A Season to Remember
A Christmas anthology from four Australian authors
Eva Scott, Susanne Bellamy, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, and Noelle Clark
Release Date: November 28, 2014
Four short stories on the Christmas theme, spanning time, places. Uplifting, funny, thought-provoking, heart-warming, ‘A Season to Remember’ will make your heart sing.
Interview With the Authors
What advice would you give writers just starting out?
Elizabeth Ellen: Get the words out. Don’t mentally edit as you go. Concentrate on telling a good story first. Don’t worry about pithy prose or vivid description – that can come in subsequent drafts. Also read. Read the best writers in the genre you love and work out why you love the story. Is it the characters? The plot? The description? By identifying ‘why’ you love those things will point you to the ‘how’ on creating that yourself.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?
Susanne: I have the luxury of being able to move between several work spaces, inside or on one of our verandas, depending on the temperature. The change of perspective will often trip the ‘on’ switch in my head. Failing that, I work through the plot point as a logical problem that needs to be solved.
What comes first, the plot or the characters?
Susanne: First meetings! Knowing where and how characters meet tells me so much about them and their personalities. For example, the couple in my first Italian novella, One Night in Sorrento, sprang into being while my husband and I were travelling on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. It’s a busy, winding, but stunningly beautiful coastal road, and their meeting simply arrived in my imagination!
Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.
Elizabeth Ellen: The two cats in Three Ships are based on my two cats, Claude and his little sister Coco.
Are you working on something at present you would like to tell us about?
Elizabeth Ellen: I’ve just finished writing a short story sequel to my debut Regency romance, called Moonstone Promise. I have also done a full length sequel Moonstone Conspiracy which will be out next year.
I’m also researching a Roman era (3rd century AD) story what is interesting is I’m pulling today’s headlines for the plot.
What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
Eva: Isabel Allende (House of the Spirits, Eva Luna), Donna Tartt (The Goldfinch), J.K. Rowling (no need to list those titles), Kaui Hart Hemmings (The Descendants). All of these writers made me walk around for weeks wishing I could write like them.
What is your work schedule like when writing?
Eva: Crazy! I call it the Sara Lee Method – layer upon layer upon layer. I’ve got a toddler so things get hectic. I layer writing in amongst the kid stuff and the house stuff. There’s no set time, I’ve just got to grab it as I go.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Susanne: A ballerina (I studied ballet and contemporary dance for thirteen years), an air hostess (as they were then called; I studied French and Japanese at high school in preparation for a glamorous, international lifestyle!) and finally, an archaeologist because I fell passionately in love with Ancient History.
Noelle: Mature and sophisticated. Alas, I never achieved that goal.
What is your favorite food? Least favorite? Why?
Eva: Least favourite food – Chokos! My grandmother used to boil the hell out of them and I loathe the taste. There is absolutely nothing you can do to make them better in my opinion. Favourite food – probably pizza. If I was on death row that’s probably what I’d order even though there are far more amazing dishes to have. I find pizza a very satisfying comfort food.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Noelle: I’m a hybrid of both methods. I plot, create my characters in great detail, know my location intimately, study maps, climates etc…but then when it comes to writing, I just follow the characters and end up somewhere entirely different to what I planned.
What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?
Elizabeth Ellen: I like to drive fast cars.
Is there a writer you idolize? Is so, who?
Susanne: Margaret Atwood. I love the possibilities firmly rooted in some real aspect of present life. She takes an idea and marches it down the road of ‘what if’ and creates fascinating tales. Alias Grace and The Handmaid’s Tale are two of my favourite books by her.
What would we find under your bed?
Noelle: I’m ashamed to say there’s mostly dust bunnies, but I try to keep them under control.
Eva: Several small toys and the dog, an ancient cocker spaniel named Taj.
Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book. Where would you most likely want to go?
Susanne: Back to Nepal! I travelled through parts of the country many years ago with my husband, who has returned to trek and climb several times. My next romantic suspense, Her Mountain Man, which is part of a trilogy, is set on the Everest track.
Noelle: Italy and/or France. Those locations set my muse into a frenzy of story ideas.
Do you have a favorite quote or saying?
Elizabeth Ellen: I’m sorry, I forgot.
Eva: There’s more ways than one to skin a cat. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Do you write in multiple genres or just one? If just one, do you ever consider straying outside your genre?
Noelle: This is an interesting question as I have yearnings to write in several genres. At the moment I mainly write Contemporary Romance, but I’m drifting towards Women’s Fiction too. I also have a completed manuscript of a Commercial Historical Fiction book that hopefully will be published in 2015.
Elizabeth Ellen: I love historicals but I do have great ideas for outside this genre. I have a contemporary rom-com and a ghost story short story that I’m looking forward to writing.
What is something you’d like to accomplish in your writing career next year?
Noelle: I would love to try self-publishing. I have a novella manuscript all ready to go that I’d like to use as my experiment into self-publishing. I also have two more books contracted with Secret Cravings that I need to finish. I’d love to do another Christmas anthology with my buddies, Eva, Elizabeth, and Susanne.
Three Ships by Elizabeth Ellen Carter
An adventure romance set in the early 19th century on the Devon coast.
Excerpt
“Why doesn’t the lieutenant do something?” Laura whispered tautly.
“Just wait,” her father insisted.
Blackwell too had stopped running as he watched his two men close the gap. They were now only ten yards away when Renten picked up the lantern, pulled out the candle and dropped it in the cauldron.
The blackguards closed in – five yards, two yards – then the powder in the cauldron ignited. Renten disappeared in a flash of light and billowing smoke.
The two men ran into the miasma and, a moment later, their cries of distress were heard as they ran right off the edge of the cliff.
Laura gripped her father’s hand at the sound and the sight.
When the white-blue smoke cleared, the cliff edge was deserted, save for the cauldron.
Sands of Time by Noelle Clark
Kitty faces her first Christmas without the love of her life. She looks back with fondness on the memories of Christmases past and, with the love and support of her grandson Joe, finds inner strength to face the future with anticipation. Kitty realises that, as she gets older, time passes so quickly. Although sad and happy memories flood through her on this special Christmas day, she chooses to embrace every moment of life.
Excerpt
They were nearing Kingfisher Island. Not a grain of the tract that joined the small sandy cay to the mainland was visible. A couple of small boats were moored along the deep channel on the southern side of the causeway, with people fishing from them. The boats bobbed up and down on the whitecaps, sometimes disappearing from view, then emerging again.
“Just over there, please, Joe. Near that clump of mangroves.”
Joe pulled on one oar, turning the bow of the boat towards where she pointed. Within a minute, she heard the sand scraping against the keel under the boat. Clamping her hand on the gunwale for support, she stood carefully and jumped over the side, landing in knee-deep water. Joe shipped the oars and joined her, the water not even reaching halfway to his knees. He grabbed the pointy prow and pulled the boat up onto the beach.
She gazed around her, the familiar sight of the few remaining stumpy mangrove trees, and the covering of pigface on the small dunes bringing a lump to her throat. The mauve star-shaped blossoms of the coastal succulent groundcover looked exactly as they had done for all these years. Nature’s legacy, constant and predictable, unlike humans, whose term on this planet was fleeting. For a moment she recalled the faint, salty perfume of the little dune succulents whose strong roots helped the sandy hillocks from washing away with each tide. When crushed, they emitted a soft waft of delicate scent. Not for the first time, she wondered why they’d been given the hideous name of pigface.
Joe’s outstretched hand appeared before her eyes, inviting her to take it. She refocused her vision, reached out, grasped it, and took a few steps through the water and up towards the sandy beach. Joe tugged gently on her hand, helping her to stand upright in the choppy waters which made the little boat bob roughly. A cascade of spray caught them both in the face as it slapped against the side of the wooden boat with a thud. They laughed in unison, blinking at each other through salt-filled eyes.
“Gotcha, Nan.” Joe’s smile, always so generous, beamed at her. She smiled back, raised her arm, and wiped her face with the sleeve of her blouse.
He held on to her hand until she reached the dry beach, then he stretched into the prow of the dinghy and pulled out an anchor attached to a sturdy rope, walked further up the beach, and buried it firmly into the sand. When it was secured, Joe turned and retrieved the picnic basket and the rest of the things they needed for their visit to the island, and deposited them where the low dunes met the beach. She walked to the picnic basket, leaned over and opened it, took out an old blue blanket, and spread it down on the sparse tufts of grass. Ignoring her sand-encrusted feet, she stepped onto the blanket, sank back on her elbows and gazed dreamily up at the cobalt sky.
All That Glitters by Eva Scott
Molly is a modern day Cinderella, second best to her half-sister Aimee and never measuring up to her step-mother’s expectations. Now Aimee has the chance to marry an elderly millionaire and Molly is expected to keep the man’s grandson, Connor Rathmore, from sabotaging the event. Handsome, charismatic and very, very sexy – how is she going to keep him from sabotaging her heart?
Excerpt
“Well, are you ready?” She sounded rude but it was all she could manage to say. On the way over to pick him up she’d been too preoccupied to consider him at all. Instead she replayed the conversation she’d had with her stepmother. After receiving a reprimand for arriving late, Maria had grilled her over Connor Rathmore and found her answers less than satisfactory. Then the lecture started on her appearance. Where were the shoes? She’d kicked off those horrible expensive shoes at the airport and hadn’t given them another thought. An unforgivable act in her stepmother’s eyes. It was impressed upon her that she must try harder and remember her sister’s happiness. Of course. Molly loved her half-sister, Aimee, despite the fact the girl was spoilt rotten. Underneath all the embellishments she really did have a good heart. It wasn’t Aimee’s fault she’d been raised to be a life-sized doll.
She appraised the man before her. She steeled herself not to react to him. When he’d opened the hotel room door, more primal male than any man she had ever encountered, something unexpected happened to her. Bam! Right to the heart. Very inconvenient and impossible, the idea could not be entertained. Not for a millisecond. The consequences would be devastating.
“Good evening to you too.” He bestowed what she assumed was his best killer smile. “Shall we go?”
He stepped through the door, so close the heat radiating off his body hit her like a furnace. Her natural reserve began to melt. The scent of him was so… masculine and her knees wobbled as she caught her breath. Moving away wasn’t an option, even if she tried.
He smiled as if aware of the effect he had on her. Without looking back he strode towards the elevator and pushed the button. They stood in silence side by side while they waited. The animal magnetism between them shimmered, increasing with every passing second.
Molly’s senses scrambled. She stumbled into the lift. This situation would need careful handling. The man beside her must not guess his presence caused a meltdown. Her attraction to him created a complication she did not need. Just one week. Please help me make it through this one week. If her stepmother suspected an attraction between Molly and Connor, all hell would break loose.
A Touch of Christmas by Susanne Bellamy
As Starship Bluefire settles into orbit around Earth, Captain Andra Veluthian anticipates meeting her favourite human, Colonel Nick Madigan. Have his efforts to save the planet succeeded? And if so, will she lose any chance to be with him?
Knowing Andra’s fascination with all things Terran, Nick has planned a surprise for her. After all, it is Christmas, the season of giving. But when Earth’s leader and the Gravlarian captain spend time planet side, the temperature soars.
Excerpt
Starship Bluefire – Log entry #1878 Orbit established around Planet Earth. Local time: 0715 – 22 December 2525 AD
“Reverse thruster off. Docking complete, Captain.”
Captain Andra Veluthian ordered her viewing screen to retract, rolled her shoulders then rested her head against the padded headrest of her Conforma-chair and looked at the view. Framed by a huge window on the bridge, planet Earth appeared close and surprisingly whiter than on her last stopover two years earlier. Through breaks in the dense cloud cover she could even discern the long coastline of what Earth dwellers used to call South America and, just appearing on the western edge across an expanse of ocean, was the island continent they called Australia. Home of the wombat, wallaroo and one handsome colonel.
Colonel Nicholas Madigan, political leader and guiding hand in Earth’s struggle against extinction.
Last visit, the fair-haired colonel had set more than a few hearts pounding among her crew. Including hers.
About the Authors
Elizabeth Ellen Carter
A future with words was always on the books for Elizabeth Ellen Carter who started writing her own stories when she ran out of Nancy Drew mysteries to read at the age of ten. Using her mother’s Olivetti typewriter with all italic keys, she spent endless school holidays making up her own (italicised) stories and then using the Dewey Decimal System to arrange and categorise her bookshelf.
Somewhere around the age of 13, she determined to become a journalist and at 17 was awarded a newspaper cadetship. She covered news, council, education and health but had the most fun as an entertainment and features reporter covering film, TV and music.
Best of all, she met her husband at the newspaper and, together, they started a small award-winning media, marketing and advertising agency. Today, she works as marketing manager for an international organic skin care company.
In 2012, Elizabeth also returned to the keyboard to write stories (and found laptops are so much better than manual typewriters).
Her debut novel, Moonstone Obsession, was shortlisted for the 2013 Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald Awards for unpublished manuscripts.
Elizabeth is a member of the Romance Writers of Australia, the Australian Romance Readers Association and the Gold Coast Writers Association. She is currently published by Etopia Press.
Noelle Clark
Noelle Clark is an Australian author of contemporary romance and commercial historical fiction novels. Her books weave romance, intrigue, and adventure into colourful, exotic, and interesting locations around the world. Widely travelled, Noelle uses real life experience of places, culture, and people as a backdrop to her stories, giving the reader an authentic taste of the location. Her novels feature strong, mature heroines and heroes, who—often without knowing it—are ready for new beginnings.
She lives close to the sea and shares her home with two cats and two dogs. She has two grown up children, and five very small grandchildren. When Noelle’s not writing and travelling, she plays guitar, tends her vegetable garden, enjoys the company of family and friends, and—of course—reading.
Noelle is a member of Queensland Writers Centre; YON Beyond Writing Group; Romance Writers of Australia; and Australian Romance Readers Association, and is currently published by Etopia Press and Secret Cravings Publishing.
Eva Scott
Eva Scott writes contemporary romance set in her homeland of Australia and historical fiction set in the Ancient World. Her books offer passion and adventure in some of the most beautiful and intriguing places in the world. Her heroes and heroines are strong, sassy and ready to rise to their challenges, and learn a little bit about themselves along the way.
Having lived overseas for several years, Eva returned to study Anthropology before heading off to live in Papua New Guinea for a year. There she met the love of her life, author G.W. Gibson, who was stationed there with the Australian Defence Force. The rest is history, romantic history.
She now lives on the Redcliffe peninsula with her husband, small son and an assortment of animals. When Eva is not writing she enjoys mentoring first-time authors, cooking up a story, practising yoga and getting out on the bay on her stand-up paddle board.
Eva is a member of Romance Writers of Australia; North Lakes Writers Group; Queensland Writers Centre and Australian Romance Readers Association. She is published by Musa Publishing and Harlequin Escape.
Susanne Bellamy
Susanne is an Australian author of contemporary and suspense romances set in exciting and often exotic locations. Her heroes have to be pretty special to live up to the real life one she married. He saved her life then married her. They live on the edge of bush land on a mountain in beautiful sunny Queensland, Australia with two children and their dog.
Paris will always be one of her top spots, and she fell in love with Scotland when they visited the west coast (nothing to do with fine single malts!), and recently had her first real trip to Italy–tick off one Bucket List item! She has enjoyed New Year in Kathmandu and trekked in the Annapurnas, sailed in Ha Long Bay on a junk, and stayed on a floating hotel beside a tethered elephant in Thailand. The Peak in Hong Kong and Mt Faber cable car ride in Singapore are favourite spots. Susanne loves travelling to new places and exploring the culture and history, and meeting new people. These experiences are gradually being incorporated into her stories.
Her as yet unrealised dream is a trip into Earth’s orbit.
Susanne is a member of RWA and enjoys mentoring new authors. She is published with Escape Publishing, and will be a 2015 release author with Entangled Publishing.
Susana's Morning Room 