Mermaid Body Found

Everyone's going ballistic over the body of a mermaid being found. Even the NOAA got involved, issuing a formal statement in an effort to curb the hysteria. News organizations are up in arms wondering why, stating that the show that aired on Sunday on the Discovery Channel titled Mermaids: The Body Found was clearly science fiction.

Okay, media-heads, you want to know WHY people believe this stuff?

No, it's not because we're dumb. Get over yourselves.

No, it's because magic and fantasy and mythology are things that continue to fascinate us, that make us sit up straight and pay attention, even today in a world almost completely explained and dissected by science.  We're fascinated because mystery itself draws us. We're fascinated because a part of us will always be that child trying to stay awake on Christmas Eve and witness Santa's arrival. We're fascinated because wouldn't life itself prove to be the miracle we know in our hearts  it is if creatures like unicorns and mermaids turned out to be real? By finding a mermaid's body, we may all open the door again to the possibilities that swirled around us daily back before the age of science. Anything could be true, even magic.

It's funny that the media is comparing this show and the reaction to it to The Blair Witch Project, because they are extremely similar and the forces at work that made that poorly-filmed amateurish movie a runaway success were the same as what drives this news story. You say "based on real events" and we hear one word: real. You say "witch", we say "really"??? You say "mermaid", we say "where" and "how soon can we book a cruise to go see them"????

It's the reason behind the huge upswing in the fantasy genre in fiction, this

What's Happening? A LOT!

First off, the long-awaited print version of Barefoot Girls will be available within the next few weeks! For those of you who prefer the heft of a book in your hand, you'll finally be able to get it in the format you prefer.

Personally, I'm still a paper-book girl. Even though my husband has been sucked over to the alternate universe of ebooks, I'm hard to sway. Let's face it, I'm a late adopter, not an early adopter. You probably won't be able to drag me away from my paper books until they stop printing them!

The other piece of news is.....
(drum roll, please)
My short story collection, Earth and Air, is on sale now in ebook stores! Woo hoo!

This collection contains one of my favorite short stories ever, the title piece, and I really think readers will love it, particularly if you love darker spookier fiction (well, there's a comic story at the end that leaves you laughing, or at least I hope it will).

The cover is at the top of this post and the description is as follows:

A handsome singing gypsy who has the power to make girls sleep, sometimes forever, decides to rest from his journeys in an old Victorian house in suburbia with two mesmerized sisters. A broken jukebox leads a girl into uncharted territory, a wilderness in the back of a bar where the colorful neon lights of a working jukebox beckon and where she learns terrible things from a dragon-like woman breathing fire in the dark. A thirty-something career woman trying to rediscover her purpose on an island retreat is attacked in the still of the night by a neighbor whose greatest wish is for her to leave.

Tara McTiernan's stories resemble twisted modern fairy tales, full of real-life magic and Grimm-like darkness. Containing three unforgettable short works, Earth and Air, like her novel Barefoot Girls, illuminates and explores the lives of women with rare eloquence, keen insight, and a sharp wit.

By the way, the last part of that description was a combination of all the wonderful reviews I've received so far for Barefoot Girls, so, no, I couldn't write something like that about myself.

Very exciting times!

Hittin' the Beach - On Book Blogs!

Love the beach? Then you'll adore this week's book tour stops for Barefoot Girls! 

As you know, my novel definitely qualifies as a beach read (see my post whats-beach-read-anyway.html for details). As you might not know...I love the beach. One of my favorite places in the world! There is no sound more relaxing to me than the sound of waves crashing on the shore rhythmically, and I live for the feel of cool salt air washing over sun-warmed skin and the gritty tickle of sand between toes, the sight of a jaunty parade of colorful beach umbrellas lining the shore and children running and playing in the waves, the sweet childish pleasure of a sno-cone or Italian ice, and the comforting memory-filled scent of Coppertone in the air. 

This week, two book bloggers who obviously love the beach, too (as you can see if you visit their sites), are hosting virtual book blog tour events on their blogs. Be sure to check them out and get a little taste of sun and surf along with great book suggestions and many fascinating conversations in the comment sections of their posts.

Escape with a Good Book (Link: http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/2012/06/12/special-guest-tara-mctiernan) hosted me yesterday and, wow, was that a fun mini-beach-vacation-getaway! Such great comments and stories about readers' relationships with their mothers and friends...it was truly inspiring. Lori (Dollycas) is also running a giveaway of a free ebook of Barefoot Girls for the next twelve days, so if you want a chance at a copy, don't forget to enter!

Kathleen at Jersey Girl Book Reviews (Link: http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot.com/) is hosting me this Friday and I am psyched! Her book blog is also fantastic, well-written, and very beach-themed with lots of photos and beautiful images of the shore. Can't wait to see how the event goes and hope you can drop by and join in the conversation. 

What a fun week! Now I'm really dying to go to the beach....Ash, honey? Can we? Pretty please?

Summertime Kick-off: Barefooter Style

If there's anything the Barefoot Girls know how to do, it's how to find fun in anything with the help of a little creativity, a lot of style, and some ribald humor thrown in for good measure. But, when it comes to Mean Greens, their famous "kicks you in the pants and makes you want to dance" margarita, the fun's already in the glass, and there's no better way to celebrate the arrival of summer than to kick off your shoes, Barefooter-style, and mix up a batch for your Memorial Day festivities!

However....it's a secret recipe. So secret and coveted, everyone on Captain's has been begging and bargaining for it to no avail for years. Per Keeley, the Queen Bee of the Barefoot Girls:

"Mean Greens were the Barefooter’s specialty – a powerful margarita made of top-shelf tequila, Grand Marnier, fresh lime juice, a dusting of lime zest, a splash of homemade lemonade for sweetness, and two secret ingredients that would go to the grave with the four women."

If you read Barefoot Girls you probably wanted the recipe, especially if you enjoy margaritas. So, how are you going to make your own? Here's a great top-shelf margarita recipe

Top Ten Reasons I Love Elin Hilderbrand's Novels

I just finished reading Elin's latest book, Silver Girl, and said to myself, "Wow!" Honestly, when I picked it up, I was pretty convinced that I was chasing a dream by assuming I would continue to enjoy her books. 

Why? 

Because she writes, exclusively, summer beach-reads set on Nantucket. Now, I adore Nantucket. If I could afford to live there, as she does, I would do it in a heartbeat. I also love beach-reads and anything summer-oriented (one of my favorite seasons in New England, where the winter can be brutal, the spring often too cool, and the fall glorious but fleeting). 

But I thought, how much more can she milk this thing? The answer: she doesn't milk anything. She writes great books that, yes, happen to be set on Nantucket and do happen to be beach-oriented, but they are truly excellent reads. If you looked at my bookshelf, you'd notice that I have pretty much every book she's written. 

Having read the body of her work, I think I'm one of her biggest fans (Oh, no! Visions of Kathy Bates with an ax! No, not that kind of fan!). She keeps me as a fan for many reasons. Silver Girl, one of her best books yet, is one of them. Elin has clearly grown as a writer and

Guest Post on Thoughts in Progress!

I had the pleasure of guest posting on Mason Canyon's wonderful book blog, Thoughts in Progress, today. Mason's prompt-questions were very inspiring and a pleasure to think through, particularly those about the messages behind my novel, Barefoot Girls. I don't think anyone sits down to write a novel with a specific message, but it's fascinating to discover what themes came through as the work was created; things that usually are very meaningful to the writer.

What a great experience - thanks, Mason!

Check it out here:
http://www.masoncanyon.blogspot.com/2012/04/author-tara-mctiernan-voracious-reader.html

What’s a “Beach Read” Anyway?

Although I generally love the weather in North Carolina where my husband and I live, this spring has been ridiculously summer-like with its hot days and heavy humidity (today, it's 84 degrees). While this has most locals speculating about whether this summer will be an inferno so hot we’ll be frying eggs on the sidewalk, but what it got me thinking about is the term “beach read”. I guess all this steamy heat has me yearning for cool sea breezes and the roar of incoming waves against the shore.

So, what does this term mean, anyway? Isn’t every book a book you can read on the beach or by the pool? Honestly, I read all kinds of books on the beach (and everywhere else). I’ve read scary horror novels on the beach and touching memoirs on the beach and nonfiction how-to’s on the beach. I don’t have a particular kind of book I search for before I go to the beach – do you? So, what’s up with this silly seemingly-meaningless term?

You might be asking: “Why do you care, Tara? What’s the big kerfuffle?” (Damn, I’ve always wanted to use that word in a blog post, and I finally got my chance! Kerfuffle! Kerfuffle! Okay, calm down.) The answer: it’s one of the search terms on online book stores for Barefoot Girls.

So, I decided to do a little research, and this is what I found out

Barefoot Girls Ebook on Sale!

My novel Barefoot Girls is now available as an ebook at your favorite ebook store! Although the print version won’t be available until late spring or early summer (just in time for reading on the beach – the perfect way to consume this story in my oh-so-humble opinion), those with ereaders will be able to download and read it immediately.

So, the usual question on most people’s lips is: what’s it about?

A Brief Description of Barefoot Girls

When her hometown newspaper reviews Hannah O’Brien’s newly released novel, the nature of her book is called into question when the reviewer suggests it is a memoir depicting her neglectful alcoholic mother – Keeley O’Brien Cohen, the most beloved of the Barefoot Girls -  a little too accurately for fiction, citing rumors rather than sources.

Deeply hurt and betrayed, Keeley cuts Hannah out of her life. Desperate, Hannah does everything she can to apologize and explain, but her pleas fall on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the rest of Hannah’s life starts to unravel, pushing her to risk her engagement to Daniel, the one man who had been able to scale the high walls around her heart. At the eleventh hour, the Barefoot Girls are able to convince Keeley to send Hannah the keys to the Barefooter house, the home and heart of their friendship. Barred from their clubhouse since she was twelve, Hannah grabs the chance to visit the little shack filled with memories and perched at the tip of Captain’s Island in the Great South Bay on Long Island, New York.

As Hannah battles to come to terms with her equally blessed and troubled childhood and understand her mother and her sister-close friends, she’s confronted with the power of forgiveness and the dangers of holding on to the past.

More info?

If you really want to know more, do what savvy ebook readers do: download a free sample. It gives you 30% of the book for free (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords) and a chance to see if it grabs you. For links directly to the stores, see my Books Page.

Hope you enjoy it!