Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Guest Blog and Giveaway Hot Shot by S.A. Stolinsky



Why did I start writing?  Well, when I first started writing mysteries, I was absolutely enthralled with Robert Parker because his style was so simple, straightforward and fun. Fun in fiction is a big thing for me.  I want to sit down with a simple who-done-it and try to figure out how and why each character could be the villain, but I want a feeling of lightness and happiness in the way the protagonist solves the crime.

When I wrote darker fiction, trying to follow in the path of Henry Miller or E. L. Doctorow, I found that although I loved the stories, I was sorry when then ended, and I didn’t particularly want to read more.  In Henry Miller’s case the Nexus books were an “arc” in the author’s own life of love, devastation, and finally fulfillment. I had never had any experiences like Henry Miller and didn’t plan to, so writing stories like that would take a ton of research and interviews with people who live on the fringe.

Then I met a publisher who had just given up publishing because she insisted it was “such a difficult profession.” She told me to start writing short stories.  She felt you can’t write fiction without knowing plot, personalities, “no stick characters”, metaphor, simile, and the flow of language.  She felt short stories demanded less, but really trained you how to write an “arc” for a character and how to develop a beginning, middle and end to a story.

She was right. I wrote a short story for Sherlock Holmes Magazine about a prostitute who kills her last “john” after he gets her pregnant and she suffers a miscarriage.  It was short and to the point, and won a Good Guys Publishing award.

My characters in HOT SHOT, Tyler West and Sam Allen, are young, but looking to get even for egregious actions like those described in my short stories.  You could call it a psychological novel. Tyler was looking to expose the stealing and criminality surrounding gambling, and Sam wants to expand his life to make something of himself, after hitch-hiking to Los Angeles from a tiny city in Iowa when he was only eight years old.

I think those stories tell the arc of how people rejuvenate themselves after traumatic experiences.

Hot Shot
S.A. Stolinsky

Suspense

November 1, 2016

Fiery Seas Publishing

Book Description:

Payback is a powerful thing...

Actor and bartender, Tyler West experiences a sudden streak of luck -- winning poker games. Determined to change his life, he enters the World Series of Poker. His life is suddenly turned upside down when the Russian mafia fronts him 1.5 million dollars to play at the tables. And then...he loses…

Now on the ride of his life, deceit and deception are his key to uncovering the truth. He must recoup the money, but will it come at a price? Can he stay alive long enough or will his time run out?








About the Author:

Stefanie Stolinsky, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and forensic psychologist with a private practice in Beverly Hills, California. She  specializes  in trauma, adults sexually, physically and emotionally abused as children, and PTSD. She is an international speaker and has taught training seminars in overcoming the aftereffects of child abuse. She has also taught licensing examinations to candidates for both marriage, family and child counseling and for the psychology licenses. 

She began her career as an actress in motion pictures, television and stage and created a unique therapy combining acting exercises with psychodynamic psychotherapy to help survivors of all kinds of trauma overcome the aftereffects of abuse. The first edition of "ACT IT OUT" was a top seller for over nine years. A second edition of the popular book was launched in April of this year and is available on Praeclarus Press, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. 

She is also the author of several award-winning short stories including her newest short story anthology, DATE NIGHT, and numerous comedy mystery. Dr. Stolinsky lives with her husband in Los Angeles.


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