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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Poetic Freedom by Frank Preston Blitz

Poetry / African American / YA / NA

Date Published: (Planned) October, 30th, 2017

Publisher: Phenomenal One Press

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Poetic Freedom.

A raw, gritty, urban poetic expression with an exploration of choices we have to make at the crossroads of life. The thoughts are honest, harsh, but hopeful. A perception of the media that feeds us, the spirituality that we cling to, the expectations of the society we are a part of, and how a young man fights to decipher, decide and climb the path not easily traveled, but most strengthened.

~Excerpt from Poem THE TEST by Frank Preston

Pain and frustration the fuel for admiration

Admiring the world’s temptations till they become motivation

When the sensation of success is worn as a vest

They say he's blessed but that depends on the quest

About the Author

Frank 'ThatGuy' Preston, is an artist with a powerful voice. His journey as a comedian, author and motivator didn't come easily and has lead him to have give back to the community by coaching kids, co-creating new sports, and sharing his growth through comedic videos, in person performances, his art and writing. He challenges the minds of his readers to see life through a different scope. As a speaker he explains the difficulties of life as a minority in a world that doesn’t accept him, and how anyone who is mistreated for their differences can overcome them to grow to be great. Frank positions himself as many other artist, writers, and speakers of today, but stands apart in his ability to speak the truth with no bounds.

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Giveaway

Poetic Freedom Themed Prize Pack

(T-shirt * other swag – signed book)

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Demon Freaks by J.R.R.R. (Jim) Hardison

Demon
Freaks

J.R.R.R.
(Jim) Hardison

Publisher: Fiery Seas Publishing

Release Date: October 3, 2017

Genre: YA Horror/Comedy

Book Description:

It’s the night before the SAT
test. The forces of darkness are stirring.

Twin brothers, Bing and Ron
Slaughter, know they’ve got to cram like their lives depend on it because their
college plans sure do. If they don’t ace the test, they’ll be doomed to spend
the rest of their days flipping burgers at the McDonald’s their parents run.
That’s why they hatch a plan to meet up with the members of their punk band,
the Ephits, spend the night studying at a secluded cabin in the woods, and
maybe squeeze in a little jamming. What could go wrong with a brilliant plan
like that?

Ancient evil. That’s what.

As a cataclysmic lightning storm
rolls in, Bing, Ron and the rest of the Ephits find themselves tangled in a
sinister plot to summon a demon. Yes, demons are real. To survive the night,
the band must find a malevolent artifact, battle bloodthirsty monsters and
stand against the most dangerous and powerful foe humanity has ever faced…the
Golfer’s Association.

Fiery Seas Amazon BN iTunes Kobo

Teaser:

“Wait, wait, wait,” Ron
interrupted. “The Golfers Association? Don’t you mean insane cultists or Satan
worshipers or evil wizards or something?”

“Insane cultists, Satan
worshipers and evil wizards are like elderly nuns compared to the Golfers’
Association,” their prisoner responded. “You’d be much better off if it were
something that simple. These guys are demon freaks.”

“Demon freaks,” Bing repeated in
a whisper. “That sounds…bad.”

“Oh, it’s bad alright,” the
prisoner shuddered. “You have no idea.”

About
the Author:

Fish Wielder is J.R.R.R. (Jim)
Hardison's first novel novel (He wrote a graphic novel, The Helm, for Dark
Horse Comics). Jim has worked as a writer, screen writer, animator and film
director. He started his professional career by producing a low-budget
direct-to-video feature film, The Creature From Lake Michigan. Making a bad
movie can be a crash course in the essential elements of good character and
story, and The Creature From Lake Michigan was a tremendously bad movie.
Shifting his focus entirely to animation, Jim joined Will Vinton Studios where
he directed animated commercials for M&M’s and on the stop-motion TV series
Gary and Mike. While working at Vinton, he also co-wrote the television special
Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy with actor Paul Reiser.

Jim has appeared on NBC's The
Apprentice as an expert advisor on brand characters, developed characters and
wrote the pilot episode for the PBS children's television series SeeMore's
Playhouse and authored the previously mentioned graphic novel, The Helm, named
one of 2010's top ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens by YALSA, a branch of the
American Library Association. These days, Jim is the creative director and
co-owner of Character LLC, a company that does story-analysis for brands and
entertainment properties. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his lovely wife,
two amazing kids, one smart dog and one stupid dog.

http://www.jimhardison.com/

https://twitter.com/FishWielder

https://www.facebook.com/fishwielder

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2893010.Jim_Hardison

Guest Blog:
The Meanings of Monsters

Monsters are just awesome. Being a horror writer allows me to make sitting around thinking and theorizing about monsters part of my job, which is also awesome. I could see it being hard to justify spending days at a time researching and analyzing various types of supernatural beasts if you were say…a certified public accountant, a race car driver or a plumber, but when you’re an author, especially a horror author, no one bats an eyelash. Studying monsters is a totally acceptable use of time.

One of the things I’ve been thinking about lately is the symbolic meanings of different monster types. Now, I know monsters can mean anything they need to mean to drive a story, and sometimes they barely mean anything at all. I’ll also concede that there have been countless different symbolic uses of specific monster types—say vampires—in various books from good old Dracula in the Bram Stoker classic to those twinkly vampires in the Twilight stories. But, with that acknowledged, I suspect that different types of monsters have different inherent meanings that just flow out of what the monster is and what it does. Because time (and word count) are limited, let’s just look at three monster types that are currently popular.

Vampires come out at night, they hypnotize people with their hypnotic eyes, they suck blood—usually in an overtly sensual way—and they live forever without aging. Taking those traits into account and drawing on the vast supply of literature about them, it seems fairly clear that vampires represent the dark side of sexuality and hedonistic pleasure. Vampires subvert normal procreative sexuality, the kind designed to make babies. The making of babies is the natural way the human race achieves eternal life. Vampires replace that natural form of species immortality with a much more selfish, individual, sinister form—personal immortality. This is why vampires get used so often in romances, and why they often represent temptation, compulsion and loss of innocence. In terms of meaning, vampires inherently represent our fear of the power of sex.

Werewolves (and other kinds of were-creatures) are people who are transformed by the full moon into animals. In their were-state they are generally depicted as ferociously strong, savage and implacable predators who will often devour even those they love. Aware of their condition, they frequently resign themselves to being chained up during their periods of transformation. Given those traits, it seems logical to conclude that werewolves represent uncontrolled animal passion. These characters are almost always built around the dichotomy between a safe, civilized, human side and a dangerous, wild, feral side. Even when they are portrayed as good guys, this same tension is always at the forefront because it is a struggle that everyone experiences and can relate to. We try to be logical, thoughtful and cerebral, but we are frequently driven by more instinctive desires and needs. This is why werewolf stories are frequently tragedies. In terms of meaning, werewolves inherently represent our fear of our own animal instincts.

Zombies are dead bodies brought back to life. They are remorseless, tireless, unreasoning and relentless consumers of living people. They can often be outsmarted, outmaneuvered or outrun, but they come in endless swarms and surging crowds that can overwhelm and devour the unwary. They are most often slow moving and incapable of speech. The fact that they look like regular humans sometimes gives them an advantage over the unwary and occasionally allows them to destroy those sentimental fools who believe they can be reasoned with. Given these traits, zombies seem to represent others. What do I mean by others? Well, the term can include a range, from simple strangers, to large groups that subscribe to a philosophy different from our own, to foreigners and invaders, to people we thought we knew who it turns out we did not. For example, in Night of the Living Dead, the undead start off as simple strangers—people we don’t recognize, but come to stand in for a prejudiced society. In Dawn of the Dead, they have come to represent consumer culture. In Shaun of the Dead, they represent a mainstream society of people who have settled into meaningless jobs. In The Walking Dead, they seem to represent the have-nots—the starving masses competing for resources with the previously privileged few. And it The Santa Clarita Diet, zombies represent the unknown parts of those we think we know. In terms of meaning, zombies inherently represent our fear of THEM (in the classic us versus them sense).

What’s the point of examining the inherent meanings of monsters? Well, once you know the fear a monster represents, you can use that understanding to add depth to your interpretation of the terrors unfolding in your favorite horror fiction. Of, if you are a writer, you can either play to the inherent meaning or against it as you craft a horror story for your own purposes. And finally, and I think I already mentioned this, monsters are just awesome and it’s my job to think about them, which is also awesome.

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Sonata by Mari Rey Sale Blitz

SALE!!

Get SONATA at a discount with this
Kindle Countdown Deal!
Starts at $0.99 on 10/30/2017 @ 12pm EST.

When Miranda makes music with Leo, she plays like an angel. But Leo knows they’re playing with fire. There’ll be hell to pay – literally. A dark romance with a supernatural twist: The Omen for the Twilight generation.

What price would you pay for superlative talent?

Sparks fly when pianist Leo steps in to help Miranda audition for a violin scholarship to the prestigious Harkness Conservatory. He’s intense, patient, gorgeously French, and he plays the piano like a dream. The way they play the Kreutzer Sonata goes beyond anything she’s experienced.

But while 17-year old Miranda is impressing the panel, another candidate goes missing. From that moment, something ungodly seeps into her life. The question is – did the music draw in the forces of darkness? Or was it already there?

Oblivious to the ongoing search for the missing musician, Miranda and Leo travel to a medieval town in France, to perform in a prize-winners’ concert. Their attraction intensifies, even as Leo is revealed to have disturbing, even violent, family connections. Miranda is warned off…but it may already be too late.

Only a secretive, ancient sect can protect Miranda now. How can she accept their help when she can’t quite accept that she’s in danger?

About the Book

Sonata
by Mari Rey
Series
Sonata Series #1
Genre
Teen & YA
Urban Fantasy
Gothic Paranormal Romance
Publisher
Darkwater Books
Publication Date
September 27, 2017

Available Now On

The Sonata Series

Get Prelude, the Sonata prequel, FREE today! Click on the cover to get yours!
SALE!! Get SONATA at a discount with this Kindle Countdown Deal!
Starts at $0.99 on 10/30/2017 @ 12pm EST.

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About Mari Rey

Mari Rey is a fan of action adventure, dark romance and sci-fi and fantasy thrillers. When not writing screenplays or novels Mari spends way too much time watching TV and adores Once Upon A Time, Game of Thrones and Stargate Universe. If that was all she watched on TV, she’d probably have more time to write, but alas! It’s just the tip of the iceberg. Mari lives in England with a husband, two big kids and a very sweet little cat.

You can get in touch with Mari via her facebook page fb.me/marireyauthor.

Author Links

This promotion is brought to you by Pure Textuality PR.

cover reveal for A Monster Like Me by Pamela Sparkman

A Monster Like Me
Pamela Sparkman
(Heart of Darkness, #2)
Publication date: Spring 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

“I love the peculiar silence of shadows. They exist, but leave no mark.”
Zeph had been a child, thrust into a war that wasn’t his. When he was older, he discovered he had landed on the wrong side of everything.
He’d been fighting for sweet revenge, because of lies he’d believed—and those lies proved to be his ruin. Falling into despair, Zeph decides living is too painful. So, he writes his final act with poison and chooses to end his story.
But Fate has other plans for Zeph and when he finds himself in the hands of his enemies, he has to decide: Does he want to live? Or does he want to die?
Or maybe that choice is no longer his to make.
Ruled by shadows and armed with secrets he never intended to share, Zeph will be put through his toughest battle yet: the war within himself.
“He isn’t a lost cause. He’s just—lost.”
That’s what Arwyn believes. She sees the monster he has become, but what she also sees is someone worth fighting for. Armed with secrets of her own, she’s determined to help Zeph fight his demons, because there was more on the line than Zeph’s soul. So much more.
Revenge may be sweet. But redemption is sweeter. The question is, can Zeph find the boy he used to be, or will he always believe that no one could ever love—a monster like him.
“You are everything good. And I am everything children are afraid of.”

Add to Goodreads

—

Sequel to:

Author Bio:
Pamela Sparkman grew up in Alabama. She became an avid reader at a young age. The written word has always fascinated her and she wrote her first short story while still in elementary school. Inspiration for her stories always begins with a song. She believes music is the pulse of life and books are the heart of it.
When she isn’t writing, however, she’s spending time with her family and taking one day at a time.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

RELEASE DAY BLITZ FOR CONDUIT BY C.C. DOWLING

Gothic Romance

Date Published: 10/31/17

Centuries ago, his ancestor fell in love with a woman cursed by a jealous witch. No one believed him until it was too late. Eric Fontalvo was determined to prove one thing... that a family curse didn't cause his father's death.

The plan was working until the day he found her...again. Suddenly his life changes forever, and he is forced to question everything he believes.

Moving into an old plantation house was just what Tandie Harrison needed to recover from tragedy. So she writes a book, a story based on a man in her dreams. There's only one problem though... the characters from her novel keep showing up on her doorstep.

And then she finds a diary written hundreds of years ago.

As if that isn't strange enough, she meets him...the man from her dream, someone who reawakens her psychic power along with something else from long ago.

Can Eric and Tandie's love destroy the force keeping them apart? Or will darkness win again?

Hacienda Moon is a new classic tale of two lovers crossing time. A seductive tale of one woman's journey to confront the demons of her past and to find the courage to face her future. It is a mesmerizing novel that explores the deepest depths of human nature, and the characters will hold and haunt you long after you have read the final chapter.

About the Author

Author of the Bestelling Lost Immortals Saga, Pathseekers and Musical Interlude Series, KaSonndra Leigh is also a mother, blogazine owner, reader, gardener, home renovator, and a slayer of undead Egyptian mummies in Tomb Raider. She believes in karma, coffee, and seriously wish that the producers of Xena would bring her favorite show ever back.

Strange things about KaSonndra: Everything. She’s weird, odd, unusual, and generally tends to make people think she swooped down from another planet. Maybe she did. Who knows? She’s also a member of the #zombiesurvivalcrew on twitter. So if you need protection from the upcoming apocalypse, don’t hesitate to call on KayLeigh and crew!

KaSonndra was born in the race-car city of Charlotte, NC, and now live in the City of Alchemy and Medicine, NC, when she’s not hanging out in Bardonia (Lost Immortals Saga setting). Most of her characters are based on people that she has met throughout her travels and adventures. People tend to stop and start conversations with KaSonndra as if she has known them her entire life. Does this freak her out? Not really. Her mom says that one day she’ll get kidnapped by one of these folks. KaSonndra’s response? She told her mom that if it weren’t for these lovely people, then she wouldn’t be able to create such fabulously romantic stories.

A few other tidbits about KaSonndra… She has watched the movie Under the Tuscan Sun almost 200 times. This is her explanation regarding her obsession. She figures that if she keeps watching the film enough times, then suddenly the house that Diane Lane lives in will magically appear in her backyard. Yes! KaSonndra has a huge imagination!

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Monday, October 30, 2017

L'émouchet Dual Tips Art Animation Twin Marker Pens with Carrying Case, Set of 80 Colors

Really great set of pens. There are 80 dual tipped pens in the set. The set comes in a zippered canvas tote bag. Each pen cap shows the color, the color name, and a number. The wide tip end is 7 mm and the fine tip end is 1 mm. There is a wide array and variety of colors. This is great for just about any project you would want colorful markers for. The pens do tend to bleed through thinner papers like notebook paper, so you may want to put a piece of card stock or thin cardboard behind the page you are using, just in case.

I use colored markers in a lot of different craft projects, and I also love to color in adult coloring books. These pens are great on the adult coloring books that at one sided sheets since they do bleed through, I just took the back cover off of a wire bound notebook and trimmed the edge, then I put it behind the page I am working on. It works great for the larger areas.

This pen set would make a great Christmas gift for anyone on your list who like drawing, crafting, or is into art of any type.

Check these out on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074QQLNPL

# L'émouchet #Markers #DualTippedMarkers #Tomoson #HonestReview

I received this product for free or at a discounted price in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.