Heather Marie Adkins's Blog, page 8
May 28, 2012
A Taste Test Blog Tour – Day Four with LM Preston
A group of YA authors came together to give you a “taste test” of our upcoming books. My tentative fall release, “Wiccan Wars”, is featured in the collection! This is our blog tour…
Each author will be featured on all six blogs on a particular day with different guest posts and interviews – all of them are short, sweet and a ton of fun to read.
Not only that, but if you visit THIS LINK you can sign up to win lots of free books and stuff!
If you want to check out our FREE book with the first few chapters of each of our upcoming novels, you can download it for your Kindle or epub reader at SMASHWORDS.
Today is LM Preston!
LM’s Author Bio: LM. Preston loved to create poetry and short-stories as ayoung girl. With a thirst for knowledge she worked in the IT field as a Techie and Educator for over sixteen years. She started writing science fiction under the encouragement of her husband who was a Sci-Fi buff and her four kids. Her first published novel, Explorer X – Alpha was the beginning of her obsessive desire to write and create stories of young people who overcome unbelievable odds. She loves to write while on the porch watching her kids play or when she is traveling, which is another passion that encouraged her writing.
Find her at HER BLOG!
My Top 10 Addictions
1. Chocolate
2. Coffee with Chocolate
3. Playing hide and seek with my kids
4. Daydreaming
5. Talking to myself outloud
6. Going to the movies and thinking I could do better
7. Escaping in a book I’m reading
8. Going to the beach
9. Baking cakes, cookies, and pasteries
10. Playing board games
by: LM Preston, YA Author, www.lmpreston.com
May 24, 2012
A Taste Test Blog Tour – Day Four with Brenda Howson
A group of YA authors came together to give you a “taste test” of our upcoming books. My tentative fall release, “Wiccan Wars”, is featured in the collection! This is our blog tour…
Each author will be featured on all six blogs on a particular day with different guest posts and interviews – all of them are short, sweet and a ton of fun to read.
Not only that, but if you visit THIS LINK you can sign up to win lots of free books and stuff!
If you want to check out our FREE book with the first few chapters of each of our upcoming novels, you can download it for your Kindle or epub reader at SMASHWORDS.
Today is Brenda Howson!
***
About Brenda: Brenda caught the bug and she has been writing for ten years, in between motherhood and working at a local high school in the computer department. She has won two short story competitions and been runner up in another. Forbidden Territory will be her first published novel.
Find her at HER BLOG and on TWITTER
Today, Brenda is telling us: When You’re Not Writing What Do You Do?
Sewing, looking after kids, emailing my bestie, watching movies or blogging.
May 23, 2012
A Taste Test Blog Tour — Day Three with ME!
A group of YA authors came together to give you a “taste test” of our upcoming books. My tentative fall release, “Wiccan Wars”, is featured in the collection! This is our blog tour…
Each author will be featured on all six blogs on a particular day with different guest posts and interviews – all of them are short, sweet and a ton of fun to read.
Not only that, but if you visit THIS LINK you can sign up to win lots of free books and stuff!
If you want to check out our FREE book with the first few chapters of each of our upcoming novels, you can download it for your Kindle or epub reader at SMASHWORDS.
Today is ME DAY!
Nolia McCarty is American by birth but Irish by heritage and heart. Her dream is to live on a small cottage in Ireland where she can watch the sheep outside her window and write all day. “Heaven Below” is her debut young adult novel, and her most recent release was “Eternal Youth”, co-written with author Julia Crane. Nolia has several books in the works including “Wiccan Wars” and “Barefoot Blue Jean Nights”. Visit her blog at noliamccarty.wordpress.com for more information about her upcoming books!
In her real incarnation, Nolia is author Heather Marie Adkins. Under this (real) name, she has written several novels, including paranormal romances “The Temple” and “Abigail”. Find more information on her at heather.bishoffs.com.
What I Love About Writing
This is such a silly question, because every true writer is going to say I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT WRITING. I love the way it feels to sit in front of my computer and read over the last few pages to primp for the next. I love when I write a line that makes my heart sing. There’s always the expected “I love creating worlds and characters”, but ultimately, I just love the way writing makes me feel. If I’m not writing, I’m only half a person. Playing with words is the single best therapy a girl could hope for in a world that just sometimes really f*ing sucks. I think the worlds I create in my books are a helluva lot cooler, anyway.
You want a copy of one of my books? Just leave a comment telling me which book and I’ll email it to you. No strings attached! Thanks for stopping by my blog 
May 21, 2012
A Taste Test Blog Tour! – Day Two with Michelle Hansen
A group of YA authors came together to give you a “taste test” of our upcoming books. My tentative fall release, “Wiccan Wars”, is featured in the collection! This is our blog tour…
Each author will be featured on all six blogs on a particular day with different guest posts and interviews – all of them are short, sweet and a ton of fun to read.
Not only that, but if you visit THIS LINK you can sign up to win lots of free books and stuff!
If you want to check out our FREE book with the first few chapters of each of our upcoming novels, you can download it for your Kindle or epub reader at SMASHWORDS.
Today, I’m hosting Michelle Hansen!
Michelle’s Bio: Michelle A. Hansen was raised in southeastern Washington State. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in English teaching from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and taught high school English for six years. She and her husband Nathan have four children.
Find more information on her at HER WEBSITE.
From humble beginnings…
Blurb of the first story she ever wrote.
The first story I ever wrote was for the Young Author’s Contest in first grade. I wrote about my first pony Sugar, how thrilled I was to receive her as a gift from my Grandparents, and how she ate straw… and died. It was a bit of a downer.
To an author!
Future Plans:
My next book is a contemporary YA Thriller
When a bomb goes off in his locker, Rebecca Hale’s best friend Ryan is labeled a terrorist. She vows to clear him before the FBI, ATF and the real bomber find where he’s hiding. However, when Rebecca discovers the crime has little to do with Ryan and everything to do with her, proving his innocence may mean losing a life-long friend.
May 20, 2012
A Taste Test Blog Tour! – Day One With CJ Duggan
A group of YA authors came together to give you a “taste test” of our upcoming books. My tentative fall release, “Wiccan Wars”, is featured in the collection! This is our blog tour…
Each author will be featured on all six blogs on a particular day with different guest posts and interviews – all of them are short, sweet and a ton of fun to read.
Not only that, but if you visit THIS LINK you can sign up to win lots of free books and stuff!
If you want to check out our FREE book with the first few chapters of each of our upcoming novels, you can download it for your Kindle or epub reader at SMASHWORDS.
Today, I’m hosting CJ Duggan!
Author Bio: C.J is Australia’s newest enthusiastic addition to the Indie market of Self Publishing. Paving the way by writing her debut novel, a YA Romance ‘The Boys of Summer’. A coming of age love story set in a mythical small Australian Town in the mid 90′s. Juggling the pressures of a stressful day job, or be it the many realms of mundane reality? C.J has earned a name for her ballistic imagination and witty banter in her blog. Offering an honest, refreshing account with her daily rants of the world and her personal journey in being an Aspiring Author.
Find her online at HER WEBSITE
4 Questions with CJ Duggan
If you could have a Psychic Power what would it be?
A mind reader thinking I would be very popular on Birthday’s, Christmas and Anniversary’s.
What is your favorite Mythical Creature?
*Bites knuckle* Gotta love those Shape shifters.
Do you believe in Ghosts? Why? Why not?
I believe in something, spirits, and energies. There are definitely a lot of things that are unexplained and I would like to think there is something beyond this world.
If you could move anywhere in world where would you move and why?
First and foremost Australia is amazing and we really are the lucky country…BUT this is a fantasy and if I could do a stint somewhere for a while I could completely envision myself wondering around the streets of Paris, immersing myself in the culture, writing in a café and eating baked goods.
Only to return my apartment and order room service!
May 16, 2012
Police Week – Day One
900 am – Airport arrival. Subsequent musical luggage as the men attempt to lighten their suitcases. The woman – me – has the lightest, smallest of the baggage. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on stereotypes.
1030 – I indulge with a mocha and pastry from Starbucks. The self-loathing only lasts a few minutes. This is vacation, after all, I can’t deny myself the luxury of 2000 calorie coffee.
1100 – Adorably gay flight attendant. I want to put him in my pocket and keep him forever. A passenger asked why he was wearing shorts while the female attendant was not. Adorably gay flight attendant giggles and says, “I have sexier legs than she does.”
1130 – I have elbow room – a window seat. There’s something about sitting above the wing of a plane that grounds me, even thousands of feet off the ground. Rain beads on the metal as we attempt to crest the cloud cover. There is no land beneath us. It is simply a flat sea of cloud, storms brewing. I remember how the runway stretched into mist and disappeared, and I don’t know which image I love better.
1200 – My mom says I have a compulsion that drives me to use the bathroom everywhere I go. She calls it “checking the wallpaper” – a long time inside joke in our family. No wallpaper here on the plane, but the soap smells DIVINE.
1230 – People come in about every shape, size, color, and atrocity, don’t they?
130 – Could the cab ride have been ANY longer? Thank goddess for a hotel bed.
300 – OMG POTBELLIES SANDWICHES!!!!!!! Please excuse me while I kiss the floor.
400 – What is… What is this? Is this – ? DOWNTIME? But…but…WHAT DO I DO WITH MYSELF???
600 pm – Ah, the FOP lodge. It’s like a familiar jacket that I shrug into. Officers I know and love surround me. We catch up. A white russian, you say? Well, sure. Of course. One of my favorites, thank you. What? Another? But I haven’t finished – yes. Yes, please.
700 – Enough with the milk, bring on the rum. With coke, please. Lots. Gotta take it slow.
800 – I really like these two women I’m chatting with!! Ginny and Dora. Police officers’ wives. I’m about to be a police officer’s wife, HOW WEIRD IS THAT? They want to help me plan my wedding. I want to hug them and praise them both, cuz no clue how to plan a wedding here. Their faces are a little blurry, and I’m pretty sure I can barely talk, but I like these gals.
900 – Candlelight vigil. I’m drunk, but could be drunker. It’s a gorgeous night. The air on my skin feels like the cool breeze off an ocean’s surface. I stand beside Sweeney and Tim and stare in the general direction of the stage – I hear the speaker, I listen to the rustling of the thousands of police officers and supporters and families around me, and I feel so connected. Most people don’t get a chance to feel this “brotherhood” that comes from living a life within and around the Thin Blue Line. The candles are lit in remembrance of the men and women of law enforcement who gave their lives in 2011 for the good of the nation, and in honor of those men and women who still serve, every day, every night – most of them under-appreciated and underpaid. I’m in awe at the blanket of tiny flames burning all around me. I stare at the little white cup that holds my own and I think, “I don’t want to be anywhere but right here, right now.”
1000 – Ah, go to tent city, you say, Tim? Why, certainly! What a fantastic idea! I’ve not been to tent city after dark. I’d like to experience this, seeing as I’m writing a book. Yes, a book! I don’t remember just what it’s about right now, as you see I’m three sheets to the wind and feeling a tad…unstable… Are you sure you’re okay to hold me up?
1030 – Another rum and coke? Sure! And who are these people? Oh, great! Let’s dance!
1100 – MMMM….RUUUUMMMM….
Midnight – What’s my name? Who are you again? Ah, that’s right, you work for my mom!! Fantastic!! Let’s dance some more!! I love this song!!! Do I want another drink? HELL YEAH!
100 – …unsure…
200 – …don’t…remember…
300 am – …how’d we get back to the hotel? We took a cab? I don’t remember the drive. Why can’t I get in my room? …
EIGHT AM - uuunnngggghhh…I’m never drinking again. Where’s my phone? I bet I have a million missed messages from Dymphna and Andrew…
OH MY FU*KING SHIT, WHERE IS MY PURSE?
to be continued…
May 8, 2012
What will this year bring?
Something big is building.
Don’t argue with me. The amount of sheer madness happening around the country, around the world, in nature, all of it amounts to something. Some kind of energy is building little by little and I’ll be damned if I don’t think it is leading us to the Winter Solstice of 2012.
According to Mayan Priest Carlos Barrios, 2012 is not the end of the world. Well, duh, in my opinion. The “end of the world” nonsense that has hit at various points throughout history, including at the new year of 2000, have all been scandalous Christian teachings that have followed in the wake of Jesus Christ for two thousand years.
The weekend before the largest Supermoon of 2012, Louisville, Kentucky went insane:
A double murder on Interstate 264
A cop hit by a car
A husband murdered his wife with their baby in other room
A serial killer has been captured in New Albany, just across the river – they’re digging bodies out of his backyard.
We had twelve wrecks in one night – one fatal. This was AFTER a storm passed through, not during.
My body is out of whack, too. I’ve slid into a deeper depression since this past fall, and if you listen to the Pagans, we seem to be more sensitive to changes in the planet and nature.
So, what’s going on? Are we building into a new era? If the past few months have been anything to go on, we’re going to descend into absolute chaos before it gets better.
That’s life, though, right? Darkest before the dawn?
*waits impatiently for dawn*
May 4, 2012
Playing Catch Up…
The story of my life is… BUSY. Let’s catch up a bit.
***
On the book end (hehe, bookend), I’ve put out some books this year. Surprisingly, the focus has been on the young adult genre so far, which is completely strange to me as I never felt the urge to write YA before. Heaven Below was pulled from my store of teenage ideas and most of the rewrites took place while, well, intoxicated. HB was also my first book with an honest-to-goodness editor, Sarah Billington. Sarah has also recently finished a substantial edit on “Abigail,” and I’m waiting for a free moment to sit and begin rewrites. Ack.
Hate is what drives mankind, but have you ever stopped to consider that one day, love will be our salvation?
When sixteen-year-old Kelli McNeil sets into motion an ancient prophecy from an extinct civilization, memories of past lives return to her. As the dreams intensify, Kelli discovers that she is the answer to the renewal of her lost race and without her, her kind will never rise again.
In every memory and dream is a man: Sebastian, whom she loves…and fears. When she meets him in the present-day, Kelli can’t help but fall for the man she feels she’s always known. But there is more to it than love and the fate of her people. Because in every incarnation, Bastian isn’t only her true love—he’s also her murderer.
Available now at:
and Amazon in print!
You can read more about the concept and execution (booze-fueled) at my YA blog.
Also along the lines of Young Adult novels, I also officially announce the release of my co-write 
with Julia Crane!! This book was so much fun to write. Julia and I passed it back and forth by email for a couple months, each of us adding a few hundred words here and there. It was so neat to watch the story line unfold, bouncing ideas off each other every day. I’m extremely proud of this book. Julia and I make an excellent writing team, and we’re already planning our next book
The six years following the abrupt death of her father were the worst of Calista Bishoff’s life. Frightened by her own mortality, Callie’s mom threw herself into a search for the Fountain of Youth—and dragged Callie along with her.
Callie should have loved traveling, but instead she hated every minute. When one more failed search sends her mother into depression, they finally return home to California. Sixteen-year-old Callie is ready to hang with her friends and be normal for as long as she can.
But, an unplanned trip to Bermuda with her grandmother throws Callie’s plans awry, and there’s more in store for Callie and her mom than just a simple beach vacation. Callie’s life is turned inside out as she finds herself in a very different world than the one she knows—
Where things exist that she never dreamed were real.
Available at:
The Eclective’s newest anthology was released in March – The Celtic Collection.
Six stories from the Eclective, six accounts of Celtic things. There’s more than one way to go Green.
Irish Kiss by Shéa MacLeod
Morgan Bailey, vampire Hunter, thought finding a Leprechaun’s missing pot of gold would be easy. She couldn’t have been more wrong.
The Luck of the Irish Brigade by M. Edward McNally
The Irish are fighting themselves, only because there are no other worthy opponents.
Song of the Banshee by Heather Marie Adkins
Belinda has a job to do, but a dying man’s grandson may be a big problem. It’s a hard world for a lonely banshee.
The Red Veil of Vengeance by Jack Wallen
Vlad Kurvail is back and, as usual, he’s pissed. This time his cold vengeance is served up to the Irish. Will their luck hold out?
Zombies Eat Leprechauns by P.J. Jones
When a zombie curse infects the Fairytale Kingdom, Lucky the Leprechaun needs the help of an idiot dragon slayer and a cross-dressing dragon to escape. Can he make it out with his pot of gold, or will Lucky’s luck run out?
Five Shamrocks by Alan Nayes
After her husband dies on St. Patrick’s Day, life goes on for Mattie O’Malley.
It is currently only available at Amazon, but is coming soon to all other major ebook retailers.
The Eclective is also planning a print version of our first three anthologies – Celtic, Holiday, and Halloween. I’ll post about it when it happens!
My focus right now is on rewrites of “The House”. Once released as a short story, I’m aiming to make it a complete novel. Check out this killer cover Jack Wallen of adorkabledesigns.net made me!
After The House, I’ll be spending the month of June doing a quick and dirty write on The Trickster, the second book in my Vale Avari series, sequel to The Temple.
***
In January, Andrew and I drove to Nashville and stayed a few days. We arrived on a Sunday and were utterly LAZY for three days, until Tuesday evening when we saw my absolute favorite band in the ENTIRE WORLD!!
I wrote a post about it for the Eclective site–it’s about dreams coming true, and the fact that we should hang on to our dreams, no matter how big or how small. Meeting Gaelic Storm that night after the concert was one of the best nights of my life. While you’re there, take a look at all the books my co-authors have released this spring.
***
The Indie Chicks have launched a website!! From this central location, you’ll catch posts on love, life, and living from some of the hottest indie women out there — and from some of us newbies just trying to make it 
As a starting point, I highly recommend Terri Giuliano Long’s article on Writer’s Envy and inspiration. If you get the bug, feel free to check out MY first post about Growing Up Slowly.
We are also in the middle of uploading our newest Indie Chicks anthologies. More on that soon
May 1, 2012
Learning to Stand
I’ve come to a crossroads.
I mean, come on, everyone does. Over and over, throughout life, until you think that you just want to catch a f*ing break and fly off to Tahiti to be oiled down by a Cabana boy wearing nothing but a banana hammock and a smile. But I’m to a point now where if I don’t make changes in my life, I’ll never drag myself out of this funk.
I used to be vibrantly happy. I used to do things for myself – study the Tarot, read an entire book a day, write a blog post just for the hell of it. I would sit in the grass and watch the clouds float by or scribble a short story simply because I got the urge. That girl cared about making herself happy.
Now, this girl is running a business. She’s formatting for some pretty amazing clients, but it’s adding up to about 35 hours a week. On top of her 40 hour a week job. And don’t get her started on the job — she’s been unhappy there for a very, very long time now for a laundry list of reasons that she isn’t going to go into because she probably shouldn’t. In public. She’s published books (and holy hello, is that AWESOME), but those books are just listlessly sliding off the virtual shelves like ice cream in December and suddenly success seems…impossible. Happiness seems like a mythological creature.
She’s floating in some kind of dark abyss where she can’t force herself to care about anything. There is a vacuum beneath her, steadily pulling her into a Mariana Trench of despair. Maybe there will be cool fishes, but on the other hand, she can’t even muster the energy to believe that cool fishes exist. They exist for other people, but for this girl, it’s just…empty.
I don’t like this girl that I’ve become. This girl who puts everything else before her own happiness and well-being. This girl who is so stressed that she’s put on ten pounds since Christmas. This girl who has spent the past three weeks crying herself to sleep and reaching a depth of unhappiness she hasn’t known since Cory died.
This is who I am. I am no more, no less than the woman that I AM and WILL BE. I make no apologies for it, but I embrace the fact that I’m not alone. I’m not going to surround myself by a bubble and pretend I’m happy, slowly dying inside while the smile on my face makes my muscles tense and angry. Because that’s not healthy. Women the world over have these feelings, and so do writers. Double whammy here.
But I AM going to do something about it.
I want to be the girl that I was when I backpacked Ireland. She had a dream to see Ireland, and she made it a reality. It was the single most amazing month of her life and she’d give ANYTHING to get it back.
That girl believed that ANYTHING could happen.
This girl is hopeless that any of her dreams can come true.
It’s time to grab life by the balls and take care of myself first. Big changes are happening in my world, and they’re coming straight from my heart.
***
This growing season
May I be reborn
Washed clean
Made new
Forgiven
& spectacularly loved.
Remind me who I am.
Forgive me my shadows.
Heal my broken wings
that I may fly
and succeed.
by Marianne Williamson (slightly modified)
March 24, 2012
Guest Post – Carol Davis Luce
Carol Davis Luce
Self-taught Late Bloomer
My motto is, "If I can do it, anyone can do it." I wasn't born to write. I didn't aspire to be a writer from the time I could hold a Crayon. I could, however, draw, and make things take shape through form and color on paper and canvas, and that's the path I traveled well into midlife. The artist's life opened up my eyes and mind to expression and sometimes stories through composition on that blank eighteen by twenty-four inch stretched canvas. Then one day it changed.
As a voracious reader, I was content to read what others wrote. I admired those writers who had mastered the craft. I was happy to dwell in their world for 300 pages, to laugh, cry, and be enlightened and surprised. Until one day when I closed a book by my favorite author and felt something was missing. The novel was a mystery/suspense with elements of romance. The suspense was killer. The romance, however, was lacking, missing those subtleties that resonated with me. I wanted more. The promise of romance was there, but fizzled somewhere along the way. For me, it wasn't about graphic sex. It was about sexual tension, passion, love. After searching unsuccessfully for novels to satisfy my romantic suspense fixation, looking for just the right balance, I realized I had to write the book myself.
Only I knew nothing about writing a novel, let alone a genre book with a sub-genre. So I went to the library and checked out a reference book titled, HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL. Easy enough, right? If dedication is easy, then it was easy because I was driven. My artist's passion shifted to focus on the writer's canvas. That canvas was structure, words, emotion, and truth. And the rest is history.
Well, almost.
I burned up two electric typewriters before investing in a computer. I checked out every book on the "book writing" reference shelf, and many grammar and stylebooks, and two years later, my 800-page opus, NIGHT STALKER, was finished—
Almost.
I learned about the important shaping process, without which most stories would be unreadable. Editing. The passion and pain of cutting and revising. Finding the jewels that lie buried in too many, or misguided, words. Three years and a dozen revisions later, 400 pages lighter, it found a home with a traditional publisher. Within the first few months of release, it went into three printings and became the flagship for the sub-genre "Woman in Jeopardy/Romantic Suspense" at Kensington Publishing.
Where it started…
I left school at sixteen to marry my high school sweetheart. Six years later, as a housewife and mother, I channeled my artistic talent into sketching and painting, selling my work at a local art gallery. A quarter century later, I traded in my paints and brushes to hit the keyboard. Our three sons, not much for novel reading, are waiting for my books to be made into movies. That childhood sweetheart I married a lifetime ago is now my soul mate of 50 plus years. His encouragement fueled me, and his support allowed me to pursue my goals.
Going back to my motto of, "if I can do it, anyone can." There has never been a more opportunistic time to try your hand at writing a book. Or taking the plunge and self-publishing. My decision to self-publish my upcoming suspense novels came about when I hit the proverbial brick wall after five published books. With a stalled career, I had a choice. Teach, or see my stories in print again. I chose the latter. My first self-published book is the short story trilogy, BROKEN JUSTICE, followed by my suspense novel, NIGHT WIDOW.
Agents and editors think they know what readers want. They don't always know. Readers know what readers want, and they're expressing their wants by buying books written by indie authors. Give yourself a hardy pat on the back if you've completed a manuscript, but the big applause goes to our devoted fans and readers. Without them, we would be nothing.
***
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About the Chick
Carol Davis Luce's first novel, Night Stalker, was also her first sale. "A dandy read," wrote author Tony Hillerman. It went into three printings and became the flagship for the sub-genre "Woman in Jeopardy" at Kensington Publishers—strong heroines pitted against evil opponents. Reviewers have said of her villains: [Night Prey] "Luce's portrayal of a psychopathic mountain man is chilling&hellip" [Night Game] "The villain is evil personified."
In addition to five published novels, Carol's short story "Shattered Crystal" appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Magazine and Treadmill Tales (audio). E-reads Publications reprinted Night Passage in e-book format and POD. Nonfiction publications include two articles for Writer's Digest. One article, "Writing Suspense That'll Kill Your Readers," was reprinted (second edition) in THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK OF NOVEL WRITING (Writer's Digest Books)2010.
In The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing 2010, Carol Davis Luce defines tension as "the act of building or prolonging a crisis." She goes on to give some examples and ends the chapter with this: "How you build that suspense can make the difference between your readers chucking your book for a good night's sleep or nudging their spouse to say, 'the suspense is killing me.'"
Find Carol Online!
Find her books at http://www.amazon.com/Carol-Davis-Luce/e/B000APHQU2
