Patricia Preston & Company !

So I invited Patricia Preston, my fellow Carina Press author, Twitter buddy and indie writer to visit the blog as guest hostess today.

Instead, some of Pat's main characters have seized control of the asylum.

Please welcome Darcy Branson from Almost An Outlaw, Jennifer Riley from “The Yard Sale,” and Darlene Higginbottom from “Laid to Rest.”

Please introduce yourselves and tell us a little about your story situation.

DARCY: My story is set in April 1874 and I’m a romance heroine.

DARLENE: Oh my God.

Please wait your turn, Darlene. Go on.

DARCY: I’m widowed dressmaker. I found out my husband was unfaithful and I live with the guilt that it was my fault he was killed.

DARLENE: Why didn’t you shoot him yourself? I would have.

Darlene, wait until we get to you. Jennifer, what about you?

JENNIFER: Hi there! I’m from 2012, and I have a yard sale because I’m broke. My yard sale is so totally awesome that it changes my life.

DARCY: You are selling your yard? I have never heard of that.

DARLENE: Me neither.

JENNIFER: Duh. In 2012, there are a lot of things you haven’t heard of. They didn’t even have penicillin back then.

DARCY: Hold on, sister. I’m from 1957 and we did have penicillin. That’s what you take when you get the clap. You listening, romance heroine?

Girls, please.

DARLENE: Honey, I haven’t been a girl since I was sixteen.

Go ahead and tell us about yourself.


DARLENE:  I’m from the same town as Jennifer, only it is 1957. It’s a boring, hick town and I sell tickets at the movie theater downtown. And, if you’re a sexy blonde who wears tight blouses and pedal pushers, you’re called a bad girl. That’s me. I’m saving my money to get to Hollywood because I know I’m destined to be a movie star. And, everything was going my way until that old fart, the mayor, died in my bedroom.

DARCY: What is a movie star?


DARLENE:  Sweetie, it would take too long to explain. But, there’s a girl like me in every small, dusty town in 1957 wanting to escape. I want to make it big like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. I adore Rock Hudson. He’s so handsome.

JENNIFER: I hate to tell you this but they came to a sad end. Marilyn Monroe either committed suicide or was murdered in 1962. Poor Elvis died bloated and alone on his toilet in 1977, and Rock Hudson was a homosexual who contracted a virus that killed him in 1985.

DARCY: Oh, dear, I think Darlene has fainted!

We’ll give her minute. So, why should a reader want to read your story?

DARCY:  My story is one of second chances. My hero, Austin Cade, knows a lot about second chances. He came of age during the Border War in Missouri. He rode under a black flag with my cousin, Frank James, and Cole Younger during the Civil War. He’s come to terms with his dark past and I have to decide if I can do the same. It’s a story of love and self-forgiveness. It is short romantic read if you have a couple of hours to spare.


JENNIFER: Mine is a fun short story called “The Yard Sale.” I’m seriously down-on-my-luck as I’ve lost my job due to downsizing, my husband’s ran off with another woman, and the bank has foreclosed on the house. I enlist the help of my aunt, Gail, and her husband, Buddy, to help me with the sale. The fun starts at dawn and lasts through the day as Early Birds, Tightwads, and Packrats arrive. You’ll love Bucky Sue. There’s a happy ending, of course. And, I get to meet Prince Charming. (By the way, he looks a lot like Sam on Supernatural! Woo Hoo!)

Darlene,  are you back with us?


DARLENE:  Sorry about the sniffing. I ain’t never gonna be right again. Oh, God, now I sound just like Richie.

Why should a reader want to read your story?


DARLENE: Does anyone have a hankie?


DARCY:  I have a linen handkerchief. I crocheted the lace edging and embroidered the roses on it myself.


JENNIFER:  You wouldn’t have time to do that in 2012. You couldn’t text and like embroider, too.

Darlene?

DARLENE: I’m all right now. Everyone says my story is comedy. They think me and my accomplices, Richie and Tommy Ray, are funny. But, my story is about more than just us hauling the mayor’s corpse around. It’s about a girl who wants to make something of her life. It’s about thinking positive in the worst situations. About never giving up hope or giving up on yourself regardless of what people think of you. It’s about having a dream and holding onto that dream. It’s about the people, like Richie and Tommy Ray, who don’t think they deserve a dream, and about Mrs. Stroud, who gave up on her dream a long time ago. It’s about how the most unexpected twists, like a dead man, can help make your dream come true.


JENNIFER:  We’ve got to have a group hug now.

Thank you for talking with me today. I wish every one of you the best of luck in the future. Speaking of the future, what is in store for you?


DARCY: My best friend, Emma, has a romance coming one of these days. It features her and Pinkerton agent, Jude Darling, who was a Union officer during the war and ordered the burning of Emma’s home.

JENNIFER:  The gang from “The Yard Sale” is going to reappear in “The Doctor’s Office,” and “The Estate Sale.”

DARLENE: We may be back in October in “Haints in Hollywood.” (Not Hollywood, California) We end up in Hollywood, Mississippi where there are more dead bodies, ghosts, and comedy. See y'all then!

For more information about the books, excerpts, and buy links, please go to Patricia Ann Preston’s webpage. Click here: www.patriciaannpreston.com