Bernard Jan's Blog, page 3

Cruel Summer Discount!

Three days after the Cruel Summer Book Tour & Giveaway has ended, there is a new opportunity for everyone who didn’t get my book. Cruel Summer, a gripping story of an abused teenage skateboarder who only wants to follow his dreams in dystopian New York City, is available at a 67% discounted price for an entire week!

Thursday, July 1, 2021, 8:00 AM PDT through Thursday, July 8, 2021, 12:00 AM PDT

First read an excerpt:

His father was defeated; he was on his knees facing death. Yet, there was a brief flash of triumph in his eyes Michael glimpsed before running from the mess he made without touching anything.
How is that possible? Was he not afraid of him? Wasn’t he afraid of what Michael had done? Isn’t he afraid of what Michael might do?!
Either way, Michael isn’t thinking if going home until Hank thinks about everything. And when he gets home, things will be different. Everything will be different. Hank will no longer have a monopoly on him. Hank will no longer blackmail him or tell him what to do and what not to do. HE WILL NEVER TOUCH HIM AGAIN!

Then download your Cruel Summer eBook here. If you prefer a paperback, you can get it here.

“Bernard Jan’s Cruel Summer is an emotionally gripping story, full of love, friendship, loyalty, family drama, and skateboarding. Bernard did a wonderful job of creating a beautifully written and compelling story that is very descriptive so that the reader feels immersed in the story.”
—Rolanda Lyles for Readers’ Favorite

Don’t forget to check out and read my other books: January River, Look for Me Under the Rainbow and A World Without Color.

Happy reading and thank you!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Cover design by Dean Cole.


Bernard Jan

January River Summer Discount

It is here: a new opportunity to get January River, a literary fiction coming-of-age story, at a 67% discounted price. Your perfect summer read for only $0.99!

Friday, June 18, 2021, 8:00 AM PDT through Friday, June 25, 2021, 12:00 AM PDT

First read an excerpt:

In the still air, the river flowed quietly. Steadily. Innocently. Nothing about it had changed as if nothing happened. Effortlessly and seemingly without concern, the river continued to give life to all around it. But also taking it. . . .

Ethan watched the river and felt as though the river also observed him. Two silent witnesses, side by side again after so much time. Ethan had often wondered what this moment would be like. Would he find the river repelling, disgusting even, carried by the ravages of time and pressured by anxiety heavy as storm clouds? Or would it be seductive like it had been long ago when he was still a child?

Removing the rest of his clothes, he stood on the sand along the riverbank. The sunbeams warmed his naked body—a body weakened and slimmed by an avalanche of past events. He walked into the cold water up to his knees and shuddered. Almost icy. Or was he too hot after basking in the sun?

He barely hesitated before plunging in. He knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation. Love between the river and him could not dissipate that easily. As he swam, he wondered if this love would ever dissolve. Would another separation be even harder than the last?

Then download January River eBook here.

“January River is a wonderfully introverted novel that would be ideal for reading, I think, particularly on long hot summer days. I enjoyed spending time with the McCoy family and their friends and found myself left with a wistfully nostalgic view of their lives (despite their misfortunes) at the end. This novel isn't one for action fans, but readers who like character-driven recent history novels should give January River a try.”—Stephanie Jane, author of Finally a Vegan: My Journey to Veganuary and Beyond and reviewer for Literary Flits book blog

Don’t forget to check out and read my other books: Cruel Summer, Look for Me Under the Rainbow and A World Without Color.

Happy reading and thank you!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Subscribe to my mailing list.

Follow me on Twitter.


Bernard Jan

Cruel Summer: Silver Dagger Book Tour & Giveaway May through June 2021

I am thrilled and grateful to Maia for accepting my YA cross-genre novel Cruel Summer for the Silver Dagger book tour and giveaway! Cruel Summer starts the tour today, on May 28, and will tour until June 28 on 40 stops.

Please check and follow all the stops on the tour and share them with your friends and followers. Let's have some fun time together. Thanks, and let the tour begins!

Click here to continue reading,

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

From Skateboarding to Dystopia for Only $0.99!

“Mother, I know you can’t hear me, but I must talk to you.

“I need to talk to someone. Anyone. About things I would never say if you were alive. About things I didn’t want you to know because they would hurt you. This way I will say them, and you won’t hear them. This way it will be much easier for me to pour my heart out to you . . .”

My cross-genre YA novel Cruel Summer is for the first time in a Kindle discount promo week!

Sunday, May 9, 2021, 8:00 AM PDT through Sunday, May 16, 2021, 12:00 AM PDT

This gripping, unexpected, strong, and emotional story about an abused teenage boy who only wants to skate and the loyalty of friendship that stands as the shield between those who have other plans for him and his freedom will be only $0.99 for a whole week on Amazon or free with Kindle Unlimited.

Do you like books that cross genres and mix them in a surprising read you cannot put down? Cruel Summer has all that and more for you: family and social issues, extreme sports, conspiracy, murder, mystery, teen romance as a subplot, and sci-fi and dystopia as a touch of alternative history with a powerful message of friendship.

Sounds impossible? But it’s not!

“Crossing genres is always difficult, and thankfully, this one works well. It offers many angles for every type of reader. Even for those who aren’t fans of dystopia / sci-fi or who’ve never been on a skateboard in their lives . . . you’ll be pulled in for all the other reasons.”
—James J. Cudney, author of Watching Glass Shatter, Hiding Cracked Glass, Father Figure, Braxton Campus Mysteries series and Weathering Old Souls

Don’t wait any longer!

Please spread the word and download your eBook at a 67% discounted price. Thank you!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Follow me on Twitter.

Cover design by Dean Cole.


Bernard Jan

Author Q&A with Bernard Jan

Happy and honored to be featured on T. J. Blake’s blog! T. J. Blake is a psychological thriller, mystery & suspense author from Surrey. All his books: Familiar, DECEPTION: A Love of Lies, Endurance, Endurance: Apocalypse, The Author, and Alive, are available from Amazon.

In his introduction to our Author Q&A session, T. J. says:

“I’m delighted to welcome the Croatia-based ‘cross-genre’ author Bernard Jan to our Author Q&A session today.

“I can’t remember how me and Bernard Jan met, but we’ve been connected for many years now through our writing and he’s been a fantastic support to me and my novels. Equally I’ve always got an eye out for him and seeing what he’s up to.

“Introducing, Mr Jan!”

Please read here our Author Q&A session.

Thanks, T. J.!

You can follow T. J. Blake on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Follow me on Twitter.

Bernard Jan

Legally Blind Luck Review

Legally Blind Luck by James J. Cudney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


From book number one to book number seven, I just love this series! Braxton Campus Mysteries became like a parallel life to me, life I observe through the eyes of a curious and eager reader and a devoted fan.

What I love most about it? The mystery behind at least one murder James J. Cudney throws in front of our feet in each of his books? Check! Intrigue and complexity of relationships that lead to the unexpected discoveries which turn Kellan into a murder detector? Check! Realistic characters with intelligent dialogues spiced with drops of natural humor that make us burst into a spontaneous laughter and chuckle? Check! Or the impressive use of strong words which raises Cudney’s writing above the usual expectations from cozy mystery novels? Check!

A quest for hidden talisman with its deadly curses is in the focus of Legally Blind Luck and the events which lead to a horrific murder and losing a relative. Cozy mystery fans will love the addition of historical and adventure elements. But let’s not forget to appreciate the amazing, unforgettable and epic Nana D and her hilarious dialogues with her brilliant one as we follow Kellan in his new suspenseful investigation.

I can and will never get enough of Jay’s humor. Especially when he throws Nana D and Kellan in their verbal ring. This is where he wins all my sympathies!

“Put your underwear on too tight again? Must cut off the circulation to your brain. Answer my question, please. Are you free to meet her, or is this just useless obstinance, brilliant one?”

“Answer my question, you crafty miniature Elf-on-the-Shelf.”

I blinked my baby blues like a naughty puppy begging for clemency.

What were these madcap women forcing me to do now?

Love it! A new instant Braxton Campus Mysteries success!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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View all my reviews
Bernard Jan

Save the Seals: Book Promotion Week

At the time of this eBook promotion, a terrible thing is going on. The annual seal slaughter in Canada is in full swing. Thousands of baby seals will be shot or clubbed to death because of their fur. Despite the huge international outcry and protest, and many national bans on import of seal products.

If you feel resentment or if this inhumanity disgusts you, please message Justin Trudeau and Canadian authorities. Share this petition.

And spread the word about my book, Look for Me Under the Rainbow, and its 67% discount promotion week so we can together sensitize others to the suffering of these beautiful creatures.

Thursday, April 22, 2021, 8:00 AM PDT through Thursday, April 29, 2021, 12:00 AM PDT

“On an early, misty morning, a ship arrived and disembarked men. All the seals ran away. All, except the young. Unprotected, unaware of the danger, they innocently waited for hu-man beings to approach. A man lifted a club and struck the fragile little head. One, two, three times. Blood spattered the white fur. No cries, no sound. Silent and quick. And then again. One, two, three dull thuds, blood and death. Still, no cries. Only a blank look of surprise and disappointment. . . . Other human beings approached from the opposite side and took the surviving pups in their arms. But the men armed with rifles and clubs snatched the pups from them, bashing their skulls. One, two, three. Blows. Blood. Death. More humans came. They took away those trying to protect the pups with their bodies. Putting them on their ship, they towed it away. The remaining men skinned the bodies and loaded the furs in their ship. Leaving behind the less than two week old pups’ corpses, they disappeared into the fog, as suddenly as they arrived. Mary Jane was among the dead pups. Frozen remains of her tiny body eerily lay motionless on the bloodstained ice with other pups killed that day. The day when humans cruelly murdered an entire generation. Wiped out. No pup left alive.”

Download your Look for Me Under the Rainbow eBook.

Thank you.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

15 Years Without You

I don’t care about the dates and numbers anymore. They have less and less importance as I am growing older. Other things are becoming priorities. But I won’t forget the day you left us. I will remember that date as long as there is a spark of sanity left in me.

I miss you, Marcel.

***

The more I get into the depth of your character and dive into the sea of kindness with which you abound, the harder for me is everything I have done to sin against you. Everything I denied you.

Forgive me.

Forgive me. It was a beautiful day last week. I think it was Friday. The sun warmed like no other day of the year. There was a pleasant wind, and the scents of flowers and sprouted grass rose from the ground. I thought I would pick fresh green grass for you as soon as it grew a little more. I thought I’d surprise you with this gift. But I will never give it to you, love, and that makes me feel like garbage. If I had known. If I had only sensed—if I had wanted to admit to myself!—you could have tasted the first grass of this spring, no matter how short and unripe its leaves were. But I was a coward and ran from reality! I stole from you the last touch of just-awakened nature, because not even the trees had fully bloomed yet.

***

In Memoriam

Marcel

April 19, 2006–April 19, 2020


A World Without Color, the true story of our last three days together, still lives on Amazon as an eBook and paperback. Waiting for the world to read about you.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

Cruel Summer in TCK Publishing Contest

I have submitted my YA cross-genre novel, Cruel Summer, to TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Awards 2021 contest.

TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Awards 2021 is a contest for best books in 16 categories. To get to my YA and Middle Grade book category, use the arrows on the left and right side of the voting form to navigate between categories. Once you are on the page 12/16, scroll down to Cruel Summer by Bernard Jan and click on the book title to cast your vote.

Please share the link below with others too, so they can also show their love and support to Cruel Summer.

Vote here
for Cruel Summer in TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Awards 2021 (page 12/16 YA and Middle Grade).

Thank you!

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

Rafting Down the January River at a Discounted Price

Did you forget what it is like to be a child? Climb on the raft with Ethan, Will, Jason, Derrick, and Sarah, and remind yourself of the careless innocence of the childhood.

January River, a literary fiction, coming-of-age, and young adult novel about five friends, one dog and one river carrying a secret, is at a discounted price of only $0.99 on the following days:

Monday, March 22, 2021, 8:00 AM PDT through Monday, March 29, 2021, 12:00 AM PDT

Read the excerpt and enjoy this rafting adventure!

So, the four friends—Will, Ethan, Jason, and Derrick—went out rafting. The boys were charged up even at the mere thought of going down the January River. When Derrick, Jason and Ethan found themselves on the raft, the excitement turned into euphoria. At that moment, trouble loomed. Unforeseen and unexpected, it hit them like a charging tornado.

Derrick’s sister, Sarah, jumped out of the bushes growing on the riverbank. “Well, well! What do I see here?” She turned with a threatening tone to her several-minutes-older brother. His jaw almost fell to the raft and scraped on it as he couldn’t believe his own eyes. “You didn’t want to take me with you, did you? Did you think you could sneak out and run away just like that? Hasn’t it occurred to you that your baby sister would like to come for a ride too?”

“What’s that, for Christ’s sake?” Jason whispered into Derrick’s ear. “I thought you said everything’s been taken care of with your sister. You were supposed to get rid of her.”

“That was what I thought,” moaned Derrick. “But it seems she tricked us again.”

“Well, Der, what do you have to say in your defense?” She approached the water, showing no mercy at all.

“What the heck you brats think you’re doin’?” Will stood in the water up to his knees, not knowing whether to climb on the raft or move toward Derrick’s sister. “Haven’t we agreed that just four of us were to go down the river?”

“We have, but it seems Derrick messed up,” Jason commented helplessly.

“I messed up?! It cost me fifty cents!”

All rivers carry their secrets, but not every river keeps its secret forever.

Click here for more mystery and romance and download January River eBook at $0.99.

Please don’t forget to leave an honest review and spread the word about this discount. You have the power to influence the future of these five friends.

Check out my three other books as well: A World Without Color, Look for Me Under the Rainbow and Cruel Summer.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

Follow me on Twitter.


Bernard Jan