Devorah Fox's Blog, page 12

February Cozy Mystery FREE for All

Check out the February Cozy Mystery FREE for All 2/5-2/9!
Find a new favorite, or just download them all!

Every book is free for a limited time. It’s just our way of thanking our loyal readers.

That includes Murder by the Book. 

Even better, be in the draw to win a $25 Amazon gift card just for subscribing to our newsletters or following us on social media. Here’s the link to the February FREE for All:

http://lovekissedcozies.com/february-free-for-all/ ‎

The Blessed Event

Amazon has priced The Blessed Event by Frankie Bow at just 99⊄ for the month of January!

(Free on Kindle Unlimited)

The Blessed Event (The Professor Molly Mysteries)

Publisher: Hawaiian Heritage Press (June 10, 2016)

Paperback: 344 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1943476251

Kindle ASIN: B01GW5WUAE

Synopsis

“You may wonder what my least-favorite student was doing in my living room. In a twist of fate that might seem hilarious if it happened to someone else, he was now my stepson.”

Professor Molly Barda is looking forward to a quiet summer in Mahina, Hawaii working on her research and adjusting to married life. But when a visit from her new husband’s relatives coincides with a murder, Molly wonders what she’s married into–and realizes she might have a killer under her roof.

About The Author

Like Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, a loving family, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining.

In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

Author Links

Webpage Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Goodreads

Purchase Links

Amazon

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Check out the other blogs who are participating in this Book Blast:

BOOK BLAST PARTICIPANTS

January 23 – Reading Authors

January 23 – Books,Dreams,Life

January 23 – Bibliophile Reviews

January 24 – The Book’s the Thing

January 24 – Maureen’s Musings

January 24 – Cozy Up With Kathy

January 25 – A Blue Million Books

January 25 – The Ninja Librarian

January 25 – Readsalot

January 25 – Fantastic Feathers

January 26 – Dee-Scoveries (you are here!)

January 26 – Celticlady’s Reviews

January 26 – QUEEN OF ALL SHE READS

January 27 – Rainy Day Reviews

January 27 – Author Annette Drake’s blog

January 28 – Laura’s Interests

January 28 – StoreyBook Reviews

January 28 – Valerie’ Musings

January 29 – Mythical Books

January 30 – Melina’s Book Blog

January 30 – Brooke Blogs

 

Just “horrible”

My author friend A. F. Stewart writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror, including “horror haikus.” SciFi and Fantasy genres, I get; Horror, not so much. But author David Kummer had some thoughts to share about Why Do People Like Horror.

Why the *beep* do people like Horror? by a Horror Writer

guest post by David Kummer

What is something you hate? What is something you love?

The thing about opinions is that somebody always disagrees with you. There is somebody that loves what you hate, and hates what you love.

What does this have to do with the Horror genre? You might have guessed by now. If you hate it, there’s somebody that likes it. If you like it, there’s somebody that absolutely despises it.

So, now that we’ve got that off the table, let’s talk about why some people actually like Horror.

There are many misconceptions about the genre, and I’ll do my best to dispel those.

First of all, some people see it as a blood-fest, full of gore and disgusting scenes. While there is a subcategory called Splatterpunk that has lots of… um… splatter. But still, if you read a good book, it’ll have a plot and well fleshed-out characters. It’s not just a compilation of blood and guts.

You’ve seen movies, certainly, that seem to have no plot, or little plot, and revolve around the gorey details. With films, you can sometimes make that exception and sell a movie based only on that. With books, you can’t. A good book has plot and characters, always.

The second thing about Horror is that people think it’s all about scares and scary scenes. Like I just said above, a good book isn’t reliant on only one detail. There’s many other aspects of the genre.

There are people that say Horror fans are psychopaths, or we love watching people get hurt.

Here’s the thing. We don’t read about people getting hurt to enjoy it or feel joy at their suffering. It’s almost the opposite. We read to face the things that frighten us, or to get that rush of adrenaline, or just for entertainment. We’re all people. Except for the puppy dogs.

What is good about the genre? There’s a few things. It has the feel of being the “underdog” genre, I guess you could say. When you like it, you feel like you’re in a clique that not many people are familiar with or take part in. So that’s always cool.

There’s always the “facing your fears” aspect that I mentioned earlier. You find, as you write/read about terrifying things, that you aren’t as scared in real life. Because in books and movies, there’s almost always a happy ending, even when situations seem at their bleakest.

And, of course, there’s the scary part of it! I’m gonna chalk this up as saying that it’s fun to be scared, and to scare others. I mean, let’s be honest. One way or another, we’re all a bit scary.

Especially us writers!

Detour, by Devorah Fox – LILbooKlovers

Hi guys! It’s been a while since I’ve written a review, so I’ve gotten this one together! So let’s get this review of Detour, by Devorah Fox, on the road! (Warning, there wi…

Source: Detour, by Devorah Fox – LILbooKlovers

Without A Plan, The Story Behind The Before

Today we host this guest post by author Ben Jackson. Much like Ben, I jumped into writing The Lost King without a plan.

Without a Plan, The Story Behind The Before by Ben Jackson.

People often ask me why and how I got started writing. It isn’t an easy question to answer, but I think that I should have been writing well before I started. I have always enjoyed reading from a very young age and can easily devour big books in a short amount of time.
The Before is my first book, but one of the last ones that I have published. I also have only just started promoting it. I started writing it one day without any plan or outline and just kept writing and writing. Ultimately, I lost my only copy of the book when my hard drive died (always back up!), but managed to get an earlier manuscript back out of an email account. This sort of put a bit of a downer on the book, so I put it aside ninety percent finished. Eventually, I came back and finished it, but it has been a long process.

The Before is set in a post-apocalyptic world. A virus has swept through the planet and left a small percentage of people living, just. There aren’t any zombies! This is just a plain old man vs. man, with groups of people having to band together to survive. The characters need to use everything they have at their disposal to survive, with technology taking a big leap backward.

The group is focused on a small family unit living together with a larger group. I always said that I couldn’t write romance, but I managed to slip in a little bit of romance and drama amongst the action!

If this sounds like something you’d like to read, then check it out on Amazon! If you want to get in touch, you can connect with me on Facebook or Goodreads.

Publish on Tuesday

I recently learned something new. Apparently it’s standard procedure to publish a new book on a Tuesday.
Perhaps that’s because there’s not much else competing for readers’ attention on Tuesdays. It’s not the start of the week, it’s not the end of the week. It’s not Hump Day. It’ usually not Pay Day and holidays rarely fall on Tuesday. However, no one seems to know definitively why books are published on Tuesdays.

My previous books got launched to coincide with the book signings typically held during the Port Aransas Art Center’s First Friday events. But who am I to thumb my nose at tradition? Therefore, the ebook release of The Zen Detective is slated for Jan. 10, 2017, a Tuesday. You’ll be able to get a copy of this five-star mystery in formats suitable for Nook, Kobo, Kindle, and other e-readers, as well as in PDF and text formats.

It’s available as a print book too, should that be your preference.

 

Happy new year

You’re probably well into 2017 by now and while I wasn’t quite done with 2016, I’m finally accepting the Turn of the Clock.
But I can’t complain. This year is off to a great start. Both Detour and The Zen Detective have gotten five-star reviews.

I was featured on Paul Anthony’s blog.

And, I was the guest of the First Wednesday Book Club to talk about The Lost King and all things writing. What a fabulous turn-out. My wonderful hosts let me chew their ears for three hours. It’s a good thing that several club members brought cookies to keep our strength up.

Tomorrow, I get to sign copies of The Zen Detective during the Port Aransas Art Center’s First Friday reception. Later this month, I’ll be the Mystery Books Club guest as they discuss Detour, and I’ve been invited to read as part of the Port Aransas JELM Center’s annual Author Night.

I really enjoy these “public” appearances. It gives me a chance to chat with readers. As I explained to the First Wednesday Book Club members, we writers tend to work in isolation. We don’t get much feedback unless someone takes the time to post a review on amazon or Goodreads (hint hint). I learned a lot from the book club discussion.

If your book club would like to discuss one of my books, let me know and I’ll try to arrange a discount for your book club members.

What are you looking forward to this year?

“The Zen Detective”—mystery and mysticism

“Suspense and mystery around every corner.”
That’s how a reviewer described my latest release,  The Zen Detective.

A police procedural with a twist, The Zen Detective is a mystery/mysticism mash-up.

On the road to Zen enlightenment, homicide detective Will Mansion takes a seductive detour down the path to perdition.

When a bust goes terribly wrong, Paradise City detective Will Mansion nearly dies while saving his partner. On leave, Will seeks relief from post-traumatic stress disorder through Zen meditation and abstinence. He responds to the plea of the cryptic Sister Clyde to find a man missing from her soup kitchen, a man who may provide a lead to the vicious drug dealer who nearly killed Will. The search seduces Will away from the healing he seeks and he finds himself on the smarmy Miracle Mile. Alcohol, sex, and the potent drug “Nearvana” numb Will’s pain better than his infant Zen practice. He slips further and further into an underworld of the lost and hopeless only to find himself facing death—again.

It took 20 years to bring this story to you. Its publication comes hard on the heels of my recent thriller, Detour, which I also started writing decades ago. Both books feature a protagonist who strays from his intended path, with surprising and dire consequences. Since I worked on The Zen Detective and Detour at about the same time, I have to wonder what was going on in my life.

Holiday Giveaway

Join Brain to Books and #GoIndieNow for the three day book bash and Holiday Giveaway.

Day #1 – 16 December 2016

Slush Brain Holiday



Embrace the Debauchery on 16 December 2016



Two years ago, the zaniest, weirdest group of eccentrics collided in a drunken stupor. Brought together by the love of zombies, fleas, and drinking, these authors found sanctuary within their insanity. Today, we celebrate this imbroglio! We’re giving away stuff all in the name of…we really don’t know why we’re doing it. If you love Science Fiction, Fantasy, all things nerdy, and well…booze, join us for this one day on board the HMS Slush Brain!

Join Here

Day #2 – 17 December 2016

Brain to Books Cyber Sampler

Every year Brain to Books hosts a Holiday Book Giveaway. This year, our giveaway is a CyCon Sampler. Get a sneak preview of the Brain to Books Cyber Convention. While you’re here, we have a $100.00 Amazon gift card to hand out to someone along with a list of books we’re giving away!

I’ll be taking over Facebook starting at 10:30 Central Time but it won’t be any fun without you. Join Here

Day #3 – 18 December 2016

Ani Manjikian Stars of Heros Release

Ani Manjikian is preparing to release the 2nd book in her series “Stars of Heros” (Heros as in Thracian Heros from Greek mythology) is a Science Fiction novel. Join us for Science Fiction fun and Mythological related books! Prizes, games, giveaways, and so much more!

Join Here

Prizes

Prize #1

What: $100.00 Amazon Gift Card Newsletter Sign-Up Giveaway awarded to one random winner
When: Now until 8:00 PM EST 18 December 2016
Enter: Enter for a chance to win

Prize #2

What: 40+ book giveaway…40 books will be divided among three winners.
When: Now until 8:00 PM EST 18 December 2016
Enter: Enter for a chance to win here

Authors can donate their books to the giveaway here

Save

Vote for “Detour and you could be the winner

You, my friends, got Detour nominated for The 50 Best Indie Books of 2016. It’s now one of 10 in the Mystery/Thriller genre, ready for you to vote it #1. Last year, you named The Redoubt as #35 out of 50. I have a lot of affection for Detour and would love to see it honored with a win. Plus, you become eligible for a $50 amazon gift card just for voting. You could spend that $50 at the Holiday Book Sale or the BOGO sale and make it go really far. Click here and vote for Detour by Devorah Fox in the Mystery/Thriller genre. And thank you!