Mary Ellen Lisciandra talks about her book Stolen Lives

MARY ELLEN LISCIANDRA IS THE AUTHOR OF STOLEN LIVES.  RELEASED BY MIRROR PUBLISHING OF MILWAUKEE IN NOVEMBER OF 2012, THIS IS HER FIRST PUBLISHED NOVELLA. 

 

AN INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE WRITER, MS LISCIANDRA LIKES TO INSPIRE PASSION, MAKING A POWERFUL IMPACT TO ALL HER READERS. SHE ENJOYS (BOTH READING AND WRITING) POETRY; MUSIC (ESPECIALLY CLASSICAL AND OPERA); AND IS AN AVID READER OF BOOKS ABOUT HISTORY. SEVERAL YEARS AGO, SHE READ ABOUT THE ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE, AND WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE HER OWN GANGSTER STORY. SHE PRIDES HERSELF ON THE FACT THAT SHE IS ONE OF THE FEW FEMALE AUTHORS WHO HAS WRITTEN A BOOK ABOUT GANGSTERS, AND SHE IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON THE SEQUEL TO STOLEN LIVES.

 

STOLEN LIVES WHICH DRAWS ON HER INTEREST IN THE PROHIBITION ERA, IS A BOOK ABOUT VIOLENCE, CORRUPTION, BETRAYAL, AND REVENGE. AS SHE DESCRIBES THE NOVELLA:  "IT ADDRESSES THE CHOICES WE MAKE THROUGH LIFE.  THESE CHOICES TEACH US THAT IN ANY SOCIETY, PAST OR PRESENT, IN THE END, WE ALL PAY FOR WHO WE ARE."

 

MARY ELLEN LISCIANDRA IS A RESIDENT OF WISCONSIN RAPIDS. BORN IN NEW YORK, SHE MOVED TO WISCONSIN TWO YEARS AGO, AFTER SPENDING FIFTEEN YEARS IN FLORIDA,WORKING IN THE NURSING PROFESSION.

 

MS. LISCIANDRA IS A MEMBER OF THE HEART OF WISCONSIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN WISCONSIN RAPIDS. PLEASE VISIT HER WEB PAGE -- WWW.MARYELLENLISCIANDRA.WORDPRESS.COM

 

 

How did I decide to write about gangsters?

In my bio, I mentioned that I was inspired by reading about the St Valentine's Day Massacre and

the turf battles in Chicago over bootleg liquor in the 1920's.

What's the one thing I learned about publishing during my journey to publication?

Actually - there are two things: You have to learn to accept rejections and keep plugging - keep

marketing your book. Be persistent and never give up.

And, of course, you have to have an interesting idea.

How does it feel to be a published author? What does being a published author mean to

me?

Fantastic! It inspires me to write the sequel (and to work on other writing projects). It also makes

me want to share my success and encourage others to follow their dreams of writing (or whatever

other endeavors they have), and never give up.

           

 

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Stolen Lives by Mary Ellen Lisciandra
ISBN :  978-1-61225-152-3

Chicago. 1920. A time of Prohibition and gangsters. The Volstad Act was just passed the previous year, forbidding the manufacturing, selling, delivery, or any attempts to furnish
intoxicating liquor. However, there were many who chose to ignore this law. Chicago was a hotbed of bootleggers and mobsters.

From the start, it was a society that was addicted to vice, pain, and pleasure. It crushed ideas and beliefs and made certain people contemptible and their destruction desirable.
Gangsters and thugs ruled with an iron hand, as the nation reached a transformative moment.

STOLEN LIVES is a riveting story of ruthless ambition, greed, violence, and a twisted sense of justice. The men who ran this town were above morality and beyond reproach, ready to
kill anyone who got in their way. There was a constant fight for power between rival gangs. They played for keeps.

Follow the story of three desperate people caught in a dangerous web of love, betrayal and revenge during those incredible years known as "The Roaring 20s."

 

PURCHASE LINKS

STOLEN LIVES can be purchased at the Book World Stores in either Stevens Point or Wisconsin Rapids.

It is also available through amazon.com and through barnesandnoble.com.

And, it is available for purchase directly through the author at my website :   www.maryellenlisciandra.wordpress.com

We are currently working on getting the book on kindle, nook, and e-books; and it will hopefully be available through these sources within the next month or so.

ALL WRITERS STUDIO - Help your poetry rise to the top!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Help your poetry rise to the top!

WAUKESHA – A poem is a poem is a poem – but not all are successful. Madison’s current co-poets laureate and editors of Verse Wisconsin are coming to AllWriters’ to help you sort out the good, the bad, and the ugly from your work. “Helping Our Poems Grow Up: Finding a Place for Our Work in the World” is an AllWriters’ Celebrity Saturday event, taking place on March 23rd, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The fee is $85 and includes lunch, catered by Café De Art!

Join Sarah Busse and Wendy Vardaman for a day of discussion and writing as they share what they’ve learned about your poetry and what they’ve learned about their poetry as they give you the inside scoop on submitting poems more likely to get an editor’s attention. Writing exercises will help you revise your poems and make them stronger, giving you an edge in submissions. You will also add to your tool boxes as poets. Participants should also bring 3-5 pages of their poems for critique.

SARAH BUSSE and WENDY VARDAMAN are co-Poets Laureate of Madison and co-editors of Verse Wisconsin and Cowfeather Press. Both are widely published and prize-winning poets. Busse’s first full-length collection, Somewhere Piano, was published in 2012 by Mayapple Press, and she has two chapbooks: Quiver (2009, Red Dragonfly Press) and Given These Magics, (2010, Finishing Line Press). Vardaman is the author of Obstructed View (Fireweed Press, 2009. Both have appeared often in literary magazines and anthologies.

To register for this class, call 262-446-0284 or go to www.allwriters.org and click on Celebrity Saturdays.

AllWriters’ Workplace and Workshop is located at 234 Brook St., Unit 2, in Waukesha. We offer on-site and online writing courses in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching, editing, and marketing services. A schedule of classes and registration is available online at http://www.allwriters.org or you can call 262-446-0284.

Kathie Giorgio
Director, AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop LLC
Author, "The Home For Wayward Clocks"
234 Brook St., Unit 2
Waukesha WI 53188
Phone: (262) 446-0284
AllWriters' Website: www.allwriters.org
Kathie's Website: www.kathiegiorgio.org

Douglas Jacobson, Night of Flames and the Katyn Order

Douglas W. Jacobson is an engineer, business owner and World War Two history enthusiast who has traveled extensively in Europe researching stories of the courage of common people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. His debut novel, Night of Flames: A Novel of World War Two, won the 2008 "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the Wisconsin Library Association. Doug's second historical novel, The Katyn Order, is a story of intrigue and danger, of love and human courage in the aftermath of one of history’s most notorious war crimes. TheKatyn Order received the 2011 "Honorable Mention Award" from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Doug writes a monthly column on Poland's experience during WW2, and has published articles on European resistance and escape organizations during the war. He lives in Elm grove, WI with his wife, Janie.

 

 

About Redbird (writer's studio), I owe Judy Bridges and the whole group most of the credit for what success I've had as a writer. From Judy's course (Shut-up and Write) plus five years of round tables, I learned the craft of writing creative fiction. Everything from creating scenes, to dialog, to point of view - and yes, even 8th grade grammar - were the fundamental building blocks that I got from Redbird. I believe I can tell a good story, and I know how to do the research, but as Judy said the first time she read my initial draft of NIGHT OF FLAMES, "If you want anyone else to read this that you don't have to pay, I can probably help you."

 

What I love about writing (over and above the research, which is also a passion of mine) is the mental exercise of creating a story and creating charcaters. I love to invent a character, then put he or she into a situation and let both the character and the story evolve as I write. I always (well, most of the time) have an outline of the story in my mind, or at least the fundamental historical events and the endpoint, but I'm flexible about how to get there and let it develop as I write.

 

The advice I would give to propsective authors is to find a place like Redbird where you can get the support of people who also love to write. Then the rest of it is just perseverence. First the perseverence to finish the work, then the perseverence to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Finally, the publication part is a combination of perseverence and luck. You've got to do the basics (query letters, etc.) and keep on doing it no matter how many rejection letters you get. Don't take it personally, its a business, and sooner or later you'll hit the right editor on the right day, and it will fall in to place.