Author Spotlight: Mari Freeman

Hi Everyone! Today we have another AAD Spotlight going on – for my delusions that I’ll be able to go to New Orleans. Delusions are fun! Visiting with us is author Mari Freeman. You may not know much about her, but you should know she’s awesome. How do I know this? Because she’s a Buckeye. And anyone who went to The Ohio State University is a winner. Done.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the post as much as I did.

Hello, Limecello!

Thanks so much for having me over to your lovely home on the internets. I’m really excited about Author’s After Dark this year. It’s my second but I have a real love for the city of New Orleans. I used to visit from Texas several times a year with my high school BFF, Cindy. She was a native of the area and had lots of older friends and her boyfriend was still there.

Cindy set me up on my first blind date on one of these trips. I’ll never forget it. His name was Theo. We met her very cute guy on the levee near the giant paddleboats. I was a nervous wreck, changed clothes something like ten times. You know the girlish nerves. And this was long before computer dating, so all I had to go on was that he’s cute and he’s nice.

RIGHT… Theo turned out to be a cross between a donkey and Barry Manilow, all buck teeth and combed back hair. He was wearing a light blue, v-neck, velvet shirt. Yes, ladies. I said velvet in New Orleans, in August. And he snorted when he laughed, which, by the way, was constantly. He tried to blow in my ear— from across the table.

That night was a bust, but I’ve has so many great nights in the Big Easy since then. I try to get down there at least once a year. I hope you’re all planning on coming down for some smoking food, great music and all your favorite authors.

My latest release is About to Blow. It’s the first in a new series titled Valkyrie’s Vow. The series opens with the story of Mist. She’s a Valkyrie, kind of a junkie, and when she meets up with vice cop Kurt Stone she find’s herself in a whole other world.

About to Blow, Valkyrie’s Vow, Book One

For a thousand years, Mist has shepherded battle-slain warriors to their choice of Valhalla or Asgard. It’s the task she was charged with upon her own death, the mission she chose when becoming Valkyrie. Never before has she fallen for one of those warriors. But then, never has she felt emotions like those evoked by Kurt Stone.

As an undercover cop, Kurt expected a shortened life. He didn’t expect an afterlife spent jumping from realm to realm, screwing a tattooed hottie who makes his blood boil. He should be choosing his next destination, but he’d rather spend eternity indulging in Mist’s delectable body.

The vicious betrayal that led to her death has made Mist reluctant to trust, let alone love. If Kurt can help her face ancient demons, they both might find their idea of Heaven…together.

You can read an excerpt here.

See you all on Bourbon Street!

~Mari

I’m an exotic adventurer disguised as a normal suburbanite in central North Carolina.

My favorite things include: animals, food, exercise, wine, movies and books. In my previous lives, I’ve held an interesting array of occupations. I’ve been a project manager, used cars salesperson, a software testing manager, pumped gas at a truck stop and I worked in a morgue. I hold a degree in Forensic Anthropology from THE Ohio State University.

My favorite stories include alpha females in love with even more alpha males. I find the clash of passionate, strong willed personalities fascinating. I write contemporary, paranormal, and a little science fiction/fantasy.

Mari can also be found on Facebook or twitter: @marifreeman

Ms. Freeman has very kindly offered a giveaway of her current release or one of her backlist in ebook. So what I want to know is… have you ever been to New Orleans? Have any stories to share? Or – what about a blind date? Or if neither – just a crazy trip. Out of all those options everyone has to have something! 😀

0 thoughts on “Author Spotlight: Mari Freeman

  1. June M.

    Oh, blind date! I actually have a crazy story that would probably fit in this category. When I was younger (about 20), I went out with a girl I worked with who was a few years older than me. Well, her husband offered to drive us since we were going to a bar (I looked older and never got carded until I was about 25, lol). Anyway, after a while, this girl started trying to fix me up with….HER HUSBAND!!! Oh, no! I don’t date married guys, even if the wife wants to set me up with him. Needless to say, I never went out with her again. LOL.
    June

    Reply
  2. Shannon

    I had an amazing trip to New Orleans. My mother’s company had a convention there and she flew me, two of my sisters plus a family friend out to the Big Easy. When we got in our hotel room she had four masks and boas on the bed for us. We each reached down at the same time and all grabbed a different mask.
    Later that night the entire company gathered in the lobby of our hotel. A whistle blew from the front of the lobby and we walked out to the street where we were greeted by a full marching band who led us down the streets to the steamboat Natchez. We cruised the Mississippi, ate, drank and danced and made a lot of new friends that night. (I ended up dating one of the computer programers for a year.)
    Back in the French Quarter we stayed up late, did all of the crazy stuff you do down there, got a couple of hours of sleep and then the next morning the four of us plus my parents took a swamp tour.
    Dinner–yes I tried the deep fried nutria (tastes like chicken)–and an all nighter with the girls going from club to club and bar to bar.
    Went back to the hotel, changed and then knocked on my parents door at 7am. We took a tour of the Garden District and had a lovely morning together. My mom told me how proud she was that I got up so early. “Um, mom, I haven’t been to sleep yet!”
    It was an amazing whirl wind weekend, packed full of color and adventure.
    One of the best trips of my life!
    (no contest since I just won one 🙂

    Reply
  3. Cathy m

    Hi Mari and Lime,

    Well, no trips to New Orleans, and no blind dates. Our craziest trip was a family vacation that we took in a rented camper. The cupboards flew open at every corner, so we all used hands and feet to keep them
    closed. Crashing into a tree totally topped off the week.

    caity_mack at yahoo dot com

    Reply
  4. Renee Brown

    I’ve been to New Orleans and the food is every bit as good as they say. My husband and I rode the trolley to the end of the line and found the best shrimp poboys! I love the nightlife and live jazz. It is an experience!

    Reply
  5. Mary Kirkland

    I had one blind date..and it was my last. I was 17 years old and my friend from school asked me if I would go on a blind date with her, her boyfriend and another friend. i said sure. *I was so dumb* I get picked up and get in the back seat and see this boy who is eyeing me like I’m gonna attack him. He was 16 years old and it was about 6pm on a friday. Well, we had to stop every hour so he could call mommy and let mommy know he was ok. *I kid you not* Then at 8pm he informed us he had to go home because mommy had dinner done and he had to take a shower and go to bed because his mommy didn’t like him being up late. o.0

    So we dropped him off, after spending 2 hours in the back seat with him and he said not two words to me..and I tried to talk to him but I think the poor kid was half scared I was going to ravage him in the backseat. *Because I must have looked like a ravager or something* so we picked up another of my girlfriends friends and this guy was another real winner. He was 22 years old, drunk and brought whiskey with him…oh good grief..

    My girlfriend switched seats with us..so new guy was driving and I was in the front seat with him and she and her bf were in the backseat making out..o.0

    We went to the lake and then on the way home drunk guy drove again because I didn’t have a license and the other two were passed out in the back…he drove over 2 mail boxes and knocked over a chain link fence before we made him stop and pull over. I walked to a 7-11 down the street and called home to let mom know I was going to bed late because we were waiting for someone to sober up enough to drive us all home…

    I never went on another blind date…

    Reply
  6. Mari Freeman

    June – That is the craziest thing I ever heard. I’ll take my Manilow look-alike!

    Shannon – Sounds like a great trip. That’s why I love that place so much to do, such great people.

    Cathy … That sounds pretty wild too. I’ve done the rented camper thing before. You just never know what you’ll get

    Reply
  7. Mari Freeman

    Renee..Love shrimp poboys! Those and muffalattas from the corner grocery. YUM!

    Mary – I recently had a modern version of the blind.. from Match.com. It went much better, but then again most dates are better than they were at 16! LOL

    Reply
  8. Pam

    First off … wow … that was some blind date there Mari. I think that’s probably one of the reasons I would never want to go on a blind date.

    About to Blow sounds really good. Just my kind of story! 🙂

    Now Lime, about all your question well … I’ve not done any of them! Nope, none. Never been to New Orleans. Never been on a blind date. Never been on a crazy trip. I have no life. LOL

    Reply
  9. Carolline Greene

    Haha I loved all your stories! I have never been to New Orleans before, I have driven thru the area on a cross country road trip before, but the guys who were driving decided the women in the backseat (after finishing our turns driving) would get into too much trouble if they stopped. Though their reasoning was we had to report to our next duty station. 🙁

    That being said I don’t know if I am just a magnet for crazy or what but I have more stories that start out, ‘so there I was no shit…’ than anything else.

    Blind Date Craziness 2,384,489: My bff and her fiance thought I needed to date someone ‘normal’ so her fiance Don brought along his friend/roommate to go out to dinner with us. We’ll call the guy ‘Joe’, so Joe and I get chatting, dinner seems to be going well. He has a job (which is a huge step up for me), it’s a decent job, he is a government employee for an agency that I have worked with in the past, so turned out we knew some mutual people besides just Don.
    We head back to their place (I was visiting from out of state) and I crash the night over there and ended up spending the weekend. We went out a few more times and watched movies throughout the weekend. When the four day weekend ended I went back to my place (several states away) and went back to work.
    In sharing my weekend with coworkers, we get on the subject of ‘Joe’, of which one of my buddies informs me that I need to not stay at their place anymore on account of he was under investigation for using and dealing coke. I am not talking about the cute polar bear soda “Coke”
    At this point I am in slight awe, I didn’t suspect a thing, I know that my buddy Don wouldn’t be involved with anything like that either. A week goes by and I don’t talk to ‘Joe’ on account of, while I may like handcuffs, I don’t want the finger printing that follows if the police slap those bad boys on my wrists. Therefore when the following weekend I get a call from Don saying, you are never going to believe this shit, apparently ‘Joe’ and Don’s place got raided when Don was at work, and ‘Joe’ gets arrested – I wasn’t really surprised too much… Of course it ends up all over the news on account of the neighborhood and what not. Apparently he was a rather big player in that area, which still caught me off guard when I learned more from my coworkers… We went Dutch during the weekend I spent up there and with the amount of cash that was seized from his place I kind of wish I hadn’t insisted on dutch dating. hindsight right?!
    I’d like to say that I learned from that but alas, no. I let Don set me up a few more times, in my defense though no one else he set me up with was drug dealers, but they were all crazy.

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Winners!!! And – Your Call « Limecello

  11. aliquis

    I’ve never been to New Orleans or had a crazy blind date story which is disappointing because now I have nothing to share. Although considering some of the other comments I should be grateful about that.

    Reply
  12. Cindy

    Well, bored and googling stuff…never thought I’d see my own name!!!

    We still had fun in Nawlin’s all those times….at least what we remembered!

    Reply

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