C.A. Milson's Blog, page 141
May 16, 2019
VBT – THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER
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The Hierophant’s Daughter
(Disgraced Martyr Trilogy #1)
by M. F. Sullivan
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GENRE: Sci-fi, Horror, LGBTQ
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BLURB:
By 4042 CE, the Hierophant and his Church have risen to political dominance with his cannibalistic army of genetically modified humans: martyrs. In an era when mankind’s intergenerational cold wars against their long-lived predators seem close to running hot, the Holy Family is poised on the verge of complete planetary control. It will take a miracle to save humanity from extinction.
It will also take a miracle to resurrect the wife of 331-year-old General Dominia di Mephitoli, who defects during martyr year 1997 AL in search of Lazarus, the one man rumored to bring life to the dead. With the Hierophant’s Project Black Sun looming over her head, she has little choice but to believe this Lazarus is really all her new friends say he is–assuming he exists at all–and that these companions of hers are really able to help her. From the foulmouthed Japanese prostitute with a few secrets of her own to the outright sapient dog who seems to judge every move, they don’t inspire a lot of confidence, but the General has to take the help she can get.
After all, Dominia is no ordinary martyr. She is THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER, and her Father won’t let her switch sides without a fight. Not when she still has so much to learn.
The dystopic first entry of an epic cyberpunk trilogy, THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER is a horror/sci-fi adventure sure to delight and inspire adult readers of all stripes.
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EXCERPT
Excerpt One:
I
The Flight of the Governess
The Disgraced Governess of the United Front was blind in her right eye. Was that blood in the left, or was it damaged, too? The crash ringing in her ears kept her from thinking straight. Of course her left eye still worked: it worked well enough to prevent her from careening into the trees through which she plunged. Yet, for the tinted flecks of reality sometimes twinkling between crimson streaks, she could only imagine her total blindness with existential horror. Would the protein heal the damage? How severely was her left eye wounded? What about the one she knew to be blind—was it salvageable? Ichigawa could check, if she ever made it to the shore.
She couldn’t afford to think that way. It was a matter of “when,” not of “if.” She would never succumb. Neither could car accident, nor baying hounds, nor the Hierophant himself keep her from her goal. She had fourteen miles to the ship that would whisk her across the Pacific and deliver her to the relative safety of the Risen Sun. Then the Lazarene ceremony would be less than a week away. Cassandra’s diamond beat against her heart to pump it into double time, and with each double beat, she thought of her wife (smiling, laughing, weeping when she thought herself alone) and ran faster. A lucky thing the Governess wasn’t human! Though, had she remained human, she’d have died three centuries ago in some ghetto if she’d lived past twenty without becoming supper. Might have been the easier fate, or so she lamented each time her mind replayed the crash of the passenger-laden tanque at fifth gear against the side of their small car. How much she might have avoided!
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AUTHOR Bio and Links
M.F. Sullivan is the author of Delilah, My Woman, The Lightning Stenography Device, and a slew of plays in addition to the Trilogy. She lives in Ashland, Oregon with her boyfriend and her cat, where she attends the local Shakespeare Festival and experiments with the occult. Find more information about her work (and plenty of free essays) at https://www.paintedblindpublishing.com
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Author Links:
Blog: https://www.paintedblindpublishing.comhttps://www.paintedblindpublishing.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TheRealMFS
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/M.-F.-Sullivan/e/B013DDEQVE
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14199461.M_F_Sullivan
Buy/Review Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hierophants-Daughter-M-F-Sullivan/dp/0996539565
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/AYYlKV
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42921564-the-hierophant-s-daughter
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hierophants-daughter-m-f-sullivan/1129918390
Hardback: 978-0-9965395-6-2
Paperback: 978-0-9965395-7-9
eBook: 978-0-9965395-8-6
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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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Interview
What is the sweetest thing someone has done for you?
Hah, I don’t know. I’m not much of a romantic outside of my writing style. My boyfriend took me to New York two years ago, then we drove over to Ohio to visit my family—that was very sweet, very kind. And a whirlwind trip—eleven plays in eight days, I think? M. Butterfly was the best by far, but I also loved the off-Broadway production of A Clockwork Orange. It was really in-your-face and a very challenging production on an emotional level; the actors playing the Droogs managed to make me feel a little unsafe as an audience member, and I think that’s the highest praise I can give a play.
How would you spend ten thousand bucks?
Marketing the hell out of The Disgraced Martyr Trilogy! You’d see a big ad in the New York Times for a few days, at least. That would probably cost all ten thousand!
Where do you get your best ideas?
Listening to music just about anywhere, especially while doing dishes or going to the gym. Also, thinking about tropes I’d like to explore/revive, or thinking about works of art which disappointed me and how I would have done them better.
What comes first, the plot or characters?
Characters. Organic characters will write the story for you and I can’t stress that enough. They wrote this story for me! Especially Miki Soto, the Japanese prostitute—she’s a very plastic character, I think most readers will agree, and I feel like I had no say in anything about her. She just appeared in the work and stayed in the work, and slowly revealed herself as, just, this absolute gem of a character, both as a person and a plot device. If you have a bunch of really natural, strong-willed fictional characters and fall into the flow with them, they’ll just build a rapport off of one another and reveal the plot to you, one dialogue or interaction at a time.
What does your main character do that makes him/her special.
General Dominia di Mephitoli is the former Governess of the United Front—that’s essentially President of the United States. She’s widely known in her world as one of the most dangerous living martyrs, and she’s one of Earth’s most formidable fighters, with 1000 battles to her name. But as she runs around with her weird friends—Basil, the sapient dog, René the Franco-Japanese professor of English, and, of course, the aforementioned Miki Soto—it becomes apparent that Dominia’s quest to resurrect her wife has further-reaching implications. Especially when Dominia discovers what’s really going on with Basil, and that there’s no limit to her own abilities—or reality.
May 13, 2019
Spotlight – Dark Spiral Down
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About the Author
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After a career in medicine, Mike Houtz succumbed to the call to hang up his stethoscope and pursue his other passion as a writer of fast-paced thrillers. A rabid fan of authors such as Clancy, Mark Greaney, Vince Flynn, and Brad Thor, Mike loves series writing with strong characters, fast pacing and international locations, all of which explode into action in his debut novel, a 2017 Zebulon Award winner. When not at the keyboard, he can be found on the firing range, traveling for research across the globe, or trying out the latest dry-fly pattern on a Gold Medal trout stream.
He lives at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
His latest book is the thriller/international/action novel, Dark Spiral Down.
Website: www.mikehoutz.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelhoutz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.mikehoutz/
https://www.facebook.com/mike.houtz.77
About the Book:
Title: DARK SPIRAL DOWN
Author: Michael Houtz
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Pages: 377
Genre: Thriller/International/Action
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BOOK BLURB:
COLE HAUFNER is a reluctant superstar in the professional mixed martial arts world. After his latest fight, his wife and child perish in a car crash. His grief deepens when his brother, BUTCH, a Delta Force operator, is absent from the funeral and reported missing by two furtive strangers who show up unannounced at the burial. Despairing, and acting on a tip, Cole travels to his childhood home in southeast China, looking for his brother.
Butch and his teammate, HAMMER, are the sole American survivors of a gun battle between their unit and North Korean commandos, both sides fighting over possession of a stolen suitcase containing a miniaturized fusion device that could either provide unlimited clean energy or be converted to an undetectable bomb seven times more powerful than a nuclear explosion. Leading the North Koreans is the sociopath, Commander PARK. Pressed into helping the Koreans is a disgraced former CIA operative, BARRETT JENNINGS.
Cole meets with the uncle who raised him, MASTER LI, and is warned to stop his search for Butch. Barrett discovers Cole’s identity (with the help of a genius computer hacker, LILLY), which opens a twenty-year-old wound when Barrett was blamed for the disappearance of Cole’s father, along with the man’s invention. Barrett enlists the 14K organized crime syndicate to help capture Cole. Hammer, separated from Butch during the fight for the device, thwarts the gang’s attempt to kidnap Cole, and the two then set off to find Butch and the device. All parties converge on the city library where Butch, now disguised as a monk, is attempting to communicate with the Pentagon. Barrett and Park capture Butch, while the 14K gang nabs Cole.
Danger mounts as Chinese authorities begin investigating foul play within their borders. Cole fights his way free of the gang and reunites with Hammer. Both men find Barrett’s apartment and discover Lilly (the man’s stepdaughter), who divulges Barrett’s identity and plan. Cole clashes with Hammer, who is willing to sacrifice Butch in order to recover the fusion device. Lilly offers her help in exchange for her and Barrett’s rescue from Park’s grip. Meanwhile, Barrett discovers the true nature of the case the North Koreans are pursuing and, sensing he and Lilly are to be assassinated by Park once he has the device, frees Butch. Butch, trusting Barrett was sent to rescue him, leads the turncoat to the site where he hid the device. Barrett, hoping to make a quick fortune selling it, shoots Butch before escaping with the case.
Cole, along with Hammer and Lilly, arrives at the location of Butch and finds him gravely wounded. Butch fingers Barrett for shooting him and for stealing the case. Cole wants only to save his brother but Butch makes him promise to kill Barrett and recover their dad’s invention. The revelation that the device is his father’s scientific discovery propels Cole forward to fulfill his brother’s mission. Cole is forced to abandon Butch at a hospital. Cole pursues Barrett to a remote dock where the ex-CIA man is planning to escape China by boat. With the Chinese military now actively looking for Cole, Cole confronts Barrett and Park sparking a gunfight. Barrett kills Park. As Barrett turns the gun on Cole, Hammer kills Barrett. Cole, Hammer and Lilly escape via the boat, and the fusion device is safely returned.
Praise for Michael Houtz Books
“If you’re in the market for a fast paced, action filled, page-turning thriller, Mike Houtz delivers a must-read novel. I highly recommend this emotional rollercoaster of a book for every die-hard thriller reader…Get it ASAP!”
~Lima Charlie Review
“…this work proves that author Houtz is undoubtedly a rising star in the publishing world.”
~Andrea Brunais, Author
“Mike Houtz takes us on fast-pace adventure in Dark Spiral Down, a thrilling ride along the border between China and North Korea, where Cole Haufner is in pursuit of his Delta Force brother and a device that has the potential to change the world forever or destroy it.”
~Dan Grant, Author
“Dark Spiral Down is a phenomenal debut novel by Mike Houtz. This book has everything readers of the genre love: a great plot, memorable characters, and a powerful voice. It’s a must-read!”
~Ammar Habib, Bestselling & Award-Winning Author, Editor-in-Chief of Thriller Magazine
ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon
Book Excerpt:
Anger born of helplessness rose in his chest. In contrast to Master Li’s placating tone, Cole straightened to his full height and stared into the man’s face. “Let me guess, more 14K cowards?”
Another man stepped forward and cocked his pistol’s hammer. “I show you coward.”
As at the Crowne Plaza earlier, Cole refused to back off, even in the face of impending conflict. “The coward is the man who needs a gun.”
The other with the shotgun pointing at Cole’s chest stood only some seven or eight feet away. “You will come with us now!”
“Please. Violence is forbidden here,” Master Li spoke again. “The Temple is sacred. We cannot have this type of behavior.”
“Maybe you don’t hear so good,” the leader sneered. “He comes with us whether you approve or not.”
“He is a famous American! If you take him, the government will arrest anyone involved. They will have no choice but to hold immediate trials and executions.” Master Li cupped his hands together and held them against his chest.
“Famous American,” the man chuckled. “If you are so famous, what are you doing here then, huh?”
Cole stared straight into the man’s eyes. He took several steps toward the shotgun-wielding thug. “How about I show you?”
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May 12, 2019
Book Blast – Dreams That Never Were
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About the Author
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Greg Messel grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and lives on the Puget Sound in Edmonds, Washington, with his wife, Jean DeFond. Dreams That Never Were is his 11th novel and is a historical fiction account of a young reporter caught up in the events surrounding the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Greg has also written a series of mystery novels set in San Francisco in the 1950s. He has lived in Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming and Utah and has always loved writing, including stints as a reporter, columnist and news editor for a daily newspaper. Greg won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a colunist and has contributed articles to various magazines.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
About the Book
Title: DREAMS THAT NEVER WERE
Author: Greg Messel
Publisher: Sunbreaks Publishing
Pages: 296
Genre: Historical Fiction
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BOOK BLURB:
On June 5, 1968 Senator Robert F. Kennedy, then a candidate for President, is mortally wounded by assassin Sirhan Sirhan in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Among the innocent bystanders who were also shot that night is a young idealistic reporter from San Francisco, Alex Hurley.
The tragic incident changes his life as he’s swept up in the turbulent events of 1968. Alex is conflicted about the Vietnam War after spending several months there as a reporter. The war costs him his first marriage and threatens to tear his family apart. However, he meets a woman who’s love restores his hope and together they forge a new life set against the backdrop of the war, the civil rights struggle and political upheaval in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Alex Hurley’s story is part political thriller and partly a romance in Dreams That Never Were, the latest historical fiction novel by award winning author Greg Messel.
The title comes from a famous quote of Robert F. Kennedy’s “Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’”
ORDER YOUR COPY:
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Book Excerpt
I heard unfamiliar voices talking.
“He’s starting to open his eyes,” someone said.
“That’s a great sign,” commented another.
I detected a pain in my side, just below my rib cage. I tried to open my eyes, but they seemed to be glued shut. The voices resumed—talking about me as if I wasn’t there. Finally, I blinked my eyes, trying to focus, and soon realized I was in a hospital bed. Standing by me, with concerned looks etched on their faces, was an odd collection of people from my life.
Through my bleary eyes, I saw my ex-wife Brenda; John Greer, my photographer pal from San Francisco; and Darlene Harvey, the reporter from the Los Angeles Times, I’d been admiring from afar since I had arrived in Southern California.
Brenda moved forward and tenderly gripped my hand in a way that she had not done for a long time.
“How are you, Alex?” she asked softly.
I gave a weak shake of my head. “I dunno. What happened?”
“Don’t you remember, mate?” John jumped in.
“Remember what?” I mumbled blankly, as my weak voice tailed off into nothing.
“He’s still coming out of the drugs. Give him a minute,” Brenda pleaded. “They’ve been keeping him kind of doped up since the surgery. This is the first time I’ve been able to talk to him.”
“Surgery?” I asked.
Brenda shushed me and gently ran her long, slender fingers through my hair. “Take it easy. Don’t try to talk right now. Take your time. Then we’ll help you understand what happened.”
I groggily attempted to get my bearings. “We were at the hotel. Everyone was celebrating Bobby’s victory. I was following him out of the ballroom, and there was like a riot. I was suddenly on the floor and couldn’t get up. It was strange. All of these people kept stepping on me—on my arm and on my legs.”
I glanced at my right hand which was heavily bandaged. “I got knocked down. I’m sorry. Everything is a little hazy. I’m having trouble getting my brain to work.”
The three people hovering over me could not have been more different—two beautiful women and John, with his long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and a scruffy beard covering his face. The trio exchanged concerned glances, whispered, and nodded at one another. I started to shift in my bed and was met with a jolts of pain in my side and my leg.
Brenda attempted to lighten the mood. “I was afraid you’d wake up in your hospital bed, see your ex-wife standing over you, and think you’d died and gone to hell.”
I gave her a weak smile, while the others chuckled to break the tension.
Brenda was trying to make sure my re-entry was a slow descent, but that strategy was quickly dashed when John started blurting out all the details of the last 14 hours. “Take it easy, Alexander. You’ve had surgery. You were shot, man. They removed the bullet. The doc says you’re going to be fine. Some people from San Francisco are on their way down here, including our boss. Everyone’s been worried about you after they saw the news.”
“The news? I was shot?”
Brenda glared at John. “Way to go slow, John. Senator Kennedy was shot. You and some other people were also wounded by the assassin.”
“No, no, no!” I yelled. “Bobby was shot? No, not this time! This wasn’t supposed to happen! Assassin? Is Senator Kennedy going to be all right?”
John moved closer. “Bobby’s just down the hall. He’s still alive, but he’s not doing very well.”
“Not doing very well?” I snapped with rapidly accelerating alarm.
John blundered ahead. “This place is like a fortress. It was hard to get in here especially onto this floor. Cops are everywhere.”
“Maybe we should go,” Darlene said shooting a glance at John. “We’ll come back later, Alex. We just had to see you. We were so worried.”
“No, no, don’t leave right now,” I pleaded. I repeated what I had been told to try to take in the enormity of the news. “Senator Kennedy was shot. How could… how did it happen?”
Brenda nodded to John and Darlene. “I’ll stay with him. I know you must be very busy.”
Darlene leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. She was dabbing tears from her eyes. “It’s been a long night. We’re all living in a nightmare. I’m so sorry, Alexander. It’s good to see you awake.”
Darlene grabbed John by the elbow and pushed him towards the door. John flashed a peace sign. “Peace, my brother. I’ll see you a little later. Take it easy and get better. I’ve got to call San Francisco. Everyone’s anxious to hear about you.”
After they departed, I tried to shift to get a better look at Brenda. She looked great. Her long black hair cascaded onto her shoulders. It was longer than I had ever seen her wear it. She wore a lime green mini dress with white trim and white boots.
“Where am I, and what time is it?” I quizzed Brenda. “Actually… what day is it?”
“It’s Wednesday,” she checked her wrist watch. “It’s about a quarter to two.”
“At night? What happened to Tuesday?!”
“You had surgery earlier today, and I just got to town. I came straight to the hospital. I flew down as soon as I heard about the assassination attempt. Your name was on the television as one of those wounded with Bobby. I caught the next plane to LA to see you.”
“Uh… wow… that’s… I mean, I’m overwhelmed. That’s a lot of money. Is that all right with Tom?”
“I was very upset, and Tom immediately offered to fly me down here to see you.”
“That’s very nice… of you… and your husband.”
“Alex, I don’t think you’ve grasped what’s going on outside this room. It’s a national crisis. I wish you could look out the window at the street below. There are barriers up, and hundreds, if not thousands, of people are lining the street in the front of this hospital. News about the shooting is on TV constantly.”
“Where’s Senator Kennedy now?” I groggily asked.
“Here. Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite have been on CBS saying something has happened to the fabric of our nation. There are signs everywhere that say ‘Pray for Bobby.’ The raw footage of the shooting has been shown over and over again on NBC. You’re right. After the shots were fired, it was like a riot. When I turned on my television, not only did I see Bobby bleeding on the floor in the pantry, but I saw you on the ground with a pool of blood under you. You were wearing a blue blazer, lying on the floor on your side against the wall.”
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May 9, 2019
VBT – BLIND WALLS
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Blind Walls
by Bishop & Fuller
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GENRE: Urban Paranormal
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BLURB:
It’s a monstrous maze of a mansion, built by a grief-ridden heiress. A tour guide, about to retire, has given his spiel for so many years that he’s gone blind. On this last tour, he’s slammed with second sight.
He sees the ghosts he’s always felt were there: the bedeviled heiress, her servants, and a young carpenter who lands his dream job only to become a lifelong slave to her obsession. The workman’s wife makes it to shore, but he’s cast adrift.
And the tour guide comes home to his cat.
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The pairing of Bishop and Fuller is a magical one. . . . It’s a brilliant opus, melding the past, present, and future with intimate, individual viewpoints from a tightly arrayed cast of believable characters in as eerie a setting as might be dredged out of everyman’s subconscious searching. . . . Blind Walls offers a weird alternative world, featuring a blind man with second sight and an acerbic wit as its charming, empathic hero. —Feathered Quill
These characters are so well developed that one has to think of them as live people – laughing with them and crying with them, even getting old with them. This is an amazing story based on the Winchester Mansion and told with such quiet, compelling, raw humanity that the reader simply can’t stop until the entire tale is told. A wonderful, spooky look into others lives and what may or may not happen on any given day. -—Dog-Eared Reviews
Bishop and Fuller have constructed a story rich with imagined detail and visionary ideas about life’s possibilities. The cast of ghostly characters, servants, workman, and family light up the story with dramatic effect as their actions and choices are observed. . . . The authors’ prose is effortless and moves easily from humorous to weighted seriousness. The dialogue is perceptive, giving voice to compelling characters and particularly to the tour guide whose second sight he confers on the readers. The latter will not want to look away from the myriad rooms of Weatherlee House. —US Review of Books
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EXCERPT
As always, I stood by the Here sign under a fig tree sprinkled scantily with small ripe figs. Behind me, as always, I felt the looming massive labyrinth of Weatherlee House.
Being a short man, I habitually assumed a military stance, stretching myself upward at least a quarter of an inch. My clipped hair, which I’m told is mostly gray, added gravitas to my otherwise bland face, or so I imagined. My tour guide’s uniform—crisp navy blazer, burgundy rep tie—bulged only modestly at the midriff. A brass name plate, over the buttoned pocket where my heart might be, labeled me Raymond Smollet. My round wire-rimmed black glasses were the only discordant feature in my demeanor. The fact is that I am blind.
The figs and my necktie hue I knew only by report. The wire-rims made my nose itch. I had tried wrap-arounds, but my supervisor Mr. Bottoms said they looked creepy. In fact, Management surely discerned that I looked even creepier with wire-rims. I could intuit patrons peering in sideways at my fixed milky orbs, a perfect match for those haunted-house billboards that sucked them in. People would pay top dollar to visit alien worlds where the only true risk was blurring a snapshot.
Today was the final day of my life and now the final hour. Final, at least, for life as I had lived it. I stood cockily under my fig tree on the brink of my retirement—a Friday that marked the completion of thirty years as a tour guide of Weatherlee Ghost House.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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Conrad Bishop & Elizabeth Fuller’s 60+ plays have been produced Off-Broadway, in regional theatres, and in thousands of their own performances coast to coast. Their two public radio series Family Snapshots and Hitchhiking off the Map have been heard nationally. Their books include two previous novels (Realists and Galahad’s Fool), a memoir (Co-Creation: Fifty Years in the Making), and two anthologies of their plays (Rash Acts: 35 Snapshots for the Stage and Mythic Plays: from Inanna to Frankenstein.)
They host a weekly blog on writing, theatre, and life at http://www.DamnedFool.com. Their theatre work is chronicled at http://www.IndependentEye.org. Short videos of their theatre and puppetry work are at http://www.YouTube.com/indepeye. Bishop has a Stanford Ph.D., Fuller is a college drop-out, but somehow they see eye to eye. They have been working partners and bedmates for 57 years.
Website: http://www.damnedfool.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indepeye/
Conrad Bishop Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AConrad+Bishop&s=relevancerank&text=Conrad+Bishop&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
Elizabeth Fuller Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AElizabeth+Fuller&s=relevancerank&text=Elizabeth+Fuller&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2
Conrad Bishop Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4352.Conrad_Bishop
Elizabeth Fuller Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4350.Elizabeth_Fuller
Conrad Bishop Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conrad.bishop
Elizabeth Fuller Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizful
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/indepeye/videos
e-book 99 cents from Smashwords. Can do preorders during tour, receive it June 1st. Will be $2.99 after preorder period.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/925035
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Bishop & Fuller will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Enter to win a $25 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Thanks for being my guest today. Tell us about you both.
I and I are us. We write in collaboration, have done so for five decades, mainly in theatre, now in fiction. Not remotely famous, but we’ve made our living that way, and only with work we believed in. Check out our memoir, CO-CREATION. Yes, and we sleep together too.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
Probably Anton Chekhov, if he were alive, maybe just a casual chat about passers-by. Since he’s not, possibly Roger Waters or Peter Gabriel—just because we love their music—though it might be a trial to us all. No idea, though, why they’d want to hang out with us, which would make a big difference—though maybe we’re buying the drinks.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
It derives from the enticing (though mostly fabricated) legend of the Winchester “Mystery” House—a grief-stricken widow with a mad obsession—which formed the heart of a play we produced in 1997. But multiple stories intersected with it, often fragments of people we’ve known, marriages gone askew, fulfilled desires becoming rat traps, etc. Just the stuff of life. First draft was in 2013, and lots of words under the bridge between then and now.
What is your writing process?
Very regular but chaotic. Our first plays were written with small kids running around and sometimes on a 12-week tour to a half-dozen states. So there are lots of brief spurts at the keyboard but also regular morning and late-night hours, and periodic joint conferences for feedback, improvisation, and brainstorming. CB likes coffee shops with lots of people around; EF likes her desk with two cats curled up.
Tell us about your main character:
The “main character” will depend on the reader’s own heart. Dominating all is the heiress Sophia Weatherlee, appalled at her isolation, her childhood guilt, her own cruel impulses, her obsessions . . . Emotionally, we’re much closer to Chuck and Dee, high school sweethearts whose lives are radically affected by Weatherlee’s obsession. And the storyteller Raymond Smollet, a blind tour guide who narrates the action as he sees it happen—we might be partial to him because he does the least harm to anyone and loves his cat.
If your book was to be turned into a movie, who would play the lead role and why.
Maybe Javier Bardem playing Sophia Weatherlee: he’s good at controlled madness. Joking: we don’t keep up with the current crop of actors, by name anyway. Though we could see Woody Allen as the blind Tour Guide.
What are you working on next?
A novel (working title MASKS) about a family of touring players in the Middle Ages intersecting with the gods of the Norse pantheon. In 5th draft right now. Plus revising a bunch of old short stories—a good gauge of how far our skills have evolved.
What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?
Get famous somehow. (In other words, we don’t know.) Seriously, though, from our many years of theatre work, we found that the market, the money, the resources change constantly, at least every 5 years. What works now may be dead in the water very soon. Just keep trying stuff, and if you’re lucky—and very persistent—you’ll catch the wave.
What is your favorite book on your shelf right now?
Right now reading a lot of memoir: ANGELA’S ASHES (Frank McCourt); THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING (Joan Didion); LIAR’S CLUB (Mary Karr).
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
For CB: stage directing, acting, sculpture, design, carting out the garbage.
For EF: acting, musical composition, electrical wiring, carpentry, sound engineering, bookkeeping, cooking.
You are given the choice of one super power. What super power would you have and why?
Hearing: to hear the public conversations that aren’t full-voiced but are hushed. Knowing others’ lives is absolutely vital to any form of storytelling.
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List 5 things on your bucket list:
Live longer.
Gain readership.
Visit China.
See lots of films.
Read faster.
Where can readers find you on the web?
For our weekly blog & writing: www.DamnedFool.com. For our theatre work: www.IndependentEye.org. For video trailers: www.YouTube.com/indepeye.
Any final thoughts?
At our age, one doesn’t like to think about having final thoughts.
May 8, 2019
Book Blast – BY THE LIGHT OF EMBERS
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Shaylin Gandhi will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
It’s 1954, and twenty-two-year-old Lucia Lafleur has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. While sock hops and poodle skirts occupy her classmates, she dreams of bacteria and broken bones—and the day she’ll finally fix them.
After graduation, a letter arrives, and Lucia reads the words she’s labored a lifetime to earn—”we are pleased to offer you a position at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.” But in the midst of her triumph, her fiancé delivers a crushing ultimatum: forego medical school, or forego marriage.
With fractured hopes, she returns home to Louisiana, expecting nothing of the summer of ’54 but sweet tea and gumbo while she agonizes over her impending choice. There, she unexpectedly befriends Nicholas, a dark-skinned poet whose dignity and intellect are a salve to her aching heart. Their bond, initially forged from a shared love of literature, soon blossoms into something as bewitching as it is forbidden.
Yet her predicament deepens when a trivial misunderstanding between a local white woman and a black man results in a brutal lynching, and the peril of love across the color lines becomes chillingly real. Now, fulfilling her lifelong dream means relinquishing her heart—and escaping Louisiana alive.
Read an Excerpt
I didn’t realize I’d drifted off until Nicholas touched my hand, startling my eyes open. He lay on the blanket a few feet away, watching me. His twilight eyes were as heart-stopping as ever, his lashes so long they nearly brushed his brows.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” he said. “I wanted to get here earlier. You don’t know how envious I am, seeing you nap. I stay up half the night for all the work I should’ve finished while here with you.”
His mouth curved gently, though a sliver of sadness showed in the bow of his lips. I wondered if he intended the words to distract me from what I had to ask.
“What happened last night?”
“Nothing you need to worry over, little bird. Everything’s alright now.”
He didn’t elaborate. Around us, cypresses reared skyward like cathedral columns while soft light filtered through the canopy and dusted our faces with tiny islands of radiance. As always, the pristine silence of the swamp circled steaming waters, but today, something menacing lurked beneath it all.
“How can it be alright? They’re talking all over town, about how someone attacked the Widow Magnusson in the street.”
His face lengthened. “You heard about that?”
“I couldn’t not hear about it.”
He looked away.
Fear bubbled up from somewhere deep. “Who’re they talking about?”
“Does it matter?”
The same maddening answer Gertrude Mays had given. But she’d said it maliciously, while Nicholas imbued the words with grief.
“Will it always be like this?” I said, frustrated. “Will there always be secrets, things you can’t tell me?”
“Yes,” he said.
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About the Author:
SHAYLIN GANDHI secretly stole her mother’s copy of Clan of the Cave Bear at age ten, and fell madly in love with love stories. Now, as an author, she still can’t get enough, and the tales she spins all center around affairs of the heart. To her, that’s what makes a story truly worth telling.
Besides writing, she tries to stamp her passport at every opportunity. Traveling has been a lifelong passion, and she’s lucky to have done it a lot. Shaylin and her husband once spent an entire summer living in their van while touring the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alaska. Her most memorable trips often tie in with writing: her books are usually inspired by majestic places that stole her breath.
In addition, Shaylin practices medicine, scuba dives, plays the piano, and once rode her bicycle from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. She now lives in Denver with her incredible husband, their identical twin daughters, and two adorable rescue dogs. The family can usually be found in the mountains, either hiking up or skiing down.
You can find Shaylin online at http://www.shaylingandhi.com or on Twitter @shaylingandhi. Please get in touch—she would love to hear from you!
Website: www.shaylingandhi.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShaylinGandhi
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaylingandhi/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaylingandhi/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NPNWZ3B/ref=x_gr_w_bb
Shaylin Gandhi will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
April 30, 2019
Release Blitz – Anathema
About the Book
Title: Anathema
Author: Yoshiyuki Ly
Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance
Prepared to die for her country, Solaire Copeland is drafted to the Drakengard knighthood at twenty-two years old, and vows to stop running away from the one she loves. Guarding over her dark secrets in shame, she nevertheless takes a leap of faith and entrusts herself to her intelligent equal in Stella Azrith, an alluring, measured, and methodical young woman of magic. Solaire elevates her love for Stella in romantic showmanship and subservience, even as the two of them struggle to understand one another through their temperamental differences. Anathema is a historical fantasy romance that tells the tale of Solaire and Stella’s courtly relationship in their youth, as they grow into their characters—Archangel Vespair and Mistress Fury—from The Scorpion’s Empress, Venus and Lysander, and Black Waltz as a prequel to the existing trilogy.
Desperate to keep Solaire at home, Stella conspires to prevent her from getting sent off to fight in an unjust war for their country, the Monomyth of Astora. In her scheming at the highest levels of government, she forms an unstable alliance with Fey Murasaki, the wicked and wily ambassador from Astora’s closest foreign ally. Stella and Fey’s influence across the land slithers in the darkness while Solaire’s knightly powers shine to alarming levels in the light, causing them to become targets—for both good and ill—of the nation’s most powerful leaders. Through intensifying mortal perils, Solaire’s love for Stella deepens to maddening levels, restrained only by her distinct sense that her free will erodes more each time she kneels in fulfilling servitude.
Independent streaks contradict religiosity in service of loving a woman with a will so strong—Solaire bears both the light and the dark of enlightened empathy and burning hatred, with her secrets fueling her rise as the strongest knight of an age.
Author Bio
Yoshiyuki Ly was born in San Diego, CA. Her pen name represents her multiracial heritage and a unique, diverse outlook that reflects in her work. She is a writer and a gamer, primarily inspired by thought-provoking, well-written video games such as the Shin Megami Tensei, Dark Souls, NieR, and Drakengard franchises.
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Buy the book: http://mybook.to/anathema
Website: http://yoshiyuki-ly.livejournal.com/
Links to previous publications:
mybook.to/blackwaltz
mybook.to/venusandlysander
mybook.to/thescorpionsempress
April 28, 2019
SOUP: THE FUTURE IS PAST AND PRESENT
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SOUP The Future Is Past and Present
by Travis Haugen
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GENRE: Adventure/Mystery
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BLURB:
Scott Yonge exploded onto the national consciousness at the 2001 Garrett Awards and quickly rose to legendary status on the wings of his music and his whirlwind romance with independent film actress Michelle Zoe. What should have been a perfect life was interrupted by an ultra-right wing militant group called the American Freedom Force and its leader, Colonel Randall, who forces Scott to choose between his life and that of his son. After his heroic sacrifice, his family is left to pick up the pieces and forge ahead to a future in the vacuum he left behind.
Now, in 2021, his son Hedley inherits music for himself, becoming a star in his own right as technology gives new life to the medium. Scott’s daughter, affectionately known as Soup, throws herself into unravelling the mysteries of her family’s history. Michelle commits herself to keeping them all together and trying to make sense of life without the one she loves. Through it all, the AFF looms in the shadows, threatening to resurrect the pain they have just begun to overcome.
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EXCERPT
August 25, 1967
The weekly outing had become something of a ritual for them. Friday nights, after supper, they would head out to the country with their hearts pumping and the radio blaring, riding on a wave of blinding optimism. They’d drive for hours, most times talking and laughing about nothing at all. Other times they’d settle into a comfortable silence, speaking without speaking.
They’d been silent for some time when the boy was drawn in by a pretty song on the radio. She was lost in it too, absorbed as though in a trance. The boy looked to his mother. She looked back with warm sadness in her eyes. He felt her love wrap around him as she smiled. She was about to say something when the crunch came. The boy could almost hear the sound of her silent scream as her head snapped to the side at an impossible angle. That’s all there was. He never got to hear what she wanted to say.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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Travis was born and raised in the prairies of Saskatchewan, lived in Calgary for over 25 years and presently lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Travis Haugen has spent forty years of his life touring on the road as a musician and has spent hundreds of hours in recording studios. Travis spends much of his time writing songs, writing stories, playing music and spending valuable time with his family and close group of friends.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/travishaugenauthor
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqaM4LNQNrpOckyStlBj7yA
Where Soup Is Sold:
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000048943105/Travis-Haugen-Soup
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/soup-15
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/soup-travis-haugen/1129764065?ean=2940161773833
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/soup/id1439628462?mt=11
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=9781525529306&c=books
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Travis Haugen will be awarding a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Enter to win a $30 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Thanks Travis for being here today. Tell us about you as a person.
All the things that I do, stem from music. I work as a computer consultant during the day. I got into computers through music. When the first digital audio work stations came out, I had to learn to run them on my own. The computer stores were not interested, there was no money in it for them, so I spent many an hour in the early days figuring the darn machines out. From there it led to what I do for a day time job. I am also an avid postal history collector. I specialize in the 1870-1897 Canadian Small Queen (Victoria) issue. My work with computers mingled with my love of collecting. I have conducted philatelic internet auctions for Bow City Philatelics since 1989. Another aspect of my life that defines me, is that I do not drive. I had eye operations in 1980 that left me clinically blind at the time. As a result, I took to a bicycle for my means of transportation. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. I ride 365 days a year, rain, snow or shine, and the benefits to my health, physical and mental, are invaluable.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
Without question, Albert Einstein! I think he has the best mind of the past century. To think that he came up with the theory of relativity in his spare time, while working as a clerk, is rather astounding. But beyond that, his love of humanity, and his search for peaceful means to bring us all a better life define him as a great human being. He was a kind, gentle, humble man, with a great intellect, and was a hell of a violinist to boot!
What’s the story behind your latest book?
SOUP is the third book in the One Song series, and the first to be published. I spent 40 years of my life as a professional musician, touring Canada and the United States. Those were great times. I wanted to share those times with people, so I took those experiences and wrapped them around a fictional character named Scott Yonge, then wrapped Scott Yonge around a story of mystery, suspense, intrigue, family drama, romance, and a touch of comedy.
SOUP is the continuing story of the second generation of the Yonge family.
What is your writing process?
I do most of my writing while riding my bike back and forth to work. Be it music or prose, the inspiration hits me while doing other things especially riding. My mind relaxes and allows the inspiration to create the song or the story in the background while I float through the air on my bike. Later when I get home, I sit down to the computer for the prose, or a guitar or piano for the music and lay down what came to me throughout the day.
Tell us about your main character.
The story revolves around Scott Yonge. Scott was a Canadian Prairie boy who lost his father to alcohol, lost his mother in a car crash at the age of 10, and hit the road at the age of 14 when his only remaining relative died. He remained on the road, for many years before ending up at the 2001 Garrett Awards in Los Angeles. That night changed his life as well as the life of those around him and the woman who would become his future wife, independent actress Michelle Zoe, who was a presenter at the awards that night.
If your book was to be turned into a movie, who would play the lead role and why.
When I think of Michael J Fox in his roll from Back To The Future, I see the sensitivity, the positive approach to life and his sense of comedy portrayed in that movie as the qualities I would like to see in the actor who plays Scott Yonge.
What are you working on next?
Candy and I are working on the edit of Hedley, the second book in the series, and the next one to be released. We are also working on the music and the prose for the fourth book in the series, so stay tuned!
What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?
My advice is to work, and work, and work, and don’t stop working when the book is finished. You need to work equally as hard or harder to get the book out there. That is as important as the book itself. Candy made me realize that the book does no good sitting on a shelf in a dusty box in your basement.
What is your favorite book on your shelf right now?
The Book OF JOY by The Deli Lama and Desmond Tutu.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
I can wiggle my ears, and of course, I can sing, and play a variety of instruments.
You are given the choice of one super power. What super power would you have and why?
I think the power of positive thinking is the greatest power of all, and you don’t have to be a super hero to possess it. It is a trait, one that can be learned.
List 5 things on your bucket list:
I want to go on a river cruise down the Rhyne, or the Mississippi with Candy and her parents
Retire from my full-time consulting job
Move to Edmonton, so Candy and I can work closer together on the One Song Series
Watch Candy’s dogs Carl and Murphy grow to a ripe old age
Watch the entire Grey’s Anatomy Series
Any final thoughts?
This quote from Thomas S Monson says it all:
The Past is behind, learn from it
The Future is ahead, prepare for it
The Present is here. Live it
April 22, 2019
Book Blast – VIVI’S LEADING MAN
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Emily will be awarding two prizes each containing ebooks Mist and Smoke, the first two books in the Smoky Blues series, to randomly drawn winners via Rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
EXES AND OHS
The marriage was one of convenience. She had status and he had money. But… there was something there, and both of them felt it. After three years of him working long hours and her spending too much time at the Durango Street Theatre, Miguel Abonce and Vivienne Heiser called it quits. One year later, they are forced to work together to save or sell the theater. In the process they discover things they never knew about each other and they learn there’s more between them than burning up the sheets. They might really love each other after all.
Read an Excerpt
He should pull away. Instead, tightened his hold while he plundered her sweetness. They clung together for long moments, their moans the only sound in his ears. When he pulled back, he looked into her eyes, dimly lit by the streetlights and a waxing moon in the night sky. “Well,” he murmured softly as he took in her swollen lips and her glazed expression. “Was it as good as it used to be?”
His question seemed to snap her out of her trance. “Yep. Best empty, meaningless kiss I’ve ever had.” Her words were biting, but her expression screamed sad. She pulled back and he let her go, even though every muscle in his body was dying to hold onto her.
She got into the Beamer and in typical Vivienne fashion pulled out of the parking lot a little too fast. He watched her go, his fingers pressed to his lips. It stung more than he cared to admit that she thought what he craved was empty and meaningless.
It had never felt that way to him.
About the Author:
The author of over thirty romance novels, Emily Mims combined her writing career with a career in public education until leaving the classroom to write full time. The mother of two sons, she and her husband split their time between central Texas, eastern Tennessee, and Georgia visiting their kids and grandchildren. For relaxation Emily plays the piano, organ, dulcimer, and ukulele for two different performing groups, and even sings a little. She says, “I love to write romances because I believe in them. Romance happened to me and it can happen to any woman—if she’ll just let it.”
website: http://www.emilymims.com
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/emily.mims.756
twitter: http://twitter.com/emilymimsauthor
instagram: http://www.instagram.com/mims_emily
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Emily-Mims/e/B00FQQ247K/ref=sr_tc_2_0
Buy link: http://boroughspublishinggroup.com/books/vivis-leading-man
2 prizes each containing ebooks Mist and Smoke, the first two books in the Smoky Blues series.
April 21, 2019
Spotlight – Moments That Made America
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About the Author
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Geoff Armstrong began his teaching career in 1965 after receiving a teaching diploma from McGill University’s Macdonald College. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montreal’s Concordia University in 1967 where his major field of study was history. Armstrong credits writers such as Bruce Catton, and Thomas B. Costain, as well as the encouragement of his father who had little formal education, but a deep love of reading and of history, as the inspiration for his own life-long interest.
Throughout a 25-year teaching career he taught history at several grade levels and learned quickly that to reach the hearts of his students, history had to be made immediately and deeply relevant and accessible: that some event that took place centuries before those students were born had a direct and profound influence on every aspect their lives. He also learned that talking down or writing down to his students was a recipe for defeat. It is this awareness, shaped by a quarter century of teaching and countless questions by thousands of intelligent young people that has informed and shaped his writing.
His latest book is Moments That Made America: From the Ice Age to the Alamo.
You can visit his website at www.MomentsThatMadeAmerica.com.
About the Book:
Title: MOMENTS THAT MADE AMERICA: FROM THE ICE AGE TO THE ALAMO
Author: Geoff Armstrong
Publisher: History Publishing Company
Pages: 254
Genre: American History
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BOOK BLURB:
From its geological birth during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent millions of years ago, through the nation-shaping key events that led to its political independence from the British superpower, and other crucial, sometimes miraculous events that worked to create the nation, Moments That Made America: From the Ice Age to the Alamo explores those defining moments, both tragic and inspirational that profoundly shaped the nation and its people – crucial turning points that worked inexorably to mold and make America. These pivotal “tipping” events formed America’s geographical, sociological, political and historical landscape. Part 1 culminates with the discovery of gold in California and the role it played in fulfilling America’s dream of Manifest Destiny.
ORDER YOUR COPY AT AMAZON:
Moments That Made America: From The Ice Age To The Alamo
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Book Excerpt:
Excerpt from Chapter Three: The Road to Revolution
On the 19th of June, with twelve hundred men and officers, the British army began its march. Braddock’s forces moved slowly, building roads as they advanced. By the 8th of July, Braddock had arrived within 12 miles of Fort Duquesne. Typical of British thinking concerning military action in North America, Braddock failed to send out scouts or set up advance guards. In splendid European-style formation, their bright scarlet uniforms glowing in the summer sunshine, Braddock and his men moved against the French Fort. Washington had spent time in the region and knew it well. He understood the style of fighting they would have to face and recognizing the danger, he tried to persuade Braddock to set up proper security, but Braddock, suffering from what turned out to be terminal arrogance, ignored Washington’s experience and advice.
At about noon they crossed the Monongahela River. The road on which they now marched led through a valley and along two concealed ravines covered with trees and deep grass. What Braddock didn’t know, thanks to his haughty refusal to employ scouts, was that the ravines concealed 600 Native American warriors and 250 French soldiers all armed and waiting.
As soon as the British reached the ravines, the woods in front of them erupted with musket fire as the French and their Native American allies unloaded their weapons into the British. Stunned by the unexpected attack, the leading British troops were hurled backward into their advancing rear units, throwing Braddock’s regulars into hopeless confusion. Disorganized and gripped with fear, hammered by volley after volley of musket fire from directly ahead and then from their flanks, the British struggled to fight back as their legendary discipline began to falter.
The first discharge of musket fire had targeted the officers and many had already fallen. Several times the British rallied and at one point succeeded in killing the French commander. That seemed to act as a signal to the Indians. They threw themselves at the British.
Now panic-stricken and disorientated, ignoring the commands of the few remaining officers, the British regulars huddled together in small groups, firing ineffectively into the surrounding trees and bushes. Protected by the ravines and trees, the French and Indians continued to target the officers.
The only troops who retained any hint of common sense were the Virginians. As soon as they realized whom they were fighting, they ignored Braddock and used the colonial fighting tactics they had learned from the Native Americans.
Washington’s conduct during the battle was exemplary. He refused to huddle in terror, as so many of his fellow officers did, vainly hoping to escape the death that flourished all around them. At six-foot-four and on horseback, he was the most conspicuous officer and the most conspicuous target in the entire British expedition. Witnesses describe him as riding from battered group to battered group, rallying his Virginians and attempting to rally the British regulars into following the example of the Virginians. Four musket balls tore through his coat and two horses were shot out from under him. Inexplicably, nothing touched him.
Finally, Braddock was shot through the lung and carried from the field. He later died of his wound.
Washington, though he was relatively far down in the chain of command, displayed the leadership for which, he would someday become famous. He was able to enforce enough discipline to form a rear guard and allow what was left of the British expedition to retreat.
British losses were appalling with more than 900 dead and wounded. According to most records, only one mounted officer survived the engagement that would become known as the “Battle of the Monongahela”, but should have been called the “Monongahela Massacre”. That officer was George Washington.
He should have died that day. Just one more unknown, low ranking colonial officer, one more casualty in a poorly executed British offensive, his name lost in the mists of history. How Washington managed to survive is beyond explanation and it was only the first of such miraculous escapes. Had he lost his life, the America we know would not exist, or if it did somehow come into being, it would certainly be profoundly different. His survival in the face of almost impossible odds also gives substantial evidence to many, that both Washington and the nation that would someday become America, were under the protection and guidance of Divine Providence.
Washington himself recognized that his survival that day was highly improbable. A few days later, in a letter to his brother John, Washington himself wrote about this. “By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!”
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April 17, 2019
Spotlight – The ‘Real’ American Diet
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About the Author
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Born & raised in the small town of Mullins, SC, by God-fearing parents who instilled religion into his life at an early age, he’s had an insatiable appetite for knowledge since birth. God blessed him with a keen, analytical mind, & an almost feverish desire to help others. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran, married to the love of his life, with five wonderful kids, & a deep passion that still burns within him to help the less fortunate, through whatever means necessary. The correlation between what we eat & the epidemic-like rise in diseases of today has the author on an impassioned mission to get to the bottom of what he thinks is a big conspiracy by our government & Big Business.
His latest book is The ‘Real’ American Diet.
Website Link: http://diet4america.wix.com/real ,
Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/kcasrkev1
Facebook Link: http://facebook.com/kcasrkev
About the Book:
Title: THE ‘REAL’ AMERICAN DIET
Author: Kevin Alston
Publisher: Xlibris Publishing
Pages: 48
Genre: Memoir/Nonfiction
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BOOK BLURB:
This book is a culmination of the author’s life, but mainly the past 10 years, where personal tragedies have led him to discover more about the correlation with food, nutrition & the diseases of today, & how it affects us all.
This program is an experiment of sorts, with the author using himself as the guinea pig, with positive results having been discovered, & hopefully, in time, even bigger positive results yet to come.
Between our government & Big Business, we, the people, are already involved in an experiment. It’s like a big laboratory. With all of the harmful toxins that are allowed in our air, food, & water, diseases are at epidemic-like levels, & the author, for one, would like to know if there is more to this than is being told to us. It speaks volumes when other nations refuse to accept grains & meats from us, or at least it does to the author.
Most of the ailments we suffer from today emanate from our guts, & our poor diets keep the sickness-wheels turning, costing each of us millions of dollars, a whole lot of heartache, pain, & suffering. It’s time to make a change, & that change started with the author’s experiment on himself.
ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon
Book Excerpt:
Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
IF YOU’VE BEEN dieting forever with very mixed results, then you’ve finally come to the right place. These lifestyle changes that I am recommending will be like no diet that you have ever attempted, so if you combine what I’m about to teach you with the proven methods that Dr. Joel Fuhrman teaches you in his books—Eat to Live is the best one to start off with—you will be well on your way to attaining your goal of losing the dreaded weight that you have been desperately seeking to get rid of for so long.
Book Trailer
