MEET MY CHARACTER BLOG TOUR: Detective Marc DeLuca

I am very thankful to Beth Barany for asking me to be a part of this terrific blog hop recognizing the love we feel for our characters. I owe a world of gratitude to Beth, the fantastic fantasy author of Henrietta, The Dragon Slayer – Book 1,   Henrietta, The Dragon Stone – Book 2,   Touchstone of Love,  A Christmas Fling,  and Parisian Amour.  She has also written many books on the writing and publishing. Check those out on her author page.

Beth has been my friend and mentor for a few years now. She has coached me to complete at least five manuscripts and helped me publish one. She is my inspiration, my teacher, and my swift kick-in-the-britches when I slack off.

It has been my pleasure to be instructed of her and to have read her fine books and novellas. I can’t wait to read her newest work, almost titled, “A Green Man.”

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Meet Beth: Award-winning author, Beth Barany has been making up fantasy and adventure stories all her life. She writes magical tales of romance and adventure for women and girls to transport them to new worlds where anything is possible.

In her off hours, Beth enjoys capoeira, reading and watching movies, and traveling, with her husband, author and singer/song writer Ezra Barany. Beth Barany lives in Oakland, California with her husband, two cats, and over 1,000 books.

WEB  / FACEBOOK  / TWITTER / AMAZON

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Now I’d like introduce you to the hero of my new novel, “Sunday Punch,” and sequel to “Fight Card Romance: Ladies Night,” by Carol Malone / a.k.a. Jill Tunney: 

What is the name of your character?  Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Detective Marc DeLuca was introduced in my first novel, “Ladies Night,” as the arresting detective of my heroine. He later proved that he was an honest cop and fair man by helping my hero find the real killers. Marc is a fictionalized character, but to me he’s as real as one of my brothers – but a lot more handsome – just don’t tell my brothers.

When and where is the story set?

Marc’s story is set in 1955 Los Angeles. It’s at the heart of the restructuring of the Los Angeles Police Department when Chief Parker was trying to clean up Law Enforcement’s tarnished reputation. At one time, it was hard to tell the cops from the bad guys.

What should we know about him/her?

Marc DeLuca is a hero. His weakness – vulnerability. He’s Personality Type 5 on the Enneagram Personality Scale – The Investigator, because he is conscientious, ethical, has a strong sense of right and wrong, is well-organized, discerning, realistic, and noble. He makes a great detective because he’s always searching, asking questions, delving into things in depth with a strong need to test the truth. His fatal flaws are being afraid of making mistakes, perfectionistic tendencies that can make him resentment and impatience. He was accused by his ex-fiancée of being detached, moody and irrational.

What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

Someone is killing Mickey Cohen, the gangster’s warehouse guards. Marc’s finally got lucky because one of the workers in an automobile warehouse has seen the killer. Only one problem. This kid’s eighteen, has the muscles of the Incredible Hulk, and is watched over by a long-legged, dark-haired beauty Marc can’t resist. He’s got to keep the kid and his lovely sister safe all the while trying to pin the wrap on the right thugs before all three of them end up on the slab.

What is the personal goal of the character?

Marc believes he must be strict with himself or he won’t be perfect. He wasn’t perfect enough for his first fiancée and she left him. By attempting to create his own brand of perfection, he often creates a personal hell and pushes all other women away. He has been listening too closely to his inner learned voice from a horrific childhood experience when he was seven years old. He killed a home intruder who was trying to murder his parents. He is now led to perform for the “greater good,” all the time because of his passionate search for perfection in the human race. His main goal is to fight down the need for perfection and allow someone else in – someone like the heroine and her beautiful dark eyes soothe his flawed soul.

Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

It’s going to be the second in the Fight Card series after Ladies Night. It’s called: Fight Card Romance: Sunday Punch. A Sunday Punch is the type of boxing hit that won’t will put your lights out until next Sunday.

When can we expect the book to be published?

Sunday Punch should be hitting the e-Shelves by Christmas time 2014.

Fight Card Romance: Ladies Night   /  FACEBOOK  /  TWITTER

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Now I’d like to introduce you to  more wonderful writers you should get to know. Next Monday (August 25th), you’ll be able to check out their Meet My Characters posts on their respective blogs: 

Meet Marsha: Marsha Casper Cook is the author of six published books like It’s Never Too Late, Virginia Templeton Stories, and Love Changes, and 11 feature-length screenplays, a literary agent with 15 years of experience and the host of blog talk radio show A Good Story is a Good  Story for over four years. She and her guests discuss writing and what’s new in the entertainment field. Marsha has also appeared as a guest on other network shows and will continue to make frequent visits to other shows.

Wanting to help new writers reach their goals, Marsha founded the literary agency Marcus Bryan & Associates in 1996, and achieved signatory status from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) within two years. In that capacity, she has represented more than 100 screenwriters and authors, and has also optioned books to movie production companies. Marsha has spoken about her work and the craft of writing to a wide range of audiences including bookstores, schools, museums and local cable and will continue to speak to the media.

WEB  /  BLOG  /  FACEBOOK   /  Author Services  /  Literary Agency   / Radio Shows  / Electronic Distributor 

Meet Anna:  Anna del C. Dye was born in Valparaiso, Chile, and lived amongst some of the world’s most famous beaches. After meeting Rodney Dye, a native of Idaho in her hometown, Anna traveled to Utah on Christmas Eve and married him two weeks later. Their love story, “Why Him?” was published by Covenant in the book entitled Tender Mercies. Anna and Rodney reside in Taylorsville, Utah and are the parents of three princes and a princess. Anna works with her community and has been able to collect more than 2000 books that she distributed at: Legacy Hills Care Center’s library, American Preparatory Academy, Bennion Elementary, Majestic Elementary, Monroe Elementary, Baccus elementary and LTUE.

Anna is an accomplished, multi-award winning author. One of her short stories entitled “Amerine—Fairy Princess,” won an award in the Oquirrh Writers’ contest. “A kingdom by The Sea” won first page award. “Book three of the Silent Warrior Trilogy, Elfs in a Conquered Realm,” won a Bronze medal from the League of Utah Writers, and her book “Shahira and the Flying Elfs” won Honors. Anna’s works started with “The Silent Warrior Trilogy,”  the beginning saga of her YA Elf Series. This series includes seven stand-alone books. She also published “Emerine’s Nightmare,”  a children electronic book. She is fluent in Spanish and English.

WEB       /   EMAIL: author@annadelc.com

Meet Margo:  Margo Bond Collins is the author of a number of novels, including *Taming the Country Star*, *Waking Up Dead*,  *Fairy, Texas*,  and *Legally Undead*.  She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets. She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love.

She enjoys reading romance, urban fantasy, and paranormal fiction of any genre, and spends most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, monsters, cowboys, and villains, and the strong women who love them.

WEB  / FACEBOOK

Meet Glenda:  Glenda Horsfall was born and brought up in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. From an early age she was an avid reader. She became engrossed in reading romance novels in her early teens and promised herself that one day she would sit down and write her own. That dream has now been achieved with the publication of her first novel ‘Playing for Keeps’.  A tale of domination and submission the story is also a romance with a Happy Ever After ending!

Glenda now lives on the Fylde Coast of England with her own hero. She has a grown up son and three beautiful grand-daughters.

Having worked for many years as an Accountant, she loves being able to let her creative imagination run wild as she creates romantic stories for you to enjoy.

WEB  /  TWITTER  / FACEBOOK

Meet Sandra:  Sandra Masters McCart is a retired executive who believes she should have been born in England during the Regency Period.  She is passionate about romance and historical novels, most of her writings about the heroine-hero relationship have dual story lines and subplots, which introduce sub-characters written with subsequent series in mind, and sexuality which ranges from sensual to explicit.

She is a prolific writer and continues to hone her craft. She also devotes some of her time to writing novels of contemporary romance geared to the older heroines and believe that romance is not necessarily the province of the young. Not The Last Dance and Someone I Used to Love are two such novels.

However, her first love will always be for Regency Romance. There are three books ready for immediate marketing. One Night With A Duke, My Divinely Decadent Duke and My Night With A Rogue Duke or as she likes to call them, the DUKE stand-alone series.

WEB  /  FACEBOOK

Meet Margaret:  Born and raised in New York City, Margaret Fieland has been around art and music all her life.  Her poems and stories have appeared in journals such as  Turbulence Magazine, Front Range Review, and All Rights Reserved.

She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelines, was published by Inkspotter Publishing in November, 2011.  She is the author of  Relocated, Geek Games, and Broken Bonds, published by MuseItUp Publishing , and of Sand in the Desert, a collection of science fiction persona poems. Her chapter book is due out later this year.

WEB  /   BLOG  /  POETIC MUSELINGS

Meet Julie: Julie Eberhart Painter and husband, Shaw, Bucks County, PA natives, moved from their home to Dallas, TX from Philadelphia in 1960 and returned eastward via Kankakee, Il, Dayton, Ohio, Cleveland, and then settled in Atlanta, GA. In 1987, she and her husband moved to Daytona Beach, FL for an offer too good to refuse. That’s when she began to write books. They traveled all over the world for 30 years playing duplicate bridge, whenever possible, and always reading. She volunteered in nursing homes in three states. In Florida she joined a hospice team as a bereavement co-facilitator. Many stories, circumstances and rural and foreign accents inspire novels and short stories. The names were changed to protect the “innocent.”

Her nonfiction e-book, From the Inside Out, a volunteer looks at staying motivated, is considered a best seller on the Net. In 2011, I took advantage of my knowledge directing a sanctioned duplicate bridge game to create Kill Fee, a cozy mystery in which the main character inherits fifteen million dollars from her “murdered” uncle. Kill Fee won the Coffee Time Romance & More Best Book award in February 2012, and the Champagne Books Best Book Award for 2011. Medium Rare, sequel for Kill Fee, released in December of 2012. MuseItUp released Daughters of the Sea, redo of Tahitian Destiny, a paranormal based on a Polynesian legend in January 2113.

Books are available from the publishers or Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Morning After Midnight, a southern saga, debuted in January (Skillet appears here).

WEB  /   TWITTER  /  FACEBOOK  /  LINKED-IN   Julie is a regular blogger on The Writer’s Vineyard