7 years,7 novels...and 1 blog with Ilona Fridl!

Hello all!

As you know, from time to time, I invite my fellow authors to come in here and do my work for me.  My friend and fellow romance writer, Ilona Fridl  has been a guest a couple times, but never quite like this.  Over the last seven years, this remarkable author has written and released SEVEN novels, all of them really, really, really good.  So today I'm having Ms. Fridl take over and give us an idea of what that much awesomeness looks like!  

Take it away Ilona!

Celebrating Seven Years-Seven Novels

Thank you, Sarah, for allowing me to crow a bit on your blog. I really don't want to turn this into a advertisement, so I'll just tell you about each one of my books that I love so much.

To my mind, The Wild Rose Press is one of the most supportive publishers in the industry and they should get more credit for the fantastic novels they put out. They are celebrating their tenth anniversary, so they must be doing something right. I've been with them for seven years and have had a novel out every year. The staff of editors, artists, and all the behind the scenes people are hard working and there when you need them. I'm so happy they discovered me! Lol

Anyway, here's a list of my children and some background on the books:

Silver Screen Heroes was actually my second story. I decided to write a series, Dangerous

Times, because that seemed to be what was selling. I always had been interested in the silent movie industry and I grew up around Hollywood, so I had been to places where all this happened. Just added a dose of gangsters and a cup of prohibition, and a suspense story baked to perfection! This was the start of the Shafer family saga with Zeke and Addy.

Golden North picks up with Zeke and Addy escaping the gangster family and going to Juneau, Alaska Territory to join Zeke's brother, Josh. Josh had purchased an old theater building and needed help fixing it up. Addy's cousin, Muriel, was a young widow of the crime family and ran up to join them when the family wanted her baby. Let's just say, that the crime family eventually finds them. This one is mainly Josh and Muriel's story, but two minor characters steal the show, Sheriff Amos Darcy and Detective Sarah Lakat.

Bronze Skies is the third book in the series, and it takes place

twenty years later with the next generation of the Shafer family. Tom Shafer is the son of Zeke and Addy. He is in the Army Air Corp when WWII breaks out. Pam Wright is his childhood sweetheart and, through her eyes, we see what it was like on the homefront during the war.

Prime Catch was a spin-off of the Dangerous Times series and features Sheriff Amos Darcy and Deputy Sarah Lakat. I loved those two characters from Golden North and wanted to give them their own story. In this one, they had to solve a series of murders at Alaskan canneries. They finally admit their attraction to each other.

Iris Rainbow was the first story I completed. It didn't fit the romance genre, so I put it out as women's fiction. Tim Olson and Teri Darden meet when they are young and foolish then circumstances split them up. They meet thirty years later after other marriages. This is set in California during the sixties, so I didn't have to research very much, because I grew up in the Los Angeles area in that time frame.

That Monroe Girl is the western I always wanted to do. It's set in Tombstone, Arizona Territory in the 1880s. Jake Spencer is a newspaperman and Cat Monroe is a girl from Virginia in search of her family. I have visited Tombstone before, so I had the advantage of visualizing the town in the story.

A Sacrificial Matter is my first novella. It was a visit back to Amos and Sarah after they opened their detective agency in Juneau, Alaska. Spiritualism was a fad during the 1920s and this one has a sinister twist to it. I want to write more mysteries with the Darcys, so stay tuned.

A little teaser about my work in progress, it's set in 1880s Waukesha, Wisconsin during the resort era. No title for it yet, but my heroine is disabled. Fighting a disability myself, gives me empathy for what she's going through.

If you want to see blurbs, excerpts, and reviews for these books, go to my website by clicking here!

I know I said, I didn't want to sound like an advertisement, but if you go to The Wild Rose Press site (CLICK HERE) and click Specials, my books are being featured two weeks at a time for a $.99 download.

Get to my Facebook page by clicking here!

If you go to Amazon by clicking right here you will have a list of my books and my author's page.

Ilona Fridl is a transplanted Californian to Wisconsin and lives with her husband, Mark, and her computer. She belongs to Romance Writers of America, and a student of Kathie Giorgio at AllWriters. She has written articles and short stories for magazines plus her seven novels.

Thank you so much for guest blogging today, Ilona!  I know some of your readers and mine are going to have questions for you!  READERS!  Ilona will be checking in through out the course of the day, so feel free to comment and ask questions below!

10 Questions with Author Ilona Fridl!

Good morning friends and fellow readers!

Nothing like starting a Monday morning out bright and early with a brand new book, or, also, an interview with an author who has a brand new book out!

I'm so excited to welcome back my friend and fellow romance author, Ilona Fridl, author of multiple romantic page turners offered to you through a number of channels by our friends at The Wild Rose Press.  Today we are talking to Ilona about her newest novel, That Monroe Girl.


Here's a nibblet to whet your whistle.  (Oh yes, and it's historical...so I'm getting into the mood.)

Cat Monroe arrives in Tombstone, Arizona searching for her father and brothers, who left Virginia for the West right after the Civil War.  With the help of newspaper reporter Jake Spenser, she finds her family and a whole peck of trouble. She's falling for the newspaperman, but she discovers his family and hers are feuding over water rights. When he father finally accepts that she is his daughter, he wants to marry her off to a rich neighbor who has a dark past.

Scandal and murder are catching her in a snare.  Who can she possibly trust in a town too tough to die?

And now, my friends, it's time for TEN QUESTIONS WITH AUTHOR ILONA FRIDL!


Ilona:  First of all I'd like to thank Sarah for hosting me on her blog.

Sarah:  You are very welcome, Ilona!  I'm always excited to alert folks to indie and e-pubbed authors
who are putting out excellent reads!  Here we go with the questions!

1)  Tell us about the book!  What would you like readers to take away from "That Monroe Girl?"

Mostly I wrote the story for pure entertainment, but there seems to be an underlying message of the struggle a woman had to endure i the 19th century.


2)  What book ,movie, song or character inspired you to write this book?

I've always loved Westerns.  Growing up, I watched movies, TV, and read books about the times in the Old West.  Writing a Western was in the card for me.

3)  Best/worst movie based on a book.

Best was the 1990s version of "Little Women."  That stayed most faithful to the story.  Worst was "Gone With The Wind." I think I would have liked the movie better if I  hadn't read the book first.  They left so much of the story out of it.  

Sarah's response:  I totally agree, the 1990's "Little Women" was really good and the production value was amazing.  As for "GWTW," I love both the book and the movie but I agree, the movie left way too much out.  

4) Of all your books, which of your characters is most like you?

That's easy!  Teri in "Iris Rainbow."  I made her the same age I was then and many of her experiences were similar. I didn't have to do much research about Los Angeles in the 1960's because I grew up there. And who wouldn't love to have a rock star fall in love with you?

Sarah's response:  I think those who know me know how I would answer that question!  LOL


5)  If you could live in any time period or be any person, when or whom would you choose and why?

I think coming of age in the 1920's would be fun.  That's where I set my "Dangerous Times" series. Working in Hollywood for the studios in that pioneering time always interested me.

6:  I've spent some serious time on this blog talking about the future of publishing and e-publishing.  You work with The Wild Rose Press. what are your thoughts on self publishing-e-publishing and the future of electronic books?

I think there will always be a place for paper books but you have to make room for the e-books as well. For books you want to keep and read over and over, paper is best. The e-readers is easy to take with you and you don't have to haul around bulky books when you travel.

7)  What are you reading right now?

"Magic's Price" by Mercedes Lackey. I love fantasy and maybe will tackle a fantasy book one of these days.

8)  Plain M & M's or peanut and why?


Plain. I like to put them in my mouth and let them dissolve into a chocolate gooey mess. Peanuts just get in the way!



9)  Who would play you in a movie about your life?

I'd need a curvy actress and there's not many of those in the industry. Melissa McCarthy?  Too much.  Kardashians?  no.  I'm rambling now.  Looks like I'll have to put out a casting call. That doesn't answer your question does it?  Oh well, I'm open for suggestions...

10:  What's next for you?

I have a novella mystery coming out with Amos and Sarah Darcy from "Prime Catch."


AWESOME!  

Thank you, Ilona!  Now, here's a bit more of a bio on our author: 

Ilona Fridl was born in sunny California where she spent the first twenty years of her life. Dreaming up stories took up a lot of her time. She then followed her parents to Wisconsin where she met her husband, Mark. They started a locksmithing business, but there were still stories in her head.  Finally she started putting them on paper, actually, a computer.  The rest is history.  She has an adult daughter and a granddaughter.



If you want to find Ilona online:

Her website!

Her Facebook!  

Her Goodreads!

If you want to buy Ilona's books (and of COURSE YOU DO!)

At the Wild Rose Press

On Amazon

10 Questions with Romance Author Ilona Fridl!

Good morning!

Yesterday I wrote a review of Ilona Fridl's new flashback romance, "Iris Rainbow."  Today, Ilona sits down with me (in a virtual world, I didn't really make the woman get up before 7 AM to answer my questions!) and answers my ten questions!

Ready?  Here we go!


1)  Tell us about the book! What would you like readers 

to take away from Iris Rainbow?

Thank you for inviting me to your blog, Sarah.  I wrote this to give people an idea of what it was like in the 60's. Teri is the same age I was at the time it took place. I always dreamed, as a teen, of falling in love with a rock star and this is my "what if" moment. I also was inspired by stories of young lovers who broke up and went to live separate lives, meeting again decades later and find they were still in love.

2) What, if any, book, movie, song or character inspired you to write?

The song, Your Wildest Dreams, by the Moody Blues really touched me. I thought, "Wow, that would make a hell of a story" and it did.

3)  Best/worst movie based on a book :

Best: Little Women. The 90's version.

Worst: Gone with the Wind. I liked the book better. (Sarah's comment:  Ooooh that's harsh!  I mean, I liked the book better, too, of course.  But WORST movie?  LOL)

4) Do you write with a soundtrack for whatever you're working on, or do you write in complete silence?

Music does help to create the mood, but I've worked both ways. For my WWII book, Bronze Skies, I listened to a lot of big band music.

5) When do you find time to write? What's your schedule like?

I try to write a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon. The rest of the time, I'm working scenes out in my head.

6) What are you reading right now? 

Well, I'm back writing in the 20's again. I'm reading "Life in the Twenties" by Nathan Miller. Look for another Amos and Sarah Darcy mystery!

7) Starbucks or Caribou coffee?  

Starbucks hands down! I LOVE their white chocolate mocha! Although, I like Caribou coffee ice cream.

8) Who would play you in a movie about your life?

That's funny, because I took one of those tests on Facebook and it came up Emma Watson to play me in a movie. She would have to lose the British accent, though.

 9) What's next for you?

I have a western story in with my editor right now. My work in progress is another Alaskan mystery, re question #6.

10.) Anything more?

Many little demonic plots and characters dancing around in my head. Once you open the door to these people, they don't stop bugging you.

Thank you so much, Ilona, for sitting down with us all today!  And the rest of you...go and get Iris Rainbow and read it!