Where readers, writers, and stories meet.
Join me this Friday and Saturday, November 1st and 2nd at the Village Square Mall in Effingham, Illinois for the Midwest Holiday Market! If you have book nerds on your holiday shopping list, then you HAVE to stop by my booth and check out my books and other bookish gift ideas.
Join me this Saturday, October 26th for Nightmare on Second Street at Chillicothe City Park (Chillicothe, IL) in support of brain tumor awareness. I’ll be selling and signing my books along with lots of other bookish and spooky gifts at my vendor booth.
I’ve been excitedly awaiting this event for WEEKS! If you’re in the Louisville, Kentucky area today and tomorrow, I hope you’ll stop by to see me and around 100 other authors at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival!
This event takes place at the Kentucky International Convention Center, and admission is FREE! I’ll have copies of my two latest novels, It Had to Happen and One Bad Cat to sell and sign. I am also scheduled to present at a “Speed Dating with a Book” session at 3:00 p.m. today!
Continue reading “Come see me today or tomorrow at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival!”I’m excited to announce that I will be at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival – with about 100 other authors – Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19 at the Kentucky International Convention Center! I’ll have copies of my two latest novels, It Had to Happen and One Bad Cat to sell and sign. I am also scheduled to present at a “Speed Dating with a Book” session at 3:00 p.m. on the 18th!
You can follow the event using the following social media hashtags: #LouisvilleBookFestival #WeBringBooksToLife. To watch my personal festival journey, follow me on Instagram @Mandy_Raine!
Continue reading “Come see me at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival October 18-19!”As I’m promoting my latest novel, It Had To Happen, it occurs to me that it might be fun to answer some of my own author interview questions so my readers can get to know me a bit better. The list of questions is quite long, but I typically ask authors to choose their favorite ones. I’ve probably gone a bit beyond what the average author would provide, but hey– it’s my blog!
Q: When did you first catch the writing bug? What drove you to persist?
A: As far as I can remember, I’ve been writing stories since I learned to write. The stories themselves are often what drive me to persist. Most of my story ideas that have become novels have been ideas that got stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote them. At times, it seems I might be a hostage to my own muse! It’s okay though because we get along well—most of the time!
Continue reading “Author interview with thriller/suspense author, Mandy Webster”As an author, I believe that I have a responsibility to create diverse works that do not present the world as a one-dimensional space where only certain people are welcome to exist. This can be a tricky balancing act for a white writer like myself. I want my novels to be diverse, but I also do not want to unknowingly reinforce stereotypes that I may not be aware of. I do not want to cross the line into cultural appropriation or telling stories about experiences that may not align with my own. For the past few years, I have been taking an #ownvoices approach to this subject, and I feel like I have learned a lot from the experience.
My novel If You Didn’t See It Coming is an example of an #ownvoices book even though people of color are not at the forefront of the story. It’s an accounting of marginalized characters (namely women) involved in domestic violence situations, many of which are inspired by my own experiences with a violent abuser. Although the characters are fictional, and their stories are not a retelling of my own story, it still illustrates the struggles of a marginalized group of people.
Because I was telling the story from my own perspective, the main characters are all white. There is very little intersectionality of identities because I was telling the story from the perspective of a cis white woman. However, I did consider representation and intersectionality while writing the novel. I considered making my main characters more diverse, but I didn’t feel right about trying to write what I consider to be someone else’s story.
Continue reading “How to tell your own authentic stories while also supporting marginalized voices”I asked Google’s new artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Bard, if it had read my latest book, One Bad Cat, and it turns out it has! Not only that, but Bard gave it a glowing review. Here’s what it had to say:
“Yes, I have read One Bad Cat by Mandy Webster. It is a humorous fantasy novel about a psychology professor who is turned into a cat by his female coven members. The novel follows Stephen as he tries to adjust to his new life as a cat, while also plotting revenge on his coven members.
Continue reading “Even Google Bard has read One Bad Cat!”In case you missed it, I released my latest book, One Bad Cat in 2022 with little fanfare. This was one of those pieces you write and then are afraid to share because it’s almost like lifting your skirt and showing everyone your underwear. I had a lot of fun writing One Bad Cat but was a little afraid of the reception it might receive. So, I quietly put it out there and waited.
After having a few people read the book and getting a lot of (unexpected) good feedback — from some of the most unexpected readers, no less — I took some time to add a new cover and decided to do a re-release. So here it is!
Dr. Stephen Scott is a psychology professor who dabbles in the occult. When his female coven members cast a spell to turn him into a cat, he vows to seek revenge. But first Stephen must find a way to open his safe so he can get to the charm bag that is the source of all his power.
Continue reading “New Book Title: One Bad Cat by Mandy Webster”
Write on the World 