Eyam Museum proved an invaluable resource during my research for THE SMALLEST THING. I was so honored to be asked to join them for a virtual event this year. We talked about our own pandemic experiences, about the power of community and relationships in times of crisis, and about being inspired by history just before it seemed to repeat itself.
You can find out more about the museum on their website.
There are so many exciting things going on in publishing right now, and so many new ways to discover authors and their stories.
Just recently I learned about Kindle Worlds, a series of stories written in the worlds of other books. It’s like fan fiction taken to a whole new level, with authors writing spin-off stories of other authors’ books. For example, a story about how Aiden became a relief worker, or the story of what happened next in Kat and Owen’s relationship would be perfect Kindle Worlds stories.
I learned about Kindle Worlds when I sat down to talk with author Heather Sunseri about her latest project. After launching her own In Darkness series of romantic suspense novels, readers wanted to know what became of one of the more minor characters in the story. Heather had no plans to write about Charley, until she was invited to write a Kindle Worlds story. The result, Protected in Darkness is out today.
I talked to Heather about her genre-bending work, her passion for travel, and her love of pizza.
In your books, you blend genres, but romance, suspense, and science always predominate. If you’ll pardon the pun, what’s the attraction?
Yes, I pretty much write romantic suspense. Sometimes that comes in the form of science fiction as in the Mindspeak Series, dystopian fiction as in the Emerge series, and, of course, straight romantic suspense as in the In Darkness series. But even in the In Darkness series, I started the series with a bioterrorism case in which I made up the lethal poison that was used to contaminate bourbon in order to poison a lot of people. I’m definitely attracted to science for two reasons: 1) I grew up on such things as Star Wars and Battle Star Galactica; and 2) I think that’s the world we live in. Science is constantly changing how we live our lives. Whether it’s in the medical world (which I’m especially attracted to) or technology (both the gadgets we use and in the cyber world). In both those areas, there is a lot of good happening, but there’s also a lot of room for potential crime and misuse of the technology. And when good and crime converge, there’s opportunity for compelling fiction.
Your third and fourth books in the In Darkness series came out in August, which means more terrifying adventures for Brooke. I’m curious if you have a background in bioterrorism and cyber terrorism, or if you write about topics you want to learn about.
My husband works for the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, and, of course, I pay attention to the news. And when my husband and I take long walks with Jenny, our Golden Retriever, we use that time as sort of a think tank. We analyze what’s going on in the world, what could potentially go wrong, and what criminals and terrorists might try next. And then I research if the ideas are plausible, and if I can gather enough material to actually make a plot out of it. (Yes, I’m nearly positive that I’m on several watch lists based on my internet search history.)
So, to answer your question, I don’t have a background in bioterrorism or cyber terrorism. And I don’t necessarily write about topics I “want” to learn about, but about topics that I find interesting, are scary as hell, and could be possible threats to people around the world.
Do you have a topic you’d love to explore, but which you haven’t written about yet?
TONS! Stay tuned to future books. 🙂
You and I have much in common, including “recovering” from left-brained first careers. When did you realize you were meant to write and how did you make that transition from CPA to author?
I think I was always meant to be creative in some way. I’m not artistic at all, but I love art. I love beautiful design and the act of doing something creative—anything. And I was dying a slow, miserable death in the corporate world where anytime you had a creative idea, you were handed another boring assignment that required hours and hours of just sitting at the computer and crunching numbers. I started writing as a way to escape. I began writing any time I had time off, but mostly in the summers when I actually took off three months. I continued working after I released books one and two of the Mindspeak series. But by the time I released book three, I was pretty sure that if I quit my job I could work faster and release books fast enough to make a living. And I had been saving every bit of the money I was making from book sales. So I had built up a nice savings before I took the giant leap.
Last we chatted, you asked me about my travels, so now I get to turn the question back on you. What’s your favorite country that you’ve visited? Favorite city? Best travel experience?
Favorite country? At this moment… England, though I very much enjoyed Costa Rica, as well.
Favorite City? This is just so hard! I like different places for different reasons. But I’ll choose London for now. But I also love San Francisco. Ask me next year, and you might get a different answer.
And best travel experience? There are too many. I loved biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, kayaking to the Blue Room in Curacao, zip lining in Costa Rica, and everything about the trip I just got back from with my daughter to Paris and London. We simply had so much fun and experiences we’ll talk about for a long time! Travel is just the best gift you can give someone.
On your website, you mention home-made pizza. Of course, that piqued my interest. Is cooking another creative outlet, a meditative pastime, or something you have to do so your family doesn’t rebel?
I wish I loved cooking. And I definitely do love it when I have the time to do it “right”. But for the most part, I cook so that my family won’t rebel, and as a necessity because we live in a small town with very few restaurants who serve vegan options and both of my kids are 100% vegan.
The home-made pizza is a recipe my mom made every Saturday night when I was growing up. So, this is something my family and I do almost ever Friday night. I have my mom’s version and my kids’ new vegan version. I make one of each on Friday nights.
Thanks, Heather. It’s always great to chat with you.
Thank you so much, Lisa for inviting me to your little space on the internet!! I truly love our little chats. We should make this a regular thing!! There’s nothing I love more than to talk books, art, and travel over pizza.
Heather’s Kindle World novella, Protected in Darkness is out today.
Four years ago, Charley Packstone was hopelessly stuck in a miserable life as the daughter of the thug running Kentucky’s deadliest outlaw motorcycle gang and the twin sister to the gang’s future leader.
As Kate Ward, she’s built a simple but lonely life for herself and her four-year-old daughter inside the Witness Protection Program.
Kate has rules—rules to keep her and her daughter hidden from the wrath of the motorcycle club that wants her dead. But one fateful night, she lets her guard down after meeting a handsome stranger—Navy Seal Colt Callaway—at a bar along the Virginia Beach boardwalk. And after a sexy one-night-stand, Colt resolves to penetrate the steep walls that protect Kate’s heart.
A dead rat left on Kate’s front porch the next morning sends a clear message: the biker gang she ratted out years ago has finally found her.
No matter how badly Colt believes he can save the troubled and beautiful woman he just met, Kate’s only choice is to grab her daughter and vanish under a fresh identity. But can she do it before someone close to her is killed? And can she truly say goodbye to Colt forever?
About Heather Sunseri:
Heather Sunseri is a recovering CPA who began writing novels in order to escape the mundane life as a muggle. After twenty years in the corporate world, Heather decided to use her business savvy and curious mind to start a publishing business anchored by fictional stories. She is proof that one can be a numbers person and a creative… And that it’s never too late (or too early) to get a do over. She’s married to the love of her life, mom to two amazing kids, and caregiver to the best golden retriever and one very, needy cat. When she’s not writing, she’s making homemade pizza and drinking Kentucky bourbon.
You can find Heather on: Her Website | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube
Every writer needs a village to help raise her books. I feel very fortunate that my “village” includes Brian Peyton Joyner.
I met Brian in an online creative mastermind group last year, when he was preparing to publish his debut novel, The Wisdom of Stones. Aside from offering writerly expertise and encouragement, Brian made me laugh and dished up some fabulous recipes. He also gave me a treasured author moment when, after he and his husband had read an advanced copy of The Smallest Thing, he asked if I would call them and read the final chapter over the phone. We writers seldom get to witness the instant reactions of our readers, so that experience of hearing them gasp, ooh, and ultimately aah, will stay with me forever.
I got to read The Wisdom of Stones when it came out earlier this year. It’s a wonderful story about identity, tolerance, and being true to who you really are. Ben, the main character, has promised his dying grandmother that he’ll become a Baptist preacher, but in his heart, he knows his feelings for other men don’t match the teachings of the bible. Under the guidance of the well-meaning, but sorely misguided Pastor Hardy, Ben is thrust into a program designed to cure him of his “same-sex addiction.” Fortunately, Ben has another mentor, his Grandpa, who trades Ben stories of his own life in exchange for stones. But Grandpa has his own secret about the choices he made many years ago.
Brian is one of those courageous writers who isn’t afraid to take on topics of prejudice, sexuality, and religion, all in the same book! His special talent lies in showing us both sides of a story, so that, even though we might not always agree with a character or his beliefs, we understand where they are coming from.
In a time when we seem to struggle to acknowledge the other side of an argument, The Wisdom of Stones shines a glowing spotlight on both sides of the fence. I’m very pleased to be able to introduce you to Brian Peyton Joyner and share our conversation.
1. Where did the inspiration for The Wisdom of Stones come from?
One thing I encourage novice writers to do is to join their local writing group. When I first started writing, I joined San Diego Writer’s Ink. At a writing workshop in 2010, we were asked to write about a collection. This image popped into my head of a six-year-old boy searching for stones in the creek on his grandparents’ property. The boy would find a stone and give it to Grandpa in exchange for a story. This stone-for-a-story became the plot device of the novel. The main story line is based on my own experience coming out in my senior year of college, but I amped up the conflict so it’s not a memoir.
2. Ben’s grandpa is a wonderful character. He’s such an important figure in Ben’s life, but at the same time, he is far from perfect. Why was it important for you to tell Grandpa and Ruby J.’s story alongside Ben’s?
We are replaying history in our approach to same-sex relationships. The attitude towards interracial relationships in the 1930s mirrors that of same-sex relationships in our current time. People have tried to argue that in essays and articles, but I think messages are more powerful when they are subtle and not in your face. I thought that this beautiful love and redemption story for Grandpa would be a nice mirror that would help Ben look at his own life and his struggle in accepting his attractions to men.
3. The Wisdom of Stones is a work of fiction, however, as a gay man who struggled to reconcile sexual orientation and faith, you mentioned that some of Ben’s experiences are based on your own or those of people you’ve known. Can you tell us a little bit about your own struggle to reconcile who you are and who you were taught you’re supposed to be?
Many of the things that happened to the main character in the book happened to me. I didn’t have a formal plan to rid myself of homosexuality, but I did try to change behaviors and fix all of the things that I was told made me gay.
I listened to different music. I tried to have “healthy” relationships with other guys. I tried to get into sports. I threw myself into my relationship with my girlfriend, even going to the point where I asked her to marry me. But in the end, nothing that I tried cured me.
4. What would you say to young men and women struggling with their own identities? What words of encouragement can you offer?
Your sexual identity is an important part of who are you, but it’s not the only part. And don’t think that you have to “figure out” everything. I think that too many times, we feel like we need to have this perfect understanding of our identity before talking about it with other people. I would have liked to have been able to discuss my attractions to guys with someone when I first started having them, but I couldn’t. I could have saved myself all sorts of problems if I’d had a mentor or role model. Find someone that you trust to talk to about your feelings. Don’t label yourself. Just explore how you feel and what you feel. Go from there. And know that people’s first response isn’t where they’ll end up. I struggled with my sexual orientation for ten years before telling my parents. Of course, they weren’t going to be okay with it the first time I told them. But over time, they have become accepting and even embracing of the person I have become and my relationship with my husband.
5. You’re from the South, so we have to talk about food. What kind of food do you love to cook? And, living in health-conscious Southern California, what are the Southern comfort foods you miss the most?
My momma cooks simple food, but she has a perfect palette and always balances the flavors of salty, sweet, bitter, sour, fat and umami. She’s not conscious of this skill, but it’s what makes her the best cook I know. I love to cook with fresh ingredients, and even though we live in Palm Springs, I’m not afraid to fry or use butter. I’m more about portion control than adhering to any specific notions on how to prepare or season food. I love fresh buttermilk biscuits and cornbread. My husband and I were recently in South Carolina, and I think we gained a pound each day we were there because we had biscuits every morning. In my hometown, we had a mill that would grind local white corn. Their cornmeal was just corn and leavening ingredients. I’m not a fan of the cornmeal mixes you can buy in SoCal because the main ingredients are usually wheat and sugar.
6. What can readers look forward to reading next from you?
Danh, an Amerasian preacher, travels to Vietnam with his gay half-brother and their father to find Danh’s birth mother. Secrets are revealed, lies are exposed and addictions take over, but along the journey, they each discover the importance of family.
I can’t wait to read it.
Abandoned by his father at age seven, Ben loses his mother to a car accident that same year and becomes his grandparents responsibility and their joy.
Handing his grandfather an arrowhead he finds at his mother s funeral, Ben sets in motion an agreement between them: Ben gifts his grandfather a stone and his grandfather gifts him a story. Months later when Mee Maw falls ill, Ben makes yet another deal this time with God that if Mee Maw recovers, Ben will dedicate himself to the church.These commitments inform the man he will become.
Brian Peyton Joyner was an attorney for twenty years, until August 2016, when he quit the corporate world to become a full-time author, speaker and vlogger. He advocates for “agreeable disagreement” as the path for bridging the religious and LGBTQ+ communities. Although born and raised in Upstate South Carolina, Brian now lives in Palm Springs, California, with his saint of a husband and two ill-behaved dogs. Find out more about Brian at https://brianpeytonjoyner.com
I first met Rebecca J. Lacko several years ago at the UCLA Extension Writer’s Studio. Two introverts, we shuffled next to one another with our coffee, made tentative greetings, and soon realized we’d each found a new friend. When Rebecca workshopped a scene from her work-in-progress, I knew she was a writer whose career I wanted to follow.
That project went on to become Rebecca’s debut novel, Radio Head, published under the pen name Rebecca Laclair. I had the honor of reading drafts of the book as Rebecca wrote them. I got to watch the story evolve, see plotlines soar and sometimes fail, and witness characters try to take over the story, only to be trimmed back.
Then, last year, I had the great pleasure of reading an advance copy of Radio Head before its release. I recall opening the envelope, seeing the gorgeous cover for the first time, and feeling the weight of a real book, knowing all the work that had gone into it. It was also fun to read the finished version, to see the changes that had been made. I read the opening, something many writers struggle with, and Boom! I was into the story, galloping through the lives of Shelby and Zac as if I was meeting them for the very first time.
I am so very proud of my friend and her wonderful book, and I’m pleased to be able to introduce them both to you. I caught up with Rebecca to talk about what inspires her work and what we can look forward to next.
1. Music plays a big role in your work. Why is it so important to you?
Music is a universal language that every person at every age understands. From our first lullaby to our last dance, specific songs mark milestones and rites of passage and can instantly transport us back to those moments, even when heard years later. Music helps me to understand what makes my characters tick, because what a person chooses to listen to forms a lens, calibrating his or her worldview. Telling a story through this universal language allows me to reach a diverse readership, because we all share enjoyment of music. I always love to hear from readers, and often they’ll share their favorite song and the story of how it came to be so important to them.
2. I’ve had the benefit of reading your other works-in-progress. You and I share the trait of writing young characters with dead or absent fathers. What do you make of this?
Yes, that is a curious tendency, isn’t it? There is a word in Portuguese, saudade, that suggests a deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent. How bittersweet that the word is roughly pronounced, “so dada.” In my debut novel Radio Head, my protagonist’s Dada took his own life, and in my second book, the father character is estranged from his child, causing tremendous longing on the part of the young rock musician who is my main character.
I have an awesome adopted dad, so why so much daddy drama? There are no definitive answers I can offer, only further questions. In my experience, the role of being “daughter” is a dance of both pulling toward and twirling away, a celebration of love and a searching in the dark for genealogical clues. Biologically, our origin overwhelmingly stems from mitochondrial DNA – which comes from mom. But it may be argued that who we are, our roots, comes from the relationship with our fathers. If we feel severed from our origin, can we truly know ourselves?
Whatever the reason may be, I’m fascinated with family dynamics, where people come from, and what makes them behave the way they do. The parent/child relationship often finds its way to the heart of my stories.
3. Can you tell us a bit about your work habits?
As a child I fantasized about writing books in a remote, natural paradise, surrounded by children and pets and my true love. That long-ago dream pretty much sums up my reality as a writer, and I’m very content and deeply thankful. I work full-time as a writer and editor, compartmentalizing my time between nonfiction assignments, editing a magazine, researching my next book, exercise and volunteer work, and steeling my resolve for fiction writing sprints. One drawback: I have far too much time for self-doubt, a scourge among writers. I love a tight deadline, and the ticking of the clock.
I’m grateful that I don’t suffer writers’ block, but that doesn’t mean all my ideas are winning or marketable. What I’ve learned – through painful stretches of weeks and months spent “forcing” a story to work and failing – is that I can only write what I can write. If I explore a topic I love, the research and subject interview process are seriously fun, and totally fulfilling. If I write about the things that offend or make me angry or sad, it’s painful, but the work takes on its own energy as I write from my heart in an effort to right a wrong. The goal is always a project so engrossing that I lay awake thinking about my characters, drive my kids to school wondering how my character will resolve a certain problem, or recall scenes I’ve already written to determine how I can make them better. The story that won’t shut up is the only story I can write.
4. You run a teen writer’s workshop at your local library. What is it that you love about working with teen writers?
I am so lucky to work with young writers. The students who attend our workshops, camps and spoken word events are, by and large, fabulous writers, and their stories are outrageously good. Teens are busy and have myriad commitments before graduation, so I’m impressed by their tenacity and willingness to show up and do the work. For many, the written word is cathartic; their fictional characters hold the secrets of their daily worries and traumas. I don’t know whether I’m any good as a teacher, but I’m a rigorous editor, and often revision is where a writer truly discovers what his or her story is really about. Through prompts, discussion and writing time, the students create and then share pieces in our writers’ circle, a place where works are read aloud. Magic happens in the writers’ circle. The writers demonstrate such love and acceptance of one another’s words. As peers, they help resolve the characters’ dilemmas, and they laugh and encourage one another. It’s an honor to be included in the process, and especially rewarding when the students go on to have their prose published or win awards from literary magazines. I wish every writer, at every age and stage, a safe writing community. It’s invaluable to have others who can be trusted with early drafts, and dreams yet written.
5. What are you working on now?
I am working on my third book! Some of my favorite writing experiences have occurred when I ventured away from “safe” territory to try something that wasn’t an automatic, go-to topic for me. The story I’m working on now is science fiction, a genre I love but have never explored in my writing. The piece I’m working on involves time travel, and I’m thrilled with the challenge of placing my characters in both the future and the past. My hope is to create a compelling story for upper Middle Graders, but it may venture into the YA arena if I let myself run away with a few mature themes I have brewing in the background. I really won’t know until I’ve finished the first draft. As an avid outliner, this un-knowing is immensely enjoyable and brings a vitality to my writing sessions. It’s a journey of discovery, and I’m working on allowing my characters to tell the story organically, and letting go of any expectations beyond the narrative structure. And yes, music will play an important role. It may even save my character’s life.
Shelby Rey can hear you like a song. With one touch, she’s in tune with your every hope, every secret. When a celebrity psychiatrist takes an interest in her case, Shelby comes face-to-face with Zac Wyatt, the lead singer of the world-famous rock band, Grounder. For Zac, success isn’t enough though. He wants a shot at his first solo album, fame above and beyond Grounder.
But the genius behind every one of Grounder’s hits is Stanford Lysandre, their heroin-addicted, self-taught lead guitarist. Zac is so jealous he could kill him. Determined to win, Zac realizes that Shelby can do what he can’t-hear the music inside him, uncover his feelings, and help him create his own singular style.
As Shelby gets closer to the band, she discovers Stanford’s secret to writing his music. It’s a power very familiar to hers, but life-affirming and not destructive. Can Shelby hide her connection to Zac’s enemy?
Rebecca J. Lacko describes the way music speaks to us, changes us, and validates us in a way that any music lover immediately recognizes. A magazine editor and HuffPost contributor, Rebecca has short stories published Gravel, Wordhaus, and Mixtape Methodology. Rebecca mentors teen writers and is an advocate for music education.
Connect with Rebecca:
