Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Blog Tour: Drops Of Rain by Kathryn Andrews






BLURB




Ali Rain

Sometimes I think to myself, “How did I get here?” Then the pain hits and I remember…it’s because she’s gone. I now live in a new town, go to a new school, and I’m supposed to be moving on with my new life. Only, I no longer know who I am anymore. Dancing is all I have left and every day I feel completely alone. Silence has become the theme song to my life. She said to find some joy and light, but I don’t know how. Mostly, I feel surrounded in darkness…that is until I meet him.



Drew Hale

I have only one goal, in 298 days I’m going to drive away from this small beach town and never return. People are always watching me closely, too close, and I’m tired of wearing a mask. I need to be free. Swimming is my ticket out of here and I remind myself daily to fly under the radar, stick to my routine, and under no circumstances let anything distract me. I’m not as perfect as they think, most days I am drowning in guilt. I’m not sure I will ever be able to escape the feelings of shame, worthlessness, and just being unwanted…that is until I meet her.



 Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1oCECys
 Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1mCr3Ks
 Amazon AU: http://bit.ly/1rhOMmj





































I was once asked to give a three minute presentation describing who I am and here’s what I came up with…

Over ten years ago my husband and I were driving from Chicago to Tampa and somewhere in Kentucky I remember seeing a billboard that was all black with five white words, “I do, therefore I am!” I’m certain that it was a Nike ad, but for me I found this to be completely profound.

Take running for example. Most will say that a runner is someone who runs five days a week and runs under a ten minute mile pace. Well, I can tell you that I never run five days a week and on my best days my pace is an eleven minute mile. I have run six half marathons and one full marathon. No matter what anyone says, I am a runner. I do, therefore I am.

I’ve taken this same thought and applied it to so many areas of my life: cooking, gardening, quilting, and yes…writing.

I may not be culinary trained, but I love to cook and my family and friends loves to eat my food. I cook, therefore I am a chef!

My thumb is not black. I love to grow herbs, tomatoes, roses, and lavender. I garden, therefore I am a gardener!








Monday, September 29, 2014

Blog Tour: Into The Arms Of Morpheus by Jessica Nicholls




Title: Into the Arms of Morpheus
Author: Jessica Nicholls
Publication Date: July 24, 2014
Genre: Dark Fantasy

BLURB

Sylvia has always harboured a solitary obsession with Morpheus, the Greek God of Dreams. She's brought it with her from her adolescence in a village of Northern England where she grew up, to the university in Manchester where she now studies.


Nyx is the Goddess of Night, and has spent the centuries stewing in an ancient, unrequited love. Not easily pleased, her attention is drawn to a voice chanting its devotion and desire for her, and she seeks the source of it.



She is not the only god playing in the realms of men, however. When the God of Death, and Morpheus himself become aware of Sylvia and this new devotee, the stage is set for the gods to secure their worship, or for a mortal to become one of them.



INTERVIEW


Q.  What inspired you to write this book? 
  1.  I love the phrase, ‘falling into the arms of Morpheus’.  It’s more exciting than saying ‘I’m going to bed.’  I was disappointed when I searched Morpheus and didn’t find more stories involving him.  Another source of inspiration was the genre of paranormal romance, and the concept of obsessive love.  I really thought he would lend himself nicely to that.  So, I had a go and this is what happened.  It’s not a romance (not really, in my opinion…despite the themes) but I like how it turned out.  
Q.  Can you give us an interesting fact about the book that isn’t in the blurb?
  1.  Yes.  Nyx fancied Poseidon.  
Q.  Tell us about the cover and how it came to be.  
  1.  The lovely Mia Darien helped me out with that one.  To me, the ‘lone woman’ could be Sylvia standing on a cliff looking out at the sea at dusk in awe of Nyx, wondering about her, but also longing for Morpheus.  Mia found the pic, designed the font and coloring.  She’s been involved in the beta reading and editing for this story from the beginning so I was very willing to use her services as a cover designer and editor. 
Q.  Did you self-publish or traditionally publish and why? 
  1.  I self-published. I realize that there is a lot of substandard stuff out due to self-publishing.  However, I also think there is a lot of cool stuff available now that wouldn’t otherwise get a chance if it wasn’t for indie publishing.  I really wanted to do my own thing and focus on the writing, instead of feeling the pressure of pleasing an agent or publishing house.  I do realize there is a reason things get traditionally published and why publishing houses/agents are the way they are but I wanted to attempt independence first.  
Q.  How long have you been writing? 
  1.  I have been writing on and off since I was in grade school.  I just got the urge one day.  When I was writing then I tended towards essays and poetry.  I only got serious with stories as an adult.  
Q.  What tips can you give on how to get through writer’s block? 
  1.  Everyone is different.  For me, if nothing is happening that means it’s time to get some sleep, do some serious reading, do something else for a while.  But not too long, if I come away too long I’m too far removed.  The important thing to remember is that there is a reason this idea came to you.  Don’t give up. Sometimes though, you do just need a little break.  
Q.  Who is your favorite author?  
  1.  That’s very difficult.  I really do love Willa Cather though.  
Q.  What is your favorite book? 
  1.  Of Willa Cather’s?  O Pioneers.  Really, it just depends what I’m in the mood for.  
Q.  Read anything good lately?  
  1.  Yes.  The Wolf’s Hour by Robert McCammon. 
Q.  What do you like to do when you’re not writing? 
  1.  I love my kindle.  Love it.  I also enjoy running (whilst listening to music) or working out in some way shape or form.  I have two kids so they tend to take up a great deal of my ‘non-writing time’.  
Q.  Have you had anything else published?  
  1.  Yes. I’ve had three short stories published in three different charity collections.  One is a story entitled ‘In Our Nature’ in a paranormal romance collection entitled Here Kitty Kitty - all proceeds go to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Indiana.  Basically they care for wild cats who have been abused, kept illegally as pets, etc.   The second story is entitled ‘A Healing Touch’ in the contemporary romance collection Reaching Out.  All of the stories feature military or charity workers as all sales of this ebook collection go to the American Red Cross.  The third story is entitled ‘With Our Own Blood’ in the fantasy/sci-fi collection Bellator (this is Latin for warrior). All the stories feature warriors of some description and all sales go to the Wounded Warrior Project.  It was an honor to contribute a story to all three of these collections.  
Q.  What’s your next project?  
        
         A.  I don’t want to go into too much detail as I’m rewriting a manuscript I completed for NaNoWriMo some time ago.  There are elements of political satire and dystopia in it at the moment which sounds odd to me as those are genres I tend to avoid reading (I don’t like reading about the future being all doom and gloom, and I freaking hate politics).  When it comes to my reading, I like intense atmosphere, kissing and fighting.  I like to think I’m beginning to manage at least some of those with this one to make it an enjoyable story.   BUT it’s still a mess and needs a lot of work before it will be novel length and ready for some beta readers.  I’ll get there though over the next few months.  It’s digging at me. 





Jessica Nicholls is originally from Northern Illinois.  She lived in Manchester, England for just over ten years where she studied and had her children.  She now lives in the Middle East with her husband and two children.

                                         Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads


One winner. Open Internationally. Ends 10/10. Void where prohibited.







Sunday, September 28, 2014

Feature: Michael Peck author of The Commons


Blurb

"Paul Reid died in the snow at seventeen. The day of his death, he told a lie—and for the rest of his life, he wondered if that was what killed him."

And so begins the battle for the afterlife, known as The Commons. It's been taken over by a corporate raider who uses the energy of its souls to maintain his brutal control. The result is an imaginary landscape of a broken America—stuck in time and overrun by the heroes, monsters, dreams, and nightmares of the imprisoned dead.

Three people board a bus to nowhere: a New York street kid, an Iraq War veteran, and her five-year-old special-needs son. After a horrific accident, they are the last, best hope for The Commons to free itself. Along for the ride are a shotgun-toting goth girl, a six-foot-six mummy, a mute Shaolin monk with anger-management issues, and the only guide left to lead them.
Three Journeys: separate but joined. One mission: to save forever.

But first they have to save themselves.


Excerpt

"How fast are you going?" June Medill asked the bus driver, leaning sideways to check the speedometer.
                                                           
"Fast enough to get there, slow enough to get there alive," he said.
                                                           
June Medill had asked the driver about his speed many times in the hours since the bus commenced braving the storm. Paul figured the driver would ignore her at some point—or tell her to shut up. But June Medill was tough to tune out, and she didn't seem the type to listen to others anyway.
                                                           
Paul, Annie, Zach, and everyone else knew June Medill's name because when she'd boarded, she told the man sitting behind the driver that he was in the seat reserved for Medill, June. She'd told him loudly, and she'd upped the volume when the driver said that the bus line didn't issue assigned seats. She'd been just as audible when pulling out her cell phone and threatening to call Port Authority and New Jersey Transit to complain.
                                                           
The driver had pointed out that they were not on a New Jersey Transit bus, but the man in the seat got up and moved in order to keep the peace. That freed June Medill to hector the driver as he guided the motor coach through curtains of snow at a safe crawl, though not a crawl safe enough for June Medill.
                                               
Near the middle of the bus, Paul watched the storm stream across his window. Passing headlights illuminated veins of ice on the glass, lighting up a tag someone had scratched into it: "IMUURS."
                                                           
Another tagger had claimed the back of the seat in front of Annie, across the aisle, in silver-paint marker. Paul tried to read it, but couldn't make out the words as the headlights washed across them. Maybe it was the bad angle. Maybe it was June Medill.
                                                           
Annie had given up trying to read to Zach over June Medill's interrogation about a half-hour in. Instead, she leaned close and murmured to him while he stared at the graffiti on the seat back as if he were able to read it.
                                                           
"Normally, I wouldn't make such a big deal," June Medill said. Paul was certain that wasn't so. "But it's coming down so hard. Don't you think it's hard?"
                                                           

"Everything's hard with you yammering," the driver said, angling forward to peer through the powdered arcs cleared by his wipers. 



 INTERVIEW


What inspired you to write this book?
The short, somber answer would be that I’m angry at the fact that everyone has to die and all good things must go away, so I decided to make up my own version of what might happen afterwards—where they might not. But beyond that, I’m fascinated with creativity and storytelling and how those things intersect with what we see as reality.

People are often more moved and affected by art, music, and the imaginary than they are by events and people encountered in their “real” lives. (When I was a kid, I cried over the death of Pigmon the friendly monster on an episode of Ultraman. As an adult, I cried at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. But I can’t tell you my great grandparents’ names. Why is that?) Combine that with memory, the good and the not-so-good that we do while living, and how we’re thought of after we’re gone, and you have a rich landscape for examining stories, characters, and what adds meaning to our lives.

And of course, it doesn’t hurt to throw a philosophical mummy, an angry monk, and hippies with nuclear weapons into the mix.

Can you give us an interesting fact about your book that isn't in the blurb?
Several of the menacing settings in The Commons are based on real places from when I was growing up in suburban Philadelphia. Whitemarsh Hall (the abandoned mansion), The Bazaar, and Willow Grove Park (both the amusement park and the mall based on that park) were places I wandered through as a kid and teen. And while the real ruins of Whitemark Hall weren’t quite as deadly as those in the book, the real ones were rather frightening, too. As a dumb teenager, I nearly went over a ledge and impaled myself on an old fountain below while running around the grounds there.

How did you choose your title?
The Commons is the name of the place (and thus the series) because it’s a phenomenon and resource that’s used by all and applies to all. “Journeyman” is a word I shamelessly mutated for my own purposes. It’s someone who’s still in the process of learning something, which applies to the story. But then I took it more literally and applied it to someone taking an actual journey. It’s my own law of poetic license: it’s perfectly fine to use a word incorrectly as long as I freely admit it.

Tell us about the cover and how it came to be.
I wanted to come up with a visual brand for the Commons books that transcended the usual look of contemporary fantasy. I feel—and many readers agree—that the story has a place in other genres, and I didn’t want to pigeonhole it with its look. (Reviewers have called it magical realism, metaphysical fiction, and slipstream.) I also wanted something iconic, heavy in simple shapes that could be used elsewhere. So my designer, Dan Fernandez, created a set of imagery and icons to represent various characters and story elements, which I plan to reveal over time on my site (http://michaelalanpeck.com). But for the cover itself, we went with a feeling of worn-out roadmaps and photos, with the main symbol being a roundabout that has several arrows protruding from it. It’s an icon for a trip that go many different ways. Someone remarked how much the roundabout looked like a question mark, and we loved that—so we made it one.

Did you self-publish or publish traditionally and why?
I self-published this book. When I was living in Los Angeles and trying to break into TV writing and screenwriting, I had an agent and a manager. They were good people, but if they didn’t think they could sell an idea, it died with them and was never seen outside my hard drive. When I first started writing The Journeyman, I had a long list of agents I planned to submit it to, but by the time I finished, I’d learned about self-publishing and realized I had a much better option there.

I never even wrote a query letter.

What do you consider the most important part of a good story?
The desire to find out what happens next. If the reader doesn’t look forward to reading the next chapter, the story’s in trouble. Many elements go into creating that desire: showing the reader a truth from his or her own life, characters that resonate, and so forth. But if the person holding the book or e-reader doesn’t care about what comes next, they’ll never experience the rest of what the author’s created.

If someone tells me my story was on their mind in between bouts of reading or that it stuck with them after they’d finished? Even better.

How long have you been writing?
For more than 30 years, which is a frightening number to contemplate. I’ve been a trade journalist writing about real estate and home video, and I’ve written about TV and travel. I also used to review restaurants for a time. Amazingly, writing has always figured into how I’ve supported myself.

How did you get started writing?
One of my earliest works was a third-grade short story called “Superman vs. The Spider.” The spider in question was a near-total ripoff of a French-Canadian animated mouse character named Savoir-Faire, who was the nemesis of Klondike Kat. And I say “near-total” only because he was a spider, not a mouse, and because I didn’t know how to spell his name properly. (In my story, he was “Sabwob Fair.”) The entire thing was rife with copyright infringement, but I was very proud of it.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
A plotter. If I don’t have an outline, I’m damn-near paralyzed.

What kind of music do you like to listen to while you write?
I listen almost exclusively to ambient and drone. As I like to say, The Commons runs on Kyle Bobby Dunn, Stars of the Lid, Eluvium, Tim Hecker, Brian Eno, Hammock, Loscil, and William Basinski, among others.

Who is your favorite author?
There’s no way I could choose just one, but Larry McMurtry, Gabriel García Márquez, Joyce Carol Oates, Ken Kesey, Charles Dickens, Oscar Hijuelos, E.L. Doctorow, Kurt Vonnegut, William Gibson, and Ray Bradbury are on the list.

Who is your favorite character from a book?
Again, very tough to go with only one, but I’ll say Augustus McRae from Lonesome Dove.

What is your favorite book?
At the risk of being tedious, there’s no single answer here. A short (but by no means complete) list would include One Hundred Years of Solitude, A Tale of Two Cities, Lonesome Dove, Slaughterhouse-Five, Fahrenheit 451, and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic series, which is as good or better than a lot of fiction I’ve read.

What's your next project?
The next book in the Commons series, which will be called The Margins.



About The Author

I tell tales big and small. Life's magical, but it isn't always enough for a good story. So I make up the rest.

To me, it's not real until I've put it into story form, which means I repeat myself a lot. In fact, the phrase that passes my lips most often is, "I may have told you this before, but ..."

I've made my living writing about TV, its celebrities, and its past. (I used to pen a column called "Ask the Televisionary" for TV Guide.com.) I've also put food on the table reviewing restaurants, writing about travel, and doing SEO and content strategy.

Only the writing counts in the end.

I have a godawful memory, so I focus on the written word. I like to think that over time, I've gotten better at it--the writing, not the remembering. I forget important dates. I'm pretty good with movie lines. But after several years, I tend to tweak them. I prefer my versions over the real ones.

Funny goes a long way with me. Probably further than it should.

I grew up outside Philadelphia and have lived in New York, L.A., and San Francisco. My current home base is Chicago.

At holiday time, the missus and I terrorize the world via The Little Drummer Boy Challenge. Please join us.

        My author site: http://michaelalanpeck.com
        Twitter: https://twitter.com/michaelapeck


Friday, September 26, 2014

Blog Tour & Book Review: Raven by Stacey Rourke




Raven by Stacey Rourke

The Legends Saga #2

BLURB
An infamous love, destined nevermore,
For death could not claim, the enchanting Lenore.

Cursed by the malevolent spirit of the Headless Horseman, Ireland Crane ventures to Manhattan in search of a way to break her soul crushing bond. Instead, she discovers the lines between fact and fiction are blurring once more. Croaking ravens. Telltale hearts. Could the works of Poe be coming to pass with handsome Wall Street Midas Ridley Peolte as their unwilling target?

She walks the Earth, a plague on mankind,
searching for he, her rotted heart doth pine.

Together, the two unknowingly release a dark force death itself could not tame. Surrounded by the unrelenting violence and mayhem they’ve unleashed, Ireland feels her control over the Horseman slipping. Before the beast within consumes her, she and her crew must follow the clues of the dead to right a centuries’ old wrong. Will it be enough to sate the Horseman’s appetite?

Hell hath no fury like a ghoul scorned.
5 STARS
My Review
In this pulse pounding sequel to Crane, Ireland, Noah, and Rip have come to Manhattan seeking the origin of the sugar skull tattoo on Ireland's arm. A tattoo which binds her to the headless horseman. Along the way they meet Ridley, who at first glance is an ordinary businessman. But looks can be deceiving.
Raven is a brilliantly written novel full of twists and turns that will catch hold of your imagination and refuse to let go. The story bounces from the modern day to the time of Edgar Allan Poe, a man cursed with the unenviable ability to speak with the dead. Between the two, there is never a dull moment.
Ireland remains my favorite character. She's tough and snarky, even while fighting a losing battle with the darkness inside of her. Can she contain the Hessian, or will the lines between her and the demon become so blurred that she loses herself instead?
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/RavenBN
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/RavenSW

CHECK OUT THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES


BLURB
The Horseman is unending, his presence shan’t lessen.
If you break the curse,
you become the legend.

Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle had no choice but to cover up the deadly truth behind Ichabod Crane’s disappearance. Centuries later, a Crane returns to Sleepy Hollow awakening macabre secrets once believed to be buried deep.

What if the monster that spawned the legend lived within you?

Now, Ireland Crane, reeling from a break-up and seeking a fresh start, must rely on the newly awakened Rip Van Winkle to discover the key to channeling the darkness swirling within her. Bodies are piling high and Ireland is the only one that can save Sleepy Hollow by embracing her own damning curse.

But is anyone truly safe when the Horseman rides?



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

There is nothing worse than being put on the spot and asked to talk about yourself. For me it brings back that inevitable moment in a new school when the teacher would ask me to stand up, introduce myself and tell the class something about myself. I was always worried I would blurt out something stupid that I would get teased for. Something like, “My name’s Stacey and I like pickles!” Then for the rest of the school year I’d be known as the Pickle Girl and let’s be honest, no one wants that. So to avoid such a faux pas I will simply say that I love to write. It allows me to get my crazy out just enough that I can function as a normal member of society.