Tucson Festival of Books 2013

Chronus and I at the Tucson Festival of Books

Chronus hands out dog biscuits and bookmarks

Kari Thomas, paranormal romance author,

 turns

 hairdresser for the day.

"Relaxing the Writer"

Writers relaxing at my "Relaxing the Writer" Workshop

Sunday at the Arizona Dreamin' Valley of the Sun RWA Booth

The 2013 Tucson Festival of Books was a giant event held on the University of Arizona campus (during Spring Break). 

More than 300 presentation, panel discussions, and 275 exhibitors delighted the crowds. The fourth largest event like this in the U.S., authors included Jodi Picoult, Maggie Stiefvater, Nevada Barr, J.A. Jance. James Rollins, Diana Gabaldon, R.L. Stine, some others, and me.

Despite the cold rainy Saturday (cold for Tucson), 120,000 people attended enjoyed the programs, food and fun. I presented my Relaxing the Writer workshop in a warm dry room.

Sunday was perfect with something for everyone. I especially loved spending the day in the energetic Arizona Dreamin' booth managed by the amazing Kris Tualla and Morgan Kearns!

Sybilla - Character Interview

Sybilla Romano Dinzelbacher, 

LLD, Restaurateur (Black wolf, Beta Female)

I should have been the heroine of Amber’s series The Shapeshifters’ Library because I’m way more interesting than that librarian Liberty or that chocolate Labrador retriever Children’s Librarian, Godiva. I would have taken over the entire series except for my husband Harry. Don’t get me started about Harry, but marrying him was not one of my better decisions. His shaggy innocent good looks were so different from the slick confident werewolves prowling around the law school campus. I was rebelling and his half-breed persona caught in a moment of rebellion.

When his father gave him the opportunity to move to Ohio, run a bank, and wait for the ancient pack Alpha to croak, it seemed like a first step in moving on to bigger things. I’m ambitious. Settle for being a small-town banker’s wife? I don’t think so. I’m a big pack girl.

Amber is telling me I shouldn’t give away that happens in Book Two Retrieved. Cute. Like puppy dogs chasing books. I will tell you a couple of really good things happen to me in that book and I get to shine.

Anyway, if Amber had wanted a heroine with a little sex appeal to heat up her books, she should have given me more pages. But what can I say, she’s the author. I get to be the villain, which suits me fine. I’m one of the most important characters and got my own POV, which is cool because without my viewpoint you’d think books and libraries are wonderful and worth saving. I’ll tell you about the werewolf plot to destroy books and libraries. Who else lets you in on the good stuff?

I wear sexy clothes and own a trendy bistro which serves the best food you’ve ever eaten. Forget the stale donuts in the library’s staff room, my French chef’s flaming deserts are to die for.

Harry is Beta Male to Elsie Dustbunnie (and you thought my name was dumb). In book one, she’s retired from the public library but still runs the pack. I do give her credit for burning down the old library, but when the librarians moved into the old dog-shifters’ building we had to figure out how to put them out of business and kill all the dog-shifters still in the basement. That old bag needs a new hip and a quick trip to the old wolves’ home, but she thinks Harry with lose the town to the dog-shifters, if she turned her tail for a minute. She’s right. Harry would flub the whole thing. But she won’t let me have a go at running the Pack because she’s so jealous of my youth and beauty.

I try to get Harry to be a man – or a wolf – but his dog blood makes him wishy washy. I’ll admit when old Harry is in wolf form he still can light my fire, but the rest of the time – if I were a reader - and I’m NOT – I’d rather curl up with a good book.

I do my best to destroy every book I find. I love the rituals when we run around in the woods on four feet and toss books onto bonfires. 

So read The Shapeshifters' Library Book One:Released to see if I can nudge Harry and Elsie into burning down the town library. And don’t miss Book Two: Retrieved. I get to be Pack Alpha and battle the librarians for control of the town with the help of a hunky ex-Marine wolf by the name of Blaze.

Oh, and Amber’s reminding me to tell you both books are sweet, despite my efforts.

So read The Shapeshifters' Library Book One: Released to see if I can nudge Harry and Elsie into burning down the town library. And don’t miss Book Two: Retrieved when I get the bigger part I deserve. And Coming soon Book Three: Recovered where I really shine!

Released (The Shapeshifters’ LibraryBook One)

Complete List of Characters 
in 

the Shapeshifters' Library Series

Character Interview - Lily Mumford & her Wassail Recipe

Lily Mumford

Retired Librarian

Being a retired librarian is wonderful. I live in a wonderful old Victorian house with a spectacular garden. I cook for my tenants who are teachers and have no time for the culinary arts. I garden and plant flowers around the  Public Library and help out at the Shipsfeather Shelter for Travelers and the Temporarily Homeless. I visit the library and read all the books I’ve promised myself I’d read after I retired. 

Or at least that was my life until I met Liberty Cutter, the current Shipsfeather Library Director. At first she thought I was a homeless old bag lady. As she began to trust me, she asked me if I knew anything about dog-shifters and werewolves in town and confided she had a friend who was a talking dog.

The next thing I knew I was helping her find the gingerkucken recipe my Aunt Leila baked for St. Nicholas celebrations. And there I was in the middle of the old battle with werewolves. I’d had enough of werewolves when I served as Assistant Library Director under Elsie Dustbunnie, the meanest werewolf ever to burn a book. When Elsie attacked me, I’d have been a goner if sweet Liberty hadn’t come to my rescue.

On a happier note, I resumed an old romance with Aldwyn Chisholm, who had been my professor in library school. Through the years we’d met at library conventions, but that’s another story... 

Aldwyn wants to move in with me in “Retrieved” Book 2 of the series. But now that he’s Mayor of the town and I’m Chairperson of the Library Board, Amber says that wouldn’t be quite respectable for two retired librarians, so there must be wedding bells for us. 

Favorite Reading: I love cookbooks, gardening guides, and novels in every genre except werewolf fiction. 

(Read the Wassail Excerpt from Released)

Interesting notes: Wassail (Middle English wæs hæl, literally 'good health' or 'be you healthy') refers both to the salute 'Waes Hail' and to the drink of wassail, a hot mulled cider. Wassail bowls were traditionally made from lignum vitea wood. The dense oily wood retains hot liquids.

To warm you for the coming holiday season I’ll share the ancient dog-shifters St. Nicholas wassail recipe. Just remember to imbibe only when in human form.

St. Nicholas Wassail

4 cups apple juice or cider

2 cups cranberry juice

1 cup orange juice

1 cup pineapple juice

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 t. ground ginger

½ t. grated nutmeg

½ t. cardamom

3 sticks cinnamon

Fresh orange slices for garnish

Combine ingredients in a saucepan. Cover and bring almost to a boil. Then on low for 2-8 hours.

Oranges on top are so festive. With or without alcohol (for some adult revelers) add dry sherry or Madeira), a cup with fill you with warm holiday cheer.

Complete List of Characters 
in 

The Shapeshifters' Library Series

  Read 

Released (The Shapeshifters' Library Book 1)

to learn more about Lily, the dog-shifters, and the werewolf book-burners.

Barista Vincenzo Imhoff (St. Bernard) Character Interview

Vincenzo Imhoff (St. Bernard)

Shipsfeather Academy Barista

I’m the manager of Starbooks and Starbarks cafés in the Shipsfeather Academy. I don’t do it all myself. We run 24/7 and for many years provided the only entertainment and gathering places for 200 dog-shifter  staff and librarians.

My top manager is Fábio Rodrigo, a solid black Fila Brasileiro. The guy is huge like a Mastiff, as big as Cynerik Trent-Croft. None of his staff brace him or argue about their schedule. He’s super self-confident but isn’t good behind the counter, because he has a problem with strangers. His family owns mucho coffee plantations in Brazil and supplies us with a wide variety of beans for custom roasting.

I love developing new recipes. I’ve worked out a version of Pacifico’s grandmother’s Mexican hot chocolate recipe with hot peppers and coffee that is one of our best sellers. Godiva Anglesey loves it, but then Diva loves anything chocolate. 

During the curse, when Liberty and Chronus discovered that caffeine and sugar consumed in human bodies did serious damage to dog bodies if shifting happened before these substances were fully digested. I worked with Fábio to develop a completely caffeine free coffee drinks based on a new strain of varietal bean from a secret location. We’re proceedings with patenting it under the name NoNoCaf. Griswald agreed to act as our patent attorney for free food and drink in all locations. 

My good friend Pacifico Lopez and his programmers are my best customers. Pacifico is helping me create a franchise opportunity for the Starbooks/Starbarks concept. I think the Starbarks café franchises will be popular in other shifter academies worldwide. Starbooks in libraries in this country could also catch on, especially considering all the dog-shifter librarians employed in U.S. academic and public libraries. And Starbarks dogpark kiosks is in the planning stages.

Hobbies: Cookbook collecting, Mountain climbing, cross-country skiing, yodeling and accordion playing.

Menu Items I developed -

Proprietary Blends: Retriever Roast (subtle blend with hint of chocolate), Komondor Kona, Rottie Robusta, Wirehaired Espresso

Specialty Drinks: Malamute Mocha, Whippet Frappe, Irish Red Rover, Lhasa Lattes, Chihuahua Chai, Cocker Cappuccino, Maltese Macchiato, West Highland White Chocolate

Starbarks Food: Liver and Liver, Lamb and Cheese, Chow Chow Chow, Schnauzer Schnitzel, Borzoi Borscht, Poodle Noodles, Bichon Quiche, Shar-Pei Chow Mein

Desserts: Eskimo Pie, Spinone Italiano, Cannoli Corso, Clumber Cobbler, Swiss Mountain Mousse

Favorite Books – Julie and Julia, Mastering the Art of Shifter Cooking, Producing Your YouTube Cooking Show.

Complete List of Characters 
in 

The Shapeshifters' Library Series

  Read 

Released (The Shapeshifters' Library Book 1)

to learn more about Vincenzo's Starbarks cafe, the dog-shifters, and the werewolf book-burners.

Character Interview - Julianna Eisenberg von Noir

I’m Julianna Eisenberg von Noir, the Young Adult Librarian at the Shipsfeather Public Library. 

I love selecting books and planning programs for teens. Everyone thinks I’m successful bringing teens into the library because of my looks. I think that silly. The come for the programs and their love of books.

Everyone does want to know about my looks. I look a lot more like my father Ivan van Noir than my Swedish mother Hildegarde Eisenberg. Mom was an Eastern European bibliographer in Paris and Dad was doing genealogical research into his Transylvanian family tree. Their marriage didn’t last long and Mom brought me to the US and got a job with the Pittsburgh Historical Society.

 

Until I started college I spent summers in Europe with Dad. He was a good father, but a little old-fashioned. When I was young a nanny took me places during the day and Dad showed me the sights of the Old World at night. When I was older I explored the great cities of the Continent by myself.

I think I want to help teenagers have fun in groups because I spent so much time with adults or alone.

My kids love the popcorn machine, pizza and movie nights, gaming days, and all the bookclubs. Yes, the Vampires & Werewolves Bookclub is popular. I’m not team Edward or Jacob. I don’t really care for either. After the curse is broken, a few of the werewolf kids sneak in the library. I promise not to tell their book-burning parents. What happens in the library stays in the library.

I’m certainly not immortal and love the sunshine, though I don’t tan.  I faint at the sight of blood. The Goth girls say I’m cool because I wear a lot of black, but it’s just a color than flatters my complexion.

 

Besides the great staff here at SPL and the good kids in town, the best thing about this job is the dental insurance. After the dentist replaced my canines with normal implants. I felt like a new woman. I even was able to smile at red-haired Taxi McCasson. The head of circulation is sooo cute and so smart. He’s a classical languages scholar. In Book One I’m too self-conscious to talk to him, but in Book Two we begin a friendship. Beyond that, you’ll have to ask Amber. She seems to like us both, so we’re hoping we’ll have more time together in Book 3.

Oh, and I’m an ebook fanatic. Always reading on one of my devices. I want to start a blog and review books for teens.

 

Favorite books: I love most kinds of fantasy (except vampire and werewolf genres). Fantasy is so important for everyone. Teens (and adults) are able to safely explore feelings that might be too intense for the real world. I especially like time travel and fantasy with historical settings. The Outlander series is one of my favs. (Maybe that’s why I love the library celebrations when Taxi wears his kilt. As I said, he is so cute.)

Complete List of Characters 
in 

The Shapeshifters' Library Series

  Read

Released (The Shapeshifters' Library Book 1)

to learn more about Julianna's library, the dog-shifters, and the werewolf book-burners.