Farrah
Rochon’s latest “Moment in Maplesville” novel, “Any Time you Need Me,” has just
been released. Rochon is a USA Today bestselling author with several series
under her belt. “I'll Catch You,” the second book in her New York Sabers series
for Harlequin Kimani, was a 2012 RITA Award finalist from Romance Writers of
America. “Yours Forever,” the third book in the “Bayou Dreams” series, was a
2015 RITA finalist. Farrah has been nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers
Choice Award, and in 2015 received the Emma Award for Author of the Year.
We caught up with the Louisiana native
and posed some questions.
Q: Tell us about Maplesville and
the people who live there.
A: Maplesville is a fictional town set
around the Bogalusa area. It’s your typical bayou town with a small, tight-knit
community that loves to cheer for their Maplesville Mustangs football team on
Friday nights. Like most small towns, they also come together to help fellow
residents when in need. And, because I write romance novels, it’s often filled
with fun, sexy shenanigans.
Q: Is
Maplesville based upon your hometown in St. Charles Parish?
A: Actually, it’s the neighboring
fictional town of Gauthier that most closely mirrors my small hometown.
Gauthier is featured in my “Bayou Dreams” series for Harlequin’s Kimani Romance
imprint, and is in somewhat of a competition with Maplesville throughout most
of the series. Maplesville experiences a growth spurt when a new outlet mall
comes to town, threatening the mom and pop shops in the smaller Gauthier. It
reminds me of what happened when the town of Boutte got its own Walmart. The
locally owned family businesses in my small hometown suffered because of
it.
Q: Do you incorporate Louisiana
into many of your books?
A: My two small-town romance
series, “Bayou Dreams” and “Moments In Maplesville” are both set in Louisiana,
so it’s imperative that I incorporate the sights, sounds and flavors of the
state in those stories. And I love it. Readers will always find at least one or
two scenes that revolve around tasty Louisiana cooking. I also love to take my
characters out of the small town and drop them in the heart of New Orleans.
It’s such a romantic city, with ample settings for scenes that are uniquely
Louisiana. It’s a fabulous way to showcase this wonderful state to readers
around the country and the world.
Q: How did you get started in
writing?
A: As cliché as it sounds, I’ve
been writing all my life. I have floppy disks —the old five-inch ones that
actually flop — with books I wrote back in the fifth grade. However, I didn’t
get serious about writing until college, when a professor at Xavier University
read an essay I wrote about my fear of public speaking. I can still remember
her penciled-in remarks about how my vivid words sent chills down her spine. It
wasn’t until after I finished graduate school that I recognized that romance
was the genre that most called to me. I started writing with the hopes of
making it my career two weeks after earning my degree.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do
when not writing?
A: Reading is, of course, at the
top of my list. I don’t know a writer who doesn’t love to read. I also love to
travel, both domestically and internationally. This past April I visited
Thailand for the first time and completely fell in love with it. When I’m not
traveling to another country you can usually find me at Disney World. My family
and I travel there multiple times each year. I’m also a huge theater nerd. I travel
to New York at least twice a year to see shows. Like the rest of the country,
I’m currently obsessed with “Hamilton: An American Musical.”
New finds
Michelle
Hirstius wrote me recently to let me know about her series of children’s book
titled “Juju the GOOD Voodoo.” Juju is a voodoo doll that comes alive with a
“good deed” spell so she can spread goodness and show children how to do good
deeds. The books are available at 35 boutiques and Voodoo BBQ & Grill restaurants
from Florida to Louisiana. Hirstius is a New Orleans native with a background
in sales, marketing, acting and management. She both writes and illustrates the
books.
Private Eye
Jackson Holt makes a living investigating underground supernatural creatures of
New Orleans in Moira Rogers’ “Crux,” the first book in the “Southern Arcana”
series.
Claudette Carrida Jeffrey has
recently published “The Color of Life,” which is the second book in the
four-book “Claire Soublet Series.” The book follows Soublet's great-aunt Sera as
a dressmaker in the French Quarter of the early 1900s, a woman of color hiding
behind blue eyes and blond hair.
Playing around on Ancestry.com, I
realized I’m related to the famous Dureaus of New Orleans, the painter George
Dureau and opera singer, teacher and author Lorraine Dureau who wrote under the
name Lorena Dureau. The latter wrote the historical novels “The Last Casquette
Girl,” “Iron Lace” and “Beloved Outcast.”
Southern bookstores
It’s a
beauty parlor, bookstore and host of one of the most popular — and fun — writer
events in the country. Beauty & the Book in Jefferson, Texas, offers local
and regional books in addition to beauty books, children’s books and other
titles. Its owner, Kathy Patrick, is author of “The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara
Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life" and she hosts the Pulpwood Queen Book
Club Convention, otherwise known as Girlfriend Weekend, every Martin Luther
King weekend. The theme for 2017’s event (Jan. 14-17) in Nacogdoches, Texas, is
“Once Upon a Time.” For more information on the store and the event, or to
become a Pulpwood Queen member, visit http://beautyandthebook.com/.
 |
| Jim Pharis |
Book events
The Bayou Writers Group meets at 10
a.m. the first Saturday of each month at the Carnegie Memorial Library in Lake
Charles. For information, visit http://bayouwritersgroup.com/.
The Festival of Words Cultural Arts
Collective hosts an evening of music by Jim Pharis and an open mic of music and
other creative works beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 29, at Chicory’s Coffee & Café in
Grand Coteau. Participants may bring their own songs, poems or stories for the
open mic. This free, community event is suitable for all ages. For more
information, call (337) 280-5517 or email festivalwords@gmail.com.
Cheré Coen is the author
of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette,
Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country.” She writes Louisiana romances under
the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment