Bad Location: How Dark Settings Make For Memorable Stories

I have always been a sucker for big, scary settings… places with personality problems, dark agendas, and haunting ghosts. So, I especially enjoyed writing this piece for Weekly Lizard… If character is king (which it is), and plot flows from character (which it does), then what about setting? Well, it doesn’t often get the same kind…

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Booklist Hostile Questions | Lisa Unger’s Heartbroken

Happy on-sale day, HEARTBROKEN mass market! This is one of my all time favorite interviews from the hardcover release last year. Enjoy these Hostile Questions from Daniel Kraus in the Booklist Hostile Questions interview with Lisa Unger.  

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BookExpo America 2013

Come join me at BookExpo America 2013!  I will be at the Simon & Schuster booth (#2639) this Friday at 10 am!  Touchstone is giving away ARCs of my brand new release  IN THE BLOOD (Jan 2014) and I’ll be signing them.  Can’t wait to connect with my bookseller, librarian, blogger, media, author and publishing pals! BookExpo…

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Poetry is Power

  Last year, I wrote a guest blog about Brookwood, a St. Petersburg, Florida group home for abused adolescent girls.  I visited with the poetry group (started by a wonderful, giving woman by the name of Jeanne Chase) and had a truly remarkable night talking with these young writers. That visit led to Jeanne Chase…

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Drawn To The Dark

I was drawn to dark and frightening books — much to my parents’ dismay.   I loved to be scared. And my parents never sought to censor what I read; if I could reach a book on their shelf, and decipher the words within, it was mine.  So I read (avidly, voraciously) books wildly inappropriate…

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Book Club on a Yacht!

Last night, I had the pleasure to join a wonderful group of women from Palm Harbor, Florida for a book club discussion of  HEARTBROKEN — aboard a beautiful 60 ft yacht. Over the years, I have joined many book groups in person or online for discussions of my work, and I have always had a great…

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The Power of Story

The power of story. Last week, I had the opportunity to visit with some terrific young writers who live at Brookwood Florida, a group home for girls, in St. Petersburg.  It was an amazing evening, and an honor to spend time with this funny, smart and talented group of girls. Today, I have shared my…

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Pre-Pub – The Days Before a New Release!

The days before a new release are so super-charged!  I’m doing lots of interviews, guest blogs, posts and getting ready to go on the road.  Meanwhile, I’m knee deep in revisions on the next book.  Crazy times!  I’m excited and nervous all at once!  You’d think after so many years of doing this, I would…

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The Truth About Fiction – Part Two

I have sometimes offended people with my work.  Occasionally, I have received angry letters from readers who feel I did not paint a flattering portrait of their geographic area. (Characters have opinions that I do not share and make observations of their own.)  I have even lost a longtime friend who did not care for…

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