K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 135

The Pond

Welcome to #MysteryThrillerWeek2017. We continue today with a short story with a paranormal element and a lot of thrills and suspense.




Supernatural gifts aren’t to be scorned. Some can communicate with the dead while others sense when things are about to go wrong. What if you are put in a situation where you are asked to right a wrong, to reveal secrets better left buried? What would you do in order to correct the past if those in charge are determined to keep that information buried?
Get The Pond on Amazon! 
Anne-Marie gets the surprise of her life, on the eve of passing over her duties as the Seer of Wallis County, Georgia. The pond where she and her friends have skinny dipped for years begins spewing out ghosts, all demanding that she bring to light the terrible events that have been hidden beneath the watery surface. What’s worse than ghosts demanding assistance just when she’s ready to shake the dust of this area off her feet? The owner of The Pond, or rather a member of his family, who happens to be the sheriff. Can Anne-Marie uncover all the secrets of The Pond, or will she be stuck in this county forever?
Beneath the murky depths of the pond, a great stirring was beginning. Those who had inhabited this waterway, some for more than a century, others for less than ten years, were awakening.
She is here.
Our salvation is at hand.
Call her… call her.
The great secret that had been a part of Wallis County for so long was about to be revealed. No one would escape the implications of murder most foul or hiding those who had perished either through natural means or “misadventure.” Unanswered questions of a few would soon have resolutions that would turn neighbor against neighbor and render families as they defended the people behind the great secret.
Find her.
She is here.
Where?
At the pond.
Why?
We must discover that.

Who Am I?

Welcome to #MysteryThrillerWeek2017. We continue today with a novella about identity questions.
All teens question who they are at one point in their lives. It’s a natural event when they disagree strongly with their parents or don’t look exactly like everyone else. What if your suspicions were more than that? What if you ended up in a place where everyone stared at you strangely or asked questions you wouldn’t answer? What if your own investigation reopened long suppressed memories and you began to realize your whole life was a lie?




Brooke English never belongs. She changes schools twice a year, as often as her looks and name change. Her thoughts about belonging to her "family" get even more viral when they stop in Landry, Georgia. Then things start to go wrong. Then Brooke starts to have dreams.
Will she find the answers she wants? Or will her worst fears become reality?

Get Who Am I? on Amazon 
Mama opens the mail as Daddy drives toward the high school. He doesn't need directions, which has always spooked me. My parents do so much research about a town before we move there it's almost eerie.
"Oh, lookee." She waves a handful of credit cards over her head. "The limits are outstanding, Artie. We'll have ourselves a good time at the stores while our children are in school today. Brooke looks so adorable in her outfit. I just have to get her more like that."
My face flames with embarrassment, especially when Tim grins at me.
"Just don't get me that crap," he says. "I'll do fine in jeans and t-shirts."
"Oh, no," Daddy says. "You have to dress the part. We all do. No one can suspect we aren't what we say we are."
They sure are dressed for their new roles. Daddy has on a three-piece suit in navy blue. His dress shirt has what looks like white lines on top of the white, and the tie is black with little multi-colored squares on it. She wears a pair of slacks in black and a maroon shirt open at the neck, flashing a diamond necklace they somehow got at a store on our trip out here. I suspect they stole the necklace, since we never have much to spend during our moves.
He glances at Mama. "How many approvals?"
This is the part I hate, the part where they claim victory over supposedly tough credit rules to get a card. Usually, we get about a dozen cards for them to use. Once their limits are reached, the cards are destroyed, and any calls from collection agencies go ignored. They then start in on cards they've applied for before the credit for whatever name they are using is destroyed. The process goes on until they can't get any more cards, and then we're moving again with new names.
"There's eighteen in your name," Mama crows, "and twenty in my name. Oh, Artie, this is heaven. We can spend, spend, spend!"

Review: Supercell by H.W. Buzz Bernard

Published in 2013 by Bell Bridge Books, this weather based action thriller has a slow start but does manage to pull the reader into a complex story. A jaded storm chaser relives memories of his one failure and gives the impression of being a near alcoholic. He’s joined by an FBI agent on the hunt for a duo of criminals chasing storms in order to line their pockets and a movie producer with an unreal perception what storm chasing is all about.
I am a disaster flick/book junkie. It’s one of the genres that will guarantee I’ll be watching the movie or reading the book about the snowstorm threatening to bury the world, tornado outbreaks dropping onto unsuspecting communities, or hurricanes promising destruction. To say I devour anything in this area is an understatement. When I asked to review this book, I was looking forward to an edge of the seat, cutting edge novel that would have me yearning for more.
Supercellhad a good start, the memory of a meteorological event taking lives and leaving a storm chaser with a lost reputation, destroyed marriage and relationship with his son, and bankrupt. I was hooked, until the story evolved into more of a tale about the people rather than the storms that interest them. Yet, I preserved and found the gem of a great tale hidden beneath these personalities.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a story for those who love to read about disasters, but it is also a tale of the people behind the scenes. Storm chasers are often portrayed as super human types, chasing after the impossible—a solution to the major events that threaten communities. They do appear to be focused on their goal, getting answers to what drives these storms. Yet, I was somewhat disappointed in this story, in that it paid attention more to the people and their goals rather than the storms themselves.
Supercellis a nice easy read, if the reader isn’t seeking a complex story about the storms that devastate communities and is willing to understand the people behind the stories. The climax doesn’t disappoint, giving true disaster book junkies the detail they’re seeking. All in all, I can give Supercell 4 stars, based on the depth of information provided and the entertainment value. 



Before becoming a novelist, Buzz worked at The Weather Channel as a senior meteorologist for 13 years.  Prior to that, he served as a weather officer in the U.S. Air Force for over three decades.  He attained the rank of colonel and received, among other awards, the Legion of Merit.
His “airborne” experiences include a mission with the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters, air drops over the Arctic Ocean and Turkey, and a stint as a weather officer aboard a Tactical Air Command airborne command post (C-135).
In the past, he’s provided field support to forest fire fighting operations in the Pacific Northwest, spent a summer working on Alaska’s arctic slope, and served two tours in Vietnam.  Various other jobs, both civilian and military, have taken him to Germany, Saudi Arabia and Panama.
He’s a native Oregonian and attended the University of Washington in Seattle where he earned a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science; he also studied creative writing.
Buzz currently is vice president of the Southeastern Writers Association.  He’s a member of International Thriller Writers, the Atlanta Writers Club and Willamette Writers.
He and his wife Christina live in Roswell, Georgia, along with their fuzzy and sometimes over-active Shih-Tzu, Stormy.  

Mixing Genres

Many people have told me that remaining within a single genre is the way to get your book noticed. That you’ll have better sales if you don’t straddle more than one genre at a time. Well, that works about as well as telling me that authors never get anywhere in this world.
They’ve just handed me a challenge I can’t resist.
The genre of teen books is wide and varied. Adding in a paranormal or science fiction element allows readers of those genres to enjoy a mystery tale. Even a historical aspect will grab attention.
The Canoples Investigations series began as a way to explain to my youngest child about the events surrounding the September 11, 2001 tragedies. He wanted to know why bad people had to hurt people they didn’t know. Within a week, BD Bradford and his crew of intrepid investigators were born but it would take more than ten years for this series to find a home and a group of readers who laughed along with their “rush in and get the job done” attitude.
Ghosts have always fascinated me. That brought about the Ghosties, a group of teens determined to track down and send ghosts to their unearthly reward. Hailey Hatmaker plays on her name with a collection of hats that take her less time to decide which one to wear than it does for her to solve the latest ghost involved mystery in her hometown of Landry, Georgia.
One thing I’ve kept to in these series and the upcoming Wildcat Crew books is that my teens have an adult they can rely on to help them out in times of trouble. That adult might not always give them the advice they want to hear. They might slide along the wrong side of the rules at moments when they have to get the job done. But complete the jobs they do, and with a panache that has many people laughing.
So remember the next time someone says you can’t mix a genre that’s not always true. Mysteries are far more interesting if a reader has a chance to catch them outside the standard theme.

Cupid's Arrow Volume 1

Valentine’s Day is filled with romance and special relationships. The sweetness of a couple coming together is perhaps the best part of this very special day. Will these couples share that very important first kiss?





Will Millie be a victim of, hot, passionate, and fleeting war kisses?
Romance has no age barrier
The biggest mistake of Aly’s life could turn into the promise of new love…
Can love be rekindled after a lifetime?
Victorian diary surprises modern bride
Just when she thinks she’s through with love, Cupid aims his arrow at Nixie again.
Support your local bartender, Stacey Jennifer Longacre at Tough Luck Lounge.
There is nothing sweeter than pure, unrequited love.






Sweet romance, the moments leading up the first kiss, a spark of love between a couple. E.B. Sullivan, Archimede Fusillo, Marie Lavender, K.C. Sprayberry, Debbie De Louise, M.A. Cortez, Lois Crockett, and Leah Hamrick team up to bring you eight tales of love in its early stages. 

Get Cupid's Arrow Vol 1 from Amazon! 



As an extra special added bonus, we also present When Jack Trumps Ace from Solstice Publishing Author Debbie De Louise!







Jackie Riordan’s in trouble . . . 
When her jewel-thief father is caught in the middle of a heist, Jackie makes her getaway to his ex-jail pal’s apartment. A man called Ace, who lives in an upscale neighborhood of Chicago. What she doesn’t count on is falling in love with him and becoming his partner in crime. She also doesn’t expect to compete with Ace’s old flame or deal with his cat Roxie who causes her allergy attacks.
All bets are off . . .
After Jackie discovers clues left by her father which lead her to a treasure that Ace may have stolen, she contemplates her next move. Should she trust Ace and believe her father gave him the money, or head home to her mother, a religious hypocrite who would have no qualms about ratting out her own daughter to the cops? 
Things that sparkle aren’t always Diamonds . . . 
Before Jackie can decide who the good guys really are, she finds herself atop the Willis Tower carrying her father’s ashes in her pocket and aiding Ace in the largest jewelry heist of his life. Things go terribly wrong, and Jackie’s only choice seems to be to walk away from Ace or face imprisonment. 
 Get When Jack Trumps Ace on Amazon!

Military Based Thrillers

The 2017 Everybody YA #TuesdayBookBlog continues with more fun, excitement, and tension! We’re also in #MysteryThrillerWeek!
The military is the perfect arena to create a thriller. To create a thriller with the elements of suspense and romance, along with a paranormal curve, takes a lot of work for the tension to remain consistent throughout. Ghost Flight does all that and more, drawing the reader into a story where the people involved are just as important as the equipment and mission.



Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force… except a series of inexplicable incidents with the F-16 fighter jets assigned to Luke AFB in 1988.
Staff Sergeant Kayla Watkins believes she’s found the answer to the incidents that have taken the lives of two dozen hot pilots. Nightly, she watches the march of those dead pilots, once again promising to find answers.
Technical Sergeant Trent Montrose gets the surprise of his life after the last crash, the morning of a planned inspection from higher headquarters. Ghost Flight marches past to him on their way to the flightline.
Office of Special Investigations undercover operative, Captain Jake Arnold, loathes his operation within the 58TTW with a “dream team” of non-coms whose sabotage is suspected to go all the way back to the waning days of the Vietnam conflict.
Romance, suspense, a base on the edge. The Arizona desert is harsh and unforgiving, as harsh and unforgiving as an aircraft unable to perform up to standards. Kayla, Derek, and Jake become a team dedicated to stopping the saboteurs before another good pilot dies.
Get Ghost Flight on Amazon 
Early in 1988, the young pilot completed his pre-flight check. The weather was certainly strange this time of year. April’s days scorched the life right out of a man, while the nights cooled to the point where he had to wear a flight jacket until he boarded his aircraft.
He did all he could do from the ground and nodded at the crew chief, one TSgt. Montrose. The man looked a bit old for this job and his rank, almost as if he was ready to retire, and he moved stiffly, as if his muscles bothered him. Yet, Captain Stover didn’t comment on that. His uncle had been a veteran of Vietnam, flying F-4 Phantom in missions over a countryside where he often couldn’t tell who was friend and who was foe. Having grown up on stories of young men testing their mettle in those aircraft, he’d joined the Air Force and signed on to become a pilot in time to be assigned a seat in the coveted F-16 Fighting Falcon.
“Fair skies, sir,” TSgt. Montrose saluted the captain. “May your wings fly true and bring you back safely.”
That was a saying his uncle had told him about, from ‘Nam. The captain stared at the non-com curiously.
“You served in ‘Nam?” Captain Stover asked.
“Proudly.” Pain not forgotten shadowed the non-com’s eyes. “I was there until the end, part of the bug out in 1975.”

What Makes Thrillers Work

Welcome to the #2017MondayBlogs. It's also #MysteryThrillerWeek!





A thriller is a novel (play or movie) with an exciting plot. They usually involved a crime or espionage, but have also been known to focus on events that add a certain element of tension to the plot, such as a very exciting/terrifying contest or experience.
Wow. That’s a pretty general definition and leaves a lot to interpretation. Let’s delve somewhat into the thriller genre.
You have many sub-genres of Thrillers: Crime, Espionage, Historical, Legal, Medical, Military, Political, Supernatural, Suspense, and Technological. Let’s not Psychological Thrillers either, since who can resist messing with someone else’s mind.
All of these sub-genres have several elements in common. These are what make up the fundamentals of a well-written thriller.
The first thing you, the author, needs for your thriller to make it memorable is a protagonist who is ordinary and heroic. Uh, yeah, sounds pretty confusing. But if you think about it, Luke Skywalker in the iconic Star Wars series is a pretty ordinary man when we meet him and he turns out to be pretty heroic. So, it is possible to have an ordinary, low key individual who picks up the gauntlet to deal with the situation.
Next up on that all important list of what you need is to make your protagonist sympathetic and likeable. That doesn’t mean this person is so milquetoast that they’re incredibly boring. Give t hem a few unsympathetic traits too, to make them a bit more human. The utterly perfect person will drive all those imperfect readers, who will soon become disgusted.
Moving on to the antagonist. You need a person who will challenge your protagonist. Someone who has the ability to force our hero or heroine into acting beyond what they normally would. If Darth Vadar hadn’t possessed his “destroy the universe” persona, would Luke have stood up against him, especially after learning his worst enemy was his father.
Setting is always important to a story, especially a thriller. For some, that setting needs to be an exotic locale. For others, taking an idyllic small town and turning it upside down works just fine. Remember, your location must be suitable to the events you’re about to unleash on your protagonists’ world. Would Princess Leia have been so sympathetic as a female lead in the Star Wars universe if she’d been part of a small town with no use for a political activist? Probably not.
Now that you have all these elements, you have the good bones for a story, but you’re not quite to the point where you can set down those electronic bytes. Ask yourself this. What do all of these people and/or places have in common? What brings them together? What drives the protagonist to take a stance or the antagonist to act? We call that an inciting incident. This can be as simple as a disagreement blowing up out of all proportion to as complicated as a world devastating event.
Here’s where things get really hard. Your plot needs ongoing conflict and tension. There has to be suspense. Most thrillers are from multiple viewpoints—this can be both protagonist and antagonist, or several protagonists circling in on a single antagonist, or vice versa. Your writing style needs to be tight and fast paced. There is no place in a thriller for long paragraphs of extemporary narration, where we learn about the characters from birth to this moment. Lovely description of each and every element in a scene has no place in the well-crafted thriller. Concentrate on the moment, on what is going on in front of the protagonist and/or antagonist in order to have the reader focused.
Of course, you can’t forget increasing danger, troubles that hit home, internal struggle for your protagonist (who already has enough going on, but hey, let’s add a bit more!), critical turning points where everything seems to be going wrong, obstacles that seem insurmountable, enough clues for the reader to begin to see the light, twists and surprises since what’s a thriller without a last minute monkey wrench thrown into the works, and a satisfying ending.
One last thing you need to include in your story, as your protagonist reflects on what they’ve just accomplished—psychological growth and change.

Don’t Give Up On Your Friends

The 2017 Everybody YA #SundayBookBlog continues with more fun, excitement, and tension! We’re also in #MysteryThrillerWeek!
Friendship made young lasts forever. Separating those friends won’t stop the feelings they have for each other and these young people will often seek each other out in order to maintain their ties. When tragedy causes one to vanish without a trace, the other will often ignore all advice about giving up and continue their search for their friend, until they have located the person.


 
#7 Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2013



One by one, the residents of Landry, Georgia gave up on finding Lyssa Winders alive. It had, after all, been fourteen years since she vanished. The men who invaded her home left behind the bodies of those she loved with all her heart. Only one person never gave up and still searches for Lyssa. Kyle Tinker battles his own demons from that night, when he hid like a coward instead of running for help. Their eighteenth birthday looms on the horizon, and Kyle is determined to bring Lyssa home.
Meanwhile, Kim Tinker is having trouble understanding her dreams about a pretty blonde girl—she has no idea that these dreams are of her life as Lyssa Winters. She also hears a guy who has recently started talking to her--in her head. All Kim wants is to get away from a family which hates her, but doing it safely is the one thing which eludes her.
On the day of the Freedom Festival, Kyle sees the girl he never thought he'd see again. And Lyssa finds the one person she's protected for the last fourteen years on their shared birthday. 
Get The Wrong One on Amazon A shriek of fear made Kyle even more scared. He turned his attention back to the front of the house. Maybe the bad men would leave. He and Lyssa could go for help together.
The front door banged against a wall. He smelled a bad stink made by the guns. Kyle whimpered and pressed closer to the wood support holding up the porch.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Lyssa screamed. "Mommy! Daddy! Bad men! Bad men!"
Mean, Shifty-eyes, and Growly raced across the porch and down the three steps. Lyssa hung over Mean's shoulder, kicking and hitting him. She stretched one hand toward the too- quiet house. Auntie Dy, Uncle Jack, Auntie Keisha, Grandma Brandy, and Grandpa Monty were inside. Lyssa's other hand clutched Doggie, her most favorite stuffed animal. Rags, the real doggie the police gave her, was nowhere in sight.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Lyssa choked on a sob. "Bad men! Holp me!"
She sounded so scared. Lyssa never said holp for help anymore. She was a big girl now, like Kyle was a big boy. He wanted to help, but he was only four, and those bad men were so big. He looked at the other houses. Someone had to have heard Lyssa. The windows stayed dark. No one came outside to find out why Lyssa was screaming.

Teen Psychological Thrillers

Teens in today’s world face a lot of problems. Their lives can be interrupted by events that will leave them wondering exactly what happened and what they can do to prevent it in the future. Some teens look to dystopian novels to help them get through the bad things in life. Others pour through psychological thrillers, where they can imagine themselves in the place of the characters, fighting to return to a normal life, when everything is topsy turvy.
This genre of thrillers isn’t new, although it hasn’t been around for as long as the crime or military thriller. Books for teens are difficult to plot and finding topics that lend well to a psychological thriller are difficult.
Some areas that work well in a teen psychological thriller are school violence, bad dating situations, divorce and the aftermath of that situation, and identity issues. In these areas, the teens are thrust into a dark world, where they are adrift from their norm and seeking a solution to the problem. They don’t know who to trust or where to turn. Even advice from parents or friends doesn’t feel right.
The dark tone of these books might seem off-putting to adults, who tend to want their children to read stories with a guaranteed happily ever after ending, but that’s now how the world works these days. Far too many teens have experienced the situations outlined in a psychological thriller and can relate to the characters and how they deal with the problems.
A family torn asunder when one parent decides to take off with the children following the breakup of a marriage can cause undue anxiety for those left behind. Witnessing a friend in a bad relationship, knowing they have to extract themselves, and yet wanting to help is normal, but how does someone get involved without risking injury or worse? School violence happens in an instant, often without warning, and the teen finds they have to react but their emotions are telling them to run.
Books that explore these subjects can be enlightening. They also all have the same tone to them…
They’re thrilling, chilling, and should not be started after dark. Otherwise, you’ll be up all night with these mysterious, murderous nail biters! There are no monsters here, except the manipulative human kind. Even so, you may want to enjoy the stories below with the light on!

Suspense With A Touch of Romance

The 2017 #TuesdayBookBlog continues with more fun, excitement, and tension!




Mystery, danger, suspense combined with romance is the setting for this tale of parents overcoming the loss of their child while trying to solve the reasons behind a curse on an old house.

Get Starlight's Curse on Amazon!

The discovery of three teenage girls found hanging from an ancient elm tree, alleged suicides, on the grounds of abandoned Starlight Mansion by a teenage boy sets him on a mission to find the truth. Nearly forty years later, now the sheriff, Big Jake finds himself drawn into the investigation of a mysterious “suicide” and the disappearance of another teenager.
Jayme Barclay sees her fifteen-year-old daughter swinging on a rope from a tree at the mansion the county commissioner is turning into a resort. Brad Patterson loses a piece of himself when he answers the 911 call to get to Starlight on a snowy December night.
A year later, the mystery surrounding Tawni's alleged suicide still haunts both Jayme and Brad. Big Jake has been shackled in this investigation, much like another sheriff so many years ago.
Reluctant teens hold back information, until Jayme returns to the hometown she abandoned, to find the truth. Brad hates that he had to intrude on her grief, but also believes this is his chance to redeem himself for not protecting the daughter of the woman he loves. Big Jake suspects who the killer is and that the person isn’t done yet, but must stand back and allow a younger man stand up against a powerful and corrupt group of politicians.



Sleet and snow whipped around Starlight Mansion. A young teen, a mere thirteen-years-old, scampered in and around the tree stumps, scooted around boulders filling a former field were corn had once grown tall, and laughed while the winter storm pelted his face and bare hands. Jake Haskins had no problem with the bitter cold. Not one bit. Even the legends surrounding the long abandoned, decrepit mansion didn’t bother him. Being the normally curious boy that he was, Jake crept up on the rear of the fabled house and tiptoed onto the back porch. Planks creaked under his boots, held together with duct tape around the toes. There’d been hints he’d get a new pair tomorrow, if he was good. He figured being good meant staying away from Mama until she cooled off after their earlier confrontation. Of course, she might not cool off much, since their words had been those of an exasperated woman putting up with half a dozen young children and a surly teen stuck in a house that was too small at best. Getting angry with his life had never been something Jake did, but he was fed up with being called a poor pig farmer whose daddy couldn’t rub two nickels together.