#ec myers

[blood-and-pizza]

A free FNAF interactive novel is being released on August 3rd this year for the 10th anniversary! Here's the cover:

... It's literally a capitalist pig on the cover. I'm internally laughing my ass off at this.

[theoatmealbowl]

V.I.P Interactive Novel Preview

So here's something interesting that warrants me posting here again.

V.I.P Has just gotten a preview! You can check it out, and learn how the book is gonna work. Also, another post about a new Interactive Novel is coming, so look out for that.

You can read the preview here!

Press the READ A SAMPLE button!

[readtilyoudie]

No matter what life deals you, no matter how hard the decisions you must face, keep living.

Fairy Tales of Remnant: An AFK Book (RWBY) by E.C. Myers

[princessalethea]

Happy #FriendlyFriday to NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR EC Myers! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://www.patreon.com/posts/friendlyfriday-e-111929956

[strqyr]

might have to reread after the fall and before the dawn before v9... just in case... to freshen my memory...

[neptunevasilias]

Not enough people talk about how in Before the Dawn, Fox and Umber were on the same team and were both sneaking out at night. Umber to go do criminal activities and Fox to patrol for said criminal activities.

[sytokun]

To anyone thinking or saying Dillon Goo is unworthy of acquiring RWBY, not because of anything realistic like finances or the size of his studio, but because he's "just an animator", or just a rando from the internet who cannot write or run RWBY:

Thanks for perpetuating the piece of shit mindset that every soul-sucking corporation and braindead consumer has: that animators have no value or are just there to push buttons and make pixels move for the real creatives.

Animators are artists and creators. They have to work with numerous departments to make things work: They have to know what the writer/director wants, and tell them if it's even possible to put to screen; they have to work with artists and character designers to tell if they can commit that art into moving parts. And for an animated show, they're kind of... I dunno, the entire backbone of its production.

Anyone stupid enough to claim that, by their logic, should claim that Miles and Kerry were "just writers" and don't have the right nor the intelligence to have any opinions on RWBY's animation, character designs or music. That's how I know you have zero fucking idea how any actual media is produced, because in your head, these positions all just exist as separate little boxes in your brain so it's simple enough for you to grasp.

It was "just an animator" who made RWBY in the first place, dumbass. A "rando" making animations on the internet that Rooster Teeth took a chance on, and now he's responsible for their best-selling IP. By comparison, Dillon is starting at a way better starting position than Monty was, with a successful YouTube channel, public support from multiple current and ex-CRWBY like J Grelle (Tyrian's VA), Kim Newman (former animator who animated Sun's gunchucks in V5) and Jessica Nigri (Cinder's VA), and multiple collaborations with big companies like Hoyoverse.

If anything, I'd expect an animator like Dillon to know and care enough about his staff to not give them near-irreparable spinal damage. Gee, I wonder why Newman would think he'd be a better employer to work with? Dillon would know how an animation project is run and budgeted. Him being an animator is a benefit, for god's sake.

Monty had character design sketches but needed help from professional artists to fully design them. He knew bits of the plot but needed help fleshing it out. Do you have enough brain cells to rub together to know that's precisely what Dillon can do, too? Fuckin', I dunno, hire people? For his studio??

I'd rather have an animator run RWBY because RWBY is an animated series and he would know precisely 1) what complements the medium best and 2) the precise limits of what can or cannot work within his budget. By your ass-backwards logic, I would rather get EC Myers to run RWBY's production over Dillon just because he's a writer and has been employed with RT longer.

That's another moronic argument: "He's only been employed by RT for 1 Volume". Man, I don't care if he's been there for zero Volumes, his work clearly shows a greater understanding of RWBY's aesthetic, mainstream appeal and style than its own showrunners have for the past 7 years. Or is seniority in a defunct company responsible for a steadily unprofitable IP suddenly a positive in this business deal?

I need you to be aware that RWBY as an IP is a joke outside of the bubble of its fandom, and I am telling you bluntly as a fan. Nobody takes it seriously and the ones that do only praise it for either its action choreography or its character designs, one of which is guaranteed with Dillon's studio. Diehard fans may love RWBY, warts and all, but all that love and support clearly wasn't enough to keep it alive, because its reputation was already cemented from its own mismanagement.

What you do is you get the right person for the job. And Dillon ticks a lot of boxes for it. If you think he's unable to acquire RWBY because he's not a big corpo or cannot meet Warner's asking price, that's 100% fair. If you think he's unable to create something on the scale of Volume 9, that's also 100% fair, but only if you're attached to the idea that you'd rather have Volume 10 or more of the same RWBY that was operating at a loss than any RWBY at all. Or if you'd rather see a season of 14 episodes 15 minutes long where 60-70% of it is made up of exposition, talking head scenes and increasingly overambitious world expanding, over shorter episodes with amazing RWBY action sequences with a story that never bites off more than it can chew.

But if you think Dillon is unqualified or worse, unworthy or undeserving (what a weirdo thing to say about a person, like owning RWBY is like inheriting the fucking throne of Gondor), all because he's "just an animator" or because he was smart enough to see RT for the meat-grinder hellhole it was and left to find success on his own, you're full of shit.

And if you disapprove of him because of his association with Shane, go find a restroom because your unsightly hateboner is showing. It's been almost ten years since the letter and you all have been holding this unfettered rage clenched between your buttcheeks longer than Shane's ever been with Rooster Teeth.

And for what? Pointing out Rooster Teeth is a fucked place to work at? Whoops, that was true and now it's six feet under for every scandal and worker abuse case they brought on themselves. For stealing and cannibalising their creators' IPs? Whoops, that's fucking true as well.

[hadesisqueer]

Okay, doing a RWBY timeline for ages for some characters FOR MYSELF (take this like a grain of salt).

First, let's get the characters that have birthdays (some of them are not really confirmed or are just estimated or just headcanons by EC Myers, but I need something c'mon.)

Ruby Rose: October 31.

Weiss Schnee: May 15.

Blake Belladonna: January 19.

Yang Xiao Long: July 28.

Jaune Arc: February 29.

Neptune Vasilias: May 1.

Velvet Scarlatina: February 14.

Coco Adel: June 11.

Fox Alistair: November 22.

Yatsuhashi Daichi: January 6.

So, we don't exactly have a confirmation of how the school year works in Remnant, but volume 1 starts with them starting Beacon in the Spring semester, so we can assume that their school year works kind of like in Japan in real life. In that case, we can also assume that in a school year, students go from kids being born already during pring to people being born in winter next year, maybe until early March. So, if we're going with that, Weiss is the oldest member of team RWBY, then Yang, and then Blake is the second youngest, since she was born in January (this would change if the school year was confirmed to work from September to June, though, because then she'd probably be the oldest and Yang the second youngest).

Jaune would also probably be the youngest of his team if we took that birthday seriously (I don't really, but idk). Neptune would be one of, if not the oldest of team SSSNN. As to team CFVY, Coco would be the oldest, then Fox, then Yatsu and then Velvet would be the youngest.

Now, like I said, if the school year works like in Japan, then they'd start in spring, then they would have a long summer break, then the Fall semester would start, then they'd have a shorter winter break and then the school year would end and they would also have a short spring break before the next year starts. That somewhat fits RWBY's narrative, considering we know the Vytal Festival and the Fall of Beacon took place during the Fall Semester, which would mean the Fall of Beacon took place about six-seven months after the start of the show if they started in Spring, which if we're considering that team RWBY and JNPR were still First Years, seems the most likely.

So, volume 1 covers all of the Spring semester, and then volume 2 and 3 take place after the summer break and cover the Fall semester until the Fall of Beacon. If Weiss' birthday takes place in Spring, that means that she turned 18 at some point in volume 1, and Yang probably turned 18 between volume 1 and 2, which means that by volume 2 both Weiss and Yang would be already 18, Blake would still be 17 and Ruby would be 15 going on 16 already. By the time we fully see team CFVY, Coco would be 19 and Fox, Velvet and Yatsu would still be 18. Jaune (again, if we take that birthday seriously) would be 17 during the entire Beacon Arc, and I would say Neptune was 18 by the time we met him if it weren't because we actually don't even know if team SSSN were actually First Years or not: as far as we know, they could be CFVY's age.

In any case, we know Ruby turns 16 somewhere in that timeskip at the end of volume 3. And by volume 4, we know it's been several months since the Fall of Beacon, and it's already spring; therefore, Blake has already turned 18 during that timeskip between volume 3 and 4, and so has Jaune. We don't know Ren and Nora's birthdays, but we know they were about 18 too already. Weiss, on the other hand, probably turned 19 sometime during volume 4, if she hadn't turned it already when we saw her.

In volume 5, it's already summer, and the volume covers several weeks, which means that Yang turned 19 around that time as well.

Volume 6 takes place a couple of weeks after the end of volume 5, so it's already Fall (about a year after the Fall of Beacon), so Ruby is 16 going on 17 by that time. The Atlas Arc takes place over the course of several weeks as well; probably like a month and a half or maybe more; to them it's probably November now. So it's safe to assume that Ruby turned 17 by that time. Oscar is also estimated to be about 15 already by now, so he probably was born during the Fall season. Therefore, right now, Weiss is 19, Yang is 19, Ren and Nora are 18-19, Blake and Jaune are 18 going on 19 (well, Jaune's not anymore), Ruby is 17, and Oscar is about 15. Neptune is either 19 or 20 depending on what year team SSSN actually are in, and Coco is already 20, Fox is about to turn 20 as well and Yatsu and Velvet are still 19.

I would talk about Emerald and Mercury's age, but I also actually have no idea what year they were in when they were pretending to be students at Beacon; I know Cinder was passing as an upperclassmen, so it's likely that they were pretending to be upperclassmen as well, but they could have lied about their age just like Cinder did. But since Raven considered them kids, it's probably safe to assume that they're on RWBY's and CFVY's age range, 18-20.

Don't really take this seriously, though, this is just me interpreting their ages and the timeline right now. None of this is confirmed so, again, take this like a grain of salt.

[laserdog10]

thoughts https://www.tumblr.com/rihwooby/620219180294324224?source=share

Honestly this just loops back to the problem of RWBY's Character Bloat issues and most of them being underutilized, Neptune, Scarlet, and Sage being prime examples.

Neptune is Sun's best friend, was a potential love interest to Weiss, and could've been the team's tech guy and have an tiny arc about overcoming his aquaphobia. But no he gets shafted and written out of the story and bullied in the shitty EC Myers books.

Scarlet could've been more, but no he's just gay, and that's it.

Sage could've had a character at all, but no he just exists.

So while us as an audience can understand _SSN's, it doesn't feel as emotionally impactful since we barely know most of Sun's team.

[blakesyang]

okay, hear me out. there’s no way these are all just random people standing behind neo. i tried to figure out what other people are speculating and i also compared some of the figures to character models, and this is what i’ve got:

i think it’s obvious that the three in the center are neos mother, roman, and her father. also, ec myers posted this the day that the trailer came out. roman has his hand on neo’s chair as he stands behind her in the cover, and there’s a figure that looks to be around his size/height standing behind her in the intro photo above. not only that, but the framed image in the photo shows her parents — which both look very similar to the figures on either side of neo.

as for some of the others, it’s very clear that these three are jacques, penny, and adam just based on how they stand, as well as the outline of their clothes. pennys might be a little off, but it’s a possibility. it also almost looks as if the one on the right has horns.

as for the other two, it looks like the one on the left is pyrrha because of the outline of the ponytail, but i couldn’t figure out the last male figure. i’ve heard some say it’s clover, but i don’t know why he’d be here because he holds no emotional significance to any of the cast.

either way, it looks like neo plans to use those who had some sort of connection to the cast against them, and it looks like it won’t be pretty.

[asha-mage]

Get To Know Me

Tagged by: @highladyluck

3 Ships

Cauthor (Rand al'Thor/Mat Cauthon): The OG. The template. The pairing that wormed it's way deep into my brain and never left. My first and oldest fandom love and the one I always return to, given sufficient time. I've actually been thinking more and more about picking up Sworn, by Warder Mat AU, because I've missed these two so strongly.

Merthur (Merlin/Arthur Pendragon): Another OG, though in a slightly different way. Man this ship still hits so good: the tragedy, the devotion, the earth shaking bone deep love. Doomed by the narrative a decade before that became a kitchy tumblr phrase, and still going strong today for a reason. The make me chew drywall I love them so much.

Matador (Adam Taurus/Jaune Arc): A recent discovery but one I can not get out of my brain. I acknowledge this is 100% a crack ship and yet...sometimes the potentially for something really messed up and really interesting exists between two characters who never share a scene, and sometimes that potential is so powerful it gives me brainworms. Their is probably fic forthcoming for this one, fair warning.

First Ship

My best guess is Percico (Nico Di Angelo/Percy Jackson), weather that was me picking up on intended tension from Rioradn or me as a macabre outcast gay middle schooler projecting onto Nico I can't properly say, but I used to really like this one. Less so these days. Still, I would read an AU of them it turned up in my recommended pile.

Last Song

Spotify says it's Mermaids by Florence and the Machine, which seems right

Currently reading

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan, though in fairness I'm listening to it in audiobook form.

After the Fall by EC Myers

I also JUST finished re-reading In Other Lands by Sarah Reese Brennan for my book club and man is that a good book.

Currently Consuming

Potato Wedges I made in my air fryer

Currently Craving

Cherry Ice Cream, specifically the Amerato Cherry Cordial Ice Cream from my local Kroger that rules. I would also kill for a Yellow Cake Batter Shake from Sonic, but it has yet to return from QSR Purgatory.

Tagging - @reflectionsofacreator

[skiasurveys]

survey #idk

I have Traveled To:

More than three states in the US

Mexico

Canada (tech i live here)

A place that starts with the letter L

Austria

An island

A big city

Anywhere in Africa

Japan

A place where English is not the main language

Anywhere in the southern hemisphere

India

Netherlands

I Have Read:

Any of the Bible

At least two Harry Potter books

The entire Twilight series

Catch-22

Animal Farm

A Dr. Seuss book

Instructions to a piece of Ikea information

A warning label that made me laugh

A biography/autobiography

Dante’s Inferno

A Chuck Palahniuk book

A newspaper in the last week

Something that made me cry

I Like to Eat:

Spam

Mexican food

Brussell sprouts

Onions

Watermelon

Vegan food

Bacon

Chocolate

New things

Escargot

Hummus

Haggis

Indian food

Home cooking

Fast food

My Favorite Actors Include:

Mark Wahlberg

Morgan Freeman

James Franco

Leonardo DiCaprio

Robert DeNiro

Samuel L. Jackson

Chris Hemsworth

Elijah Wood

Johnny Depp

Steve Buscemi

Robin Williams

Jack Black

Channing Tatum

I Have Listened to These Bands:

Taylor Swift

AC/DC

Jay-Z

Frank Sinatra

Pink Floyd

Fall Out Boy

Incubus

No Doubt

The White Stripes

Skrillex

Tenacious D

Metallica

Britney Spears

Ke$ha

The Beatles

I Have/Had These Pets:

Dog

Cat

Horse

Bird

Hamster

Lizard

Snake

Guinea Pig

Goat

Fish

Mouse

Spider

Pig

Hedgehog

Ferret

I Have Seen These Movies:

Fifth Element

Gone With the Wind

Nightmare Before Christmas

High School Musical

Kickin’ It Old School

Casablanca

Predator

White Men Can’t Jump

AVATAR

12 Years A Slave

Saving Private Ryan

MASH

Mamma Mia!

Dark Shadows

Riding In Cars With Boys

If I Could Have A Super Power, I Would Choose:

Mind control

Mind reading

Teleportation

Flying

Bullet-proof

Speed

Super-strength

Invisibility

All-Knowing

X-Ray vision

Freeze-touch

Time traveling

Invulnerability

Telekenisis

I Am Scared of:

Clowns

Heights

Spiders

Open spaces

Small spaces

Vacuums

Snakes

Needles

Strangers

Michael Myers

Bugs

Tiny holes

Highways

Germs

Police

My Favorite Color Is:

Red

Yellow

Orange

Green

Blue

Purple

Gray

Black

Brown

White

Pink

I Am Currently Wearing:

A t-shirt

A hoodie

Capris

Shoes

A bra

Make-up

Perfume

Deodorant

Hat

Something with a superhero/symbol on it

Nail polish

Scarf

Pajamas

Boxers

Sweatpants

I Would Describe My Best Friend As:

Bossy

Intelligent

Promiscuous

Funny

Whiny

Honest

Reliable

Loyal

Lazy

Adventurous

Unique

Complicated

Open-minded

Well-read

In the Last 24 Hours, I Have:

Read

Drank alcohol

Had sex

Eaten meat 

Danced in public

Went swimming

Changed my clothes more than once

Said something mean

Cleaned

Spent money on something pointless

Sang aloud

Met someone new

Played a game of some sort

Things In the Room With Me Now Are:

A TV

Another person

Something that belongs to a child

A pet

Food

Bed

Art

Clock not connected to a phone/computer

A mirror

Medicine

Books

Drugs or alcohol

The Last Person I Texted Is:

My significant other

Someone who sucks at spelling

A different race than me

A relative

Someone I don’t really like

Someone I went to high school with

My best friend

A person I work with

At home

In the room with me

Knows more than one language 

Is female

Is under the age of 21

Someone I live with

I Am For:

Abortion

Death penalty

Amnesty

Gun control

Gay marriage

Prayer in school

War in the middle east

Marijuana legalization

Banning cigarettes in public places

Higher taxes

Higher minimum wage

Standardized testing

Lowering the legal age for drinking

I Have Committed These Crimes:

Jaywalking

Smoking weed

Shooting heroin

Shoplifting

Breaking & entering

Public intoxication

Hit & Run

Speeding

Opening someone else’s mail without their permission

Burglary

Vehicular manslaughter

Lying under oath

Truancy

I Took These Classes In High School/College:

Home Ec

Physics

Photography

Criminal Justice

Journalism

Debate

Creative Writing

Art

Music Theory

Philosophy

French

Theater

Choir

Psychology

What I Watch On TV:

Reality shows about celebrities

Game shows

News

Reruns of classic shows

Award shows

Modern Family

Doctor Who

Scandal

Infomercials

HSN

MTV

Singing competitions

Cooking shows

Traveling shows

[readtilyoudie]

Good intentions do not always have good results. We are all fallible. We all make mistakes. And forgiveness of those failures goes hand in hand with trust.

Fairy Tales of Remnant: An AFK Book (RWBY) by E.C. Myers

[tymniemniej]

Who are you top 5 favorite musicians and why do you like them?

So the thing is I never bothered to get more into music I liked - I could tell you I enjoyed the tune but rarely reached for more from the artist. That being said kinda chronologically:

The Pretty Reckless - was the first band I actively listened to, still love their first two albums, need to check their newer stuff.

Halsey - tumblr girlie (nb) brought to me by a mutual a longer while back, they has a wide mix of inspirations, their one (last?) album produced by the NIN guys.

Meg Myers - another babe with a spice to her music <3

Electric Callboy - it's true what so many people leave in the comments, how their music finds us in the trying times - it was like that for me, they helped me survive some very heavy stuff

Ghostkid - natural extension found when searching for stuff related to EC -> from there there were also many other bands and artists, one more reason I should thank EC, for bringing me from under my rock to discover more music :3

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

Submission:

We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen

Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear

Hammered by Elizabeth Bear

Undertow by Elizabeth Bear

The Electric State by Simon Stalenhag

The City Inside by Samit Basu

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Diving Into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Retrieval Artist by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North

Timebound by Rysa Walker

Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro

Planetfall by Emma Newman

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace

Bone Dance by Emma Bull

Fair Coin by EC Myers

First Light by Linda Nagata

Persona by Genevieve Valentine

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Debris by Jo Anderton

vN by Madeline Ashby

The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

hello! these are almost all queued (and/or were already polled), but I had a few questions:

Heidi Heilig’s The Girl from Everywhere looks to me like fantasy (being able to sail into the Thousand and One Nights or “a mythic version of Africa”). could you or someone else who’s read it elaborate on what makes it science fiction? also, if it is sci-fi, were you looking for just The Girl from Everywhere, or did you also want The Ship Beyond Time?

for Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Firebreak, did you want just Firebreak or did you also want Flight and Anchor?

for Genevieve Valentine’s Persona, did you just want Persona, or did you also want Icon?

for Julianna Baggott’s Pure, did you want just Pure itself, or did you also want the sequels?

[marjaystuff]

Interview with Terri Parlato

What Waits in The Woods

Detective Rita Myers Book 2

Terri Parlato

Kensington Pub

Dec 26th, 2023

What Waits in The Woods by Terri Parlato has a riveting plot.  Not only does it have a full mystery with many people of interest, but it also explores how an athlete, in this case a dancer, can have their career derailed by an injury.

Esmé Foster forcibly retired from her chosen career as a ballet dancer. Now, eleven years later she returns home to Graybridge.  But her return home is anything but calm, considering it coincides with one of her high school friends, Kara Cunningham, found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house. Her crushed skull allows detective Rita Myers to realize it was not an accident, but a murder. 

Now, Esmé’s high school friends, her family, and neighbors are all suspects. To make matters worse the killing has intensified the nightmares Esmé had after her mother was killed in a car accident when she was nine. She remembers a man who showed up at the scene of the car accident and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insist that no man exists and that her memory is faulty. But that never stopped the nightmares or her determination to find the “Phantom” man. 

This story is told in two perspectives which increases the intensity. The neighbors, Mr. York, and the Ridley family, also have reasons to be considered people of interest.  One is a creepy old man, and the family has a drug dealer, a convict who finished serving time, and a sister who has a brain injury from a childhood tumble down a flight of stairs and was suspected of quarreling with her sister and drowning her. 

There are not only multiple suspects but also multiple twists and turns. Readers will be kept guessing as to who the killer is and what was their motive.

Elise Cooper: Why ballet?

Terri Parlato: I had the main character as a professional ballerina, but then her dancing days ended do to an injury.  I explored how does she move forward.  I wanted to give her a professional life and wrote about something I really love.  I vicariously enjoyed ballet and read books about ballerinas.  I went to the ballet whenever I could.  Esmé had to retire at age 27 which is not unusual because they have a short career. Ballet is very hard on the body.

EC: It seems a lot of dancers and sports figures flounder when they must retire-do you agree?

TP:  To be a ballerina and even with sports it is a passion. I wanted to write what happens to that person who devoted their whole life to something and it comes to an end.  How would she handle it?

EC: Esmé and her friends?

TP: They were close friends.  After Esmé graduated from high school she ran away to another state.  Now that she is back home, she wants to reunite with her friends and is devasted that one of them, Kara, was murdered. She feels guilty because she never tried to keep up the friendship and now that Kara is dead, she has no chance of doing it. She had a lot of regrets. All these friends become suspects in Kara’s death.

EC:  How would you describe the victim, Kara?

TP:  Sweet, naïve, trusting, and an addict. Her father left when she was little which made her insecure.

EC:  How about Esmé?

TP:  When she was young, she was selfish.  Her father was an alcoholic which affected her.  But she matures throughout the book. I want my main character to go on a journey, changing for the better. 

EC:  Why different narratives?

TP:  I used to write in third person.  But then I read a book by Mary Kubica that had several points of view.  I thought how it got me into the mind of the character, in first person. It also helps me build suspense as well.

EC: There is a quote in the book by, Esmé describing her family-can you explain?

TP: She felt being home was not great, but it was home sweet home. “There is something deep connecting us to the place where we grew up.  The familiar scenery, smells, memories.  It is a sense of belonging, shared histories…” Looking at my own life, I am very sentimental and nostalgic. Even though everything when I was a child was not necessarily happy, it was still home. I wanted to show how it was bittersweet for Esmé who was gone for eleven years, to now come home. Things might have been sad and scary, but she did find there were good times.

EC:  How would you describe Detective Rita?

TP: This is the second book in the series.  In the first book, All the Dark Places, Rita had another case to solve. I am still flushing out her personality. I wanted to create a detective who was an older woman. She is still vital in her career and is not someone who is pushed to the sidelines.  She is a workaholic that limits her social life.  She is very independent and tough.

EC:  Why the “Sweet Dancer” poem in the beginning of the book?

TP:  I am a former English teacher.  I love poetry.  To me, this sounds so much like Esmé.  It is a poem about ballet, but there is some darkness in it as well. People will have read it before they start the story.  I wanted to bring some artistic sentiment since Esmé is a retired ballerina in an emotional state. I think poetry elicits emotion. 

EC:  Next book?

TP:  Rita will be in the next book.  Same police department, same fictional town. There is no title yet.  It should come out next December.  There will be a compelling case for Rita to solve.  There will be a third point of view. This one does not start with a murder, which is different than the first two books in the series. 

THANK YOU!!