Linda Nightingale's Blog, page 72
October 28, 2014
The Sins of a Few by Sarah Ballance
Sarah will be awarding a $25 Amazon or BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour
BLURB:
Salem, 1692
The moment he steps off the boat and into his hometown of Salem, Nathanial Abbot knows the rumors about Salem are indeed true. For in the two years since he’s left Salem—disowned by his family and seeking a fortune of his own—the town has changed. It is dark with discord and suspicion… and accusations of witchcraft. Now all that remains for him is the woman he’s never forgotten.
But Faith Downing isn’t happy to see Nathanial. In his absence, his younger sisters have ignited the chain of hysteria that resulted in twenty deaths—including Faith’s aunt, to whom Nathanial owed his life. Yet through her acrimony, Faith can’t prevent herself from responding to the man Nathanial has become, handsome and kind. A man who kindles something in her that speaks of sin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
“The accused would not be in need of defense if someone had bothered to put a stop to what your sisters were doing,” she said, her jaw tight. “And if you wish to walk out of here without a limp, take heed now of your opportunity to go.”
“And if I do not?”
She lifted her hand as if she meant to contact him, but he did not allow her the chance. With undue speed, he captured her wrist and pressed her arm, gently but firmly, against the plank wall at her back. “Careful there, little one.”
“Or what? Do you mean to threaten me?”
“Not at all. In truth, my intentions are exactly the opposite.”
Her hazel eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
His gaze dropped to her lips. Drank in the sight of her tongue darting to moisten them. Her chest heaved, sending his heart into uncharted territory. Sending him away from her.
He released her arm and took a step back. He had been a breath away from kissing her, and the only thing that promised to be more delicious than those ripe, moist lips was the fury she would no doubt cast his way. But now was not the time, nor was it the place. “Nothing,” he said. “It means nothing.”
Leaving her staring slack-jawed after him, he turned on his heel and left.
<<<<<<<<
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Sarah and her husband of what he calls “many long, long years” live on the mid-Atlantic coast with their six young children, all of whom are perfectly adorable when they’re asleep. She never dreamed of becoming an author, but as a homeschooling mom she often jokes she writes fiction because if she wants anyone to listen to her, she has to make them up. (As it turns out, her characters aren’t much better than the kids.) When not buried under piles of laundry, she may be found adrift in the Atlantic (preferably on a boat) or in search of that ever-elusive perfect writing spot where not even the kids can find her. To learn more about her work in contemporary, historical, and supernatural romance and romantic suspense, please stalk accordingly.
Website: http://www.sarahballance.com/
Blog: http://sarahballance.wordpress.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sarah.ballance.author.news
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahBallance
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/SarahBallance34/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4103362.Sarah_Ballance
Buy Links:
Entangled direct link not yet available / author page@ http://www.entangledpublishing.com/category/sarah-ballance/
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Sins-Few-Entangled-Scandalous-ebook/dp/B00NS3TEC6/
Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sins-of-a-few-sarah-ballance/1120377365?ean=9781633751026
Kobo http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-sins-of-a-few
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-sins-of-a-few/id921443242?mt=11
Google Books https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Sarah_Ballance_The_Sins_of_a_Few?id=77CTBAAAQBAJ
FOR MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO WIN THE $25 GIFT CARD, FOLLOW SARAH ON HER TOUR:
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/09/book-blast-sins-of-few-by-sarah-ballance.html
October 26, 2014
Shadows of Ghosts by Stefan Haucke
Stefan will be awarding one randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. a Rafflecopter giveaway
Stefan agreed to a fun interview. Here’s your chance to learn more about him before you read the excerpt of his fascinating and imaginative Shadows of Ghosts. Just the title captured my interest, and I love centaurs, being a horsewoman. Without further ado:
Can you describe your dream home?
My dream home would have a huge indoor swimming pool. It would be amazing to be able to go for a swim anytime, no matter what the weather is doing.
If you could be any character, from any literary work, who would you choose to be? Why?
Maybe Huckleberry Finn. He led an adventurous life during a turbulent time in United States history. Otherwise, Ishmael from Moby Dick. I would pick him because he also led an adventurous life.
What is the first curse word that comes to mind?
I use different curse words for different situations. There’s the lighter words used for situations such as coming home from grocery shopping and realizing that I’ve forgotten to purchase an important item. Then there’s the more powerful string of curse words hurled at the computer when it locks up. The most powerful curse words are reserved for injuries such as accidentally hitting my finger with a hammer or stubbing my toe. I worked one summer as a deckhand and I learned from the crew that it’s not the curse words that you use, but the way that you string them together. The best cursing comes from creative ways of stringing together four letter words.
4. How would you spend ten thousand bucks?
If I was given ten thousand bucks and had to spend it all, I would immediately start planning a trip to South Africa. I would use the money for a photographic safari. I would also use the money to spend some time on a boat watching the waters where great white sharks feed.
5. What are five things within touching distance?
A stack of books, shelves filled with classic rock CDs, a Bose stereo, a file, and a group of interesting sea shells that I’ve collected from various beaches.
BLURB:
Shadows of Ghosts carries readers to Enara, a kingdom at war with itself, where for 
centuries centaurs have been treated like animals because of their horse-like lower bodies; they’ve been forced to work as slaves in the southern agricultural provinces, and have been bought and sold like livestock. But a strong abolitionist faction has convinced many that centaurs’ human torsos, heads, and intellectual abilities make them humans, who should be liberated from slavery and granted the same rights as any other person.
After four years of being forced to live in a remote village and having to keep his real identity a secret, Cal Lanshire, days away from his thirteenth birthday, is given the best birthday present he can imagine. He is told the war is almost over and he will soon be allowed to return home.
But then an old acquaintance unexpectedly arrives with news that changes everything. Cal’s father, the king, has been assassinated.
Suddenly the outcome of the war and the very fate of the kingdom depend upon Cal being able to reach the capital where he will take his father’s place.
With only his crafty best friend by his side and an escaped centaur slave to guide him, can Cal make it through an enchanted, hostile wilderness, past the assassins sent to kill him, and back to the capital before it’s too late?
Excerpt:
Suddenly, Grintar shouted something, but Cal couldn’t understand the words. Grintar’s men spread out, and there was a tension that Cal could sense, like the way it felt seconds before a bolt of lightning was about to strike nearby. Grintar raised his sword over his head, held it there for several seconds, and then he swooped it down, slashing it through the air, and shouted, “Advance!”
Chaos exploded. Crossbow bolts and arrows whistled through the air, and men on both sides charged forward, yelling battle cries, and the ringing sounds of metal striking metal pierced the air as the opposing troops crashed into each other. Soon the agonized screams of the wounded and dying joined the other sounds.
The men who were guarding Cal moved him back, and they tightened their circle around him so that their shields were almost touching; Cal strained to see out through the thin slits in between the shields. All he saw was an occasional flash from the sun reflecting off metal, and at one point he saw a streak of red, which he was certain was blood pouring out of a wounded man.
It was difficult to estimate how long the battle lasted. The agonized screams and the ringing of metal striking metal seemed interminable, and it took all of Cal’s willpower not to clasp his hands over his ears, but the battle stopped so abruptly Cal had a sense that it hadn’t lasted more than three or four minutes. There came a brief span of absolute silence which, after the battle’s cacophony, seemed eerie, as if the dead had suddenly demanded the payment of silent respect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Stefan Haucke, driven by the desire to learn about other cultures and the need for adventure, has traveled to over twenty nations. He rode a camel near the pyramids in Egypt, swam with sea lions in the waters of the Galapagos Islands, climbed the Great Wall of China, hiked near the Acropolis in Athens, went dog sledding in northern Michigan, and photographed polar bears in Canada.
Along his many travels, Stefan has successfully worked as a deckhand, a shepherd, a dispatcher for an emergency services unit, an electric meter reader, and an office manger. He has also found the time to study the literature and history of ancient Greece, Russia, and the United States, and loves reading folktales, fairytales, and urban legends. He also enjoys astronomy, and on clear nights can be found gazing at the stars and planets with his telescope.
Website:
GoodReads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7567224.Stefan_Haucke
Book can be purchased on:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadows-of-ghosts-stefan-haucke/1117690625?ean=9780615902500
Indie Bound – Independent Bookstores
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780615902500
FOR MORE CHANCES TO WIN THE $50 GIFT CARD, FOLLOW STEFAN ON TOUR AT:
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/09/vbt-shadows-of-ghosts-by-stefan-haucke.html
October 24, 2014
Second Opinion by Lisa Suzanne
Synopsis
What do you do when the person you love most in the world breaks your heart… twice? Grant’s solution is avoiding relationships. Four years since the last time he saw Rachelle, his heart still can’t take another break.
“You’re not marriage material.” From the time he’d first heard those words spoken by the woman he loved, Grant Carpenter believed them.
When a woman he’s known for years shows an interest in him, he starts to question Rachelle’s words about marriage material, wondering if he might need a second opinion. Someone in the present, someone who has always been in the periphery but who he never gave a second glance, starts to take over his every thought.
Grant is armed with plenty of reasons to ignore what he’s feeling, but someone who should remain off-limits is suddenly overshadowing his obsession with his past. She’s making him want a future that he thought he’d written off, but he isn’t sure that she wants a future with him.
Ultimately, he has to decide what to do when the past makes her way back into his present.
This is a standalone novel that is a spin-off of SIDE EFFECTS and is told from the point of view of Quinn’s brother, Grant.
Excerpt
I had a fairly good idea of what women wanted.
It wasn’t some magic formula like most men thought. They just wanted a little attention paid their way.
Some wanted the bad boy. Others wanted the nice guy.
I’d spent so much time playing the roles they wanted that I’d started to lose sight of who I actually was. I tended toward the cocky asshole more often than not, but one thing was clear: Women wanted me, and I did everything I could to make myself available to them.
I had only three requirements when it came to women.
First, they had to drink. (Drinking lowers inhibitions.) I never trusted people who didn’t drink.
Second, they had to be hot.
Finally, they had to be single.
I preferred blondes with long legs, but I was never one to limit myself to one type.
Buy Now
AMAZON
Review
(if not reviewing please delete)
Celebrity Casting
About
the Author
Lisa
Suzanne started handwriting her books on yellow legal pads after she took a
creative writing class in high school. She still has those legal pads full of
stories, but now one of them is published under the title How He Really Feels.
She currently works as a full time high school English teacher, and her
favorite part of the year is summer. She has been blessed with the world’s best
dog, a supportive family, and a husband who encouraged her to publish after
reading one of her novels. She likes the advice of Ernest Hemingway’s famous
quote, “Write drunk. Edit sober.”
http://www.authorlisasuzanne.com
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLisaSuzanne
@LisaSuzanne24
October 22, 2014
Project Firebird by Nick Green
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nick will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Don’t ask Leo Lloyd-Jones. Ask him how to steal a car, or why he got excluded from every school in Salford, but don’t come to him for help. This whole thing must be a daft mistake – and if anyone finds out, he’s done for.
Earth is on a deadly collision course that nothing can prevent. The only real hope is Project Firebird, deep inside a blast-proof bunker that shelters the brightest and bravest young people. Leo has got mixed up with the likes of Rhys Carnarvon, the celebrated teenage polar explorer, and other child prodigies chosen to keep the flame of civilisation.
Among them is the streetwise Paige Harris, a girl Leo likes a lot (but not in that way). Paige is desperate to rescue her little sister from London before the catastrophe strikes. But no-one is crazy enough to try that. Almost no-one.
Enjoy an excerpt:
‘Some of the brightest young people on the planet. Yet not one of you can make a cup of tea.’
Paige twitched into life.
‘That ain’t true! We’re not all useless around the house. I’ll do it.’
‘Thank you,’ said David. ‘One cup of tea, please. But you must make it all by yourself. No-one can help.’
Paige rolled her eyes – as if! David called after her.
‘I do mean no-one, Paige. No-one at all. Anywhere or anywhen.’
She turned. ‘You what?’
‘Tea,’ said David. ‘Let’s go. First you’ll need water. Clean water. I don’t want to get diarrhoea. So find some. Remember, no help. Not from water companies, or plumbers, or bottle manufacturers. Just you. There’s a lake a few miles away, but streams might be safer. Either way, you’d better start walking now. Maybe take some food along.’
A few uneasy sniggers trailed off. Paige stopped halfway to the door, her face daring David to make fun of her. He continued, counting on his fingers.
‘Something to carry the water in, you’ll need that. A sturdy vessel to boil it in. Pottery is good. Hunt for some clay while you’re out. Enough for a water pot, a teapot and a cup. Plus fuel of course. Wood for the fire. A bow-and-drill, or some other way of lighting it –’
‘This ain’t fair!’ Paige exploded. David held up a hand. Now his smile was kind.
‘It’s all right, Paige. You can sit down. Sorry to put you on the spot.’
About the Author: Nick Green lives in the UK. He is the author of seven fiction books to date, including the middle-grade CAT KIN trilogy published by Strident. His other books include THE STORM BOTTLE, a fantasy adventure about the dolphins of Bermuda, and most recently the FIREBIRD trilogy, a YA science fiction epic.
https://www.goodreads.com/nickgreen_catkin
Buy the book at Amazon.
October 21, 2014
Bar V5 Dude Ranch Series by Melissa McClone
Melissa will award a $25 Amazon Gift card and a Mini Swag Goodie Bag to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour (international giveaway)
BLURBS:
Three couples. Three stories, where you can follow one pair from meeting to wedding day!
Mistletoe Magic – short story – $0.99 for Kindle and Nook, FREE at Smashwords
Kiss Me, Cowboy – eBook novella — $0.99 on Kindle Oct 17 – 22
Mistletoe Wedding — eBook novella — New Release! Only $2.99
Mistletoe Magic
Spending a quiet Christmas housesitting and reading novels about hot cowboys sounds perfect to Caitlin Butler. Until a stray kitten brings her face-to-face with Noah, her crush from college. Watching the handsome vet in action melts Caitlin’s heart and brings back long forgotten emotion. She would be safer back at the house lost in the pages of a book. But a toe-curling mistletoe kiss tempts her to stay. Maybe she won’t be spending this Christmas… alone.
Veterinarian Noah Sullivan isn’t a Scrooge, but the Christmas Eve tradition of hanging mistletoe in the clinic’s waiting room annoys him. Kissing doesn’t belong at the Copper Mountain Animal Hospital. Noah rethinks his position when Caitlin arrives with a stray kitten she found freezing in the snow. All he wants now is to maneuver the pretty preschool teacher under the mistletoe. If he’s not careful, he’ll wind up on Santa’s naughty list.
Kiss Me, Cowboy
She didn’t mean to kiss him…
When dude ranch wrangler Charlotte – aka Charlie – Randall kisses Zack Harris in an act of empathy, she falls hat over spurs for the handsome military veteran turned cowboy. Zack has too many demons, however, and refuses to get involved. A year later, he’s still stonewalling, and Charlie needs to move on with her life so she can find a fulfilling relationship, not frustrating unrequited love. Putting distance between them seems the best way to get Zack out of her head and heart…but that means quitting the job she loves and accepting a position in Colorado.
He didn’t mean to kiss her back…
Growing up, Zack longed for a real family, and had one with his squad while deployed in Afghanistan. Now, he’s back in the States and doesn’t want anything messing up his new ranch family, no matter how much he’s attracted to the sexy, hard-working Charlie. She could break his heart and ruin the comfortable working relationship they and the other wranglers enjoy. Besides, her friends claim she’s looking for the perfect guy, and perfect he’s not.
A kiss is just a kiss…or is it?
When Zack learns Charlie’s thinking about leaving the ranch, he decides to find her a boyfriend — someone so good, so perfect, she has a reason to stay in Montana. Until he realizes too late that the only cowboy he wants her kissing is him. Can he commit to love and convince Charlie not to leave? Or has she made up her mind to put the past, and the kiss that started it all, behind her and move on without him?
Mistletoe Wedding
Longer: Event planner at the Bar V5 Dude Ranch, Meg Redstone is dreaming of a white Christmas with twinkling lights, sparkly decorations and strategically placed mistletoe. She loves making dreams come true for others, whether planning a holiday wedding or giving her young daughter the best Christmas ever.
Ranch foreman Tyler Murphy loves the holidays, but his newest employee has taken over his barn with her over-the-top decorations. He admires Meg’s desire to give her daughter the perfect Christmas while planning a winter wonderland wedding, but he wants to show her that a Montana Christmas is more than glitter and lights.
After raising his younger sister, an instant family is not on Ty’s Christmas wish list. But he finds himself falling hard for the single mom and her little girl. Meg, however, is not interested in a romance with a cowboy like Ty, or any man. Getting her under the mistletoe is going to take a Christmas miracle . . . or a little help from Santa.
EXCERPT:
MISTLETOE WEDDING
Her gaze kept straying back to the man walking next to her.
And she knew with pulse-pounding certainty.
All the rationalizations of why romantic feelings didn’t matter and why she was better off alone than in a relationship disappeared like a snowflake being caught on a tongue. They mattered, and she wanted those things badly.
With Ty.
She hadn’t meant to fall for him, but she had. Hard.
A shiver raced down her spine. The realization was unexpected, scary.
He shot her a sideways glance, which she knew because she couldn’t drag her attention off him. “You, okay?”
“Just thinking.” Of course, he would sense something was up. That was part of his appeal. He got her. The way he understood her daughter, too. If there was one man out there who was what she needed and Brooklyn needed, that was Ty Murphy.
Feelings and desires long buried rose to the surface. She was ready to stop saying she didn’t want more, want him.
“Know what you want?” he asked.
Meg swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Excuse me.”
“What chocolates you’re going to get?”
She sighed with relief. She thought he’d read her mind. “Salted caramels for the guys. I’ll have to see what Sage has in the display case before I decide what I want.”
Besides him.
“You can have more than one,” Ty said.
“I might want only one.”
“It’s Christmas. Don’t be so cautious. Live it up.”
If only she knew where he stood . . . Dare she ask?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
With a degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, Melissa McClone 
worked for a major airline where she traveled the globe and met her husband. But analyzing jet engine performance couldn’t compete with her love of writing happily ever afters. Her first full-time writing endeavor was her first sale when she was pregnant with her first child! Since then, she has published over thirty romance novels with Harlequin and Tule Publishing Group. She’s also been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award. When she isn’t writing, you can usually find her driving her minivan to/from her children’s swim practices and other activities. She also sends care packages to deployed service members and fosters cats through a local no-kill animal shelter. Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three school-aged children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house. They do!
Website: http://www.melissamcclone.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaMcCloneBooks
Twitter: @melissamcclone
Buy links:
Mistletoe Magic
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mistletoe-Magic-Copper-Mountain-Christmas-ebook/dp/B00GUZ195O
Smashwords:
Mistletoe Magic is FREE on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/380641
Kiss Me, Cowboy
Kiss Me, Cowboy (Montana Born Rodeo Book 3)
FOR MORE CHANCES TO WIN AND MORE INTERESTING EXCERPTS, FOLLOW MELISSA ON HER TOUR:
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/10/sbb-bar-v5-dude-ranch-series-by-melissa.html
October 20, 2014
Cover Reveal!! Beautiful Outlaw by Emily Minton
Synopsis
After the last fourteen years of
surviving as a walking, talking, living doll, Laura feels dead inside.
She has sacrificed everything for
her family, marrying a man she could never love. Her husband doesn’t beat her,
doesn’t berate her. He transforms her, forcing her to live as a stand-in for
his long dead wife. She stays silent as piece after piece of herself
disappears, willing to do anything to protect the people she loves.
When his demands go too far, she
finally tells her brother the ugly truth.
Wanting to protect her without
putting the rest of their family at risk, he sends her to the one place he
knows she’ll be safe. He places her into the hands of his best friend, Vice
President of the Savage Outlaws MC.
Once again, she is transformed into
someone new; Shay.
Bowie has spent many nights
dreaming about his best friend’s little sister. The reality is so much sweeter
than his dreams. He wants to be more for Shay, needs to protect her, but he’s
not sure if he knows how.
Can an Outlaw show her how
beautiful life should be?
About the Author
USA Today Best Selling Author,
Emily Minton is a Kentucky native. She claims she bleeds blue–Wildcat Blue!
Emily loves to read, and this love of the written word led to her writing
career.
Social Media Links
Facebook-
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorEmilyMinton
Twitter-
http://www.twitter.com/emilymintonbks
Pintrest-
http://www.pinterest.com/EmilyMintonBks1/
Website-
http://www.emilyminton.com/
Goodreads-
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7171978.Emily_Minton
Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/Emily-Minton/e/B00FHIMV3O/
Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Hosted By:
October 17, 2014
A True Halloween Story
It began three nights ago. Since then, I have felt the shivery feeling of someone watching me, day and night.
That first night, I was standing in the bathroom getting ready for bed. There came a loud thunk like a body dropping in the attic. That was the beginning of three days of being frightened of the dark, which I never was before.
The episodes occurred at night. The second night, I was awakened by lights flashing in the living room. I leapt from bed, ran into the room bordering my bedroom and skidded to a halt. The hair at my nape prickled. The lights in the entertainment unit were blinking on and off. I knew there was a short in the system that required a new power box. I fumbled behind the unit, unplugged the wrong box (the modem for my Uverse services) and finally found the right one. I turned to go back to bed.
The tall metal sculpture, each branch like a tall flower, started ringing as the pieces quivered. Another eerie shiver crawled over me. My cat Spencer could possibly have skidded on the wooden floor and crashed into the sculpture but he sat several feet away, staring at the vibrating limbs. The thing shook until I placed my hand on it to quiet the awful noise. Totally creeped out, I returned to bed but slept fitfully, waking early with the unwanted feeling of being watched.
Last night after I came home from having Buffalo wings with friends at a bar, I was reluctant to come in the house. I only moved into this house on September 9th, living here for a little over a month. When I first moved in, I didn’t feel this way. I loved my new house. During washing my face and brushing my teeth, I kept glancing over my shoulder to see if anyone was behind me. No one, of course. Or at least no one in human form.
Exhausted from several sleepless nights, I fell into a deep sleep immediately. Later in the night, I heard strains of music in the living room when there should have been only silence. Frightened now, I stayed in bed, calling my cat when he began to meow like a soft cry.
Today, I drove about 50 miles roundtrip to Whole Foods to buy a white sage smudge stick. Being part Cherokee, my first thought was white sage. I saged the entire house, chanting, Leave, you are not welcome here. I was going to say that I don’t feel shivery or watched, but as I typed it, the feeling came back. We’ll see what tonight brings. Peace I hope.
October 16, 2014
A Bit of the Dark World by Toni V. Sweeney
I had the pleasure of beta reading this novel and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Almost everyone is familiar with Edgar Allan Poe. At one time or another, we’ve probably read one of his short stories, even if it was in tenth-grade English where “The Pit and the Pendulum” was required reading. How many, however, are familiar with HP Lovecraft, a man who was influenced by Poe and in the Twentieth Century, became his equal in writing tales of mystery and imagination?
Lovecraft was a New Englander, a sickly child who grew into an introspective man. He wasn’t breathtakingly handsome but neither was he unattractive, just fairly ordinary in appearance. He married, did well as a husband, but eventually divorced, seeming to flourish more in a single-household, more isolated and less social atmosphere. During his lifetime, he kept up a correspondence with several aspiring teenaged authors, most of whom, because of his mentoring, later became well-known themselves. (Do the names Robert Bloch and Robert E. Howard ring bells?)
HPL, as he’s general referred to, authored stories often set in the harsh surrounds of his native habitat. They centered around a group of beings older than Time, tossed out of their own dimension into ours where they were bested by enemies and imprisoned on our world. The setting was in and around the towns of Providence, RI, and Arkham—which some readers may recognize as the name of the Asylum where the Joker and many another criminal pursued by Batman eventually ended incarcerated. With the aid of human servants, these “Great Old Ones” occasionally escape their bonds and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting New England countryside.
I was introduced to Lovecraft during my teenage years through a single story “The Dunwich Horror” in an anthology entitled Tales of Terror and the Supernatural, which I received as a gift for my twelfth birthday. This story was later made into a movie tsarring Sandra Dee and Dean Stockwell but like the screen adaptations of most of Poe’s stories, Lovecraft’s tales don’t translate well, since they rely on a good bit of atmosphere and description of the characters’ mental states rather than physical action.
Later in life, I had the privilege of living next door to a Lovecraft scholar. He had a library consisting of hundreds of books on Lovecraft as well as translations of his stories, in German, French, even Japanese. He graciously allowed me to borrow some and read them. Initially, I didn’t know what a honor I was being given until his wife commented, “You really rate. He doesn’t let anyone touch those books.”
Of course, I, being who I am, immediately began to weave my own pseudo-Lovecraft tale, thinking along the lines of…why did the Great Old Ones center themselves only around New England in our part of the world? In other stories, they exist in England, the Middle and Far East, in abandoned cities, deep jungle valleys, or high, frozen mountain peaks. Why couldn’t some of them have traveled further South on our continent and found disciples among the southern population?
New Orleans would seem the ideal spot. I decided to make my haven for Cthulu and his ilk the islands off the coast of Georgia.
And thus I came up with the idea for A Bit of the Dark World…
…of a young man fighting his heritage while ambiguously accepting it…a foolish young woman reveling in the attention she receives from him…and a doctor genetically imbued with the truth about the island off the Georgia coast, fighting to prevent the disaster he envisions…
There’s sex in it so I doubt if HPL would wholeheartedly approve, but perhaps he might at least give me an agreeable nod for the general tone of the novel as well as the way I’ve portrayed his creations.
A Bit of the Dark World—the title is a quote from Rudyard Kipling’s The Phantom Rickshaw—is now available from Act Books.
Visit with Toni at: http://www.tonivsweeney.com
October 7, 2014
GoodReads Giveaway – Sinners’ Obsession
Midnight, October 6 through October 18 – Enter to win an autographed print copy of Sinners’ Obsession, the sequel to Sinners’ Opera. US only. Check out both pages on this blog for more information!Hope you will enter and win!
Best!
Linda
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/110515-sinners-obsession?utm_medium=email&utm_source=giveaway_approved
October 3, 2014
The Face Transplant by R. Arundel
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A very interesting premise, The Face Transplant promises, in my opinion, to be a fascinating read:
BLURB:
Dr. Matthew MacAulay is a Facial Transplant Surgeon at a prestigious New York hospital. His friend and mentor, Tom Grabowski, dies under mysterious circumstances. Matthew is forced to investigate. He uncovers his friend’s secret. A new technique that allows perfect facial transplants. No incisions, no scars. The surgeon is able to transplant one person’s face to another with the perfect result. Tom was able to accomplish this monumental feat with the help of Alice, a supercomputer robot with almost human abilities. While trying to find the people responsible for murdering his friend Tom, Matthew realizes he is the prime suspect. Matthew must flee for his life with the help of Dr. Sarah Larsson, a colleague and reluctant helper who has a secret of her own. Alice helps them make sense of a baffling series of seemingly unrelated events. Matthew is forced to undergo a facial transplant to hide his identity and help to uncover the truth. The clues carry Matthew and Sarah around the world. Matthew stumbles onto a sinister plot of monumental proportions, the real reason Tom was murdered. This discovery leads Matthew all the way to The White House with a dramatic conclusion. Matthew never wavers in his quest for the truth and perseveres against all the odds. He must race to stop a major catastrophe, ratcheting up the excitement until the thrilling conclusion. The Face Transplant is a powerful medical suspense thriller of the first order. The novel was written by a surgeon. The novel has a realism that only a surgeon can bring. The plot weaves politics, medicine and espionage into a tightly paced, intelligent thriller. The novel crescendos page by page to a totally unexpected conclusion.
Excerpt:
The missing face is found
The titanium canister slowly rose from the ground behind the glass door. When it 
finally stopped, two beeps were heard. Jason opened the glass door and took out the canister, a soft cold mist emanated from the canister. Maybe it was the temperature difference here, Matthew had never seen that when he brought up his canisters. The white mist slowly rose and then disappeared. Jason opened the titanium canister. As he had suspected, a red light began to flash. Matthew realized the canister had been altered. A signal was alerting someone that they had opened the canister.
Jason, “Don’t worry, I anticipated this, the wall will not allow the signal to transmit, we’re safe.”
Jason slowly removes the head from the canister. It is covered in what looks like a thin white cloth and wrapped precisely. Same technique used for all donor faces in the US. This face was harvested by Tom, no doubt about it. Slowly they unwrap the face.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Robert was born in London, United Kingdom. His early formative years were spent in Toronto Canada. Robert attended the University of Toronto Medical School. After obtaining his Doctor of Medicine degree he completed surgical training in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto and obtained certification from the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Robert Mounsey practices surgery in private practice in Toronto.
Arundel studied Film Studies at Ryerson University, after this he began writing screenplays and novels. The Face Transplant is his debut novel.
Arundel is married and lives in Toronto, Canada. When not writing or practicing surgery Robert can be found cycling.
