Midwest Book Review

"Machado's descriptions are rich in detail – you'll feel the eels nipping at your toes – and her characterization is strong. Sariah is well developed and faces brutal conflicts in this story of adventure, politics and magic." – Romantic Times

"Once in a while, a new fantasy/adventure comes out that doesn't travel well-worn paths in the genre but instead gives us a vivid new world, an exciting set of original characters, and page after page of non-stop intrigue, action, twists, revelation, and fun. STONEWISER is the best to appear in years." – A BN.com reviewer.

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Now, for my part of this venture, I’ve been asked to answer the following questions. I know you've seen these before, but in case you missed them, here they are again!

1: What is the working title of your book?

Virtuoso: a Gus LeGarde Mystery

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

When my daughter Melanie was a student at the Eastman School of Music, the setting called to me. It just needed to have a mystery happening in those hallowed halls! Also, we took my grandson Julian to the Rochester Museum of Art many times, and I used to stand in front of one particular Monet painting for long periods of time. I decided it deserved a place in one of my mysteries, too!

3: What genre does your book fall under?

Mystery and Suspense

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Male lead – Yannick Bisson (he plays William Murdoch in Murdoch Mysteries) as Gus LeGarde

Female lead –  Jessica Brown Findlay (she plays Sibyl in Downton Abbey!)  as Camille Coté:

5.0 Synopsis of your book?

Art and music collide in this special edition based on Dale Lazar's ancestor, Emma Cunningham. When a handsome but decadent Greek tenor from the Eastman School of Music stalks Gus’s stepdaughter, Shelby, Gus rallies to protect her innocence. He asks for help from his old friend, Byron who works at the college. Gus and Byron become involved in an investigation dealing with a Monet canvas found in a plane wreck. Is the painting real, or fake? And why are people dying to protect the secrets? Through it all, Gus discovers a shocking tie to the past through the artwork of his great, great aunt, Emma Mabel Clark. 

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I will be submitting it to my publisher, Lida Quillen at Twilight Times Books, soon.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About two months.

8: What other work of fiction would you compare this story to within your genre?

All of the Gus LeGarde mysteries.

9: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Shelby is put in serious danger in this episode – she’s now a fully blossomed teenager who falls madly for a young Greek tenor at the Eastman School of Music. It drives Gus and Camille mad!

 Thanks for stopping by and don't hesitate to drop me a line at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com. ;o)