C.A. Milson's Blog, page 119

VBT – BLACK FLAG JOURNALS

Black Flag Journals: One Soldier’s Experience in America’s Longest War
by Dennis Woods

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GENRE: Memoir

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BLURB:

The story of America’s longest war is complicated and difficult to convey, unless you were there. Dennis Woods was there. By following his stories in Iraq and Afghanistan, we can sense the enormity of his combat experiences. Originally written for his daughter, Black Flag Journals is taken from the author’s nine battle book journals. It covers his time from the fall of the Twin Towers through his last combat tour.

Black Flag Journals contains not just stories from the first war of the new century, but a day-by-day record of events that other veterans may use to relate their own experiences. All who enjoy real life stories, and followers of history will connect with this first person account of America’s longest war.

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EXCERPT

The flight we were on this morning was an ordinary, run-of-the-mill resupply operation. Its purpose was to service Afghanistan’s numerous small camps and bases. What it carried, though, was not ordinary or run-of-the-mill. What we were delivering was an unusual allotment of artillery ammunition and GELON mounts. Part of my mission on this trip was about to be completed. However, once in the air, I was given a new defensive challenge to solve.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

CSM Woods combat tours include;
Operation Urgent Fury, Grenada, 82d Airborne Division.
Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm, Saudi Arabia – Iraq, 82d Airborne Division.
Operation Desert Fox 1998, Qatar, 5th Group Special Forces.
OEF 2 Afghanistan, 82d Airborne Division.
OIF 1 Iraq, First Armored Division.
OIF 6 Iraq, First Armored Division.
OEF X Afghanistan, 173D Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
OEF XIII Afghanistan, 191st Infantry Brigade

CSM Woods civilian education includes a Master of Education, (training & leadership) from North Central University, Prescott AZ, and a Bachelor of Science from Excelsior, Albany, New York.
Military education includes the United States Sergeants Majors Academy class # 58, Army force management course, Jump Master, Drill Sergeant, US Army Recruiter, Infantry Small Arms Master Gunner, Artillery Master Gunner, Amphibious Warfare leaders’ course (USMC), Anti-Armor Leaders course, Machine Gun Leaders course, Artillery Mechanics repair course, Small Arms repair course, Nuclear Biological Chemical defense, and all levels of air load planning and hazmat certification USAF.
CSM Woods awards include; one Distinguished Service medal, one Legion Of Merit,( 5) Bronze Star Medals, 5 Meritorious Service Medals, 4 ARCOM, 4 AAM, 1 Humanitarian service medal, 2 Armed Forces Expeditionary medals, Afghanistan and Iraq service medals. German Jump Master Wings, Qatar Jump wings as part of 5th Group, Netherlands Jumpmaster wings. Other awards include; Department of Defense “Inventor of the year” (2003) with 45 separate inventions. CSM Woods saved the United States Government over one Billion Dollars through cost avoidance. He is also the first recipient of the GRUBER award for an outstanding field artillery professional.

CSM Woods is credited by the US Army Smart Ideas program as the inventor of;
• The 105mm Howitzer night direct fire sight system M913 GELON.
• The 155mm towed Howitzer night sight system.
• The dual use day/ night direct fire sight reticule.
• The Dual optic MILES Laser trainer.
• The Urban Assault kit (PALADIN) improved crew protection, 155mm system.

On his most recent tour to Afghanistan, CSM Woods pioneered the first use of artillery training rounds in combat as a form of scalable fire support designed to limit civilian death and collateral damage. He is the author of, ‘Black Flag Journals One Soldiers Experience in America’s Longest War’, and numerous magazine, newspaper articles, including training pamphlets concerning Artillery, night vision, and combat operations.

Twitter: @djwoodswrites

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Dennis-John-Woods/e/B01KU91GFI%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15660793.Dennis_John_Woods

Koehler Book: https://www.koehlerbooks.com/book/black-flag-journals/

Amazon Buy Link: BOOK IS ON SALE FOR $2.99 DURING THE TOUR

BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-flag-journals-dennis-john-woods/1124419537

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Black-Flag-Journals-Audiobook/B08MBHSQQ9

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

Coming Soon: Women’s Orgasm Erotica

Multiple orgasms? Oh, yes!

What does it feel like to climax? Coming Soon: Women’s Orgasm Erotica offers wild and thrilling tales of female sexual pleasure that explore that question in a variety of wondrous ways. From a fetish that will appeal to any book lover and a waitress who’s seduced by her very attractive customers, to the thrill of artificial intelligence that knows exactly how to please a woman sexually, you’ll discover how delightful it is to come and come again. Read about women who like to watch, and others who love to get naked and show it all off.

With 20 erotic stories by popular authors such as Ella Dawson, Katrina Jackson, D. L. King, and Donna George Storey, you’ll be turned on with every page. Whether they’re enjoying multiple orgasms, playing with sex toys, attending a sex party or taking a thrilling business trip, the characters in Coming Soon savor every moment of their arousal. Edited by the award-winning Rachel Kramer Bussel, these sexy scenarios range from sex with strangers to the deepest of intimacy among couples, all while reaching the peak of erotic fulfilment.

About the author

I want to write every kind of story. I know this sounds kind of pretentious but screw it, I’m going for it. I’ve always been an avid reader and started writing poetry in early grammar school. I think there are a lot of people who will say that they wanted to be Stephen King at one time or another, and the same holds true for me. I wanted to be Stephen King, Anne Rice, Ray Bradbury and Rod Serling, but it was in erotica where I really learned the mechanics of writing.

What started out as private stories and love letters, soon became publications in anthologies, the most recent of which being Cleis Press’ Coming Soon: Women’s Orgasm Erotica, which is due out 7/13/21 http://mybook.to/comingsoonprint.

To date, I have self-published a novella, Carnal Theory, and written one full length dark fiction novel that I am currently shopping around. I have the rough drafts of two science fiction books, one horror novella, one play, four children’s books, and I-don’t-know-how-many poems and several song lyrics. I meant what I said at the very beginning. I want to write every kind of story. (Except maybe westerns. I can’t watch two men stare at each other for ten minutes without screaming “Somebody shoot somebody already!“) I want to be known for not staying where I’ve been put. I want to always surprise people, especially myself. Because that’s what makes it fun for me. The feeling that even I don’t know what I’m going to do next. 

Connect with me online

henrycorrigan.blogspot.com    Twitter: @HenryCorrigan    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/henry.corrigan.35

Excerpt From “I’m Her” by Henry Corrigan

The bathroom she’d chosen was small but serviceably spare, wrapped up in the smell of industrial lemon. When the knock finally came, Catherine’s heart thudded as she threw open the door.

Wordlessly Dave or Pete or Brian slipped past, taking his place atop the toilet. Locking the door behind them, Catherine smiled at this stranger with his blue shirt and hungry grin.

They stared at each other for a long moment and then, with slow, conscious movements, began.

Catherine lifted her skirt as he unbuckled his belt.

She slipped her fingers into her underwear as he stroked

himself, his cock held tightly in his fist.

She teased herself slowly, stirring the soft hairs with her palm, gliding a finger between her lips, drawing out the warmth like a friend called out to play.

Dave or Pete or Brian bit his lip and stroked more quickly now, growing harder by the second. With deft fingers, Catherine slipped her underwear off and spread her thighs wide. Slipping a finger insider herself, she gasped and rolled the hood of her clit gently, sending light straight up her spine.

Soon enough the smell of lemon faded, replaced by the musk of their exertions. Her thighs were quivering, and his cock was

hard and red.

He’d brought condoms, but she made him use her own, squirting a dollop of lube into the palm of her hand. Straddling his thighs, she grasped him, the first time they’d ever really touched.

He sighed as Catherine lowered herself down but for her it was uncomfortable at first. Her inner muscles, too long unused, rebelled at his thickness, leaving her hissing as she rocked against him, back and forth.

Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes, listening to the sounds beyond the door. The whisk of luggage wheels and conversations, the thousands of people walking by. None of them would ever see her like this, her bare ass clenching as she rode this stranger, her breath coming in frantic gasps as he went deeper every time.

With a shudder Catherine rocked forward, now flush against his hips. She sighed and let her head fall back, the sensation not quite orgasm, but the pleasure of being filled.

VBT – SAY YES TO LIFE!

Say Yes to Life!
by Elliott Robertson

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GENRE: Self-Help

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BLURB:

Say Yes to Life provides you with seven keys to unconditional, abundant living. Each key opens a doorway to experiencing life as a gift.

This book will guide you to the depths of your heart where you long to celebrate life with a wholehearted “Yes!”

You will be led to a place of greater authenticity.
You will be encouraged to take joy in who you are.
Only willingness is needed to embrace yourself with gladness.
With your true Self in the driver’s seat and the ego in the back seat, life takes on a new vibrancy.

Now you are present to yourself, to your companions, and the cosmos. The mountaintop appears and beckons you into the fullness that has always been awaiting you.

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EXCERPT

Dear one, as you set forth on the new adventure offered by this book, give yourself permission to discover new facets of your multi-dimensionality. Allow yourself to vibrate on higher levels, closer to the mountaintop of joy without condition. Allow yourself to hear God say, “You are glorious!” Give yourself permission to say “Yes” whenever Source says “This is who you are.”

Never before has humanity lived in an age so ripe for transformation, happiness, harmony and cooperation.

Never before has the need for transformation been so apparent. Not that the need for transformation has never been so great; rather, the need has never been so visible. The darkness and impurities within the systems in our world are more visible and palpable today because we have entered an era of greater light.

Never before has the world been so prepared for a new arrangement of systems informed by integrity and compassion. Never before have so many people been poised for self-realization and the joy of living from integrity and authenticity.

This book is for those who long for the day when corruption will be replaced by the blossoming of goodness. It is written for those who want to see the flourishing of kindness throughout the world, through systems of commerce, governance, and medicine.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Elliott Robertson is a Happiness Coach. He holds an MA in Psychology and has been certified as a Happy for No Reason workshop facilitator. His articles have appeared in several magazines, including Science of Mind and Miracles Magazine.

CONNECT WITH Elliott Robertson

Elliott Robertson | Happiness Coach (elliottrobertsoncoach.com)

FACEBOOK – Pathways to Joy | Facebook

PURCHASE LINKS SAY YES TO LIFE: 7 KEYS TO LIVING FULL OUT FROM WITHIN

AMAZON.COM – https://amazon.com/dp/0228815584

AMAZON.CA – https://amazon.ca/dp/0228815584

INDIGO CHAPTERS – https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/say-yes-to-life-7/9780228815600-item.html

BARNES & NOBLE – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/say-yes-to-life-elliott-robertson/1135153695

BOOK DEPOSITORY – https://www.bookdepository.com/Say-Yes-Life-Elliott-Robertson/9780228815587

APPLE IBOOKS – https://books.apple.com/us/book/say-yes-to-life-7-keys-to-living-full-out-from-within/id1489384270

The book will be free during the tour.

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

Elliott Robertson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Enter to win a $15 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Interview With …..

Tell us about you as a person. 

I’m interested in a wide variety of ways of accessing the wisdom of the Inner Knower. I have several decks of tarot cards. I’m interested in numerology and astrology, although my knowledge is intermediate at best. I’ve never practiced dowsing, but it interests me. The list goes on.

If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?

I would love to hang out with Copernicus, the first scientist to place the Sun at the center of the universe instead of the Earth. This was a major paradigm shift. I’d love to glimpse some of his genius, to pick up some clues about how I can go beyond the conventional thinking of the day. I’d love for some of his creative spirit to rub off on me.

What’s the story behind your latest book?

I had completed writing a book—something not yet published—and I was still going to the café every morning on my way to work. I would open my notebook to a fresh page and write whatever came to me. For several days, I found myself writing a page or two on the theme of saying “Yes” to God. I was enjoying this, so I adopted it as a theme for a new book. The working title of Say Yes to Life was Say Yes to God. I like both titles.

What is your writing process? 

My process varies depending upon what I’m writing. When I’m writing short fiction, it is character-driven and I’m sometimes surprised or in tears as I’m writing a scene, surprised by what a character is saying or doing, especially if it is out of the blue, something I didn’t see coming. When I’m surprised, or when I’m crying with the character who is in tears, I know there’s a chance some of the reader’s will also be surprised or have a cathartic experience. And what’s so cool is, these powerful scenes reveal the character with a greater depth than other scenes.

When writing nonfiction, I start by putting together an outline. Not a detailed outline, just the sequence of chapters.

When writing poetry, it sometimes happens like this: I’ve just gone to bed and from out of nowhere the first line of a poem comes to me. I turn on the light, get pen and paper, write down the opening line and as soon as that’s on the page before me I’m “given” another line, and then another, until the poem is complete.

Tell us about your main character: 

My book is nonfiction. But I’ve broken the rules of nonfiction writing. I’ve included a character in the book, someone who helps shine a light on the themes in each chapter. The main character from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic, The Little Prince—the aviator whose plane crashes in the desert—plays major role in bringing the messages in Say Yes to Life to life.

The aviator is a captivating character in The Little Prince because he has many aspects to his personality. Sometimes irritable and impatient; sometimes like a tender, compassionate father figure. Sometimes a good listener, sometimes not. I’m sure many readers like him because they can relate to him. When writing this book, I tried to portray him in the same way Antoine de Saint-Exupery had. He shows up in nearly every chapter of Say Yes to Life.

If your book was to be turned into a movie, who would play the lead role and why.

The aviator would be played by a younger version of Ian McKellen. McKellen was a superb actor before he became famous as Gandalf. In Say Yes to Life, the aviator is about 40 years old.

What are you working on next?

I have a bunch of ideas for articles and blogs. Something about stigmatization, for starters. This piece will explore the ways in which stigmitization has shown up over the years in America—the Salem witch trials, McCarthyism—and the ways in which it might be showing up in our world today—stigmatizing those who aren’t vaccinated, for example.

I’ve also started a piece on the need to be right about how the world is, and right about your beliefs about your identity. This can get in the way of the spiritual quest. But the goddess of playfulness can help us leave the need to be right behind.

What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?

Follow your intuition about which approaches might be best for you. Ask yourself what you feel most comfortable with. Some people love speaking in public settings, say, at the library. If that’s what plugs you into your passion, go for it. If not, find something that suits your personality.

What is your favorite book on your shelf right now?

I’ve been reading the opening chapters of The Sophia Code. I’m captivated. It’s very much a book for this new age of the divine feminine. A wonderful read for those interested in learning about female ascended masters.

Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?

I’m very intuitional. I’ve never done anything to develop my intuition, it just comes naturally to me. For example, shortly after discovering Alice Munro, the award-winning short story writer who lives in Canada, I started to get hunches every time her newest short story was in The New Yorker magazine. I would just have this psychic awareness come to me that if I went to the magazine store down the block and looked at the contents page, I’d see her name, she’d be in the current issue. And without fail, every time I had this hunch, it was a bull’s eye.

You are given the choice of one super power. What super power would you have and why?

I’d like to be able to reverse the aging process. I’d love to feel younger seven or eight years from now—and not only feel younger, but be physiologically younger.

List 5 things on your bucket list:

Visit a country outside of the U.S. (specifics to be determined).Support more people find their path forward to realizing their greatest capacities.Find a place to live that has room for gardens so I can surround myself with flowers and grow my favorite vegetables in my backyard.Scuba dive.Learn how to play the piano or the organ.

Any final thoughts?

We live in an age when many people are trying to satiate their needs and desires by turning to shallow things. Comfort food, for example. I’m always interested in playing my small part in helping people gain greater self-awareness around this and, if they choose to, replace the shallow preoccupations with deeper, more powerful, more authentic ways of expression. As long as we are here on Earth, we may as well life full out from within.

Book Blast – LOVE NEXT DOOR

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Can three tiny kittens really bring these two men together and prove love can bloom despite the chilly spring days?

Tommy Davis considered himself a loner. He spent his days writing and running, all while keeping everyone else at bay. That is until he discovers three kittens abandoned in his shrubbery. His fatherly instincts kick in, and he goes to the one person he knows can help—his sexy as sin next-door-neighbor who happens to be a veterinarian.

Matthew James wasn’t looking for love, but the moment Tommy shows up on his doorstep, he can’t send him away. He’s had a thing for Tommy since the first time he saw him, but his shyness has kept him from making a move.

The melting snow, blossoming flowers and a trio of kittens could be more than the guys can handle, but they just might be the push Matthew needs to find his forever with Tommy.

Read an Excerpt

©2021 Megan Slayer, All Rights Reserved

Matthew opened the door. “It’s eight in the morning and I’m tired. I don’t care if it is fifty degrees out, I’m not running right now.” He frowned. “Wait, you said you had a problem. Did you get my mail again?”

“Sort of, maybe?” Tommy bit back his desperation and fear. “I found kittens.”

“Kittens?” Matthew peeked into the box. “They’re only a few days old, but their eyes are open. Where were they? Is the mother with them?”

“I found these three in the bushes.” He fought to catch his breath. “I don’t know what to do. I think the momma perished.”

Matthew sighed. “Jesus.”

“If you don’t want to give me a hand, I’ll take them to the clinic.” Tommy covered the mewling kittens with the towels and box flaps. “Sorry I bothered you.”

“If you take them to the clinic, they could put them down,” Matthew said. “Kittens without a mother require special attention we don’t have at the clinic and they might not survive anyway.”

“That’s terrible.” Tommy shook his head. “Look, I don’t know anything about them. Shouldn’t I have bottles and formula or something? I’ll take care of them.” He needed to be sure about the mother cat, though. “Will you check on Momma? I’ll pay you for the home visit.”

Matthew shoved his feet into a pair of boots. “I didn’t think you were an animal lover.”

“I didn’t think you were so heartless,” Tommy snapped. “Put them down? They’d truly do that?”

Matthew grabbed his scarf. “First, I said they might—not me. Second, they are young kittens. It can be tricky because they’re so small. The averages aren’t in their favor if the mother has rejected them. It’s not being cruel. It’s being honest. That said, I’ll help you. I can’t imagine being left alone, even if today is the warmest it’s been all year. Where’s the mother?”

“In the bushes. Can’t miss her. Ginger cat by the bush closest to the flower box,” Tommy said. “Do I take these guys inside?”

“Take them to my living room.”

About the Author

Megan Slayer, aka Wendi Zwaduk, is a multi-published, award-winning author of more than one-hundred short stories and novels. She’s been writing since 2008 and published since 2009. Her stories range from the contemporary and paranormal to LGBTQ and white hot themes. No matter what the length, her works are always hot, but with a lot of heart. She enjoys giving her characters a second chance at love, no matter what the form. She’s been nominated at the LRC for Best Author, Best Contemporary, Best Ménage, Best BDSM and Best Anthology. Her books have made it to the bestseller lists on Amazon.com.

When she’s not writing, Megan spends time with her husband and son as well as three dogs and three cats. She enjoys art, music and racing, but football is her sport of choice. She’s an active member of the Friends of the Keystone-LaGrange Public library.

Website http://wendizwaduk.com/indexMegan.htm

Blog https://wendizwaduk.wordpress.com/

Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/wendizwaduk.meganslayer/

Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/Megan-Slayer/e/B008BJCFSC

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/megan-slayer

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wendizwaduk/

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5330530.Megan_Slayer

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/MeganSlayer

Buy links:

https://www.firstforromance.com/book/love-next-door

https://books2read.com/u/3n8gr5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W593XQX/

https://books.apple.com/us/book/love-next-door/id1553148732

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-next-door-megan-slayer/1138805348

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/love-next-door-8

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=UWMdEAAAQBAJ

Megan Slayer will be awarding a Prize Pack featuring a necklace inspired by the book and made by the author to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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VBT – The F.I.G. Mysteries

The F.I.G. Mysteries
by Barbara Casey

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GENRE: Mystery

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BLURB:

THE F.I.G. MYSTERIES

Dara Roux, abandoned when she was 7 years old by her mother. Exceptionally gifted in foreign languages. Orphan.

Mackenzie Yarborough, no record of her parents or where she was born. Exceptionally gifted in math and problem-solving. Orphan.

Jennifer Torres, both parents killed in an automobile accident when she was 16. Exceptionally gifted in music and art. Orphan.

THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES: Book 1

Known as the F.I.G.s (Females of Intellectual Genius), three high-spirited 17 year olds with intelligent quotients in the genius range, accompany their teacher and mentor, Carolina Lovel, to Frascati, Italy, a few weeks before they are to graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. Carolina’s purpose in planning the trip is to remove her unusually gifted, creative students from the Wood Rose campus located in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they can’t cause any more problems (“expressions of creativity”) for the headmaster, faculty, and other students – which they do with regularity. Carolina also wants to visit the Villa Mondragone where the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, was first discovered and attempt to find out how it is related to a paper written in the same script she received on her 18th birthday when she was told that she was adopted.

THE WISH RIDER: Book 2

When Carolina and the F.I.G.s return to Wood Rose, Dara decides that she wants to try to locate her birth mother when she learns that she might be living in New York City. Carolina, Mackenzie, and Jennifer accompany her and their search leads them to a secret dangerous shadow world hidden deep beneath Grand Central, constructed in what Mackinzie identifies as chevroned magic squares—N X N matrixes in which every row, column, and diagonal add up to the same number—and cloaked in the discordant B flat minor key music that only Jennifer can hear.

THE CLOCK FLOWER: Book 3

The three FIGs—Females of Intellectual Genius—graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women after returning from New York City where Dara learned why her mother abandoned her all those years ago, and they are now attending universities where they can further their special talents. This means they will be separated from each other and from Carolina, their much-loved mentor and teacher who is “one of them,” for the first time in their young lives. They vow to try living apart for one semester, in the so-called real world that doesn’t include the orphanage; but if things don’t work out, they will come up with another plan—a plan where they can be together once again. Dara is invited through Yale University to take part in an exciting archeological project in China. Jennifer, once again visualizing black and white images and the unusual sounds of another cadence that seem to be connected to Mackenzie, is engrossed in creating her next symphony at Juilliard. Mackenzie, because of her genius at problem-solving, is personally chosen by a US Senator to get involved in a mysterious, secret research project involving immortality that is being conducted in a small village in China—not too far from where Dara is involved with the archeological site. Once there, however, she finds herself facing a terrifying death from the blood-dripping teeth of an ancient evil dragon. Her best friends, the FIGs and Carolina, rely on their own unique genius and special talents to save her as she discovers the truth of her birth parents.

THE NIGHTJAR’S PROMISE: Book 4

Jennifer Torres, one of the three FIGs (Females of Intellectual Genius) who is a genius in both music and art, is the last to leave the closed rehearsal for her upcoming performance over Thanksgiving break at Carnegie Hall when she hears something in the darkened Hall. Recognizing the tilt of the woman’s head and the slight limp of the man as they hurry out an exit door, she realizes it is her parents who were supposedly killed in a terrible car accident when she was 15 years old. Devastated and feeling betrayed, she sends a text to Carolina and the other two FIGs—THURGOOD. It is the code word they all agreed to use if ever one of them got into trouble or something happened that was too difficult to handle. They would all meet back at Carolina’s bungalow at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women to figure it out. As soon as they receive the text, because of their genius, Dara starts thinking of words in ancient Hebrew, German, and Yiddish, while Mackenzie’s visions of unique math formulae keep bringing up the date October 11, 1943. And as Carolina waits for the FIGs to return to Wood Rose, she hears warnings from Lyuba, her gypsy mother, to watch for the nightjar, the ancient name for the whip-poor-will.
In their search for “The Nightjar’s Promise” and the truth surrounding it, Carolina and the FIGs come face to face with evil that threatens to destroy not only their genius, but their very lives.

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EXCERPT

Excerpt from The Cadence of Gypsies

“Ouch! You’re standing on my fingers!” This from the petite girl with a long, blond ponytail, wearing a nightgown, most of which was pulled up between her legs and tied into a knot at her waist to keep it from getting tangled on the limb where she was perched. Somewhere above her the sound of a saw and splintering wood filled the darkness followed by a stream of profanity repeated in several foreign languages for emphasis.

“It doesn’t look right. It’s supposed to have a rim and a dent.” Clinging to a 12-foot ladder as she pointed the flashlight first this way and then that, the heavy-set girl wearing a nightshirt buttoned at the neck offered this with a slight lisp.

The girl with the blond ponytail giggled.

“What do you mean—dent?! Let me see that picture.” The tall black girl completely hidden aimed her flashlight toward the magazine that was being thrust upwards through the thick branches in her direction.

“And the top is supposed to be rounded—like a button mushroom,” the girl in the nightshirt added, the word “mushroom” sounding more like “muthroom.”

“That’s because it’s circumcised,” supplied the girl with the ponytail, from which she removed a small twig and a handful of leaves.

“Shekoo, baboo!” More profanity. “Okay. I know what to do.” The tall black girl disappeared back into the upper-most branches of the tall plant that was more tree than bush. After several additional minutes, the sawing, crunching, and clipping sounds finally gave way to the more gentle sounds of tiny snips. And then, silence.

“That’s it; everybody down.”

The petite girl, with the magazine that had been overlooked in the last confiscation and now wedged firmly under her armpit, started the perilous descent first since she was nearest to the ground, followed by the tall girl. The girl in the nightshirt eased her way down the ladder juggling pruning shears, a hand saw, and scissors. Once on the ground, the three girls stood back to admire their work.

“That is one honkin’ Peni erecti,” said the tall girl causing a fresh explosion of giggles. “Let’s get out of here.” After quickly rolling down the legs of her pajama bottoms, the tall girl grabbed one end of the ladder and, along with her two friends, lugged it and the other tools back to the shed that housed lawn maintenance equipment. Task accomplished, they returned to their rooms, and to their individual beds, careful not to disturb the other dorm residents, the floor monitors, their suitemates and, most importantly, their slumbering dorm mother, Ms. Larkins. Within minutes, they fell into a deep, peaceful sleep—the sleep of innocent angels.

It would soon be light; and Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women would start another day.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Originally from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history. In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service. In 1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and book production.

Ms. Casey has written over a dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IP Best Book for Regional Fiction, among others. Two of her nonfiction books have been optioned for major films, one of which is under contract.

Her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in both national and international publications including the North Carolina Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story. A thirty-minute television special which Ms. Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies. Ms. Casey’s essays and other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).

Ms. Casey is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she served as guest author and panelist. She has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003. In 2018 Ms. Casey received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest Georgia with three cats who adopted her, Homer, Reese and Earl Gray – Reese’s best friend.

www.barbaracaseyauthor.com
www.barbaracaseyagency.com

Amazon Author Page with Buy Links:

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

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THE F.I.G. MYSTERIES
By
Barbara Casey

Interview

If you could apologize to someone in your past, who would it be?

When I was in the seventh grade I decided I wanted to be a tennis star. So in the afternoons after school my best friend and I would go to the tennis court near where we lived to play tennis. This amounted to dribbling and chasing the ball all over the court and not accomplishing much since neither of us knew what we were doing. On one particular afternoon my friend got the silly giggles and I got upset because she wouldn’t take the game seriously. I wound up hitting her over the head with my tennis racket. It didn’t hurt her, and we laughed about it afterwards, but I really should not have done that.

If you could keep a mythical/ paranormal creature as a pet, what would you have?

It wouldn’t be anything scary, so probably a unicorn. I even have a barn where it could sleep at night.

How do you keep your writing different from all the others that write in this particular genre?

I never read other books in the genre I am writing once I start working on a manuscript. I have a definite way of writing and a style that is my own. I don’t want to be influenced by other writers.

What are the best and worst pieces of writing advice you ever received?

I don’t remember any worst writing advice I ever received because I tend to ignore it. However, over the years I have received good writing advice, such as never give up, always make sure your manuscript has been edited thoroughly before submitting it to an agent or publisher, be open to constructive criticism from writers you admire, but believe in yourself and create what feels right to you.

Are the experiences in this book based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Only the setting of Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women where Dara, Mackenzie, and Jennifer live is based in reality. When I was attending N.C. State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, I lived off campus and would drive by an orphanage each morning on my way to classes. It was such an imposing place, surrounded by beautiful landscaping. The image has stayed with me for years, and The F.I.G. Mysteries is the result of that memory.

VBT – FINDING GEORGE WASHINGTON

Finding George Washington: A Time Travel Tale
by Bill Zarchy

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GENRE: Sci-Fi / Alternate History / Baseball Saga / Action Thriller

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BLURB:

On a freezing night in 1778, General George Washington vanishes. Walking away from the Valley Forge encampment, he takes a fall and is knocked unconscious, only to reappear at a dog park on San Francisco Bay—in the summer of 2014.

Washington befriends two Berkeley twenty-somethings who help him cope with the astonishing—and often comical—surprises of the twenty-first century.

Washington’s absence from Valley Forge, however, is not without serious consequences. As the world rapidly devolves around them—and their beloved Giants fight to salvage a disappointing season—George, Tim, and Matt are catapulted on a race across America to find a way to get George back to 1778.

Equal parts time travel tale, thriller, and baseball saga, Finding George Washington is a gripping, humorous, and entertaining look at what happens when past and present collide in the 9th inning, with the bases loaded and no one warming up in the bullpen.

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EXCERPT

Aurora

The General watched as the Northern Lights spread, shimmered, and swirled through the sky like the smoke from God’s own cigar, now rising, now dipping, now twirling and pulsing.

Though soldiers often considered the aurora a bad omen, at that moment it thrilled him. To the east, he could see the glow of sentry fires of some of the closer regiments, the troops hunkered down for the night. A short distance to the south, the men of his personal guard occupied their own group of makeshift huts within sight of the farmhouse.

It’s cold. I should get back before Patsy and the staff begin to miss me.

He paused and took a deep breath of the night air. He was a durable and determined man who had survived cold and wintry weather during his early life as a surveyor and, later, as a British officer. He would show his Continental Army troops that the cold didn’t bother him, that staying strong was a state of mind. Certainly they had it worse than he did, but they respected that he had refused to move out of his tent into the stone farmhouse until his men moved out of their tattered shelters into log huts.

The fluid, ethereal display of light in the skies danced and pulsated. Before he could climb down the hill and head back toward the farmhouse, the ground under his feet began to shake and rumble, providing a steady, geological drumbeat to accompany the green and red light in the sky. The terrain rolled. He lost his footing on the ice, just at a point where a crisp moonbeam seemed to hit the patch of turf he was crossing.

The earth came up to meet him, and he banged his head on the frozen ground. Woozy and lightheaded, teetering on the edge of consciousness, he felt a great sadness, felt the bones in his body melt in the shard of moonlight, even as, in his remaining awareness, he realized the moon was not out that evening. He felt his body scooped off the ground, as if by a vengeful wind, then tumbled in a heap onto something hard and unyielding that swept him along at a great rate of speed. All went dark.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Bill Zarchy filmed projects on six continents during his 40 years as a cinematographer, captured in his first book, Showdown at Shinagawa: Tales of Filming from Bombay to Brazil. Now he writes novels, takes photos, and talks of many things.

Bill’s career includes filming three former presidents for the Emmy-winning West Wing Documentary Special, the Grammy-winning Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, feature films Conceiving Ada and Read You Like A Book, PBS science series Closer to Truth, musical performances as diverse as the Grateful Dead, Weird Al Yankovic, and Wagner’s Ring Cycle, and countless high-end projects for technology and medical companies.

His tales from the road, personal essays, and technical articles have appeared in Travelers’ Tales and Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies, the San Francisco Chronicle and other newspapers, and American Cinematographer, Emmy, and other trade magazines.

Bill has a BA in Government from Dartmouth and an MA in Film from Stanford. He taught Advanced Cinematography at San Francisco State for twelve years. He is a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and a graduate of the EPIC Storytelling Program at Stagebridge in Oakland. This is his first novel.

findinggeorgewashington.com
findinggeorgewashington.com/blog
billzarchy.com

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984919120/
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NXXNLBB/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Finding-George-Washington-A-Time-Travel-Tale-by-Bill-Zarchy-112403433952296

The book will be $0.99.
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

Bill Zarchy be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Interview With …..

Thanks for being here today. Tell us about you as a person.

I love sunset walks on the beach, dogs, and a warm fire. I’m allergic to cats, so what looks like a sweet, purring ball of cuddly fluff to you looks like a scratchy, itchy, sneezy hour to me. I have always been a writer. My dad gave me an old portable typewriter when I was a young lad, and I taught myself to type pretty quickly with two fingers. I convinced some relatives to pay me money for a “subscription” to a family newspaper that I published with carbon paper and light gossip for an issue or two. I wrote a column for my high school paper and was managing editor of the campus daily when I was an undergrad at Dartmouth. I was seduced by visual media after graduate film school at Stanford, and I ignored my writing for a long time, till about 20 years ago.

My wife and I have been together nearly 50 years, 43 of them married. We’ve lived in the same house for 35 years. We love family, baseball, music, movies, friends, theatre, and ballet. As a tall guy who’s never been good at basketball, I hated basketball for much of my life, a whiny response to folks saying, “Wow, you’re so tall! You must be SO good at hoops!” We have two wonderful sons. One is a speech-language pathologist, and one is a lawyer.

If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?

I’ve been researching Franklin D. Roosevelt for another novel, and I would very much like to meet him, to see how it feels to be in his presence. I’m intrigued by the sparkling personality that emerged from the twists and turns of his remarkable life — raised in wealth and privilege, struck down by polio, a cruel twist of fate. Then coming back from that depressing low point to be elected president four times, always depicted smiling. Historians attribute the great empathy he exhibited toward others to his own life narrative of triumph over adversity. I’d love to spend time with him, perhaps as a fly in the wall, and try to see if his warmth and empathy is genuine, or something fabricated for the cameras, to enhance his public image. I don’t mean to sound cynical. I’d just love to meet him.

What’s the story behind your latest book?

The presidents have always fascinated me, especially Washington. He’s so far back in time that his accomplishments have always seemed larger than life, and perhaps they were. As a young boy, I often asked myself how I would explain technology — like trains, cars, planes, cameras, movies — to George Washington, if he suddenly left his horse-and-buggy age and appeared in mine. When I was looking for an idea for a novel a few years ago, that old notion popped up again, and I began to develop it as a comical, fish-out-of-water story. As I learned more about George, I began to see him as the pre-eminent figure of his age, which sparked a new theme. What if he never returned to Valley Forge? What cascading effect would that have on the history of the world? Then my beloved Giants had a magnificent season, and I began to fold a baseball metaphor and theme into the story mixture. It’s all a big stew, really.

What is your writing process?

When I was younger, I could write and think in the midst of chaos, surrounded by people and media. But lately, as my attention has become more fragmented, I need peace and quiet. I only write in my office, formerly my son’s room, which I took over some years ago. I have a comfy chair, good elbow support, a keyboard in a tray off a large wooden desk. I use a Mac laptop on a stand, which raises it up to match the height of an adjacent large monitor.

I marvel at folks like you who can write while listening to songs with lyrics. We must be a different species. I can’t have words floating around in the air around my head when I’m trying to compose words inside it, but more power to you if it works for you! I only listen to instrumental music. Lots of jazz, usually soft jazz. I have a Miles Davis / John Coltrane playlist that lasts 16 hours, though some of it’s too raucous for writing. I play classical sometimes, looking for pieces that have a steady dynamic range throughout, like chamber music, rather than those that get very loud and very soft, like concerti or symphonies.

I work best in two-to-four hour shifts, with breaks for pit stops and stretching as needed.

Tell us about your main character:

My main character is General George Washington of the Continental Army, who comes to the present. This is not the old, marble-faced, unhappy-looking guy on the dollar bill, but a tall, vigorous, powerful leader in his mid-40s, who’s perplexed by his sudden shifts in venues and centuries. He’s very intense, but exercises tight self-control, rarely shows anger. He’s a man’s man who nonetheless enjoys the company of women. An excellent rider and a graceful dancer. In his own era, he was the most famous man in the Colonies — and one of the richest — despite having little formal education.

If your book was to be turned into a movie, who would play the lead role and why.

It’s tough to imagine who could play Washington credibly, but I think William Hurt has a broad, strong face and the right kind of presence to pull it off. Unfortunately, he’s 71 now, more than a quarter century older than George in my story. I thought David Morse did a good job portraying Washington in the mini-series John Adams, but he’s in his late 60s. I also liked the accent he used for George. Hurt and Morse are both tall, like George.

What are you working on next?

Right now, I’m working with an actor on an audiobook version of Finding George Washington. We’ve done all the recording, but it needs to be edited, checked, corrected, and mixed. I hope to be able to release the audiobook in just a few weeks. David Boyll, the actor, is performing all the different roles with different voices, and he’s highly skilled at accents. For George, he’s been using a sort of an English West Counties accent, similar to David Morse in John Adams. It’s been fun hearing my words come to life!

I’m also planning a sequel to Finding George Washington. It’s about FDR, titled Saving Franklin. It centers on an incident from 1933, where Franklin D. Roosevelt, newly elected to his first term as president, is the object of an attack by a seemingly crazed gunman. FDR is unhurt, but half a dozen shots were fired, causing several injuries and two deaths. It’s a ‘what-if’ story. What if Roosevelt had been killed that night and never become president? What would happen to the U.S. and the rest of the world without FDR’s leadership through the Depression and World War II? I’ve made a couple of research trips and written a bit of this, involving some of the same characters in Finding George.

What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?

First and foremost, make it the best book you possibly can. Write, edit, rewrite. Get notes from other writers and learn how to get and give constructive, positive feedback. If you possibly can, have your book professionally edited. Get on social media and join online interest groups. Get a website. Blog and post about yourself and your book and other subjects. Plan online and in-person events with bookstores and libraries and other organizations. Ask readers who like your book to post online reviews for it. Purchase reviews from Clarion, Kirkus, and other review services. Do a book blog tour. Advertise if you can.

What is your favorite book on your shelf right now?

The book I’m most looking forward to reading is Spider Woman’s Daughter, by Anne Hillerman, her first novel about the Navajo Tribal Police. She took over the series from her father Tony Hillerman after he passed away a dozen years ago. I saw the author speak at an online book chat a few weeks ago, and I recalled how much I enjoyed the earlier books in the series. I ordered her book and wrote to her, and she graciously accepted a copy of my debut novel, Finding George Washington.

Anne’s book will have to wait a little while. I normally only read one book at a time, but right now, I’m in the middle of both A Promised Land, by Barack Obama, and Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor, and I can’t deal with the idea of being in the middle of three books at once.

Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?

I worked for many years as a cinematographer, shooting film and video projects on six continents, and I taught Advanced Cinematography at San Francisco State for twelve years. Since retiring from the film business six years ago, I’ve studied (oral) storytelling and, in 2018, produced and performed my first one-man storytelling show called “Billy Solo;” in 2019, curated and hung my first photo exhibition; and in 2020, published my first novel, Finding George Washington: A Time Travel Tale.

You are given the choice of one super power. What super power would you have and why?

I want x-ray vision!

I want to be able to see into buildings and containers and vehicles. I want to know what’s inside nearly everything around me.

List 5 things on your bucket list:

Feel safe enough to travel again.Visit Antarctica. I’ve been to the other six continents and would love to collect the whole set.Attend Game 7 of the World Series in San Francisco, in great seats on the field level, as my beloved Giants win it all!Write several more books, mostly novels.See Finding George Washington made into a movie.

Any final thoughts?

This has been fun. Great questions. Thanks so much for hosting me!

Book Blast – SOFT GOLD

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Three hearts can equal one great love…

Hera, the goddess of mothering and childbirth, wants more than to be Zeus’s throwaway partner. She wants a lover and a hot romance she can call her own, but she’s not sure she deserves to be happy. When she meets Crane in Vegas, all bets are off.

Crane Gray is a man of contradiction. On the stage, he’s a superstar, but at home, he’s alone. He wants love and Hera is the woman of his dreams. But Crane has unfinished business with John.

John has loved Crane for so long and only wants him to be happy. When he sees Crane with Hera, he knows what’s been missing between them and craves making Hera their third.

Can these three make a go of their relationship despite the glare of the spotlight or will a mistake from Hera’s past threaten their future?

Be Warned: menage sex (MMF), anal sex

Read an Excerpt

©2021 Megan Slayer, All Rights Reserved

“I’m Crane Gray and it’s nice to meet you—someone who doesn’t know me. I’ve got a concert here at the hotel tonight. I should be prepping for it, but I just don’t care and I want out of my life for a while. You fascinate me and I’m enjoying myself here in the bar. I’d like you to stay. Please?”

She debated what to do. Stay with Crane, the celebrity, or find someone a little more boring.

“Will you at least tell me your name?” he asked. “Have a drink with me?”

She liked him, despite his ability to drive her crazy. He was physically what she wanted in a man—blond hair, blue eyes, tall, handsome, and younger than her. Then again, most men were younger than her. She’d like to spend time with him because, honestly, this would be the only encounter. He could be that pure gold she’d been looking for.

“Honey?” He gave her space. “It’s just a drink.”

She could handle this. She’d ruined many a man, forced Echo to repeat the same words, turned individuals into monsters, and destroyed mortals. Having a drink with Crane was nothing. “Sure.”

About the Author:

Megan Slayer, aka Wendi Zwaduk, is a multi-published, award-winning author of more than one-hundred short stories and novels. She’s been writing since 2008 and published since 2009. Her stories range from the contemporary and paranormal to LGBTQ and white hot themes. No matter what the length, her works are always hot, but with a lot of heart. She enjoys giving her characters a second chance at love, no matter what the form. She’s been nominated at the LRC for Best Author, Best Contemporary, Best Ménage, Best BDSM and Best Anthology. Her books have made it to the bestseller lists on Amazon.com.

When she’s not writing, Megan spends time with her husband and son as well as three dogs and three cats. She enjoys art, music and racing, but football is her sport of choice. She’s an active member of the Friends of the Keystone-LaGrange Public library.

Website http://wendizwaduk.com/indexMegan.htm

Blog https://wendizwaduk.wordpress.com/

Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/wendizwaduk.meganslayer/

Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/Megan-Slayer/e/B008BJCFSC

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/megan-slayer

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wendizwaduk/

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5330530.Megan_Slayer

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/MeganSlayer

Newsletter http://ymlp.com/xgjmjumygmgj

Buy links:

https://books2read.com/u/3n7AXo
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/soft-gold-megan-slayer/1139536337

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/soft-gold
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095KGNXKT/

https://www.evernightpublishing.com/soft-gold-by-megan-slayer/

Megan Slayer will be awarding a Prize Pack Featuring a Necklace made by the Author to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Book Tour – DRAGON(E) BABY GONE

Dragon(e) Baby Gone
(Reports from the Department of Intangible Assets Book 1)

by Robert Gainey

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GENRE: Mystery Fantasy

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BLURB:

Diane Morris is part of the thin line separating a happy, mundane world from all of the horrors of the anomalous. Her federal agency is underfunded, understaffed, and misunderstood, and she’d rather transfer to the boring safety of Logistics than remain a field agent. When a troupe of international thieves make off with a pair of dragon eggs, Diane has no choice but to ally with a demon against the forces looking to leave her city a smoldering crater. Facing down rogue wizards, fiery elementals, and crazed gunmen, it’s a race against time to get the precious cargo back before the dragon wakes up and unleashes hell.

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EXCERPT

Modern times gave way to a general idea that reason and logic were enough to stop something from dragging you into the sewers and wearing your skin to protect itself from daylight. It’s easy to see why: it doesn’t happen to a lot of people, therefore it must not happen. I see it all the time, people who say things like “I’ve never seen a ghost, so they must not exist.”

Oh yeah? Because if spirits did exist, they’d all be tripping over their ghost dicks to haunt you? Do you understand the preternatural forces that conspire, the circumstances that line up, to create any kind of ghost? Let alone one that shows up in your room at night and moans about revenge or betrayal or rattles some chains and teaches you a valuable lesson about being selfish?

“Well, there’s no such thing as Bigfoot. All those pictures are super blurry and grainy,” they say, their voices nasally and snobby, like all the knowledge of the world is pumped directly into their tiny brains through their tiny phones. Go stand out in a remote Colorado forest one night. Turn off your phone, open your eyes and ears, and wait. When you feel those eyes watching, and when you know, deep in that primitive monkey brain, way, way down inside, that there’s more than just the animals you have names for sharing that clearing with you, then you can call me to tell me that there’s no such thing as Bigfoot.

That is, if you live to turn your phone back on again.

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binary comment

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Robert Gainey is a born and raised Floridian, despite his best efforts. While enrolled at Florida State University and studying English (a language spoken on a small island near Europe), Robert began volunteering for the campus medical response team, opening up a great new passion in his life. Following graduation, he pursued further training through paramedic and firefighting programs, going on to become a full time professional firefighter in the State of Florida. He currently lives and works in Northeast Florida with his wife and dogs, who make sure he gets walked regularly. Robert writes near-fetched fantasy novels inspired by the madness and courage found in everyday events.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RNGainey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertngainey/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.gainey
Blog: https://robertgainey.blogspot.com/
Website: robertgainey.com

BUY LINKS:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragon-robert-gainey/1139526445

https://books.google.com/books/about/Dragon_e_Baby_Gone.html?id=vY17zgEACAAJ

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

RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Interview With …

What is something you’ve lied about?
I once told my wife I was going up into town to try and find a piece of specialty wood for a desk I was building. There are a couple sawmills who stock stuff like magnolia, white oak, cypress, that sort of thing, so it was a plausible lie, and I’d been talking about building this desk for a few months. This was during the pandemic lockdown, so my wife was working from home, so she’d have noticed me missing from the house for four or five hours, and I needed a good excuse. About two hours in, I had to call and make up some story about the first place not having anything I wanted, so I was going to have to drive further out to another and see what they had.

The truth was, I actually drove to an animal rescue in Jessup, Georgia to get a puppy for my wife. She’d never suspected for a second I’d been anything less than truthful, so when I walked in with Magnus it was worth every mile just to see the look on her beautiful face.

Who is the last person you hugged?
My wife, naturally. As long as I’ve got arms, that’ll always be the last person I’ve hugged at the end of every day.

What are you reading now?
I’m branching out into a genre I don’t normally get into, reading Helen C. Johannes’ Lord of Druemarwin. I’m also in the process of reading Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War by Judith Miller, but that’s at the fire station so I only read it every third day.

How do you come up with the titles to your books?
I’m a big fan of puns and wordplay. I find something memorable, something funny, something that I’d look at and say, “Huh, I’ll give that a try.”

Share your dream cast for your book.
It’s funny you should ask, since my wife and I just discussed this a few days ago. It may seem like a kind of vanity project, but we did slap together something resembling a casting call.
Diane – Aya Cash
Archades – Josh Brolin
LaFleur – Lance Reddick
Sadie – Gwendoline Christie
Jericho (voice only) – Chris O’Dowd

I’m happy to field phone calls from any of them. No need to be shy.

Book Blast – SUN, SEA AND SUMMER SONGS

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Two men, one song and a summer to reconnect.

Jude Sanders walked away from Blake Payton three years ago and vowed not to look back…but the song he wrote and recorded with Blake has become a hit and he’s forced to perform the song with Blake all summer. He’s got to make a decision—face the mistakes in his past and give Blake another try or turn his back on their love forever.

Blake Payton knew the moment he and Jude recorded Summer Song that they’d created a hit. Summer hasn’t been the same without Jude in his life and he sees the tour as the ultimate chance to prove they belong together.

Will the tour, their lost love and the song of the summer be enough to put the pieces back together for good?

Reader advisory: This book contains references to excess drinking and cocaine addiction, references to abusive alcoholic father and childhood poverty. There is a scene involving sexual assault.

Read an Excerpt

©Megan Slayer, 2021, All Rights Reserved

“You’ll do it?”

“I want out of this fucking movie. I’m tired of being cooped up on the set because I’m not needed.” If he could spend time with Jude, then all the better. Maybe he could get them back together and work out his issues…because he loved Jude.

“Consider yourself on tour.”

“I film for two more days doing retakes and close-ups,” Blake said. “And there’s Kel. He’ll be pissed. He thinks I’m going to do more movies.”

“Let me handle him.”

He didn’t know how Bob would make this work, but he trusted his old friend. “Once I’m done here, I’m flying out. Where am I going? You’re sending an itinerary? Getting a band together? We’ll have to do some rehearsals.”

“You’ll come here to Cleveland. I’ve got a suite booked at the Crown Hotel and my own recording studio for rehearsals. Two weeks to iron out the wrinkles and you’re off,” Bob said. “I haven’t steered you wrong, have I?”

“No.” He’d been a fool to dump Bob as his management, but he’d thought Kel would get him into bigger venues. He’d been wrong. Kel had got him more notice and made him a bona fide star, but it had been a hollow victory. Blake had had to sell out to get to the top.

“This will be good for you. We’ll work up a theme. How about a sand, sun and fun theme? Tour dates are firming up as we speak. You’ll do three shows a weekend and it’ll be great,” Bob said. “The career will be back on track and you’ll be happy.”

“You can do all of that in one summer?”

“If you trust me.”

“I trust you.” He lived for the thrill of being on the road, holding court on stage and the camaraderie of the touring company. He needed to log miles and play music, but more than that, he needed to talk to Jude. He missed being held, being loved and protected… Jude gave him a place to explore and understood who he was without being judged.

He wanted Jude’s kiss, his arms around him and his love. Just because the song was old didn’t mean the passion had to have ended. His summer song with Jude had another verse yet to be written.

About the Author:

Megan Slayer, aka Wendi Zwaduk, is a multi-published, award-winning author of more than one-hundred short stories and novels. She’s been writing since 2008 and published since 2009. Her stories range from the contemporary and paranormal to LGBTQ and white hot themes. No matter what the length, her works are always hot, but with a lot of heart. She enjoys giving her characters a second chance at love, no matter what the form. She’s been nominated at the LRC for Best Author, Best Contemporary, Best Ménage, Best BDSM and Best Anthology. Her books have made it to the bestseller lists on Amazon.com.

When she’s not writing, Megan spends time with her husband and son as well as three dogs and three cats. She enjoys art, music and racing, but football is her sport of choice. She’s an active member of the Friends of the Keystone-LaGrange Public library. Find out more about Megan and Wendi at her website.

Newsletter: http://ymlp.com/xgjmjumygmgj

Website: http://wendizwaduk.com/indexMegan.htm

Blog: https://wendizwaduk.wordpress.com/

Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/wendizwaduk.meganslayer/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Megan-Slayer/e/B008BJCFSC

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/megan-slayer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendizwaduk/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5330530.Megan_Slayer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/MeganSlayer

Buy links:

First for Romance: https://www.firstforromance.com/book/sun-sea-and-summer-songs
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094JWJWQ9/
Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/3k5z5K
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sun-sea-and-summer-songs-megan-slayer/1139473134
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sun-sea-and-summer-songs
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=4GEuEAAAQBAJ

Megan Slayer will be awarding a Prize Pack featuring a necklace made by the author to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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VBT – Patches

About the Book

Title: Patches

Author: Valicity Elaine

Genre: YA Coming of Age

Michael Bull Jr. is best friends with the most popular guy in school, his father is a famous politician, and he’s just started his last year in high school. He is the perfect student with the perfect life … except for his face.When you’ve got a disease that changes the color of your skin, turns your hair grey, and threatens to blind you, high school can be tough. It also doesn’t help when your crush decides to blackmail you and expose your secret. But hey, what can you do except try to survive?

Author Bio

Valicity Elaine is the owner/creator of The Rebel Christian Publishing. She is an avid reader and loves to write just as much! She grew up in upstate New York in a beautiful Christian family and loves using her writing and illustrations to express her wonderful faith. When she isn’t writing, she is spending time with her family or helping out her church. Random fact; Valicity LOVES pasta, haha!

Links

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