Fridays off the Wall with Beate Boeker

Today, I'm welcoming Beate Boeker, a fellow Avalon author. Her most recent book is called A Little Bit of Passion. Isn't the cover cute? 

Joselyn: What is your favorite line for your most recent book?

Beate: My most recent books is entirely written in the form of e-mails from the heroine, Karen, to her best friend. Karen is a skiing teacher and has just realized that a man who gave her a hard time the year before has booked another course with her. She has nicknamed him "the turtle" because of the way he moves and looks. In her first letter, she describes what the turtle is doing to make her life difficult and concludes with this sentence:

"So if you read about the murder of a turtle in the Teton Mountain Range, make sure you get a good attorney, because it'll be hard to wriggle out of this one."

This sentence is typical for Karen's character and humor and always makes me smile.

Joselyn: Describing him as a turtle in very intriguing.  It makes me wonder how she will come to like him. What one thing would make your writing space perfect?

Beate: I already have it! For my last birthday, my husband gave me a screen that is fixed on the wall and can be swiveled by 90 degrees so that my text looks like a real page in a book. I love to work like that.

Joselyn: That sounds great.  I often get frustrated when I can't see enough of the page at once. What author would you be delighted to be compared to (in a positive way, of course)? Is this your favorite author?

Beate: Mary Stewart. She's one of my favorite authors, and the way she describes things just blows me away. My favorite books are Airs Above the Ground and Touch Not The Cat.

Joselyn: When the power goes out, what do you do? (Cell phone service is out too.)

Beate: Go to sleep. I love to sleep, besides, it's the warmest place to be when the power goes out (because then, my radiators stop working too!).

Joselyn: What do you do to celebrate a book sale?

Beate: Go out and have a sumptuous dinner at a Chinese restaurant with my family, with black bean sauce, dim sum, and baked bananas with honey. Yummy.

Sounds wonderful.  Except the bananas part, not my favorite.

To learn more about Beate, check out her website at website http://www.happybooks.de and she regularly blogs at http://avalonauthors.blogspot.com/. (You can also find out about other great Avalon books there.)

You can buy A Little Bit of Passion at:

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Bit-Passion-Beate-Boeker/dp/0803476507/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299010080&sr=8-3

Beate has generously decided to share an excerpt from A Little Bit of Passion with us : 

Chapter 1

Teton Mountain Range

Dear Leslie,

Do you remember the guy who made me think for the first time that I’m too old to teach skiing? I was so glad when he finished his course last year and took his turtle-y head elsewhere.

Well, he’s back.

I greeted my new ten o’clock group this morning, and the instant I finished presenting myself, he sidled out from behind someone else’s back and stared at me with his half closed eyes. A shiver ran down my spine, and I’m sure I looked as if I had discovered a huge spider amongst the Easter eggs. He must have hidden at the guest-house this morning, or I would have been on my guard.

I turned my back on him as soon as I could, but I knew he continued watching me, his head swiveling from left to right like a hundred year old turtle. That image really fits, right down to the wrinkles all over the face and the folds in the neck. You can’t imagine how stiffly I moved all at once, like a wooden doll, waiting for his first filthy comment.

I didn’t have to wait long. Just as I showed them how to swing into an arc, he muttered in that penetrating voice of his, “Show me again how to swing that hip, baby. It’s so inspiring.”

I ignored him with clenched teeth.

But of course he didn’t let go. He lifted his voice and repeated: “Baby, I said show me again how to swing that hip. I’m here to learn, and you’re here to teach.”

The group stared a him.

A woman called Minnie started to giggle.

I fixed the turtle with a stare as hard as I could. “My name is Karen.”

“Oh, my, baby, I’m so sorry. I forgot. I thought you’d given me leave to call you some other names.”

What could I say? The management has made it clear to me that I have to keep the customers happy no matter what. Every time I complain about the turtle or other types, they say I should “endeavor to be a little bit more skilled in the art of flirting”. After all, the other instructors don’t complain, so it must be me, right? Why, oh why, do so many men think the skiing teacher is part of the package tour?

I closed my eyes and tried to remember why I love my job. The purple mountains. The air like chilled white wine. The joy of flying across the snow. Meeting many wonderful people, teaching them how to ski better. And the nasty ones don’t stay long, so it’s easy to bear. Usually.

I knew I had to put a stop to it right away; he would only make it worse if I laid down now. “I can’t remember giving you leave to call me anything but Karen,” I said and swished around to show them the arc once again.

Without giving them time for comment, I made them go through the motions. It’s a mixed group, aged from thirteen to fifty, I would say. I’ll separate them into beginners and advanced tomorrow, but unfortunately, I have promised Steve to take the advanced group this time, and the turtle is advanced, there’s no denying that.

When I asked the turtle to take his turn, he managed to brush by me and yelled, “Oh, my, I’m so sorry, Kare-een, I lost my footing.”

My face burnt so much, it’s a wonder I didn’t melt a hole into the snow, but I clenched my teeth and didn’t comment.

Next came the youngest of the group. He made a very creditable arc, and when he pushed past me on his way back, I said “Well done”.

The youngster cast me a glance and said in a low voice “Don’t mind that jerk.”

Underneath his red cap two gray eyes fixed me earnestly. He has lashes every female will envy, thick and long and straight. But what floored me was the spattering of freckles across his nose.

I swallowed and promised myself to dispatch the turtle somehow, to avoid spoiling that kid’s Easter holiday.

So if you read about the murder of a turtle in the Teton Mountain Range, make sure you get a good attorney, because it’ll be hard to wriggle out of this one.

Love,

Karen

A Little Bit of Passion is available at Avalon Books and Amazon.