The first Wine & Words was a fun evening. So many amazing stories and snippets and an all around great night out! Don’t miss the next Wine & Words on June 29th. You are invited! …Less than a week away!
Monthly Archives: June 2017
Book Review: The Kiss of the Blue Howler by Victoria Bastedo
FVP Featured Author’s review on New Release by Victoria Bastedo, The Kiss of the Blue Howler…
The Kiss of the Blue Howler by Victoria Bastedo
A Fantasy novel published by Amazon Digital Services (06/03/2017)
Summary:
“But life in a cavern was all-inclusive.” (Page 297)
Life Underneath is full of wonder. For the son of the elader of Ishtish, Xerai, life is simple. He is the Instinctive and must protect the people of Ishtish with his powers of instinct. One evening, he finds Zephyr, a mute ThoEn who can only speak through pictures she paints around her. She is lonely and afraid and doesn’t trust Xera, but when she doesn’t come with him to town before nightfall, the Blue Howlers will get her. The Blue Howlers have never been so aggressive and Xerai, along with Zephyr, will have to figure out what’s wrong before it’s too late.
Keywords:
Instincts, War, Abilities, Kingdom, Underwater, Underneath, Companionship, Friendship, Loyalty, Leader, Sacrifice, Loss, Love, Water, Visual, Creatures
My Review:
Bastedo has…
View original post 139 more words
Upcoming Local Event: Maple Valley Days! This Weekend
See you this weekend!
You can find FVP and some great books by local authors at Maple Valley Days near the info booth! This is our fourth year at Maple Valley Days and we have some new books since last year.
http://www.maplevalleydays.com/
Check out our 2016 Maple Valley Days
Check out our 2015 Maple Valley Days
Check out our 2014 Maple Valley Days
Donuts is live! Purchase Links and Happy National Donut Day
Congrats on your new release, Rachel Barnard! And Happy Donut Day everyone!
HAPPY NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!!
Win a copy of Vanessa’s Book of Awesome Things from Goodreads HERE
Purchase Seize the Donut from Amazon HERE
Friendships should never be taken for granted.
The ups and downs of high school forged an unbreakable bond between Vanessa and Nichole. Summer’s over and Vanessa is preparing for life at the local liberal arts college. Without her best friend by her side, Vanessa starts to chart her own path. Navigating new friendships and relationships proves easier said than done.
Nichole got kicked out of her mother’s house, lives with strangers in a sketchy neighborhood and commutes across town for her job in retail. She doesn’t always make the right choices and she has only herself to blame when things go wrong.
Something’s gotta give. Who will make the first move – or will fate intervene to remind each of them of the importance of their bond.
View original post 213 more words
Writing Tip: Take It Home – Victoria Bastedo

Victoria Bastedo
Another great writing tip shared by FVP Featured Author, Victoria Bastedo:
All characters need a home. It’s like meeting a new friend at work or at church. You may laugh in the hallways or at break time, but after a while the friendship doesn’t progress until you take that person home. It’s that way in a lot of shows on television too, as well as in love stories; meeting the family for the first time means something.
So give your characters a home, even if your story is set (as my current one is) on a spaceship. On the Enterprise in Star Trek we saw Spock at home in his quarters, playing a lute. In Middle Earth our hobbits returned to their hole in Bag End.
If you see a thriller where the spy only lives his life in hotel rooms and Moneypenny is his deepest relationship, there may be some excitement and fancy gadgetry, but there’s not a lot of personal connection.
Even if the home is oppressive at the beginning of the story and the goal is to get away from it, bring your characters to a home worth having by the end. Building that house makes a richer story.