Today the wonderful EA Kafkalas is here. She and Anne Hagan have put together a blockbuster giveaway. Have you heard about it yet? If you haven’t, you need to check it out. Scroll to the bottom of this post for more details.

EA is super cool and she’s allowing me to giveaway a copy of her novel Frankie & Petra to one lucky winner to be selected by I Heart Lesfic. To enter the giveaway hosted by I Heart Lesfic, scroll to the bottom of this post for details.

In case you’re keeping score, this post contains two giveaways! Again, scroll to the bottom for details.

EA has challenged you to ferret out a lie. Play along by leaving your guess in the comments section. The lie will be revealed on Tuesday.

Now, please welcome EA Kafkalas

Why Food?

Food can be controversial. I know. I eat a plant-based diet with no oil, and a lot of starches. It proves quite challenging at times, especially when socializing. Think about it. No, Really! Take a moment to think about how food plays a part in our lives. What holiday doesn’t culminate in a meal? Most weddings, funerals, baptisms, bat and bar mitzvahs —you name the celebration—have food of some type involved. Our lives literally revolve around food.

Realtors when trying to sell your property tell you to bake cookies, so the aroma of fresh baked gooey yumminess permeates the air. They want the people looking at your house to think of it as a home. We associate food with memories—good or bad. So it stands to reason that food would feature prominently in our books.

As an avid foodie, and a woman of Mediterranean descent, food has certainly been at the center of my whole life. From my mother’s galaktoboureko (the ambrosia of the Gods) to her best friend’s perfectly shaped loukoumades (her hands had been designed to make symmetrical dough balls), to my aunt’s moussaka (as addictive as her cheesecake) food has always been a major character. So when I began to craft a story about a Greek Detective and an Italian Artist, I knew that food would have to play a significant part.

Food also contributes to our physical appearance. Frankie is a full-figured gal who has been taught how to cook by a grandmother. Petra has been raised on a Mediterranean diet of delicacies, but can also go long periods of time on coffee and adrenaline.

I based Frankie’s Italian grandmother, who she talks about with the greatest of love, loosely on my mother. My mother, despite being first generation Greek, would never serve Greek food to her Greek friends. She loved exposing them to cuisines from various countries. It was just one of the ways my mother was a “rebel” and I loved that about her. So, I had Frankie’s grandmother travel and learn recipes from various chefs in different countries.

Petra’s “big fat Greek family” enjoys meals together at more than just the holidays. Her mother and her oldest sister are accomplished cooks, and create huge spreads of food for everyone to enjoy. I like the idea of Frankie meeting Petra’s family, early on in their relationship, at one such gathering. The sight of all that foreign food being passed around would overwhelm most people—but Frankie takes it in stride.

Frankie shares her house with a gay couple that both love to cook. Anthony makes breakfasts that farmers would consume before plowing the back 40. Saheed creates Iranian delicacies, having studied at his mother’s side, and hosts large parties. The leftovers from one such party are what Frankie takes to share when the family is in crisis. It gains her favor, as Petra’s family loves nothing more than good food.

Cooking is second nature to me. I don’t know how I know the things I do. But I do come from a line of cooks. My grandfather was a baker, and my grandmothers and mother were excellent cooks. Perhaps it’s in my DNA. Writing about food and cooking is easy. And I have been exposed to all types of cuisines throughout my own travels. The thing that was wonderful about working in Manhattan was being exposed to a variety of ethnic restaurants.

Food plays a big part in most of my novels to date. My most recent novel Out of Grief sees a Russian mother using a variety her favorite traditional dishes to comfort her daughter. In the novel I’m working on now it will also play a big part, as a cancer patient is miraculously healed by her girlfriend, and enjoys rediscovering her taste buds. Whatever your ethnicity, and no matter your current emotional state; there is a food for every situation. I believe it. I depend on it. And I hope to be writing about it for a long time. I hope this article has wet your appetite to give one of my stories a try. They go nicely with a cup of your favorite hot beverage.

SPOT THE LIE

Also, T.B. asked me to tell you three things about myself, 2 true and 1 not. I decided to tie them into the theme of the article. See if you can guess which one isn’t true:

These are three of the “unusual” foods that I have eaten in my lifetime: haggis, ostrich, and sea cucumber. Can you guess which one I haven’t eaten?

FRANKIE & PETRA 

E-book $4.99

Release Date: September 18, 2014

Romantic Mystery

Is chemistry enough?

Homicide detective Petra Theopholis is good at her job. She closes cases, but her world is turned upside down one morning when she meets a young grad student.  Painter Frankie Martineli has lost everyone she’s ever loved in this world, so she wants nothing to do with someone that puts her life on the line every day.  After a one-night stand they go their separate ways. When a case draws them together, they find that their passions can’t be contained. But when fate throws them both into the face of danger, will their love survive?

Bookbaby / Amazon

MEET THE AUTHOR

Novelist and playwright, EA Kafkalas is the author of the novels Out of Grief, The Second Heart, Soul Mistakes, and Frankie & Petra, and the plays Lopsided and Pandora’s Golden Box. A true Renaissance woman, she has worked in the theatre as an actor, director and a producer. In addition, EA is a mixed media artist working with clay and acrylics.  She recently moved to a farm in upstate NY, and resides with two of her best friends, her vast library of books, movies, and art supplies. The family dog, Milo, has decided that E.A. is more fun to hang with than a good doggie treat. He accompanies her on morning walks around the back 40, is happy to be her co-pilot on trips around town, and has carved out a space for himself on her bed. When she’s not writing about the characters living inside her head, she can be found with her circle of actual friends, who have become her family and greatest support network.

Facebook / Twitter / Website 

Giveaway Number 1:

Enter here for a chance to win a copy of  

FRANKIE & PETRA 

Here’s the massive giveaway everyone is talking about. 

INDIE AUTHOR CONTEST

30 Indie Lesbian Fiction Authors have banded together for a massive giveaway of 39 titles and a total of 43 books in all!

There will be 3 winners, all chosen at random. The grand prize winner will receive 24 books! The 2^nd place winner will receive 12 books, and the 3^rd place winner will receive 7 signed books!

Also, there will be a special prize for the entrant that shares the most!

The competition is open worldwide. Click here to enter.

Don’t miss out! The competition ends at 11:55 p.m. (EST) on September 15, 2017.

Don’t forget to guess which food you think EA hasn’t sampled. I’ll reveal it on Tuesday.

And, best of luck to everyone who enters both giveaways.