Guest post and giveaway extraordinaire: J.B. Stanley, author of the Supper Club and Collectible cozy series

Today, it is such an honor to welcome one of my absolute favorite authors in the cozy genre. You might remember I reviewed Stiffs and Swines and The Battered Body, which I also featured in a Tuesday Teaser . Just to refresh your memory or if you happened to be in outer space that day and missed it, (lol!) I've included links. So let's welcome J. B. Stanley and see what she has to say and giveaway.

Author, Eavesdropper, & Dialogue Thief by J.B. Stanley

A few weeks back, when I was well into the first draft of the sixth book in my supper club series, The Vulgar Vegetarian, I found myself in search of a villain. Literally. I wanted to drive around until I found someone who was perfectly deceitful, immoral, and malicious (or, at least I could envision them that way). Is there a shortage of bad guys/gals in the world? I think not. One just has to look for them, but at the moment I didn’t want to leave Barnes & Noble.
“Writer’s block?” One of the booksellers teased, noticing that I hadn’t typed a word since I’d sat down with my iced coffee.
“Not really.” I smiled. “Can I ask you an odd question?”
“Those are the best kind,” she replied (to my delight).
“Can you think back to high school or junior high and tell me if there was someone who was especially mean to you?” I plowed on. “A bully?”
Slightly suspicious, she nodded. “Yeah, I knew someone like that. Why do you want to know?”
“Well, I’ve already based characters on people who have wronged me, my immediate family, and even my cat. At the moment, I’m fresh out of villains. But if you knew someone who had an extra supply of cruelty, then I could add him into my book”
She nodded immediately. “In high school. His name was Russ.”
Russ? My antagonist had a first name. I’d make up his last name later. “What did he look like?”
“He was your average blue-eyed blond, but he was too mean to be cute. He only smiled when he thought he was hurting someone.” She paused in the middle of straightening a row of Seventeen magazines. “His face was always bunched up in a smirk. Like a little frog.”
I could picture him already, but as a grown man in his mid twenties. “What kind of things did he tease you about?”
The bookseller’s face clouded over. I could see that Russ’s words still haunted her and she was in her mid forties. “He told me that no one would ever ask me out. He said that I looked like a fat boy. He called me fat boy all the time. I hated him.” She gazed out the window and then turned back to me. “You know what? I still hate him.”
I moved closer to her, my heart already hardened against this brute. “How would you like a little payback?” I inquired. “I need a bad guy for my next book and I think Russ would make a terrific scoundrel.”
Her eyes lit up. “Are you going to kill him?”
I laughed nervously at her eagerness. “I don’t think so. But he’ll get his comeuppance.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling shyly. “He was mean to lot of kids. He was really good at making people feel small.”
“For the record,” I told her before returning to my laptop, “You’re not fat, you don’t look like a boy, and I think you’re cool.”

This is a true story, folks. I do oddball stuff like this all the time. Sure, many of the ideas appearing in my books come from my own experiences, but not all. I’ve overheard snippets of gossip in eateries that I knew could plump up the dialogue of one of my ongoing scenes, I’ve seen how rude people can be when talking on their cell phones and have planned on teaching one of my characters a lesson about etiquette as a result, and I’ve studied the quirks and mannerisms of people at work.

In short, I spy on people all the time and I borrow upon these real-time observations to color my narrative. Sometimes I’m just shopping for a physical description. If I cast my eyes around the bank or the grocery store or the gym, my gaze will alight on someone whose unique appearance will transfer into fiction in a few, succinct sentences. My job is the most rewarding form of people watching.

I’m also always on the lookout for exhibitions of warmth, generosity, courtesy, and pubic displays of affection. I revel in the pure happiness folks illustrate at bakeries or ice cream parlors. Have you ever seen a person sitting at a patio table shaded by a yellow and white striped umbrella, licking a chocolate-dipped soft serve cone? Do they look unhappy? Never! They look so content that you want to pull into the nearest parking space and get yourself some of what they’ve got!
So yes, I’m a spy and I eavesdrop, but it’s all for the sake of my writing. Promise!

J.B. Stanley’s Supper Club series was called ‘heavy on fun’ by Publisher’s Weekly. There are five book in the series: Carbs & Cadavers, Fit To Die, Chili Con Corpses, Stiffs & Swines, and The Battered Body. The first book in her new Hope Street Church series, Stirring Up Strife, will hit the shelves 12/29/09. For more information or to send an email visit http://www.jbstanley.com/
Find me on Twitter or Facebook under jbstanleyauthor or visit my regular blog with The Cozy Chicks at http://www.cozychicks.com/

Now for the first time published, here is the recipe that will appear in the next Supper Club Mystery to be available in 2010.

Dolly’s Blueberry Dream Pie

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz cream cheese, softened (Dolly prefers Philadelphia brand cream cheese)
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a small bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar until smooth. Gently fold in whipped cream. Spread into pastry shell.
2. . In a large saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, water and lemon juice. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth and then stir in blueberries. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool. Spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with a sprig of mint (optional)

Now for the giveaway. Reader’s Choice Prize – I’d love to send you any one of my books (signed, of course) along with some coffee, a scented candle, a journal, and a whole slew of other goodies!

Thank you so much for spending some time with us. Wow, J.B., that is one super generous prize. Okay, kids, here are the rules:

Contest open to US and Canada only. No P.O. Boxes. Deadline to enter is July 18th at 5 P.M. Please put all info in ONE comment box and be sure to include an e mail address.

For official entry just comment you want to win

For 3 bonus entries~ become a follower through google connect (follow publicly)

For 2 bonus entries~ post about the contest and leave me the direct link

For 1 more bonus entry~ put a link in your sidebar

For 1 more bonus~ send a friend to enter, have them mention your name and you both get the extra entry.

To make it a little more interesting: if we get to 160 followers by the deadline, I will send 2 of J.B's books, A Killer Collection and Deadly Dealer to a second winner. These are gently read books from the Collectible series. Good Luck!