C.A. Milson's Blog, page 9
April 14, 2025
Cowboy Watch
Someone—or something—wants Kellen out of town . . .
Kellen Brand’s inheritance comes as a monumental shock—
a
rundown farm she doesn’t want and one paroled Watcher all her own.
Cowboy Watch
The Watchers Book 1
by Petie McCarty
Genre: Paranormal Small-Town Romantic Suspense
The Watchers
Series—
Fallen angels cast out of heaven by the archangel Michael for coercing
with Satan to gain control. Some of these turncoats—duped late in the game by
Satan’s lies—doubled back to seek redemption for their unwitting
betrayal. Offered parole in exchange for penance,
these Watchers are given the toughest bodyguard missions with little
leeway for success.
One last chance.
These are their stories . . .
Someone—or something—wants Kellen out of town . . .
Kellen Brand’s inheritance comes as a monumental shock—a rundown farm she
doesn’t want and one paroled Watcher all her own. Kellen’s
eccentric mother believed Watchers to be fallen angels seeking
penance by guarding individuals who had lost their way. Seriously? A Watcher?
Only her mother . . .
Since Kellen vows no sane woman would choose to live in
Riverside, she’s on a mission to dump the old farm fast and to the first buyer
who comes along. Unfortunately for her, the only buyer is a
resort developer, spurned by a townful of objectors and one handsome cowboy—her
neighbor, Luke Thornton. Luke must block Kellen’s farm sale or risk exposure of
his own family’s secrets. He can ill afford his immediate and compelling attraction
to his new neighbor.
Someone is watching Kellen, but not who she thinks. Someone
deadly and intent on scaring her out of town. Or worse. Luke has a
hellish choice to make—step in and rescue Kellen from her threats, or to
protect his family, stand by and watch . . .
**On Sale for Only $1.99 for a limited time!**
Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt
Disney World—”The Most Magical
Place on Earth”—where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by
day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her
new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said good-bye to
her “day” job to write her stories full-time.
These days Petie spends her time writing new Cinderella
series tales, her new The Watchers series, sequels to her regency
time-travel series, Lords in Time, and more contemporary romance standalones to
go along with her two previous releases—Any Fin For Love and Ambush
in the Everglades.
Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee
with her horticulturist husband and an opinionated Nanday conure named Sassy
who will make a cameo appearance in the upcoming Book 2 of The Watchers series,
Christmas Watch.
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Petie McCarty (US only)
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BEING BROKEN
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Geoffrey R. Jonas will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
A young woman dies alone in a hotel room, her fentanyl-poisoned cocaine still on the desk. She had been missing for nearly 2 weeks. Social Services had been trying to find a place for her to live with her 3-year-old son, whom she had left with her parents. Six months later her father fights for his life in intensive care, but succumbs to his illness because of a lifelong use of alcohol and tobacco. A month after his death her mother is assessed by doctors to be unable to care for herself because of her Alzheimer’s and mental health issues brought on by benzodiazepine and alcohol addiction.
The son, brother, stepson is the only one left to pick up the pieces. He begins a journey of the self and finds out the truth of his family. After going over letters, notes, emails, videos, and text messages, he uncovers a disturbing picture of the abuse his sister suffered at the hands of their parents. He also begins to better understand his own struggles with mental health and substance addiction because of the trauma and abuse he also suffered from their parents.
Follow the son as he looks through his family history to discover the generational abuse that trickled down through the years. Learn about how parents who suffer from narcissistic personality disorder emotionally abuse and manipulate their children. See how the abuse and trauma becomes mental illness in the abused, and how they fall into vicious traps of addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Witness the transformational change of the son as he works on the recovery of his inner child and tries to become the man he was meant to be.
Read an Excerpt
Essay: Fault vs. Responsibility and Blame
Before I continue, I wanted to interject a discussion on fault versus responsibility and blame. My ability to have forgiven my father all came down to a discussion with my therapist on whether they were at fault for my trauma, or if they were responsible or to blame for that trauma.
Human beings are not born with instincts. A baby left on its own will die. It will not search for food, it will not try to move or walk, and its only means of communication are cries. Many animals are born with instincts, such as marsupials or rodents that instinctively move to a mammary gland or an ungulate that will attempt to get up and walk or move, as soon as it is able, to find food.
With this truth in mind, the conclusion is that all human behaviour is learned from our caretakers, then our peers as we get older. Early childhood development dictates that children learn behavioural responses as soon as they are engaged by a caregiver. If we give them love and support, they develop healthy adaptations to the world around them. If their cries are unheeded and we leave them abandoned and rejected, a myriad of mental health issues will emerge as they get older.
This leads to how we apply fault vs. blame to behaviour and choices people make as they get older. We can’t fault a child for being racist if that is what their caregiver taught them; however, we can blame them for their actions if they are cruel and make the choice to harm others because of what they learned.
Further, we cannot fault an individual that suffers from a serious mental health issue if they have learned that adaptive behaviour due to not being provided with the proper love and support as they were developing. Again, however, we can blame them for making choices that cause harm to others. It is not their fault that their learned behaviours condition them to make poor choices, but they are still choices that have consequences.
This is a key factor in generational abuse and trauma. A child that grows up in an abusive home develops poor adaptive skills and behaviours. This can lead to all kinds of poor coping skills such as abusive behaviour towards others, self-harm, eating disorders, Substance Use Disorders, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and an array of other mental health issues.
However, these disorders are treatable. It is critical that once we identify these types of behaviours, the individual begins a process of treatment and therapy to unlearn them and develop healthy ones instead. This took me years, and it is a lot of work. Many cannot do so without the proper support structures to allow it to happen. It is vital that treatment happens to end the generational cycle of abuse.
About the Author: Geoffrey is a first-time author. He lives peacefully by a lake, spending his time writing, painting, gardening, and woodworking. His recovery is ongoing, and he enjoys his privacy and seclusion.
Website: https://geoffreyrjonas.ca
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55118142.Geoffrey_R_Jonas
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/livingwithcptsd.bsky.social
Amazon: https://a.co/d/eJTO4wq
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April 13, 2025
HALL OF SHADOWS
HALL OF SHADOWS
Mariah Stillbrook
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Horror
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
In the quiet life of Tess Moreau lies a remarkable power-her touch revives ashes, defying nature’s laws. When she uncovers a mysterious book linked to her grandmother and a witch’s coven, her journey begins. Guided by a cursed deck of oracle cards, Tess delves into The Hall of Shadows, a realm crafted by her ancestors. With each dimension traversed, she uncovers her true lineage-a descendant of mythical beings. As Tess’s humanity wanes, her destiny beckons. At journey’s end, she faces a choice: preserve or destroy the hall. In a tale of magic and identity, Tess’s odyssey may end, but her legacy is just beginning-a testament to the power within us all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
The thing about being a smudge of darkness against a black backdrop is that no one ever sees you. That is until there’s smoke. I’ve always been a creature of the night. Not like a vamp—although that would be kind of badass. I wouldn’t ever want to be like the sparkly ones, but I wouldn’t have an aversion to the cult classic: razor sharp fangs with no morals kind. Like They Thirst or Salem’s Lot, but maybe with a little more humanity left inside the creatures. I could totally rock alongside The Lost Boys.
I’ve always clung to the shadows. It’s safe there. You know, like the night sky, or the stars. The twinkle of just that small bit of light breaking through this world. It knows me, unlike this place. This place is crawling with filters that no one else seems to notice—colored lenses that sharpen the edges of what most people, if given the chance, wouldn’t want to see. My Grandma Reanin used to say the same things. I guess that’s why I make so many people uncomfortable. I look for the details most people find cringy. Imagine if they knew the truth about me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Mariah Stillbrook is the witchy author of In the Pines, Hall of Shadows, and The Lost Erwain. Originally from Iowa, she lives in Colorado with her white German shepherd, husband, and little girl. She spends most of her days writing, reading, and enjoying the occasional hike. In her late twenties she realized that her writing was missing something, magic. She now focuses her writing on urban fantasy and horror in both adult and young adult genres.
Social Media:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mariahstillbrook
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariahstillbrook/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079061712302
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mariahstillbrook
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@mariahstillbrook
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mariahstillbrook.bsky.social
Twitter: https://x.com/MStillbrook
Website: https://mariahstillbrook.com/
Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Hall-Shadows-Mariah-Stillbrook-ebook/dp/B0DFX7S8T7/ref=sr_1_1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
The Sculptor Series
The harder you try to escape, the more darkness pulls you
under.
Oblivion Black
The Sculptor Book 1
by Christa Wojciechowski
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Dark Romantic Suspense
LITERARY TITAN GOLD
AWARD WINNER
The harder you try
to escape, the more darkness pulls you under.
Art school dropout Ona Price is forced to clean up after a
near-fatal overdose on a Manhattan sidewalk. While in recovery, she lands a job
as the assistant to Antoni Azarov, the world-famous sculptor known as The Hands
of God. Though he is difficult and brooding, his extraordinary talent reawakens
Ona’s passion for art, giving her life the meaning she so desperately craved.
An undeniable attraction develops as they work together, but Antoni keeps his
physical distance at all costs. When the predatory wife of a wealthy benefactor
decides she wants the sculptor for herself, the monstrous secret that fuels
Antoni’s art threatens to destroy all.
Oblivion Black is a lush transgressive fairy tale with the Gothic appeal of a
Brontë novel. Literary fiction, romance, and thriller fans will appreciate this
intense dive into existential confusion, intoxication, eroticism, and the
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Hierarchy of Needs
The Sculptor Book 2
When
self-destruction is the only way out …
World-famous sculptor Antoni Azarov, and his muse, Ona Price are ripped apart
after a shocking act of violence sends them into their own personal hells.
Trapped in Manhattan, Ona faces her most treacherous enemy, her addiction to
heroin, while a dangerous new man claims her desire.
Antoni, an artist defamed, is hellbent on saving Ona before she destroys
herself. What he doesn’t know is if she wants to be rescued.
Meanwhile, death haunts them on every corner as a vengeful crime boss called
Warlock devours the city, poisoning its addicted population with a flesh-eating
drug.
Amid this chaos, Ona and Antoni must struggle against their darkest selves to
find a way back to each other—or else give in to the darkness forever.
The propulsive sequel to Oblivion Black,
Hierarchy of Needs is an intoxicating exploration of the paradox of love, the
chokehold of desire, and the deadly thrills of the underworld. This second book
in The Sculptor Series will leave readers fiending for more.
Darklands
The Sculptor Book 3
The intoxicating
finale to The Sculptor Series …
After cheating death in New York, Ona Price’s battle scars
run deeper than her disfigured face. Antoni Azarov orchestrates a journey to
jolt them out of their artistic dead zone. From the boozy streets of New
Orleans to the sultry shores of a Caribbean archipelago, they explore forbidden
desires, testing the limits of pleasure and pain.
No matter where their experiences take them, their personal demons hunt them
down until their journey ends on a remote lagoon called the Darklands. Will
their love survive the dark secrets that threaten to tear them apart, or will
the Darklands become the ultimate test of their commitment?
Unveil the dangerous beauty of Darklands, where the human psyche unravels in a
sensuous journey that will leave you breathless.
“Darklands is a hair-raising conclusion to The Sculptor trilogy. It
reads like a David Lynch erotic fever dream that constantly veers close to the
edge of nightmare, ending with a spiritual awakening of biblical proportions. I
wept. Adapt this into a movie at once.” —Joseph Sale, author of The Book
of Thrice Dead
Christa Wojciechowski is an American dark fiction writer who
has lived most her career abroad. She is the author of The Sculptor Series, The
SICK Series, and the founder of the Writers Mastermind virtual writing
community.
Christa’s novella “Popsicle” (Crystal Lake) was a
semi-finalist in Screencraft’s Cinematic Short Story Competition and second
rounder in the Launch Pad Prose Competition. Her short stories have appeared in
various publications and anthologies, most recently “Blood Sisters” in the
Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas (Hex Publishers), “Observer
Dependent Universe” in the Chiral Mad 5 anthology (Written Backwards), and “The
Oasis” selected for the Chromophobia anthology (Strangehouse Books).
Christa Wojciechowski is an active member of the Horror
Writers Association and editor at Gamut Magazine. She loves to play Chopin
(badly) and sip Hendrick’s gin. When she is not reading or writing, she can be
found wandering the world, collecting new experiences.
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April 11, 2025
Revary
What if we
could be the heroes we pretend to be?
Revary
by Abigail Linhardt
Genre: YA Epic
Fantasy Adventure
In a small Midwestern town, Celeste and her friends find escape from the pressures of
senior year through their tabletop roleplaying games. But when Celeste stumbles
upon a way to actually enter their imagined realm, fantasy becomes a reality.
Suddenly, the friends find themselves living out their greatest adventure. In Revary, they
can be anyone they want: brave warriors, powerful mages, or cunning rogues. But
as they explore this magical world of their own creation, they discover it is
threatened by a mysterious force that is causing the fantastic world to vanish
into darkness.
With Revary in peril and tensions rising in their world, Celeste and her friends must
navigate the blurring lines between imagination and reality. As they fight to
save their creation, they’ll confront fantastical dangers and the real-life
issues they’ve been avoiding.
“Revary is a spellbinding journey that explores the power of
friendship, the courage to face reality, and the magic of storytelling.”
–ARC Review
**NEW RELEASE!!**
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Abi works part-time as a
freelance ghostwriter, editor, audiobook narrator, and is one half of the
partnership that owns Altered Reality Magazine. She hopes to one day make these
passions her full-time job while she hunts for the next bohemian adventure.
She has published works of fiction, poetry, academia, and even won awards for
her short stories in science fiction and horror. Her novel, The Trial of Two,
was named an Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest 2021 self-publishing
awards and won first place in the dark fantasy category in The BookFest Awards.
Abi is also a proud mom of ferrets. She currently resides in Kansas.
She is one of nine children–all of whom share the creative spark.
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April 10, 2025
Beyond the Realms
A Limited Edition Collection of YA Epic Fantasy Authors on
PreOrder for 99 Pennies!
Beyond the Realms
A Young Adult Epic Fantasy Anthology
with stories by
K.M. Jenkins, Christina Wallace, Joli Campbell, Megan
Charlie, R.E. Joyce
In lands far beyond our world heroes step forward to take on
epic journeys into the unknown. They must face the thrill of adventure, love,
and magic to find themselves as they go. But when fate plays with their
destiny, they find they are on a path they never saw coming. From SwordMasters
to Fae creatures you will find a mix of fantasy creatures that will keep you
reading until the very end. Grab this limited-edition box set before time runs
out.
Written by authors of Fantasy Romance and Epic Quests, this boxset is sure to
take you on an epic journey. Featuring tales by Christina Wallace, debut author
Joli Campbell, International Bestselling author K.M. Jenkins, Megan Charlie,
and R.E. Joyce fill these pages.
Twisting tales of battle, magic, intrigue, love, and tragedy. Perfect for those
looking for light romance with epic adventures to enjoy.
Genres: Young Adult, Epic
Fantasy, Swords and Sorcery, and Fantasy Romance
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, One
Bed, She saves herself, Strong female lead, Fae, Task-based quest/epic journey,
No spice second chance romance, Epic quest, Magical test, Facing ones fears,
Hero’s journey, The mentor, and Love triangle turned inside out.
**Only .99 cents!!**
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The Swordmaster
Brothers
by K.M. Jenkins
EVERY YEAR SWORDMASTERS ARE CHOSEN. But first they have to
be tested. Together, Rikkin and Roulle must endure the trials that will reveal
their greatest strengths and weaknesses and possibly lead to their deaths. Can
two brothers survive the challenge of the GrandMaster to become the next
generation of SwordMasters? Only through overcoming their greatest fears can
they change their destinies forever.
K.M. Jenkins is a published international bestselling author that
writes epic battles, forbidden romance, and tales of fantasy and adventure. She
has a big love for the fantasy genre and loves dragons above all creatures.
When she is not writing, you will find her chasing her twin boys around
the house. Between the three she has epic battles throughout the day and
nothing ever gets boring.
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April 9, 2025
Call Forth the Moonlight
Standing up for magíq means the
world stands against you.
Call Forth the Moonlight:
A Magíqon’s Guide to Gryphon Liberation
by Z.M. Celestaire
Genre: LGBTQ Ecopunk Fantasy Romance
Deubrise is a land blessed by the breath of the slumbering gods. Magíq
lives within nature, powerful and beautiful. Few else can harness it besides
the gryphons that reside in the mountains near Nico De Falco’s home, and the
rare magíqon like Nico’s little sister. But magíqon are shunned and feared by
modern society.
To protect himself from such treatment, Dr. Ackerleigh Sebring keeps
his magíq a secret. Yet his “radical” teachings of magíqal history
gets him fired from Ravensbourne University. Desperate, he finds a gamekeeper
job caring for an imprisoned gryphon. Finally, he can be his whole self.
That is, until Nico follows a misguided impulse and frees the gryphon,
injuring Ackerleigh accidentally.
Their fates—and feelings—become entangled in their determination to
protect the sacred magíq of the gryphon. Ackerleigh and Nico will stop at
nothing for the sake of liberation.
**Order direct from the author and get
extra goodies!**
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Z.M. (they/them) is a writer,
artist, and therapist. Writing and art have been a hobby for some twenty years
now since they were a goofy little middle schooler. Z.M. grew up devouring
urban fantasy authors like Charles De Lint, Holly Black, and Patricia C. Wrede.
Z.M. lives in Saint Paul with their spouse, human child, and fur children.
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Or a $10 Amazon Giftcard (WW) – 1 winner
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April 8, 2025
Downeyoshun
A not-always-sentimental vacation to the ’50s, ’60s, ‘and
’70s. Bring your swimsuit.
Downeyoshun
by Art Young
Genre: Recent Historical Family Fiction
Sally Osterhoff is a
genius. When she grows up, she wants to be a mathematician, a teacher, and a
carpenter; and she plans to swim in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics.
Her mother has other ideas, and will emotionally and
physically abuse Sally to fit them. After all, she only wants what is best for
her child. But between her father trying his best, the family next door who
practically adopts her, and her Aunt & Uncle down in Ocean City where she
spends her summers, Sally just might have the support and love she needs to
make all of her dreams come true.
Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights struggles, the
Vietnam War, and the early Feminist movement, the story explores the power of
found family, and how unconditional love can come from the least expected
places. Downeyoshun is a not-always-sentimental vacation to the ’50s, ’60s, and
’70s. Bring your swimsuit.
Praise about
the book:
“Arthur Young will introduce you to a special world, East
Baltimore, and its vacation spot, Ocean City, with his
warm Downeyoshun. Not that life is perfect – not all mothers are
kind, and the VietNam war casts a shadow. But you’ll feel as if you’ve met new
friends as you follow his characters through the challenges of growing up. In
his skillful telling, the fabric of a family and a neighborhood comes to life.
You may even find yourself becoming a Baltimore Hon!”
–Pamela Zerba, Contributor
Atheists
in America
, Writer, Creative York Contest Winner
“Be prepared to fall in love with one of the most
endearing literary characters of the century thus far. Ultimately, this is a
book about family, the one you’re stuck with and the one you make. By the end,
Sally will feel like part of yours. You will thoroughly enjoy your trip
Downeyoshun.”
-Robert Akridge, Writer
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Art Young is a Baltimore-born U.S. Navy / Vietnam / Agent
Orange veteran and cancer survivor. He was once a carny in a traveling gadget
show, and has worked as a fire-extinguishing-system installer and serviceman, a
brewery’s route delivery salesman, flexographic press operator, licensed
boiler-plant engineer, and a storyteller. He much prefers the last.
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April 7, 2025
Shadowed Skies
His mountain
solitude shattered.
Her lab prison escaped.
Together they’ll find refuge or die
trying.
Shadowed Skies
by Haley Cavanagh
Genre: YA Clean
Dystopian SciFi Fantasy Romance
Hunted for
their blood. Fighting for their future.
River
He’s the last of his kind, a winged warrior
hidden in the mountains. River Shaw has lost everything: his sanctuary, the
only shield from a world that fears and hunts him. When Delene, another of his
kind, crash-lands into his life, wounded and on the run, his solitude is
shattered.
Delene
She’s a fugitive
with a secret, escaping the clutches of dark forces that took everything from
her. Delene Fairborne’s flight to freedom leads her to River and the spark of a
bond neither can deny.
In a landscape
scarred by betrayal and danger, River and Delene must navigate their growing
feelings and the sinister scientist who will stop at nothing to harness their
power. Shadowed Skies is where love takes wing, hope soars, and destiny
entwines. Dive into a world where every heartbeat is a rebellion, every glance
a promise, and every flight a taste of freedom.
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Haley Cavanagh is
a military veteran, wife, and mother. She was awarded the League of Utah
Writers 2020 Silver Quill Award for Retaliation, the second novel in her
Oceanstone Initiative series. Haley is an alumna of Columbia College, a musical
theater nut, and she loves to dive into any book that crosses her path. Haley
resides with her family in the United States and enjoys spending time with her
husband and children when she’s not writing. She loves to hear from her readers
and encourages you to contact her via her website and social media.
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THE MATRIARCH MESSIAH
THE MATRIARCH MESSIAH
Maxime Trencavel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: SciFi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Zara Khatum, a woman haunted by ancient visions, finds herself drawn deeper into the heart of a perilous quest. Guided by a mysterious voice, she seeks to fulfill an ancient prophecy and find the cavern of blue light – a sanctuary rumored to hold the key to saving humanity. But the path to salvation is fraught with danger, and Zara is torn between her destiny and her heart.
A shadowy organization, known as NiQihs, seeks to exploit the power of the legendary black object, the source of Zara’s visions, for their own sinister ends. They are not alone. The world’s superpowers, driven by greed and ambition, race to control the artifact, threatening to unleash unimaginable devastation.
Joining Zara in this dangerous pursuit is Rachel Capsali, a brilliant Israeli archaeologist driven by a personal quest to uncover evidence of Asherah, a forgotten goddess who held a pivotal place in ancient Israelite faith. Unbeknownst to them, both women are bound by a shared destiny – a prophecy foretelling the cavern of blue light and a final, heartbreaking truth: two women will fight to the death, and only one will save us all.
Adding to the complexity, a passionate triangle forms as Rachel vies for Peter Gollinger’s affection, a man deeply entangled in the ancient mystery. Zara, torn between fulfilling her destiny and her own feelings for Peter, finds herself caught in a web of conflicting desires.
As Zara and Rachel navigate a treacherous landscape of hidden agendas, betrayal, and relentless pursuit, their rivalry for Peter’s affections intensifies. Can love survive the forces that threaten to tear them apart? Will the quest for salvation lead to a heart-wrenching sacrifice?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Another dewdrop hits her nose. But this time, she does not wipe it off as it mingles with the drops from her eyes while she searches inside for the strength to remember that which remains unresolved in her life, with her family, with her destiny. Is he really the one? Should she reveal what should only be revealed to the one man who will bring her to her destiny?
A purse of her lips and she finally says, “Sara, my great-grandmother, she was our link to the wisdom of generations of spiritually inspired women before her.”
Still facing away from Peter, she says, “Sara liked you. She saw something in you when she first met you at that first dinner at her ancestral house when we were staging for our mission to retrieve the object.”
Turning back to him, she says, “Sara said to my grandmother Roza, her daughter, that you harbor the same light her husband, a Sufi imam, my great-grandfather, had within him when they first met.”
She points to his eyes. Blue ones which naturally go with his once-blond and now-sandy-brown hair. “Sara said the light is blue. The light we should seek is blue. The world thinks the light is white. But the one we seek, we yearn for, we die for, is blue. She so feared dying before she could find the blue light. For in the blue light, we shall return”, she said.
Peter, who knows so much trivia because he is an editor of all sorts of topics, papers, and books, is speechless until he finally mutters, “Blue? Where did that come from? I’m not getting the connection to the mystery of the ancient matriarch we solved.”
“As you had with your grandfather, your pappy, who entrusted you with an ancient family oral tradition, passed from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, as far back in time as that temple, the world’s oldest temple, which our follies led to be destroyed, so there is a line of similar wisdom passed down in my family line. But through the women. Mother to daughter and to granddaughter.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Maxime has been scribbling stories since grade school, from adventure epics to morality plays. Blessed with living in multicultural pluralistic settings and having earned degrees in science and marketing, Maxime has worked in business and sports, traveling to countries across five continents and learning about cultures, traditions, and the importance of tolerance and understanding. Maxime’s second novel, The Matriarch Messiah, was conceived, outlined, written, and edited in different locations in Belgium, including the Turkish and Kurdish neighborhoods of Brussels, in various islands of the Caribbean, in Colombia, in Madrid, Malaga, Mallorca, Spain, London, UK, and on the two coasts of the United States.
Book and author website: https://tailofthebird.com/
Author Blog: https://tailofthebird.com/blog
https://www.facebook.com/MaximeTrencavel/
https://www.instagram.com/maximetrencavel/
Links to The Matriarch Messiah pre-sale at $0.99 intro pricing (release date March 17, 2025):
https://amzn.to/4bubPb8
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/series/mystery-of-the-matriarchs
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-matriarch-messiah/id6742783963
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Matriarch_Messiah.html?id=I_9LEQAAQBAJ
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
The author will be awarding $20 Amazon/BN gift cards to two randomly drawn winners.
Enter to win a $20 Amazon/BN gift card – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Q & A With …
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
Mylène Farmer. She is a famous redheaded French singer, songwriter, and actress known for her
enigmatic persona, dark and atmospheric music, and visually stunning performances. Most of all, she is
the most successful recording artist of all time in France, with the record for most number one hit singles.
I wrote most of The Matriarch Matrix listening to a select soundtrack of her songs.
In the Matriarch Matrix, she is Father Jean-Paul Sobiros’ only visual vice. His fascination with her artistry,
but as the book progresses, we find she is a surrogate for his forbidden love of a redheaded Sister
Magali.
While very overt on stage, Mylène Farmer is a very private person, granting very few media interviews. To
spend time with her would be a rarity. As such, the day’s conversation would focus on genuine curiosity
about her artistry and creative process, rather than intrusive questions about her personal life. But I would
like to know about her choice of a monkey as her pet.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
Whereas The Matriarch Matrix focused upon a mythology passed down through patriarchal lineage, The
Matriarch Messiah gives the matriarchal legends equal billing. The legend of the cavern of the blue light is
passed down from grandmother to granddaughter. Never to be told to a man unless absolutely needed to help find their way or their descendants way back to the cavern.
But the mythology has a darker side. Two women will fight to the death so that one can save us all. In this
pursuit, Zara, the main protagonist from the first book is hailed as the next great prophetess—the next
messiah. To counter her “false messianic claim, Rachel is tasked by her sponsors to stop Zara at all
costs. Mixed between them is Zara’s paramour from the first book and a delightful love triangle tumbles
about.
At its heart, The Matriarch Messiah is a parable for how our modern society needs to strive better towards
mutual understanding and find solutions to the forces of nature, forces of people which threaten our
extinction.
What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their latest book?
Posting in book blogs like this had been effective for The Matriarch Matrix, so we’re on tour once again.
The results of dozens upon dozens of blogs fills any Google search for you as an author and your
published titles—a goal I learned early on from book marketing experts.
The next way I see many aspiring authors seek exposure is to attend, speak, sell books at these writer
conferences. In fact, I recently attended one where the guest speaker said speaking was how she
developed her fame and exposure for her books. What’s not to like about best-selling, award-winning?
Another method they talked about, but I am not in the position to do, is author signings at local
bookstores. Several authors at the conference had done this locally with good response.
Launching a wide-ranging social media campaign is only for those with deep, deep pockets with long-term goals.
List 5 things on your bucket list.
1. Traveling to country number 31 to 35
2. Publish without bankruptcy five more books, at least
3. Help solve a major social issue, well at least be a participant in the solution
4. Live long enough to be a wonderful grandparent to our daughters’ children
5. Help someone else meet or achieve one of their bucket list
