jean brashear

Fried Okra and an (Almost!) St. Paddy’s Birthday

Fried Okra and an (Almost!) St. Paddy’s Birthday

Fried Okra and an (Almost!) St. Paddy’s Birthday

by Jean Brashear

 

Is it possible to love leprechauns too much? To thrill overly to the sight of a shamrock and too-deeply cherish the color green?

 

Yes, my name is Jean, and I adore St. Patrick’s Day to a possibly embarrassing degree.

 

Okay, so I got attached as a child—its proximity to my birthday and the ready-made party theme imprinted on me early. Learning that my ancestors came from Ireland (with more than a few braw Scots in the mix) only cemented the bond.

 

Discovering that the first of my family tree to arrive on the shores of what would become America occurred as a result of my ship’s captain ancestor wrecking on the Virginia coast…oh, golly, does that mean I can maybe throw a pirate into the mix? Be still my heart!

 

I KNEW there was a reason Eudora “Pea” O’Brien of THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA (can you say The Great Subconscious?) became a swordswoman!

 

I’m all grown now, and, yes, I know March 17 isn’t actually my birthday…but I still have this deep-seated urge to brandish shamrock napkins and don green leprechaun birthday hats every March…and maybe to also whip out my sword and join Pea and Glory in a little celebratory sword dance to honor the sisterhood of all those remarkable Goddess of Fried Okra women!

 

Happy St. Paddy’s, fellow lovers of all things Emerald!

 

Jean

 

New York Times and USAToday bestselling author of THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA and nearly 40 other novels in romance and women’s fiction, a five-time RITA finalist and RT BOOKReviews Career Achievement Award winner, Jean Brashear will also confess to an ongoing fangirl adoration of the remarkable women at Bell Bridge Books and the amazing books they publish

 

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AND DON’T FORGET TO GRAB JEAN BRASHEAR’S NOVEL – THE GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA – TODAY FROM AMAZON!!

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AN INDECENT AMOUNT OF FUN

AN INDECENT AMOUNT OF FUN
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AN INDECENT AMOUNT OF FUN…

BY JEAN BRASHEAR

 

Eudora Welty meets Sue Monk Kidd and they lunch with Fannie Flagg“…yes, indeedy, folks, a reviewer with serious college-professor-level expertise in Southern lit actually wrote those words about The Goddess of Fried Okra—totally swoon-worthy sentiments, and don’t you think I didn’t see nice little dots swirling before my eyes just before my body hit the fainting couch. 😉

 

Given that this book is truly The Book of My Heart, being on the receiving end of such a review was (still is!) just Too. Much. Fun.

 

But then, the writing of this book was an adventure all in itself. After having been under continuous deadlines for several years, I carved out three weeks to just let myself play with a story, simply to see if I could remember what it was like to write for the sheer joy of writing, with no thought to commercial appeal or my career or anything but just…you got it: Fun. I ditched my computer and sat on my deck in the cool morning shade with a glass of murderously strong Mexican iced coffee at my side, no idea at all what I’d write, and just let the words come.

 

Next thing I knew, here arrived this woman who had lost her job, her boyfriend and her place to live, all in the same day…and what does she do? She throws everything she owns (which ain’t much, I’m tellin’ you) into her beat-up car and sets off to find the sister who raised her.

 

Except, well, her sister’s, um…dead. But Eudora “Pea” O’Brien had consulted her sister’s psychic and was on the trail of the new body her sister now inhabited. Wherever that might be.

 

I’m sure we’d all make the same choice.

 

Along the way, Pea stops to read various roadside historical markers, looking for the hand of Fate to lead her (Here’s a Girl Power marker about WWII female pilots) and picks up an odd band of companions—a starving kitten, a pregnant Goth teenager and a sexy con man trying to go straight. They encounter a gun shop owner named Glory (shop name: Guns ‘N’ Glory—natch) who is obsessed with warrior goddesses and is a big fan of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. Glory is fond of wearing pearls with her combat boots and is a master of swordplay, something Pea decides she desperately needs to learn as she seeks to find her own strengths and make her way in the world.

 

When her car breaks down, Pea also meets the ultimate grandmother, a café owner named Lorena who is Glory’s polar opposite and who teaches Pea the art of perfect fried okra, something any Southerner would agree is both a necessity and manna from heaven.

 

So okay…this probably sounds like one weird book, huh? And how on earth did Conan the Barbarian ever come into play in my brain?

 

Beats me.;) Seriously, he’s not exactly my natural cup of tea, but let’s just say that on a road trip,  my husband and I encountered the legacy of Robert E. Howard (who was one weird and possibly seriously disturbed dude) on the back roads of Texas in connection with—yep, the Conan the Barbarian Festival (here’s the sign we encountered) which appears in the book. Ditto the Robert E. Howard homeplace, which we visited.

 

 

 

 

Sadly, there is no swordplay contest…but there should be.;) Maybe they’d let me organize the next festival?

 

 

 

 

 

Ditto, a road trip fleshed out Glory’s gun shop—in a portable building, of all things. Here’s a photo of me at Farley’s Firearms.

 

At the end of the three weeks I had to get back to work on my paying gig. I continued to write this book off and on over the next couple of years when I could take breaks from my deadlines. I wish I could say the whole process was a Ton O’Fun…but that didn’t happen until I finally ignored my agent’s urgings and the opinions in New York about how to make this woman seem logical (not her strong suit, but we Southerners are proud of our eccentric relatives) and took my book to the place I always felt would be its best home: the wonderful and amazing Belle Books.

 

The day my personal idol author, Deborah Smith, told me she loved it and wanted to buy it…well, pull out the smelling salts, is all I can say. Working with her and Debra Dixon (who created this FABULOUS cover!) in the early days of the Bell Bridge Books imprint? Folks, that much fun oughta be illegal.

 

That the book has gotten so many wonderful reviews and letters from readers since it was first published, and that readers keep asking for a sequel (tell me I’m not intimidated by THAT prospect!)…yep, definitely Too. Much. Fun.

 

A thoroughly indecent amount of fun. For which I am now and forever grateful. Vive les Belles!

 

 

The Goddess of Fried Okra by Jean Brashear is today’s Amazon Kindle Daily Deal for only $1.99!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editorial Arts & Crafts

Editorial Arts & Crafts
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Do authors get homemade cardboard purses from their editors at the Big 6 publishers? I think NOT!!!!

 

Here at Bell Bridge we’re known for . . . okay, Deb Smith is known for . . . using any excuse to play in the glue-sticky world of home crafting. Which is why Bell Bridge authors often open perfectly businesslike-looking packages to find, tucked among official correspondence or book galleys, some beaded bracelets, photo pendants, custom bookmarks or Christmas ornaments made from dried peppers. And yet, for GODDESS OF FRIED OKRA author Jean Brashear, the Craft Goddesses had something special in mind: a GOFO purse made from cardboard, fabric, an Inkjet transfer of her cover art, and lots and lots of buttons, beads and assorted metal geejaws to hide the glue marks.

And so we present, below, THE PURSE, as modeled by the lovely Jean herself.

It has been suggested that THE PURSE may serve best as 1. a windowsill planter for some nice catnip or a cactus 2. a bird feeder 3. a doorstop 4. a weapon or 5. all of the above. 

 

 

 

GOFO PURSE