Kim Smith - Author Guest Post

I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Kim Smith, author of Avenging Angel: A Shannon Wallace Mystery, to Cafe of Dreams today. For those not familiar with this work, read on - I know you will be intrigued! Now, on to a delightful guest post by Kim!

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When I got the word that I was to be a guest blogger on Café of Dreams, I got really excited. I love the fact that this blog’s catchphrase is "Enjoy a Great Book Today!"
This is something that is sort of near and dear to my heart.

My favorite book of all time is a historical novel set in the South during the Civil War. Yes, Gone with the Wind. I might never have read that book if it came out today, as it is very long, but it arrived in my hot little hands when I was the same age as Scarlett, and hungry for a romance. Back then, it was easy for me to understand her spunk and her ability to fight the establishment. Maybe not so much today, however, as most historians will tell you the CW era was not too full of spunky women, and today I would be thrown off by the inaccuracies.

I believe my reading tastes have come a long way since then. Today, my flavor usually falls in the cozy mystery category, the contemporary romance category, with the occasional suspense thriller, or historical thrown in for good measure. Although I would never have done so in the days of reading about Miz Scarlett, I do read a lot of nonfiction these days. You can learn a lot from a book. One of my favorite new reads is series books. You can always pick up where the last one left off and get right back on the train again.

Today’s books move at such rapid paces, the story ratcheted up to such a high degree, most of the classic and old-time authors would never get one published in this market, in my opinion. In some ways that is very sad, as those old books were like sinking into an easy chair. You just enjoyed the ride all the way to the end. It was like biting into a delicious piece of pecan pie. Chew on it a while and savor the flavor. But industries do evolve and change and the book industry in no different. Some industry pros will tell you if you want to see what will be the next trend in books, watch Hollywood. So far, I can attest to this being true.

I think sometimes Hollywood has played a huge part in this "let’s get the inciting event on the first page" type of book creation. We are so used to watching hour long shows where the stuff has to happen right away. Heck, look at the popular series "24" and you will know that heavy-duty action and suspense sells well.

No matter what happens in the world of reading and books, I know I will stay with it. I doubt I will turn to getting all of my information and entertainment from the television, theater, or computer. Having a book to read is as much of who I am as my physical make-up.
Probably why I became a writer!

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Thanks so much, Kim, for that excellent post! You are a woman after my own heart - I love "Having a book to read is as much of who I am as my physical make-up" ! I could not agree more. Now, to introduce this wonderful author and her work.....

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About the author:

Kim Smith was born in Memphis Tennessee, the youngest of four children. After a short stint in a Northwest Mississippi junior college, during the era of John Grisham’s rise as a lawyer, she gave up educational pursuits to marry and begin family life.

She has worked in many fields in her life, from fast food waitress to telephone sales. "I always got the seniors on the phone who were lonely and wanted someone to talk to. My boss couldn’t understand why in the world I spent so much time talking to them and not enough time selling. That was when I realized I love people and care deeply about their lives."

After the birth of her two children, she gave up working outside the home for the more important domestic duties of wife and mother. When her kids decided they wanted to pursue theater as an extracurricular activity, she gave up her free time to drive them to rehearsals, training classes, and plays. During those years, she found herself bored with nothing to do to while away the hours stuck in a car. She began thinking of stories to entertain herself and pass the time. Before long she started telling her husband about her stories and he assured her she could write a book if she really wanted to. She put the idea away once she landed a job as a network administrator for a small corporation, and together the Smith’s started their own video production company.

Writing was a dream, hidden but not forgotten, and soon Kim began to talk again of trying her hand at it. She played with words, and wrote several poems, one of which was picked up for an anthology.

One day in the early nineties her husband came home with a desktop computer and sat her in front of it. "Now you have no more excuses," he said, and she realized the truth in his words. Procrastination, now no longer an option, she took off on the pursuit of penning her first book. Though that book, a young adult fantasy, was lost due to unforeseen circumstances, she kept going, writing a historical romance, and another YA.

When she decided to try out her hand at mystery writing, she discovered her true love and niche in the writing journey. She has since had four short stories, and her first mystery novel accepted for publication.

Kim is a member of Sisters in Crime, and EPIC. She still lives in the Mid South region of the United States and is currently working on her second book in the mystery series.

You can visit her website at http://www.mkimsmith.com/

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About the book:

Shannon Wallace is having a bad hair week.

She’s been ditched by her job, dumped by her boyfriend, and implicated in his murder.When she finds out her very private video collection is missing from the crime scene, it is all out war to find the disks before the cops do. The problem is, the killer has them. And he’s watched them.

Now Shannon’s at the top of his most wanted list.

(click here) to read an excerpt

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Win prizes!

AVENGING ANGEL VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on February 2 and end on February 27. You can visit Kim's blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in February to find out more about this talented author!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.