Saturday, September 16, 2017
The Dead of Night Blitz
Mystery
Date Published: September 1, 2017
Publisher: Imajin Books
As Sheriff Piper Blackwell rushes to a clandestine meeting with an aging, paranoid veteran who believes spies are trailing his every move, she is caught in a fierce thunderstorm. Pounding rain drums against the bluff, washing away the earth and revealing a grisly secret someone tried to bury a long time ago.
Putting a name to the skeleton on the bluff, and searching for the thief who robbed the old veteran of his life’s earnings, sends Piper delving into the sleepy towns that dot her rural county. Now she’s digging into pasts perhaps best left alone.
Accompanied by Chief Deputy Oren Rosenberg, Piper seeks to expose a truth someone wants to remain forever hidden. The investigation may have started with a thunderstorm, but Piper aims to finish it and find justice. Uncovering fragments of Spencer County’s history could prove more dangerous—and deadlier—than she ever expected.
About the Author
Jean Rabe is the author of thirty-eight novels, more short stories than she cares to count, and has edited magazines and anthologies. She’s new the mystery field, as her earlier works were in fantasy and science fiction. The Dead of Night is her second Piper Blackwell book, an uncozy-cozy with a big dash of police procedural thrown in. The first, The Dead of Winter, was released in 2016. Jean attends game conventions, works as a mentor for graduate-level writing students, and tosses tennis balls for her dogs in her spare time. She makes sure she has spare time for three or four toss sessions a day. You can find her website at www.jeanrabe.com.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
Holy by Abbie Krupnick
Horror /contemporary dark fantasy
Date Published: April 15, 2017
Publisher: Darkwater Syndicate, Inc.
Gus Stevens has the worst of both worlds. By night, he resides in the Dream World, a place steeped in magic and exotic dangers. By day, a giant snow-lizard stalks him in the Real World, looking to make Gus its next meal. In order to regain control of his life, young Gus must undergo a psychoanalytic exorcism. But this comes with a high price—he must break away from everything he has ever thought was real. Author Abbie Krupnick blends the magical and the mundane in this avant-garde dark fantasy where nothing is as it seems.
About the Author
Abbie Krupnick lives in Summit, New Jersey. When she’s not writing, she trains Brazilian jiu-jitsu and makes explosive quantities of visual art.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
Friday, September 15, 2017
A Shape on the Air by Julia Ibbotson Book Blast
Title:
A SHAPE ON THE AIR
Author: Julia H. Ibbotson
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Pages: 267
Genre: Medieval Timeslip Romance
Unlocking
a love that lasts for lifetimes … and beyond …
a love that lasts for lifetimes … and beyond …
Dr
Viv Dulac, a lecturer in medieval studies, is devastated when her partner walks
out (and with her best friend too) and it seems that she is about to lose
everything. Drunk and desperate, her world quite literally turns upside down
when she finds herself in the body of the fifth century Lady Vivianne. Lady V
has her own traumas; she is struggling with the shifting values of the Dark
Ages and her forced betrothal to the brutish Sir Pelleas, who is implicated in
the death of her parents. Haunted by both Lady Vivianne and by Viv's own
parents' death and legacy, can Viv
unlock the mystery that surrounds and connects their two lives, 1500
years apart, and bring peace to them both? Can the strange key she finds hold
the truth? A haunting story of lives intertwining across the ages, of the
triumph of the human spirit and of dreams lost and found.
Viv Dulac, a lecturer in medieval studies, is devastated when her partner walks
out (and with her best friend too) and it seems that she is about to lose
everything. Drunk and desperate, her world quite literally turns upside down
when she finds herself in the body of the fifth century Lady Vivianne. Lady V
has her own traumas; she is struggling with the shifting values of the Dark
Ages and her forced betrothal to the brutish Sir Pelleas, who is implicated in
the death of her parents. Haunted by both Lady Vivianne and by Viv's own
parents' death and legacy, can Viv
unlock the mystery that surrounds and connects their two lives, 1500
years apart, and bring peace to them both? Can the strange key she finds hold
the truth? A haunting story of lives intertwining across the ages, of the
triumph of the human spirit and of dreams lost and found.
ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon
Prologue
1500 years before
Lady Nymue, her
mother, is rising from the mere like a spirit: tall, slow like a dream,
over-gown falling in slim folds from her waist. Vivianne sees her in a haze of
mist, like magic, an illusion. She feels it, that enchantment, and it is
enfolding her, but making her shiver, too. Her life-giver, robes dry despite
the water, is coming towards her as she stands anxiously on the bank, waiting
impatiently, calling out urgently, hopping from one foot to the other, tangling
her feet in her earth-sweeping kirtle, longing to rejoin her playmates who are
chasing around the village pretending to be Roman soldiers. Her mother,
reaching out a hand to her, is shaking her head, but laughing. Be more patient,
my little Lady Vivianne, she says, I have not completed my rituals, but let me
wrap you in my cloak, for I must return to the mere. But she is only a little
girl and something is making her feel cold, frightened. No, she calls, sticking
out her lower lip, I want to play! I want to be Honorius this time! They
promised! Eleanor will play my wife - or maybe my lady servant.
mother, is rising from the mere like a spirit: tall, slow like a dream,
over-gown falling in slim folds from her waist. Vivianne sees her in a haze of
mist, like magic, an illusion. She feels it, that enchantment, and it is
enfolding her, but making her shiver, too. Her life-giver, robes dry despite
the water, is coming towards her as she stands anxiously on the bank, waiting
impatiently, calling out urgently, hopping from one foot to the other, tangling
her feet in her earth-sweeping kirtle, longing to rejoin her playmates who are
chasing around the village pretending to be Roman soldiers. Her mother,
reaching out a hand to her, is shaking her head, but laughing. Be more patient,
my little Lady Vivianne, she says, I have not completed my rituals, but let me
wrap you in my cloak, for I must return to the mere. But she is only a little
girl and something is making her feel cold, frightened. No, she calls, sticking
out her lower lip, I want to play! I want to be Honorius this time! They
promised! Eleanor will play my wife - or maybe my lady servant.
Her mother is
ruffling her soft curls. Well, then, she smiles, I will return later to finish.
She is lifted onto her mother’s horse, in front, held close. Dry, warm,
comforting. Riding back to the village. Her care-giver is taking her back to
play with her friends again. Her mother turns to the special hall which her
father, Sir Tristram, called “sacred” and where she is only allowed to go
sometimes.
ruffling her soft curls. Well, then, she smiles, I will return later to finish.
She is lifted onto her mother’s horse, in front, held close. Dry, warm,
comforting. Riding back to the village. Her care-giver is taking her back to
play with her friends again. Her mother turns to the special hall which her
father, Sir Tristram, called “sacred” and where she is only allowed to go
sometimes.
And then, fire,
flames, the acrid smell of smoke. Looking across to the great hall, terror
strangling her heart, stealing her breath. Running towards the wooden building,
through the ash and cinders and the roaring, screaming now, choking. Someone
holding her back, pulling her.
flames, the acrid smell of smoke. Looking across to the great hall, terror
strangling her heart, stealing her breath. Running towards the wooden building,
through the ash and cinders and the roaring, screaming now, choking. Someone
holding her back, pulling her.
Darkness.
Waking up in her
little bed. A big red-faced man in the shadows, haloed with a fair unruly beard
and thick wild hair, telling her that her parents were dead, burned in the
fire. Her mother and her father, both of them. An accident with tallows. She
knows those tallows; they are always on the altar in the sacred hall. They are
only spoken of in whispers. But this man is speaking in a strange way, loud,
too loud, and it seems to her, sneering, as she peers at him through the
darkness.
little bed. A big red-faced man in the shadows, haloed with a fair unruly beard
and thick wild hair, telling her that her parents were dead, burned in the
fire. Her mother and her father, both of them. An accident with tallows. She
knows those tallows; they are always on the altar in the sacred hall. They are
only spoken of in whispers. But this man is speaking in a strange way, loud,
too loud, and it seems to her, sneering, as she peers at him through the
darkness.
Julia Ibbotson is giving away a PDF
copy of ‘Drumbeats’!
Terms & Conditions:
- By entering
the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old. - One winner
will be chosen via Rafflecopter - This
giveaway ends midnight September
29. - Winner will
be contacted via email on September 30. - Winner has
48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!
ENTER TO WIN!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Award-winning author Julia Ibbotson is obsessed with the medieval world and concepts of
time travel. She read English at Keele
University, England
(after a turbulent but exciting gap year in Ghana)
specialising in medieval studies, and has a PhD in linguistics. She wrote her
first novel at 10 years of age, but became a teacher, lecturer and researcher,
and a single mum. Julia has published
four books, including a children’s book S.C.A.R.S (a fantasy medieval time
slip), a memoir, and the first two novels of her Drumbeats trilogy (which
begins in Ghana). Apart from insatiable reading, she loves
travelling the world, singing in choirs, swimming, yoga, and walking in the
English countryside.
time travel. She read English at Keele
University, England
(after a turbulent but exciting gap year in Ghana)
specialising in medieval studies, and has a PhD in linguistics. She wrote her
first novel at 10 years of age, but became a teacher, lecturer and researcher,
and a single mum. Julia has published
four books, including a children’s book S.C.A.R.S (a fantasy medieval time
slip), a memoir, and the first two novels of her Drumbeats trilogy (which
begins in Ghana). Apart from insatiable reading, she loves
travelling the world, singing in choirs, swimming, yoga, and walking in the
English countryside.
Her recent release is A
Shape on the Air.
Shape on the Air.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
Book Blast Kit The Soldier's Return by Laura Libricz
The Soldier's Return by Laura Libricz
Publication Date: September 15, 2017
eBook & Paperback
Series: Heaven's Pond Trilogy, Book Two
Genre: Historical Fiction
The year is 1626. A senseless war rips through parts of Germany. Ongoing animosity between the Catholics and the Protestants has turned into an excuse to destroy much of the landscape situated between France, Italy and Denmark. But religion only plays a minor role in this lucrative business of war.
The young dutchman, Pieter van Diemen, returns to Amsterdam in chains after a period of imprisonment in the Spice Islands. He manages to escape but must leave Amsterdam in a hurry. Soldiers are in demand in Germany and he decides to travel with a regiment until he can desert. His hope of survival is to reach Sichardtshof, the farm in Franconia, Germany; the farm he left ten years ago. His desire to seek refuge with them lies in his fond memories of the maid Katarina and her master, the humanist patrician Herr Tucher. But ten years is a long time and the farm has changed. Franconia is not only torn by war but falling victim to a church-driven witch hunt. The Jesuit priest, Ralf, has his sights set on Sichardtshof as well. Ralf believes that ridding the area of evil will be his saving grace. Can Pieter, Katarina and Herr Tucher unite to fight against a senseless war out of control?
The Soldier’s Return is the second book in the Heaven’s Pond Trilogy and will be released on September 15, 2017.
Available on Amazon
About the Author
She earned a BA in German at The College of New Paltz, NY in 1991 and moved to Germany, where she resides today. When she isn’t writing she can be found sifting through city archives, picking through castle ruins or aiding the steady flood of musical instruments into the world market.
Her first novel, The Master and the Maid, is the first book of the Heaven's Pond Trilogy. The Soldier’s Return and Ash and Rubble are the second and third books in the series.
For more information, please visit Laura Libricz's website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.
Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, September 4A Book Geek
Mello & June, It's a Book Thang!
Tuesday, September 5
100 Pages a Day
The Reading Queen
Wednesday, September 6
Must Read Faster
Just One More Chapter
Thursday, September 7
The Writing Desk
The Maiden's Court
To Read, Or Not to Read
Friday, September 8
Book Nerd
CelticLady's Reviews
Saturday, September 9
Passages to the Past
Books, Dreams, Life
Sunday, September 10
I Heart Reading
Monday, September 11
A Literary Vacation
Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots
Tuesday, September 12
Jo's Book Blog
WS Momma Readers Nook
Wednesday, September 13
Laura's Interests
Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Thursday, September 14
A Holland Reads
Svetlana's Reads and Views
Friday, September 15
T's Stuff
Pursuing Stacie
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Review Tour: Cushion by Tamela Miles
Cushion
by Tamela Miles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Paranormal Romance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Natalie Kliebert finally has the perfect life she spent years dreaming of. She's on the fast track to her fantasy come true career as a therapist. If she can help pop star, Billy Chambers, it will be her greatest achievement and even better than earning an "A" grade. The last thing Billy Chambers wants is anyone's help, especially when he doesn't see a single thing wrong with his life. When bossy Natalie becomes his court appointed personal therapist, sparks fly from day one. Annoyance was never so arousing. It should be as easy as them hooking up but, in spite of the fun the're having, there's an undercurrent of evil coming for Natalie, which may force her to reveal her darkest secret. The demons of their pasts are no match for real ones. Natalie and Billy must come together and be the allies they were meant to be in a supernatural fight that may cost them their lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt Two:
The flickering candles were hypnotic, and Natalie could feel herself drifting off. She struggled to keep her eyes open as her head bowed. She had opened her patio door earlier to let in the warm breeze, and the chimes on the hook outside clinked a little tune. As she moved gradually toward sleep, she heard faint screaming. Her eyelids were so heavy, and she surrendered to the darkness.
Natalie opened her eyes and looked around. She immediately recognized the dark wood table with a multitude of lit candles and realized that she was standing alone in the Hall of Lost Souls. She could hear soft murmurs and hushed whispers in the background, as she called out to anybody. No one answered, and the deafening silence was anything but peaceful. She nervously rubbed her arms. What was she doing back here?
A gust of wind blew flung the doors open and put out all the candles, except one. The murmurs began again as a shadow appeared in the doorway. She shivered in terror as it moved slowly down the aisle toward her. A pale, clawed hand extended from the sleeve of the black robe, tapping each pew. The figure stopped a few feet from her and raised its head, white orbs glowing malevolently in the darkness. Natalie’s heart thumped, and she screamed.
My Review:
Cushion is about Natalie Kliebert and Billy Chambers. Natalie has come back from the dead to have another chance at life after her life was cut short in a car accident. She is working hard at getting her degree as a therapist and the life she wanted in her past life and now in this life as well.
Her next client is Billy Chambers. Billy is a Pop Star, he was also Natalie's crush in her past life. He was very mean to her then since she was not the thin super model kind of girl. He had laughed at her and nicknamed her cushion. Billy is now in trouble with the courts for his drinking problems and has been appointed a court ordered therapist to help in his alcohol recovery.
Natalie keeps her past life from Billy until she has no choice. They are both in trouble from the demon Phenex. He takes the souls of the departed and leaves them broken and sad in the Shadowlands in Limbo. The demon is coming for Natalie and while he's at it he is going to take the living Billy too. They must fight together to not only save themselves but all the lost souls in the Shadowlands.
This was a pretty good story. It is a short read. There were a few things unrealistic in the first part of the book, after Natalie's death and before her return. Things like she went back to her house and packed a few things then drove her SUV. Ghosts don't need things nor do they drive. Other then that is was a good read. I love the hard style of Natalie. Even though she isn't really hard but had to let Billy think she is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Tamela Miles is a California State University San Bernardino School Psychologist graduate student with a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development and a former flight attendant. She grew up in Altadena, California in that tumultuous time known as the 1980s. She now resides with her family in the Inland Empire, CA. She's a horror/paranormal romance writer mainly because it feels so good having her characters do bad things and, later, pondering what makes them so bad and why they can never seem to change their wicked ways.
She enjoy emails from people who like her work. In fact, she loves emails. She can be contacted at tamelamiles@yahoo.com or her Facebook page, Tamela Miles Books. She also welcomes reader reviews and enjoys the feedback from people who love to read as much as she does.
"Cushion", a spooky and steamy paranormal romance novella, is coming late summer 2017 from Ms. Miles and The Wild Rose Press.
She is the author of the popular paranormal romance thrillers, the Hell On Heels series from the Wild Rose Press. For those who are already fans of the series (yippee!), please feel free to check out the author's soundtrack playlist for Hell On Heels on YouTube.com, listed as Hell On Heels: Songs from the Edge by Tamela Miles. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc8TSkx6d_Hu_IVh0lfqHWNcWRZ_yquRV
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/sassysleepingbeauties/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackiebrown20
Buy Links:
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073XYX1M6/ref=la_B006B4P09K_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500108384&sr=1-10
The Wild Rose Press: https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/5224-cushion.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Tamela Miles will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Unwrap Your Candy by Jesse Miller
Unwrap Your Candy
Jesse Miller
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Common Deer Press
Date of Publication: September 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-0995072985
Number of pages: 252
Cover Artist: Ellie Sipila of Move to the Write
Tagline: Imagine Woody Allen made a movie about Dilbert and James Joyce wrote the screenplay. That’s what you should expect from Jesse Miller’s Unwrap Your Candy.
Book Description:
Thom’s life has a soundtrack. Unseen glass phalluses—thousands of them—whirring softly along conveyer belts on the other side of the factory wall. The snap and splash of eggs against plaster. The scratch-fizz-tang of cigarette lighters being flipped again and again. A thousand throats swallowing a thousand swigs of beer; a thousand sets of lungs choking on a thousand French inhales. Hard fists sinking into soft flesh; soft chunks dropping onto hard sidewalks. Plop-flush-drain repeat. And moonsong, high above, forever calling and calling, “Stud, rub her with the Stud Rubber.” If only it were so simple.
Amazon.com Amazon.ca Barnes and Noble Common Deer Press
I am a writer and a teacher.
I tutor and mentor students working on a variety of writing projects.
I'm always looking for new ways to share my work and insights on teaching the craft of writing, and I welcome new teaching and workshop opportunities. Please feel free to contact me to read from Ark, or my forthcoming novel, UYC!
https://twitter.com/AHerdofDeer
Interview with Jesse Miller
Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
The inspiration originally for Unwrap Your Candy, the germ as it were, came from an article I read many years ago in one of those, (don’t pardon, embrace the pun) scumbag men’s Maxim-y magazines. I was sitting there in the waiting room at the dentist’s office and the cover had a little blurb: The Magical, Mystical Condom Factory Experience! I think the angle was this Willy Wonka-esque tour through the factory. I remember bringing the magazine into dentist’s chair with me trying to finish the article, because during the whole tour of the factory, the writer wasn’t allowed inside certain rooms—I’m sure this is standard procedure, but he made such a huge deal out of it, out of this barrier, out of this kind of off-scene place. And It got me thinking: What was beyond those walls? And then some lyrical part of my brain took over and wondered what that all meant—the barrier, the NO that existed in a space that made barriers. The unknown, the beyond, and not just the actual room in the factory kind of became the quest of the book. From there, I felt like I needed to explore that kind of off-limitsness in some way. It’s not transgressive exactly, but I suppose fittingly barrier-pushing.
How did you do research for your book?
Through some ventriloquism, I believe, from Michael Cunningham, there’s this line attributed to Virginia Woolf: something like “you can’t find peace by avoiding life.”* And so, research for this book came from a life lived. I was once a young, anxious man vibrating with the exotic narcotics of adrenaline and hormones, trying to figure out how to exist inside my own skin. When I first started the book, I was roughly about the age of our dear punchinello, Thomas Evans.
And at the time, as I experienced my life, there seemed to me a particular invisible script, an expectation about what it means to be a man and how things should go—essentially, the expectation to make so many things happen in your mid-twenties. To put one’s life in gear and drive, goddammit! At that age, the first real foretaste of mortality gathers in the head—tangled, of course—with equal parts incipient wisdom. Things start to become chromatic.
What I’ve come to realize, the peace I suppose I found at this place in my life, which is more than just about getting a bit more docile these days…the fucking punchline here, ultimately, is that all of that combustible hormonal battery acid is, of course, fear and really just embarrassment and shame. So often that young male angst thing masquerades as gasoline, driving flesh and bone machine forward as fast as possible. But we don’t see that then. I didn’t.
Do you have another profession besides writing?
Of course! Currently I am a Visiting Assistant Lecturer in English at the University of New England where I teach courses in writing and the humanities. And although nearly all-consuming during the semester, teaching is so vital to my creative life. The very things I ask my students to do—show up each day to attend the “abyss” on the blank screen, treat writing as a recursive process, be vulnerable enough to benefit from a discussion of your work by your peers— this is the same mode of being, the same philosophical approach I take in my own work. Practice what you preach, of course. Helping my students writing in any genre understand that all writers at all levels face some of the very same challenges is a great equalizer and confidence builder. As surely is the case for every writer-teacher, my practice as a writer informs my teaching, and ultimately imbues a kind of authenticity in the classroom.
If you could go back in time, where would you go?
No imagining needed here! It feels like my government has invented a time machine and decided that we all need to go back to the 1950s. But as long as we’re talking time travel, I’d go forward. Really, if there is a world to inhabit in 100 years, as Liz Lemon might say, I want to go to there. And I’d like to understand how they might view this time in American history, in the world history. And I’d like to know that the existential threat to our democracy wasn’t as strong as the will, the goodwill really, of my country and the world.
What is your next project?
Well, I’m so pleased that my fabulous publisher has purchased the rights to my first novel and will be re-releasing ARK. You can check out a little sample of the cover art and a blurb about the book here:
Beyond that, I’ve been writing an eschatological novel, a kind of mosaic for years and years now. And it’s just my luck that I’ll likely finish it just in time for the end of the world. I’m calling it the WAX novel at this point, like drip candles that accumulate on prior drippings, because it seems like with this project I keep returning to it, burning over for a while when I can really focus; and then I’m back teaching and that kind of singular focus I need evaporates mostly. The cycle for this project has been going on for a long time, writing in fits and bursts that fall into the book, back again, and then I’m gone again. The process of coming and going in and out of the book, that wax and wane, is having an impact on the style of the prose for sure.
* A note re: the air of bullshit above: I’m not one who can ever carry in my head, and drop into a conversation, any interesting or pithy quotes—many of my colleagues do this kind of thing all day, effortlessly, and it’s like being in the presence of some kind of holy golden wisdom machine. For me, quoting something is so terribly animatronic that I just end up sounding like an asshole. I must confess, I’ve been preparing syllabi and I was looking for a good quote from a writer I admired to use, so that’s where that came from. But let’s keep that between me and you.
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