Cynthia L. Enuton's Blog

My Promotional Tree

My Promotional TreeC L Enuton author of the Fur Angel Series

Every author’s dream is to publish a book and have it fly off the shelves. Promotion gives your book wings to fly. With millions of books to choose from, how do I get people to pick my book ─ or even see my book? That seems to be a common question among authors. I begin with my website. Right now I have two sites that are linked to one another. My book site: www.clenuton.com and my fun, everything-else site: www.Gooberella.com

I envision my websites as a tree trunk where all my treasures are waiting to be discovered. I try to keep my sites simple. Book covers are displayed with a short blurb and a buy button that takes you to Amazon.

Each social media outlet I use is a branch of my website (tree) that reaches out to people all over the world. Every promotion I do leads back to my website. I try to make my branches fun and creative. Something people can relate to, makes them smile and laugh. I’ve designed my tree branches to fit my writing genre which is the fantastical world of talking- dogs. Yes, my tree is colorful, magical, and a little nutty and so are my branches.

My first branch is Facebook, and the groups I subscribe to are filled with talking-dogs, dog photos, contests, and a lot of caring people with a love of dogs. My dogs are known as the 3 Goobers. They support dog related charities, auctions with donations of autographed books, as well as host their own dog photo contests where the winners win…you guessed it…signed books.

Other branches are, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I always carry a camera with me and post at least two pictures a day on these outlets followed by a link to my website. Remember, all things posted should lead back to your website. My nuttier branches are Fiverr, www.Fiverr.com/gooberella where I make talking-dog videos for $5.00 and Youtube, www.youtube.com/xiagooberella where I post the videos.

Anything related to your writings that could branch off and lead back to your books is a form of promotion. I also sell art work of my books illustrations on a site called society6, www.society6.com/gooberella. They put my illustrations onto shirts, pillows, bed covers, rugs, shower curtains…basically just about anything. And once again, everything leads back to my main book website.

As far as sales go, Amazon is my biggest outlet. It allows me to share my books all over the world. They have many promotional options for authors. If used in conjunction with independently operated promotional sites, authors can gain good exposure.

And finally, book signings. I love going to schools to give book presentations. It’s fun talking to students about my books, writing techniques, the publishing process, and playing my talking dog videos. The kids love them. Book festivals and book store signings are more for author interaction rather than sales. Festivals usually charge a pricey booth-space fee, and bookstores take up to 50% or more of sales. But it’s always fun talking with customers and autographing books for them and their dogs.


Author Website

Guest author Chris Bodor of Ancient City Poets and Prizes

A.C. PAPA Literary Journal, Issue #1Ancient City Poets, Authors, Photographers & Artists (A.C. PAPA)
Fifty-three contributors musing on the subject of the Sunshine State.Editor-In-Chief Chris Bodor; cover by nature photographer Mark KirwanAn article written by writer Barbara Pyles Barker about issue #1 of A.C. PAPA Florida Literary Journal.Reading this inaugural issue of A.C. PAPA was a special treat for me, because the many wonderful poems and stories evoke a world from my own memories. Like Robin McClary who wrote the foreword, I grew up in the Sunshine State and know many of the same things: palmettoes; TVs you actually had to cross the room to change; three local (and only) channels; locks not used, because they were not needed. On Vilano Beach, where I was raised, the sand dunes were tall, the ocean gave up the most perfect shells after tropical storms, and August meteor showers were brilliant because there was no competition for the light.
My sister and I walked together between our street and Boating Club Road to visit our grandparents practically daily—no worries about what lay between those two homes. We knew the neighbors, and there weren’t a great many. The beach community is filled now. The world is so connected, and I suppose we’re safer now in a way because of it, but there’s also more we need to be safe from. Something has been lost, and that makes it all the more important to remember these details of our childhoods and family histories here in St. Augustine.
The poems in A.C. PAPA capture Florida in works that celebrate cities such as Saint Augustine and Saint Petersburg, as well as the state’s varied landscape. They share the authors’ own memories, as well as what they love of our state and town in contemporary times. Salt-river views, beach glass, Egrets, sea turtles are all here in verse. “Florida’s Environmental Heritage” speaks of those things that have been lost from Nature, but of our attempts to recapture. Haikus capture slivers of Florida.
My state has always provided inspiration to artists. In this collection Larry Baker recalls his inspirations for The Flamingo Rising, how the A1A coastline provided shape and grounding for the acclaimed novel. Another essay, authored by Susan Bennett Lopez,  takes us back to her journey to find Jack Kerouac in Florida. She recounts her search for Jack, her attempt to get to “the core of Kerouac’s psyche.”
Another theme in this volume is the inspiration we writers find in Nature’s most dangerous and awesome forces. There is something about storms that draws us, and lights our imagination. “Fakahatchee Bay Crossing”, by Jim Draper, is a gripping account of a struggle to survive, and the character’s transformation in the stormy bay along a coast of mangrove trees, buoyed above the hazard of razor sharp oyster shells.
In a special section called Coast Lines, three of the poems relate the power of hurricanes; Mother Nature’s signature Florida force. Ann Browning Masters gives us a glimpse into the Oldest City’s history with these storms. “Hurricane Winds”, by Gigi Mischele Miller and Tovah Janovsky’s “Impressions of Arthur” relate beautiful imagery of how we natives dealt with Mother Nature at Her most fearsome and awe inspiring. These poets give all due respect where it is deserved to this stunning and destructive power.
The talented artists in this volume capture the beauty, mystique, and history of this special place, in verse and prose and photos. It is a jewel of a collection.




The inaugural issue of Ancient City Poets, Authors, Photographers and Artists (A.C. PAPA)To buy on Amazon click HERE 



A.C. PAPA Editor-In-Chief Chris Bodor spreading the message of poetry and spoken word.


CALL For WORK – A.C. PAPA ISSUE #2

The next reading period for Ancient City Poets, Authors, Photographers & Artists (A.C. PAPA) will be April 01, 2015 to June 30. The focus of this Saint Augustine, Florida based journal is to spotlight Florida artists and art that references the Sunshine State. They will accept submissions of poetry, fiction, fine art and photography. A.C. PAPA is looking for writing and artwork that speaks of Florida, from all angles and all perspectives. They would like to hear from locals, tourists, travelers and residents. Special sections in issue #2 will include: “Saint Augustine History—the first 450 Years” and a number of articles on Florida writers such as Harry Crews.


The next issue of A.C. PAPA will appear in November, and will feature the best work from Florida artists as well as national and international writers who have something to say about Florida. Poet Plant Press is best known for their 2014 title Florida Speaks, an anthology featuring more than thirty writers musing on the Sunshine State. Please email your submissions as a RTF Microsoft Word file as an attachment to acpapalitmag@gmail.com. For more info and guidelines please go to the Poet Plant Press website at www.bodor.org or purchase a copy of issue #1 on Amazon by searching for the title of the publication.

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Guest author Jamie White and Prizes

Stains on the Soulby Jamie White
About Stains on the Soul: 
It’s her last summer before going away to college and Fiona finds herself facing more than she bargained for: A boyfriend she doesn’t want who has a strange hold over her, a friend pushing her to expand her boundaries, and a new guy named Ted whose presence is more than a distraction. If that isn’t enough, Fiona is being haunted with horrifying nightmares of burning at the stake—nightmares so real, she feels as though she’s losing her mid. Are they only dreams, or are they trying to warn her about this new guy she can’t help but want?
Guest blog from (the main character) Fiona’s point of view:“The Dream”I feel like I’m losing it. Every time I go to sleep, it’s the same thing: I wake up in a cold sweat with all kinds of horrible images fresh in my mind. I’ve been walking around like a zombie and trying not to let anyone know just how exhausted I am, and all because of these dreams.
There’s a girl about to burn at the stake. She looks terrified and I know it’s not just the fact she’s about to die. She’s terrified of what she sees before the men come and light the kindling beneath her. No… actually, I think she looks more sad than anything.
It makes me think of him, and I don’t know why. He’s new is town and he’s been coming on to me. He’s cute, so I really shouldn’t mind but there’s something about him that makes me uncomfortable. I think part of it is the fact I like him too much and I shouldn’t. I’m technically seeing someone, and I’m about to go off to college soon. Why should I bother getting mixed up with someone else? Especially someone who makes my skin crawl.
Every time I see him, I can’t breathe and sometimes I think of that girl in my dreams. She looks so sad, like she wants to tell me something important.
I told you I was losing it. 




To buy book click HERE

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About the author: Jamie White is a music addict, book lover, pet servant & NaNoWriMo survivor. When she's not busy writing blog posts, she's taking pictures and spending time with her husband and pets. She released Stains on the Soul and Clutter via Pagan Writers Press in 2013. Stains 2 is set to release February 2015.







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Guest author Leslie C. Halpern and Prizes

Frogs, Hogs, Puppy DogsShakes, Cakes, Frosted FlakesRub, Scrub, Clean the TubbyLeslie Halpern
BOOK SYNOPSES

Award-winning poet Leslie C. Halpern wrote her Funny Children’s Poems book series to educate and entertain early readers, ages 5-9. The series includes Frogs, Hogs, Puppy Dogs: Funny Children’s Poems About Animal Friends (2014), Shakes, Cakes, Frosted Flakes: Funny Children’s Poems About Table Manners (2013), and Rub, Scrub, Clean the Tub: Funny Children’s Poems About Self-Image (2012), all published by Cricket Cottage Publishing and illustrated with whimsical watercolor paintings by Oral Nussbaum. Told from a child’s perspective, Frogs, Hogs, Puppy Dogs takes a light-hearted look at our relationships with house pets and zoo animals; Shakes, Cakes, Frosted Flakes humorously studies eating habits, nutrition, and etiquette; and Rub, Scrub, Clean the Tub provides a child’s distorted view of personal hygiene, interpersonal relationships, and self-image. All three books in the Funny Children’s Poems series include parent-teacher resource pages with challenging questions, fun games, and glossaries of unfamiliar words. Find Leslie’s children’s books and adult nonfiction books about the entertainment industry at Amazon.com, on her website at www.LeslieHalpern.com, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/funnychildrenspoems.

How to Make Poetry Fun for Children
By Leslie C. Halpern
When I tell people I write children’s poetry books, perform with a poetry ensemble, and once worked with a Shakespearean acting troupe, they often roll their eyes and tell me they don’t like poetry. That’s usually because as children they never learned to understand the language of poems.
Parents can make poetry fun and educational by introducing age-appropriate poems to young children. Infants will respond to hearing rhymed poems and looking at illustrations. As soon as a child can speak, he or she can explain what the pictures mean and guess what happens next. By being active listeners, children learn to decode language at an early age and may develop a life-long love of words.
Blending Concrete and Abstract
When children become accustomed to the language, they can appreciate one of poetry’s most beautiful elements: blending concrete (what’s experienced through our senses) and abstract (emotional truth without physical proof).
The poem “Chew Chew Train” from my book, Shakes, Cakes, Frosted Flakes: Funny Children’s Poems About Table Manners combines concrete images (strained spinach, ice cream) with abstract ideas (playing tricks, comparing a mouth to a tunnel). This humorous look at parent-child interactions at the dinner table offers a child’s point of view about adult manipulation.

Illustration by Oral Nussbaum, from the book Shakes, Cakes, Frosted Flakes.
Chew Chew Train
“Open wide for the choo choo train,”
my parents sometimes say.
There is no train, just spinach strained,
but I open anyway.
A spoon with spinach doesn’t look
like any kind of choo choo.
It’s the oldest trick in the book,
like kissing someone’s boo boo.
The train still comes and blow its steam,
but now the tunnel shuts.
I wait for spoons of soft ice cream,
caramel, and nuts.
Poetry For Young Children
Most children enjoy figuring out symbols and metaphors, and finding patterns in the poetry. They also find comfort and gain confidence from anticipating rhyme and repeating rhythm of traditional children’s poems. Rhyme and rhythm make memorization easier.
Repetition is a key element in the poem “Snakes on a Bus,” from my book, Frogs, Hogs, Puppy Dogs: Funny Children’s Poems About Animal Friends. Repeating final words in the rhymed couplets helps children remember and recite this short lesson in safety.   

Illustration by Oral Nussbaum, from the book Frogs, Hogs, Puppy Dogs.
Snakes on a Bus
Kevin brought three snakes on the bus, bus, bus.
And waved them around at us, us, us.
The snakes stared, but didn’t hiss, hiss, hiss.
Kevin screamed: “Take this, this, this!”
The driver slammed his brakes, brakes, brakes.
But Kevin’s snakes were fakes, fakes, fakes.

Although the drive to school is far, far, far,
Kevin now must come by car, car, car.
Writing Their Own Poetry
Reading and reciting poetry often leads children to write their own pieces. Encourage each child to write in easier forms, such as haiku (17 syllables total with three lines broken into 5, 7, 5 syllables each line), rhymed couplets (two lines with rhyming final words), and free verse (no designated rhyme or rhythm).
To enhance their poetry, children can draw pictures or use artwork and photographs from magazines to illustrate poems. Compile their best written poems or their favorite poems by other poets into a hand-written book, a booklet printed from the computer, or a blank book purchased from the store. Let the child “perform” this poetry in front of family and friends, using silly props and percussion instruments, such as tambourines, bells, and drums, to increase the fun. The important part of this process – and what will be appreciated most – is for parents and children to explore poetry together




Leslie C. Halpern

BIO
Award-winning poet Leslie C. Halpern has a Master’s Degree in Liberal Arts and Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. In addition to children’s books, she writes nonfiction books about the entertainment industry for adults, and reviews books and movies for several online publications. Find out more about her at www.LeslieHalpern.com and www.facebook.com/LeslieCHalpern.



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Guest author Elise Abram and Prizes

Oooooo.....this is one to read with all the lights on and doors locked. 

The Revenantby Elise AbramSynopsis:
Raised from the dead as a revenant more than a hundred years ago, Zulu possesses superior stealth, superhuman speed, and a keen intellect. His only companion is Morgan the Seer, an old man cursed with longevity and the ability to see the future in his dreams. Zulu has spent the last century working with Morgan in order to save the people in his nightmares from horrible fates. Branded a vigilante by the media, Zulu must live his life in the shadows, traveling by night or in the city's underground unless his quest demands otherwise.

Morgan also has enemies. His twin brother Malchus, a powerful necromancer, is raising an army of undead minions to hunt Morgan down. Will they be able to stop Morgan from raising his army? How will they kill someone as powerful as Malchus? Is there more at stake than just their own lives?






Amazon - To buy click HERE
Barnes and Noble - To buy click HERE
Kobo - To buy click HERE
Black Rose Writing - To buy click HERE
Guest PostAuthor Elise talks about The Importance of Dialogue
"Conversation #1" by Angus Cameron https://www.flickr.com/photos/7371605...
Reading should be an immersive activity in which you experience everything the point of view (POV) character experiences. A good narrative should give the reader a fly-on-the-wall-with-extra-sensory-perception feeling in which everything the POV character sees, hears, feels, and occasionally tastes and smells is related. The ESP comes when we hear the POV character's thoughts. This helps to establish pathos, a sense of empathy, compassion and the ability to put myself into the protagonist's shoes.
What about dialogue?

Every seasoned writer has heard the old adage "Show, don't tell". It's the first thing I teach my Writer's Craft students, repeating it as a mantra to them throughout the semester. Dialogue is the best way to show your audience what motivates your main character.
To demonstrate, consider this:
John said he was mad.Here the narrator tells the reader what John has said, that John is mad. We know nothing about John's thoughts, or his level of agitation. Rather than tell us what John's said, let your characters speak for themselves.
"I'm mad," John said.Though this time John is allowed to speak for himself, this excerpt gives the reader nothing more than the first example of telling.
John felt the blood rise in his temples. "I'm so angry I could spit," he said. Here the author tells us what John's feeling in the moments before he speaks. Something's happened that has clearly agitated him. He's not just mad, he's angry, really angry.
Dialogue doesn't just show detail, it helps advance plot ("Don't follow me," he told her and he climbed into his pick-up, that old Dodge beater he'd bought on Craig's List for a song.), and character ("I hate it when she does that.") to show the characters' thoughts and feelings in a way being told these things (He told her not to follow him and he got into his truck and drove away.) by a disembodied narrator can't. 


Author Bio for Elise AbramElise Abram is a high school English and Computer Studies teacher, former archaeologist, avid reader and student of the human condition. Everything she does, watches, reads and hears is fodder for her writing. In her spare time she experiments with Paleo cookery, knits badly, and writes.
Websites - http://eliseabram.com and http://britbear.eliseabram.com
Facebook - https://facebook.com/zulutherevenant and https://facebook.com/eliseabram
Twitter - https://twitter.com/eliseabram
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliseabram 
Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/Elise-Abram/e/B009FF1JGA 
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/EliseAbram


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Guest author Charmain Zimmerman and Prizes

Little Pearl's Circus World  by Charmain Zimmerman Brackett    
This looks so cool! A non-fiction picture book about the author's great-grandmother, Pearl Clark LaComa (1890-1927). Pearl was the daughter of Mack Loren "M.L." Clark, who owned the M.L. Clark and Son's Combined Shows. Their wagon circus traveled throughout the United States from 1894 until 1945. The family sold the circus after M.L.'s death in 1926. Pearl started off as contortionist but after marrying her husband, Cris LaComa, she took to the air on a trapeze.
How cool is that! The author also shares insight on how the book was made in the article, Circus Roots.

Book Synopsis - Before she was 5 years-old, Little Pearl Clark was performing in her father's circus, the M.L. Clark and Son's Combined Shows. Join Little Pearl behind the scenes of her circus world. Little Pearl's Circus World is based on the true story Pearl Clark LaComa (1890-1927).

Circus Roots            It started as a way to preserve her family heritage, but it resulted in an illustrated children's book based on her great-grandmother's life in the circus.            About three years ago, Charmain Zimmerman Brackett had a chance meeting with some long-lost cousins.            "I grew up in Georgia, and most of my dad's family lived in Las Vegas. I didn't really get to know his side of the family," she said. "One of my cousins moved to Georgia, and I went with my parents to meet her and her sister who was visiting from Las Vegas."            Her cousin, Becky Bagshaw, was interested in genealogy and spent the next few hours telling Brackett about their family's circus history. Their great-grandmother, Pearl Clark LaComa, had been part of a circus owned by LaComa's father, Mack Loren "M.L." Clark.  And their grandmother, Juanita LaComa Zimmerman, had wanted to be a writer. She wrote down snippets of her circus memories in spiral-bound notebooks.  Bagshaw promised to send photocopies of pictures and these journals when she returned to Las Vegas, and she did.            "The box she sent me was full of my grandmother's writings and copies of photographs. It was fascinating to me, but it saddened me at the same time because I never knew any of this when my grandmother was alive," said Brackett.                      Over the next two years, Brackett went on a quest to pull as much circus information together as possible. She traveled to Baraboo, Wis. to research at the Robert L. Parkinson Library and Research Center and to Alexandria, La. where her family's circus had its winter headquarters.             She spent countless hours on the Internet.            She gathered family photos from other relatives in Texas and Washington state.            "At first, I thought I'd do something just for my family. I wanted to put the photographs together in one place in a medium that could be passed down from generation to generation. After posting a few photographs of my grandmother on social media, I discovered other people were as interested in my family as I was," she said.             With her journalistic background, she had hoped to write a non-fiction work about her great-grandparents' lives, but despite her efforts, she couldn't find enough information. So she went to Plan B - write a children's book based on the notes her grandmother had written. There was enough information for that. She enlisted Erica Pastecki, an artist and art teacher, to create paintings which would be used as the basis for the illustrations. Brackett also hired Ashlee Henry to do the design of the book.            In November 2014, Little Pearl's Circus World was published.            And on Jan. 3, readers at The Kindle Hub voted her book as the Best Children's Book of 2014.
            "It's really exciting to see people get behind this project. I'm thrilled with the way the book turned out, and I can't wait to see where it leads," she said.


Click HERE to buy at Amazon

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Bio - Charmain Zimmerman Brackett started her writing career while still in college joining the sports staff of the local paper as a correspondent taking high school sports stats. She's continued working for that same newspaper for more than 27 years. She published her first novel, The Key of Elyon, in 2012, and it was awarded the 2014 Yerby Award for Fiction at the Augusta Literary Festival. 
website/blog - www.charmainzbrackett.com
twitter - @CZBrackettfacebook - www.facebook.com/thekeyofelyon



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Guest author Ruth O'Neil and Prizes

Belongingby Ruth O'NeilAuthor Ruth O'Neil shares a question and answer interview with us followed by an author biography and where to purchase the ebook, Belonging.

Book Blurb:After the death of her father, painfully shy and introverted Shelly finds her world turned upside down. She is forced to speak with people and she may even have to move from her comfortable apartment. Sorting through her father’s possessions at his house brings back many memories, including how they would research her mom’s genealogy so that in a way, she could get to know her mother’s family, who are all deceased. Shelly wonders why her dad never researched his own family and she never remembers any family events. Why? She begins a journey that takes her to places she never dreamed. Throughout the entire story, God nudges Shelly to get out of her comfort zone. That’s easy for some, but for Shelly it may almost be impossible.
Q & AIs Shelly based on you or someone you know from real life?
I think my characters are always a combination of many people I know and then some imagination thrown in for good measure. I don’t want to have any one person think that I was writing specifically about them. I take bits and pieces of real life and made a whole new life.
In your book, your main character, Shelly, decides to do some genealogy. Have you ever researched your family history?
I have not, but my mother did. She did it the old-fashioned way, without using the Internet. She traced both sides of my family way back. It’s interesting to look through the pages and pages she collected and see who some of my ancestors are and what their lives were like.

How much of an inspiration to your literary career was your mother?
My mother was a great influence on my writing career. She always wanted to be a writer ever since she was a little girl and I was the same. I have stories she wrote with her cousin when they were young and she kept stories that I wrote when I was young. She was part of a writer’s group where we lived. When I was in high school and decided that was what I wanted to do as a career, she did everything in her power to help me. I attended conferences with her. I was introduced to “real” writers who gave me a lot of good advice as I was starting out. The information I gleaned then was extremely valuable.

Which author, living or dead, would you want to pen the story of your life?
Oooo, that’s a hard one. Do I have to pick just one? Maybe Julie Campbell, the author of the first Trixie Belden books. I would pretend I was Trixie and solve non-mysteries around my neighborhood. She would be a good author to write about my childhood. Laura Ingalls Wilder would be another good one. She wrote about how things were. She made ordinary life seem unordinary. I had a very ordinary life, maybe she could make it exciting.

Which 3 words best describe how you feel about your literary future?
Positive – because so much has happened thus far and sometimes I just have to smile, especially when I get personal responses from readers. Excited – because of what’s to come. I have a lot of new things on the horizon and I just seem to get busier and busier, which is a good thing for me. Hopeful – that I will reach new readers who will be touched by my writing. I love to make readers laugh or cry or maybe just see a little bit of themselves in my stories.
What kind of response have you received from your readers?
I have received some wonderful responses from my readers. I have received emails from people telling me how the book has touched their lives. I’ve received good reviews on Amazon. I actually received a message with an order for print copies the other day. This woman had purchased an ecopy and then someone at work had begun reading it. For some reason the co-worker was not able to finish and was upset. The lady who had first purchased the ecopy bought her co-worker a print copy just so she could finish it. She also bought a print copy for herself just to have it.It makes me feel good that people get excited about my books and that they can’t wait to continue reading.


Click HERE to buy book


Bio:Ruth O’Neil has been a freelance writer for 20-plus years. She sees everything as a writing opportunity in disguise, whether it is an interesting character, setting, or situation. When she’s not writing or homeschooling her kids, Ruth spends her time quilting, reading, scrapbooking, camping and hiking with her family. Website - http://ruthoneil.weebly.com/Twitter – https://twitter.com/writerruthoBlog - http://ruths-real-life.blogspot.com/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RuthONeilAuthorFirst chapter - http://www.wattpad.com/52132851-belonging


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Guest author Cheri Roman and Prizes

One of our favorite subjects here at Gooberella is Angels. We are excited to share this new fiction fantasy series. And as a special sneak peek, the author has given us an excerpt that takes the reader into another place and time with an angel.
Rephaim Seriesby Cheri Roman
Descent (book 1)
Click HERE to buy book


Sacrifice (book 2)
click HERE to buy book Fulfilling one’s destiny requires sacrifice…

Escaping a global catastrophe, angel-human hybrid, Shahara, lands safely in Babylon with her beloved Volot, an angel with a sacred mission. But the victory is a hollow one, for the world she knew has been obliterated. Battered by the loss of her family and the denial of her most cherished dreams, Shahara’s new life begins to disintegrate as she is lured by promises of power and fulfillment into the violent, blood-soaked ambitions of a ruthless enemy. With her marriage shattered and countless lives hanging in the balance, Shahara must make a devastating choice. Can she survive her decision, or will victory require the ultimate sacrifice? By turns romantic, suspenseful and terrifying, this epic fantasy treads the knife edge of human frailty and superhuman courage. 


Excerpt:Volot leaned over and kissed her, his lips a promise against hers. He was still watching her as he backed into the front garden and leapt, his wings springing free of the pattern on his back, lifting him into the sky.Shahara followed him out the door and watched his progress, up through wide-spreading tree branches, to open air. In the distance a thin, gray tracing smudged the horizon like smoke. Shahara shivered in the cold breeze that kicked along the foundation of the house. Hugging her shawl close about her, she went inside to begin the morning’s work. Preparations needed to be made, Danae said, if they were to have any chance of surviving the thing she called a flood. Shahara shook her head as she worked. Sabaoth may have given Danae the gift of prophecy, but her prediction made no sense. Water was to cover the entire Earth? For a year? Impossible. Still, it was better to be busy.Immersing herself in the work helped to push the pain of loss once more into the distance. It also served to diminish her awareness of her surroundings. The morning was half gone before she realized how dark it had become. Wrapping a strap across the basket she had just filled, Shahara stood and stretched her tired back. Outside, the wind moaned like a living thing and she crossed to the doorway, looking out with dull eyes. The smudge she had noticed earlier had grown into a skein of dark, heavy gauze, covering the sky from horizon to horizon. She stared at it. The wind died and the world stopped in silence. For an instant her vision sharpened and she noted every leaf, every flower and stone within her sight, as if it had been magically painted across her mind’s eye by an iridescent brush; a scene she would be able to recall with instant, awful clarity for the rest of her life. Then, with an ear-splitting roar, the earth rocked beneath her. An ancient oak swayed like a sapling and crevasses ripped across the ground as water poured from the sky in torrents. “Volot,” Shahara screamed, calling to him with voice and soul. In a blurred rush, Volot scooped her up and vaulted into the sky as the oak fell, crushing their house beneath its colossal branches. Shahara clung to him as he fought to stay airborne against the furious wind. For an instant, the couple looked over the sudden ruin of their home. “It’s too soon! We’re not ready.” Shahara shouted her protest over the storm.Volot shook his head. “We were not promised time. We only hoped.”“What about the others?” Their eyes met and she saw the torment in his glance. “We will have to find them after. They will escape the same way we will. Shahara…” he hesitated and lightning streaked across the sky above him, thunder cracking in the same instant. “We have to go into the Shift.”She stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. “No. We’ll die there.”“We’ll die here. There is no choice.”He didn’t wait for a reply but thrust hard with his wings. In a shower of sparks, the pair was gone, leaving chaos to reign behind.Stepping into the dark in between, the pair shivered in the sudden, intense cold. The rain-wet fabric of Shahara’s dress stiffened and ice crystals formed in her hair. In the distance, she could see pin-pricks of silver light and she shuddered. “We have a few moments before they get here,” Volot said. “Before what get here?” “The lights.” He glanced over his shoulder but she could see no difference yet.“And then what?” she asked, her teeth tapping together in the jaw tightening cold.“I don’t —” Volot’s reply was cut off by a brilliant spray of gold sparks as another angel entered the Shift. “Well met, Volot. I see you have brought your wife along.” The voice echoed hollow and distant in the cold, but the speaker glowed in sharp relief against the dark. Shahara glanced from Volot to the newcomer. He could only be another angel. His topaz eyes gleamed clear and intelligent beneath black brows. His ebony skin shown reddish bronze in the dim light and it took a moment, but she could see from her husband’s expression that Volot recognized him. “General Bellator.” Volot snapped to attention and pounded a fist to his heart in salute. He glanced at Shahara. “The situation on Earth is dangerous at the moment. I had to —”Bellator waved his comments aside. “No need to explain. It is well. You will be taking up a new mission now.” The general glanced over Volot’s shoulder and frowned. “We haven’t much time, so listen carefully. You will travel through the light into a city called Babylon.”
Bio:
Cheri Roman is a writer, editor, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother and friend, in whatever order works best in the moment. Most days you can find her on her blog, The Brass Rag, or working on the next novel in her fantasy series, Rephaim. Cheri lives with her husband and Jack, the super Chihuahua.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/C.L.RomanFantasynovels?ref=bookmarksTwitter: https://twitter.com/cheri_romanWeb site: www.brassragpress.comBlog: www.thebrassragcnr.wordpress.comAmazon author page: http://tinyurl.com/otz5ejp



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Guest author Rhyannon Yates and Prizes

Catalyst Author Rhyannon Yatesgenre: Steam Punk

Synopsis for Catalyst, a WIP (work in progress)Two thousand years after the Schism, the borders are beginning to weaken. Wraiths are turning to dust in the streets, people are dropping dead, the chests torn open and inner organs burned away, and all Levi Keats wants to do is deliver a disciplinary summons and go home to the safety of his University office. A simple administrative duty turns perilous with the addition of a suspected murderer, a rogue border patrol agent, and the increasing possibility that prophesies of the Great Cataclysm are slightly less fictitious than previously assumed.




Author BioRhyannon Yates began writing at the age of five with a charming story about a misunderstood girl and her pet hippo. She grew out of her pachyderm-peddling ways, and spends her time now trying to crank out the next great American fantasy novel while binge-watching Netflix.
Rhyannon lives in Florida with her husband, her cat, and her two offspring.


Rhyannon Yates Author InterviewILBD: What inspired you to write your first book?

RY: I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but Catalyst grew out of two different writing projects, one of which has early drafts that go back to my thirteen-year-old self. I was working on both projects simultaneously, and had the problem for one that I had a great antagonist, but no real problem, while for the other, I had an awesome conflict, but not defined antagonist. I ended up picking up my antagonist from one story, as well as a few of said story’s key characters, and plunking them into the world of the other.

IMBP: What book are you reading now?

RY: Abhorsen by Garth Nix. I’m rereading it for the first time in years, and I’d forgotten how much I love the Abhorsen Series. Garth Nix combines realism with fantasy so seamlessly, and the idea of stepping through the veil between life and death, and the notion of controlled versus uncontrolled magic influenced me as an author quite a bit. The more I read of his work, the more I see his influence in my own writing, which, on the one hand, is awesome, because Garth Nix is amaze-balls, but on the other, makes me wonder if I’m being too derivative or unoriginal. Reading is so stressful as an author. Sometimes you read something and think “If this nonsense can get published, I can definitely succeed!”, and other times you read things that are just genius and spend the next week in a spiral of booze and self-loathing, researching accounting school because you’ll NEVER succeed as an author.

ILBP: Do you have any advice for other writers?

RY: Not that I’m a great success (YET), but the best advice I’ve found is just to write. Life comes prepackaged with excuses. I have two young children, a nine-to-five job, volunteer responsibilities, and a marriage to maintain. Life is busy, and writing time doesn’t just present itself. Make time, and guard that time. It’s easy to blow it off and see it as expendable, but the Law of Infinite Probability notwithstanding, your novel won’t write itself.

ILBP: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

RY: I feel like that is one of my biggest challenges, is that my work doesn’t really have a message. I remember that I used to get so annoyed in English class when we were supposed to dissect these works of literature to find what the authors message was. To borrow from John Green, books belong to their readers. If you read Catalyst and find a message that impacts you in a profound way, that’s awesome, and I’m glad that the book is able to mean something to you. If you read it and enjoy it and walk away without feeling like any great message was conveyed, I’m great with that, too. I’m much more into the idea of a story that stays with someone than in trying to impart anything deep and philosophical.

ILBP: What are you working on right now?

RY: I’m in the middle of writing a book called “Catalyst”, which will hopefully be ready for publication in June. It’s been a long time coming, and now that the end is in sight, I’m starting to get really excited about the future of the book, whether it will be a series or a standalone, that sort of thing. The book deals a lot with race issues, social hierarchies, and the personal effects of mental illnesses like anxiety, all set against the backdrop of this fractured world that has literally sequestered itself in a bubble, away from the rest of the universe.

ILBP: While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters?

RY: There are definitely pieces of myself in Levi. I’ve dealt with anxiety and panic my entire adult life, and Levi is a particularly anxious hero. Our triggers are different, but the results are the same. Levi fears change and lack of stability, where my triggers tend to fall more into the realm of the irrational. We do share several anxiety coping methods, which you can see when Levi gets really nervous, and which I didn’t really put in as a conscious “Oh yes, let’s give this character a similar anxiety tic”, but which I feel fit him well anyway.


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Guest author Tracie Roberts and Prizes

Today's featured author is Tracie Roberts and the Elan Series. A suspenseful, young adult series, with a twist of the paranormal. Read about the exciting new series here and where to buy it. Tracie has also given us a new version of an interview....instead of an author interview, it is a character interview. Pretty cool, huh?" Derek Williams, one of the main characters of the series, is interviewed.


The Elan Seriesby Tracie Roberts
ECHO (book 1)
He’s the one she’s been dreaming of…
Tara McAllister has her life figured out: graduate from college, get a job teaching at her old high school, and find a boyfriend that won’t care that she’s a practicing witch. Everything is falling into place…until the visions begin. Tara’s practice has given her a gift--she sees the future. And for her, it includes a gorgeous man that she’s never met but definitely knows. She can feel it. Now all she has to do is find him.
…but is he the one she’s destined to be with?
Derek Williams just wants to get by. He goes to school, works to help support his family, and enjoys the occasional party with his friends—as long as his gift doesn’t create a ruckus. Derek is an empath, born to feel what others feel and able to change their emotions with a touch. His inherited gift comes with an added benefit—the ability to find his soul mate, the one person he’s meant to be with. And he’s found her; he just has to convince her of their connection.As their relationship heats up and their abilities grow stronger, Tara and Derek must overcome the objection of family and friends, the advances of former flames, and a secret that could ruin them both— if their love is to survive.
ECHO is available now through Amazon click HERE

BLUR (book 2)


Joined by an ancient magic, their love was predestined. Now, that fragile bond is in danger of being shattered.
Tara McAllister has come to terms with her soul mate being underage and a student in her class. She knows that it’s illegal, but legalities are inconsequential where the heart’s concerned. The soul deep connection that drew them together over the summer has strengthened. Just as she feels comfortable enough to dream about a future with her élan, a tragic accident threatens to rip her happiness from her grasp.
Derek Williams chose to pursue the one woman who made his whole existence worthwhile, despite the fact that she was older and his English teacher. Once he convinces her that they are meant to be with each other, he finally feels at peace planning their future together. Then one night and one misstep jeopardize everything they’ve built and fought for.
Tara and Derek’s love story—the story that explores the balance between what’s right and what matters—continues in BLUR, Book 2 in The Élan Series.
BLUR will be available in February through Amazon

Character Interview with Derek Williams
     1.      What is your most marked characteristic?            It’s the gray eyes. All the Williams kids have them, but those of us with gifts have eye color that changes. When we use our gifts, our eyes lighten from dark gray to almost white.
2.      What is it like having eight brothers and sisters?            It’s a good thing we have a two-story house with lots of rooms or else everybody’d be fighting for space. Really, it hasn’t been too bad having so many brothers and sisters. We’ve had our share of fights, but we all look out for each other for the most part. The only time it was ever rough was when there were just six of us, four boys and two girls. My sisters, Dianne and Doraleigh, would blame everything on us boys and Daddy would believe them because they were his baby girls.
3.      What do you consider the most overrated virtue?            Honesty. Sure, it’s good not to lie, but people put too much value on being honest instead of being a friend. I mean, friends can be honest with you, but usually they don’t want to hurt your feelings, so they don’t tell the truth as it is. Instead, they tell a version of the truth, a version that doesn’t hurt the other person.
4.      What makes you laugh out loud?            Watching those guys on Youtube who do stupid shi…Sorry, habit. Watching them do stupid stunts on bikes or skateboards that you know are gonna end with them falling on their faces, or on their…, well, this is a G-rated interview, right? So, yeah, those stupid stunt people.
5.      What is your biggest regret?            Lying to Tara. I know it sounds weird, especially after my answer to that virtue question, but I didn’t want to lie to her, I had to. If I’d told her the truth from the get-go, we wouldn’t be together now. We might be linked and all, but I don’t know that she’d be dating me if she’d known how old I was from the beginning.
6.      How would you like to die?           That’s sort of a sick question, ain’t it? But I guess if I really thought about it, I’d like to die saving somebody else. Like be a hero or something. Or either go peacefully in my sleep. You should have asked me how I don’t want to die. Now that would be a list long enough to end this interview right now.
7.      What three words would other people use to describe you?            Depends. Guys would say goofy, hard-working, loyal. Girls would say cute, playful, easy. Wait, don’t write that; it sounds conceited. Oh, never mind!
8.      What is your author Tracie Roberts like?            She’s pretty cool, for an older lady. She probably spends too much time with us, telling our stories, but she tries to make time for her family. I know she’s good at writing lyrics, or poetry, or whatever you want to call it, because she wrote all the poems and spells in the novels. Plus, she’s really fair. I mean, she worked really hard to tell both sides of our story without taking sides or being all judgmental like older people can be sometimes. That’s pretty cool, right?
9.      Any teasers for what’s gonna happen in Book 3?            Let’s just say that if, after reading the end of BLUR, you thought that was the end you’re gonna be really surprised. Where we come from, the world we live in, soul mates are forever. Nothing can keep them apart.  
                                     
Author Biography:Tracie Roberts is the author of ECHO and BLUR, Books 1 and 2 of The Élan Series. She writes YA and NA novels tinged with the paranormal. Beyond writing, she enjoys family time, stargazing and sea glass searches. 
Find her at tracieroberts.com
Facebook –www.facebook.com/ tracie.roberts13
Twitter - @tracie_roberts



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