Tag: Frankie Bow | Page 34

April 7, 2015

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway and Interview with Joanna Campbell Slan, author of THE GLASSBLOWER’S WIFE

Joanna Campbell Slan is the award-winning author of the Kiki Lowenstein Mysteries (an Agatha Award Finalist) and two other mystery series.

Her stories in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series have been read and loved by millions. Her books reviving the classic heroine Jane Eyre have won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award. In her past life, Joanna was a television talk show host, an adjunct professor of public relations, a sought-after motivational speaker, and a corporate speechwriter. The Glassblower’s Wife is her latest novel.

Q: Joanna, thanks for coming by to chat about The Glassblower’s Wife. Can you tell us about it?

A: The year is 1684, and glassmakers from Venice have been smuggled into France to create glass for the Hall of Mirrors. The Doge of Venice sends an assassin to kill all the artists, but he underestimates the intensity of one woman’s courage.

Q: Your protagonist is a disabled, a widow, and a member of a persecuted minority. How does this affect the way she approaches solving this mystery? What are her hidden strengths?

A: Because she is underestimated, Ruth is able to work a “miracle.” Ruth’s hidden strengths are her ability to observe carefully and her skill at remembering recipes.

Q: What inspired you to write this story?

A: My sister happened upon something about the Jewish glassblowers, and I was intrigued. There aren’t a lot of stories out there about this segment of the population, so I found what I learned particularly interesting.

Q: What kind of research did you do?

A: I read several books about glassblowers, including one about Daphne du Maurier’s family. Of course, I did as much researching on the Internet as I could. Finally, I consulted friends who know much more than I do about Judaism. (And did I mention that I’ve been to Versailles? I have!)

Q: Did your research turn up any surprises?

A: I was amazed to hear that forks were considered pretentious, and that they were first used in Italy. And the process of turning a blown bubble of glass into a flat piece was fascinating, as well.

Q: Are you a “plotter” or a “pantser?”

A: Both. I will work a little, then do an outline or a list, and then go back to the piece and see what develops. It’s different for everything I write.

Q: Is this book part of a series, and are you working on a sequel? What’s next for you?

A: I think it will be a stand-alone, but who knows? Next, I need to write All Washed Up, which will be the third book in the Cara Mia Delgatto Mystery Series. Back to research!

Joanna is raffling off a $50 Amazon gift card! Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway here!

To find our more about Joanna and her work:
List of Joanna’s Works — http://tinyurl.com/JoannaSlan
Joanna’s Website — http://www.JoannaSlan.com
Facebook — http://www.Facebook.com/JoannaCampbellSlan
Blog — http://www.JoannaSlan.blogspot.com
Twitter — http://www.twitter.com/JoannaSlan
LinkedIn — www.LinkedIn.com/in/JoannaSlan
Goodreads — https://www.goodreads.com/JoannaCampbellSlan
Amazon Author Page – http://tinyurl.com/JoannaSlan
Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/joannaslan/

Contact Joanna by emailing her assistant, Sally Lippert, at [email protected].

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April 4, 2015

Goodreads | Book giveaway for The Musubi Murder ends soon

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/132091-the-musubi-murder

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April 3, 2015

An Interview With Author Frankie Bow

I’m at Eliza’s blog today. Come have a look!

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April 1, 2015

Hey kids! Here’s a handy guide to higher education terminology

There are, according to one estimate, 1600 institutions of higher learning in the United States. Unlike other nations, many of America’s colleges and universities are privately run in addition to the government-supported schools. Since public schools often have tuitions far lower than their private counterparts, thus consequently impacting financial aid, the question of how to tell public and private schools apart is an important one. For that matter, what’s with the whole “college” versus “university” thing, anyway? It’s all easy, if you keep some simple principles in mind.

A college does not offer degrees beyond the BA/BS level.
Examples: Boston College, Dartmouth College, The College of William and Mary
A university¹ does offer degrees beyond the BA/BS level, including law, medicine, and MBA degrees.
Examples: Princeton University, Wesleyan University
An institute or a polytechnic offers vocational-technical degrees in fields like automobile or appliance repair. They may be public or private (see below).
Examples: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, California Polytechnic State University
A college or university named after a city is a public school operated by that city.
Examples: University of Chicago, New York University,² Boston College, Princeton University, University of San Diego, University of San Francisco, Seattle University
A college or university named after a state is a public school operated by that state.
Examples: University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, Connecticut College, Colorado College
A college or university named after a person is a private institution.
Examples: Rutgers University, The College of William and Mary, Truman State University (MO), Thomas Edison State College (NJ), Medgar Evers College (NY), LaGuardia Community College (NY)

I hope this has been instructive and useful.

¹ Leland Stanford Junior University (CA) is currently attempting to meet US Department of Education guidelines for qualifying as a full university. This status is expected to be reached as of the 2016-2017 school year.

² New York University is operated by the City and the State of New York in tandem.

~~Plagiarized~~ Reblogged from /r/college/

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March 30, 2015

New Goodreads Giveaway! Signed ARC of The Musubi Murder

The Goodreads giveaway is now live! Enter to win a signed review copy of The Musubi Murder.

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March 29, 2015

Show your love for Mahina State University, “Where Your Future Begins Tomorrow” (and support the Waiakea Inter 7th grade band)

Mahina State University is where, according to the local radio and TV spots, “Your Future Begins Tomorrow.”

It is also where The Musubi Murder takes place.

The new official school colors (as decided by student vote) are red, gold and green, but the classic “happy moon” design remains a local favorite, and a bestseller in the Mahina State University bookstore.

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March 28, 2015

People prefer a healthy-looking leader to an intelligent-looking one.

“Health was an influential cue across all scenarios, while intelligence only had an effect in half of the presented scenarios. “

Well, at least intelligence wasn’t a negative predictor (The study was done in the Netherlands; I wonder how the same experiment might turn out in the US).

And yes, apparently there is a way to manipulate “intelligent-looking.”

“[H]igh and low apparent intelligence prototypes were created as described in Moore et al. (2011). Briefly, these prototypes were created by regressing ratings of attractiveness, masculinity, health, and perceived age against ratings of perceived intelligence. The faces with the largest positive and negative residuals (i.e., those who were rated as looking much more or less intelligent than predicted by their age, attractiveness, masculinity, and health) were “averaged” using Psychomorph software to create composite high and low perceived intelligence faces…”