Back in September, Diane Burton was here with a preview
of her romantic suspense, One Red Shoe. The book released yesterday, and I am already about halfway through it. I have to tell you, it's a wild ride! Diane is back
with an excerpt and buying information, as well as some insight into the types
of stories that she loves.
Humor
What is it about humor that appeals to so many yet eludes
others? I was a serious child. Oldest of seven, the one left in charge, the
responsible one. That carried over into my adult life. Until I met a certain
guy with a wicked sense of humor. He could tease me out of my seriousness and
helped me find my own sense of humor. I was smart enough to grab onto that guy
and we’ve been married for over forty years. I’m still too serious at times in
real life, but I can let go in my writing.
Romantic comedy is my favorite type of movie. Romancing
the Stone, It
Happened One Night,
Something’s Gotta Give, Six Days, Seven Nights. Falling in love is serious business, but without that
spark of humor it came be maudlin. Television drama without humor will lose me
as an audience. NCIS, Castle, Bones, Persons of Interest. Even gritty
futuristics like Almost Human keep me watching because of the humorous
interaction between the main characters. And don’t get me started on Doctor Who
(which I just discovered even though it’s been on the air since 1963!). The
sci-fi show is, at times, laugh out loud funny, especially the last Doctor.
Humor comes in many forms. Give me wicked banter any day
over slapstick. I never understood the appeal of the Three Stooges. Maybe that’s
a guy thing. I loved the Saturday morning cartoon Rocky & Bullwinkle because of the dialogue. Same
with the original Muppet Movie. When I took my children to see it, the best part was
the dad behind me who, along with the few other adults in the theater, couldn’t
stop laughing at all the “good” parts—like “gone with the Schwin” and Fozzie’s “they
don’t sound like Presbyterians.”
I said I’m not fond of slapstick, so how do you explain
my love of the Stephanie Plum series? The physical comedy is laugh out loud
funny. Author Janet Evanovich knows how to take a situation, twist it, turn it
on its ear and make it hilarious. I should never read those books in bed
because the bed shakes from holding in my laughter—don’t want to wake Hubs with
laughing out loud.
Life is serious. The news every night keeps getting
grimmer and more disturbing. Comedy is an antidote to life. The value of humor
is vastly underrated. In fact, rarely has a comedy won an Oscar. Same with
actors whose forte is their comedic timing. What do they receive awards for?
Their dramatic work.
Medical studies tell us that laughter releases
endorphins, nature’s natural pain killers. Laughter relaxes the skeletal
system, reduces stress, lowers the blood pressure, and regulates the heart
rate. According to inspirational speaker Marilyn Meburg, your liver needs
laughter because it gets no exercise. The liver is the organ in your body that
gets rid of toxins. So, if you’re not laughing you’re neglecting your liver.
Give your liver and the rest of your body that antidote
to “real life” and enjoy a good comedy.
What are your favorite comedy books or movies?
Blurb:
Wannabe
writer rescues wounded spy while risking her heart.
Daria
Mason’s life is too predictable. Nothing ever happens in her small Iowa town
where everybody knows everybody else. But when she travels to New York City
looking for a little excitement, she never expects to bring home a wounded spy.
From the
moment agent Sam Jozwiak steals intel vital to US security from a Russian Mafia
kingpin, Murphy’s Law takes over. No matter how he covers his tracks, the
kingpin’s assassins find him. What’s worse than getting shot in the butt?
Accepting help from an Iowa tourist.
Sam and
Daria flee cross country with the assassins right behind them. Sharing danger
and excitement—and a few kisses—with Sam soon has Daria convinced he’s the man
for her. He thinks she’ll be better off once he’s out of her life for good.
With their lives on the line, can she convince him they belong together?
Excerpt:
The slinky blonde
with wild curly hair rose from the chair in the corner and walked toward him.
She wore skin-tight jeans and an equally tight red shirt. “Sam?”
He was hallucinating.
The woman sounded like Daria. A tiny angel charm nestled in the hollow of her
throat above the low-cut shirt. An angel just like Daria’s, but—
“Sam, I’m glad you’re
awake. We can leave now.”
“Oh, shit. Where’s
your hair?”
She self-consciously
touched the froth of blond curls that brushed her shoulders. “No time to talk.
We have to get on the road again. I needed—”
“I thought you needed
the bathroom because you were constipated not because you wanted to turn
yourself into a—a floozy.”
“Constipated? You
thought—” Her cheeks matched the color of the ultra-snug top and the slash of
lipstick across her mouth. What happened to her fresh-scrubbed look? Good Lord,
her eyelashes were all gunked up.
Sam swung his legs
off the bed. He planted his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his
hands. “Your beautiful hair,” he moaned.
Gone. She’d cut it
off. Instead of long and wavy from the braid, her hair was sticking out like
she’d stuck her finger in a light socket. And it was the brassiest color he’d
seen since his sister and her girlfriends experimented on each other in ninth
grade. She’d even replaced her gold studs with large silver hoops that dangled
from her ears.
“This is a good
disguise, Sam. Come on, admit it.” She walked toward him, unsteady on her feet.
He looked down and
saw why. Instead of cute penny loafers, she was wearing black boots with
three-inch heels. He looked up those mile-long legs. “Your jeans are too damn
tight. That penny in your pocket was minted in Denver in 1994.”
She tried to wriggle
her hand into the pocket before she gave him a suspicious look. “I don’t have a
penny in my pocket.”
“Well, if you did, I
could read it.”
One
Red Shoe is
available at:
The Wild
Rose Press: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1082
And
wherever ebooks are sold.
About
the author:
Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure,
science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science
fiction romance Switched series, she is the author of The Pilot, the first book in a series about
strong women on the frontier of space. One Red Shoe is her first romantic suspense. She
is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in
Michigan. They have two children and two grandchildren.
Connect
with Diane Burton online
Diane
Burton is giving away a free pdf copy of One Red Shoe to a lucky commenter. For extra
chances, please use Rafflecopter below:
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