posted on August 21, 2015 by Carolyn Haines

NEW BOOKS, NEW STORIES, NEW STUDENTS

Carolyn and CogarMy university fiction writing classes have begun—another academic year is off to a start. Things in my writing life are crazy. And lets not talk about the animal rescue, where I have way, way too many animals.

I want to talk about writing and the crazy adventures I’ve had this summer. KILLER TAILS is an e-bundle of 8 pet mysteries, each penned by a different author. The bundle is on sale right now for .99 cents. The price will go up to $5.99 soon, so get it while it’s hot and almost free!

Here’s the flap copy—to give you an idea of who is in the bundle.

Killer Tails Box

KILLER TAILS unleashes a kennelful of fun. Many of the reigning cats and dogs of mystery, all with a nose for trouble, are found in these furry tales of curious cats and daring (and darling) dogs penned by eight bestselling and award-winning authors: Carole Nelson Douglas, Carolyn Haines, Leighann Dobbs, Harper Lin, Connie Shelton, Pamela DuMond, Denise Dietz, and Joanne Pence. Plus, one of the tales–or tails–is a never-before-published novella by Carolyn Haines.

Guru Bones” was my contribution to the bundle and includes the regular Bones cast of characters, including Pluto, the black cat, and Sweetie Pie, the red tick hound, who help Sarah Booth Delaney solve mysteries. Sarah Booth has a human partner, Tinkie Richmond, who is the Queen Bee of Daddy’s Girls (you know, those smart but helpless women who can wrap a man around their little finger). Sarah Booth is more of a tomboy, so she and Tinkie make an excellent pair of detectives in the Mississippi Delta.

The story, which is a novella, revolves around Priya Karsan, an international food guru who preaches against pesticides and GMO foods—and the people who want her dead. Priya’s celebrity status and her willingness to speak out about dangerous chemicals in foods and pesticides in fields make her a target.

We had a killer launch party this week with fun contests and photos. Several “embarrassing pet stories” were laugh out loud funny. You can check them out at the FB site, Killer Tails: Cozy Mysteries to Die For.

The other big August news was the Bookbub ad and the lowered price for SPLINTERED BONES, the 3rd in the Sarah Booth series. It is still available (but only for a brief time) at $1.99. Soon the price will return to $4.99. Click here for details.

Jingle Bones AND “Jingle Bones,” my 2015 Christmas short story, is up for pre-order at $1.99. I love stories about Christmas pageants, and in this short story I got to write my own! I hope you find it as fun and funny as I do.

Here’s what the publisher says about this story:

Jingle Bones, an e-original Christmas story featuring Mississippi PI Sarah Booth Delaney, offers all the Southern charm and zany adventure Carolyn Haines’s fans have come to expect–and more.

Sarah Booth just wants the perfect Christmas holiday. Even with the dissolution of her engagement, she refuses to lose her Christmas spirit. But when Theodora Prince–an ex classmate and current Pastor’s wife–comes calling with a year-old case and cash upfront, Sarah Booth must find the truth about the boys who ruined last year’s Christmas pageant in time to stop them from doing it again.

rock-a-bye bones jacket reviseThis week I also finished a draft of the 16th Bones book, ROCK-A-BYE BONES! Set for publication May, 2016. Jitty (the ghost that devils Sarah Booth and gives her sexual/romantic advice and a whole lot of grief) has been after Sarah Booth to have a baby so there will be an heir to Dahlia House—and Jitty will have someone to haunt in the future. A baby does come into Sarah Booth’s life in this story, but there are many unexpected twists. I just got the cover and I love it! I hope you do too.

So August has been the month of Bones, Bones, and more Bones—and I am not complaining at all.

One of the wonderful things about being a writer is that each day when I wake up, I don’t know where my characters will take me.  Since I live on a farm with a lot of older and unwell animals, I don’t travel as much as I used to. But I can ‘mind travel.’ (If I could figure out astral travel, I would be the bomb!)

Foggy rainbow at Casa CarolynThe other day I was sitting in my kitchen talking with a friend who’d dropped by and I realized I’d spent the whole day without speaking to anyone except my characters and the critters. Wow. But that will change with the beginning of school. I’ll be forced to interact. I do love my students, though. Some of them are so talented it takes my breath away.

Please sign up for my FB page—I do post things about other great writers I have the privilege of knowing. And I post farm photo because I live in a very beautiful place with handsome critters, and I post book news and big lies about my friends (and they love it!).

I also have a  newsletter. You can sign up here at my website www.carolynhaines.com or follow me on Twitter.

Stop by for a visit. No telling what foolishness I’ll be involved in.

Carolyn Haines

Carolyn Haines

USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Haines grew up with both parents working as journalists, and she was bitten by the writing bug at a very young age. Her three ambitions were to be a cowgirl, a mystery-solving sleuth like Nancy Drew, and a writer. Today, she has basically accomplished them all. She is the author of the acclaimed Bones mystery series and in addition, she works as an advocate for humane treatment for animals and operates a small rescue on her farm (7 horses, 9 cats and 6 dogs).

Haines claims to have had “the last golden childhood of the South.” She grew up in Lucedale, Mississippi, a town of 3,000 in the Southeastern Pine Barrens. She rode her bicycle all over the county with her wonderful dog Venus and employed her imagination to create adventures with her friends.

Her first job in journalism was at the local weekly, The George County Times, when she was in high school. She went on to work as a photojournalist at the Hattiesburg American while attending the University of Southern Mississippi to earn a B.S. in journalism.

She worked for nearly a decade in the news business, covering local politics, the state legislatures in Alabama and Mississippi, spot news, writing a personal column and her favorite—writing features and using photography to illustrate the story. With her mother, she ran a statewide bureau in Mississippi for the Mobile Register and the Mississippi Press. As part of her journalistic adventures, Haines covered an armed robbery on horseback, hopped a freight train, and rescued a young, injured bald eagle from certain death. She was the first female reporter hired on the news side of the Huntsville Times.

At the same time, she began writing short fiction for personal satisfaction. Under the sway of Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, Doris Betts, and Lee Smith, Haines wrote about the landscape and the people she knew. The end result was being accepted by an agent who urged her to “write a novel.”

Another huge influence was Harper Lee and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Haines’s first novel was SUMMER OF THE REDEEMERS, a coming of age story set in 1963 rural Mississippi and published in 1994. Haines was honored in 2010 with the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writing.

In 2009, Haines was named the recipient of the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence.

From general fiction, Haines drifted into mysteries, and THEM BONES, a humorous mystery with a wise-cracking ghost, was bought at auction. The stories center around Sarah Booth Delaney and her friends. The fourteenth book in the series, BOOTY BONES, was published May 20, 2014, by St. Martin’s Minotaur.

While writing the lighter mysteries, Haines has continued to write in the darker terrain of the crime novel. PENUMBRA and FEVER MOON (both St. Martin’s Minotaur) are historical crime novels.

In May 2010, an anthology she edited, DELTA BLUES, was released to critical acclaim.

Along with writing, Haines is the fiction coordinator at the University of South Alabama where she teaches graduate and undergraduate fiction writing. And she is president of Good Fortune Farm Refuge, an organization dedicated to helping animals and to educating the public on the need to spay and neuter.

She lives on a farm with her “critters.” They are the terror of the neighborhood.

https://carolynhaines.com

Carolyn Haines Contest

Carolyn Haines is giving away a signed ARC of LIGHTS, CAMERA, BONES to one winner!

Enter Here

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