Holding Off For a Hero

Holding Off For a Hero

BLURB:

 

Beautiful, vivacious Emma Prescott has a love-'em-and-leave-'em reputation.  Fact is, Emma's holding off for a
hero.  When she moves to a cabin at wilderness Loon Lake and meets her one neighbor biology professor Frasier MacKenzie, he's still just another guy, even with his killer blue eyes and body that just won't quit...until he rescues her and her Pug from one danger after another.  Then he definitely falls into hero territory.  But the professor has no intention of filling the role of white knight in Emma's life.  All he wants is to be rid of her and her annoying little dog so he can get on with his research. In fact, he's ordered to get rid of them whether he wants to or not.  Looks like Emma may have to go on holding off for a hero...

 

 

Excerpt:

 

The unmistakable screech made his breath clog in his throat. His body froze in midstride. The

 Panther! Dear God! Emma! Pulling his gun, he plunged into the darkening bush.

 

“Emma!” he yelled.

 

“Frasier!”

 

Her cry sent him charging forward.  He rounded a small thicket to see her huddled

against the trunk of a pine, the Pug clutched in her  arms. Stalking toward her, bird-dog fashion, its belly dragging on the snow, was the Panther.

 

He raised the gun. His hand shuddered. No, please, God, not now! Taking aim, he fired.  The report rocked the silence of the forest. The big cat screamed as the bullet whizzed inches over   its head. Roaring, it whirled and vanished into the shadowy bush. The silence of the winter twilight returned. The hand holding the smoking gun dropped to his side, every ounce of strength drained.

 

 “Thank God you missed.” Emma recovered her speech. “It would have been awful to have killed him.”

 

 “Damn it, Emma…!”

 

 “Well, if he hadn’t run away from that warning shot, you would have got him with the next one,

 right?”

 

 “Right.” Her absolute confidence made him choke out the word.  Still clutching the Pug, she suddenly sank down on her haunches in the snow.

 

“Frasier, I was so scared,” she hiccupped.

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Gail MacMillan is a three-time Maxwell Award Winning writer and author of 26 published books.  A graduate of Queen's University, she lives in New Brunswick Canada with her husband and two dogs, Fancy a Little River Duck Dog and Bruiser the cover guy and hero of Holding Off For a Hero.

 

Gail's web site is www.gailmacmillan.ca    

 

She's also on:

 

Facebook:

 

Twitter:

 

 Holding Off for a Hero is available in both print and e-book from:

 

Amazon.com:  e-book -  http://www.amazon.com/Holding-Off-Hero-ebook/dp/B009SDED76/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355876388&sr=8-2&keywords=Holding+off+for+a+hero

 

Print - http://www.amazon.com/Holding-Off-Hero-Gail-MacMillan/dp/1612174396/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355876388&sr=8-1&keywords=Holding+off+for+a+hero

 

The Wild Rose Press:  

 

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=175_133&products_id=5004

 

 

Gail will award two $5 Amazon GCs and three digital copies of "Lady and the Beast" to randomly drawn commenters during the tour.  You can find her schedule at

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/12/virtual-super-book-blast-holding-off.html

Seven Point Eight

BLURB:

Seven Point Eight:

'The Truth Will Set You Free'

In the second installment of the Seven Point Eight series, the legacy of the OOBE project weighs heavily on the conscience of Dr Paul Eldridge. Tahra Mamoun needs to muster all her courage and venture back into the alternate dimensions of reality. Through a series of challenging, surreal and frightening experiences, she comes to comprehend the destructive power she can yield and must face her own demons in the process.

Paul continues his quest to understand the ancient knowledge of the cosmos, while dark forces seek to hijack his research to further a secret agenda. With their lives in jeopardy, Paul and Tahra confront their enemies against an international backdrop featuring the pyramids of Giza and the peaks of Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Sam and Ava endeavour to uncover their past, even though it may irrevocably change their lives.

In a tale of courage and tragedy, love and betrayal, their lives are interwoven around the demons of one man, Max Richardson, who'll stop at nothing to achieve his objectives.

Written in the style of a TV series, Seven Point Eight draws together quantum physics, psychic powers, alternate dimensions, time travel, past lives, ancient wisdom and conspiracy in a soap opera for the soul.

It’s the ideal read for lovers of sci-fi, contemporary fantasy, paranormal, metaphysics, ‘Lost’, ‘Fringe’, ‘Touch’, and Dan Brown books.

Excerpt:

“We’re looking for a human woman,” I said. “Have you seen her?”

He rose up on his back legs, revealing his full height of around seven feet.  Eventually, after he’d scrutinised us, he gave us an answer.

“She resides in the labyrinth.”

“The labyrinth?” I couldn’t recall seeing or hearing of one previously. “Where’s that?”

The jaguar man pointed and I followed his clawed finger, which aimed at the outcrop of rock. We focused our consciousnesses on that area and glided over to it in an instant. The outcrop reminded me of the pictures I’d seen of Ayers Rock in Australia, it had a peculiar vibration about it though. I saw a single opening in it, which was more of a large fissure and I glanced over to Tahra, my expression indicating she should follow.

“Let’s do it,” she agreed.

After we stepped inside, we found ourselves in a passageway the same shape as the fissure opening. The walls teemed with those shimmering, silvery ants we’d seen previously; for some strange reason, they ran in spirals. Pushing onwards, we crept down the long and winding passageway, descending slowly, aware of a point of illumination at the end of the tunnel.

Once we’d reached that point, the passageway opened out completely. We now found ourselves looking out over a massive cavern, which stretched out as far as the eye could see. The floor of it ascended and descended in an undulating pattern, with walls and tunnels that suggested someone had created a maze. However, the piece de resistance above us overshadowed this engineering. Looking up, my jaw must have dropped.

“Wow.”

Tahra followed my gaze and her face lit up with wonder. The ceiling was actually a gaping hole, suggesting the cavern might actually be a volcano, like the criminal mastermind’s lair in the recent James Bond movie, ‘You Only Live Twice’.

Through this hole I saw the whole universe, and by that, I don’t just mean a sky full of stars. Spiral arm galaxies, vast gaseous nebulae and three nearby moons existed side by side, filling my vision with cosmic wonder. I lost interest in the maze for a long moment, until Tahra nudged me. Someone had come to greet us.

“He’s a minotaur,” Tahra whispered.

He towered above us, tallness apparently common in this dimension. Come to think of it, our ibis headed friend didn’t lack height either. The minotaur’s hairy body was muscular like a rugby player, and his bull head gave the impression he wouldn’t tolerate any nonsense.

“Greetings, travellers.”

He spoke with such authority that I almost bowed, and I answered him respectfully.

“We seek our friend, a fellow traveller who became lost here.”

His deep voice resonated again throughout the cavern.

“You must successfully navigate the labyrinth to find your friend. When you achieve this, you will find the answers to your questions as a reward. Take care to navigate correctly, for some sections are perilous with obstacles that seek to deter you from your goal.”

He stepped aside, implying we move forward and then he disappeared back down into the labyrinth.

“I’d like to point out something I’ve learned on my travels,” Tahra said. “Our energy bodies don’t obey the laws of physics in other dimensions.”

“Hmmm. Wonder if that also means the labyrinth doesn’t either.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Marie Harbon has worked in both the retail and fitness industry. She has a degree in sport and fitness, and taught group exercise for several years, delivering aerobics and Pilates. For two years, she delivered BTEC sport courses and has also instructed dance and sport with children.

Marie is a member of Nottingham Writers Studio, Her future plans include not only completing the 'Seven Point Eight' series, but involve writing YA, children's and adult books, short stories, novellas and scripts.

Aside from writing, Marie is a self-confessed fabric geek and purveyor of beautiful, often ostentatious bags, bustiers and clothing. She lives in the town of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, which is in England.

Website - www.marieharbon.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/marie.harbon

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SevenPointEightChronicles

Twitter - @marieharbon

Do follow Marie's tour and comment often.  She's awarding a free copy of Seven Point Eight: The First Chronicle via Smashwords and a 12 ebook swag bag including sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal and YA titles to one randomly drawn commenter throughout the tour. 

She's giving away some wonderful swag which is pictured below.  You can find her schedule at  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/12/virtual-excerpt-tour-seven-point-eight.html

Beyond the Book: Quilting 101

Hello and welcome to Beyond the Book, Elaine's way of giving you glimpses into the lives of characters you've grown to love.  My name is Kara Cochrane, and I was Elaine's heroine in Her Kind of Man.  One thing my mother-in-law and I have in common is a love of quilts.  She's the one who taught me how to make them.  Here's a little quilting 101.

People have used quilts for many, many years.  They’ve been used for clothes, bedding, and even as armor.  .The oldest quilted clothing ever found covered a carved ivory figure of a pharaoh who lived during the Egyptian First Dynasty.  That would be somewhere around 3400 B.C. In 1924 archaeologists discovered a quilted floor covering in Mongolia that they estimate date from the first century B.C to the second century A.D.  Crusaders brought quilts to Europe during the Crusades.  Knights wore them under their armor for comfort and sometimes used them to protect their armor from the elements.

When colonists came to the new world they brought knowledge of quilting with them.  The oldest quilt in America dates from 1704.  It’s a pieced quilt known as the Saltonstall quilt.  We know exactly how old it is because during colonial days, people sometimes pieced newspaper to see how the quilt would do before they used their expensive fabric.  One quilter put the paper between the two outer layers, and when the outer cover wore away, a dated newspaper was underneath.

Quilts were of great significance in the New World.  Conditions were harsh without central heat, so quilts kept people warm.  They were also used as wall hangings in drafty homes.  Most of the quilts were utilitarian, not works of art.  They were mostly pieced quilts too.  Fabric was too precious to waste, so every scrap was saved and used for something else, including quilts.  Of course, as time went on and people grew more prosperous, they could purchase new fabric.  They could put their artistic tendencies to work too.  Quilts became works of art.

They satisfied an important social impulse as well.  Women loved getting together to quilt at quilting bees.

For a time, quilting lost popularity, but during recent years it has made a big resurgence.  Not only do many people make quilts at home, you can also buy them at many department and specialty stores.

There are three types of quilts.  Here’s an example of a pieced quilt.

 

 

This is an appliqué quilt.  In this quilt small appliqués are stitched to the top which is of one piece.

 

 

Whole piece cloth quilts are sometimes called counterpanes.  They are made of two whole pieces of fabric.  You quilt designs into the fabric.

 

So far I've only done a pieced quilt, but my next project is a whole cloth quilt like the one in the picture above.

Did you see the video Elaine did for Her Kind of Man?  Scroll down to watch it.  It'll tell you where to buy my book.  :)

 

 Picture credits:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quilt_with_triangle_pattern.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Les_dorlotines.JPG

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawaiian_Applique_Quilt_detail.jpg



Six Sentence Sunday: She Belongs to His Friend

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday.  Today is the last official SSS, but I'll probably continue to post an excerpt anyway, so feel free to stop by anytime.  In this excerpt from my yet unpublished romantic comedy Fortuna, my hero agonizes over his attraction to his best friend's fiancee.

Cade flipped over in bed and jerked up the covers he had kicked off a few minutes ago. He was tired out and should be sleeping like a log, but he couldn’t fall asleep no matter how many sheep he counted. His lips burned and his chest constricted when he remembered how she felt in his arms.

He turned over yet again. Aimee Sherwood belonged to Rocky. His best friend.


picture:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blond_woman_with_sunglasses_in_B%26W_02.jpg

Sweet Saturday Sample: First Dates

Welcome to Sweet Saturday Sample.  In today's sample my heroine goes on her first date since her fiance dumped her for her sister.

Kara’s eyes fluttered open when he raised his head.

“That was nice,” she whispered, or maybe she only thought she said it. She didn’t know.

He bent his head again, but the lights from a passing car illuminated the SUV’s interior. Kara pulled away from him.

“Don’t, Ross. We shouldn’t be parked on the side of the road kissing each other.”

“Then where should we park?”

Kara blinked and tried to pull herself together. “What?”

“To kiss. Where should we park so I can kiss you?’

Kara smiled in spite of herself. “We don’t need to be kissing at all. I don’t make a habit of kissing men on the first date.”

“You don’t know that,” Ross retorted. “It’s been a long time since you had a first date.”
 

If you have a moment, take a look at the video I made.  I'm kinda proud of it.