BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR LOIS WINSTON, PART 1

In celebration of the release of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN (which is officially January 8th, but the book is already available at Amazon and elsewhere), the book about me, I’ve invited Lois Winston, the author who has undertaken the task of telling my story, to join us today and next Friday.  -- AP

Thanks, Anastasia. Personally, I have a feeling I was invited to fill these two slots because today is Christmas Eve, and next week is New Year’s Eve. How many people are out there reading blogs today? Or will be next week?


Busted!


No matter. I’m happy to tell you all about ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Here’s where I get to spill some of Anastasia’s secrets.


Don’t say anything we might regret!


Not to worry. We both want everyone to buy the book, so I won’t be spilling the beans, merely dropping a few appetizers to whet everyone’s appetite.


What’s with all the food metaphors? I think you’ve been spending too much time with Cloris.


It’s the muffins. Meanwhile, back to the book. For those of you who don’t know what ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN is about:


When Anastasia Pollack's husband permanently cashes in his chips at a roulette table in Las Vegas, her comfortable middle-class life craps out. Suddenly, she’s juggling two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, a communist mother-in-law, AND her dead husband’s loan shark. And that’s before she becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a coworker she discovers hot glued to her office chair.


Thanks for reminding me. I’ve been trying to get that image out of my head ever since you wrote it.


Sorry about that. How about if we introduce your readers to your mother-in-law?


Good idea! You sure did create a lot of family conflict with that one. Besides, I need all the sympathy I can get.



Excerpt from Chapter One of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN:
I hate whiners. Always have. So I was doing my damnedest not to become one in spite of the lollapalooza of a quadruple whammy that had broadsided me last week. Not an easy task, given that one of those lollapalooza whammies had barged into my bedroom and was presently hammering her cane against my bathroom door.

“Damn it, Anastasia! Hot water doesn’t grow on trees, you know!”

Some people can’t start the day without a cigarette. Lucille Pollack, Monster-in-Law from the Stygian Swamp, can’t start hers without a sludge load of complaints. As much as I detest cigarettes, I’d much prefer a nicotine-puffing mother- in-law, as long as she came with an occasional kind word and a semi-pleasant disposition. Unfortunately, marriage is a package deal. Husbands come with family. And mine came with a doozie to end all doozies.

My mother-in-law is a card-carrying, circa nineteen-thirties communist. When she met me, it was hate at first sight. I bear the name of a dead Russian princess, thanks to my mother’s unsubstantiated Romanov link -- a great- grandmother with the maiden name of Romanoff. With Mama, the connection is more like sixty, not six, degrees of separation, and the links are coated with a thick layer of rust. But that’s never stopped Mama from bragging about our royal ancestry, and it set the tone for my relationship -- or lack of it -- with my mother-in-law from Day One.

I suppose I didn’t help the situation by naming one of my sons Nicholas and the other Alexander, even if they were named after my grandfathers -- Alexander Periwinkle and Nicholas Sudberry. 

(end of excerpt -- Read more at my website.)

Why don’t you tell everyone about the blog tour you’ve set up to promote me and the book about me?

Great idea!

I do have them occasionally.

In celebration of the release of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN, I’ll be doing a blog tour beginning next week and running throughout January. You can find the schedule on my website, http://www.loiswinston.com, and here on the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers sidebar. Everyone who posts a comment to any of the blogs over the course of the month will be entered into a drawing to receive one of 5 copies of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN. (If your email isn’t included in your comment, email me privately at lois@loiswinston.com to let me know you’ve entered.)

In addition, I’m also giving away a collection of crafts books at several of the blogs. So look for those as well. 


And to any of the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers readers I'm also giving away an assortment of crafts books to one person who posts a comment this week. So let's hear from you, and be sure to check back on Sunday to see if you're the winner.

Thanks for having me here today, Anastasia. And Merry Christmas, everyone!