Tuesday, January 14, 2014

THAT DOG WON'T HUNT - Brandilyn Collins - One Free Book or Ebook, Winner's Choice

Readers, Brandilyn Collins is one of my favorite authors of suspense novels and a dear friend.

Welcome back, Brandilyn. I know you indie-published this book. Tell us how that came about.
Last year I decided to do something totally different. As a traditionally published author of over 25 books, I’d never self-published. But I wanted to give it a try in order to make extra income and test the waters of self-publishing. I chose to write a Southern contemporary, something completely outside my Seatbelt Suspense® brand. I’d written in this genre before, in the early days of my career (the Bradleyville series) and have missed it during the past 10 years of writing only suspense. The editor at my publishing house gave me clearance to self-publish this book. Being under contract, I viewed the folks at my publishing house and myself as part of a team. I did not want to upset the good working relationship of that team. If my editor had said no, I would not have proceeded at that time.

One of the great things about self publishing is the ability to set my own price for the book. The paperback is at $9.88, and the ebook at $2.99—much more affordable for readers.

How did you come up with the idea for this story?
Years ago I had sold the idea for the Dearing Family series to my publisher at the time, Zondervan. Then we decided I should write suspense full time, so I pushed the series aside. Now, with self publishing, I had the opportunity to resurrect it, even as I was still writing contracted suspense (for a different publisher). Seemed like a great opportunity to me! The idea of featuring a crazy Southern family at their family reunions came from the reunions of my own family. In the back of That Dog Won’t Hunt, there’s a fun list of factoids regarding characters and events in the story—which actually came from my family and which are total fiction.

That Dog Won’t Hunt is full of humor. But a funny story in itself isn’t enough for me. I like to tackle a difficult issue in the midst of the humor. For—isn’t life like that? Multi-faceted. Complex. That Dog Won’t Hunt takes a look at how a shy young woman with an abused background—with all the baggage that entails—would fit into the loving, loud family of the man she wants to marry.

If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary fiction, what six people would you invite and why?
Oh, my goodness, I have to limit it to six? There are so many incredible people writing Christian fiction. But here’s a try: Lisa Samson, Ted Dekker, Brad Whittington, Randy Singer, Robert Whitlow, and Sharon Ewell Foster. All of these are great, fun people, and I chose them because I rarely get to see them. Other wonderful authors I get to see every year at this place or that.

Now let’s do that for a party for Christian authors of historical fiction, what six people would you invite and why?
Stephanie Whitson, Lori Copeland, Tessa Afshar, Tracie Peterson, Jane Kirkpatrick, and Donna Fletcher Crow—for the same reasons. I don’t get the opportunity to see these great people very often.

Many times, people (and other authors) think you have it made with so many books published. What is your most difficult problem with writing at this time in your career?

The writing itself.  It is, and always has been, hard for me. I groan and moan with every book (just ask my patient husband). With every novel I write, while I’m in the midst of it, I think it’s terrible, boring, and my readers will hate it. Which makes the process all the harder. Sigh.

I totally understand that feeling. Please tell us about the featured book.
Here’s the back cover copy:
Meet the Dearings, a crazy, loving, boisterous family in small-town Mississippi. There’s mom and dad, three daughters and their families, and the youngest—twenty-five-year-old Ben. Oh, and the family dog, a Yorkie who thinks she’s royalty.

“This one’s perfect,” Ben says about his new fiancée, Christina, when he brings her home for a family reunion. Ben is just sure everyone will love Christina, and she’ll fit right in.

He always did tend to wear rose-colored glasses.

Christina loves Ben but secretly fears their relationship will never work. They’ve only known each other ten weeks. She hasn’t told him about her horrific past as an only child—the beatings, the neglect, and verbal abuse. Christina doesn’t know how to trust or be honest about her feelings. Being thrust into the middle of a tight-knit family like the Dearings is sure to send her over the edge.

With poignancy and humor, That Dog Won’t Hunt explores the complexities of relationships and the inner strength needed to overcome a difficult childhood. The Dearings are no perfect family, but they know how to love—if only Christina will accept it.

Everyone needs to read this book, because we all have something in our pasts that’s hard to overcome and share. Please give us the first page.
Have mercy, a smell like this in the house could cost Ben his new fiancée. And he and Christina were likely to pull up any minute.

It had been hard enough for Ruth Dearing to keep the place straightened with three daughters—two of them with husbands and kids—already home for the family summer reunion. Noise and purses and sunglasses and toys everywhere. Ruth lived for her family to come home. But today things had to look just so. Wasn’t every time that Ben, their youngest, brought home a young woman he said he was going to marry. A “quiet” gal, he’d told Ruth and Sy. “Kinda reserved.”

In other words, everything the Dearing family was not. To put it mildly.

Ho boy.

Christina could easily be overwhelmed at this gathering, but no one else in the family seemed the least bit worried. Least of all Ben. But Ruth had been young once, and yes—shy. Even though she and Syton had been in love since high school, Ruth remembered all too well that nerve-wracking first meeting with his parents. Sy’s family had a lot more money than her own, and his parents seemed so intimidating. Still, she’d only had to meet the two of them. Imagine being shoved into this family. Ruth had already warned her daughters to be mindful of Christina’s shyness. And she’d flown about the house today, trying to make everything look perfect.

Now this horrible stench.

Nose wrinkled, Ruth strode to the doorway leading to the house’s west wing, which contained the grandkids’ play room. “Pogey, get in here and put these shoes on! They’re stinkin’ the kitchen to high heaven!”

At Ruth’s feet, Lady Penelope, her and Sy’s finicky Yorkie, whined. Poor Penny lay on the floor with her paws practically over her nose. Ruth picked her up.

“How do y’all stand that smell?” Ruth turned and frowned at her three daughters playing an animated game of cards in the adjoining family room.

Sarah, Pogey’s mother, sighed. “I’m used to it. Kid’s got the smelliest feet this side of the Mississippi.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?
My website: (This website is being completely redone in a few weeks.) Here, people can read the opening chapters of all my books.

Facebook: On my author page every day I post Today’s Word—an unusual word and its definition—and ask for a creative sentence. I also post a Creative Captioneers funny picture daily, for which readers enjoy writing creative captions. And I like to post about writing and life in general. We have fun on my Facebook page.


Buy That Dog Won’t Hunt:
Barnes & Noble
\
Welcome back, Brandilyn. I know you indie-published this book. Tell us how that came about.
Last year I decided to do something totally different. As a traditionally published author of over 25 books, I’d never self-published. But I wanted to give it a try in order to make extra income and test the waters of self-publishing. I chose to write a Southern contemporary, something completely outside my Seatbelt Suspense® brand. I’d written in this genre before, in the early days of my career (the Bradleyville series) and have missed it during the past 10 years of writing only suspense. The editor at my publishing house gave me clearance to self-publish this book. Being under contract, I viewed the folks at my publishing house and myself as part of a team. I did not want to upset the good working relationship of that team. If my editor had said no, I would not have proceeded at that time.

One of the great things about self publishing is the ability to set my own price for the book. The paperback is at $9.88, and the ebook at $2.99—much more affordable for readers.

How did you come up with the idea for this story?
Years ago I had sold the idea for the Dearing Family series to my publisher at the time, Zondervan. Then we decided I should write suspense full time, so I pushed the series aside. Now, with self publishing, I had the opportunity to resurrect it, even as I was still writing contracted suspense (for a different publisher). Seemed like a great opportunity to me! The idea of featuring a crazy Southern family at their family reunions came from the reunions of my own family. In the back of That Dog Won’t Hunt, there’s a fun list of factoids regarding characters and events in the story—which actually came from my family and which are total fiction.

That Dog Won’t Hunt is full of humor. But a funny story in itself isn’t enough for me. I like to tackle a difficult issue in the midst of the humor. For—isn’t life like that? Multi-faceted. Complex. That Dog Won’t Hunt takes a look at how a shy young woman with an abused background—with all the baggage that entails—would fit into the loving, loud family of the man she wants to marry.

If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary fiction, what six people would you invite and why?
Oh, my goodness, I have to limit it to six? There are so many incredible people writing Christian fiction. But here’s a try: Lisa Samson, Ted Dekker, Brad Whittington, Randy Singer, Robert Whitlow, and Sharon Ewell Foster. All of these are great, fun people, and I chose them because I rarely get to see them. Other wonderful authors I get to see every year at this place or that.

Now let’s do that for a party for Christian authors of historical fiction, what six people would you invite and why?
Stephanie Whitson, Lori Copeland, Tessa Afshar, Tracie Peterson, Jane Kirkpatrick, and Donna Fletcher Crow—for the same reasons. I don’t get the opportunity to see these great people very often.

Many times, people (and other authors) think you have it made with so many books published. What is your most difficult problem with writing at this time in your career?

The writing itself.  It is, and always has been, hard for me. I groan and moan with every book (just ask my patient husband). With every novel I write, while I’m in the midst of it, I think it’s terrible, boring, and my readers will hate it. Which makes the process all the harder. Sigh.

I totally understand that feeling. Please tell us about the featured book.
Here’s the back cover copy:
Meet the Dearings, a crazy, loving, boisterous family in small-town Mississippi. There’s mom and dad, three daughters and their families, and the youngest—twenty-five-year-old Ben. Oh, and the family dog, a Yorkie who thinks she’s royalty.

“This one’s perfect,” Ben says about his new fiancée, Christina, when he brings her home for a family reunion. Ben is just sure everyone will love Christina, and she’ll fit right in.

He always did tend to wear rose-colored glasses.

Christina loves Ben but secretly fears their relationship will never work. They’ve only known each other ten weeks. She hasn’t told him about her horrific past as an only child—the beatings, the neglect, and verbal abuse. Christina doesn’t know how to trust or be honest about her feelings. Being thrust into the middle of a tight-knit family like the Dearings is sure to send her over the edge.

With poignancy and humor, That Dog Won’t Hunt explores the complexities of relationships and the inner strength needed to overcome a difficult childhood. The Dearings are no perfect family, but they know how to love—if only Christina will accept it.

Everyone needs to read this book, because we all have something in our pasts that’s hard to overcome and share. Please give us the first page.
Have mercy, a smell like this in the house could cost Ben his new fiancée. And he and Christina were likely to pull up any minute.

It had been hard enough for Ruth Dearing to keep the place straightened with three daughters—two of them with husbands and kids—already home for the family summer reunion. Noise and purses and sunglasses and toys everywhere. Ruth lived for her family to come home. But today things had to look just so. Wasn’t every time that Ben, their youngest, brought home a young woman he said he was going to marry. A “quiet” gal, he’d told Ruth and Sy. “Kinda reserved.”

In other words, everything the Dearing family was not. To put it mildly.

Ho boy.

Christina could easily be overwhelmed at this gathering, but no one else in the family seemed the least bit worried. Least of all Ben. But Ruth had been young once, and yes—shy. Even though she and Syton had been in love since high school, Ruth remembered all too well that nerve-wracking first meeting with his parents. Sy’s family had a lot more money than her own, and his parents seemed so intimidating. Still, she’d only had to meet the two of them. Imagine being shoved into this family. Ruth had already warned her daughters to be mindful of Christina’s shyness. And she’d flown about the house today, trying to make everything look perfect.

Now this horrible stench.

Nose wrinkled, Ruth strode to the doorway leading to the house’s west wing, which contained the grandkids’ play room. “Pogey, get in here and put these shoes on! They’re stinkin’ the kitchen to high heaven!”

At Ruth’s feet, Lady Penelope, her and Sy’s finicky Yorkie, whined. Poor Penny lay on the floor with her paws practically over her nose. Ruth picked her up.

“How do y’all stand that smell?” Ruth turned and frowned at her three daughters playing an animated game of cards in the adjoining family room.

Sarah, Pogey’s mother, sighed. “I’m used to it. Kid’s got the smelliest feet this side of the Mississippi.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?
My website: (This website is being completely redone in a few weeks.) Here, people can read the opening chapters of all my books.

Facebook: On my author page every day I post Today’s Word—an unusual word and its definition—and ask for a creative sentence. I also post a Creative Captioneers funny picture daily, for which readers enjoy writing creative captions. And I like to post about writing and life in general. We have fun on my Facebook page.


Buy That Dog Won’t Hunt:
Barnes & Noble

Thank you, Brandilyn, for sharing this new book with us today.

Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Google +, Feedblitz, Facebook, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

17 comments:

Unknown said...

I enjoyed reading about Brandilyn and her book That Dog Won't Hunt.
Love the title! the excerpt is great. Since I am shy I'd like to see how this story unfolds. Thank you from Ohio
mcnuttjem0(at)gmail(dot)com

Debbie Wilder said...

This sounds like a fantastic book. Thanks for introducing me to a new author. I'd love to win this book. I'm in Salinas, California.
Debora Wilder

Melanie Backus said...

This sounds like a delightful story. I would love to read about all the ups and downs that this book holds.

Melanie Backus, TX

Linda Kish said...

This sounds great and I love the cover. Who wouldn't love a sweet dog like that.

California

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Mary Preston said...

Such a sweet. sweet cover - yes I do judge.

Mary P

QLD AUSTRALIA

Jackie Smith said...

I would LOVE to read this book......thanks for the giveaway!
I live in GA
jacsmi75 at gmail dot com

Vera Godley said...

Ive been a fan of Brandilyn Collins' books for years. This departure from her usual suspense stories sounds like a delight - and the cover only confirms that. Here is to hoping I'm the winner.

I'm in North Carolina

Susan Johnson said...

This sounds like a good story.

Susan
Odessa, Texas

Unknown said...

I LOVE Brandilyns suspense novels, and I love novels that are a series. I can't see what's not to love about this one. Congratulations on successfully indie publishing and Thankyou for the opportunity to win!

Sheila Deeth said...

I remember you talking about the self-publishing decision and That Dog won't Hunt at a recent conference. Now I've been reminded of the title--I must look for this, unless of course I win it :)

sheiladeeth at gmail dot com

Kandra said...

I have enjoyed the Brandilyn Collins books I have read; even though this one is different, it looks really interesting!
Kandra in OK

Kandra said...

I have enjoyed the Brandilyn Collins books I have read; even though this one is different, it looks really interesting!
Kandra in OK

Litany said...

This sounds like a really great storyline for a book. I would love to read it.
Litany L., NC
businesschef08@gmail.com

Cindy W. said...

Sounds like an enjoyable read. Thank you for the chance to win.

Smiles,
Cindy W. from Indiana

kam110476 said...

I received the Bradleyville series for Christmas and I've really been wanting to read the Hidden Faces series, as well, but this book sounds like it was written just for me! :-)

Kristen, Oklahoma
kam110476(at)gmail(dot)com

Jasmine A. said...

I love Brandilyn Collins' books and this sounds like another winner from her!
Jasmine A. in MT

lorlyn63 said...

This sounds like a good book. I love Brandilyn's books - I am a fan. Thank you for this giveaway, I would love to win a copy of this new book!

God's Blessings,
Lori

triplel(at)evertek(dot)net