WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Trial by Terror by Paul Gallico.
HERE ARE ALL NINE OF MY BOOKS. All covers are by Streetlight Graphics, who we found by grace of science fiction and fantasy writer Lindsay Buroker.
This link will take you to the Amazon site
http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix
and this one to Barnes & Noble
http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix
And for everything else, go to Smashwords
http://smashwords.com/books/view/79235
DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS by Emmi Gee. Cover by Steven Ray Austin
A pleasant, slow-moving, sweet romance of a book set against the backdrop of the Kerrville Folk Festival in Central Texas. One I didn’t want to put down once I started reading.
It quickly has you rooting for the two main characters, Molly Ann Hogan and Duane George, two impossibly attractive young songwriters who also share the trait of seeming true-to-life. This is their second-time-around at romance. Plus, these are nice people. Nice people striving to become songwriters and singers without the help of American Idol or The Voice.
But not everyone is nice in this book. Deep In The Heart of Texas features one hell of a villain. And a soul-stealing day job both main characters have to accept in order to keep food on the table and roofs over their heads.
Part one of a trilogy, author Emmi Gee writes what she knows. Many of the real entertainers from the Kerrville Folk Festival are presented as fictional characters here (with their permission). The beauty of Central Texas comes alive with detailed description, description that extends to the baking of bread and other neat things.
Plus, there’s a ghost.
If you like your romances to have stories wrapped around them, and if you like the sex scenes left to your imagination, you’re going to really enjoy DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS.
Good news, too. Author Emmi Gee is hard at work on book two of the series.
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK (actually, this is several weeks🙂 Starbase Human by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. Masterminds by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
You can find my books at
http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix
NEW NEWS: I’m entering into the audio-book market. The humorous short story collection BABY SINGS THE BOOS is already available on Audible.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Baby-Sings-the-Boos-Audiobook/B01DCNGGIQ/
Give it a look.
THE GOODALL MUTINY is published! See it here at http://amzn.com/B01CIQD61S
In case anyone is clamoring to know what made me write a science fiction adventure novel suitable for the YA audience as well as science fiction fans….the answer is that my sister made me do it.
That’s part of the answer. The rest is that my first reading love was science fiction, and has remained so. Time to write in that genre at last.
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King. Vigilantes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
We’re running a sale on one of my best and most entertaining books TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS. This is a murder mystery set in Lockhart, Texas. Get it at Amazon.com as an e-book for 99 cents until the end of February. We’ll see after that.
Probably my best book
A photo essay: Lockhart, Texas, during the Tastes Along the Chisholm Trail eat-a-thon. All photos by Roxanne Rix.
The library served cookies.
The movie theater gave us popcorn and huge pretzels. 
Vogels served…something good. I don’t remember.
And the Hatters served chili.
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: The Jury Series by Lee Goldberg.
Visit http://rixcafetexican.com to see my books.
Blurbs are the hardest part of writing.
You’d think it would be the beginning of the novel that’s the most difficult to get right. Or the ending. But it’s that teeny, tiny bit on the back of your paperback and in the product description that’s meant to draw audiences into your world. That’s the hardest part to write.
I’ve just finished the very last stages of proofreading THE GOODALL MUTINY. Pre-publication work is scheduled for next week.
Here’s what I have so far for the blurb. Comments appreciated:
All the normal sounds usually reaching the lower decks of the USS Goodall during routine subspace flight had just been cut off.
As if someone at the controls suddenly wanted the crew isolated.
No loudly arguing male voices, no deliberately mishandled supplies tumbling down the corridor, no nothing.
Had the impossible happened? Was this the Goodall mutiny everyone expected? The one that had almost begun over the captain’s horrible cat. That tall, long-bodied and grey-striped, tail-swishing bundle of nerves they had started calling Tiberius.
Mutiny? Or something even worse?
The Goodall Mutiny. First in the Goodall series of short science fiction novels.
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: I’m reading several things but haven’t finished any.
Photographs by Roxanne Rix
Go to http:/http://rixcafetexican.com for a list of my books.
I’m going to write a few book reviews from now on. 
NIGHT CHILL by Jeff Gunhus.
When seven-year-old Sarah Tremont is taken by a killing cult for their ritual sacrifice, her father stops at nothing to get her back. Even though his wife and everyone else in town think he’s kidnapped Sarah himself.
Night Chill is a riveting child-in-peril thriller. And a harrowing supernatural horror story. A well-written, fast-paced read you can’t put down. Vivid imagery. Suspenseful from the very beginning. A real page-turner.
Can you tell I liked it?
TRANSFER OF POWER by Vince Flynn.
There aren’t too many books that keep me up reading all night. This was one. Once you get past the middle, you don’t want to stop.
A very detailed, Chuck Norris movie-type “save the White House” patriotic thriller. If you enjoy this type of military action-adventure (and if even if you like any type of action-adventure), you’ll love Transfer of Power.
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Night Chill by Jeff Gunhus.Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn.
Curious about my books. Visit http://rixcafetexican.com. Photos by Roxanne Rix
TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS is a humorous mystery set in the small Texas town of Lockhart, featuring our dog Boo Radley. Most of the settings are real. 
And believe me, I made up all of the characters (except for our dog), even though local readers josh me from time to time about how they recognize so-and-so in certain scenes.
Boo Radley
If you live in Lockhart and have read the book, then it’s pretty easy to scout out the real places. But for readers from outside the area, (we had the opportunity last week showing a nice couple from Seguin around) we came up with the TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS Lockhart tour.
We started at the City Park (where the novel begins), drove past the site where the first dead body was found down by the creek bed (in the book, guys. it’s all made up). Then down into the historical cemetery right next door. One of the inspirations for TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS was the yearly Speaking of the Dead nighttime cemetery tour the historical society holds out here. The last year we walked it, when I couldn’t keep up and came close to tripping over grave borders, I started laughing, picturing our dog Boo Radley dragging me through the dark and onto something scary. 
After the cemetery we drove to look at the mansions along Main Street, one of which served as Grady William Pearce’s fictional abode. Then to the Caldwell County Historical Society Museum, which is commonly known as the old jail. It looks like a castle on the outside, and up on the second and third floors it’s definitely a 19th century rusted-out jail. We still think it would be a great place to have an overnight ghost story party.
We were there too early in the morning to tour.
From there we passed Grace Lutheran Church, then to Maple Street and the house standing in for the Gruene House in my book. Then to the Maple Street walking and biking trail. The year I wrote the book, the fields alongside it were planted with cotton. Every other year, it’s corn. Here’s a photo of the corn. Walking Boo Radley past the corn or cotton fields day by day and dealing with her quirky personality was the other inspiration for TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS. I really did make part of it up walking the dog (getting dragged by the dog is more accurate).
From there we drove all the way up to the field alongside the junior high school where the fictional Barkie Bark and Sophia got into so much trouble. Then back down to the park where the fictional FBI agent got into so much trouble.
Ended it with a short look inside the Dr. Eugene Clark Library (where the third installment of my Boo Done It series will see a murder done). And then we really ended it with a great BBQ meal at Blacks BBQ.
The couple we took on this tour wanted photographs to send along with TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS to make it more special for the recipient. We volunteered to drive them around because it sounded like a fun thing to do, especially since they liked our mystery novel.
I doubt we’ll ever get any more Boo Done It fans visiting Lockhart just to see the places I’ve written about, but if we do, we might be up to showing them around. 
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Watch Me Die by Lee Goldberg.
Check out our website http://rixcafetexican.com.
We’re doing a Talking To The Dead Guys Tour of Lockhart this weekend.
Taking a couple of readers around town to shoot photographs of the actual sites I used in my murder mystery novel Talking To The Dead Guys.
There are a lot more of them than I remembered. And I’m not even counting the ones from the sequel Tea With A Dead Gal.
A Boo Done It Mystery
The high school gymnasium. The police department. The Maple Street walking/biking trail. Black’s BBQ.
The Maple Street walking/biking trail and my experiences on it with our dog Boo Radley actually inspired the book.
The old jail house. Maple Street Park. The Main Street mansions.
The old jail house gave me a really neat idea for the end of the mystery.
City Park. City Cemetery. The Caldwell County Courthouse.
The Speaking of the Dead graveyard tour held in Lockhart’s City Cemetery every October inspired the murder and mystery I made up for Talking To The Dead Guys.
The green house (Gruene) where much of the action takes place.
One look at the real house this was based on and you’ll understand why I populated my fictional setting with all those newspapers, photographs, and ….to say anything more would spoil the surprise.
The friendliest BBQ place in town. Good BBQ, too.
Our tour should be fun.
I hope we get to do it again.
WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: The Peyti Crisis by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
Photos by Roxanne Rix
Boo Radley
I’ve finished my next book. It’s with the beta readers for proofreading. It’s with my critique group for fine-tuning. And it’s my to-do chore (proofreading and proofreading again and again) for the entire month of January.
THE GOODALL MUTINY. Science fiction. If you like the steampunk novels of Lindsay Buroker, you’ll probably like my new series. No banter, however. If you like the young adult novels of Robert Heinlein you’ll probably like THE GOODALL MUTINY.
Look for it late February.
I’m starting on the sequel Friday, January 1. I’m really interested in seeing where the story is going to go. Photo below is of me at Armadillocon in Austin. Two years ago.
Go to http://rixcafetexican.com to see a complete list of my already published fiction.
Photo by Roxanne Rix
