Today we have a special treat! Best-selling contemporary romance novelist Christi Snow is talking about her latest release The Shadow of Mudflap and how she came to pen it with co-author M.F. Smith. It's a neat story for an awesome book with a purpose--proceeds benefit the American Red Cross. Be sure to get your copy to help out a great cause!
~Mia
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How Our Partnership Evolved by Christi Snow
I’ll admit. I NEVER thought I would ever be a person to write a book with someone else. Honestly, I just don’t play well with others. That is a huge part of the reason I’m a writer where the only thing I have to interact with all day is my computer. But that was before Mudflap, aka M.F. Smith, entered my world.
When this whole thing began, I didn’t even know Mudflap. In this modern world, he was one of my Facebook friends. The only thing I truly knew about him was that somehow he was family on my mom’s side because all our common friends were family (I’m obviously VERY discriminating about who I “friend” on FB…lol).
But one day, he sent me a message on Facebook because he knew I was a romance writer. Mudflap is a radio personality in Lubbock, TX. Every year, he creates a product through his radio show to sell for charity. With the surge of the romance novel with the popularity of Fifty Shades, he decided that he needed to write a romance novel this year, but had no idea where to even begin. His message to me was a call for help.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I answered it.
The project was an evolution during development. When we first began, I was simply going to guide M.F. as he wrote, but that quickly moved to me writing the story as a ghostwriter. Then eventually we became co-authors. Overall, I wrote the book, but M.F. was very involved from the very beginning. The core of the characters are from him. He sent me a list of twelve characters with their names, ages, and occupations. I built the story from there. And every day he would read the story and give me feedback as well as ideas about how to make it better. He has an incredible intuition about what works and truly made every day of the writing process fun. I never knew what he was going to come up with from one day to the next and over the course of the process have exchanged thousands of texts and emails.
We knew going into it that this book would be romantic suspense because that’s what I enjoy writing and I thought it would be fun to go completely over the top with super-spies/agents. When he sent me that original character list, Mudflap (the hero) was listed as a fireman and Shanae (the heroine) was a nurse and that developed our first-responders theme.
The premise of the story is that there is a covert part of the federal government, Lubbock Foxtrot Team (LiFT), who hide in plain sight under the cover of Lift EMS Contracting. They provide emergency medical services, both ambulance and air, to the Lubbock area. All the agents are highly-trained medical personnel. But they are also highly trained secret agents for the federal government fighting terrorism for the Department of Homeland Security in the Southwest. Their motto is: On an ordinary day, they save lives; On an extraordinary day, they save the country.
It’s been an incredible journey for both of us. We are both really excited about where the final book ended up and hope to write 2-3 more in the series over the next three years. We hope to make this an ongoing charity project for the Lubbock Red Cross. And the best news, I finally got to meet M.F. in person at the beginning of June. He’s even nicer in person.
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Blurb for The Shadow of Mudflap (A Foxtrot Team novel)
To us, first responders are heroes. But for them, risking their lives is a normal, everyday thing.
Mudflap:
Born the baby of the family, Mudflap has always had something to prove to emerge out of the shadows of his older siblings. He spent eight years as a Special Ops elite sniper and is now a firefighter. But at his heart, he’s just a normal West Texas good old boy who loves his beer, women and football, until the Department of Defense calls him up to say they need his skills again.
Shanae:
Shanae is a first responder of a different sort. She’s a trauma nurse who works on a medical evacuation helicopter team. But while she lives a life full of adrenaline every day, it’s just a cover for her real life, where she hides in the shadows and is secret agent, Shadowfox for the Lubbock Foxtrot Team (LiFT). She’s living the kind of life that most people think exists only in movies and books.
Working for two different branches of the government, Mudflap and Shanae are in a race against time and the terrorists who threaten the very heart of West Texas life, football. They’re working toward the same goal, but find themselves in a confrontation against each other and the lies they’ve each had to hide behind. Can love win out in the end or will the cost be each other and their very lives?
First responders are heroes every day, but this story tells the tale of when they become even more and find love along the way. The key is for them to stay alive so that they can complete their mission and just maybe live happily ever after.
On an ordinary day, they save lives. On an extraordinary day, they save the country.
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All the proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Lubbock Red Cross.
1 comment:
Thanks for having me over, Mistress Mia! smiles...
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