Sandi Brackeen's Blog, page 2

Guest Blog: Rebecca Aires

I'd like to welcome Rebecca Aires as she introduces us to Sephanie, the heroine of Claimed by Three, which is due out on the 20th!!  Enjoy!
Sephanie Character Interview
Today I’d like to introduce you to Sephanie, the heroine of Claimed by Three. In the book, Kassius, Teague, and Berenger try to court Sephanie, while they work to discover who’s behind the strange happenings in their lives.Blurb:Kassius, Teague, and Berenger are dealing with serious vandalism on their property, but they aren’t waiting any longer to claim Sephanie. They intend to draw the beautiful, curvy woman into their lives with romance and all the sex she can handle while they discover who is behind the trouble.
Sephanie has always wanted a ménage and jumps at the chance to date the three sexy men. Their first dates are everything she’s dreamed of and leave her craving more. When vandalism and sabotage begins to focus on her, Sephanie doesn’t understand it, but is determined to stay with her men.
The person behind the attacks won’t stop until he has what he wants. And it seems like what he wants is Sephanie, Kassius, Teague and Berenger are having none of it. Sephanie is their woman, and they’re going to keep her safe.Tagline: When attacks suddenly begin after she starts dating three men, Sephanie must discover who’s behind it in order to claim her three men.Available at: Loose Id: http://www.loose-id.com/claimed-by-th...
Tell me your name and about your family.Sephanie: My name is Sephanie Lindsey. Normal family. Mother and father, Tasha and Phillip, and three siblings. Cooper, Brand, and Natalie
Where do you live?Sephanie: I have a house on the edge of the city. It used to belong to my uncle, but I bought it when he moved to another city.
What do you do? Is it something you’ve always wanted to do?Sephanie: I own a bakery. I’ve always liked baking, but like a lot of other people, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I actually went to a normal college for most of a year. It was a part time job that led me to the thought of opening my own bakery.
You’re interested in Kassius, Teague, and Berenger. Have you always been interested in a ménage relationship or did you become interested after you met them?Sephanie: Yes, I’m interested in Kassius, Teague, and Berenger. I’ve always found group marriages attractive. If you’re thinking it was the sex that drew me, that’s not it. Those three men are definitely hot though. The ménage marriages I’ve seen have seemed more family focused and loving. I want that.
What draws you to those three men?Sephanie: Well, they’re sexy, but I’ve already said that. It’s not their looks that make them so attractive. I like the way they help friends and are always there for their family. I grew up with support like that. It’s something I want in the men I marry, for the family I hope to build. Though it’s a little early to be talking about that.
At first, you were uncertain of their interest. Can you explain that?Sephanie: It was because they hadn’t approached me before. I mean they had opportunities, especially when they were watching over me when my brother was threatened. I also thought they were dating someone. So, their interest came out of nowhere.
Do you trust Kassius, Teague, and Berenger? Why?Sephanie: Yes, I trust them. If there’s danger, I know they’ll be there for me. I also know they aren’t playing some kind of game or simply after sex.
What’s most important to you? Sephanie: I sort of answered this already. Love and family are most important to me. I want to build a life with men I love and who love me.
If you’d like to see a little of the inspiration for Claimed by Three, visit the Claimed by Three inspiration board. https://www.pinterest.com/rebeccaairi...
Thank you so much for allowing me to share a little about the characters in Claimed by Three! I hope you enjoyed it!

Digging Up the Past (Tales from Atlantis) Reviewed By Dr. Wesley Britton of Bookpleasures.com

Digging Up the Past (Tales from Atlantis) Reviewed By Dr. Wesley Britton of Bookpleasures.com

Guest blog: Riley Perez

Hi, I’m Riley.  When you read the stories in the Tales from Atlantis series, you’ll be reading about me and my associates.  They are also friends, but I think associates sounds more professional.   The PTBs at Homeland Security don’t think the agents are DUE are nearly professional enough, but then, we’re not the kind of agents they’re used to dealing with.  Almost all of the agents at HSS are military, or were before they became agents.  Not a single DUE agent has ever been anywhere near the military.  What we are is preternatural.  This is also the reason DUE hired us, and well, you can’t have it both ways.
We take care of those things that the mundane agents can’t, which includes most cases involving supernaturals.  There are a surprising number of those cases, in spite of the fact that most people still deny that we exist, but as a result, our numbers are growing daily, and the Norms at HSS never quite know how to deal with us.  I figure that’s why they act like we’re either indestructible, or dispensable.  Current money in the office pool favors indestructible, but it goes back and forth.
History says this all started about two hundred years ago when some scavengers hauled off the stones on the Bimini Road.  When that happened, magic returned to the earth, and Atlantis rose.  Now, Atlantis sits out there in the Atlantic Ocean and for some reason, no one wants to go there.  Explain that!  I certainly can’t, but on the other hand, I have no desire to go there either, so I can’t fault anyone else for not wanting to go.  The thing is, after all the legend and myth surrounding Atlantis, it makes no sense that no one wants to go there.  However, that’s a topic for another day.  
Today, I just want to tell you about the case we’re working on in Digging Up the Past.  In this case, we’re trying to find a spade.  Yes, a shovel.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Well, this particular spade grants the holder immortality and can raise the dead, which makes it a bit more complex.  The file says it was headed here to be on display at the Smithsonian, but it never arrived.  The scientists on the dig where it was discovered have returned to Denton to their home university, and are working on a recent dig at the local lake.  A number of the other people on the dig are also at this site, so that’s where we’re going to start. 
No one can say exactly where the spade disappeared.  It left Peru like it was supposed to, but it was not there when the plane arrived in Washington. Our job is to figure out which one of these people took it.  The options are the Braden’s, the lead archeologists on the dig, the anthropologist Nick Manulito, Professor Jackson, who supervises the grad students, and the grad students themselves. Oh yeah, we have to find it before they get a chance to use it.


Excerpt:
Just after midnight, I pulled up in front of the slightly rundown house near campus that the agency had rented for Jason and me. The adrenaline had worn off for me as well, but when I dragged myself through the door, it appeared that my luck was looking up. Jason was awake, and it smelled like the pizza was still hot. On the other hand, my odds of hot pizza are good most of the time with Jason around. Most of the time, he looks like your basic blond surfer, but he’s half demon, so he’s constantly hungry, and pizza’s his favorite food. Of course, he never gains an ounce. As a shape-shifter I do have a somewhat faster metabolism than most people, but my metabolism can’t hold a candle to Jason’s.Oh yeah, in addition to being an empath, which means I can feel, and sometimes even see, the emotions of other people, and animals, technically, I’m also a shape-shifter, probably the only one in history who can’t actually change shape. If you think it sounds odd, try living it. My folks were more than a little disappointed, but my maternal grandmother is a human mage, and she was ecstatic when my empathy and spell-casting ability showed up. That’s when she and my parents decided I would be spending summers and most vacations with her. My mom started out human too, and despite the fact that she and Dad never had a blood exchange of any kind, over time, she developed the ability to shift shapes. Our scientists are still puzzling over that one. After that, they’d just assumed that their children would also be shape-shifters. Functioning shape-shifters. My brother was. I couldn’t turn myself into anything, no matter how hard I tried. “Hey,” Jason said when I walked in, sitting up from where he’d been stretched out on the faded couch. “You okay? You look beat. What happened?“ “Someone broke in at the Bradens’ house while I was out walking the dog,” I called over my shoulder as I circled through the kitchen, grabbed a paper plate, and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge before collapsing in a chair. My chair, along with another semi-matching chair and the sofa, circled a TV that somehow seemed to be on sports no matter the time or day. I could sometimes commandeer it for the news, but not often. Jason is an equal opportunity sports fan. He watches them all.  

Kid Stuff

When I was a kid, it was the 60s, the age of free love and drugs, and the worst things that were apt to happen were pregnancy or a bad trip.  We had maybe a third of the technology we have today, and a tenth of the luxuries.  People are fond of memories of having to actually get up to change the television channel, and having a phone with a cord on it that you couldn’t take with you, but what they’re really fond of, I think, is the sense of safety we had because we also had about a tenth of the dangers kids face today.  Sure, bad things happened, even then.  I was nine when John Kennedy was killed, and it stunned the nation, but it wasn’t a personal danger.  It was danger on a national level.  We’d dealt with that before, and we’d won.  I guess when you think about how far technology has come, it’s no wonder really that the dangers involved have become greater as the world has gotten smaller.When I was a kid, there were no internet stalkers because there was no internet; LSD was the only “designer drug,” and unprotected sex didn’t kill you. Kids didn’t take guns and bombs to school to kill each other, and no one had flown planes into the side of the World Trade Center.  I know, I know, it’s cliché to say it was a simpler time, but in many ways it’s the truth.  However, I can’t help but believe the separation caused by the lack of technology kept us innocent of many of the evils in the world.  Evil had to work harder to get to us.  It could still get to us.  John Kennedy’s death, followed by the Manson murders and the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were proof of that, but it was a little more distant than it seems to be now.  Technology has brought wonderful advances and horrible knowledge.  All of those murders and the Vietnam War came into our homes through the miracle that was TV.  How much more information is available today?  The information we have access to now has multiplied exponentially which makes us infinitely more knowledgeable, and infinitely more paranoid, and for good reason.  With that knowledge has come a terrifying awareness of how much evil there is in the world.  I’m not going to get into a discussion of nature versus nurture.  However it came to be, it presents itself as evil, so we’ll just leave it at that.I have a grandson soon to be born, and knowing how much progress we’ve made in my lifetime, I cannot help but wonder how much more will happen during his life, and how we will survive further development of intellect without further development of spirituality/morality/decency.  I’m not Christian, so I’m not preaching go to church, live the way I say, blah, blah, blah, but somewhere in there, before technology becomes so prevalent that we no longer have any contact with each other, we have to develop the sense of right and wrong that is missing in so much of our world today.  Without it, there is no sense of connection to the world or to other people, and we will become truly dangerous to ourselves and our world.  We’re already headed that way.We are the only ones who can make this difference, and unless we start now, for those who haven’t already, to reach out to those who need, and those who suffer, and those who hurt, it’s going to be a bleak future.  Think back to the future you envisioned as a child, and let’s all take one small step on the path to love of our fellow humans and rebuilding the world that reflects the dreams we had when we were young.


Sandi







Book LinksiTunes Barnes & NobleAmazon 

Guest Blogger Wesley Britton

I'm excited to have as my guest blogger this week, long time friend and fellow author Dr. Wesley Britton.  I met Wes when we were doing graduate work at the University of North Texas, and I won't say how long ago that was, but I'm thoroughly enjoying his book The Blind Alien, so check it out!  Here's Wes to tell you more about himself, and the book!



Hi fellow readers, I'm Dr. Wesley Britton. Today, I'm delighted to share news that BearManor Media has just published my novel, The Blind Alien: The Beta-earth Chronicles, Book One. We're calling it science fiction, although I'm not sure that's the best term to describe the book.
The story begins when Dr. Malcolm Renbourn walks into a bank where he's suddenly captured by a device that drags him to an alternate earth. Blinded in the capture, Malcolm endures months of torturous experiments and has no idea what is happening to him. He doesn't understand the language he's hearing.   Not surprisingly, he's a haunted, frightened man.
Ultimately, Malcolm begins to learn about his new planet.  At first, he's considered state property in a country that enslaves all light-skins, including the only alien from Alpha earth. Escaping into a neighboring free country, Malcolm learns even more, especially about the curse of the ancient Plague-With-No-Name that kills three out of four male babies their first year. Thus, polygamy is the norm and the basis for Beta-earth's tribal structure. Because of this, Beta's scientists want to imprison Malcolm and his offspring hoping Alpha genes might carry the cure to a curse that defines their world.
I admit being very proud of the characters you'll meet in The Blind Alien.  As the story progresses, Tribe Renbourn forms around five very strong women with very distinct backgrounds, personalities, and abilities. Bar, Lorei, Elsbeth, Joline and Alnenia are exiles and outcasts who never expected to be mothers of a generation always under the hopeful eyes of a desperate planet.
Yes, there's fantasy. Lorei Renbourn, in particular, is a prophetess of the goddess Olos and Olos is constantly reminding the tribe they have been brought together for a cosmic mission.
You can find more about the series at my website:
www.drwesleybritton.com
Book reviewers can contact the publisher, Ben Ohmart, directly at benohmart@gmail.com
 You can order the e-book directly from BearManor Media at:
http://www.bearmanormedia.com/the-blind-alien-the-beta-earth-chronicles-book-one-by-dr-wesley-britton      
Or through Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015BX2CII
Dr. Wesley Britton is the author of four non-fiction books, Spy Television (2003), Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film (2005), Onscreen andUndercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage (2006), and The Encyclopedia of TV Spies (2009). For sites like BlogCritics.org and BookPleasures.com, Britton has written over 500 music, book, an moviereviews.   For seven years, he was co-host of online radio's Dave WhitePresents for which he contributed celebrity interviews with musicians, authors, actors, and entertainment insiders.
Britton earned his doctorate in American Literature at the University of North Texas in 1990. He currently teaches English at Harrisburg Area Community College. He serves on the Board of Directors for Vision Resources of Central Pennsylvania. He lives with his one and only wife, Betty, in Harrisburg, PA.
Contact Wes Britton at:spywise@verizon.net

The Great Outdoors

It’s been a long time since I’ve really been an outdoor girl, but my roommates like to go hiking.  Recently I’ve been joining them, and while I think I may be done until it cools off a bit, it’s wonderful for the creative juices.  Every time, I come back with pictures, and ideas, so I’m enjoying it thoroughly, in spite of the heat.    I find the connection with nature, combined with the photos I get that I can’t get otherwise wonderful.  Locally, most of the wildlife consists of squirrels and rabbits, but since I like taking pictures of squirrels and rabbits, that’s okay.  When I travel, I do the same thing with the wildlife wherever I am, and love every minute.  

The other thing that I love is that I always come back with ideas.  I get ideas for blogs, ideas for the revision in progress on book two of the Tales from Atlantis, ideas for jewelry to be made, and ideas for places I’d like to see.  I have always been a lover of nature, but I tend to get caught up in all the things that I do that are inside, especially in the summer, so I miss the connection with nature that I need to spark my creativity and renew my batteries.  
Currently, my characters have discovered something in Reaching for Beyond that I didn’t anticipate, so some things that I thought would happen won’t and some that I didn’t expect will.  It should be a fun ride, and I hope you will enjoy it.  Riley, Jason, and Cam will be working together again, and many of the same characters from Digging Up the Pastwill be in Reaching for Beyond. 
Digging Up the Paststarts a series that delves into what happens when magic returns to the earth.  As you may know, the stones from the Bimini Road have been removed, and magic has returned to earth.  Ordinary humans who had magical ancestry have reverted to whatever type of preternatural being is in their heritage.  The odd part is that people from the same family can develop into different types of beings.  This is believed to be a testament to the natural mixing of the races, so one lineage can have several different types of preternatural beings in it.  
Regardless of the blending of the races in the past, there are still issues in today’s world.  Riley’s parents are unlikely ever to accept Cam in spite of the fact that they are shape shifters, and he’s a werewolf.  You wouldn’t think that would be such a long reach, but, much like the everyday world, a small difference can keep us miles apart.
For more information about Digging Up the Past, and the rest of the series, check out my website at www.sandibrackeen.com, 
Excerpt: Digging Up the Past
My ragged Ford Escort, the color of which can best be described as rust and green, was parked in front of the house. When we reached the car, I opened the passenger door and tried to put Keesha in. She wrapped her arms around me tighter and screamed louder. Finally, I sat down in the seat and swung myself in with Keesha still attached. Holding her close to me, we leaned over and I reached under the driver’s seat to replace my gun. Once she stopped screaming again, I pulled out my cell phone, dialed 911 and then called Keesha’s parents.
“Braden.” Keesha’s father answered on the second ring.“Dr. Braden, something’s happened at the house!” I almost sobbed into the phone. “I’ve got Keesha with me, and I’ve called the police, but I can’t find Mena. Angel was after something upstairs, and I think I heard a gunshot!” “Where are you now?”“In my car! With the doors locked!” I focused on sounding just a bit unsteady and very scared. I really was a bit unsteady because my senses told me Mena was dead, but I was more pissed than scared. “Good. Stay there! Don’t go back in. We’re on our way.” Dr. Braden disconnected without waiting for a reply.My ability to make people believe I am an innocent, and in this case, frightened, nineteen-year-old, was a large part of the reason my partner and I had been assigned to this case. The tone of Dr. Braden’s voice told me I was succeeding. While we waited, with me rocking and soothing Keesha, I worried. Worried about Mena, worried that the Bradens would move to a safe house and I would no longer have a reason to be there, worried that we wouldn’t catch the guy before he could hurt someone else, worried that we wouldn’t find the spade before whoever had it used it. Within moments, sirens screamed up the street, and a sea of flashing lights surrounded the house. I climbed out of the car, Keesha still clinging to me, as a police officer and the paramedics approached me.“Are you Riley Perez?” The officer seemed very young, even to my twenty-six years.“Yes, Officer.”“What happened here?”“I don’t know, really. I took the dog to the park, and when we came back, Keesha was downstairs, screaming. The dog went up the stairs after something, and I heard a gunshot, so I just grabbed Keesha and brought her out here.”“That was a smart move, Ms. Perez. Are you and the child okay?”“I am, and I think she is too. She seems to be mostly scared.”“Is anyone else in the house?”“Keesha’s nanny is supposed to be in there, but I didn’t see any sign of her before we got out of there.” 
To find out more about Riley, Keesha, and the Bradens, visitiTunesAmazonand Barnes & Noble

The Council:

After the return of magic, the one group that every preternatural fears is known simply as “The Council.”  A mysterious lot, they’re believed to be the most powerful of each of the preternatural races, but since there has never been an open council position that anyone knows about, the truth of this is unclear.  What is known is that they concern themselves with the policing of the preternatural races.  Most people never see them, and most people prefer it that way.  Riley and her crew seem to be summoned to see them more often than they’re comfortable with.  

The public line put out is simply that since no man made court of law could control, or hold, a supernatural being, the Council is there to make sure things don’t get out of hand.  In addition, preternatural species all have their own rules for ascension to power that mundanes would never understand.  In the case of disputes between groups, the council is billed as a court of mediation, but regardless what the publicity says, rumors abound about who they are and why they’re here.  Some live as a part of the world with a corporate identity, or as an artist, or any number of other types of lives that mortals live, but some want nothing to do with the world, and live lives that inspire much conjecture because of the limited information available. 

Some believe their plan is to take over our world, and that if the mundane government had its way, the Council wouldn’t exist, but the mundanes know they can’t build jails strong enough to hold supernatural beings without help.  Others believe the Council has no desire to control our world; their only goal is to make sure the preternatural beings don’t destroy it or the people who live here.  

Among the other beliefs are that they can influence events if need be to ensure things go the right way, their way, but no one knows if this is true, or just one of the many rumors floating around.  The only thing that is known for sure is that they are delegates from the Rulers of Atlantis, sent to keep an eye on things.  Exactly what that means is as big a mystery as everything else about them. 

Excerpt:
I’d lived in the Metroplex, the region around Dallas, my entire life before testifying against Joey, but I had no idea where we were. The building loomed above us. Its dark glass surface reflected the fading daylight oddly, adding unusual blues and greens to the reds and golds of the sunset.
Inside, I saw numerous carbon copies of the men accompanying us. Some sat behind desks on either side of the revolving door while others were strategically positioned around a chrome and glass lobby with its inlaid marble floors. No one spoke. None of the men inside greeted the four returning or acknowledged in any way that we’d entered. They just watched. At a chrome and glass reception desk in the center of the large lobby, the only female in sight watched, but said nothing. They all projected that same creepy stillness.
We took the elevator to the top floor. Stepping out on to plush pile carpet, we entered another reception area that guarded a single large door. Here, the desk, the door, and the furniture had the look of heavy, solid wood. This receptionist looked up at us but didn’t speak either. One of our guards waved his hand, and the door swung open.
Beyond the door was air. Oh good. I really don’t like heights, and this was dizzying. About twenty feet back, floating in the air, a man sat behind a desk. We walked forward. My brain screamed at me that I was about to step out into nothingness, but I kept walking. My heart was pounding as I stepped through the door—and onto a solid floor. With each step, my internal screaming returned, sure that the floor would end at any moment, but I kept walking. My eyes told me I was walking on air, but I could feel the floor, solid beneath my feet.
 The man behind the desk scared me more than seeming to walk on air. Strikingly handsome, he stood around six feet tall, and he had dark hair. He almost pulsed with power. He appeared human, but dragon fear washed over me, so strong I couldn’t tell where my fear stopped and Jason’s began. I could only assume the man had the same effect on Cam. 

Three chairs appeared before the desk. They hadn’t been there when we entered. We sat. He smiled at us like we were children on the first day of class.
“So nice of you to come. I trust you will not try anything foolish.”

Other than my inability to move my limbs, I hadn’t been able to feel the control they had on us, but I knew when it was released. Our movements were now our own, but he was right, none of us was going to try anything foolish.
“Who are you? What do you want?” Cam spoke first.

“Ah, the wolf.” He looked surprised. “Who knew you’d be so outspoken. Good. Good.” He smiled again. “In answer to your first question, my name is Derek Chastain. I represent the Council of Light.”

My breath caught in my throat, but I pushed past it. “What do you want with us?”

“We simply wanted to meet you, and assure you that we had nothing to do with the theft of this spade you seek.”

“You couldn’t have told us that over the phone?” Jason’s resentment was plain in his voice.

“Would you have believed us?”

“Point taken,” I said, “but isn’t this a bit drastic for someone just wanting to proclaim their innocence?”

“If that were all it is, you would be correct. However, we have another point that we wish to discuss with you as well.”
Visit my website.
Digging Up the Past Available at:

iTunes Barnes & NobleAmazon

The Spade of Apocatequil

The Spade of Apocatequil
When I first met Riley Perez, the main character in Digging Up the Past, she introduced herself to me as Peruvian, which peaked my interest in Peruvian myths and legends, and I became fascinated with the tale of Apocatequil.  Apocatequil is the God of Lightning and the High Priest of the Moon to the Huamachuco Indians in Peru. He is often associated with evil because of this connection to night.  His twin brother Piguerao is the God of the Day, so the association with night comes naturally.


According to Huamachuco Indian legend, Apocatequil and his brother were born among the underground people known as the Guachimines.  Their father was the first man sent above to Earth by the creator god Atagudu.  The Guachimines killed both the brother’s parents, before they were born, but when Apocatequil touched his mother’s body, she came back to life.  Atagudu helped Apocatequil kill the Guachimines, and told him to use a golden spade to dig his way to the above ground.  This hole enabled the Huamachuco to escape and populate the land.  After that, it was believe that wherever he struck his spade into the ground, people rose up.
Like most authors, I tend to play the “what if” game quite often, and from there it was an easy leap to the spade offering immortality to the holder and the ability to raise the dead.  In a world where magic has returned within the last 200 years, magical artifacts are suddenly active again, and they are often quite dangerous, particularly in the wrong hands. That seemed a fitting place for the Tales from Atlantis to start.


Riley Perez and her partner Jason have to retrieve the spade before anyone uses it, and preferably before the Peruvian Government finds out that it’s missing.  The problem is, most of their suspects were on the dig in Peru, and are on the dig now. No one is missing or has changed their lifestyle in the least that anyone can tell. Anyone with that kind of power would hardly be able to resist using it. As a result, Riley and Jason are undercover.  Riley is posing as a dog walker and grad student, and Jason as a grad student. 


Excerpt:
Mena should be here, but there was no trace of her emotions in the house. The only thing left of her was a void in the house where life should be. There’s a unique emotional sensation that comes with sudden death. Rather than there just not being any emotion to feel, it’s like there’s a hole in the emotional fabric of the house.

A shot exploded through the house. Keesha screamed again. Clutching her tighter, I ran out the front door. My heart ached at not being able to go back in to see for myself what had happened to Mena, and to check on Angel, but my only option at that point was to call the cops. With the lack of actual activity the past five months, we’d all been lulled into a false sense of security and hadn’t really expected any problems. That was our first mistake.
My ragged Ford Escort, the color of which can best be described as rust and green, was parked in front of the house. When we reached the car, I opened the passenger door and tried to put Keesha in. She wrapped her arms around me tighter and screamed louder. Finally, I sat down in the seat and swung myself in with Keesha still attached. Holding her close to me, we leaned over and I reached under the driver’s seat to replace my gun. Once she stopped screaming again, I pulled out my cell phone, dialed 911 and then called Keesha’s parents.
“Braden.” Keesha’s father answered on the second ring.
“Dr. Braden, something’s happened at the house!” I almost sobbed into the phone. “I’ve got Keesha with me, and I’ve called the police, but I can’t find Mena. Angel was after something upstairs, and I think I heard a gunshot!”
“Where are you now?”
“In my car! With the doors locked!” I focused on sounding just a bit unsteady and very scared. I really was a bit unsteady because my senses told me Mena was dead, but I was more pissed than scared. 
Digging Up the Past is now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Meet Riley Perez

Well, exciting news!!! The rerelease of Digging Up the Past is out!!!  It has a wonderful new cover, and a great publishing team, and I hope you all enjoy it.
Digging Up the Pastis the first of a series called the Tales of Atlantis.  The premise for the series is that scavengers removed the stones from the Bimini Road, and Atlantis rose.  Preternaturals in Riley’s world call this the restoration, but the politically correct term among norms is the simply the return.
The main character, Riley Perez, is a Peruvian shape shifter, who just can’t seem to shift shapes.  Her parents feel that it’s because her mother wasn’t a shape shifter until she married Riley’s dad, but he was always a shape shifter. Prior to becoming a shape shifter, Riley’s mother was, however, a witch.  Riley has inherited this portion of her mother’s background rather than being able to shift like her parents and her brothers.  Unfortunately, in the shape shifter community she grew up in, this makes her an outsider.  
She knows her parents love her, family friends are polite, and she was even engaged once to the boy next door, but there are those that don’t bother to hide their disdain, dismissing her empathy and spell casting skills as less than.  This just made her push herself harder.  Her mother and grandmother taught her well, and she does have much of the shape shifter strength, eyesight, and sense of smell.  
Since her fiancé was sent to jail for her brother’s murder, she’s honed her skills even further.  The fact that she’s a petite five feet, four inches hasn’t stopped her from training her body as well as her mind.  In college, she got her masters in photography in hopes of chronicling the development of the paranormal races since the restoration.  After Danal was killed, that changed.  She was so angry; she was using her talents to being down those she saw as the bad guys. That’s when she met Giles Walker.
Giles of the best agents the Department of Unusual Events (DUE) ever had.  He brought her into DUE and helped her learn to control the anger, and become an effective agent.  She and her half-demon partner, Jason, now worked to police the preternatural community, no easy task, since no human jail can hold them.  

Excerpt:

Immortality? Now that’s tempting. Throw in an army of the dead, and hey, any evil overlord would kill for that package.

When the Homeland Security Service’s Department of Unusual Events, or DUE, assigned my partner, Jason, and me to this case, the file said the spade we were looking for was valued at eighteen million dollars and belonged to the Peruvian government. Stolen during shipment from Peru to the local university, the spade, along with a number of the other artifacts uncovered on a dig site in Peru, was scheduled for study here. According to our file, the HSS believed it had been stolen for financial gain or, perhaps, to cause an international incident. Not our usual type of case, but not unheard of either.

What the file didn’t mention was that this wasn’t just any gold spade. This was the Spade of Apocatequil. Peruvian legend has it that anywhere Apocatequil stuck this spade in the ground, people sprang up. Now, the spade is believed to grant the holder immortality and the power to raise the dead. Minor omission.

My cover on this assignment was that of a college student. I also worked as a dog walker for the Bradens, who were our primary suspects, so every afternoon, Angel, the Bradens’ German shepherd, and I made the two-block walk to the dog park near the Bradens’ house.

When I pulled in at the house, I could tell no one was home. The Bradens would be at the local dig site until at least dark, getting set for the summer dig, and it wasn’t unusual for Keesha, the Bradens’ daughter, and Mena, the operative from Cerberus Security who’s been acting as her nanny, to be out in the early afternoon. I clipped the leash on Angel and we headed for the park.

Oh, as for why they should be our primary suspects, that’s the easy part. John Braden was the American archaeologist on the Peruvian dig. His wife, Sonya, was the lead anthropologist on that same dig, and that put them at the top of the list of suspects. That placement was further supported by the fact that someone else believed they had the spade. Our file also indicated that things had been stolen from other dig sites when they were in charge. The hard part was that there was no evidence, solid or otherwise, that they took the spade, or that they were involved in any of the other thefts.  

SCOTUS Decision

If nothing else, the one thing you can say about gay rights and the legalization of same sex marriage is that EVERYONE has an opinion.  My only issue with those who don’t feel same sex marriage should be legal is that making it illegal denies a group of people basic human rights based on a religious belief.  If we license marriage for some people, we must license it for all people.  What is legal for one person must be legal for others.  It’s that simple.  The Supreme Court had no choice but to declare that denying two people the right to marry based on gender issues is discriminatory.  That’s what they’re there for.I’ve heard people say they’re overstepping their bounds, but those same people would have no problem if they’d allowed states to deny this basic right based on out of date laws that no longer reflect the beliefs of the country.  This is a legal matter, not a religious one.  Just because someone believes differently does not mean they shouldn’t have the same rights as everyone else.  That is the law in the land of equality.  All are created equal, and all are entitled to the same rights.  As long as we feel the need to license marriage, we must issue licenses to all. On another note, Love is Love, and some of those who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus, would do well to review those teachings.  They focus on love and tolerance.  “When you think yours is the only true path you forever chain yourself to judging others and narrow the vision of God. The road to righteousness and arrogance is a parallel road that can intersect each other several times throughout a person's life. It’s often hard to recognize one road from another. What makes them different is the road to righteousness is paved with the love of humanity. The road to arrogance is paved with the love of self.”
― Shannon L. AlderMany people talk about righteousness, but can only see it in others if it agrees with what they themselves believe.  How dare they think God is so petty?  Only man is shallow enough, and arrogant enough, to care who loves who.  Only man is small enough to deny basic human rights to an entire group of people because they believe differently.  One of my favorite sayings in all this is “Please tell me how someone’s gay marriage is going to violate the sanctity of your fourth marriage.”  If you’re looking at the Bible for your ideas, why is no one protesting divorce?  Personally, I have no vested interested in same sex marriage.  However, I have many friends who do, and you know what? Other than being able to be happy for them and celebrate their weddings, same sex marriage will have no effect on me, nor will it have any effect on anyone else who does not wish to have a same sex marriage.  Rant over.