Gerald: I'm what they used to call a "widower" who lives in Michigan with my three dogs. I'm an engineer in the daytime and at night escape from the world of logic and machines by writing stories of fantasy and the supernatural.
Karen: Tell us your latest news. Do you have any current projects you're working on?
Gerald: I'm always working on several stories at the same time, either novels or novellas.
Karen: What is the name of your story and what inspired you to write this tale for the Let it Snow, 2016 Holiday Romance Collection?
Gerald: The name of my story is "Comfort and Joy." While searching for inspiration on a Christmas story for VTP this year, I decided to write a sequel to another favorite Christmas story I'd written for them a few years ago, a Western called "A Wicked Past."
Karen: When you were a child, what holiday story intrigued you the most?
Gerald: Oh, I loved the old animated classics. A Charlie Brown Christmas (I always identified with Charlie Brown) for instance.
Gerald: Playing around with the holiday themes, both religious and secular. In the case of "Comfort and Joy" we have a mother and baby on a journey at Christmastime. It's not just an inn that rejects the weary travelers, but the entire town. And of course, you need a Christmas miracle somewhere in the mix. For the rest, you'll have to read the story.
Karen: What is your favorite holiday movie or book?
Gerald: How the Grinch stole Christmas. Both book and movie. I never get tired of the poetry.
Gerald: How the Grinch stole Christmas. Both book and movie. I never get tired of the poetry.
Karen: What is your favorite holiday drink or food dish?
Gerald: Christmas cookies and milk. Hand's down.
Gerald: Christmas cookies and milk. Hand's down.
Karen: What makes you interested in the genre you write?
Gerald: I love a bit of magic and mystery in a story and love stories are the most enduring tales ever told.
Blurb for COMFORT AND JOY:
Comfort Smith hasn't had an easy life. Raised in an orphanage, shunned by the upright citizens of the town, her only way to survive is being a prostitute in a saloon. Now she has a baby in her life. A baby she's expected to turn over to the same orphanage she came from. A saloon is no place to raise a baby.
Pete Lamont is a bouncer in the saloon, tormented by something terrible that he did in his past. Now it's his job to escort Comfort and her baby on a train ride to the orphanage back east. It's a sad choice, but one many prostitutes have made in the 1890s frontier. It should be an uneventful trip.
But Comfort is determined to hang onto the baby and has made other plans. The trip together will be anything but uneventful for Comfort and Pete.
Gerald: I love a bit of magic and mystery in a story and love stories are the most enduring tales ever told.
Blurb for COMFORT AND JOY:
Comfort Smith hasn't had an easy life. Raised in an orphanage, shunned by the upright citizens of the town, her only way to survive is being a prostitute in a saloon. Now she has a baby in her life. A baby she's expected to turn over to the same orphanage she came from. A saloon is no place to raise a baby.
Pete Lamont is a bouncer in the saloon, tormented by something terrible that he did in his past. Now it's his job to escort Comfort and her baby on a train ride to the orphanage back east. It's a sad choice, but one many prostitutes have made in the 1890s frontier. It should be an uneventful trip.
But Comfort is determined to hang onto the baby and has made other plans. The trip together will be anything but uneventful for Comfort and Pete.
~ENJOY AN EXCERPT FROM COMFORT AND JOY~
Pete looked at the determined mother sitting across from him. He tried to decide if she'd completely lost her mind, and if so what he should do about it. Lord knows he couldn't blame her for clinging to desperate hope.
"Honey…Comfort…there's no way you can be sure it was him, not with…you know…"
"I know it's him. She has the same red hair and green eyes. I remember thinking at the time how unusual it was and how pretty they went together. It's more than that, though. Something happened that night. It scared me so bad I ran away to find other work. I got hired as a scrub maid but when there was no doubt I was pregnant, I made the mistake of telling my employers. They kicked me out. I had to go back to Charlie. I did the counting when she was born. It has to be his. Wilcox is only an eight-hour train ride from here. I have to try. I grew up in an orphanage. You don't know what it's like."
But you'll never make him admit the baby is his, he thought and gave a deep sigh.
Holiday Collection at:
Ebook: Amazon /Amazon UK / Smashwords / iTunes /Nook
In Print: Amazon /Amazon UK /Createspace / Barnes and Noble
For more information about Gerald Costlow and his works, please visit his website at: http://theweaving.blogspot.com/
and http://victorytalespress.com/
Thanks so much for being here today. I always enjoy your stories and look forward to reading them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for having me as a guest!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your interview, Gerald. And Comfort and Joy sounds like a really good read. I always find your story plots interesting and like your wry sense of humor which comes through in every one.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Linda. :)
DeleteGreat praise from a talented writer in her own right.
Deletenice excerpt
ReplyDeletedenise
Thanks! It's sometimes had to pick a few paragraphs that give an example of what to expect without giving away too much of the plot.
DeleteComfort And Joy looks like a wonderful Christmas story, a reminder of that first Christmas. Miracles DO happen.
ReplyDeleteIt was so nice to learn a little bit more about you in this interview, Gerald.
All good things to your corner of the universe.
Thanks!
DeleteWonderful interview,Gerald and Karen!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to reading this tale, Gerald. And I'm happy to be sharing some pages in the same book with you. :-)
Same here. I identified with Raff in your story, and while I've never lost everything in a fire, I have an Aunt who did a few years ago and you painted the devastation nicely.
Delete