Searching For A Starry Night In Cynthia's Attic!

I'm in the attic today - Cynthia's Attic blog, that is.

Stop by to read more about Searching For A Starry Night, miniatures and all that fun stuff! Be sure to comment!

Mysteries and Food - Eating's NOT a crime

What do characters eat? Well, some pretty good stuff, it seems. I asked a few authors and they shared their (and their characters') favorite foods at Fatal Foodies .

Feel free to share your favorite character's food too - or even your own.

Vote for Searching For A Starry Night Cover!

My book cover is up at another site for July - an interesting assortment but I'd appreciate your vote for best cover to July 31 at ErinAislinn.com.

Updated SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT Blogs & Events

Updated list of my recent blog stops, upcoming interviews and in-person events for June and July '08. The list is also updated regularly at my website news page.

June/July 2008 Events:

* Vote for Searching For A Starry Night as BEST COVER to JULY 31 at ErinAislinn.com.

* Featured Guest Author, Stories For Children Magazine

* Sam from SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT tells her
Best Friend's Story

BLOG STOPS:

* New Contest to July 4! See details, Candid Canine post.

* July 8 - Cynthia's Attic Blog

* June 27 - The Stiletto Gang

* June 24: New review, great plug for art & minis! at BlogBookTours.

* June 19: Even Grandmas Approve! See Terrie Moran's glowing words about reading a mystery by me and Chris Grabenstein! at the Women of Mystery blog.

* June 17 - Miniaturist & Mystery author Margaret Grace and I trade blogs and questions. Comment to enter our contest. See my collection and answers at the Killer Hobbies blog. See her miniatures and my interview here at Candid Canine.

* June 15 - Elysabeth's Stories Blog

* June 11 - Mayra's Secret Bookcase

* INTERVIEW at the Acme Authors Blog

* Searching For A Starry Night - March '08 Cover Winner at the New Covey Cover Awards. Thanks!

IN-PERSON EVENTS:

* Aug 14, Thurs, 7-8 p.m., Cafe' Book, 395 Lake St., Antioch, IL, 847/395-2223. Stop in for a snack, coffee and discussion!

* July 13, Sun, 2-5 p.m.Book Signing & Discussion at Down the Rabbit Hole, 5709 7th Ave., Kenosha WI, 262/656-1515.

* July 12, 12-6, 8th Annual Unity Fest, Drake Field, Elgin, IL. Doxie races and more, sponsored by the Midwest Dachshund Rescue

New SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT Blog Stop!

New cool interview with me about my new children's mystery, SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT, A Miniature Art Mystery, at The Stiletto Gang today - check out the cool slide show and why I LOVE platforms!

See the full list of SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT Interviews and Blog stops at my website news page.

New SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT Review

A good word on the art and miniatures in SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT at BlogBookTours. Check it out!

Searching For A Starry Night - Favorite of Grandmas!

Apparently even grandmas can't wait to read to their grandkids about the exploits of Sam, Lita and Dachshund, Petey, in my children's mystery, Searching For A Starry Night! And that's besides reading Chris Grabenstein's new ya adventure. wow, how cool is that!

Check out the post made by Terrie Moran today at the Women of Mystery blog. Thanks, Terrie!

MURDER IN MINIATURE: Meet author Margaret Grace

Today I’m talking with Margaret Grace, author of MURDER IN MINIATURE, the first book in the new Miniature Mysteries series, released in Feb. 2008. MAYHEM IN MINIATURE will be published in August '08.

For fun, Margaret and I are “trading blogs” today. We’ve both answered the same questions, talk about our books, and share our miniatures.

Read the interview I did with her here and then read her interview with me at the Killer Hobbies blog. Make a comment or ask a question at both blogs and your name will be entered to win free books and miniature scenes from both of us! (My miniature party table scene below).




BONUS: Sign up for my free periodic newsletter (link at right) and get your name entered to win a mini copy of SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT, A Miniature Art Mystery!!

Publications: Margaret is author of eight books in The Periodic Table Mysteries, written under her birth name, Camille Minichino.


Favorite Quote:

I like to use metaphors that fit the setting and theme of my books. In "Murder in Miniature" I say of one of Gerry's ill-tempered friends:

Misfortune followed Linda like a string of glue from a low-end glue gun.

(This has the double advantage of (slight) humor, and also an "inside joke" for miniaturists.)



(Pictured: A crime scene: Margaret did it in the bedroom with a cane. this went to silent auction at Forensics U in St. Louis last year. The carpet is sandpaper. Did you know it comes in many colors now? I use green for lawns, blue for carpeting ...)


Tell me about you and your collection:

My bio looks like a copy and paste from several different people. I'm very undisciplined and move from one career/interest to another. NO, wait. I don't move; I keep them all, accumulating new ones and not getting rid of the old. I've been a research physicist, a human factors engineer, a teacher, a miniaturist, a writer ... I started a small business a few years ago -- I produced bibs and Frisbees with pictures of Einstein, Curie and Marconi (as alternative to puppies and kitties.)

Once when I was between jobs, I applied to be a temp. I flunked the typing test and ended up working in a factory, making little plastic washers. Fortunately, that didn't last too long. Now, after writing 11 novels plus a few million other words, I think I could pass that typing test.



Is your main character someone you'd want to invite over to "play with" and why?

I'd love to have a crafts day with Gerry. She has more tools!

What does your character have that you wish was yours - and will you make it in real life?

I would love to have Gerry's Bronx apartment and might make one! The way to distinguish it would be to paste postcards with city views in the windows so it looks like it's really in the Bronx. I love the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, too ... Oh oh, I'm singing.

What's your next mini project or what's in progress?



I'm doing a bathtub reading scene ... trying to figure the best way to do bubbles. I'm also trying to decide whether to have a body in it. Maybe just an arm. Minis and crime just seem to go together, don't they?


What’s your dream miniature project you hope to make one day?

Marie Curie's laboratory, where she stirred a giant pot with molten pitchblende. It was in an open shed, so it fits the "dollhouse" style perfectly. Right?


How’d you begin writing books? What’s your degree and education?

Writing novels came up to number 1 on my to-do list, so I got to it. I have a PhD in physics, plus assorted classes in philosophy, theology, and literature.


What inspired your mystery novel – and why use miniatures?

I want my whole life to appear in one form of writing or another. Like Isaac Asimov, who never had an unpublished thought..



(Pictured: The miniature museum)

Did you have a dollhouse (or other minis) in childhood?

It was my main "toy" as a kid. My cousin, a few years older, would play with me. We'd decorate and cut out flowers from old greeting cards and put them on the wall. It was a magic time. She's still my favorite cousin!


If a cyclone/fire/tsunami, etc were coming, what one miniature would you take with you when you evacuated and why?
What’s special about it?



One of the most fun projects I did was creating the mortuary. The casket is an empty box of staples. I painted it, then wrapped fabric around another covered box and used it as the stand. For the rest, I had to improvise and use things in different ways. I bought two dining room sets, for example, and used only the chairs, in rows, for the visiting parlor. The wallpaper is dark scrapbooking paper.



For the apartment upstairs (as in the Periodic Table mysteries,) I used a tiny glide rocker that matches one in my own living room.


How did you research the book? Did you do anything different?

In "Murder in Miniature" I created a fictional town, Lincoln Point, CA. I've been doing Lincoln research (the town is obsessed with Abe and Mary Todd) and having a great time. I read all the Lincoln-Douglas debates to set the scene in the third one in the series, which I just finished.


What’s your craft background?

In keeping with my scattered nature, I try everything. One year I took classes in cartooning so I could draw our Christmas card with caricatures of me and my husband. Another year I did beading and put a tiny beaded necklace on photos of all my friends and sent them to them for birthdays or other occasions. For Christmas ‘07 I knitted tiny scarves and put them around a drawing of Frosty the Snowman. I made 100 of them, then gave up as the deadline approached, and did the other 200 with strands of yarn, not knitted!


Your next book is:

"Mayhem in Miniature" is due August 2008. The main setting is an upscale retirement home in Lincoln Point where Gerry teaches crafts.

Describe your craft room - where do you work on minis? C’mon show us!




What’s your worst crafting/miniatures moment?



Who hasn't super-glued their fingers together?? Or spilled paint on a pair of good pants? Worst project result: I tried to make a tiny (3" sq) quilt by cutting tiny squares of fabric and gluing onto a piece of fabric backing. Bad idea! The tiny squares are raggedy and threads show everywhere. Not even a pot of glue could help. I now use it as coaster in my office.

Margaret, thanks for being such a good sport and sharing your books – and your minis – with us!

Now, it's your turn, readers! Anything you’re dying to know about her miniatures or books? Now’s your chance to ask (and maybe win a book or prize!) so ask a question or post a comment!! Don't forget to see my story at her blog, too!

Searching For A Starry Night - IT'S HERE!

THEY DO EXIST!

Look what the UPS man brought me today!!

Pre-order now at Amazon.com!

Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery - in miniature!

Look who's reading "Searching For A Starry Night"!

Even the lady from my Teapot Shoppe was excited to get a glimpse of Searching For A Starry Night - to be released JUNE 15!!

(But you can pre-order now! See Amazon link at right.)



The miniature book was made by Lee Ann Borgia of LABH Miniatures - (see 6/12 entry).



** Want your own copy?? Take a chance to win a signed copy of SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT (life-size) and get your hat thrown in the ring to win the miniature copy too!

*** See details and contest rules at my blog below - or at my website news page.