FOODFIC: Please Welcome Rebecca Enzor, Author of Speak the Ocean

Thanks so much for inviting me, Shelley! I’m a huge foodie myself, although I can’t cook much more than frozen pizza or boxed mac and cheese (Hubs, however, is an amazing cook!). And while the human side of my story contains more drinking than eating (my human MC just turned 21 and is enjoying it), the mermaid side of the story is heavily driven by a lack of food.

Over-fishing has my Mer characters leaving the safety of their deep-sea home and taking dangerous chances to find enough to eat. My mermaid protagonist, Erie, is caught on a desperate hunt when she pushes another Mer out of the way of the “landfolk” nets. Once she’s trapped at the marine park, she refuses to eat the dead fish that were trapped in a net like she was. One of the first air-words she learns is “breakfast.”

The pivotal scene when she first speaks to her human trainer revolves around him trying to bribe her into eating a dead fish (Mer only eat live fish, so she’s really grossed out by this). There are several scenes throughout the book that focus on her not-eating, including my favorite line: “when he throws a dead fish in the water, I throw it back.” I can just imagine my pissed-off mermaid throwing a dead fish at my human trainer, and him trying to duck while getting hit with a cold, wet, dead fish. Knowing him, there’s definitely an expletive involved!

I can’t say too much more without giving away key parts of the book, but while it focuses heavily on the morality of subjugating other species to the whims of human entertainment (orcas at Sea World, for instance), it’s also about our effect on the food chain in the ocean. As we overfish and pollute the waters other species depend on, we’re also destroying a source of food that we depend on too. Eventually, we’ll be just as hungry and desperate as the Mer.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your food for thought, Rebecca!

You can find Rebecca here:

RebeccaEnzor.com

Twitter @RebeccaEnzor

Facebook Fan Page

Books on Amazon

Rebecca Enzor is a fantasy author and analytical chemist in Charleston, SC, where she lives with her husband, two dogs, three cats, and sometimes chickens. Her articles on writing science in science fiction can be found in “Putting the Science in Fiction” from Writer’s Digest Books. Obsessed with everything ocean, she studied fisheries biology in college and electrocuted herself collecting fish in a river, which inspired several key scenes in her novel. Speak the Ocean, a Blackfish meets The Little Mermaid retelling, will be published by Reuts Publishing in July 2019. She’s represented by Eric Smith of P.S. Literary.

FOODFIC: Please Welcome Karen Pokras, Author of Ava's Wishes

Ava Haines isn’t your typical college student. She has big goals and is laser focused to make sure nothing gets in the way of her internship at the local art gallery and her bigger goal of owning her own place one day.

But a girl still has to eat, right? Especially when the esteemed and very handsome photographer Thomas Malloy offers to take her out to dinner while he’s in town for his show at the gallery. Perhaps Ava is not quite as focused as she thought she was. Even she’s entitled to a little fun once in while, and dinner with Thomas at Habanero’s, the chic and out-of-her budget Mexican restaurant, sure beats another bland meal at the college dining hall. They start off with Margaritas and tortilla chips. While the scene ends there, I’m certain Ava ordered the grilled Mahi-mahi tacos.

As good as that meal was, it has unfortunate ending. No worries though as Ava has other delicious meals in her future with both Thomas and her charming statistics tutor Max Wallis. Max invites her out to D’Angelos Pub where she orders a grilled chicken salad instead of the pasta dish she really wants, because she never orders spaghetti on a date. It’s way too messy. And is it really a date anyway if they’re talking about statistics?

Maybe some distractions aren’t so bad after all.

Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, Karen!

You can find Karen here:

KarenToz.com

Twitter @KarenToz

Facebook Fan Page

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FOODFIC: Please Welcome Rick Polad, Author of the Spencer Manning Mysteries

When Shelley asked me to write a blog about my books and food, my first thought was that I wouldn’t have enough material for a paragraph much less a blog. After all, my books are about Spencer Manning and the cases he works on, not food. But after some thought I realized food is an integral part of my books and Spencer’s life for several reasons. The first is, fictional characters need to eat too, albeit fictional food. The second is, food plays a major part in advancing the story, especially in a mystery novel.

As the cases develop, Spencer needs to let the reader know what he is thinking so the reader can be involved in trying to figure out who did it. And what better way to do that than to have Spencer converse with other characters. He dines twice a week with Lieutenant Stanley “Stosh” Pawolski of the Chicago police and less often with his romantic interest, Detective Rosie Lonnigan. Gino’s East, one of Chicago’s favorite spots for deep dish pizza, is one of their favorites, as is Carson’s for ribs. Over a meal, they talk about the case.

Another reason for including food in the stories is purely selfish. I get to eat vicariously through Spencer. He gets to eat all the things I shouldn’t… steaks, burgers, pizza, ribs, lasagna. And he doesn’t have to eat vegetables. And he frequents some pretty fancy restaurants. My books are set in Chicago during the 1980s, so I had to rely on my memory and research to be historically accurate. Some restaurants are still here thirty-five years later. Some are not. And some exist only in my imagination.

In the first book in the now seven-book series, Change of Address, Spencer frequents one of the best steak houses in Chicago… Gibsons, one of my top three culinary experiences.  But in that same book, Spencer and Rosie dine at Stantons. It’s a restaurant on the shore of Lake Michigan in a North Shore suburb of Chicago. Every table overlooks the lake and Spencer and Kelly sit on the terraced veranda with drinks before dinner. The most frequent question I have had about my books is “Where is that restaurant? I want to eat there!” Unfortunately, it’s only in my imagination. Also in my imagination is the deli next to Spencer’s office.

But the place that holds the books together is McGoons, where Spencer is known by name and often meets with one of his many sidekicks for steak and beer and to discuss a case.  McGoons is a creation of bits and pieces from my memory of Chicago pubs.

In the third book, Missing Boy, Spencer visits the original McDonald’s (after Kroc took over) in Des Plaines and laments plans to tear it down. A museum was later built on the site. And as I was writing this, I realized Spencer has never had a Chicago hot dog. I’ll have to fix that in the next book. Bon appetit!

Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, Rick!

You can find Rick here:

RickPolad.com

Twitter @Rick Polad

Facebook Fan Page

Books on Amazon

FOODFIC: Please Welcome Back Laurie Boris, Author of The Kitchen Brigade

If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Kitchen

Survival during wartime means doing without, but those who endure discover how to get what they need. For most of the characters in my dystopian novel The Kitchen Brigade, this revolves around food. Food is love. Food is culture. Food is community. For this group of women who have made cuisine their passion and their livelihoods, food is everything.

When we first meet Valerie, a former culinary student, she’s cooking with whatever she can scrounge in the mess hall of a refugee camp. To bear the nightmare her life has become since a war-torn America was occupied by Russia, she draws on memories of learning to cook as a child. She recites the names of the French “mother” sauces like a mantra; she recalls the aromas of licorice and vanilla that keep her father alive in her mind.

Again she calls upon her childhood comforts when she’s imprisoned and forced to cook for a Russian general. In his kitchen she’s thrown into a brigade responsible for crafting five-star meals for him and his guests…carefully supervised by a mysterious head chef and the general’s well-armed guards.

Since the story takes place in New York’s Hudson Valley, local cuisine is on the menu. Perfectly roasted venison is the star when the general entertains his special guests. Meals always include bounty from the nearby wineries, along with fruits and vegetables (as they can be found, or stolen.) For an extra dash of flavor and intrigue the head chef grows herbs in pots on the kitchen’s terrace. When the resistance interrupts their supply lines, the general’s men shoot ducks out of the sky and commandeer anything they can find in vehicles stopped at checkpoints.

Because the kitchen is often called upon to produce haute cuisine when certain staples are unavailable, the women need to be resourceful. They can make pasta without eggs, biscuits without milk, and nearly anything without butter. They even make their own butter—when they can bargain for cream.

In one of my favorite food-related scenes, Valerie makes up a plate of leftovers for a young Russian guard and sits with him over dinner. They barely know a few words of each other’s language, but sharing a meal provides an opening for empathy and compassion: they grow to understand each other’s struggles, and what the war has taken from their families. In a time when the world is trying to divide them, the simple act of sharing a meal can show what unites them.

Thanks for stopping by to share more food for thought, Laurie!

You can find Laurie here:

LaurieBoris.com

Twitter @LaurieBoris

Facebook Fan Page

Books on Amazon

FOODFIC: Please Welcome Adam S. Barnett, Author of The Judas Goat

The Judas Goat: Guns and Sausage Gravy

I am really good at arguing with myself.  And I lose arguments with myself.  All the time.  When I’m thinking about a problem, I am my own irresistible force and immovable object all at once.

As an attorney, it has come in handy over the years.  I know the weaknesses in my case before I ever set foot in the courtroom.  I know what the other side is going to say, so I say it first.  I control the weakness.  I put it on display.  And because I’m prepared, I can explain with confidence exactly why that weakness simply does not matter.

When I decided to write The Judas Goat, I had read many cases where one person used lethal force upon another and raised the issue of self-defense.  Some were successful, many were not.  So I thought about the “poster child” case, a term used in the profession for a case where the alleged events are so sympathetic it could affect the outcome of the case.  In a perfect world, there wouldn’t be such a distinction, but as well all know, this isn’t a perfect world.

In my past life, I have cooked professionally.  I’m not a chef.  I’m a cook.  And I’m still a cook at heart.  I can make anything you want, and make it the best you’ve ever had.  You want pineapple on a pizza?  You better believe you’ll get pineapple on your pizza.  You want a fried egg on your burger?  I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.  Tell me what the rules are, and I’ll exceed your expectations or go down swinging.

It’s not too big of a shift to practicing law.  As lawyers, we’re stuck with the laws we have.  There’s the rare exception where a higher court will say a given law, as applied, violates the Constitution in some way.  But the vast majority of the time, you are stuck with the laws you have.  Those are the ingredients.  Legal procedure is a recipe.  But it’s my job to make sure that my finished product is the best.

In The Judas Goat, diner owner Kyle Morrison shoots and kills a teenaged assailant in a robbery attempt.  Unfortunately, he may have deviated from the “recipe,” the narrowly-drawn parameters of self-defense in which the State will allow one citizen to take the life of another.  Kyle finds himself prosecuted for murder in a very high-profile case that destroys life as he knows it.

Kyle’s attorney, Owen Malone, has quite a challenge.  Crimes are elemental, much like the beloved BLT.  If I give you a sandwich with bacon and lettuce, but no tomato, what do we have?  I don’t know, but it’s not a BLT.  And crime is the same way – the prosecution has to establish that all the elements that make an act a crime are there.  The problem Owen has is… well, the elements are arguably there, even if Kyle’s actions could have been considered understandable.  Owen’s only hope is that the “recipes” of the criminal justice system won’t be followed to the letter.

The biggest challenge in writing the book was the inevitable argument of gun rights vs. gun control.  A quick look at the “comments” section of a Facebook post on the subject will tell you many people see no middle ground.  But, just as much out of force of habit than anything else, I found myself engaged in an internal argument on the issue.  Where exactly did I stand?  Is it possible to have a hard position on the issue?  Or is this one of those subjects where one can’t have a staunch position and truly understand the quandary?

In the end, I simply put all of my arguments in the mouths of my characters.  Sometimes they said things I agreed with, sometimes they did not.  The book won’t serve as a validation of either extreme.  But as a lawyer, the first thing I try to do is understand everyone’s position.  Often times, I have been able to spare litigants a lot of anguish by simply explaining competing perspectives and figuring out a solution other than war.  I hope this book lends itself to positive discussions about this issue and how we can all work together to solve it.

But if nothing else, Kyle shows everyone how to make awesome sausage gravy, one of my favorite guilty pleasures.  So there’s always that.  Sausage gravy makes everything better.

Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, Adam!

You can find Adam here:

Main Website

Twitter @Adam_S_Barnett

Facebook Fan Page

Buy on Amazon