Gail Kretchmer and I will present a workshop for writers on creating good fictional villains at the PNWA conference in Seattle, to be held July 28-31, 2016. Check out this excellent writers conference! http://www.pnwa.org/?page=featured
Gail Kretchmer and I will present a workshop for writers on creating good fictional villains at the PNWA conference in Seattle, to be held July 28-31, 2016. Check out this excellent writers conference! http://www.pnwa.org/?page=featured
Christine Z. Mason on Women’s Stories Panel San Jose Author Fair 11/15
The Author Fair was an exciting event, sponsored by San Jose State University and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library and held in the beautiful public library in downtown San Jose on November 15, 2015. Many authors appeared on various panels, and many more readers came to hear the presentations and shop for new titles, both non-fiction and fiction. I presented Boundaries: A Love Story on the Women’s Stories panel and talked about the strong female characters in the novel, including protagonist Kaia Matheson and her artistic aunt, Elisa Karadonis, and discussed their roles in this family saga involving cousins-in-love. Other female characters include Kaia’s career-obsessed mother Jean Matheson, and a children’s rights attorney, Chandi Gupta, both of whom were influential in Kaia’s life in different ways.
Christine also previewed her new novel, Weighing the Truth, about a female death penalty lawyer, and spoke about the conflict between family and career for working parents.
Christine Z. Mason at Author’s Fair in San Jose November 2015
Check out the King Library, San Jose CA Author Fair Sunday Nov. 15 from 2 to 5 p.m. Many Bay Area authors will participate, and I’ll be presenting my novel, #BoundariesALoveStory on one of the panels. Hope to see you there!
Many Bay Area authors will be presenting their books from 2 to 5 p.m.
CHRISTINE Z. MASON’s BOUNDARIES is a tale filled with cross-roads as young love evolves and confronts challenges from life and family. Mason has birthed a series of characters with texture and finesse that draw you into their lives with their authenticity. You get to know them gradually and recognize their humanity each time you see your own reflection in their actions and circumstance. The beautiful prose lures you in and then whacks you upside-the-head with revelations and discoveries you hadn’t foreseen. There are plenty of “What the…?!” moments that keep you turning pages. Take my advice: turn the front cover ‘cause you won’t stop until the back cover closes.
Lu Magdaleno
ArtRocks247
I’m in Australia for the month of July and had hoped to hear a favorite Aussie author or two read from new works while here. Couldn’t schedule any with my travels, though, so instead I’m reading a couple of novels by Tim Winton and Kate Grenville. Winton’s Eyrie is a dark story set on the west coast near Perth, about two people trying to relate to each other despite distrust and disillusionment, a theme that also plays out in Grenville’s The Idea of Perfection, which I read several years ago. My favorite Winton novels are The Riders and Dirt Music. I highly recommend them.
I’m currently reading Grenville’s The Secret River, about a young English bargeman who came to the eastern coast of Australia in 1806 after being convicted of petty theft. I’m planning to see some of the museums here that highlight the history of Australia, and also plan a trip out of Sydney by ferry to Cockatoo island, which housed many convicts in the distant past.
I’ve just completed a new novel, this time a character-driven psychological/legal drama about Natalya Drummond, a widowed female attorney, who is threatened by her vicious Death Row client. Quite a switch from Boundaries: A Love Story, but with some of the same themes: career vs. personal life, special challenges for mothers in the workplace (Natalya has a young daughter, born three months after Nat’s architect husband was killed in a suspicious hit-and-run accident); ethical and moral issues, relationships. I’m just starting to send it out now. I’m a former Death Penalty attorney, but this novel is definitely not autobiographical! The working title is Weighing the Truth.
Boundaries: A Love Story
G.Elizabeth Kretchmer’s Damnable Legacy of A Minister’s Wife
The event at Books Inc. in Palo Alto went well, with a wonderful, appreciative audience for my novel, Boundaries: A Love Story and for my colleague, G. Elizabeth Kretchmer’s new novel, The Damnable Legacy of A Minister’s Wife. We were thrilled that so many people came for the readings and to share champagne and chocolates with us.
Book Tour in No. Calif.
Christine Z. Mason signing Boundaries: A Love Story
Christine Z. Mason reading Boundaries: A Love Story@ Books Inc.
Gail and Chris meet for the first time at Crossroad Books
Will be signing The Mystery of Nan Madol at Village House of Books, Los Gatos 12/13 noon to 2 with Linda Covella author of The Castle Blues Quake. Raffles, treats. Great gifts for kids ages 8 to 12. Adventure, mystery, ghosts, voodoo, exotic places!
Middle-grade novel mystery/adventure ages 8 to 12 by Christine Mason
The Castle Blues Quake by Linda Covella – middle-grade novel for ages 8 to 12
Page A2 — REGISTER-PAJARONIAN, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014
Writers will visit Crossroads Books Saturday
By ERIK CHALHOUB
OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
WATSONVILLE — Christine Mason and Gail Elizabeth Kretchmer have known each other for several years, the two authors frequently critiquing each other’s writing while chatting about their latest literary escapades.
Mason lives in Scotts Valley, while Kretchmer resides in Seattle, and the two have never met before in person— until now.
The two are preparing for their joint book tour to promote their new novels, and the California leg of the tour will begin at Crossroads Books, 1935 Main St. in Watsonville, on Saturday from 1-3 p.m.
Mason’s novel, “Boundaries: A Love Story,” was released last year but recently was published in paperback. Kretchmer’s debut novel, “The Damnable Legacy of a Minister’s Wife,” was recently released.
The authors’ “unusual history” goes beyond the fact that they have never met face-to-face before, Mason said. Both spent their early years living on the south side of Chicago, and eventually moved to the west coast. They are both full-time writers in their second careers: Kretchmer in business, Mason in legal profession.
The two eventually met online as members of the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association.
“We excitedly await our first in-person meeting when Gail arrives from Seattle for the start of our collaborative tour,” Mason said.
The two novels focus on “strong women, family secrets and controversial choices,” Mason said. In particular, Kretchmer’s book emphasizes cancer and adoption, and with October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and November National Adoption Awareness Month, the timing of the book tour worked out well, Mason noted.
Mason said “Boundaries” began as a “very long short story” about forbidden relationships. However, several editors praised the story, and encouraged her to develop it into a full-length novel.
Using her background as a former lawyer inspired her to discuss legal issues in the novel, and some characters include a law professor, a first-year law student and a children’s rights attorney.
For Kretchmer, “The Damnable Legacy of a Minister’s Wife” is the result of “a lot of dreams and a lot of life experiences,” she said. Kretchmer, who has three adopted sons, found this to be the inspiration for the protagonist Lynn. Beth, the narrator, was born out of certain religious services Kretchmer has attended, during which she said she’s questioned whether the pastor’s spouse is “really as pure and perfect and faithful as she appears.”
The tour will continue Saturday from 5-6 p.m. at The Village House of Books in Los Gatos and Monday at 7 p.m. at Books Inc. in Palo Alto. Other locations will be announced, including stops at bookstores in Seattle in November.
For information, visit www.christinezmason.com and www.gekretchmer.com.
The Damnable Legacy of A Minister’s Wife
Gail Kretchmer and I will begin our joint book tour with a book-signing event at CROSSROADS BOOKS in Watsonville CA Saturday, October 25 from 1 to 3 p.m. Both our books feature strong women, family secrets, and controversial choices. Please come for this fun event!
Boundaries: A Love Story
