Location, Location, Location!

How important is setting to you? To the story? Do you prefer stories set in London or New York? Small towns across America or England? Do you like details of the city or town? The countryside? Is it important that the place is real or exists only in the author’s imagination?

            

 If you’ve read this blog before, you know that I love my westerns…and with good reason. Aside from my fascination with cowboys and lawmen and the feisty women who love them, there’s something about the loneliness of the wide open plains, tall grass swaying gently in the breeze and the majesty of mountains in the distance that speaks to my soul. I love the small towns that spring up in the middle of nowhere, small towns where everyone knows everyone else’s business (Yes, I grew up in that small town where neighbors looked out for neighbors and I love it when an author gives me details of the busy body who lives down the street).  

             

But…I also enjoy stories set in big cities, where tall buildings block out the sun, where there’s more concrete and pavement than tall swaying grass, where people can get lost in anonymity, where the hot dog vendor on the corner offers advice along with your hotdog. (Do you want mustard on that?)  As long as the author can make me smell the steam rising off a hot summer street, or hear the traffic in the background, I’m there. And that’s all that matters.

             

What’s your favorite city or place to get lost in?

Happy Reading!

Marie

Guest Author: Lisa Greer

I'm so happy to be a guest on the blog today. Thank you!

My debut gothic romance novel, Magnolian, is on sale today in e-book format. It's an exciting day for me.

I wanted to talk a little about setting today because setting plays a huge role in my writing. I've lived in two countries and four states now, and I'm so happy that I have. Moving wasn't always fun, but I've realized that I have a rich base of experience to draw from because of my moving. I can write about Western Pennsylvania and do it with a genuine voice. The same goes for Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Vancouver, BC, Canada. I like to really know the places I write about. One of my pet peeves is reading a novel that has a sketchy setting. My favorite settings are in the South in small towns.

If you like the South, ghosts, romance that keeps you guessing, and old family estates, I invite you to check Magnolian out. Here's a little more about it:

When her father dies, college dropout Lillian Mullins steels herself for a future of nothing special in Pittsburgh. An invitation to Magnolian holds promise, but nightmares, ghosts, and murder threaten to derail her attempt to get a life.

Lillian heads to the South, leaving Donovan Ross, an angsty potential lover, behind. After she finds her mother's old journal at Magnolian and learns a shocking secret, Lillian resolves to find out what happened nearly forty years ago to her mother's African American lover, Samson Jones. Mysterious accidents and threats make her wonder whom she can trust: her enigmatic distant cousin Willoughby Tate, who is running his father's gubernatorial campaign, her Aunt Lorelei, who warns of a dire future, the ghost who beckons her in the night, or her father's voice in the recurring dream that will not let Lillian rest.

I've enjoyed being here! Since today is release day for my novel, I'm giving away a copy of Magnolian. Just tell me what type of setting you like in the comments, and I'll use the Random Number Generator to pick a winner by March 9th at 12pm.
Facebook: Lisa Greer

http://www.lisalgreer.com/

gothicked.blogspot.com (gothic novels review blog with contests and give aways)

To read an excerpt from Magnolian or buy the novel, visit: www.bookstrand.com/magnolian

Does Setting Matter?

This weekend I read a book from one of my favorite authors. It was a paranormal set in San Francisco, mostly in Chinatown. I love visiting San Francisco and have even enjoyed the Dim Sum experience, but for some reason I just couldn’t connect with the environment. Maybe it was the big city. I’m a rural/suburban girl at heart. I still thoroughly enjoyed the book, but not as much as her others and I know it was the setting and my own personal bias. In the historical genre publishers have slowed down on westerns. In all genres publishers have been more open to settings around the world than they used to be. I wonder where that leaves futuristic romances with whole new worlds which could be either. Have you ever found setting effects your connection to the story? Have you ever thought about where the book takes place before buying it?