Author Janie Franz is here today to tell us about her Eggcerpt Exchange contemporary romance novel, Sugar Magnolia, and a little about herself.

Sugar Magnolia
By Janie Franz

Music journalist and artist Shivaun Corbin is on assignment at Sugar Magnolia, the Mississippi home of classic rocker Daniel Madux. She has been charged with creating a retro cover for Daniel’s latest album, a comeback CD that incorporates a more modern sound with his 70s rock. When she enters the household on this sprawling plantation, she encounters an odd assortment of characters with secrets of their own while she works hard to avoid being another of Daniel Madux’s conquests. Young instrumental protégé Connor is determined to protect Shivaun from Daniel’s pursuit. Shivaun is distracted by Connor’s attentions and those of one of the female backup singers as more secrets are revealed and the past comes rushing into the present. Sugar Magnolia offers an inside look at the music industry and one woman’s place in it.

Author’s Note: I wish to thank Peter Himberger, of Impact Artist Management, Mac Rebennack (Dr. John), and Joe Lopez (Deploi) for allowing me to portray them in this work of fiction. I have the utmost respect for Dr. John and Deploi and hope their appearances here are an enhancement to their musical cannon.

And, a special thanks to all of the musicians I’ve interviewed throughout my career as a music journalist. I’m privileged to have had relaxed conversations with all of you.

EXCERPT:

Shivaun caught her breath when she saw the massive, four-posted bed tucked behind the door, draped in a white voile canopy with white, bed linens. A pair of bedside tables, also painted white, flanked the bed. There was no closet, but double French doors led out onto an iron-railed balcony.

Part of Shivaun rejected the fussy, feminine frills that were a part of the clichéd Southern charm tourists came to expect of the region. Still, it was a lovely room with its beige wallpaper with clusters of tiny red roses.

Shivaun set her camera and purse on the bed and propped her laptop case on the floor against the night table closest to the door. She moved around the large bed to fling open the French doors and stepped out onto the balcony. Oaks and willows along a muddy river framed a well-mowed lawn, stretching all around her. The garden shrubbery that dotted its surface needed pruning, and the blue hydrangeas, surrounding two concrete benches by the river, needed weeding. In the middle of the lawn, a nude sculpture of a young woman, with well-developed breasts, spouted water into an algae covered pool.

“That’s Daniel Madux’s virgin,” Connor said near her. “Probably the only one left.”

Shivaun jerked her head to look at him as he lounged against the rail beside her, looking over her head at the garden. “The sculpture or virgins?”

Connor shrugged. “Nothing remains pure around Daniel Madux,” he muttered, still staring out at the sculpture.

Shivaun raised an eyebrow. Seeing he wasn’t going to explain, she returned to her bedroom. “It’s very nice,” she told Madge. “It’s rather like the years passed over this place, like it could still be 1865.”

“It’s a great place to get away from everything,” Madge said. “That’s why Daniel likes it so much.”

“When do I get to meet the man?”

“Later, after you get settled. He’s out wandering the grounds, trying to collect his head. He partied pretty hard last night.”

She should have been prepared for that. She had been warned. She wasn’t sure how long they would let her be a voyeur, though. Her hard-drinking friends at the magazine didn’t like her sitting out their binges. Trying to be casual, she pulled out a stick of gum from her pocket, unwrapped it, and asked, “Drugs?”

“Beer and pot are all Daniel allows,” Conner explained as Shivaun rolled the gum into a circle and popped it in her mouth. “Occasionally, we get some local moonshine, but that stuff’s hard to come by. Daniel says if we use anything else, we can’t create…. He’s got a few more rules he’ll lay down when you meet him.”

Madge headed for the door. “We better let you get settled. The john’s across the hall. Sometimes, you have to bang on the door to get the room cleared…. Somebody’ll come for you when Daniel’s presentable.”

“Fine. I’m still living in another time zone and another climate. It’ll take me a bit to get used to the heat and the humidity here.”

As Connor followed Madge out the door, he called back, “Maybe we could have a toke together later.”

“Thanks, but no.” Shivaun smiled. “I quit smoking—anything—a long time ago. Gum’s my only vice now.”

“Only?” Connor asked. “You know I’ve got a coffee pot down there that’s more fun than you are.”

Shivaun gave him a big-sister look. “I came to work, not play.”

Connor swept his gaze over her body. “Yep. You’re a hybrid tea rose. It’s a damn shame….”

Buy Links:
Muse It Up, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

About Janie Franz

Janie Franz comes from a long line of Southern liars and storytellers. She told other people’s stories as a freelance journalist for many years. With Texas wedding DJ, Bill Cox, she co-wrote The Ultimate Wedding Ceremony Book and The Ultimate Wedding Reception Book, and then self-published a writing manual, Freelance Writing: It’s a Business, Stupid! She also published an online music publication, was an agent/publicist for a groove/funk band, a radio announcer, and a yoga/relaxation instructor.

Currently, she is writing her tweveth novel and a self-help book, Starting Over: Becoming a Woman of Power.

Find her online at:
https://authorjaniefranz.wordpress.com
https://janiefranz.wordpress.com
https://thebowdancersaga.wordpress.com

Interview with Janie Franz

What is your most important goal?

I recently worked on a 30-day organizing program that asked what your intrinsic goal was, meaning what motivates everything you do. Don’t laugh. Mine was having fun. So everything I do has to either help me realize that or just be fun doing it. After all, someone once said, “Choose something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

What is your worst fear or nightmare?

I think it’s not getting all of the things done that I want to do, including more books, more travel, more experiencing.

Are you wealthy, poor, or somewhere in between?

I’m a writer. We’re like starving garret artists.

What is your secret desire or fantasy?

Well, it’s not so secret. I want to go to Hawaii some day and dance the hula with traditional dancers (not at a hotel). For those who know me, dancing is my passion.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Me? I’d probably buy a small house, at least two bedrooms so I could have friends and family visit me. (I live in a teeny casita in New Mexico that has a big walled yard. Very private but also very, very small.) I’d also travel and find so many more places to dance. Not too much would change.