Monday, January 23, 2012

Break Out the Bubbly & Dark Chocolate--Celebrating New Release: THE EDGER


Author Marilyn Baron
Hi Everyone: 

I have a special treat today. Former Petit Fours & Hot Tamales sister Marilyn Baron has released her first full length novel, THE EDGER. Marilyn first visited the Veranda when she debuted her her first novel. You can read her interview here. Marilyn is a wonderful writer and I had the privilege of reading the first 25 pages of this novel when we were in an author critique group at the Georgia Romance Writers of America meeting. I am thrilled to see this novel debut. 
What is really cool about this novel is Marilyn Baron and her sister Sharon Goldman wrote THE EDGER together. Talent flows through this family's arteries!!! 
Marilyn is taking over my blog today and answering all your questions about the book, her creative process and what it is like to write as part of a team with one's sister. I hope Sharon pops in as well. 
While Marilyn and Sharon host my blog, I'll be writing my tushie off because I have a Triple set of contest finals to prep for the Linda Howard Award of Excellence Contemporary Series Long and Short final judges (yikes!!). I am SO GRATEFUL Marilyn offered to host a mini takeover!! 

Author Sharon Goldman




THE EDGER is set in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Here's the blurb:

THE EDGER is a humorous women’s fiction about landscape artist Alexandra Newborn’s shocking reunion with her college art professor, Nick Anselmo—once a celebrated Italian artist, now a homeless lawn man—which sows the seeds for murder, mystery and romance.

In gratitude for food, art materials and company, Nick, or The Edger, as Alex comes to think of him, drops off a new sketch in front of Alex’s house every week when he comes to do her lawn. Nick’s provocative artwork is the key to revealing a dangerous liaison between Alex’s husband, Mark, and Bitsy Diamond, owner of the gallery where Alex dreams of having a one-woman show. When a deadly hurricane takes a dangerous turn the night of the show opening, Mark’s body washes up behind Bitsy’s beach house, leaving readers to wonder whodunit? 

Marilyn Baron is the Georgia author of the humorous supernatural angel trilogy, A Choir of Angels, Follow an Angel and The Stand-in Bridegroom http://www.twbpress.com/achoirofangels.html. Sharon Goldman is an award-winning artist who lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Visit Sharon at www.sgoldmanart.com.
THE EDGER ISBN 978-1- 4659-7621-5 is available at                                                                                  Amazon Kindle  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006Y3P12Y#_

17 comments:

Sandy Elzie said...

Good morning Marilyn & Sharon,
I love the cover and I love the premise of the book. I can't wait to read it. (Yes, it's on the horizon of TBR books, I just haven't gotten to it yet)

So tell me how you managed to co-author? Did each of you do certain parts, or ??????

Anonymous said...

Thanks for asking Sandy. I would start writing the book and when I got to the scenes where I needed input from an artist, Sharon would send me her pages and I'd edit them and merge them into the manuscript. Since both of the main characters are artists,and Sharon is an award-winning Florida artist, that was an integral part of the book. The other day Sharon told her husband she couldn't remember which parts she wrote and which parts I wrote and I told her that's good because that means the writing is seamless. As a matter of fact, when we were doing the final editing, she wanted me to take something out because she thought it was too risque and I said, you wrote it. And she said I don't remember writing that and I said, I never would have written that. But obviously one of us did. There were a lot of funny moments in this collaboration.

Marilyn Baron

Linsey Lanier said...

This is so cool. I'm so excited for Marilyn and Sharon, two very talented ladies. I love Marilyn's Angel stories, so I know THE EDGER has got to be a good read!

Anonymous said...

Linsey, that's so sweet of you to say. Thank you very much.

Oh by the way, I will be signing my name to my replies but commenting as Anonymous since it's easier to post, but it's me.

Marilyn Baron

Dianna Love said...

Marilyn and Sharon - Congratulations on not just collaborating, but staying friendly afterwards. I'm always thrilled when that works out and it sounds like you did a super job if you can't tell where one stopped writing and the other one picked up the story. Sounds like a fun book.

Anonymous said...

Dianna,

Thanks so much for visiting The Veranda. We appreciate your comment. Yes, we're still friends, as a matter of fact, closer than ever. It really was an enjoyable experience.
Marilyn Baron

Maxine Davis said...

Marilyn and Sharon,
Love the cover and I can't wait to read The Edger. I enjoyed the angel books and can't wait to see what's new.

You both seem very talented. Congratulations

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much Maxine. I love the cover my sister did too. It's actually the backyard of her house. She calls that painting Backyard Lagoon. She has also done some cute black and white line drawings for the book. Another of her beautiful water lilies paintings is used in the last chapter of the book. The rest of the cover art is used in the Epilogue.

As far as the angel books, all I can tell you is that the main character's husband is no angel. He gets into all kinds of mischief.

Marilyn Baron

Robin Bielman said...

Hi Marilyn and Sharon ~ Congrats on your release! The books sounds really great!

And Christine! Huge congrats to you on your triple final!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much Robin. And Christine, congratulations to you for your finals.

Marilyn Baron

Pamela Mason said...

Congrats and Question:
Is this an illustrated ebook?
Cutting edge...

Can't wait to read it! Beautiful artwork on the cover! And KUDOS.

Anonymous said...

Pamela,

Thanks. Come to think of it, it isn't typical for a women's fiction to be illustrated, but in this case, since the two main characters are artists and my sister and coauthor is an artist, we thought it would be neat to include some of her paintings. That does make the book unique. She illustrated the cover, but the cover only shows half of the painting. The complete painting called Backyard Lagoon is inside in the Epilogue. That picture is of her backyard in Florida. I asked her to put some additional color on the cover in the foreground to make it look more like an impressionist painting. Sharon drew some neat line art to start some of the chapters specifically for the book, including one of Joplin, the artist's pet rabbit. My sister also has a pet rabbit that looks a lot like Joplin. Then, in the last chapter we use one of my favorite of her paintings of water lilies. The painting she calls "Lily Pads" is currently featured at the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra's 5th annual Juried Artist Member Exhibition. I have a beach condo in Florida and the art on the walls is almost exclusively hers because she paints a lot of landscapes and seascapes and environmental pictures that I really love. If you want to see more of her art, her Web site is www.sgoldmanart.com

Marilyn Baron

Carol Burnside aka Annie Rayburn said...

Marilyn, I think it's great that you and your sister managed to complete this project and work together so well. I've enjoyed reading about The Edger and the process.

The premise is intriguing. Best of luck with sales!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your good wishes, Carol. I'm going to be blogging about the process on the Petit Fours and Hot Tamales blog on Tuesday, January 31 at www.petitfoursandhottamales.com
It was a great learning experience.

Marilyn Baron

Christine said...

Hi Marilyn: I am so glad you hosted the blog today. What fun!! I got lots of work done and your book sounds amazing. I can't wait to read it!!

:-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Christine. I was so glad to guest blog for you today.

Marilyn Baron

Tami Brothers said...

This is so cool, Marilyn! You and your sister have a real winner with this story. Can't wait to read more from the two of you. :)