Hope. Dreams. Life... Love

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Extension

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $20 Amazon Gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

After having been cryogenically suspended for eighteen years, Oliver Conroy is brought back to life and given a second opportunity to live out his dreams. Velcron Technologies assures Oliver there’s nothing wrong with the procedure. Excited to find his family and finish his senior year at Sierra Vista High, Oliver ventures out into the new and very different world.

Across town, Colby Patterson, Sierra Vista’s star student, has just experienced his soul torn from his body and returned to its original owner, Oliver, leaving him empty, void of emotion, a psychopath, who is now determined to get his soul back using any means necessary.

When Oliver comes to realize he’s being pursued by Colby he must decide what to do. Can he defend himself against this soulless psychopath? Will he be able to bring himself to murder? And, if so, what will happen to his soul?

It’s a battle for the ultimate prize – ownership of the soul.

Enjoy an excerpt:

Colby woke on the cold floor. Only one of his eyes worked. The other was sealed shut. He pulled himself to sitting, feeling every inch of his body bruised and sore. An ache radiated inside of him like his ribs were broken. Blood dripped from a cut on his lip. He smeared it away with the back of his hand, then looked down at his arms and saw burn marks seared across his flesh. The same red marks covered his legs. Colby struggled to his feet and looked around to orientate himself.

He wasn’t in the room he had been brought to when he first arrived to Velcron. This room was a laboratory—a dimly lit one. The floor was smooth and polished, with a metal table was in the middle of the room. Silver chutes lined one wall, a metal door on the other. He hobbled to the door and tried the handle not really thinking it would work, but determined to escape. He had to get out.

He remembered the last thing Dr. Wang had said. Take him to the vaporization room. Colby turned around again and saw a shower on the far end of the room—the vaporization shower. He had heard about it before. It was used in prisons to execute criminals. A prisoner would be forced into the chamber and ultrasonic lasers would shoot out of the showerhead, vaporizing the victim into oblivion. Now, they were going to try to execute him without any just cause. He hadn’t even had a trial. There was no jury, no witnesses called forth to testify, no judge to hear his version of the truth. All of it was a set-up, to annihilate him and keep him quiet, but why?

About the Author:

Young Adult author L.V. Pires lives near Baltimore, Maryland.

She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Master’s in Education and the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor's in English. She is currently working towards her MFA in Creative Writing at Spalding University.

Her work includes "The Portrait" (Gypsy Shadow Publishing), "Summer of Winged Creatures" (Saturday's Child Press) and EXTENSION (6/15/14, Crescent Moon Press).

Follow her at lisavpires.com.
Twitter at @lisavpires
www.facebook.com/lisavpires

Buy the book at Amazon.

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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Beyond the Book: Rest Thy Head Coming September 23

Rest Thy Head

Coming September 23

Scroll down to Sunday's post to read a short excerpt.

background image: By Rosa (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

Monday, September 1, 2014

A Woman of Honour

A Woman of Honour

by Marlow Kelly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Duncan Campbell wakes to discover he is imprisoned with a woman in his enemy's dungeon in the Highlands of Scotland. The disenchanted warrior hopes his last few moments on earth will be spent in the arms of the sweet-voiced Isabel. If only she will cooperate.

Isabel Douglas has no intention of obliging the crude captive. The penniless noblewoman considers herself too tall and thin to be desirable. She intends to become a nun. But first, disguised as a boy, she must deliver an important letter to Scotland's hero in hiding, King Robert the Bruce.

Together, the pair make a daring escape that plunges them into the bleak countryside in the middle of winter. In the struggle to survive, they learn the true strength of their feelings for each other. But when Duncan's animosity towards the king becomes evident, Isabel must decide between her heart and her country.

EXCERPT:

Duncan Campbell drifted into consciousness and opened his eyes to absolute blackness. He lay perfectly still on the cold, dirt floor listening. A small rustle of fabric echoed in the darkness. He cocked his head, getting a sense of the sound’s location, then rose to his feet.

“Tell me who you are before I tear you apart,” he roared, seizing his opponent. Whoever it was didn’t answer, just silence. A fist punched him on the nose. Pain ricocheted through him, and he grabbed his face. In the dark, he lost his balance and fell in the dirt, cradling his head in his hands.

“Oh my, are you all right?” asked a small voice.

“No, I’m not.”

“You threatened me, and I wanted to give you fair warning I will fight back if you touch me.”

The lyrical voice stunned him. A woman? She spoke Gaelic with a strong, lowland accent. He shook off the pain and asked, “Where am I?”

“Dunstaffnage Castle. Don’t you remember your capture? I’ve heard of people getting a bump on the head and not remembering their own name. Is that what happened to you? Did you bump your head?”

Lord, she was talkative.

“Is it?”

“I remember I was hit from behind scouting the bast….Are we in the dungeon?” He rose to his feet.

“Yes.”

He grunted. On the bright side he hadn’t gone blind. On the other hand they were in a dank, windowless cell with no hope of escape. There wasn’t even a sliver of light coming through the door.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

After being thrown out of England for refusing to drink tea, Marlow Kelly made her way to Canada where she found love, a home and a pug named Max. She also discovered her love of storytelling. Encouraged by her husband, children and let’s not forget Max, she started putting her ideas to paper. Her need to write about strong women in crisis drives her stories and her curiosity regarding the lives and loves of historical figures are the inspiration for her characters.

Links:

http://www.marlowkelly.com/

https://www.facebook.com/marlowkelly

http://twitter.com/want2write

The author ios giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate so use the following link to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You find her tour schedule at http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/07/virtual-blurb-blitz-tour-woman-of.html

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Silent Partner

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Stan will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Silent Partner is a paranormal mystery, a police procedure novel with a female detective that will remind you of Harry Bosch, a ghost story that suggests what lies beyond death, and a comic look at a tabloid where the “truth” is whatever sells.

Enjoy an excerpt:

“Duh. Of course I am, but I’m also the one who tripped you. Give me some credit for that. I think it’s like a hundred years of bad karma if you let the person you’re protecting get killed.”

“You’re protecting me? How come you didn’t keep me from being shot?”

“Give me a break. I told you that I’m new to this. The bullet only nicked your butt; so don’t make a federal case out of it. If I hadn’t tripped you, you’d be paralyzed. You should be grateful to me.”

Josh felt a cold shiver run up his spine.

“Then you’re dead?”

“We don’t refer to it that way. We like to say that we’ve moved to another plane.”

“How come I can see you?”

Andy smiled thinly.

“You Harrells have a gift. Everyone has a guardian angel, but only certain people can see us. It’s easier in a way for us if you can’t see us.”

“You’ll keep anything bad from happening to me?”

“There’s such a thing as free will, my dear. I can only help you so much.

If it’s your time, then it’s lights out. Now that you’re thirty, things are going to get a lot harder.”

“What do you mean?”

Josh had a sinking feeling in his stomach, and it wasn’t the alcohol.

“A lot of things are going to change for you now. As I said, you Harrells are gifted, although some of your relatives thought of it as a curse.”

“I don’t believe this. You mean my father really did see someone? He wasn’t crazy?”

“Of course he saw someone. I hope you don’t throw your full glass of whiskey at me the way he threw his at his guardian.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“You’re asking too many questions. Just take my word that everything’s relative, including time.”

“What do you want?”

About the Author:

Stan Schatt grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and now resides in Carlsbad, California. He has written thirty-five books on a wide variety of subjects ranging from fiction to technology. He is co-author of Journey to a Different Dimension, an Amazon bestseller. He also authored Egypt Rising, a YA novel focusing on a teen’s experience in Egypt at the time of the Egyptian revolution of 2011. This novel contains paranormal elements including a secret buried under the Sphinx. The paranormal mystery Silent Partner is Schatt’s latest novel.

He has led several careers including futurist and executive for many of the world’s leading technology market research firms, police department administrator, autopsy assistant, software trainer, Telecommunications Department Chairman, and English professor. He taught at Tokyo University as a Fulbright exchange professor. His non-fiction includes books on such diverse topics as strategies for changing careers for a green industry job, studies of Michael Connelly and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., network and data communications technology, telecommunications, computer programming.

http://www.pen-l.com/SilentPartner.html
http://www.stanschatt.com
http://www.twitter.com/stanschatt

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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Snippet Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors

Welcome to Snippet Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors, your chance to sample the work of some fabulous authors. My snippet today is from my upcoming, September 23 release Rest Thy Head. In this first excerpt from the book, my heroine Peyton pays a surprise visit to her fiance.

The living room was deserted, but she heard voices coming
from the kitchen. She tossed her purse onto the sofa and went in
search of her man. As she rounded the corner into the kitchen, she
froze. Megan Thomas, whom Drew used to date, was with him in
the kitchen, and the two of them were hugging each other so tightly
it was a wonder either of them could breathe.

Peyton gasped, and when Drew saw her he shoved Megan
away, causing her to fall against the stove. “Peyton, I can explain!”

Peyton could hardly speak around the rage that was almost choking her.
“What’s to explain, Drew?"

You can find more snippets at:
http://www.wewriwa.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SnippetSunday/

Saturday Sample

Today's excerpt comes from the novel I'm currently editing. I've titled it The Captain and the Cheerleader. In this excerpt, my hero's friend is criticizing my heroine for making a bet that she could make my hero Kurt ask her out. What do you think of it? This part is unedited so let me know if you see anything.

Jason sneered at Susan the way she imagined he’d look at a student he’d caught cheating in his class. “You’re a piece of work, you know that? What kind of woman sleeps with a guy on their first date?”

Susan grabbed for his arm as he strode toward the door. “Wait. You don’t understand…”

“Oh, I understand, all right." He jerked away as if her touch had soiled him. "Did you get more than you bargained for when you made the bet, or did you intend to get your hooks into him from the start?”

photo: By D. Sharon Pruitt (Flickr: Sad Summer Girl Portrait) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons