C.A. Milson's Blog, page 83
October 11, 2023
Twice Upon a Midnight
When once upon a time…becomes twice upon a midnight… With a masked ball, evil stepfather, jealous half brother, and unlikely fairy godmother, TWICE UPON A MIDNIGHT is a Cinderella story that readers of Regency romance will love!
Twice Upon a Midnight
A Regency Cinderella Story
by Anna Harrington
Genre: Regency Romance
WHEN ONCE UPON A TIME…BECOMES TWICE UPON A MIDNIGHT
When Lady Elenora Darby returns to London, what better way for her parents to introduce her—and attract suitors—than to throw a masked ball? But Ella prefers poets to peers, and in the dark gardens, she encounters a man she knows nothing about…except that he loves poetry. Before she can learn his name, midnight strikes, and he vanishes, leaving behind only one clue to his identity—a glove embroidered with his initials.
As the Duke of Pensworth’s unwanted stepson, Spenser Rhodes has nothing to do with society…until he meets Ella. He knows they have no future. After all, the daughter of a duke deserves a peer, not a printer. Yet Ella is determined to find her masked man. As her search brings them closer, more than society is keeping them apart—so is Spenser’s half brother Simon, who wants Ella for himself.
With a masked ball, evil stepfather, jealous half brother, and unlikely fairy godmother, TWICE UPON A MIDNIGHT is a Cinderella story that readers of Regency romance will love!
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Anna fell in love with historical romances—and all those dashing Regency heroes—while living in London, where she studied literature and theatre and found herself lost nearly every day. A USA Today best selling author, she loves to travel, fly airplanes, and ballroom dance, and when she isn’t busy writing her next novel, she can usually be found in her garden, fussing over her roses. She loves all things chocolate and coffee, is a terrible cook, and hopes one day to use her oven for something other than shoe storage.
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Signed copy of A Problem Princess by Anna Harrington,
Signed Copy of A Remarkable Rogue by Anna Harrington
– 1 winner each!
(US Only. If international winner is chosen, a gift card will be substituted.)
October 10, 2023
Jake Desmet Adventures
Sunken treasure, haunted shipwrecks, experimental technology, and steam-powered adventure!
Iron & Blood
A Jake Desmet Adventure Book 1
by Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin
Genre: Supernatural Steampunk Adventure
Hell with the lid off.
Jake Desmet and Rick Brand, heirs to the Brand & Desmet Import Company, travel the world to secure treasures and unusual items for the collections of wealthy and supernatural patrons, accompanied by Jake’s cousin, Veronique “Nicki” LeClercq. Smuggling a small package as a favor for a Polish witch should have been easy. But when assassins come after Jake and a Ripper-style killer leaves the city awash in blood, Jake, Rick, and Nicki realize that dark magic, vampire power struggles, and industrial sabotage are just a prelude to a bigger plot that threatens New Pittsburgh and the world.
New Pittsburgh in 1898 is a crucible of invention and intrigue, the hub of American industry at the height of its steam-driven power. Born from the ashes of devastating fire, flood, and earthquake, New Pittsburgh is ruled by the shadow government of The Oligarchy. In the abandoned mine tunnels beneath the city, supernatural creatures hide from the light, emerging to feed in the smoky city known as “hell with the lid off” while their masters scheme to change the balance of power.
Stopping that scheme will require every ounce of Jake’s courage, every bit of Rick’s cunning, every scintilla of Nicki’s bravura, and all the steam-powered innovation imaginable.
Iron & Blood is a steampunk action adventure filled with daring escapades, armed airships, vengeful vampires, mysterious magic, found family, mad doctors, quirky inventors, clockwork zombies, and loyal friends.
Spark of Destiny
Jake Desmet Adventure Book 2
Sunken treasure, haunted shipwrecks, experimental technology, and steam-powered adventure!
When Brand & Desmet airlift occult valuables out of Havana during the 1898 naval conflict with Spain, they get far more than they expect. A shipwreck with experimental tech and magical relics sparks a race to retrieve the goods—and the winner might turn the tide of the war and the balance of power.
Jake Desmet, Rick Brand, Nicki LeClercq, quirky inventor Adam Farber, and agents from the Department of Supernatural Investigation race goons, ghouls, and ghosts to salvage the cargo, finding themselves in the crosshairs as attacks come from all sides.
Amid the struggle for control of the Caribbean, supernatural forces battle for the upper hand. European warlocks covet the spoils of war, while the island witch dynasties seek to break free of foreign empires.
Can Rick, Jake, and their friends retrieve the missing shipment, or will dark magic and betrayal sink their chances?
Spark of Destiny is a steampunk action/adventure filled with clockwork creatures, armed airships, vengeful ghosts, cursed relics, strange cryptids, nefarious schemes, found family, loyal friends, and plenty of explosions!
**Coming Soon! **
Watch for it on the Authors’ Website!
Storm & Fury
A Storm & Fury Adventures Collection
New Pittsburgh, 1898 – a crucible of invention and intrigue. Born from the ashes of devastating fire, flood and earthquake, the city is ruled by the shadow government of The Oligarchy. In the swarming streets, people of a hundred nations drudge to feed the engines of progress. The Department of Supernatural Investigation was set up to take care of those things that live below, that go bump in the night… those odd cases that go beyond ‘standard’ investigation. Nicknamed ‘Storm and Fury’, Mitch Storm and Jacob Drangosavich are two of the more creative agents, working in New Pittsburgh and obeying the rules – when they have to.
A collection of short stories and novellas set in the world of the Iron & Blood novels and the related Storm and Fury Adventures.
Includes: Airship Down, Ruin Creek, Resurrection Day, The Hunt, Grave Voices, and Rogue. Plus two bonus stories: Ghost Wolf and a Steampunk fairy tale: The Patented Troll
Peacemaker
Sharps & Springfield Book 1
by Morgan Brice (aka Gail Z. Martin)
Secret agents, forbidden love, danger, and magic!
Supernatural Secret Service agents Owen Sharps and Calvin Springfield meet on the train to their new assignment in St. Louis, and sparks fly between them. But it’s 1897, and they need to be very careful—falling in love can be dangerous for men like them.
It’s their first case together, investigating mysterious disappearances—including the two agents who preceded them. Grim evidence leads them to look for a darker purpose. Old ghosts haunt the railroad line, zombie rise, signs point to ritual sacrifice, and they suspect someone is trying to open the gates of hell.
Can Calvin and Owen stop the mayhem, thwart the vampires, and find true love, or will everything go up in smoke?
Peacemaker is a high-stakes steampunk MM romance thrill ride filled with found family, paranormal Pinkertons, intrepid reporters, mysterious disappearances, nefarious land brokers, hellhounds, zombies, vengeful spirits, dark spells, absinthe magic, a ruthless vampire railroad baron and a love that won’t be denied.
Before Colt and Winchester, there was Sharps & Springfield!
Peacemaker is the first book in the new Sharps & Springfield series.
Gail Z. Martin discovered her passion for science fiction, fantasy and ghost stories in elementary school. The first story she wrote at age five was about a vampire. Her favorite TV show as a preschooler was Dark Shadows. At age 14, she decided to become a writer. She enjoys attending science fiction/fantasy conventions, Renaissance fairs and living history sites.
Larry N. Martin is the author of the new sci-fi adventure novel Salvage Rat. He is the co-author (with Gail Z. Martin) of the Spells, Salt, and Steel/New Templars series; the Steampunk series Iron & Blood; and a collection of short stories and novellas: The Storm & Fury Adventures set in the Iron & Blood universe. He is also the co-author of the upcoming Wasteland Marshals series and the Joe Mack Cauldron/Secret Council series.
The Martins have three children, a Maltese, and a Golden Retriever.
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$20 Amazon
a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
MY THOUGHTS ARE COLOURED PURPLE
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will award a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
This is a book of poems on love. Love is a universal language. Love yourself, love your neighbours, love your parents, love your siblings—even love your enemies. Most of the poems are on romantic love. When you are in love, you get an awesome feeling. You walk on the clouds. However, love can be unrequited, unanswered and can bring an awful feeling.
Love is in the movies, in songs, and in music. Love is in this book of poems, ever so strong and powerful. It’s there for you to enjoy.
Read an Excerpt
When we get together
My heart can’t rest, fluttering when I see your memes,
My blood surges, spatters inside, and bounces; it steams.
I don’t know what these mean in my life, my friend,
It’s like a quest but don’t have to guess.
I think that only you can tame this heart of mine,
Stop my blood from rushing wildly, and make me fine.
From where you are, give me a sign
That it’s alright and that God will send you soon to be mine.
Right now, I am taking a step closer to be with you,
So, I am in constant elation as I think of you.
It’s not Coldplay, you are my universe,
Trust me, we will surmount these obstacles and be together someday.
About the Author
When Marina left her home country she began to write her experiences living a life which was completely different from what she was used to. She became a nomad, visiting several countries where she never put down roots. My Thoughts Are Coloured Purple is the result of staying stuck in North America during the pandemic. She picked up her love of poems.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/My-Thoughts-Are-Coloured-Purple/dp/0228882311/ref=sr_1_1
October 9, 2023
RACING THE DREAM
Racing the Dream
by M.T. Bass
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GENRE: Action and Adventure
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BLURB:
“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.” ~Mario Andretti
Strap down the 5-point harness in the cockpit of a Formula 1 air racing plane and join Hawk as he chases victory! First on their amateur make-shift course over Antelope Acres, then on the re-emerging pylon racing circuit in the early 1960s. And finally, as Hawk battles 7 other top-level pilots at the very first National Air Racing Championship event in Reno!
Abandoning the cloth and his African mission, Father Bob returns to his slide rule to design Hawk’s racer. Sparks, his loyal yet surly mechanic, built it and wrenching both on the engine—as well as on Hawk—keeps them at the front of the pack. Home again in Los Angeles from behind the stick of a T-6 Texan as a mercenary in the Congo civil war, air racing is a new aviation adventure for Hawk. Ride along as he tangles with fellow pilots in “uncooperative formation flying” at two-hundred miles per hour a mere fifty feet off the ground!
And then one day cruising home to Van Nuys airport, Hawk spies Allison, a beach-blonde surfer girl, insanely wing walking on the top wing of a Stearman PT-17 bi-plane. He quickly sets his sights on her.
Fly low…Fly fast…and Turn Left…
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EXCERPT
Chapter 1 — Antelope Acres
I chased Scotty down the long straightaway. Three hundred feet back. A hundred feet off the ground. One hundred seventy knots.
Quick looks at the panel: Thirty-six hundred RPM. Look: engine oil pressure—green. Look: oil temperature—green.
All good.
Banking hard into the “pylon” at W Avenue G and Myrick Canyon Road over the desert, a shadow on the ground to my left crawled toward my British Racing Green colored wing. He had to be outside. You can’t look to the right. It’s just not safe. But the sun was behind us…
I lofted a bit in the eighty-degree turn—climbed twenty feet or so—then quickly dove back down to close another hundred and fifty feet on Scotty, picking up a bit of his wake turbulence.
Rolling out and down the front straightaway, I found smooth air twenty-five feet above his hot red Jensen Cassutt.
We used the crossroads, a pile of rocks, a little hump in the desert sand, and a windmill water pump to set up our three-mile oval course. I knew Scotty from Van Nuys, but the other three guys were new, from other SoCal airports. We were all on “Company Frequency,” one-two-three point four-five. We joined up in a loose formation for a pace lap, then got down to business with a flying start.
Like Henry Ford said, racing began five minutes after the second airplane was built. And that’s where Father Bob came in. There were a ton of modified Cassutts out there. Anybody could buy the design for $20. But Father Bob used his engineering skills to develop and, with Sparks’ help, build White Hawk Redux, an 85 horsepower, Continental C-85 Goodyear racer that we were pushing over two hundred miles an hour.
It was all unofficial because, after fifty years of glorious history, airplane racing fell off the face of the earth for a while in the Sixties. There were no sanctioned races around anymore, so we made up our own course, kicking up dust devils and rooster tails over the desolation of Antelope Acres. Our version of California street drags.
Of course, I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I was learning fast.
Around the windmill and up to the forty-foot hump in the sand. I chased Scotty down foot by foot. I knew I could take him.
Only two laps left. It was now or never.
Banking hard into the crossroads, I juiced the power up near four thousand RPM and pulled back on the stick to take Scotty up and outside.
But dammit, I missed him—
In my peripheral vision, a Tweety-yellow racer on my right came toward me.
I flattened my wings and rolled off the power sweeping below him to keep from colliding. But I caught the tornado of his wingtip vortices and involuntarily flipped inverted.
A Joshua tree bloomed overhead in my canopy as I arced upside-down towards the ground at two-hundred-fifty feet. Gravity pulled my shoulders down against the straps of my five-point harness.
Without thinking, back pressure on the stick moved quickly forward to illogically raise the nose with a nudge of left rudder to roll level and maxing out the power…
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.
Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. He is the author of twelve novels, two novellas, and a book of verse. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.
M.T. Bass Author Links
Website: https://www.mtbass.net
Blog: https://www.owl-works.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/owlworks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Owlworks
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/mtbass
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5270962.M_T_Bass
Racing the Dream Purchase Links
Author Web Site Info Page: https://mtbassauthor.wordpress.com/racing-the-dream-white-hawk-aviation-stories-3/
Amazon (Kindle Unlimited): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CCSVMSQV
Stories by M.T. Bass
White Hawk Aviation Adventure Stories
My Brother’s Keeper
Jungleland
Racing the Dream
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Murder by Munchausen Sci-Fi Thriller Series
Murder by Munchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible Mind
Motherless Children
Murder by Munchausen Trilogy: Books 1-3
***~~~***
Article 15
Somethin’ for Nothin’
In the Black
Crossroads
Lodging
Untethered
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
M.T. Bass 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 Amaon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Q&A With …
Tell us about you as a person.
We are all rebels in our own ways. I wanted author “action” shots” for my book covers. When I was releasing Somethin’ for Nothin’, Colin at the Lakewood Book Shoppe let me get bio photos at his store and lent me an old typewriter he owned, which gave me a really big idea. I found a 1940s Royal at a local antique flea market eight years ago, then began creating memes with the typewriter and famous quotes from authors, and that’s what I use on my back covers. You can find all the memes on my website under the category “Scribblers Scribble” at http://www.mtbass.net
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
Wilber and Orville Wright on December 17, 1903, to be there when they conquered the air for the very first time. Yeah, I know that’s two people, but I’m a rule-breaker.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
Racing the Dream has been on my “to-do list” for a long, long time. I live near Cleveland, Ohio, where air racing was a huge annual event—drawing a hundred thousand spectators every year from 1929 until it ended in 1949. Formula 1 racing actually stopped for four years in the early 1960s but was revived by Bill Stead in Reno, Nevada in 1964. I was extremely lucky to meet Jack Dianiska, who founded the U.S. Air. Racing Association and ran pylon races in the Seventies and Eighties. He helped me with my story and became a great personal friend.
What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?
Of course, blog tours like this are extremely helpful in getting the word out about a new release. Beyond that, I concentrate on promoting my backlist with Amazon ads and I’ve recently put my books into Kindle Unlimited, so members can read them for free.
List 5 things on your bucket list:
1. Flying a P-51 Mustang
2. Visiting Australia
3. Jamming with Eric Clapton
4. Trying to keep up with NASCAR Champion Tony Stewart racing at Watkins Glenn
5. At least giving David Baldacci a run for #1
Any final thoughts?
2023 was the end of an era in aviation history. After sixty years, the local airport authority decided that the National Championship Air Races would no longer be held in Reno. The organizers—who were extremely helpful to me with my novel—have announced that they will find a new home to start up again in 2025. I wish them well.
M.E.D.U.S.A.
If you thought the Cold War was over, think again.
M.E.D.U.S.A
by Janet & Chris Morris
Genre: Action, Suspense, Techno Thriller
Pushing the Envelope
In West Berlin, Amy Brecker, an American intelligence officer, takes a chance on a walk-in informant who says that the Soviets are going to simulate an “accident” that will cripple America’s space-based defense program.
From a Soviet silo on the Sea of Japan, a single missile rises. A hotline communique from Moscow insists that a mistake has been made; the Soviets are doing everything in their power to abort the “test” flight.
Deep inside Cheyenne Mountain at the Aerospace Defense Command Center, all eyes watch its trajectory: a collision course with America’s manned space lab.
If the U.S. chooses to intercept and destroy the Russian missile, the attempt must not end in failure . . . the future of America’s entire space-based defense hangs in the balance. Only one U.S. anti-satellite weapon can foil the opening gambit of what might be a Soviet First Strike — and only Amy Brecker and her “hot stick” pilot have enough of the Right Stuff to use.
**On Sale Now!!**
Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 30 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. Most of her fiction work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written historical and other novels. Morris has written, contributed to, or edited several book-length works of non-fiction, as well as papers and articles on nonlethal weapons, developmental military technology and other defense and national security topics.
Christopher Crosby Morris (born 1946) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction, as well as a lyricist, musical composer, and singer-songwriter. He is married to author Janet Morris. He is a defense policy and strategy analyst and a principal in M2 Technologies, Inc. He writes primarily as Chris Morris, but occasionally uses pseudonyms.
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
choice of print or ebook copy of M.E.D.U.S.A. ,
$10 Amazon giftcard
– 1 winner each!
White Trash & Recycled Nightmares
The most sinister objects of fear are never truly discarded…just repurposed.
White Trash & Recycled Nightmares
by Rebecca Rowland
Genre: Horror Short Stories
A workaholic splits his time between home and hotel rooms until an anonymous cryptic message arrives, setting off a wrinkle in the time continuum and slowly shredding his sanity. Elsewhere, a woman’s jealousy over her spouse’s connection with their only child boils over, leading her to see monsters everywhere except the mirror. University fraternity brothers discover that a cruel prank has dire consequences but the full extent of their punishment is yet to come, while an intrepid hiker explores an abandoned Cold War facility hidden within a Massachusetts mountain only to realize that military secrets aren’t the only things buried within.
From witches, wendigos, and werecats to sirens, sadists, and serial killers, Rebecca Rowland serves readers a twenty-tale meal of cosmic, creature, and quiet horror in platters heaping with unsettling trepidation. In Rowland’s long-awaited follow-up to The Horrors Hiding in Plain Sight, a lighted room provides no safe haven, and in the darkest corner of the basement waits a ravenous dread.
The most sinister objects of fear are never truly discarded…just repurposed.
Includes a foreword by Mary SanGiovanni.
Advance praise for White Trash & Recycled Nightmares
“Rowland’s confident and poetic prose slices its way under your skin and lifts the veil on visceral, disturbing, and shocking terrors residing just beneath the norm.” -Tim Lebbon, bestselling author of The Last Storm
“There’s nobody out there like Rebecca Rowland. These stories are razor-sharp, clever, and horrifying in all the best ways. Read everything she’s written, starting with this collection.” -Gwendolyn Kiste, Three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens and Reluctant Immortals
“A powerfully evocative collection—packed with beautiful writing and deeply unsettling stories.” -Brian Keene
“Rebecca Rowland is a dangerous lady. She is cynical, lascivious, ironic, blood-thirsty, ice-cold, but also warmly feminist (unless the gals aren’t worth it), a guy-lover (until the boys get a little too much toxic masculinity), and at any moment, she’s ready to throw old snow beasts, walls of giant bugs, and…well, what’s your nightmare? She will hand it to you freshly minted and explode your mind. You’ve been warned. Now read this book.”-Felice Picano
“These are some nasty stories with brutal, heartbreaking endings and shocking revelations. Rowland’s characters feel like real people, so much so that you won’t necessarily want those stories to end.” -Paula D. Ashe, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of We Are Here to Hurt Each Other
“Sometimes shocking, sometimes mean, but always darkly entertaining, Rowland’s WHITE TRASH & RECYCLED NIGHTMARES makes the dread tangible in each story.” -Kevin Kangas, director of Fear of Clowns
“Rebecca Rowland comes with all guns blazing. WHITE TRASH & RECYCLED NIGHTMARES is a top-tier collection of stories that fans of horror fiction will devour. The writing and characters are strong, and the concepts are both sinister and memorable.
Make some space on your shelf for this one.” -Rio Youers
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Rebecca Rowland is the dark fiction author of two fiction collections, one novel, a handful of novellas, and too many short stories. She is also the editor of seven horror anthologies, and her speculative fiction, critical essays, and book reviews regularly appear in a variety of online and print venues. A New England native, Rebecca has lived all over Massachusetts and as a result, chooses to torture most of her characters there.
Follow her on Instagram @Rebecca_Rowland_books. For more information about her books and other writing projects, please visit RowlandBooks.com.
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$10 Amazon
October 8, 2023
THE PALIMPSEST MURDERS
The Palimpsest Murders
by Reed Stirling
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GENRE: Historical mystery
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BLURB: Day one: check-in on the Iphigenia, a Boat & Bike home for thirty guests of diverse backgrounds on a one week excursion through Holland and Belgium. Personalities clash, conflicts arise.
Day seven: a body is found in canal waters at the stern of the boat. On the final morning a second body is discovered.
Who among the cyclists and crew is hateful and motivated enough to kill? Twice. How are the two murders related? Why two coins for the ferryman? Is the phoenix jug, both admired and derided, merely symbolic? How does the death mask of Agamemnon lead to resolution?
Determining truth entails travelling from Amsterdam to Bruges to Paris to the ancient site of Mycenae in Greece where what’s past is shown to be prologue.
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EXCERPT
Day one: check-in on the Iphigenia, our Boat & Bike home for the week, was at one PM.
Day seven: at seven-thirty AM, the body of one of our group was discovered floating in the oily turbidity between the stern of the boat and the concrete quay, hawser lines creating a contorted web of fixed lines above the macabre still-life. We were all taken aback, all shocked, incredulous, some decidedly reduced to tears.
A lot of water had passed under a lot of bridges between the two events and much consideration was required before definite links could be confirmed and conclusions arrived at with any certainty, the findings of Belgian police authorities on all accounts notwithstanding. We touring cyclists were all party to it, meeting on board, socializing in gabfests or biking along the scenic byways and stopping to comment on the windmills and historic sites, and, significantly, we all had our takes on everyone, the victim included.
“Fitting entrance to the portals of Styx,” one erudite observer opined with an unobstructed view of the corpse, but by including that allusion here I’m definitely getting ahead of myself. Way ahead of myself. There was so much more.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Reed Stirling lives in Cowichan Bay, BC, and writes when not painting landscapes, travelling, or taking coffee at The Drumroaster, a local café where physics and metaphysics clash daily. Before retiring and taking up writing novels, he taught English Literature. Several talented students of his have gone on to become successful award-winning writers.
He and his wife built a log home in the hills of southern Vancouver Island, and survived totally off the grid for twenty-five years during which time the rooms in that house filled up with books, thousands of student essays were graded, and innumerable cords of firewood were split.
Literary output:
Shades Of Persephone, published in 2019, is a literary mystery set in Greece.
Lighting The Lamp, a fictional memoir, was published in March 2020.
Set in Montreal, Séjour Saint-Louis (2021), dramatizes family conflicts.
The Palimpsest Murders, a European travel mystery, is forthcoming.
Shorter work has appeared over the years in a variety of publications including Dis(s)ent, Danforth Review, Fickle Muses, Fieldstone Review, and Humanist Perspectives.
Intrigue is of primary interest, with romantic entanglement an integral part of the action. Greek mythology plays a significant role in underpinning plots. Allusions to art, literature, philosophy, and religion serve a similar function. Reed sits down to write every day and tries to leave the desk having achieved at least a workable page. Frequently what comes of his effort amounts to no more than a serviceable paragraph, a single sentence, or a metaphor that might work in a context yet to be imagined.
Links:
reedstirlingwrites.com
reedstirling@gmail.com
http://bwlpublishing.ca
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bookswelove
https://authorcentral.amazon.comgp/home
https.//ca.linkedin.com>reed-stirling
Affiliated Authors @ LinkedIn
Reed stirling @ Instagram
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Reed Stirling will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
RAFFLECOPTER:
Enter to win a $15 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many thanks for having me answer your questions about me and my work as a writer. Reed Stirling.
Q. Tell us about you as a person.
A. I was born in Montreal but have lived in the Cowichan Valley, BC, since the mid-seventies. I write when not painting landscapes, travelling, or taking coffee at The Drumroaster, a local café where physics and metaphysics clash daily. Before retiring and taking up writing novels, I taught English Literature. Several talented students of mine have gone on to become successful award-winning writers.
My wife and I built a log home in the hills of southern Vancouver Island, and survived totally off the grid for twenty-five years during which time the rooms in that house filled up with books, thousands of student essays were graded, and innumerable cords of firewood were split.
Other interests include the following: cycling, skiing, golf, walking city streets and country lanes, people watching from sidewalk cafés, and most definitely reading.
As a writer, intrigue is of primary interest, with romantic entanglement an integral part of the action. Greek mythology plays a significant role in underpinning plots. Allusions to art, literature, philosophy, and religion serve a similar function. I sit down to write every day and try to leave the desk having achieved at least a workable page. Frequently what comes of my effort amounts to no more than a serviceable paragraph, a single sentence, or a metaphor that might work in a context yet to be imagined.
Q. If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
A. I would love to have hung out with William Shakespeare for a day and get a few points cleared up, but that is not possible today. The same applies to James Joyce. So in terms of today’s possibilities, I would like to hang out with John Banville and over a Guinness pick his brain about how he works to produce such interesting characters. It’s his use of language that lifts my spirits. Give me more of that wit!
Q. What’s the story about your latest book?
A. The plot of The Palimpsest Murders revolves around thirty or so characters who have embarked on a week-long Boat and Bike excursion through Holland and Belgium. The storyline begins in Amsterdam, continues in Paris, and ends in Greece. During this time, two murders happen in real time and other suspicious deaths are uncovered as part of the backstory. All are reflected in events that echo the classical past. Significantly the name of the boat is The Iphigenia.
I subtitled this novel, which is literary in tone, A European Travel Mystery. In some ways it fits the cosy mystery genre but in no way is it all that cosy because it necessitates travel, even in the imaginative sense, and a basic familiarity with characters in Homer’s The Iliad, especially with the royal murders involved in the aftermath to the Trojan War.
The idea for this novel arose when I took a one-week Boat & Bike excursion through the Lowlands. All was agreeable among the thirty guests onboard. Very enjoyable. But why not, my imagination prompted me, introduce the clash of different personalities in close quarters and have that lead to inevitable conflict that would result in two murders?
Thus, plot possibilities. As to the generation of innumerable characters, many fell into place most readily:
-Geoff Canter, a sound editor, becomes the protagonist and narrator.
-Frank Veridis, the wry observer, takes on the role of commentator.
-Journalist Lucy Hunter, an investigative journalist from London, enters and evolves as Geoff’s companion sleuth.
-Lucy Hunter’s associate is Vanessa De La Croix, a professional photographer, Irish.
-Melinda Mancipal, from Cambridge, is ex-military. She proves to be both insightful and off-putting.
-Mitchel Monk, the American midwesterner, emerges as an aggressive counterpoint.
-Inspector Visser, a retired cop from Amsterdam, operates in a liaison role.
-Preeminent on centre stage is the Steele Corps: it consists
for the most part of Conrad (control freak), Kat (bitch), Boyd-Alexander (identity crisis); the group is identified as sophisticated wealth but with dire issues that complicate peaceful enjoyment of the collective get-away experience.
-Alexsis Troyes, Kat’s resentful daughter, drives much of the action, a prime source of manifest conflict.
-The Classical Greek character Electra (prototype for Alexis) surfaces toward the conclusion of the narrative.
Other characters (among the thirty or so, including crew) have their time and place in the developing scenes on the Iphigenia but cannot be dismissed as playing mere supporting roles. Keeping control of so many characters with individual personalities was a challenge, especially where action turns initially upon the treacherous murder of one of them.
My fascination with ancient Greek lore inspired me further. Thus, palimpsest and understanding how the gold death mask of Agamemnon leads to resolution. Determining the truth of the matter entails travelling from Amsterdam to Bruges to Paris to the ancient site of Mycenae in Greece where what’s past is shown to be prologue. Thus, A European Travel Mystery.
Q. What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their latest book?
A. Promoting a new release can be very time consuming. Much of it requires working online. My advice to other writers who want to get the word out about their latest book is to consult with their publisher and have a battery of blog interviews or Q and A sessions (such as this one with you) organized that will be available to interested readers. Book signing in local shops or at book fairs is also a possibility, but that’s very traditional.
Q. List five things on your bucket list.
A. 1. Have a Guinness with John Banville in a Dublin pub.
2. Watch in person the Tour de France on a climb in the Alps.
3. Play another round of golf in the Algarve, Portugal.
4. Win the lottery so I can help all my friends and family out and all the institutions that have seen to my welfare.
5. Become a bestseller.
Q. Any final thoughts?
A. My final thoughts relate to the research involved in writing a novel. In composing The Palimpsest Murders, I had notes to depend on from my European adventure, notes on Amsterdam, Bruges, and Paris, to name only the larger centers involved in the story. Research done in situ is very gratifying, Greece for Shades Of Persephone and Montreal largely for Lighting The Lamp and Séjour Saint-Louis. Reading other fiction can also be a source of helpful information. Simple observation of people helps in many ways, verisimilitude being the objective of the observation whatever the setting.
Cape Avalon Series
Angsty but sweet Women’s Friendship Fiction stories.
Return to Sandpiper Cottage
Cape Avalon Book 1
by W.M. Andrews
Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Clean Romance
She had to lose everything to figure out what truly mattered…
Rachel Whitney is lost. Alone. She needs a place to heal and figure out where her life went wrong. Where she went wrong. But the emotional—and financial—scars her late husband inflicted on her complicate everything. Now, her only sanctuary is the last place she ever wanted to see again.
Sandpiper Cottage.
She’s not surprised to find the house her aunt left her in disrepair. It’s also just her luck that the only available handyman was once the boy who let his friends torment her in high school.
She can now confidently say her misery is complete.
But the good thing about rock bottom is that there’s only one place left to go. And it’s not long before she realizes it is possible to build a beautiful life for herself—maybe even a life that includes a second chance at love.
The only real question now is if that life will be at Sandpiper Cottage, or somewhere else?
Return to Sandpiper Cottage is an angsty but wholesome and enchanting Contemporary Women’s Fiction novel. Readers of all ages and backgrounds will love the empowering message at its heart.
This women’s friendship fiction book will bring you all the feels. If you love women’s fiction with a side of clean romance, this is a great fit for you.
**On Sale for Only .99cents until Oct 20th!!**
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Shelter at Sugar Beach
Cape Avalon Book 2
She’s determined to avoid romance and happily ever after. Life has other plans…
Veterinarian Tina Archer is grumpy and proud. Being widowed young from a terrible marriage can do that to a person. But she’s been living life to the fullest and isn’t a bit sorry.
Until a routine medical exam reveals the toll her freedom-loving lifestyle—and the stress that comes with being a single mom—has taken on her health.
She knows it’s time for a life makeover and she’ll do what needs to be done.
But when her son’s Big Brother program matches him with the annoyingly charming Clark, everything gets really complicated. Because how is she supposed to handle a man who seems so eager to knock down all the walls she’s built around her heart?
All Tina knows for sure is that it’ll take a lot of soul searching—and help from her friends—to figure out if a second chance at love is worth the potential cost.
She can only hope Clark will still be around when she sorts it (and herself) out…
Shelter at Sugar Beach is an angsty but wholesome and delightful Contemporary Women’s Fiction novel. Readers of all ages and backgrounds will love the empowering message at its heart.
This women’s friendship fiction book will bring you all the feels. If you love women’s fiction with a side of clean romance, this is a great fit for you.
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Harbor by the Sea
Cape Avalon Book 3
No one talks about what happens when happily ever after goes wrong…
Fall in love, get married, have babies. It was a simple dream.
Evelyn accomplished the first two easily. She almost had it all.
Almost.
But after three years of aggressive fertility treatments, all she had to show for her efforts was a broken heart and a painful rift in her marriage. She’d hoped that a dream vacation to the south of France would heal her and her relationship with her husband.
Then Eric suggested she go alone, and she started to question everything.
Did he want a divorce? Or did he just need a break from their shared grief? Evelyn wasn’t sure. All she knew was that if she wanted to find a way to reconnect with Eric, she had to learn to love herself again.
And what better place to do that than a harbor by the sea?
Harbor by the Sea is a sweet, angsty, romantic, contemporary women’s fiction read about hope, the importance of finding one’s own joy, and the enduring power of love. Download today and get ready to root for Evelyn and Eric’s second chance romance.
This women’s friendship fiction book will bring you all the feels. If you love women’s fiction with a side of clean romance, this is a great fit for you.
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I learned to read when I was four or five, listening to my mother read to me when I was lonely after my brother started school. Ever since, I’ve had my head buried in books. I love words – historical plaques, signs, the cereal box – but my first love has always been novels.
A little over ten years ago my husband dared me to write a book instead of always reading them. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it, but to my surprise I love writing. Those early efforts eventually became my first published book – Tempting the Earl (published by Avalon Books in 2010). It has been a thrilling adventure as I learned to navigate the world of publishing.
I believe firmly that everyone deserves a happily ever after. I want my readers to be able to escape from the everyday for a little while and feel upbeat and refreshed when they get to the end of my books.
When not reading or writing, I can be found traipsing around my neighborhood or travelling the world with my favorite companion.
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$10 Amazon
October 5, 2023
QUANTUM REACTION
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Marc Wayne will be awarding a $10 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.
Life-altering tech is on the horizon, and someone wants it stopped—permanently. Can a murder witness escape paying the ultimate price?
Near future. Angela Kapp struggles with her past. Working remotely from an isolated cabin in a dead-end customer support job, she drinks too much and spends her days avoiding the world. But while on shift using a visual-interpretation headset to assist a blind person, the cynical loner is horrified when she virtually experiences the other woman’s gruesome slaying.
Shocked the next day when she recognizes the killer closing in on a second sightless client, Angela shouts for the software engineer to run. And after learning that he and the first victim are connected by a soon-to-be-released teleportation innovation, she convinces him to go to ground in her secluded home… only to become a target herself.
Can her paranoia and his unexpected skills thwart a sinister plot?
Quantum Reaction is a gripping science fiction mystery. If you like resilient heroines, unique blind heroes, and high-adrenaline action interwoven with humor, then you’ll love Marc Wayne’s flash forward to adventure.
Buy Quantum Reaction to take a leap into tomorrow today!
Read an Excerpt
“Hurry!” Angela called, attempting to take in everything as fast as possible. She had to guide JT safely through the T station. Rushing around close to fast-moving trains wasn’t safe for a fully sighted, agile youth, let alone a blind man like him.
JT hurtled down the stairs, making the image on her screen dim as he left the bright sunlight into the poorly lit subway. The staccato of the drums outside echoed against the concrete stairway and competed with her chest’s pounding.
Despite all the talk of upgrades to the T system, trains still screeched and rumbled below, their wheels and brakes protesting the rapid stops and starts.
Suddenly she was back in her nightmare.
Running through the night, flashes of light everywhere, rumbling and shattering the air.
“Angela!” JT yelled as he stumbled into someone when he reached the first landing, nearly falling from the collision and losing his white cane.
She snapped back. Aghast she had lost focus at a critical moment, she said, “Sorry. Another flight in two. You’re clear.”
As JT hurried down those stairs, she added, “After the next landing, one more flight, then straight to the fare gate.”
Biting her lip, she concentrated on her screen. She would not screw up again. “Okay, now straight,” she instructed as he reached the next landing.
But instead of going straight, he leapt sideways.
Abruptly everything turned black on Angela’s display.
“JT!” she screamed.
For the second time in eighteen hours, her view had disappeared.
About the Author:
Marc Wayne writes thrilling sci-fi mysteries. After publishing 8 novels in another genre under a different name and having several best-sellers, he has turned to his first love: sci-fi.
His years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley honed his writing skills and sense of humor. Writing fiction was part of Marc’s everyday work for many years—these were just called ads, emails, and other marketing materials.
To Marc, it often felt like he was living at the intersection of technology and the future, where things you dreamt about could often become possible. After that, writing near-future sci-fi hasn’t felt like such a stretch.
Book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour.
Buy Quantum Reaction at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCNHVWR3
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Marc@Marc-Wayne.com
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Head Case
A workplace rivalry. An isolated campus. A tragic death.
Head Case
by Bonnie Traymore
Genre: Psychological Thriller
“Traymore masterfully created a sinister, atmospheric setting that perfectly suited the plot.”Readers’ Favorite, 5 stars
A workplace rivalry. An isolated campus. A tragic death.
Never make a major life decision in the wake of emotional turmoil. Cassie Romano learned this the hard way, leaving sunny San Diego for a teaching position at a private school in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York after a painful break-up left her heart-broken and in need of a change.
It all seemed so perfect in June when she came to interview. But now it’s December, and she’s stranded on top of a mountain surrounded by snow, ice, and acres of wilderness, lonelier than ever and bored out of her mind.
When a fellow teacher turns up dead and Cassie receives a cryptic letter from her a few days later, it’s clear to Cassie that something strange is going on at Falcon Ridge Academy. Everyone seems to be writing the death off as a tragic accident, but she’s not so sure.
Cassie has secrets of her own, though, so she’s initially reluctant to get involved. Torn between the urge to protect herself and the desire to investigate further, she decides on the latter.
And the consequences could be deadly.
Bonnie Traymore is an author, educator, and consultant. A world traveler, she loves to include vivid settings in her novels. She is also an accomplished non-fiction writer, historian, and educator with a doctorate in United States History. She has taught at top independent schools in Honolulu, Silicon Valley, and New York City for over 20 years, and she has taught history courses at Columbia University and the University of Hawaii. Originally from the New York City area, she resides in Honolulu with her husband but frequents the Hudson Valley and New York City areas.
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$10 Amazon giftcard,
ebook of The Stepfamily by Bonnie Traymore
– 1 winner each!
