• Fiction Furbaby,  Modern Western,  Western

    Fiction Furbaby: Meet a Xysticus from A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner@RobsRescues #RLFblog #Pets

    Fiction Furbaby: Meet a Xysticus from A Room in Blake's Folly by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner@RobsRescues #RLFblog #PetsBack in 1889, when Blake’s Folly boasted three silver mines, many saloons and brothels, the adventurer, Westley Cranston, fell in love with Sookie Lacey a former prostitute. Their powerful romance was doomed but never forgotten, and the repercussions could be felt 130 years later. The six stories in A Room in Blake’s Folly tell the tale.

    J Arlene Culiner, I’m happy to host you on Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Tell us about your book.

    A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner

    Genre Historical to Contemporary Western Romance
    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): sensual

    In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor’s end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.

    Tell Us About Your Cover

    Why did you write this book?

    I wanted to show the Far West as it really was, without the cowboy myths, without the shootouts and without the happy mail-order bride fantasy. I felt that real people had to be portrayed with all their failures and successes.

    What is your favorite genre to read?

    I read many different sorts of books, but my favourite is literary travel.

    Who is your favorite character from fiction (not including your own)?

    The interfering and bossy Flora Post from Stella Gibbon’s delightful Cold Comfort Farm is a great favorite of mine. She can’t be fooled, but she sees the humour in everything.

    What are you working on at the moment?

    A non-fiction history of life on the Great Hungarian Plain.

    What books will we see from you in coming months?

    Two new versions of stories that are also set in Blake’s Folly, Nevada will be coming out this spring: All About Charming Alice and Desert Rose. Here are the blurbs:

    All About Charming Alice

    Alice Treemont has no intention of falling in love. Living in Blake’s Folly, a semi-ghost town, she cooks vegetarian meals, rescues unwanted dogs, and protects the most unloved creatures on earth: snakes. What man would share those interests?

    Jace Constant is in Nevada, doing research for his new book, but he won’t be staying. He’s disgusted by desert dust on his fine Italian shoes and dog hair on his cashmere sweaters. As for snakes, he doesn’t just despise them: they terrify him.

    So why does the air sizzle each time Alice and Jace meet? A romance would entail far too many compromises.

    Desert Rose

    Rose Badger is the local flirt, and if the other inhabitants of backwoods Blake’s Folly, Nevada, don’t approve, she couldn’t care less. With a disastrous marriage and a dead-end career far behind her, settling down is the last thing she intends to do. Newcomer Jonah Livingstone is intriguing, but with his complicated life, he’s off limits for anything other than friendship. Besides, Rose has a secret world of her own—one she won’t give up for any man.

    The last person geologist Jonah Livingstone expected to meet in a semi-ghost town is the sparkling and lovely Rose Badger. But Rose, always surrounded by many admirers, doesn’t seem inclined to choose a favorite. So why fret? Jonah keeps his personal life well hidden…and that’s the best way to avoid disappointment.

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Publisher The Wild Rose Press
    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

    Fiction Furbaby: Meet a Xysticus from A Room in Blake's Folly by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner@RobsRescues #RLFblog #Pets

    J Arlene Culiner Social Media

    Writer, photographer, social critical artist, and impenitent teller of tall tales, J Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a mud house on the Great Hungarian Plain, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave dwelling, a haunted house on the English moors, and on a Dutch canal. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest where, much to local dismay, she protects spiders, snakes, and all weeds. She particularly enjoys incorporating into mysteries, non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with very odd characters.
    Linktree https://linktr.ee/j.arleneculiner
    Website https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Blog https://j-arleneculiner.over-blog.com
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7158064.J_Arlene_Culiner
    Twitter https://twitter.com/JArleneCuliner
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/blakesfolly/
    Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/jarleneculiner
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jarleneculiner/
    BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-arlene-culiner

    Shout out to Rob’s Rescues – founded by a 9-year-old animal activist

    Rob’s Rescues is a non-profit organization in Georgia helping people in need care for and feed their pets. It was founded in 2014 by a then nine-year-old boy. Rob’s Rescues is dedicated to collecting pet food for people in need to reduce shelter surrenders, and to advocating for the adoption of shelter pets. Rob writes monthly articles advocating for shelter animals in the Around About Local Media magazine publications. His column was first published in 2014. He also has pet food collection sites for people in need in the community and interviews amazing people. His interviews appear online once they are published in his column.
    Rob volunteers for Pet Buddies Food Pantry, the Cherokee County Animal Shelter and Cobb County Animal Control and collects pet food for these organizations and the communities they serve. He also wants to bring attention to smaller, rural shelters. Mostly he wants to get kids to be Rob’s Rangers to teach kids that they can help shelter animals. Rob has also talked to kids in a classroom setting.
    Rob’s Rescues is a Non-Profit Corporation and all donations are tax deductible.
    Website http://www.robsrescues.com/
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/robsrescues/
    Twitter https://twitter.com/RobsRescues

  • Book Release,  Contemporary,  Modern Western

    Read A Room in Blake’s Folly the new #WesternHistorical by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #Contemporary #Western

    Read A Room in Blake's Folly the new #WesternHistorical by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #Contemporary #WesternBack in 1889, when Blake’s Folly boasted three silver mines, many saloons and brothels, the adventurer, Westley Cranston, fell in love with Sookie Lacey a former prostitute. Their powerful romance was doomed but never forgotten, and the repercussions could be felt 130 years later. The six stories in A Room in Blake’s Folly tell the tale.

    J Arlene Culiner, I’m happy to host you on Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Tell us about your book.

    A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner

    Genre Historical to Contemporary Western Romance
    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): sensual

    In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor’s end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.

    Tell Us About Your Cover

    Why did you write this book?

    I wanted to show the Far West as it really was, without the cowboy myths, without the shootouts and without the happy mail-order bride fantasy. I felt that real people had to be portrayed with all their failures and successes.

    What is your favorite genre to read?

    I read many different sorts of books, but my favourite is literary travel.

    Who is your favorite character from fiction (not including your own)?

    The interfering and bossy Flora Post from Stella Gibbon’s delightful Cold Comfort Farm is a great favorite of mine. She can’t be fooled, but she sees the humour in everything.

    What are you working on at the moment?

    A non-fiction history of life on the Great Hungarian Plain.

    What books will we see from you in coming months?

    Two new versions of stories that are also set in Blake’s Folly, Nevada will be coming out this spring: All About Charming Alice and Desert Rose. Here are the blurbs:

    All About Charming Alice

    Alice Treemont has no intention of falling in love. Living in Blake’s Folly, a semi-ghost town, she cooks vegetarian meals, rescues unwanted dogs, and protects the most unloved creatures on earth: snakes. What man would share those interests?

    Jace Constant is in Nevada, doing research for his new book, but he won’t be staying. He’s disgusted by desert dust on his fine Italian shoes and dog hair on his cashmere sweaters. As for snakes, he doesn’t just despise them: they terrify him.

    So why does the air sizzle each time Alice and Jace meet? A romance would entail far too many compromises.

    Desert Rose

    Rose Badger is the local flirt, and if the other inhabitants of backwoods Blake’s Folly, Nevada, don’t approve, she couldn’t care less. With a disastrous marriage and a dead-end career far behind her, settling down is the last thing she intends to do. Newcomer Jonah Livingstone is intriguing, but with his complicated life, he’s off limits for anything other than friendship. Besides, Rose has a secret world of her own—one she won’t give up for any man.

    The last person geologist Jonah Livingstone expected to meet in a semi-ghost town is the sparkling and lovely Rose Badger. But Rose, always surrounded by many admirers, doesn’t seem inclined to choose a favorite. So why fret? Jonah keeps his personal life well hidden…and that’s the best way to avoid disappointment.

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Publisher The Wild Rose Press
    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

    Read A Room in Blake's Folly the new #WesternHistorical by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #Contemporary #Western

    J Arlene Culiner Social Media

    Writer, photographer, social critical artist, musician, and occasional actress, J Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave-dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest and, much to local dismay, protects all creatures, especially spiders and snakes. She particularly enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with strange characters.
    Website https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Blog https://j-arleneculiner.over-blog.com
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7158064.J_Arlene_Culiner
    Twitter https://twitter.com/JArleneCuliner
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/blakesfolly/
    Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/jarleneculiner
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jarleneculiner/
    BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-arlene-culiner

     

  • Contemporary,  Cover Art,  Western

    Peek behind the cover of A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #Western Historical to #Contemporary Romance

    Peek behind the cover of A Room in Blake's Folly by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner/ #RLFblog #Western Historical to Contemporary RomanceBack in 1889, when Blake’s Folly boasted three silver mines, many saloons and brothels, the adventurer, Westley Cranston, fell in love with Sookie Lacey a former prostitute. Their powerful romance was doomed but never forgotten, and the repercussions could be felt 130 years later. The six stories in A Room in Blake’s Folly tell the tale.

    J Arlene Culiner, I’m happy to host you on Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Tell us about your book.

    A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner

    Genre Historical to Contemporary Western Romance
    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): sensual

    In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor’s end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.

    Tell Us About Your Cover

    What was your reaction when you first saw this cover?

    I loved it!

    How did you choose the artist?

    Jennifer Greeff was the cover artist for one of my previous books, The Turkish Affair, and I think her design is wonderful. There’s the suggestion of hot sun and a bleached-out landscape—and those were perfect for a mystery set on an archaeological site in Turkey. For A Room in Blake’s Folly, a Western that begins in 1889, and ends in 2022, I wanted to see if she could evoke the past, desolation, and deep secrets.

    What was it like to work with this artist?

    A pleasure! So much so, that she has also done the covers for the two other books in this Blake’s Folly Romance trilogy that will be released this spring: All About Charming Alice and Desert Rose.

    What do you like best about your cover?

    The colors, the sense of loss, of a forgotten past mixed with the hint of green hope just outside the window. A Room in Blake’s Folly begins with a love story that goes wrong, but it still has the power to influence people one hundred and thirty years later.

    A good cover conveys the genre at a glance. What are the genre clues on this cover?

    There is an abandoned room, a window with torn curtains, and these both suggest a forgotten history and deep secrets. Such things belong to the past, to a historical novel, but we are seeing it now, after all the years have passed, thus it sets the story very much in the present.

    What emotions do you hope your cover communicates?

    Loss, secrets, and the desire to know more.

    If your publisher chose your cover, how much say did you have in choosing your cover?

    My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, presented me with another cover. It was a very nice cover, however, it really was too contemporary for this story (there was modern architecture in one corner and the suggestion of industry.) When I pointed out that most of the story takes place long before such things existed, my publisher immediately changed the cover, and I ended up with this one, which I love.

    Does your publisher use a form to gather information regarding your preferences?

    Yes, absolutely! How else could they get it so right?

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Publisher The Wild Rose Press
    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

    Peek behind the cover of A Room in Blake's Folly by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner/ #RLFblog #Western Historical to Contemporary Romance

    J Arlene Culiner Social Media

    Writer, photographer, social critical artist, musician, and occasional actress, J Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave-dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest and, much to local dismay, protects all creatures, especially spiders and snakes. She particularly enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with strange characters.
    Website https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Blog https://j-arleneculiner.over-blog.com
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7158064.J_Arlene_Culiner
    Twitter https://twitter.com/JArleneCuliner
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/blakesfolly/
    Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/jarleneculiner
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jarleneculiner/
    BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-arlene-culiner

     

  • Contemporary,  Historical,  Two Tips

    Pick up cool tips from J Arlene Culiner author of A Room in Blake’s Folly by @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #Historical #Contemporary #Romance

    Back in 1889, when Blake’s Folly boasted three silver mines, many saloons and brothels, the adventurer, Westley Cranston, fell in love with Sookie Lacey a former prostitute. Their powerful romance was doomed but never forgotten, and the repercussions could be felt 130 years later. The six stories in A Room in Blake’s Folly tell the tale.

    J Arlene Culiner, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Thanks for sharing two tips with us today, but first, please tell us about A Room in Blake’s Folly.

    A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner

    Genre This book begins in 1889 and ends in 2022. Therefore, it’s a Western and a Historical to Contemporary Romance

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): sensual

    In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor’s end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.

    Two Tips for Organizing

    1) Delegate. Why waste your own time on trivia? You can always find someone who is willing to do something boring in your place.

    2) Always put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Given enough time, any obligation will disappear. Who will care about your unpaid bills, your ironing, or your housework in 2076?

    Two Tips for Household Chores

    1) Use your foot to push dust bunnies and those unsightly clumps of animal hair behind sofas, tables, counters or armoires. Who’s going to look and discover how lazy you are? And even if someone does catch you out, do you care? Really? Why?

    2) Change your mind about dust. See it as a beautiful patina that adds atmosphere to any room and any piece of furniture.

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Publisher The Wild Rose Press
    Universal Buy Link https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

    J Arlene Culiner Social Media

    Writer, photographer, social critical artist, musician, and occasional actress, J Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave-dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest and, much to local dismay, protects all creatures, especially spiders and snakes. She particularly enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with strange characters.
    Teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFEUrxqdVs8
    https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Website https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Blog https://j-arleneculiner.over-blog.com
    Storytelling Podcast https://soundcloud.com/j-arlene-culiner
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7158064.J_Arlene_Culiner
    Twitter https://twitter.com/JArleneCuliner
    Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/jarleneculiner
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jarleneculiner/

     

  • Book Release,  Historical

    Read A Room in Blake’s Folly the new # HistoricalRomance by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #ContemporaryRomance

    Read A Room in Blake's Folly the new # HistoricalRomance by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #ContemporaryRomanceWhen a forgotten romance comes to light after one hundred and thirty years, it has the power to influence the inhabitants of a former silver boomtown. Do you know what your own grandparents got up to in their heyday?

    J Arlene welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about A Room in Blake’s Folly.

    A Room in Blake’s Folly by J Arlene Culiner

    Genre Historical to Contemporary Romance

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): Sensual

    If only the walls could speak…

    In one hundred and fifty years, Blake’s Folly, a silver boomtown notorious for its brothels, scarlet ladies, silver barons, speakeasies, and divorce ranches, has become a semi-ghost town. Although the old Mizpah Saloon is still in business, its upper floor is sheathed in dust. But in a room at a long corridor’s end, an adventurer, a beautiful dance girl, and a rejected wife were once caught in a love triangle, and their secret has touched three generations.

    Why did you write this book?

    Because I’m an historian as well as a storyteller, I wanted to chart the romance possibilities of a former silver boomtown that has become a semi-ghost town. I also liked the idea of transporting readers away from their everyday reality and carrying them to a place they don’t know. Of course, in all of my books, I also want to underline how necessary it is to stay curious about the past.

    What is your favorite genre to read?

    I read everything from creative non-fiction to romance and history. Reading is such a pleasure and people are writing marvelous things in all genres, so why would I restrict myself to one?

    Who is your favorite character from fiction (not including your own)?

    Reasonable (yet not humorless) Flora Post from Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

    What are you working on at the moment?

    I’m about to start a memoir of a small village in France. At the moment, I have my nose stuck in archives.

    What books will we see from you in coming months?

    Two other re-releases that have Blake’s Folly as their setting: Desert Rose and All About Charming Alice.

    Read A Room in Blake's Folly the new # HistoricalRomance by J Arlene Culiner @JArleneCuliner #RLFblog #ContemporaryRomance

    Where to buy A Room in Blake’s Folly

    Publisher https://shop.aer.io/TheWildRosePress/p/A_Room_in_Blakes_Folly/9781509242030-11180
    Amazon https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B09THMZBL7
    Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-room-in-blakes-folly-j-arlene-culiner/1141066792
    Apple https://books.apple.com/fr/book/a-room-in-blakes-folly/id1611977627
    BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/books/a-room-in-blake-s-folly-by-j-arlene-culiner

    J Arlene Culiner Social Media

    Writer, photographer, social critical artist, musician, and occasional actress, J Arlene Culiner, was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on foot, has lived in a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave-dwelling, on a Dutch canal, and in a haunted house on the English moors. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of no interest and, much to local dismay, protects all creatures, especially spiders and snakes. She particularly enjoys incorporating into short stories, mysteries, narrative non-fiction, and romances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversations with strange characters.
    Teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFEUrxqdVs8
    https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Website https://www.j-arleneculiner.com
    Blog https://j-arleneculiner.over-blog.com
    Storytelling Podcast https://soundcloud.com/j-arlene-culiner
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7158064.J_Arlene_Culiner
    Twitter https://twitter.com/JArleneCuliner
    Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/jarleneculiner
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jarleneculiner/