Spotlight of Tune In Tomorrow by Randee Dawn

PHOTO SOURCE:
TYPORAMA
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TUNE IN TOMORROW

RANDEE DAWN

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ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF KATIE SCHNACK OF SMITH PUBLICITY.

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The Curious, Calamitous, Cockamamie Story of Starr Weatherby and the Greatest Mythic Reality Show Ever.

Reality TV blends with fantasy in this new hilarious novel by veteran pop culture writer Randee Dawn.

August 16, 2022 

Solaris/Rebellion

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PRAISE FOR TUNE IN TOMORROW:

 
"I thought I’d seen everything in the galaxy of reality TV, until Randee's book!"– Andy Cohen, Host & Executive Producer, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and New York Times bestselling author


 

Randee Dawn has single-handedly created a glittering new genre: the Backstage Comedy Fantasy Romance — and I want more!" – Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Swordspoint

“Dawn's Tune in Tomorrow is a ton of fun with a lot of heart, charming characters, and devilish foes. And it's funny as hell.” – Zin E. Rocklyn, author of Flowers for the Sea 


"Few authors can open the door to another world as easily as you might turn on the TV, but Randee Dawn has the key and the remote control firmly in her hand. Flip through the fae and the grindylows, let her be your TV guide and psychopomp. You will find yourself howling at the gate for a rerun."– Meg Elison, author of Number One Fan

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ABOUT TUNE IN TOMORROW:

 

Starr Weatherby came to New York to become…well, a star. 

 

But after years of unsuccessful struggling, she’s offered a big role – on a show no one has ever heard of.

 

An over 400-year-old reality TV/docusoap, Tune in Tomorrow is shot beyond the "Veil" by mythical creatures, stars humans – and "streams" out to a fanatical audience of fantastic creatures, who are positive that they are getting a peek into real human lives. 

 

And in a way, they are.

But Starr's transformation from astounded newcomer to fan favorite is hardly smooth: A desperate, devious diva wants her gone; a handsome Lothario's advances are suspect; her assistant is organizing a strike – and was her predecessor dropped into a bottomless pit?

 

Starr vows to do whatever it takes to keep her dream job, but her struggle to save the show quickly becomes a fight… for her life.
 

Weaving together a unique combination of pop culture, fantasy and humor, Tune in Tomorrow takes readers on a roller coaster ride behind the scenes to see how the TV sausage gets made.

 

But amid all the wackiness, tough questions arise: What is "reality"?

 

And what might it mean to win a prize that makes you immortal?


 

“Tune in Tomorrow is a book packed with some of the things that make me happiest: TV, divas behaving badly, being torn between two lovers, magical creatures and mangoes. 

 

Yes, mangoes,” Dawn says. 

 

“It’s a nutty tale of redemption and renewals, and I'm hoping everyone will tune in!”


 

A funny, thrilling and mysterious adventure into the alternate world of reality television, Tune in Tomorrow is perfect for fans of Jasper Fforde, Terry Pratchett, and Christopher Moore.

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH RANDEE DAWN:

Q: Tell us what Tune in Tomorrow is all about?

Randee Dawn: There's the story part of the book, which is about a reality TV show run by mythical creatures, for mythical creatures … but starring humans! They just find our antics as charming and hilarious and intriguing as we do theirs: We make movies and TV shows about castles and dragons and quests and fauns; well, they love hearing about our mundane things like clipping the hedges or embezzlement or adultery or changing light bulbs! But in a bigger sense it's also about what it might mean to be immortal, and how "reality" might mean different things to different people. And it's about finding your inner Starr/star!

Q: You typically write non-fiction – what inspired you to write this story and take on a whole new genre?
 

Dawn: I have always wanted to write a novel. I actually had written several other books about fantasy and fey creatures, but they tended to be very serious – and didn't sell to publishers. My brilliant agent gently suggested, "Maybe you should try something different." Humor is tough, and I had no idea if I could write it successfully, if not write it all. But once I dove into Starr's world and heard her in my head, the silliness came naturally.

Q: Reality TV and soap operas aren't often considered "prestige" TV – is this a mistaken perception? What are your thoughts on that, as a pop-culture writer?

Dawn: Most all of the entertainment business is goofy and strange. But it is also an endeavor people take seriously – soaps and reality shows are no different. They are their own art form, and require hard work. And, time has shown that people continue to love them!

Q: What do you hope readers will walk away with after reading Tune in Tomorrow?
 

Dawn: Early on, Starr gives herself a pep talk by recalling a particularly strange improv routine she had to do once: pretend to be a singing mango. It was in that strange circumstance that she was "discovered," and also where she truly fell in love with acting. So she tells herself throughout the book, whenever she needs an extra dose of courage: Be the mango. Sometimes, being the mango isn't sufficient to save her, but I hope that amid all the pratfalling and puns and general shenanigans that people come away feeling that they, too, have an inner mango. And all they have to do is tap into it to get that extra push to make their dreams come true.

Q: Out of all the fruits, why a mango?

 
Dawn: Because it is the most delicious of all, and I am somewhat obsessed. Also, it has a delightful name that's just fun to say!

Q: How do you get inside your character’s heads during the writing process?
 

Dawn: I have the whole movie of what my stories are about in my head as I'm writing, and though I don't think about this consciously, if I need to be in a character's head, I just start seeing the world through their eyes, as if I've put on virtual reality goggles. That really helps. Also, if I do write something that doesn't seem right for a particular character to do or say, it will just feel wrong. That's when I know I have to go back and make it true to the person.

Q: How did your background as a national pop-culture journalist influence the way you wrote Tune in Tomorrow?
 

Dawn: Often, authors are told "write what you know," which is how we as a society end up with a lot of 20-year-olds writing memoirs. Which is fine! But limiting. When you have no other expertise, you write about yourself. It took me years in the entertainment business, and years removed from covering the soap opera world, to feel ready to use that as my backdrop. And yes, it's true: Tune in Tomorrow has its roots in soap opera. Because that's what reality shows are, anyway! Soaps are wonderful ways to tell story, and even if they look like Keeping Up with the Kardashians or Selling Sunset or Grey's Anatomy today, all of those formats have their roots in the greats, like General Hospital, Days of Our Lives or The Young and the Restless. I wrote what I know!

Q: What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book?
 

Dawn: Be in it for the long haul. Don't expect that your first draft will be the final draft, or even the thing that you first publish. The first draft is you telling yourself the story – I heard that a long time ago, and it's incredibly true. After that, it's about making it into a story that's ready for the world to read, and that can take a lot longer than you'd expect.

Q: What is next for you? 

Is there another installment in Tune in Tomorrow, or what can readers expect?

Dawn: A lot depends on how Tune in Tomorrow fares. If it sells well, I've got part of a sequel planned that takes place in some of the other TV shows and movies that mythics have been cooking up. But there's always a chance I'll go back to a novel I finished during the pandemic lockdown and get it smartened up to show to my agent – about a world where all the superheroes are women.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Maryland-born Randee Dawn is now a Brooklyn-based entertainment journalist who scribbles about the glam world of entertainment by day, then spends her nights crafting wild worlds of fiction.

 

She's a former editor at The Hollywood Reporterand Soap Opera Digest, and these days covers the wacky world of show business for Variety, The Los Angeles Times, Emmy Magazine and Today.com.

 

Dawn's obsessive love of all things Law & Order led her to appear in one episode and later co-author The Law & Order SVU: Unofficial Companion. 

 

Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and online publications; she also dreams up trivia questions for BigBrain Games. 

 

Once a month she can be found hosting Rooftop Readings at Ample Hills Creamery in Brooklyn, and when not writing she's focused on her next travel destination, and hangs out with her wonderful, funny husband and fluffy Westie.

 

She admits she reads way too many books and consumes far too many mangoes.

Find Randee on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, BookBub, Goodreads, and her website RandeeDawn.com.

Tune in Tomorrow is available for pre-order through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, and anywhere books are sold.

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Spotlight of Six Feet Deep Dish by Mindy Quigley

PHOTO SOURCE:
TYPORAMA
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SIX FEET DEEP DISH

MINDY QUIGLEY

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ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF SARAH HAECKEL | ASSOCIATE PUBLICIST | ST. MARTIN'S PUBLISHING GROUP.

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Fresh mozzarella, tangy tomato sauce, and murder: the perfect recipe for a delicious first entry in Mindy Quigley's satiating new Deep Dish Mysteries.

 

 SIX FEET DEEP DISH  

St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 8/23/22

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PRAISE FOR SIX FEET DEEP DISH:

“Every now and again a cozy comes along in which the author not only checks off all of the boxes but does such an excellent job in the process that the book totally stands out from the crowd. This is the case with Six Feet Deep Dish, which stars chef Delilah O’Leary, whose larger-than-life personality takes hold of the narrative and never lets go… Droll and witty, sophisticated and credible, this is a series to watch out for.”—Brian Kenney for First Clue (starred review)

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ABOUT SIX FEET DEEP DISH:

 

Delilah O’Leary can’t wait to open her new gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin—a charming resort town with a long history as a mobsters’ hideaway, millionaires’ playground, and vacation mecca. 

 

Engaged to a hunk with a hefty trust fund, Delilah is poised to begin a life that’s just about as delicious as one of her cheesy creations.

 

Just before opening night, though, Delilah’s plans for pizza perfection hit the skids when her fiancé dumps her and leaves her with a very large memento from their relationship—Butterball, their spoiled, plus-sized tabby cat.

 

Delilah’s trouble deepens when she discovers a dead body and finds her elderly aunt holding the murder weapon. 

 

Handsome local police detective Calvin Capone, great grandson of the legendary gangster, opens an investigation, threatening to sink Delilah’s pie-in-the-sky ambitions before they can even get off the ground. 

 

To save her aunt and get her pizza place generating some dough, Delilah must deliver the real killer. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

PHOTO TAKEN FROM

AUTHOR'S AMAZON PAGE

MINDY QUIGLEY has won a number of awards for her short stories, including the 2013 Bloody Scotland prize and the 2018 Lightbringer award. 

Originally from Chicago, she possesses a naturally sophisticated pizza palate. 

Her desert island pizza choice would be Lou Malnati’s “Deep Dish Lou” or an Aurelio’s thin-crust with spinach, tomatoes, and black olives. 

She lives in Virginia with her history professor husband, their two children, and their miniature Schnauzer.

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Spotlight of Just Another Long Song by Kerry Winfrey

PHOTO SOURCE:
TYPORAMA
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JUST ANOTHER LONG SONG

KERRY WINFREY

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ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF TINA JOELL | PUBLICIST | BERKLEY | PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

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Two high school sweethearts get a second chance at their perfect ending in this heartwarming new romance—featuring a charming setting, lovable characters, and country music. 

 

This book is an ideal summer read to get fully immersed in! In a STARRED review, Kirkus Reviews raves the book is “a warm, heartfelt novel that’ll get stuck in your head like your favorite love song.” 

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PRAISE FOR JUST ANOTHER LONG SONG:

 

“I loved this charming, funny homage to small towns and first loves and what happens when we leave them behind. (Or don’t.) Kerry Winfrey’s writing is as warm as a hug, and Hank Tillman is my new book boyfriend.”—Virginia Kantra, New York Times bestselling author of Beth and Amy

“Just Another Love Song is such a warm, funny, cosy read. It’s as sweet and nostalgic as a great country song.”—Beth O’Leary, international bestselling author of The Road Trip

“Witty, warm and compulsively readable, Just Another Love Song has all the makings of your next favorite romance. From the Stars Hollow-esque town to the hunky country singer Hank and second-chance at love, I alternated between swooning and laughing out loud. If you love Emily Henry, you’ll adore Kerry Winfrey.” —Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of The Invisible Husband of Frick Island

“With the quirky, small-town charm of Frank Capra, the quick-wit of Amy Sherman-Palladino, and a heroine with Nora Ephron heart, Kerry Winfrey’s Just Another Love Song is a hilarious, hopeful, romantic comedy about one woman’s journey from living a life that’s good to the one she’s always yearned for. Filled with characters who feel like your best friends, in a town you will dream of moving to (with a festival you will want to eat your way through), you will never want this novel to end.”—Louise Miller, author of The Late Bloomers’ Club

“A small town, first love and the one who got away. What more could you want than this sweet, funny romance by Kerry Winfrey? Her dialogue is sparkling, the town is filled with believable, wonderful people, and the kid is ridiculously adorable. Sandy and Hank have spent fifteen years apart while he pursued his music dreams and she foundered, a little lost and hapless. But she finds meaning in the business she inherited and enjoys a close circle of friends.When Hank comes back, all that yearning and angst rear up again in a most delicious way. Can they reconfigure their high school love to something that works now? Of course they can, and every page of the story leads to that wonderful conclusion. Light-hearted but with emotional depth, this book is a real treat.”—Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author of Pack Up the Moon

“A warm, heartfelt novel that’ll get stuck in your head like your favorite love song.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
"Winfrey’s sweet, low-heat read, with endearing and humorous characters and small-town setting, will appeal to fans of Candis Terry and Victoria James.”—Library Journal

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ABOUT JUST ANOTHER LONG SONG:

 

Once upon a time, Sandy Macintosh thought she would have her happily ever after with her high school sweetheart, Hank Tillman. Sandy wanted to be an artist, Hank was the only boy in town who seemed destined for bigger things, and they both had dreams to escape town together.

But when Sandy’s plans fell through, she stayed in their small town in Ohio while Hank went off to Boston to follow his dreams to be a musician, with the promise to stay together. Only that plan fell through, too.
 
Fifteen years later, Sandy runs a successful greenhouse while helping her parents with their bed and breakfast. Everything is perfect…until Hank rolls back into town, now a famous alt-country singer with a son in tow.
 
She’s happy with the life she’s built by herself, but seeing Hank makes her think about what might have been.
 
There aren’t enough cliché love songs in the world to convince Sandy to give Hank another chance, but when the two of them get thrown together to help organize the town’s annual street fair, she wonders if there could be a new beginning for them or if what they had is just a tired old song of the past.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

PHOTO CREDIT:  ALEX WINFREY

Kerry Winfrey is the author of Love and Other Alien Experiences, Things Jolie Needs to Do Before She Bites It, Waiting for Tom Hanks, Not Like the Movies, and Very Sincerely Yours. 

She has written for many websites, including HelloGiggles.

When she is not writing, she is most likely baking yet another batch of cookies or watching far, far too many romantic comedies. 

She lives with her husband, baby, and dog in the middle of Ohio. Learn more at www.kerrywinfrey.com.

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Spotlight of Mission Improbable: Vietnam by Nancy Nau Sullivan

PHOTO SOURCE:
TYPORAMA
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MISSION IMPROBABLE:  VIETNAM

NANCY NAU SULLIVAN

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ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR.

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Light Messages Publishing announces the release of Mission Improbable: Vietnam, the third cozy mystery in Nancy Nau Sullivan's Blanche Murninghan Mystery series.

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PRAISE FOR MISSION IMPROBABLE: VIETNAM

 

"In the cozy mystery novel Mission Improbable: Vietnam, two women reckon with their losses—and other people’s sacrifices—during an upbeat adventure abroad." - Karen Rigby, Foreword Reviews

 

"The chosen family dynamics of island life are a highlight of the cozy mystery Saving Tuna Street, and greedy profiteers are its villains." –Foreword Reviews

"The flavors, colors, and history of Mexico are a vibrant backdrop for Trouble Down Mexico Way, a funny, fish-out-of water mystery novel. Mexico City and its mysteries are bright and beautiful in Trouble Down Mexico Way, a spry mystery led by adventurous investigator Blanche Murninghan." –Foreword Reviews

"I was ready to book my tickets and hop on a plane." –Edelweiss Reviewer

"Nancy Nau Sullivan pulls us in quickly and has us hooked until the end with her hilarious, immersive, often poignant relate of the emotional rollercoaster ride..." –Nicole Salgado, co-author of Amor and Exile: True Stories of Love Across America's Borders, on The Last Cadillac

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ABOUT MISSION IMPROBABLE: VIETNAM

 

Bang has a knack for adopting the most improbable causes...

Blanche “Bang” Murninghan was perfectly content sitting on the dock of the Peel ‘n Eat Pier on Santa Maria Island, sipping an excellent draft and wiggling her fishing pole after an elusive sheeps head.

Perfectly content, that is, until Jean McMahon appears at her side and forever disrupts Blanche’s peaceful idyll with ghosts of the past.

Blanche's amateur sleuthing skills have become local legend, and Jean needs her help. It’s not a simple favor Jean asks: Will Blanche go to Vietnam with her and look for Jean’s mother?

Blanche feels an old wound ripped open in her heart. Her father was killed in Vietnam, and she’s never gotten much history from her beloved grandmother and mother on the subject.

She realizes she and Jean share a powerful bond: they both want the truth.

Blanche and Jean don’t stop once they land in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. 

Ex-pat “Stick” Dahlkamp makes sure of that. They pick up the search together.

The three cross the rice paddies on Stick’s Honda Dream to Ben Tre and My Tho, old stomping grounds for Stick, a former Ninth Infantry Division Riverine and now the owner of the popular bar The Follies. 

He’s got friends in jungle towns who might help.

As they trace Jean’s mother’s steps, they meet more than one shady character who thinks it better to let things lie.  

Against her better judgment, Blanche beats down the doors of the past. 

She is looking for Jean’s mother and following her father’s trail. 

He left without a trace. Or did he? Does anyone?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nancy Nau Sullivan invented the life and times—and island—of Blanche Murninghan in her new mystery series, launched with Saving Tuna Street in 2020.

The setting for the mystery is based on the real-life Anna Maria Island where Nancy cared for her elderly father while raising two young children.

 

Nancy Nau Sullivan began writing wavy lines at age six, thinking it was the beginning of her first novel. It wasn’t. But she didn’t stop writing. After eight years of newspaper work in high school and college she contributed to editorial posts at New York magazines and for newspapers throughout the Midwest.

Nancy grew up outside Chicago but often visited Anna Maria Island, Florida. 

She returned there with her family and wrote an award-winning memoir, The Last Cadillac, about the years she cared for her father while her children were still at home––a harrowing adventure of travel, health issues, adolescent angst, with a hurricane thrown in for good measure. 

She went back to the Florida setting for her first cozy mystery, Saving Tuna Street, creating the fictional Santa Maria Island.

She wrote about that harrowing, real-life adventure in her award-winning memoir, The Last Cadillac. Trouble Down Mexico Way is the second book in the mystery series, and for the third installment, Blanche takes her amateur sleuthing skills to Southeast Asia for the third installment, Mission Improbable: Vietnam.

A former newspaper journalist, Nancy taught English in Argentina, in the Peace Corps in Mexico, and at a boys’ prison in Florida.

 

Her novel, The Boys of Alpha Block, was published in April 2021.

 

Nancy lives in Northwest Indiana and, often, anywhere near water. 

 

She is a graduate of the University of South Florida and holds a MS degree in journalism from Marquette University. 

 

Find her at nancynausullivan.com and Twitter @NauSullivan.

 

**INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR TAKEN FROM HER WEBSITE AND INFORMATION PROVIDED TO ME BY THE AUTHOR.** 

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