Book Release Party for "Another Man's Treasure" by Anna Kittrell

 

WE'RE HAVING A PARTY!

 

Every new book deserves a release party. After all, it's labored over like a baby after months of morning sickness, weight gain and fluid retention--and the stretch marks. Oy! Writers call these things wordiness, excessive backstory, needless scenes that don't move the story forward--and editing. But when we get it all right, a book is born. Today we celebrate the birth, the release of Another Man's Treasure.

 

I had the privilege of copy-editing this book several months ago--and it was instant love. So I'm thrilled to celebrate its release. The author is the lovely Anna Kittrell. Anna resides in her small Oklahoma hometown with her high school sweetheart-turned-husband, Tim, and their teenage daughter, Brandilyn. She has written stories for as long as she can remember, and still has most of her tattered creations (leftovers she was unable to sell on the playground for a dime), written in childish handwriting on

notebook paper, bound with too many staples. Her love of storytelling has grown throughout the years. She is thrilled to learn some people now believe her tales to be worth more than ten cents.

 

 

And I've got Anna Kittrell here today on Vintage Vonnie. She's even agreed to tell us the inspiration behind her book. But first, let's have some candy and cookies to go with the champagne, shall we? I've been baking like crazy and making candy especially for today.

 

Don't hesitate ladies. I use old German recipes where the calories are omitted. It's part of their thriftiness, you see. So grab a plate and load up. This is a party and we're leaving our cares behind and embracing a new story, one we can all love. Anna, you only took one piece of fudge. Surely you want more. Oh wait! I forgot the chocolate covered strawberries. Now, tell us about the inspiration for Another Man's Treasure.

 

Okay. Ummm. These taste great! Close to twenty-five years ago, a retail photographer had a two-day assignment at the clothing store where I worked. He set up his equipment in a corner and snapped photos of people against various colorful backdrops. Between customers, we visited about this and that, our small talk eventually turning to his photography. He told me before becoming a photographer, he’d worked as a garbage collector. I scanned his handsome face and sparkling eyes and marveled—as if a sanitation worker couldn’t be attractive. Shame on me.

 

We often get assumptions like that about professions and people, don't we? Here let me refill your champagne glass. 

Then he shared something I’ve never forgotten. He said every morning on his trash route he saw people through kitchen windows drinking coffee and reading newspapers. It was on one of those ordinary mornings that he glanced through one of those ordinary windows and made an extraordinary decision. He no longer wanted to be on the outside looking in. In that single defining moment, he purposed to be on the inside looking out. Just like that, he quit his job as a garbage collector and enrolled in photography school. He’d been happily following his calling ever since.

 

Wow, what a brave man! It takes courage to grab control of your life like that. More candy? I made Buckeyes...

One piece, maybe. That young photographer’s tale was a golden thread. The kind a writer recognizes, saves, and weaves into just the right story. Another Man’s Treasure is that story. Deason McKindle is a manual laborer on the outside looking in. And although he dreams of fighting fires, not snapping photographs, Deason has also made an extraordinary decision. Now if he could only figure out how to follow his calling with a dead man standing between him and his dream…

 

 

Blurb:

Deason McKindle dreams of breaking free. Free from the ex-wife whose cheating ways landed his fist in his boss’s face, free from his dead-end job as a trash collector, free from small-town Oklahoma. In two weeks, his dream of a fresh start in Montana will come true.  

His dreams scatter when he saves Charis Locke from her abusive ex-husband. The gratitude in her eyes awakens a passion deep inside him. But when he later discovers the ex-husband’s corpse in a dumpster, Deason’s charged with murder. Instead of breaking free, he loses every freedom he’s ever known.  

Charis thought she couldn’t love any man other than the Alzheimer’s patient she takes care of. But when Deason is arrested, she can’t let him go to prison without a fight. As fate would have it, Charis has finally fallen in love, and only the key to the killer’s identity will unlock her dreams. Or is it too late?

 

Excerpt:

“Hey, I know you,” Vic garbled, his dull eyes floating over Deason’s features. “You’re Deason

McKindle. SOB that punched out your supervisor and landed yourself on the trash wagon.” He threw his head back and wheezed out a beer-steeped laugh. 

Deason homed in on the oversized Adam’s apple, fighting the urge to twist the man’s collar until the stupid thing stopped bobbing. 

Vic squinted at Deason, a glint in his clouded eyes. “You socked old Ricky Holland right in the mouth for messing with your old lady. Now she waits tables at Suds. Always shoving her goods in everyone’s faces.” 

Hovering above Vic, Deason’s cocked fist quaked with anger, ready to drive the no good bum’s crooked nose straight through the back of his empty skull. 

“He’s not worth it.”  

Charis’s voice rang out stronger than Deason imagined it would, given what she’d just been through. Her words pulled him from his murderous thoughts, likely saving Vic’s life. He cut his gaze to where she stood, dusting her hands over the grass-stains on her clothes. A small, red line stamped the corner of her mouth like an exclamation point.

Vic cackled. “You ain’t gonna do squat to me, McKindle. I heard how it all went down. Sam, the big boss, made you promise to keep your nose clean, cause next time you screw up, it’ll be outta his hands.” 

Deason set his jaw. “Not a problem. I know how to operate the trash compactor. By the time they find what’s left of your worthless bones, I’ll be long gone. Now close your eyes. Wouldn’t want you to get blood in them.” 

 

 

Link to Another Man’s Treasure book trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWigNif71ng

 

Facebook author page:

https://www.facebook.com/AKittrell

 

Website:

http://annakittrell.com/

 

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/KittrellAnna

Twitter user name: @KittrellAnna

WHEW! WE HAVE PARTIED HEARTY! ANNA, I WISH YOU AWESOME BOOK SALES AND POSITIVE REVIEWS FOR ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE.