An Interview with Myself to Celebrate Wonderland

Author Cynthia Surrisi has hijacked my blog today and is forcing me to answer hard questions. Because she has promised me many fish tacos, penny candy, and trinkets, I am going along with this crazy scheme.

Cynthia, take it away.

Cynthia: Ah, such POWER!!! I am delighted to be commandeering Barbara’s blog for the issue leading up to the publication of her newest middle grade novel, Wonderland. 

For those of you who are her fans and followers, I promise you will adore this new book. I wondered whether this adorable author could pull off yet another super winner, and sure enough, she has. See, this is why I am doing this. Barbara is useless at tooting her own horn. 

So, let's get started.

On sale 8/28/18

Cynthia: Here's an easy one: What five words best describe Wonderland?

Barbara: Friendship, confidence, dog-love, funny, heartfelt

Cynthia: What is one question you’ve never been asked at a school visit that you would like to be asked, and what is the answer to that question?

Barbara: What do you want young readers to learn from your books?

The answer: I write books to entertain young readers, not to teach them. But, I'd like to think that readers either come away with a better understanding of a character or situation they weren't familiar with - or - relate to a character or situation and find some degree of comfort or hope. 

Cynthia: Which of your books do you most like to read aloud? What part and why?

Barbara: The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis, especially the scenes with Starletta and Elvis. Starletta is so strange and funny and who wouldn't want to hear about Elvis's Spit and Swear Club? 

Cynthia: What is your writing process? Do you write every day?

Barbara: Call me weird, but every story starts with a title. From there, I spend a lot of time thinking about and getting to know my characters. When I have a hazy idea about the story, I just jump on in. I wish I could outline. I'd love that. But I rarely know where the story is going until the act of writing, which can feel like torture sometimes. I write by hand. I love the freedom of that. I revise constantly as I go along, never leaving anything too messy behind me.

I don't write every day unless I'm on a deadline. Some days I'd rather be walking my dogs. But that gives me good thinking time, which is an important part of any writer's process. 

Cynthia: What were the best and worst moments of your publishing journey so far?

Barbara: The best moments have been the times I've won a state book award voted on by children. That's the best validation there is for a children's writer. 

Another moment was when I found myself on a panel at a conference with Sharon Creech. I had adored her books for many years and felt so honored to actually be on that panel with her. A "pinch me" moment.

As for the worst moments, I'll fill you in over a glass of wine some time.

Sharon Creech (left) and me

Cynthia: Tell us about a book you wrote a long, long time ago that was so bad that it didn't get published.

Barbara: I wrote a book called Surf's Up, Nicky Weaver. It was my first attempt at writing for children - long before I discovered my voice. So, of course, it had no voice. It was bland and blah. The only good thing any editor had to say about it came from editor Richard Jackson, who liked that the dog in the story was named Jackson.

Cynthia: Show us a picture of your dogs and tell us what each one would say about the other: something positive and something gripe-y.

Barbara: Here are Ruby and Rocket.

Ruby (left) and Rocket

Ruby would say that Rocket annoys her by wanting to play all the time but also that she loves playing with Rocket (just not all the time).

Rocket would say that Ruby gets more attention than he does and won't play with her all the time.

Cynthia: I heard that an artist made a sculpture of one of the characters in one of your books. Can you tell us about it and show us a picture?

Barbara: A fabulous artist named Karen Hawkins made this amazing sculpture of Bird from Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia. I love it.

Cynthia: What's your favorite herb and how do you use it?

Barbara: Ha! I have no sense of smell so not a very sharp sense of taste. Herbs are just useless little specks of green to me.

  

Cynthia: Well, there you have it, friends. We’ve gotten the inside scoop from Barbara O’Connor. 

I hope it encourages you to get a copy of Wonderland from your favorite bookstore. I guarantee you’ll love it. 

**************

Cynthia Surrisi is the author of a fabulous series of middle grade mysteries set in Maine: The Quinnie Boyd Mysteries (The Maypop Kidnapping, Vampires on the Run, and A Side of Sabotage) - as well as the hilarious picture book, The Best Mother, illustrated by Diane Goode.  You can learn more about her at her website.

 

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A Side of Sabotage

Guess what today is?

A book birthday!!

The third Quinnie Boyd Mystery:
 

A SIDE OF SABOTAGE

by

Cynthia Surrisi

hits shelves today!!!

And now, for your viewing pleasure,

the world premiere of the trailer 

About the book:

For decades, Gusty's Café has been a beloved staple in Maiden Rock, Maine. Quinnie Boyd's dad runs the café, just like Quinnie's granddad before him. But the family business has new competition when a bad-boy chef from Boston opens his own place in the small vacation town.

The new restaurant takes fancy dining to the extreme. Still, that's not a crime . . . but when things start to go wrong at Gusty's, Quinnie suspects foul play. Are the people behind Restaurant Hubert trying to squash the Boyds' family café? Quinnie is about to find out if it is a coincidence—or sabotage.

 

Cover Reveal for A Side of Sabotage

Today I have the great pleasure of having my friend and fab middle grade author, Cynthia Surrisi, here for a cover reveal.

I LOVE cover reveals!

Check it out, y'all!!

Isn't it great??

You can buy a copy of this beauty March 1, 2018.

Now let's hear from Cynthia:

Thanks for inviting me to reveal the cover of my new book here on your blog, Barbara! 

It’s the third Quinnie Boyd Mystery, A SIDE OF SABOTAGE and even
more than the first two, it’s a mystery that can’t stop talking about food!  However, in this one, the food is integral to the suspense.

About the book:

For decades, Gusty’s Cafe has served up hot plates of comfort food to the folks in Maiden Rock, Maine. Quinnie Boyd’s dad runs the cafe, just like Quinnie’s granddad before him. But the family business has new competition when a bad-boy chef from Boston opens his own place in the small vacation town.  

The new restaurant takes fancy dining to the extreme. Still, that’s not a crime . . .  even if Quinnie would rather pass on a snooty dish like “raw-beet foam.” But then things start to go wrong at Gusty’s: the dishwasher overflows, the cooler is on the fritz, and worse! 

Are the people behind Restaurant Hubert trying to squash Gusty’s Cafe? It could be a coincidence or —

--or it could be sabotage. 

Since the first Quinnie Boyd Mystery, THE MAYPOP KIDNAPPING, readers have been asking me if Maiden Rock is a real place, if they can have the directions to Gusty’s Café, and whether I will reveal the recipes for food I refer to in the book. 

The questions intensified after the second book, VAMPIRES ON THE RUN, where Whoopie Pies were featured. 

I expect the questions will keep coming with A SIDE OF SABOTAGE.

I’ll reveal now that Maiden Rock is a fictional town but it
is based on a small coastal town where I used to live during the summers as a child. Gusty’s never existed, but there was a café where I ate the best Maine blueberry pie ever. 

We also used to order our French fries at this cafe, go sailing for the day, then pick up steamed lobster from the lobster pound, grab
our French fry order and pour it all out on newspaper on the kitchen table. My mother made the dipping sauce that turned the fries into what we called lobster fries.

Here are recipes for some of the most requested items in the
books: Gusty Burgers, Lobster Fries, Whoopie Pies, and Bean Scoop.

Gusty Burgers

The charm of a Gusty burger is that it is served on a toasted, buttered English Muffin. You can make any burger you like from all beef to turkey to veggie, but Gusty makes his from 80% fat beef and grill-cooks it with salt and pepper. There are no fillers or additions to the meat. Then h serves it with a slice of raw onion, and mustard. That’s it. You can add a slice of Vermont cheddar and still have a Gusty Burger. Okay, in later years he condescended to put crispy fried onions instead of raw for special customers. 

Lobster Fries

Many folks are disappointed that lobster fries are not strips of fried lobster. I can’t even go there. I’m more for unadulterated lobster steamed in salt water, picked and handled with a light touch for a lobster roll. I will give you Gusty’s Lobster Roll recipe another day.

Lobster fries are the best double-fried fries that you dip in the drawn butter concoction that is typically used for lobster dipping, except Gusty has his own version. When these things are hot, you weep with joy as you eat them and lick the empty paper when they are gone. 

The Fries:

If you are up for the trouble, cut fresh Idaho potatoes into the long familiar shape. Soak them in water in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Bring oil to 300 degrees F and dry the potatoes thoroughly in a towel. Fry for five minutes, remove from oil and drain on paper towels. At this point you can either refrigerate the fries for later or increase the heat to 400 degrees and fry them again immediately for a finish to your desired crispiness.
 

The Lobster Butter:

Melt unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat until the solids separate and come to the top. Skim off the solids and add saffron threads, mashed garlic, fresh lemon juice and a little orange zest. Continue cooking on low heat until the butter is infused with the added ingredients. Strain before serving with fries as dipping sauce. 

Whoopie Pies
 

These are Maine through and through. I can tell you how to make them, but they are fussy and the truth is, they have things in them that you probably don’t want to have on your shelf, like shortening. So, like me, when you have a hankering, I’m going to recommend you order from WICKED WHOOPIES 
 

 

These are the whoopie pies I had at the book launch and I think they are wonderful.  They got lots of yums, too. 

Bean Scoop

VAMPIRES ON THE RUN introduced readers to the Bean Scoop. Dominic loved it. It fills the hungry spot in a growing boy and an old lobster man.

This one is more in the combining than the cooking. Make your favorite baked beans. Heavily butter a couple slices of dark bread and scoop the beans on top. Great on a cold day.

I hope everyone enjoys A SIDE OF SABOTAGE and I look forward to seeing whether I get requests for Fish Head Soup.

Barbara, come on over and I’ll cook a Gusty’s lunch for you!

Cover Reveal!! C.M. Surrisi's New Book!

 Look, y'all!!!!

The cover for Vampires on the Run

The second Quinnie Boyd Mystery is coming soon!

If you liked The Maypop Kidnapping (and who didn't?)

you'll love Vampires on the Run.

It's deliciously fun and just the right amount of spooky. 

Coming this March from Carolrhoda Books

Cynthia Surrisi is in the House (and giving away a book!)

I'm excited to welcome fellow Asheville middle grade author, 

Cynthia Surrisi, who has stopped by to answer some questions about her terrific new middle grade novel: The Maypop Kidnapping, just published by Carolrhoda Books.

Don't you just love this cover?

From the publisher: In the coastal village of Maiden Rock, Maine, Quinnie Boyd's teacher has disappeared. Quinnie thinks it's a kidnapping case, but her mom, the town sheriff, just thinks the teacher has left town. Still, Quinnie's going to follow her instincts that something's wrong.

AND.....you can win a signed copy!

How?

Just leave your name and email address in the comments.

That's it!

Go ahead.

Do it! 

Winner will be drawn March 21.

But now....let's chat with Cynthia:

Why did you choose to write a mystery for your first book?

I have been a mystery reader since childhood. I read every mystery that was available to me, which included all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. I had a friend in 4th grade (I've blocked out her name and you'll see why) who owned all of them, but she would only loan them to me one at a time and only for one overnight each. Mean, huh?

That meant I had to read them under the covers with a flashlight. In retrospect, it enhanced the spookiness of the stories and certainly kept my pulse racing. There was no question as to whether I would turn the next page. As a result, I was really tired a lot in 4th and 5th grade, but the rhythm of a mystery became central to my reading experience.

Do you find there is anything unique about writing a mystery?

Starting in 4th grade, I crafted my own series in spiral bound notebooks. It was called The Twins of Cherrystone Farm. Wow, were those two sisters meanies to each other, but they stuck together when it counted. They solved the mysteries of the stolen gym socks, scandalous unsigned notes, angry valentines, and tons of other middle grade drama of the time. They were filled with tons of spooky suspicions that never went anywhere. For good or ill, they are long lost.

Here's the budding author in kindergarten:

It wasn't until I got to my MFA program years later and had an adviser who was an experienced mystery writer that I learned that you don't write a mystery from the perspective of a reader. Meaning, you don't just start and lay down all kinds of fun and intriguing things with no clear idea of how you will tie them all together. It's too easy to plant then lose track of clues. Chekhov said it best: One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep.

So now, for me, mystery writing requires a very detailed plan. I have written four of them, and while I allow myself a lot of freedom in the actual story narrative, I plan out the mystery in a treatment. I write the backstory, then the opening, then the big reveal. This way I know where I'm going. And I keep track of the clues and red herrings in a chart. 

The blurb on the cover of your book says: The only thing that would make this book better is if it came with a Gusty Burger and a side order of lobster fries. I've never flown through a book so fast to find out whodunit.  

What exactly are Gusty Burgers and lobster fries, and is this a foodie book?  

Protagonist Quinnie Boyd's father owns Gusty's cafe. And yes, the cafe is central to the setting. In the book, everybody's eating and arguing over what they like and don't like. A teeny off-season town needs a little commerce. In this case, it's the lobster pound, the cafe and the real estate office.

A Gusty Burger is a burger on a toasted English muffin with onion and mustard. And don't try and add anything else to it or you'll be run out of Maiden Rock. Once someone asked for ketchup and Gusty shook his head and said, "Mister, I won't serve it to you that way."

The really special and delish dish at Gusty's are the Lobster Fries. These are crispy French fries served with a side of a melted butter, lemon and saffron sauce to dip them in. I'm leaving out the super secret ingredient. The locals love them and the summer people go nuts for them. Aside from that, Gusty serves lobster roll on a buttered split top bun (secret recipe), clam chowda, garlicky cole slaw, blueberry pies with those little Maine blueberries, and whoopie pie sliders. Oh, and every table gets a beat up wooden bowl of Cheese Nips.

What's the story on Moxie?

Don't get me started on Moxie! Well, okay. It's the first bottled soda in America and draws its flavor from gentian root. Originally, it was marketed as a cure-all and called Moxie Nerve Food. Moxie bottle wagons dispensed it at fairs and amusement parks all over the nation, but it really only caught on in New England, specifically Maine. 

The company's motto is "Live your life with Moxie." Who can't support that? I fall on the love-it side of the Moxie fence. Others, not so much. 

In the book, Quinnie's mom and teacher strongly disagree on the tastiness of the local beverage. 

Moxie

If you want to learn more about the history of this very interesting carbonated soda, click HERE.

Okay, it's time to talk about the nuns.

Those two sisters in Maypop have been in the back of my mind for many years, waiting for their turn in a story. They spring from my early years in Catholic school and my six-year-old desperate plea to Santa for a nun doll. 

Here is the nun doll I located on Etsy to replace my long lost Sister Josephine doll. It's like she's never been gone. 

I can't explain my fascination with nuns. Perhaps it's because they were role models. Perhaps it's because they were costumed. I don't know. All I know is that I have always wondered what they might be like as fun characters, and now they exist in the book. 

I never wanted to be a nun, but when I was six, I did pin a scarf on my head like a veil and march imaginary children around the house telling them to hold their buddies' hands and not dilly dally. Like I say, role models. 

A craft question: Do you write what you know?

Writers talk about this all the time, don't we? The question is what does know mean in this context? My work arises out of a grand mishmash of everything I have been exposed to and experienced. I create from whole cloth, often riffing off of memories of place, incidents and people. Nothing is documentary. Nothing is biographical, except to say that when I challenge a character to feel something, I draw from my personal emotional well of feelings. I go to my heart. My mom was nothing like Sheriff Boyd, but I've had mother-daughter conflicts. I know what that tension feels like, how it can ache and how it can challenge a tender young soul.


You moved to North Carolina recently from Hawaii. What have you found to be the biggest difference?

I'm originally from Minnesota and I knew a lot of North Carolina, so I haven't experienced any surprises. Not so with our pets. Our two dogs and cat had never experienced squirrels, turkeys, deer, cold, or snow. Watching them come face to face with Western North Carolina nature has been pretty hilarious.

This is a picture on day one. They're hyperventilating after seeing their first squirrel.