Linda Nightingale's Blog, page 14
September 7, 2020
Sub-lebrity by Leon Acord
Today, I have Leon Acord with a clever guest post for you and stay tuned for his wonderful book Sub-lebrity and information on a Rafflecopter giveaway! Here’s Leon:
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“Road Trip!”
I was born in 1963 and grew up in rural 1970s Indiana.
The nation’s network of interstate highways was born shortly before I was, and we grew up together.
My Dad, not much older than a teenager himself, immediately embraced the concept of driving cross-country – with a vengeance!
When my sister Tammy and I were still quite young, Dad began what would become an oft-repeated family tradition: loading us and Mom into a car, usually attaching a camper, and driving … driving … driving … throughout the Midwest until we arrived at our destination.
Dad didn’t screw around. Sleep? Forget about it! Motels were for soft city folk. Once we were on our way, stops were kept to an absolute minimum, and only when necessary: to refill the gas tank, or to empty our bladders.
Dad never began a trip with less than a full tank, so the first stop, made hours into the journey, was almost always due to me and Tammy.
“Dad, please! We gotta pee, I can’t hold it any longer!”
“Didn’t I tell you to go before we left home?” he’d scold us.
Eventually, Mom would finally admonish him. “Oh, now, come on, Norm. They’ve held it in long enough!”
Then we’d take the next exit and stop at the nearest Stuckley’s (whatever happened to those?). Once done in the little boys’ and girls’ rooms, Tammy and I would buy candy and soda, then rush back to the truck. You did not want to keep Dad waiting.
At the end of those endless drives, amazing adventures always awaited. Camping in Iowa; King’s Island amusement park outside Cincinnati, Ohio; Mackinac Island in Michigan.
As we got older, the campers got bigger, and Dad’s wanderlust shifted into a higher gear. We began driving the Eastern seaboard.
First, up North, all the way to Niagara Falls. (Mom and Dad never had a proper honeymoon, I realize now, so…). It was an impressive spectacle – but I was far more amazed by the Adam West “Batman” figure we saw in a nearby wax museum.
Then South, to Disney World, via never-ending, maddening stand-still traffic jams in Georgia.
After the Happiest Place on Earth, I got my first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean. I ran into the water, ecstatically about to take my first swim in an actual ocean, completely ignorant of how strong ocean waves are! I quickly found out. A large one knocked me over and dragged me under. I tumbled head over heels, over and over, until I eventually emerged, gagging on sea salt, with seashells embedded in my hair and down my shorts.
I’ve hated swimming ever since.
When I was 12 or so, Dad was required to attend a UAW convention in 1970s Los Angeles. He could have flown solo. But he decided to take his family (and a large “fifth-wheel” camper/trailer) to LA on the mother-of-all-road-trips and see much of the country along the way.
What followed was a week-long drive into the Deep South, then through the Southwest.
And we saw it all. Grand Canyon (“Now get back in the car!”), Petrified Forest, (“Come on now, you saw it!”), Painted Desert (“Let’s go, let’s go!”).
Alas, a tire on the fifth-wheel trailer blew out as we crossed the Arizona desert (while my sister and I were inside it, but that’s another story!). Once Dad was able to control, then stop, the wildly careening vehicles, we found ourselves stranded in the hot, dry desert on the side of the highway. Hours passed as we waited for roadside assistance. Mom wouldn’t let us venture too far, for fear of rattlesnakes.
Once help arrived, Dad learned he’d have to leave his beloved trailer in Arizona for repairs.
That may have been a blessing, because I can’t imagine Dad parking it where we stayed in Hollywood — the Sheraton Hotel near Universal Studios! (For details on that trip, read SUB-LEBRITY*).
Dad became a farmer when I entered high school, and that pretty much ended our family road-trips. And I did finally start flying, in my early 20s and, boy, did I make up for lost time once I did!
But now, as my “golden years” sparkle on the visible horizon, I’m longing for those road trips of old. My husband Laurence and I have talked often about buying a trailer and driving across the country once we retire.
We used to worry being together that much, that long, would drive us crazy! Now, five months into COVID-19 and counting, we’ve realized we can take it!
# # # # #
[image error]GENRE: Memoir
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BLURB:
A droll, oddly inspirational memoir from the actor Breitbart once called “a gay leftist activist,” SUB-LEBRITY by Leon Acord (Old Dogs & New Tricks) is an honest, sometimes bitchy but always sincere story about growing up (very) gay in rural Indiana, achieving acting success outside the closet, and generating headlines with his very-public smackdown with Trump-loving Susan Olsen (Cindy, The Brady Bunch)
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Excerpt:
One of my nemeses from the jock clique, Rick Sisson, was slumming, playing the bit part of an “Old Man” about to be poisoned by two murderous old ladies in Arsenic & Old Lace.
As Mortimer, I was to rush on stage, see the Old Man about to drink a glass of poisoned elderberry wine, grab him by the jacket, and shove him out of my crazy aunts’ house.
That was how we’d been playing it.
For closing night, he and his jock buddies thought of a hilarious prank. Instead of setting his glass of fake wine on the table before I grabbed him, he’d throw the full glass of Hawaiian Punch into my face! It was closing night, why not? Smear the queer!
The sizable high-school auditorium was packed with a rowdy closing-night crowd of parents, faculty and friends, unaware they were about to witness my humiliation.
The moment arrived. I entered, rushed to the Old Man with the glass near his lips, and SPLASH![image error]
I was stunned. Rick rushed through the door and off stage before I could do a thing.
The audience erupted with laughter. Erupted! And didn’t stop!
I’d seen it on sitcoms all my short life. Actors forced to hold for a laugh. I lived for the moments on the Carol Burnett Show when something went wrong or when the actors tried not to laugh. And now, I was experiencing that myself. It felt wonderful!
Rick wanted me to feel like Carrie White. Instead, I felt like Cary Grant.
The two teenaged actresses playing my aunts just watched, trying not to laugh themselves.
I felt myself about to smile. I turned my back to the audience and fumbled through a desk on stage, pretending to blindly look for a handkerchief – a cover until I could wipe the now-gigantic smile off my face. The audience found this hilarious and continued howling.
Back in character, I gave up at the desk and turned to face the audience just as the laugh was softening. I instinctively yanked off my clip-on tie and began dabbing my wet face with it.
The audience screamed with laughter again – this time, the laughter morphed into applause.
The song from the Broadway musical Applause is right – it’s better than pot, it’s better than booze. Waiting out a long laugh break, instinctively finding ways to prolong it, riding it like a surfer on a wave, then crashing against the shore in a loud burst of applause, is the best feeling in the world.
I had flirted with the idea of being an actor, among other creative pursuits, all though childhood.
But in this moment, I knew. I’d spend the rest of my life chasing that feeling.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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Leon Acord is an award-winning actor and writer who has appeared in over 35 films you’ve never seen and 30 plays you’ve never heard of. Possible exceptions include the digital TV series Old Dogs & New Tricks on Amazon Prime Video (which he created, wrote & co-produced), and the stage hit Carved in Stone (in which he played Quentin Crisp in both SF and LA productions). His memoir, SUB-LEBRITY: The Queer Life of a Show-Biz Footnote, is now available in paperback & e-book on Amazon. He wrote his one-man show Last Sunday in June (1996) and co-authored the 2014 play Setting the Record Gay. He was a “Take Five” columnist for Back Stage West throughout 2009 and a former contributor to Huffington Post. He has also written for San Francisco Examiner and the journal Human Prospect. He currently lives in West LA with husband Laurence Whiting & their cat Toby. Learn more at www.LeonAcord.com
www.facebook.com/LeonAcordActor
www.twitter.com/Sub_lebrityLeon
Blog: www.LeonAcord.com/blog
Amazon: www.bit.ly/SUBpaperback
Old Dogs & New Tricks website: www.odnt.tv
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Leon Acord will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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For more excerpts and more chances to win, follow Leon on his tour:
August 17: Read Your Writes Book Reviews
August 18: Straight From the Library
August 19: Author C.A.Milson
August 20: Independent Authors
August 21: Hurn Publications
August 24: Rogue’s Angels
August 25: Bookriot – review only
August 25: Author Deborah A. Bailey blog
August 26: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
August 27: Readeropolis
August 28: T’s Stuff
August 31: Dragon’s Den
September 1: Harlie’s Books
September 2: All the Ups and Downs
September 3: Long and Short Reviews
September 4: Jazzy Book Reviews
September 7: Let Me tell You a Story
September 8: The Avid Reader
September 9: Kit ‘N Kabookle
September 10: Fabulous and Brunette
September 11: Seven Troublesome Sisters
September 1, 2020
Cover Reveal! ~*~ Be the first! ~*~ Mistletoe, Mobsters & Mozzarella ~*~
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An excited Peggy Jaeger, author of Mistletoe, Mobsters & Mozzarella, is with us today to share her hot-of-the-presses new cover. Welcome, Peggy!!
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Mistletoe, Mobsters, and Mozzarella
Finding a body in the freezer of the family deli isn’t the way Madonna San Valentino planned to start her day.
Adding insult to injury, the investigating detective is the one guy she’s never been able to forget. After seven minutes of heaven in the back seat of his car when they were teenagers, Tony Roma skipped town without so much as a thanks for the memory.
Just when Madonna thinks the present situation can’t get any worse, Tony is ordered to go undercover at the deli to ferret out a killer. Forced to work together, she vows to keep their relationship cool and professional. But with the sexy, longing looks he tosses her at every turn, Madonna’s resolve is weakening.
With Christmas drawing closer and Tony’s investigation taking an unexpected turn, Madonna is at her wit’s end. Can she really be falling for him again? And will he wind up leaving her broken hearted and alone like the last time?
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Here it is!!
August 27, 2020
Last Days of Sale! New Reviews for New Release…
Love for Sale will remain at the discounted price of $.99 until September 28th, SO tomorrow is the last day of the sale. Purchase here.
Life for Sale is out of the gate with 6 reviews at a 4.4-star rating. You can read them here
Happy Friday Eve!!
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August 24, 2020
Today is Release Day for my latest, Life for Sale!
[image error]Today, my new sci-fi romance Life for Sale, has been released by The Wild Rose Press! I’m very excited because Life for Sale is the sequel to Love for Sale. This week, I will be hopping all over. Here are the links for my virtual book tour: Enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a $25 Gift Card.
August 24: Kit n’ Kabookle
August 25: Author C.A.Milson
August 25: Readeropolis
August 26: Fabulous and Brunette
August 27: Christine Young
August 27: Author Deborah A Bailey
August 28: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
Blurb:
[image error]Mayfair Electronics has created life.
But four of their Special Editions—sentient androids indistinguishable from human—have escaped. Rebel, Christian Aguillard and his owner, March, are on the run, but they have a bigger problem than his creator’s plan to destroy him. They’ve discoveredthat one of the renegades has suffered a dangerous malfunction, threatening them with more than just exposure.
Trapped on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic, March and Christian must stop the insane robot before someone else dies. All the evidence points to March being the killer’s next victim.
BUY LINKS:
Life for Sale – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08D2Z5XLC
Love For Sale – https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sale-Linda-Nightingale-ebook/dp/B00XCZ6EVY
To celebrate, Love for Sale is on sale for a limited time for only $.99! Start the series for less than a dollar![image error]
August 22, 2020
Rise by Moonlight by Nancy Gideon
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Nancy is awarding a $20 Gift card by Rafflecopter giveaway. Code below.
Saying Goodbye to Old Friends
Finishing the last book in a series is all about good-byes. It’s like going to a new school, leaving your old neighborhood, starting a new job in a different city. Everyone you’ve spent time with, depended upon, looked forward to seeing is suddenly no longer in your day-to-day life. This blog tour for RISE BY MOONLIGHT is my going away party for friends who’ve been with me almost everyday for the past ten years. And I’m going to miss them!
The “By Moonlight” dark shapeshifter series began with the introduction of a determined New Orleans police detective and the mysterious mob enforcer she’s driven to bring to justice . . . until duty tumbles over desire. It doesn’t help matters when CeeCee discovers he’s more than just the shadowy figure who rescued her as teen . . . that he’s more than just a man, and in fact, is not a man at all! Max has been searching for who and what he is since his mother was killed when he was a child. That shocking truth and the tangled relationship between two should be enemies as both their worlds expand and are threatened is what sustained the initially contracted six books, then continued to develop through self-pubbing to a total of fifteen novels, concluding with this final book, RISE BY MOONLIGHT.
I could have gone on. The characters had more to say, to discover, to achieve. But it was time to move from my favorite city, from those beloved friends and enemies to other projects in the wings. Time to let go with this book that tied up all the loose ends into a satisfying knot. I worked hard to incorporate just enough backstory so new readers wouldn’t be lost as previous couples and families found their happily-ever-afters—no easy task. It took me two full years to resolve all those dangling questions.
But a warning to those who’ve never experienced my “By Moonlight” world . . . you won’t want to leave it once you’ve read just one.
Now for Rise by Moonlight:
BOOK BLURB:
[image error]Max and Charlotte return for the explosive conclusion of the “By Moonlight” series . . . and the stakes have never been higher!
He’s the Promised One
A Mobster’s attack dog turned legitimate business powerhouse, Max Savoie is the reluctant leader of New Orleans’ shapeshifter clan. They’ve kept to anonymous shadows, working and living unnoticed by the human world until their new Shifter King’s past draws dangerous outsiders who threaten all.
She’s the Protector
A fiercely determined NOPD detective, Charlotte Caissie has sworn to defend her beloved city and her unborn child from both criminals and otherworldly factions at war. While standing boldly at the side of her mate/husband, secrets from the past return to shake the foundation of her beliefs.
They have a Problem
Walking a marital tightrope between opposite worlds, Max and Cee Cee’s paths place truth and trust at odds when outside threats force enemies to become allies. The time to take a stand for their family and their future is at hand. Time to rise together for the survival of all they love!
“Every delicious word on the page exhilarates with a sensuous ferocity. Hopelessly addicted.” – NYT bestselling author, Darynda Jones
About the Author:
Nancy Gideon is the award-winning, bestselling author of 68 romances ranging from historical, regency and series contemporary suspense to paranormal, with a couple of horror screenplays tossed into the mix. She’s also published under the pen names [image error]Dana Ransom, Rosalyn West and Lauren Giddings. She recently retired after 20 years as a legal assistant and, when not at the keyboard, feeds a Netflix addiction along with all things fur, fin and fowl. For more information on the author, her books, or the “House of Terriot” and “By Moonlight” series, visit Nancy on the web.
Nancy’s Media Links: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Newsletter
Rise by Moonlight: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books | iBooks
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a Rafflecopter giveaway
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August 21, 2020
Monday, Monday! An Announcement
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! My new book, Life for Sale, will be released by The Wild Rose Press next Monday, August 24h! It is now on preorder.
The first book in the Tomorrow’s Angels series is on sale today only for $.99. If you’ve ever wondered about the future of robot technology, these two books portray my imagination’s view, or is that Muse’s view, of the robot/android a day or two from now. Actually, about 10-20 years to develop androids who can feel, move like humans, and that you can’t spot as a machine in a crowd…Tomorrow’s Angels.
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Life for Sale – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08D2Z5XLC
Love For Sale – https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sale-Linda-Nightingale-ebook/dp/B00XCZ6EVY
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Already robots are being used to teach children and as companions for the elderly and the lonely.
My androids are a huge step above these robots. As I said, they’re completely indistinguishable from human. They are human except for a…
View original post 288 more words
August 20, 2020
Always, Almond Fudge by Charlotte O’Shay
Interview with Charlotte O’Shay. Charlotte, here’s the mic:-
What is your greatest temptation:
In men: A sense of humor and a positive outlook on life get me every time.
In food: Brioche or olive bread, cheese, chocolate & wine
In clothes: I’m drawn to soft linen and cozy wool depending on the season.
It’s all about the natural fibers.
What is your greatest weakness (example: buying shoes)? Funky earrings always call to me
If you could have any kind of car, what would it be? I’m obsessed with old school circa late sixties Jeep Wagoneers. Someday…
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Your dream home – mountains or ocean? Ocean. Ocean. Ocean. There is nothing like the mesmerizing music of the waves, the light over the water at sunrise and sunset.
What inspired you to become a writer?
I was always a writer. Several years ago after a personal health crisis and the premature deaths of people I love, I finally said to myself, “what the *%$@ are you waiting for?” and chose to focus on getting published.
Do you have a daily writing routine? If so, please share. I have chapter goals, like a chapter a day on the days I write. I try hard to keep to my writing routine. There’s nothing like the feeling of setting and meeting a goal.
What is your favorite book? Impossible to name. I’ve enjoyed and been influenced by so many books in so many genres but by far, reading romance gives me that escapism feeling I crave.
What is your favorite movie? I love the first (original) Terminator. Strong female who doesn’t think she’s strong, fighting an enemy from the future. Romance and time travel perfection.
Who is your favorite historical figure? Alexander Hamilton. A passionate, flawed genius who made the most of his time here on earth. Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton rocked my world.
If you were given the opportunity to spend a day with any person, living or dead, who would it be? Hamilton and/or Shakespeare.
In your books, who is your favorite hero and please introduce him? It’s impossible to choose a favorite. Vladimir Grigory from my first book, THE MARRIAGE ULTIMATUM is a classic wounded alpha who readers loved to hate. I have a soft spot for him.
Lately, I love Zane Blackthorne from HOME IN YOUR ARMS, my upcoming Deerbourne Inn novella. Both men feel deeply but find it difficult to express their emotions.
Who is your favorite heroine and please introduce her? There’s a little of me in all of my heroines and in that sense they’re all favorites. I love Samantha DiMartino of FOREVER IN A MOMENT and Karla Payne, the heroine in my upcoming Deerbourne Inn novella, HOME IN YOUR ARMS. Life knocks them both down hard but they find the strength to get back up. I admire them because neither of these ladies is afraid to speak her mind to each other, their men or anyone else.
What do you have out now?
ALWAYS, ALMOND FUDGE, a sweet, small-town romance set in the WWII era was just released. The Wild Rose Press, my publisher put out a call for novella length romances featuring summer at the shore and ice cream. I challenged myself by setting the story in a different era. I also chose to keep the story innocent, almost fairy tale-like in spite of its wartime setting.
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Always, Almond Fudge
[image error]Blurb
On a lengthy car ride to their annual seaside vacation, a mother recounts the true story of a sweet family tradition. It’s the summer of 1941 in the seaside town of Langford, Rhode Island, and seventeen-year-old Meredith Franklin works as a server at Seymore’s Ice Cream Shoppe.
When aspiring baseball player Anthony Fanelli strolls into the ice cream shop, his teasing banter leads to romantic sparks and dreams of forever love.
Their whirlwind courtship comes to an abrupt halt on December 7, 1941, when America enters World War Two, forcing the couple to put their future on hold.
Decades later, a treasure trove of wartime letters details the romance of Merry and Anthony and the sacrifices of a generation.
Excerpt
Merry swallowed. Her powers of speech deserted her as she soaked in his animated features. What was happening to her? A planner by nature, Merry wasn’t ready for the[image error] way her imagination was flying off, far into the future. A future where she’d see the strong planes of Anthony’s tanned face every day for the rest of her life. Frightened by the strength of her vision, she occupied her trembling fingers, rearranging the cups and napkins behind the counter. It was getting near to nine p.m. She had work to do to close the shop.
“So, I’ve come for my ice cream. Your favorite.”
“You’re very confident,” she said. Her heartbeat fluttered then galloped forward with a curious combination of nerves and exhilaration.
He pressed his big hands to his thighs and shrugged. “Confident is the only way to go through life.”
Merry felt herself sinking deep into his densely lashed eyes. “I couldn’t agree more. Okay, Mr. Anthony Fanelli, which flavor do you choose?”
Buy Links
(click above link for Amazon, Kobo, Apple/IBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook & Google)
New releases anytime soon?
Coming very soon is HOME IN YOUR ARMS, my second novella in the Deerbourne Inn world. Readers wanted to know more about Karla Payne who appeared in my first Deerbourne Inn story and in HOME IN YOUR ARMS she gets her well-deserved Happily ever after.
Where can eager fans find you?
Charlotte O’Shay’s Social Media Links:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
[image error]Author Charlotte O’Shay was born in New York City into big family and then married into another big family.
Negotiating skills honed at the dinner table led her to a career in the law.
But after four beautiful children joined the crowded family tree, Charlotte traded her legal career to write about happily ever afters in the City of Dreams.
Charlotte loves to challenge her heroines and heroes with a crisis and watch them figure out who they are while they fall in love.
August 18, 2020
Apophis by Raj Anand
[image error]Apophis – Into the Folds of Darkness
by Raj Anand
GENRE: Sci-fi, Science Fiction
BLURB:
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January, 2022: A dark monstrous twin-headed apparition – Apophis – feverishly races past the expanse of the Milky Way galaxy and bolts to the edge of the solar system. Recklessly accelerating, the sinister rock-dyad enters the gravitational keyhole of the blue planet and continues its resolute inebriated journey – to soon arrive with an apocalyptic impact on Earth.
December, 2012: Five sentient beings born in different cities – New York, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Azores Islands and Istanbul, discover amongst haunting memories of their phantasmal past lives, that it is their destiny to save humanity from the evil forces unleashed by the alien fiends – the Skyllats.
And now, the reincarnated 9-year-olds must rely on their shared, ancient wisdom to prepare humanity for the war across the galaxy that is imminent.
EXCERPT
The Barred Spiral Milky Way Galaxy
At the Edge of the Solar System
January 17, 2022 (Earth Time)
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A dark monstrous apparition, slingshot from across another realm, camouflaged in a jagged, charcoal black rock, adroitly surfed the gravitational waves of the universe. Feverishly racing past the expanse of the Milky Way galaxy, it bolted to the edge of the solar system and arrived from above the plane of the ecliptic – gyrating closer to the sun.
The dark fiend continued its charge forward, cutting across the path of Venus – nearly crashing onto it, before it deftly decelerated and reached a stable orbit in a retrograde rotation around the pale-yellow planet. This tenacious temporary satellite immediately scrambled to steal a fragment of the protesting planet’s enormous momentum. Catapulted along the plain of the ecliptic, recklessly accelerating at an impossible speed – it shattered, splitting into two.
The newly formed rock dyad – a small black moon orbiting a sphere of death – pulled free from Venus. It continued its inebriated journey, salivating at the opportunity to rain a resolute chaos upon an orphic azure-blue bubble still 40 million kilometers away.
Unbeknownst to the alien rock dyad, a faint sliver of gold orbited nearby. The 7.5-meter-tall and 3.2-meter wide Sentinel Space Telescope clothed in a gold foil, with a giant heat-reflector shield strung along its back; cooled to 40 degrees Kelvin by a two stage, closed cycle Stirling cryocooler. Its 0.51-meter aluminum mirror, dutifully scanned any and all Inner Earth Objects larger than 90 meters in diameter that ever dared to fly across its 200-degree angle of regard.
The Sentinel Observatory, alarmed by the presence of the ghostly twin-headed monster, recorded the black rock dyad’s trajectory, shape, size, mass, and rotational dynamics, before it urgently sent a coded message to its home base in southern Japan.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Savinder Raj Anand is an architect and has been teaching Architecture & Design at various Universities in India for more than 12 years. A long-distance runner with a [image error]wanderlust to explore the world, and write stories that traverse across diverse cultures. He lives in Goa with his daughter, a dog, and two cats.
Inspired by his then 18-month-old daughter – when she quoted Socrates – while they together sat in a children’s bookstore in Bangalore (LIGHTROOM) in early January of 2015, he has completed this – his first book – as she turns 7 years old.
The book is $0.99 During the Tour
https://www.rajanandbooks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rajanandbooks/
https://www.facebook.com/rajanandbooks/
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Follow the tour at: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2020/06/nbtm-tour-apophis-into-folds-of.html
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August 17, 2020
Linda Nightingale Visiting with Her New Release!
Amazon Buy Link (Now on sale for 99 cents!)
Pre-order Buy LinkInterview
I’m excited to have you on my blog today, Linda! Your Tomorrow’s Angels series is such a unique idea, one I’ve never encountered before. I’m excited to learn more about your books and about you as an author. Let’s start with a few questions.
View original post 1,550 more words
August 15, 2020
Winter at the Light ~*~ Stephen B. King, West Australian Author
Today, my guest is Stephen B. King, West Australian author, and he has agreed to answer any questions I ask, so here goes:
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What is your greatest temptation:
In women: Wow, what a question…OK. A woman who is flirtatious, who smiles with her eyes and hints of more to come. A woman who touches my arm as she talks to me, who is well dressed, but offers the merest glimpse of underwear – a colorful bra strap. A woman who is self-confidant, assured, intelligent, but feminine and makes it obvious, but in subtle ways, she desires me………gulp.
In food: I am a true Taurean. The way to my heart, is through my stomach. While that may be a little messy, I love my food, especially fresh, grilled seafood.
In clothes: On me, a suit, crisp shirt and colorful tie, on my partner, a backless gown in white (red is a good second)
What is your greatest weakness (example: buying shoes)? My writing, sadly. Telling stories is my passion and I’d do it non-stop if I could, but it is a very selfish pastime, so I have to find a balance so I don’t neglect my wife.
If you could have any kind of car, what would it be? James Bond’s Aston Martin DBS. Has there ever been a more beautiful car? I don’t think so. (I’m with you on that, Stephen!)
Your dream home – mountains or ocean? Mountains, preferably with a view of the city so there are things to look at in the dark as well as during the day.
What inspired you to become a writer? A song by Leonard Cohen called Nevermind. In fact one line from that song still gives me goose bumps: ‘I live among you well disguised.’ That line inspired firstly a long poem looking through the eyes of a serial killer called Forever Night. Thanks to my daughter, and then my wife who both cajoled me to explore the idea further, helped to create my fist book. I’ve now published twelve.
Do you have a daily writing routine? If so, please share. Up at five-thirty, make a green tea and write for an hour and a half. Then make coffees and take one through to wake up my wife. In addition to that, any chance I get.
What is your favorite book? Tough choice – there have been so many. I think it’s Disclosure, by Michael Crichton, followed closely by Airframe, by the same author. For those who don’t know he also wrote the books thet were turned into such movies as Jurassic Park, The Terminal Man, The Andromeda Strain, Westworld, and many others.
What is your favorite movie? Inception. I wish I was cleaver enough to have written it. Smart, and sharp that demands you pay attention.
Who is your favorite historical figure? Winston Churchil. A very funny man, who stood up to Hitler, and made the greatest speech of all time about fighting them on the beaches, etc.
If you were given the opportunity to spend a day with any person, living or dead, who would it be? Christopher Nolan. Movie director and producer extraordinaire. I’d like to ask him how he came up with the idea of filming Memento backwards to show the main characters short term memory loss issues. And the big one for those of us who love Inception: Is Cob still dreaming at the end of the film; will the spinning top keep going (dreaming) or fall (awake). That is to my mind the greatest unanswered question in movie history.
In your books, who is your favorite hero and please introduce him? Dave Barndon, in my book Domin8 was the most fun to write for. He allowed himself to give in to temptation and fell down a very slippery slope of online dating and chat rooms to alleviate his boredom. He is targeted by a murderer who kills his lovers one my one framing Dave as he goes. Dave must not only fist for his freedom but find redemption for his poor hedonistic, selfish lifestyle..
Who is your favorite heroine and please introduce her? Patricia Holmes from my Glimpse series. She is a woman who has degrees in criminal and clinical psychology and psychiatry. She is independently wealthy, yet spent her working life with the criminally insane, and teaching psychology. That is till the police come calling and ask her to help profile a murderer and allows Pat to follow her dream of becoming an investigator and helping catch the worst of the worst killers. She has all the attributes I love in women (see above answer to question 1).
What do you have out now? Excerpt, blurb, book trailers, buy links Winter at the Light is a thriller set in 1952 on a remote island lighthouse. Here is the blurb:
Forbes Lighthouse is a dangerous place. Twenty-year-old Molly McLaren agrees to tend the light when her father breaks his leg, so she leaves behind the city and her nursing career. Molly dreads the thought of three months as the sole inhabitant on the tiny island, nineteen nautical miles off the rugged coastline of Augusta in Western Australia.
Molly discovers she enjoys the solitude, and when a massive storm arrives bringing a life raft, Molly risks her life to save the unconscious man inside. On waking, he says he has lost his memory but as Molly nurses him back to health she wonders if he has. When the storm finally clears, Molly has fallen for the man she’s nicknamed John, but still has doubts about his honesty.
The real danger arrives with two men who are searching for her mystery man. They want to kill him and anyone else who can identify them, and Molly quickly learns; on a lighthouse, there is nowhere to hide.
Here is an excerpt:
Before she could change her mind, she picked up her lamp and headed back up the stairs, determined to get her check done as quickly as possible, and get back to bed; perhaps the worst of the storm will be gone by morning, she hoped.
Molly was panting by the time she stepped up into the watch room. She placed her lamp on the floor, then grasped her knees as she bent at the waist and took several deep breaths.
Molly looked out of the windows and saw an incredible sight. Forbes Reef was instantly lit up by three forks of lightning, which simultaneously streaked from the sky. They snaked across the darkened clouds and hit the reef and ocean all around her.
In the harsh, blinding flash, she could see the rain being driven at a forty-five-degree angle by the wind, and as the glare died down, it was replaced with the sweeping beam radiating outwards from the light in the watch room.
“Wow, Molly, my girl, that is some sight,” she uttered.
As her eyesight followed the beam, in the murky distance beyond the shoal, she could see the waves were mountainous as they rose and fell upon themselves to boil and bubble then rise again. It was as if the howling wind was stealing away the white caps from their tips to add to the torrential rain.
Molly no longer felt scared. The fear was replaced with awe and appreciation for nature’s beauty and wrath. Her eyes followed the revolving ray of light, loving everything that was illuminated in its glow, as thunder crashed overhead again. This time it didn’t make her jump. Molly realized she could no longer hear the wailing. It was probably just the wind through the lean-to all along, she thought.
A lightning fork flew from the clouds and disappeared into the heaving seas to her right. Then came another to her left. “Oh, my goodness,” she exclaimed, “I’m so glad I’m here to see this; it’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”
Molly felt warm wearing the oilskin and shrugged it off; it had become superfluous because she didn’t need to go out on the balcony. Molly could see all she needed to from inside. And there was still no sound of screaming. For a moment she hoped that wasn’t because whoever made the noise had died or passed into unconsciousness. Nature’s light show will show me all I need to see, especially with my binoculars, she decided.
Molly unhooked the Weiss Glasses, strung the lariat around her neck, and raised them to her eyes just as another obliging explosion of light flooded out from a twin fork. Under the magnification, everything became more evident, and even more visually spectacular, as she scanned the three hundred and sixty degrees around the island. Using the recurring lightning flashes and rotating beam from beside her, Molly’s vision was crystal clear in the harsh, stark black and white view.
Molly was diligent and pleased with her sense of responsibility as she studied every rock and crevice on the island and surrounding reef her from her vantage point. She paid particular attention to the rocks around the cave knowing full well she was only doing that because of the ghost story she’d heard over lunch. Once completed, Molly turned her attention to the reef, her gaze traversing across it slowly as she allowed for the waves to subside so she could see behind them when they receded. She took her time, enjoying the task, and had no idea how long her vigil lasted. When she finally lowered the binoculars, she was satisfied there was no-one in trouble. There was no shipwrecked boat that had run aground, and no one lay injured on the rocks screaming for aid, so the wailing noise was nothing more than a trick of the wind.
Molly breathed a long sigh of relief, turned and hung up the glasses. She realized she was no longer tired and made a spur of the moment decision to stay for a while longer.
New releases anytime soon? My next release will be Glimpse, The Angel Shot, book 4 in a series that was only supposed to be a trilogy. I was absolutely delighted when readers wrote and asked, and in some cases demanded, to know what happened to my characters after book 3. There is no greater compliment to pay a writer than that, and once I delved back into it, I had to agree that while I thought I had finished, my characters hadn’t, they were in peril. And so, The Angel Shot was born; now completed and contracted to my publisher. I know I am biased, but I think it’s the best one, and that has been backed up by my three favorite beta readers who all agree.
Where can eager fans find you?
Stephen B King
twitter: @stephenBKing1
Facebook: @stephenbkingauthor
Here’s a list of my titles:
Forever Night
The Vigilante Taxi
Burial Ground
Repo
Published by The Wild Rose Press (NY):
Thirty Three Days (2019 NN Light Award WINNER)
The Deadly Glimpses Trilogy:
Glimpse, Memoir of a Serial Killer
Glimpse, The Beautiful Deaths (NN Light Award Finalist)
Glimpse, The Tender Killer
Domin8
Winter at the Light
Glimpse, The Angel Shot
Glimpse, Friday The 13th (A short story published in October)
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