Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Susana Ellis on BEAUX, BALLROOMS AND BATTLES

This week, we're pleased to welcome author SUSANA ELLIS with her latest release, BEAUX, BALLROOMS AND BATTLES: A CELEBRATION OF WATERLOO, a collection of co-authored works about the Napoleonic Era. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Beaux, Ballrooms and Battles. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

For Readers who enjoy a bit of history with their Romance… 

A historic confrontation 

Beaux, Ballrooms, and Battles is a celebration of the bicentenary of the showdown between Wellington’s “Infamous Army” and Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Wellington’s Allied Army consisted of a hastily organized mélange of inexperienced men from several countries who didn’t even speak the same language. 

A backdrop of war 

While life in Regency England continued much as it had been, the war with Napoleon was a constant source of preoccupation as young men who eagerly set off to become heroes in battle sometimes returned with life-changing injuries or worse, didn’t return at all. 

Nine stories of love tested by the trials of war 

A collection of sweet Regency stories of courage, hope, and the miracle of love surviving in uncertain times, brought to you by nine distinguished historical romance authors.

**Q&A with Susana Ellis**

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I liked school, so in elementary school I thought being a teacher might be fun. In high school, I found a book about freelance writing and read it several times and thought it would be wonderful to get paid for writing stories. When it came right down to it, though, I had to be able to pay the bills, so I became a teacher after all and put my writing dreams on hold for awhile. So when I left teaching and needed something to do for the rest of my life, writing seemed the way to go.

What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?

As a Spanish/French teacher, I spent four summers studying in Spain, one summer in France and one in Mexico. I lived with one family in Santiago de Compostela for three summers in a row, and have hired the artistic daughter of the family to do the artwork for the cover of my story, Lost and Found Lady, when it is released separately. Living in another country is an experience that inevitably changes your world perspective. I wish everyone could have such an opportunity.

Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.

Catalina, my heroine, briefly considers becoming a nun to escape the tedious fate of most Spanish women she knew—marriage to a domineering man and a life of drudgery. She compares herself to the 17^th century nun, Sor Juana de la Cruz of Mexico, who eschewed marriage to become a nun and have the freedom to study and write. Considered one of the most intelligent people in the country, she wrote in favor of women’s rights to education at a time when such views were considered sacrilege.

Is there a writer you idolize? If so, who?

I’m a huge fan of Diana Gabaldon and her Outlander series, to the point where I bid $600 in an auction to have lunch with her in Phoenix in 2013. I envy her ability to create characters that inspire the sort of devotion her Jamie and Claire have done. I feared that the television series would never be able to measure up to the books, but from what I can tell from the first half of the season, Ron Moore has outdone himself. And, in case you didn’t know, the second half of the season—in the U.S. at least—starts in two days!

Every writer dreams of getting “the call.” What were you doing when yours came? Who got to hear the good news first?

When I first started, I envisioned a long hard road to publication, so I didn’t submit anything the first year. Then some of my writer friends told me that submitting and getting rejections was an important part of the process, so I submitted my Regency short story, Treasuring Theresa, to the Cotillion line at Ellora’s Cave. Expecting months of wait time, I was surprised to get an offer for it in four days! The first thing I did was email my Spanish teacher friend Ellen, who called me during her lunchtime at school. I also emailed my friend Selene Grace Silver, who was the one who challenged me to write a short story in the first place. I was over the moon!

About the Author

Susana has always had stories in her head waiting to come out, especially when she learned to read and her imagination began to soar. Voracious reading led to a passion for writing, and her fascination with romance and people of the past landed her firmly in the field of historical romance.

A teacher in her former life, Susana lives in Toledo, Ohio in the summer and central Florida in the winter. She is a member of the Central Florida Romance Writers and the Beau Monde chapters of RWA and Maumee Valley Romance Inc.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

Susana’s Parlour • Susana’s Morning Room

Excerpt Thursday: BEAUX, BALLROOMS AND BATTLES by Susana Ellis

This week, we're pleased to welcome author SUSANA ELLIS with her latest release, BEAUX, BALLROOMS AND BATTLES: A CELEBRATION OF WATERLOO, a collection of co-authored works about the Napoleonic Era. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Beaux, Ballrooms and Battles. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

For Readers who enjoy a bit of history with their Romance… 

A historic confrontation 

Beaux, Ballrooms, and Battles is a celebration of the bicentenary of the showdown between Wellington’s “Infamous Army” and Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Wellington’s Allied Army consisted of a hastily organized mélange of inexperienced men from several countries who didn’t even speak the same language. 

A backdrop of war 

While life in Regency England continued much as it had been, the war with Napoleon was a constant source of preoccupation as young men who eagerly set off to become heroes in battle sometimes returned with life-changing injuries or worse, didn’t return at all. 

Nine stories of love tested by the trials of war 

A collection of sweet Regency stories of courage, hope, and the miracle of love surviving in uncertain times, brought to you by nine distinguished historical romance authors.

** An Excerpt from Beaux, Ballrooms, and Battles: A Celebration of Waterloo**

September 14, 1793

A beach near Dieppe, France

“I don’t like the look of those clouds, monsieur,” Tobias McIntosh said in fluent French to the gray-bearded old man in a sailor hat waiting impatiently near the rowboat that was beginning to bob more sharply with each swell of the waves. “Are you sure your vessel can make it safely all the way to Newhaven in these choppy seas?”

The old man waved a hand over the horizon. “La tempête, it is not a threat, if we leave immédiatement. Plus tard…” He shrugged. “Je ne sais pas.”

“Please, mon amour,” pleaded the small woman wrapped in a hooded gray cloak standing at his side. “Allow me to stay with you. I don’t want to go to England. I promise I will be prudent.”

A strong gust of wind caught her hood and forced it down, revealing her mop of shiny dark locks. Tobias felt like seizing her hand and pulling her away from the ominous waves to a place of safety where she and their unborn child could stay until the senseless Terreur was over.

“Justine, ma chère, we have discussed this endlessly. There is no place in France safe enough for you if your identity as the daughter of the Comte d’Audet is discovered.” He shivered. “I could not bear it if you were to suffer the same fate at the hands of the revolutionaries as your parents did when I failed to save them.”

She threw her arms around him, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. “Non, mon amour, it was not your fault. You could not have saved them. It was miraculeux that you saved me. I should have died with them.”

She looked up to catch his gaze, her face ashen. “Instead, we met and have had three merveilleux months together. If it is my time to die, I wish to die at your side.”

Tobias felt like his heart was going to break. His very soul demanded that the two of them remain together and yet… there was a price on both their heads, and the family of the Vicomte Lefebre was waiting for him in Amiens, the revolutionaries expected to reach them before midday. It was a dangerous work he was involved in—rescuing imperiled French nobility from bloodthirsty, vengeful mobs—but he had pledged himself to the cause and honor demanded that he carry on. And besides, there was now someone else to consider.

“The child,” he said with more firmness than he felt. “We have our child to consider, now, Justine ma chère. The next Earl of Dumfries. He must live to grow up and make his way in the world.”

Not to mention the fact that Tobias was human enough to wish to leave a child to mark his legacy in the world—his and Justine’s. He felt a heaviness in his heart that he might not live long enough to know this child he and Justine had created together. He could not allow his personal wishes to undermine his conviction. Justine and the child must survive.

Justine’s blue eyes filled with tears. “But I cannot! I will die without you, mon cher mari. You cannot ask it of me!”

“Justine,” he said, pushing away from her to clasp her shoulders and look her directly in the eye. “You are a brave woman, the strongest I have ever known. You have survived many hardships and you can survive this. Take this letter to my brother in London, and he will see to your safety until the time comes that I can join you. My comrades in Newhaven will see that you are properly escorted.”

He handed over a letter and a bag of coins. “This should be enough to get you to London.”

After she had reluctantly accepted and pocketed the items beneath her cloak, he squeezed her hands.

“Be sure to eat well, ma chère. You are so thin and my son must be born healthy.”

She gave him a feigned smile. “Our daughter is the one responsible for my sickness in the mornings… I do not believe she wishes me to even look at food.”

She looked apprehensively at the increasingly angry waves as they tossed the small boat moored rather loosely to a rock on the shore and her hands impulsively went to her stomach.

“Make haste, monsieur,” the old sailor called as he peered anxiously at the darkening clouds. “We must depart now if we are to escape the storm. Bid your chère-amie adieu maintenant or wait for another day. I must return to the bateau.”

“Tobias,” she said, her voice shaking.

He wondered if he would ever again hear her say his name with that adorable French inflection that had drawn him from their first meeting.

“Go, Justine. Go to my family and keep our child safe. I promise I will join you soon.”

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her toward the dinghy, trying to ignore her tears. The old sailor held the boat as still as he could while Tobias placed her on the seat and kissed her hard before striding back to the shore, each footstep heavier than the last.

He studied the darkening sky as the sailor climbed in the boat. “You are sure it is safe?”

“La Chasseresse, she is très robuste. A few waves will not topple her, monsieur.”

“Je t’aime, mon amour,” she said to him plaintively, her chin trembling.

“Au revoir, ma chère,” he said, trying to smile, although his vision was blurring from tears.

Will I ever see her again?

He stood watching as the dinghy made its way slowly through the choppy sea to the larger ship anchored in the distance, grief-stricken and unable to concentrate on anything but his pain. When the ship finally sailed off into the horizon, he fell to his knees and prayed as he had never done before for the safety of his beloved. He remained in that position until drops of rain on his face reminded him of the Lefebre family waiting for him in Amiens.

With a deep breath, he rose and made his way to the nearby forest, where his horse waited, tied to a tree.

“Come, my friend. We have a long, wet journey ahead of us.”

Setting foot in the stirrup, he swung his leg over the saddle and urged the horse to a gallop, feeling his heart rip into pieces with every step away from his beloved.

About the Author

Susana has always had stories in her head waiting to come out, especially when she learned to read and her imagination began to soar. Voracious reading led to a passion for writing, and her fascination with romance and people of the past landed her firmly in the field of historical romance.

A teacher in her former life, Susana lives in Toledo, Ohio in the summer and central Florida in the winter. She is a member of the Central Florida Romance Writers and the Beau Monde chapters of RWA and Maumee Valley Romance Inc.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

Susana’s Parlour • Susana’s Morning Room

Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Jennifer Bort Yacovissi on UP THE HILL TO HOME

This week, we're pleased to welcome author JENNIFER BORT YACOVISSI with her latest release, UP THE HILL TO HOME. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Up The Hill To Home. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

History conspires to make us who we are.

Every town, every city, is built by everyday people, and Washington, D.C. is no exception. Anonymous, hard-working women and men form the backbone of the place their families call home: strong women like Mary Miller, who held her family together during the Civil War; Emma Beck, an inventor, career woman, and devoted mother; and Lillie Voith, whose dream of a large family was fulfilled by a tribe of nine children. They are matched by equally strong men, like Charley Beck, whose humor and wisdom served equally as glue and lubricant.

These are my ancestors, and Up the Hill to Home tells their story over most of a century, as their faith and love, home and family, and strength of character contributed to building the nation’s capital, their hometown.

Praise for Up The Hill To Home

"The author creates believable characters . . . yet history itself is the novel's best feature. The author has done her homework, infusing her work with convincing details of 19th- and early-20th-century city life . . . a good book." --Kirkus Reviews

"Beautifully and lovingly written, this sweet story is well researched . . . a Perfect 10” --Romance Reviews Today

"Yacovissi has planned her book carefully, and the result is nothing short of remarkable." --Curled up with a Good Book

" . . . a strong, serene, uplifting debut novel . . . satisfies the heart but also pleases the mind." -- Bryan Crockett, Ph.D., author of Love's Alchemy: A John Donne Mystery

" . . . quietly compelling . . . This is the book you will carry around with you . . . " -- Rafael Alvarez, author of Tales from the Holy Land

**Q&A with Jennifer Bort Yacovissi**

How did you get the idea to write Up the Hill to Home?

I first read my grandmother Lillie’s diary when I was about 12 or 13 years old, and was smitten with its lovely, natural story arc. It took me more than 30 years to get serious about writing the whole story, at which point I found that I had far more source material than I ever imagined.

Up the Hill to Home is a novel, but it’s based on your mother’s family. How much of the book is true?

I’ve joked with my mother that I need to write a “Fact or Fiction?” primer for the family to clarify what’s true, what’s essentially true, and what’s complete fabrication. It’s probably easier to highlight the complete fabrication, which I’d say is about 20% of the book. Much of the rest of the book is based on a kernel of truth, or at least of family legend.

What was the biggest surprise that you uncovered about your family as you did the research?

I found a treasure trove of information in a very thick file in the National Archives that held all the records of my great-great-grandmother Mary Miller’s application for a pension. One of many surprises it held was that my great-grandmother Emma held a patent for a small roller press that she invented because of her job at the General Post Office. The other was the answer to an enduring mystery: In a few of my great-great-grandfather Christian’s war-time letters, one or two sentences had been carefully cut out, and we always wondered why that was. I found those excised sentences pasted into Mary’s pension application, because she had to prove that Christian had died from a disease or chronic condition he had picked up during his military service, and she used his own words to make her case.

What is your writing process like? Do you outline heavily, write in order, or take a more free-form approach?

If I were writing a story that I was less familiar with, I think I would want to lay it out more in advance. In the case of Up the Hill to Home, I had a very good idea of the story I wanted to tell, though not necessarily the order in which I might tell it. I knew the beginning and the end, and I knew that I wanted to use one week in time as the framing device for the story. The book itself is episodic, which allowed me to write individual sections in no particular order. If I was stuck on one section, I could always move to another. In many cases, I felt as though the story revealed itself to me and I just put it on paper. It wasn’t until I had the full story written down that I decided out how to organize and present it. I finally read it from beginning to end at almost the same time my beta readers did.

What about editing? Do you edit as you go, leave that until the end, or a mixture? How do you approach editing your own work?

When I’m writing, I’m trying to capture exactly the right word, and sometimes I’ll work on a sentence until I finally hear what that word is. Most often, though, my philosophy is, “Let the ideas percolate, let the writing marinate.” I usually let the ideas about a chapter or scene bounce around in the back of my head for a while—days, maybe weeks—before writing them down for the first time. That’s most often when I feel that the story is writing itself. But then I try to leave the writing alone for at least a few days, and preferably quite a bit longer before going back to read it again. I almost need to forget what I’ve written in order to hear what it actually sounds like when I go back to it. I’m a good editor of my own writing, but I absolutely needed my editor and beta readers to give me unapologetic feedback on what didn’t work. Finally, reading aloud is not only the best way to find bad writing, it’s also a great way to find mistakes.

Which authors do you hope to be compared to?

Stylistically, I’d love to be compared to E. Annie Proulx or Ann Patchett. Their facility with language is practically magical. For this particular story, I’d love for it to remind readers of Alice McDermott’s novels, with their deceptively simple plots and quiet stories that convey beauty and heartbreak in the simplest things.

What’s the next project that you’re undertaking?

I’m beginning to research the 1867 Sully/Parker expedition to negotiate treaties with various Native American tribes, which is mentioned briefly in Up the Hill to Home, to see where that might lead me. It will be challenging because it’s not a story I know yet, but I’m looking forward to discovering it.

About the Author

Learn more about Jennifer Bort Yacovissi

Twitter: @jbyacovissi

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

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24505619-up-the-hill-to-home

Excerpt Thursday: UP THE HILL TO HOME by Jennifer Bort Yacovissi

This week, we're pleased to welcome author JENNIFER BORT YACOVISSI with her latest release, UP THE HILL TO HOME. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Up The Hill To Home. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

History conspires to make us who we are.

Every town, every city, is built by everyday people, and Washington, D.C. is no exception. Anonymous, hard-working women and men form the backbone of the place their families call home: strong women like Mary Miller, who held her family together during the Civil War; Emma Beck, an inventor, career woman, and devoted mother; and Lillie Voith, whose dream of a large family was fulfilled by a tribe of nine children. They are matched by equally strong men, like Charley Beck, whose humor and wisdom served equally as glue and lubricant.

These are my ancestors, and Up the Hill to Home tells their story over most of a century, as their faith and love, home and family, and strength of character contributed to building the nation’s capital, their hometown.

Praise for Up The Hill To Home

"The author creates believable characters . . . yet history itself is the novel's best feature. The author has done her homework, infusing her work with convincing details of 19th- and early-20th-century city life . . . a good book." --Kirkus Reviews

"Beautifully and lovingly written, this sweet story is well researched . . . a Perfect 10” --Romance Reviews Today

"Yacovissi has planned her book carefully, and the result is nothing short of remarkable." --Curled up with a Good Book

" . . . a strong, serene, uplifting debut novel . . . satisfies the heart but also pleases the mind." -- Bryan Crockett, Ph.D., author of Love's Alchemy: A John Donne Mystery

" . . . quietly compelling . . . This is the book you will carry around with you . . . " -- Rafael Alvarez, author of Tales from the Holy Land

**An Excerpt from Up The Hill To Home**

Lillie stands at the top of the cellar stairs feeling for the light switch, which is just out of convenient arm’s reach. When Charley Beck makes the conversion from gaslight to electric—what, almost ten years ago now?—the work crew includes one tall gangly fellow who installs the box in a spot that’s just right for him and his rangy relatives. In this more compactly built household, folks have stumbled on the steps more than once trying to find that switch.

Lillie remembers herself as a little girl being wary of the cellar. Dank, with low ceilings, it holds more dark corners than she can keep an eye on during errands to bring up canned peaches or green beans. She can clearly picture herself creeping down the steps, scanning for signs of movement, even then knowing that whatever is down there will hold still, until she is fully in the trap, before springing it closed. Pausing near the bottom step, she would take a deep breath, and then dash for the shelves, grabbing what she’d been sent for and scrambling back up the steps, propelling herself with a little shriek into the kitchen, triumphant once again in her escape. Charley would look from behind his paper and say, “Back again so soon?” and Emma, accepting the jar of peaches, would tell her, “Darling, you shouldn’t scare yourself like that. It’s just the cellar,” and then Charley again, “Yep, we haven’t lost a child down there in years,” and Mary or Emma or both would scold him for teasing her. Maybe, Lillie thinks now, her young self enjoyed manufacturing that fleeting sense of danger, knowing that the rest of her world was so dependably safe.

This morning she is thinking of her childhood, of all of their collective childhoods and lifetimes, arranged and safeguarded in the trunk that again sits open next to the parlor secretary. She’s taking advantage of the empty house and the few moments to herself, over hot tea and soda crackers, to dip in among the letters and photographs, diaries, and other treasures. Any keepsake she retrieves, words or image, she already knows by heart, and part of the sweetness is enjoying the layers of memories each item has itself accreted over the years.

There are only a few minutes to sit, though, and when the tea is drained, it’s time to start the day in earnest. Her nausea is keeping her home while the rest of the family attends Mass; she’s had to clench her teeth and breathe hard as she marshals the children into readiness. But the housework never gets done just by wishing, so she takes the teacup and crackers into the kitchen and then steps out onto the spring porch for the washing machine.

In its off hours, the Easy Wash stays out of the way tucked into its own designated corner of the porch, near the big canning stove. When it’s laundry time, though, the washer needs to be wrangled from the porch into the kitchen, a tricky maneuver that requires both muscle and coordination. The spring porch is an addition onto the back of the house, and it encloses the original concrete steps that lead from the back door. There never was a railing, but there’s a gentle slope meant to shed rainwater. With just enough space between the back of the house and the top of the steps to roll the washing machine, it’s crucial not to miss that corner with the outside wheel, or the Easy Wash takes a header down the steps and just as likely takes the hapless pilot with it. Lillie gets enough momentum up to carry the washer across the threshold into the kitchen. She rolls it into place next to the sink and is just about to connect the hose to the faucet when she thinks to double check the water temperature. She opens the hot side and waits a moment, then another. Cold. A disappointed groan deflates her shoulders; in the rush to get everyone off to church, no one got the task to run down and turn on the water heater. Her hopes of getting at least one load of laundry done before breakfast evaporate. Now she rolls the Easy Wash back out to its corner of the porch, this time needing to check it from picking up too much speed on the downslope. There’s nothing for it but to fit in an extra load or two between breakfast and dinner. In a household of thirteen, staying ahead of the laundry pile—washing, wringing, hauling, hanging, plucking, ironing, folding, putting away—is a nearly continuous activity.

Which is why Lillie is looking for the light switch, so she can make the trip into the cellar and belatedly turn on the water heater in time to have post-breakfast hot water. But her mind, wayward this morning, marches past laundry and breakfast and right back to the trunk in the parlor.

Over the course of nine pregnancies, Lillie develops her own little rituals in preparing for a new baby’s arrival into the family. One of the first things she does is to have Ferd go up into the attic and bring down her memory box. In fact, she sometimes breaks the happy news to him by smiling and simply saying, “It’s time to get the box again.” For his part, Ferd responds with some combination of a smile or laugh, a kiss, and a sweeping, feet-off-the-floor embrace before he heads to the attic. How funny to think that little more than a month ago she catches her reflection in the parlor mirror and stops for a moment, Tommy heavy on her hip, Bernie and Dorothy combatively playing keep-away on either side of her. As she fingers a streak of gray in her hair, she says to no one in particular, “Look at how old I’m getting! It’s sad to think that soon I won’t be able to have any more babies.” And here she is, already starting through the box once again.

About the Author

Learn more about Jennifer Bort Yacovissi

Twitter: @jbyacovissi

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

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24505619-up-the-hill-to-home

Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Vincent B. "Chip" Lococo on A SONG FOR BELLAFORTUNA

This week, we're pleased to welcome author VINCENT LOCOCO with his latest release, A SONG FOR BELLAFORTUNA. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of A Song for Bellafortuna. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

A Song for Bellafortuna is an inspirational Italian Historical Fiction novel concerning a young man’s desire to free his Sicilian village from the domination of one family’s long reign. For years, the beautiful, yet secluded, hilltop village of Bellafortuna, Sicily, was a great producer of wine and olive oil. The entire village prospered. However, after the arrival of the Vasaio family, production dwindles and the villagers soon find themselves in crushing debt to the Vasaios. Only one family in the village remains outside the control of the Vasaios, but the reason haunts Antonio Sanguinetti every day of his life. Antonio is determined to erase this legacy by offering financial and emotional support to his fellow villagers. He introduces them to the choral song from Verdi’s opera, Nabucco, which becomes the rallying cry for the villagers and offers them hope for a better life.

When Antonio’s only son, Giuseppe, discovers his family’s past, he becomes determined to take on the Vasaios and remove them from power. Led by the young Giuseppe, a plan is hatched that could result in either complete freedom for the villagers, or if it fails, forever solidifying the Vasaios’ control.

Find out what happens in A Song for Bellafortuna, a sweeping epic historical fiction tale of love, drama, sacrifice, and redemption, set among the beautiful landscape of Sicily.

 NAMED A SHORT LIST FINALIST IN THE WILLIAM FAULKNER-WILLIAM WISDOM WRITING COMPETITION

LISTED BY AMAZON AS A HOT NEW RELEASE IN ITALIAN HISTORICAL FICTION 

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR A SONG FOR BELLAFORTUNA

The novel has been called lyrical, intelligent, majestic, magical, powerful and compelling. Here are some advance reviews.

“Vincent B. LoCoco writes a heartwarming piece of historical fiction . . . He captured the essence of the Sicilian culture, especially regarding the value of ancestry and music . . . A Song For Bellafortuna is a beautiful tale of antiquity."

– Readers Favorite 5 Star Review

"The book was a joy to read. It is a wonderful story, told in a magical way.”

-Cavaliere Ufficiale Aldo Mancusi, President of the Enrico Caruso Museum of America in New York

"An inspiring story of an Italian village threatened by commerce and saved by opera."

-John Biguenet, author of The Torturer’s Apprentice and Oyster

**Q&A with Vincent B. "Chip" Lococo**

We are joined today by New Orleans writer, Vincent B. “Chip” LoCoco. Welcome. I have a few questions today that I think our readers would love to know about you and your work. Here we go.

Please give us the title and genre of your book and a 30-word or less tagline:

The title of my new book is A Song for Bellafortuna. A Song for Bellafortuna is an inspirational Italian Historical Fiction novel concerning a young man’s desire to free his Sicilian village from the domination of one family’s long reign. For years, the beautiful, yet secluded, hilltop village of Bellafortuna, Sicily, was a great producer of wine and olive oil. The entire village prospered. However, after the arrival of the Vasaio family, production dwindles and the villagers soon find themselves in crushing debt to the Vasaios. Only young Giuseppe Sanguinetti has the courage to face the Vasaios and try to remove them from power.

Tell us a little bit about your cover art. Who designed it? Why did you go with that particular image/artwork?

Bellafortuna is a fictional village located in the hills of Sicily. I always knew I wanted a cover that screamed Sicily. Ana Grigoriu of Stuttgart Germany designed the cover. She was wonderful to work with on this project. She came by way of a recommendation and I could not have been more pleased. The villagers produce wine so not only did it have to be a village but it also needed vineyards. She captured the entire feel with the photo she picked.

Who is your favorite character from your book and why?

That is such a hard question to answer. Of course, Giuseppe Sanguinetti is the protagonist, and the character I thought most about during the course of writing. However, his father, Antonio, is the one character who I really would say is my favorite. Without giving too much away, let’s just say his love for his son in unending, and he could not stand to see his son fail.

How can we contact you or find out more about your books?

The best way to contact me is by way of my website. www.vincentlococo.com. There you can sign up to get updates, news, blog entries, giveaways and keep up with my other novel, Tempesta’s Dream – A Story of Love, Friendship and Opera about an aspiring opera singer growing up in Milan.

Who are some of your favorite authors that you feel were influential in your work? What impact have they had on your writing?

I am always asked this question, and my answer never changes. J.R.R. Tolkien was the one. He inspired me to love to read, to love the concept of “a story”, to get lost in a created world, and to love great storytelling. All of those things had an impact on my writing. When I think of an author, I think of him.

Any writing rituals?

After two novels, I have become known as an Italian Historical Fiction writer. That does seem appropriate as before I was even given that moniker, my writing ritual always involved earplugs in my ear usually listening to the great opera arias sung by the world greatest singers, di Stefano, Pavarotti, Domingo, Gigli, Callas, Tebaldi, etc. If that does not put you into an Italian romantic vein, then nothing will.

Do you meet your readers at book signings, conventions, or similar events?

I do and I really enjoy meeting them. I have also been asked to give talks about my novel. I will admit I can’t stand just standing in front of an audience and reading from my novel. My books are released as Audiobooks with professional narration. Bob Neufeld, my reader, does a much better job reading my book then I ever could. So instead, I now discuss the book in the broader text of Italy and music, which is a vital component of my novels. Of course, I have musical selections played and the audience has a wonderful time learning about different locals and listening to the wonderful music. Throw in a bottle of Chianti, and it’s as if you have been transported to Italy.

Well, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for having me. Ciao.

  

About the Author

Award winning and bestselling author, Vincent B. "Chip" LoCoco, lives in New Orleans. His first novel, Tempesta's Dream - A Story of Love, Friendship and Opera, became an Amazon bestselling novel and was awarded the 2014 Pinnacle Achievement Award in Historical Fiction. Amazon also has named his book as a Top Rated Novel in Italian Historical Fiction. His most recent novel, A Song for Bellafortuna, was shortlisted in the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Competition. He is an estate planning attorney in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and two children. Visit him at www.vincentlococo.com.

  

Website: www.vincentlococo.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tempestasdream

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/7304206.Vincent_B_Chip_LoCoco

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Song-Bellafortuna-Inspirational-Italian-Historical-ebook/dp/B00U8ZYF2Q/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VincentBLoCoco

New & Noteworthy: May 15

• Blythe Gifford’s WHISPERS AT COURT will be released by Harlequin Historical/HarperCollins on May 19 in print in the U.S. The electronic edition will follow on June 1 and the print in the U.K. on June 5. 

WHISPERS AT COURT, the second Royal Wedding story. Lady Cecily scorns the French hostages held at court. Treated as honored guests, the men play at love games and Cecily fears her mistress, the princess, could be disgraced. War-weary chevalier Marc de Marcel wants only to return home. Uncertain whether his ransom will ever be paid, he makes an unlikely alliance with enticing, fire-and-ice Cecily. He'll help her keep the princess safe from ruin if she'll help him escape. A pact which could lead them into a scandal all their own… RT BookReviews gives it 4-Stars, saying “Gifford creates memorable characters and stories with such passion and authenticity that they capture the hearts of fans worldwide." 

• Can you set fire to a gunpowder trail using a flintlock musket? Watch this trailer to find out! It's all part of the celebration surrounding the new serialization of Piers Alexander's novel THE BITTER TRADE by The Pigeonhole books, available in audio and print. Learn more about the serial at Soundcloud, Pigeonhole, and piersalexander.com.

• Upon her return from a research trip to Spain that was full of castles and medieval legacies, Jessica Knauss got the great news that Bagwyn Books will publish her epic novel SEVEN NOBLE NIGHTS in late 2016. Read her latest blog post and see what it's like to have years of effort pay off. Congratulations Jessica!

Excerpt Thursday: A SONG FOR BELLAFORTUNA by Vincent B. "Chip" Lococo

This week, we're pleased to welcome author VINCENT LOCOCO with his latest release, A SONG FOR BELLAFORTUNA. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of A Song for Bellafortuna. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

A Song for Bellafortuna is an inspirational Italian Historical Fiction novel concerning a young man’s desire to free his Sicilian village from the domination of one family’s long reign. For years, the beautiful, yet secluded, hilltop village of Bellafortuna, Sicily, was a great producer of wine and olive oil. The entire village prospered. However, after the arrival of the Vasaio family, production dwindles and the villagers soon find themselves in crushing debt to the Vasaios. Only one family in the village remains outside the control of the Vasaios, but the reason haunts Antonio Sanguinetti every day of his life. Antonio is determined to erase this legacy by offering financial and emotional support to his fellow villagers. He introduces them to the choral song from Verdi’s opera, Nabucco, which becomes the rallying cry for the villagers and offers them hope for a better life.

When Antonio’s only son, Giuseppe, discovers his family’s past, he becomes determined to take on the Vasaios and remove them from power. Led by the young Giuseppe, a plan is hatched that could result in either complete freedom for the villagers, or if it fails, forever solidifying the Vasaios’ control.

Find out what happens in A Song for Bellafortuna, a sweeping epic historical fiction tale of love, drama, sacrifice, and redemption, set among the beautiful landscape of Sicily.

 NAMED A SHORT LIST FINALIST IN THE WILLIAM FAULKNER-WILLIAM WISDOM WRITING COMPETITION

LISTED BY AMAZON AS A HOT NEW RELEASE IN ITALIAN HISTORICAL FICTION 

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR A SONG FOR BELLAFORTUNA

The novel has been called lyrical, intelligent, majestic, magical, powerful and compelling. Here are some advance reviews.

“Vincent B. LoCoco writes a heartwarming piece of historical fiction . . . He captured the essence of the Sicilian culture, especially regarding the value of ancestry and music . . . A Song For Bellafortuna is a beautiful tale of antiquity."

– Readers Favorite 5 Star Review

"The book was a joy to read. It is a wonderful story, told in a magical way.”

-Cavaliere Ufficiale Aldo Mancusi, President of the Enrico Caruso Museum of America in New York

"An inspiring story of an Italian village threatened by commerce and saved by opera."

-John Biguenet, author of The Torturer’s Apprentice and Oyster

**An Excerpt from A Song for Bellafortuna**

Chapter 22

The Meeting

  

Vittelio stood up from behind his desk and walked over to the fireplace. Leaning against the mantle, he lit a cigar he had pulled from a gold box that was sitting above the fireplace.  As he did so, he looked up at the picture of Alessandro. He then turned back to Giuseppe and said, “You are just like the rest of the villagers. Do you not realize what my family has meant to this village? Do you, of all people, not realize what my family has meant to your family? Without us, the Sanguinetti wine store would be selling vinegar. We have given your family a life here in the village. Yet, your grandfather turned his back on us. He walked back into the open arms of his fellow villagers and disrespected us. Now, your father walks around this village, stirring trouble with his concerts. Who does he think he is? Why does he think he is so important? Pretending that the Sanguinetti family knows Enrico Caruso. Playing Caruso records all day long. Selling his wine in a store that we deserve the credit for its success. Your father is nothing.”

Santo looked mortified at his father’s words. Giuseppe had heard enough. He stood up from his chair and replied, “It is you who are nothing, you, Signor. You are probably correct. Without your family, the wine store would not be as successful as it is. However, if it were not for my grandfather coming to his senses and walking away from your family, then his soul would not have been saved. He rectified his life. He tried to make it up to his fellow villagers. They accepted him back. You say my father is a nothing. At least when he dies, people will show their love for him at his funeral.”

Vittelio’s eyes flashed with anger as he said, “You little bastard! How dare you speak to me that way!”

Santo stood up from his seat and put his hands out in front of him and shook them, while he said, “Aspetta, Papa. I was the one who asked Giuseppe here. I arranged this meeting. I thought you wanted to hear their proposal. I thought you would be receptive to the idea. This is my doing. Do not take it out on Giuseppe.” One could feel the tension in the room subside as the gentle voice of Santo echoed off the walls.

Vittelio walked back to his chair. “Mi scusi. Sedete, Giuseppe.”

“Aspetto,” Giuseppe said antagonistically. Santo stood next to him.

“Fine. Let us speak to each other as friends. You come to me with a proposal. I have listened. Because of the lack of respect for my family by the villagers, I have given you the reasons why the proposal is preposterous. Yet, I know my son disagrees with me and thinks I should give in. He thinks the time has come to change. Because of him I will agree with this proposal with a condition.”

Giuseppe, surprised, asked, “What is that?”

“I will let you know my reasons up front for this condition. You had the gall to come here and approach me with this ridiculous proposal. The reason you could do this is because of your feeling that somehow I cannot touch your family and that I have no control over you. There was once a family who lived here who felt the same way with my ancestors.”

Vittelio turned toward the window and looked at the statue of Enzo Boccale. He turned back to Giuseppe, saying, “They were wrong.”

“What are you saying, Signor Vasaio?”

“It’s time your family gets put in its place. I will agree to the proposal but it will be wholly conditioned on one thing and only one thing. If you can pull it off, you will be a hero in the village. Fail, and you and your father will be the reason why the proposal failed.”

“What is the condition?”

Vittelio said, “As I’m sure you are aware, since you and your father supposedly know him so well, Enrico Caruso is coming to Palermo the last weekend in July to receive an honor. Every July 28th, the Festival Boccale is held out in the Piazza in Bellafortuna in remembrance of Enzo Boccale. Every year, there is a concert. If you can get Enrico Caruso to come sing one aria on the concert stage, I will agree to the proposal.”

Santo said, “Papa, that’s not realistic. You’re just trying to embarrass them.”

As Santo continued to speak on Giuseppe’s behalf, young Sanguinetti stood with his head bowed. His mind was racing. He thought back to the night he met Caruso in Milan so many years ago and the words Caruso had told him: “If you ever need me, please feel free to call me.” Maybe, just maybe, Giuseppe could pull it off. He could write to Caruso and get him to come; after all, the great tenor would be in nearby Palermo. He would just have to start writing letters to him early. During the summer, Caruso always returned to Italy. He could write to him in the early part of the summer in Italy and ask him to come to Bellafortuna while in Palermo. He could even write to him now in New York and let Caruso know about it early on. He would remind Caruso of that meeting many years ago. What did Giuseppe have to lose? His fellow villagers would be no worse off if he failed. Vittelio didn’t understand these people. They wouldn’t blame Giuseppe. They would thank him for trying.

With Santo still speaking, Giuseppe, realizing he had much to gain and little to lose, picked his head up and said, “Signor Vittelio, Caruso will come. You have a deal.”

Santo said, “Giuseppe, you…”

Giuseppe cut him off, “Santo. It’s fine. He will come and the village will find glory once again.”

  

About the Author

Award winning and bestselling author, Vincent B. "Chip" LoCoco, lives in New Orleans. His first novel, Tempesta's Dream - A Story of Love, Friendship and Opera, became an Amazon bestselling novel and was awarded the 2014 Pinnacle Achievement Award in Historical Fiction. Amazon also has named his book as a Top Rated Novel in Italian Historical Fiction. His most recent novel, A Song for Bellafortuna, was shortlisted in the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Competition. He is an estate planning attorney in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife and two children. Visit him at www.vincentlococo.com.

  

Website: www.vincentlococo.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tempestasdream

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/7304206.Vincent_B_Chip_LoCoco

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Song-Bellafortuna-Inspirational-Italian-Historical-ebook/dp/B00U8ZYF2Q/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VincentBLoCoco