Join me in welcoming guest author Shea E Butler to the Coffee Chat with her featured audiobook, Transitions: Stories of Mystery, Murder and Speculative Fiction.
Nice to meet you, Shea. How do you take your coffee?
SB: I drink my coffee black. My red-headed Texas grandmother used to say the only way to drink coffee was if it was “hotter than hell, blacker than night, and stronger than sin.”
Ally: Your grandmother was one smart lady! While I fill our mugs, please introduce yourself to readers.
Shea E. Butler is, at heart, a storyteller. She’s a storyteller in many different fields: a television writer, a published author and an award-winning director/writer/producer for her short films and web series. She was that kid who huddled under the covers after “lights out” reading a book by flashlight.
Born in Cairo, Egypt to American parents living abroad, Shea is a US citizen and Permanent Resident of Canada who divides her time between Vancouver and Los Angeles. Her love for traveling and exploring worlds and cultures, both past, present, and future, was ignited at a young age. Shea’s most awe-inspiring trip was a horseback riding safari through the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Nothing like being charged by two lions to get your creative juices flowing!
Something unique/unusual that isn’t in your regular bio: “I was on a polo team that won the National Indoor 5 Goal Championship.”
Author Contacts:
www.thebutlerdiditproductions.com
Facebook: Filmmaker Shea E. Butler
Twitter – @sheab1
Instagram – @shea.b1
Ally: What is the easiest—or the hardest—part of writing for you?
SB: The easiest part of writing for me is coming up with story ideas. I have pages and pages of them. The oddest things, out of the blue will spark my imagination. I love it.
Ally: Do you use critique groups or beta readers? Do you find them valuable?
SB: I have a small circle of writer friends, most of whom I met in various writers groups, who I use as readers. I trust their opinion and they know to be brutal.
Ally: Do people you know sneak into your books as characters?
SB: Absolutely I will take bits and pieces of people I know or just come across to pepper through my stories. I grew up spending a lot of time in airports and had many, many hours to people watch. Airports are great places to people watch and fire up your imagination about how your character should act, walk, and look.
Ally: Do you write from an outline?
SB: I use a one-liner type outline, not a full, detailed outline. I find that if I go into an extremely detailed outline, that I just start writing dialogue and get into areas that I shouldn’t in an outline. Plus, I feel that it stymies my characters from “talking” to me and scolding me about things they wouldn’t do or say. As I get further into the writing of a piece, the characters become more alive and become their own persons with their own opinions, observations, and it can influence the story. I like having my characters talk to me even if it does change my story..
Ally: What three books in your genre (other than your own) would you recommend to readers?
SB: So hard to pick just three. But here goes:
I love the whole Detective Dallas series that J.D. Robb writes. That series includes all my favorite genres – murder/mystery, a dash of romance, science fiction and drama.
I also love all the Dick Francis novels as they explore murder/mystery with the horse world.
I also really enjoy Jayne Castle aka Anne Krentz aka Amanda Quick novels. Again, her novels explore science fiction, murder/mystery and has a dash of romance.
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose?
SB: All of them. Just kidding—but more than requested.
- Book you’re currently reading: “The Dog Stars” by Peter Heller
- An item on your bucket list: Go up to the space station but in the more realistic list, travel through Scotland and Norway where my ancestors came from.
- Ebook or print? Oh, by far I love reading print books.
- A movie you’ll always remember: “Out of Africa”
- What type of music do you prefer? Classic rock and Country and Western.
- Best place you’ve ever visited: Horseback riding through the Okavango Delta in Botswana
- A supernatural ability you’d love to have: Time travel
- Favorite sport – Horseback riding
Ally: A pleasure to meet you, Shea. Please tell us something about your audiobook.
Genre: mystery/speculative fiction
Rating: PG
Submerse yourself in five tales of mystery, murder, revenge, dark fantasy and the supernatural. Five women find themselves at a crossroad in their lives as they investigate murders, seek revenge and rebel against the status quo as they hunt killers through back alleys, at Universities, through small town America, the City of Angels and on a world millennium in the future.
Meet Belle Lopez, former street worker and now a neophyte private investigator obsessed with solving the murder of her mentor with the help of his ghost.
Detective Georgia Gomez races against time and the encroaching tide to gather clues to solve a woman’s murder. The stakes get personal and supernatural when she discovers who the victim is.
An urban fantasy tale finds Calandra having to navigate murder, revenge, and shapeshifting in the City of Angels as her thirst for vengeance takes her down a dark path.
Sammi, a burnt out, big city detective now working in a small southern town, is on the trail of a serial killer when the FBI shows up.
And millennium in the future, a spark of rebellion flares in Ra-ina, a young native creature of a verdant natural world, as she fights for her life and freedom after being captured by invaders.
Five women, five amazing tales of perseverance, dedication, and resolve as they investigate mysteries, murder, and the supernatural.
Buy Link: Available in Audio
Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Transitions-Audiobook/B0B4YPJ3JR?fbclid=IwAR2avfhFbhkvWUizJSJ4dkor11bz32Na41_UiaQB_59YjAu8wyNGNZtXlEc
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Transitions-Stories-Mystery-Speculative-Fiction/dp/B0B4Z2HCGP