Welcome back to Wednesday with a WNY author. Last week was dedicated to the victims of 9/11/01 and that was my decision.
Today, Jessica Topper is the featured author! OH and her debut release, Louder than Love was published yesterday!!! Thanks Jessica!!
BuffaLOVE: WHY BUFFALO ROCKS
How can you not love a
city that smells like chicken wings and Cheerios?
Once upon a time, a guy and a girl each moved to New York
City to find their fame and fortune. They ended up finding each other, and
falling in love. Fast-forward a decade,
when they decided to move to Buffalo for their happily ever after.
Why Buffalo?
Because Buffalo rocks. And it’s rising from its rubble as we
speak. (Seriously, for real this time. I think.)
My husband and I moved back to Buffalo to be closer to my
family, but truth be told, money goes a lot farther here than the place where
the Rent is Too Damn High. Most of our schools are highly ranked, and rush
hour? Where we live, the running joke is twenty minutes, door-to-door, no
matter where you are going. More like a rush blip. Not that we really commute;
we knew as long as we had a phone line and Internet, we could bring his music
management business – and my writing – anywhere.
So why Buffalo?
Buffalo is a great city for entertainment and the arts: tons
of free to nearly-free outdoor concerts just this summer alone, from Adam Ant
to ZZ Top. We’ve got our own Shakespeare in the Park. We’ve got a Goo Goo Doll
who made good and hosts his own Music is Art festival every year. By moving
back to the area, we brought the headquarters of the band moe. and their label,
Fatboy Records, back to the place where it all began. We may not have renovated
a historic church downtown like fellow WNY musician Ani DiFranco has, but we
have added to the fabric of the Buffalo-proud cultural landscape.
Buffalo has an important place in literature as well: Joyce
Carol Oates grew up in the area, and Mark Twain once hung his hat here in town.
His original manuscripts sit in the downtown library, just as some of James
Joyce’s sit in UB, the university my husband and I both attended…before we each
moved to New York City to find our fame and fortune. And ended up finding each
other, and falling in love.
And now we are back in Buffalo, fortunately, and living our
happily ever after.
And now, for a different kind of love story. Yesterday, I
officially became a published WNY author. My debut novel, LOUDER THAN LOVE,
released through Berkley-Intermix, and I am very honored to be here on Sarah’s
blog to share a bit about it with you.
BLURB:
It's been over three years since a train accident made a widow of Katrina Lewis, sending her and her young daughter Abbey back to the suburban town of her youth...the only place that still makes sense. Lauder Lake is the perfect place to hide and heal.
Recluse rocker Adrian "Digger" Graves survived the implosion of his music career, but his muse has long lain dormant. Until Kat hires him to play at her library—not on the basis of his hard rock credentials but rather, because of the obscure kids' TV jingle he wrote years ago. In a case of mistaken identity, Adrian stumbles into the lives of Kat and her comically lovable daughter.
Using tattoos as a timeline, Adrian unfurls his life for Kat. But as the courtship intensifies, it's unclear whose past looms larger: the widow's or the rocker's. Will their demons ever rest, or will they break these soul mates apart?
It's been over three years since a train accident made a widow of Katrina Lewis, sending her and her young daughter Abbey back to the suburban town of her youth...the only place that still makes sense. Lauder Lake is the perfect place to hide and heal.
Recluse rocker Adrian "Digger" Graves survived the implosion of his music career, but his muse has long lain dormant. Until Kat hires him to play at her library—not on the basis of his hard rock credentials but rather, because of the obscure kids' TV jingle he wrote years ago. In a case of mistaken identity, Adrian stumbles into the lives of Kat and her comically lovable daughter.
Using tattoos as a timeline, Adrian unfurls his life for Kat. But as the courtship intensifies, it's unclear whose past looms larger: the widow's or the rocker's. Will their demons ever rest, or will they break these soul mates apart?
BIO:
Jessica Topper is
an ex-librarian turned rock n' roll number cruncher. She can trace her love for
the written word back to age three, when she memorized Maurice Sendak's
"Chicken Soup with Rice" in its entirety.
After her daughter
was born, Jessica left the Manhattan library world and began working for her
husband's music management company. He offered her a part-time bookkeeping job
so she could "stay home for the baby's first year" and pursue her
dream of writing.
The baby is now
eleven, and Jessica has been working her full-time,
sold-her-soul-for-rock-n-roll job as Office Manager for veteran jam band moe.
ever since. She may have traded in books for bookkeeping, but the written word
is never far from her mind, or her heart.
Jessica is a PAN
member of the Romance Writers of America, and belongs to their Western NY and Women's
Fiction chapters. She is also a charter member of the Women's Fiction Writer's
Association. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter and one
ancient cat.
website: http://www.jessicatopper.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/jesstopper
BOOK LINKS:
Thanks so much for having me visit, Sarah - it was fun!
ReplyDeleteI love the post! This is an amazing book! I am featuring Jessica over on my blog. There is an author interview and I'm giving away two ebook copies of Louder Than Love. U.S. only giveaway. Please stop by and check it out!
ReplyDeletehttp://heasareus.blogspot.com/2013/09/debut-author-interview-review-giveaway.html