This week I am delighted to have a slice of cake with author Alana Lorens.
What kind of books do you write?
I write stories where everyone has a bit of excitement, a bit of danger, and a good ending—even if it isn’t always happy. Most of my bad guys aren’t playing around. There will be a trail of bodies. But fear not, they all get their comeuppance.
Can you describe your writing why?
Honestly, my critique group, The Fellowship of the Quill, expecting a new chapter or two every Thursday has been a huge motivation for me. I need to get that instant validation of readers reading and commenting. I went for several years without writing anything at all until, thanks to COVID, I was able to reconnect with the group over ZOOM. Since February 2020, I’ve written three complete novels and published two more besides. They make me so much better.
Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most
That last night, Benzi’s father had started on him in the kitchen, bullying the boy for concealing his meager earnings. Didn’t matter if the boy had done anything – if he wasn’t guilty this time, he’d slipped notice some other time, that was pa’s theory. The older man slammed him into the cookstove, raining punches onto him as the boy cowered, trying to protect his head.
“Ungrateful pup!” Pake shoved him through the back door onto the wooden porch that overhung the river. Desperate, Benzi grabbed the railing, the chill air slicing through him, feet sliding on two inches of ice, frozen spray passing boats had blown up off the stinking water.
“C’mere boy, I’ll teach you to hold your credits back from your ole man!” The elder Quinn stumbled and slid on the ice, grabbing the boy away from the rail. He slammed the wiry youth into the door frame, then lost his footing, dragging them both to the floor. “Think you’re better than your ole man because you got work and he don’t? Well I’ll show you.” As the boy clung to the splintering door frame, Pake struggled to get to his feet, slipping, each slip bringing him closer to darkness past the porch edge where the water rushed cold below.
Benzi watched, darkly fascinated, as his father writhed across the ice from the door to the edge in a clumsy dance of sorts. He felt a lump rise on the back of his neck. Blood trickled where he’d bit his lip. Mist rose off the putrid water beyond the edge of the porch. The air, cold and damp, penetrated his bones. His father’s mumbled curses hung on the air as he finally reached his hand toward Benzi, demanding help.
Instinctively his hand stretched out to his father, but he couldn’t make himself move across the ice to touch the extended fingers. He tried. Knew it was the “right” thing to do. But he couldn’t, even when the old man slipped, grabbed at a rickety chair and disappeared off the edge.
Tell us about your latest project
My latest book, from The Wild Rose Press, is A Rose By Any Other Name. Up-and-coming mommy blogger and single mom Marisol Herrera Slade returns to her old hometown in western Pennsylvania for her 20th high school reunion in 2005, reluctant and yet compelled to see her high school sweetheart, Russell Asher, who dumped her for the homecoming queen.
Russell's marriage to the golden girl, however, ended in a nasty divorce, and he has been systematically excluded from his sons' lives. In his Internet wanderings, he's found a feminist blogger named Jerrika Jones, who glorifies single motherhood, essentially putting a stamp of approval on what's happened to him. His group of single dad advocates have vowed to take this woman down.
What Russell doesn't know, when he thinks to rekindle what he had with Marisol, is that Marisol and Jerrika are one and the same. When his group discovers the truth, will their drive for revenge derail any chance the couple have to reunite? Or will they find they have more in common than they ever expected?
What is your favourite cake?
Such a hard question! Cake is just all encompassing deliciousness. Oddly, though, when I’m craving cake, it’s really just a simple white cake with buttercream icing.
You can connect with Alana (and Lyndi) here:
Thanks so much for housing my multiple writing personalities!
ReplyDeleteYou're so welcome! Thanks for having cake with me :)
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