Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Spotlight: Everflame

The world is old and full of lies,
But also full of truth,
And here between the earth and sky the questions fall to you.

  Long ago, when the earth was young, four ancient beings created man to be the
bastion of the earth and its creatures, but when the Great Tyrant came and chased
the Ancients away, the world was transformed into a place of fear and isolation.
Over time, humans lost their connection with a world they had been created to
protect, they forgot the ways of their ancient creators, and accepted the Tyrant’s lies
as truths from the mouth of a god.

  Now, deep in the forests that surround Gray Mountain, two bears find a small
child that is abandoned and left for dead. The bears name him Evercloud, raise him
as a member of their kingdom, and teach the boy of the Ancients, all underneath the
light of the Everflame, the flame that burns atop Gray Mountain as a monument to
the integrity and spirit of the bears.

  As Evercloud grows, rumors reach the bear kingdom of the Ancients’ return,
and now the young man must leave his home to find them, and help save the world
  Will Evercloud lose himself in the darkness of the Great Tyrant’s lies, or will he
have the courage to judge his own heart, the strength to master the darkness, and
the faith to follow his purpose until it burns within his heart like the Everflame?




Author Twitter handle: @dylanleepeters

Monday, March 30, 2015

Open For Submissions: Red Moon Romance!

RED MOON ROMANCE
OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS
APRIL 1 – May 31, 2015

Alpena, MI (March 30, 2015) – Red Moon Romance (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief), the romance imprint of World Weaver Press, will be open to unsolicited queries for novels, novellas, serialized fiction, and single author collections from April 1 – May 31, 2015.

Red Moon Romance also currently has two anthologies open to submissions. Rought Edges, a cowboy romance anthology, is open to submissions through July 31, 2015. Covalent Bonds, a geeky romance anthology, is open to submissions through December 15, 2015.

For full submission guidelines and details, visit: http://www.redmoonromance.com/submit.

Red Moon believes in romance. We believe reading should be fun. We believe that at their core, romances are courtship stories, focused tightly on the emotions of the relationship. We don’t raise an eyebrow at any woman’s reading choices because we believe a woman deserves whatever fiction incites her passions. Whether a sweet fairy-tale ending or a scorching hot love affair, we believe in giving a woman what she wants. Hot romance, it's what we do.

World Weaver Press is a publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction, dedicated to producing quality works. We believe in great storytelling.

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Author Interview: Glenn Maynard

What inspired you to write about reincarnation? 
The idea for this book came after reading the book, “Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, by Ian Stevenson. This book was about the spontaneous recall of previous lives by children. I was so fascinated by these children in third world countries recalling lives of people who had died, and who had lived an unreachable distance from these kids. Researchers would then follow the kid’s claims and travel to talk to the surviving members of the deceased’s family. The claims of the children exactly portrayed the deceased, sometimes including the language the y spoke, and with information that nobody other than the deceased would know. “Desert Son” evolved from this book.
What is your favorite part about being an author? 
Holding that first book in my hands was up there high on my list. Everything could be seen online up to that point, but holding the physical book was huge. Book two was really nice too. The local author stories and booksigning blubs in the newspaper are very exciting as well. Getting all this accomplished with my parents still around to experience it takes the cake That reign of good forturne will not carry into book three. My father passed away in February, 2015 and my mother's alzheimers makes me barely recognizable to her. That's what makes books one and two so special to me.

What is your least favorite part of being an author? 
Marketing/Social Media are the most challenging for me. If money wasn’t an issue, I would definitely hire someone to take care of this aspect of being an author. It would be great to be able to concentrate on only writing. I really need to be introduced to Oprah.

If you could jump into the world of your favorite book, who would you be and what would you do? 
If I could jump into the world of my favorite book, my non-fiction memoire, "Strapped Into An American Dream," I would be myself and would be able to travel another year in an RV through the 48 contiguous states. What a rush that was!
Are you currently working on any other projects? 
I have written a sequel to “Desert Son” and I am currently editing. This time around I plan to search for a Literary Agent to assist with publication. The sequel is titled, Wayward Soul.
Tell us something about yourself that we wouldn't expect from reading your author bio?

I am a huge Boston Red Sox fan. I watch every game, and I thank the Lord for DVR so I can speed through the stinkers. It's the stinkers that free up more time for me to write.

About Desert Son
Carter Spence is a 26 year-old accountant out of Boston who has an out-of-body experience following a car accident that kills his parents. He views the chaos from above the scene of the accident, then passes through the tunnel and reunites with relatives who have long been dead. A woman he does not recognize approaches him and says, "Welcome, son." Her message to him is that he needs to be aware of his true identity and should follow signs that will lead him there. She mentions mountains, but Carter is jolted back into his physical body before she can finish. After burying his parents, Carter heads west and meets a free-spirit named Brenda, whom he is drawn to on many levels. She becomes his travelling companion and leads him to Boulder, Colorado, and to an old white house of an old man named Martin. Diaries, hypnosis, and past-life regression reveal a bizarre connection between these three. Carter discovers that the truth to his identity can only be found by pursuing the answer to whether he is the reincarnation of his biological father in what is shaping up to be a love affair rekindled beyond the grave.

Amazon


Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Writer's Conference in Dublin

Dublin's 1st Writers' Conference Will Broadcast to 405,754+ People!
Dublin, Ireland - Surprising, but 100% true. The BooksGoSocial writers' conference, June 26-28 in the literary heart of Dublin, is the only conference in Dublin, aimed at attracting writers as an audience. This writers' conference, with sessions on writing craft as well as the new world of self publishing and author marketing, is the first weekend conference in Dublin exclusively for writers.
The event features some of the best writing craft teachers in the world too, flying in from the US, the UK and France as well as experienced Irish lecturers. And the conference will be live streamed to over 405,754 people, real followers of the various online services of BooksGoSocial.com.
Highlights of the weekend event, which includes an awards dinner and three days of activities, are training sessions from these speakers:
Jessica Page Morrell, the author of Bullies, Bastards & Bitches, How to Write the Bad Guys in Fiction; The Writer’s I Ching: Wisdom for the Creative Life and Between the Lines: Master The Subtle Elements Of Fiction Writing. Her work appears in anthologies and The Writer and Writer’s Digest, US writing magazines. Morrell founded and coordinates three writing conferences. She has been creating columns about the writing life since 1998.
Margaret Murphy, who has published nine critically acclaimed psychological thrillers under her own name – in the UK and the USA, as well as in translation across Europe. She has been shortlisted for the First Blood critics’ award, and for the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger in the Library; in 2012 she was joint winner of the CWA Short Story Dagger. A former Chair of the CWA, she has two novels published as A.D. Garrett. At Liverpool JMU she teaches undergraduate and MA creative writing courses. Since 2008 she has held several posts at universities as a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow, latterly at the University of Chester where she is currently based.
Debbie Young had a long career as a journalist and PR professional. Her non-fiction books include the Alliance of Independent Author’s (ALLi) guidebooks. ALLi is the leading support organisation for independent authors worldwide. She also helps drive ALLi’s campaigns, launching #PublishingOpenUp at the London Book Fair in 2014 and #Authors4Bookstores in 2015.
Catherine Ryan Howard is a writer. She started self-publishing in 2010 with the release of her bestselling travel memoir, Mousetrapped, and is known for the pragmatic self-publishing advice she shares on her blog, Catherine, Caffeinated. She’s delivered self-publishing seminars and workshops for the likes of Faber Academy, Guardian Master Classes and The Irish Writers’ Centre, and has written a “how to” on the subject, Self-Printed: The Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing, which No. 1 bestselling Amazon author Mel Sherratt calls her “bible”.
Laurence O’Bryan, founder of BooksGoSocial.com, teaches digital marketing at diploma level, has been training authors in digital marketing for 4 years and is also a published author. He spent ten years trying to break into the publishing industry and finally won a contract after starting a blog in 2009. Laurence’s has been published by Harper Collins in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and by ten other publishers in a cross section of European languages. Laurence’s Puzzle series of thrillers has been optioned by a Hollywood production company for a television series. He is also the author of Social Media is Dynamite For Writers, a 136 pg. guide for writers who want to understand how to use the new tools of our age.
This conference is ideal for both fiction and non fiction authors. It will be hosted at the Irish Writers Centre in the heart of Dublin, the main writers centre in Ireland. The conference is sponsored by BooksGoSocial.com, the leading global online author promotion service, based in Dublin.
For more on the BooksGoSocial conference see: http://thebookpromoter.com/conference/

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Love and Decay: Volume 7

Volume seven of Love and Decay is now available on Amazon!
Zombies- as if that wasn’t enough to ruin any girl’s dream of a happily ever after. 

Mexico hasn’t been the safe haven Reagan had hoped it would be. 

With new enemies waiting around every corner and a baby on the way, the group must fight harder than ever to stay alive and stay together. 

When circumstances beyond their control finally rip them apart, help comes from an unexpected place. The Zombie Apocalypse isn’t all bad news. If only they could out run the demons of their past and find a safe place to stay, a place that’s as far from the Colony and their new enemies as possible. 

Except the past is quickly catching up with them. When Reagan and friends are distracted by territory wars and Zombie hordes, the Colony invades Mexico, ready to hunt them to the ends of the earth.  

Can they continue to outrun Matthias Allen? Or will they be forced to face him and risk everything for freedom? 

Love and Decay, Volume Seven, is a compilation of Episodes Five through Eight of Season Three. It is a Dystopian Romance Novella Series about Zombies, the end of the world and finding someone to share it with. 

This story takes place over multiple episodes, with a release date every two weeks. Volume Eight of Love and Decay will release May 22nd, 2015

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Giveaway: Andrea and the 5-Day Challenge

High school junior Andrea Jamison, self-proclaimed change-o-phobic and, incidentally, a fabulous pianist in her own right has lost faith in herself and her abilities.  At the exact moment when her parents begin pressuring her about an opportunity that just might lead to Julliard, Andrea’s friend Amy meddles in her personal life trying to pair her up with the cute, transfer jock Luke Ryan. Will Andrea learn to accept her parents often repeated word FOCUS or will she finally start trusting in God’s strength instead of cowering in her own weaknesses?

Here’s a short Excerpt:
"Well, looky there.” Amy lifted her glasses and peered down the hall before returning her specs back to her nose. “Is it me or does Luke look like a mild- mannered reporter type?”

I glared at her.
 It was as though she’d read my mind.
”It’s you,” I snapped back. Seven thirty-eight in the morning was way too early for all my synapses to be able to process this information. I was being rude and didn’t even know why.
“He’s like your Romeo in cargo pants.”
“He’s not wearing cargo pants. And don’t compare him to Romeo. That story is way too depressing.”
“OK, then he’s Mr. Darcy come to sweep you away from your mundane existence.”
“Amy, seriously, it’s time to lay off the romantic fiction. Besides, didn’t you tell me that crushes were for immature adolescents?”
“Crushes maybe, but Luke might just be the one for you. You know, the One.” She did the quotes in the air thing to emphasize her statement.
“Are you missing your macaroons or something? I’m only sixteen.” I must have been missing mine because I hadn’t used that expression since sixth grade. I covered my face with my hands.
“Whatever, Andi. Here he comes. If you ask me, he’s trying to woo you. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She tapped my shoulder before she traipsed away.
I barely took notice of her absence because I had mere seconds before Luke Ryan arrived. He didn’t even give Stephanie a glimpse as he passed by her down the hall. His gaze remained focused on me. I swiveled my stance to face my locker and pulled out the daisies, forming a half-dozen bouquet in my hand. How did he know daises were my favorite? Had I mentioned it?
 More importantly, was Amy right?

Could Luke really be trying to woo me like some totally romantic gesture straight out of medieval, courtly love? I must have accidentally inhaled window cleaner or something because that just wasn’t possible. His note had only been meant as a thank you. Yes, that was it. He’d even said just that.
Sneaking a peek out of the corner of my eye, I could see he was almost upon me. My evil, impossible heart did a somersault in my chest. Oh, my gosh! Did I remember to put on deodorant this morning, because I was really starting to sweat. As if suffering from some horrifying form of hysteria, I stuffed my books into my locker as fast as I could. I had to get out of this hallway before he caught up to me.
“Hi.”
Too late.

Bio:
Cindy K. Green has worked as a middle school history and English teacher, a frozen yogurt server and a golf magazine employee. Today she's a multi-published, award-winning author, a mother, a wife, and a homeschooler too. This native Californian now resides in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and two cats named Chloe & Kassey.

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Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Spotlight: Millie Minds her Manners

Kathy Lane is the author of Millie Minds Her Manners, a children’s book for ages four through six. Kathy has written many stories, this is her debut picture book.  She loves writing simple yet memorable tales that will become childhood favorites.
Kathy has been a preschool teacher and has taught her children for more than twenty-five years. In her spare time, she reads picture books, takes long walks, writes poetry, does container gardening, and of course, writes more stories!
She lives in the Central Valley of California, farm country. She is inspired by the beautiful countryside, trips to the Pacific Ocean and spectacular Sierra Nevada Mountains. If you ever meet Kathy, she will tell you she loves her small hometown and is grateful to be there.


Published Books:
Millie Minds Her Manners (January 2015)
Coming Soon:
Cabin In The Woods


Buy Link
Amazon


Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Author Interview and Cover Reveal: Paradox


1. When did you first know you wanted to write?
I first started writing when I was an undergrad at the university. Several years ago, I worked up the courage to write fiction.

2. Which authors inspire you the most?
Whichever author I'm reading at the moment. What I mean is that if I like the work of an author I'm reading he or she inspires me to learn from his or her style or writing techniques. If I don't like the work, I'm inspired to figure out what I didn't like and why in order to avoid duplicating that technique or style.

3.How did you get the inspiration for your novel?
The idea just came to me. I think Amy, the main character in the series, wanted her story told and she picked me to do it.

4. What is your favorite part about being an author?
Knowing my books entertain readers. Oh, and I love receiving feedback from readers who tell me they like a particular character or a situation stayed with them or influenced them. One reader, for example, told me she cried at the end of one of the books. I could relate because it was a difficult scene for me to write and I cried when I wrote it. Knowing it touched my reader was an extraordinary reward for me.

5. What is your least favorite part about being an author?
Editing and more editing. I could read a manuscript a hundred times and think I've fixed all the typos and got it right only to make changes every time. Uh, and then I discover I'm making changes to the changes and it's, well, don't get me started.

6. Could you write a bit about what your publication process was like?
Did I mention editing? Once the manuscript is ready (or I'm ready to force myself to let it go) it's formatted with all the necessary additions like Author Notes, Acknowledgements, copyright notices and the cover. The cover is usually my favorite part of the publication process, aside from seeing the final product when it's listed for sale online. Deciding whether to publish digital books only or print books as well and whether to sell exclusively on Amazon are ongoing debates. Eventually, I want to make the series available to as wide an audience as possible. I've even thought of audio versions of the series for those who rather listen than read or like having both options.

7. Do you have any upcoming projects?
I've been working on a new Weeia series about superhumans with new characters and set in another city or cities.

8. Describe in three or fewer sentences what makes your book unique and why a reader should buy it.
That's tough! Amy is an amazingly brave character, full of life and enthusiasm, mature beyond her young age and uber powerful. She, Duncan, her love interest, her sister Kat, a modern day warrior, and the rest of the superhuman cast of superheroes are faced with unexpected challenges that will try them beyond anything they have experienced to date. It's all set in a beautiful city of sharp contrasts, real life Miami and the surrounding areas.

Unelmoija: Paradox on Amazon



Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Spotlight: The FunGkins

Blurb:

The FunGkins
Book I

   With the evil Leprechauns (The Shangaar) hot on their trail, who would ever guess that the fate of the littlest people would fall on the shoulders of a 10-year-old human girl named Clara Gooday? Her unwavering belief in the Littlest People may be the very thing that saves The FunGkins and all of Halladon from a fate worse than death.
   
But first, she will have to deal with the seven foot tall evil Mr. Mustashio; he is one hundred and fifty years old but doesn’t look a day over forty. Working for the evil Shangaar, he has moved into the funeral home next door, masquerading as an undertaker. But why have he and his sly talking dog Snodsty come to town?  
   Clara is sure Mr. Mustashio is evil and is out to capture The FunGkins. With her trusty magic telescope in hand; she can become invisible at will. Armed with her bag of tricks, it’s her plan to watch every move the tall skinny man and his talking dog make.

   Clara Gooday lives in Pirate’s Cove a small town on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Several strangers (fairies) have move to town. With their bird-like names and features, they are even stranger looking. Some are good while others are pure evil. They all came to Pirate’s Cove the day Clara was born. But for what reason have they come?  Who is Clara really?  What secret does she hold? What if she’s the key to the legend foretold?    

   Clara has many questions, but when she meets Jack One and Jack Two (FunGkins) she and her Aunt Tilly are shrunken down to size and whisked off to the magical world of Mushroom Valley. There all of her questions will be answered.

   Accompanied by her Aunt Tilly who’s a school teacher, Clara’s journey will take you on a roller coaster ride of adventure. One where there are so many twists and turns that there are just too many to mention here. So if it’s a thrilling adventure you have been looking for; buckle your seat belt and hold on tight for this is a ride you can enjoy all day and all through the night.  


Author’s Bio:
C. Raymond Gray 
He’s one of twenty children; for as long as he can remember Mr. Gray has had an interest in the wild and mysteries of the forest. As a boy, at times he’d play all day in the woods, while observing the ways of animals. He became amazed at how nature worked together. This fueled his vivid imagination as he grew. What he learned enables him to weave the most amazing tales. Over the years his stories have blossomed into many wondrous tales. He has been: an athlete, teacher, poet, inventor, storyteller, business-man, now an author. However, of these storytelling is his favorite. Often times he can be seen in classrooms or on stage, telling stories of folklore about history’s legends and the days of old. To date, his stories have been enjoyed by thousands of students, parents, and teachers alike. At their request, he has brought “The FunGkins” his first book to life. To contact Mr. Gray send email to crgray@azebrapress.com    


 Book Details

·       Paperback: 346 pages 28 Chapters
·       Publisher: AZebraPress.com (October 15, 2014)
·       Language: English
·       ISBN-10: 0615921574
·       ISBN-13: 978-0615921570
     Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
Preferred Links

Promo Post: Masque

Title: Masque
Author: W.R. Gingell
Genre: New Adult Fantasy (Fairytale Retelling)
                  Beauty met the Beast, and there was . . . bloody murder?
                  It’s the Annual Ambassadorial Ball in Glause, and Lady Isabella Farrah, the daughter of New Civet’s Ambassador, is feeling pleasantly scintillated. 
In the library is Lord Pecus, a charming gentleman whose double mask hides a beastly face, and who has decided that Isabella is the very person to break the Pecus curse. 
In the ball-room is young Lord Topher, who is rapidly falling in love with an older woman. 
And in the card-room, lying in a pool of his own blood, is the body of one of Isabella’s oldest friends: Raoul, Civet’s Head Guardsman.  The papers sewn into his sash seem to suggest espionage gone wrong, but Isabella is not so certain.
Lord Pecus, as Commander of the Watch, is of the opinion that Isabella should keep out of the investigation and out of danger.  Isabella is of the opinion that it is her murder to investigate, and that what a certain Beast-Lord doesn’t know won’t hurt him.  . . .   
Will Isabella find the murderer before Lord Pecus does, or will she end her investigation as a bloody spatter on the parlour floor?

Author Bio
W.R Gingell is a Tasmanian author who enjoys reading, bacon, and slouching in front of the fire to write. More titles in the Two Monarchies Sequence will be upcoming, and readers are encouraged to visit wrgingell.com or follow @WRGingell for the latest news and publication dates.
Other publications by W.R. Gingell include A Time-Traveller’s Best Friend: Volume One, and Ruth and the Ghost.

Links
Kobo
Amazon
Twitter: @WRGingell

Giveaway
Win a paperback copy of “Masque”.