K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 179

Spotlight: Beneath the Mayan Moon by: Angela Burke

Welcome to Angela Burke, author of Lucidity and Beneath the Mayan Moon, and a fellow Solstice Author. Today, Angela will talk about the Be Yourself Conundrum!


The “Be Yourself” ConundrumBy Angela Burke
        “Just Be Yourself” they say.  I hear it.  I say it.  But I don't feel it.  Turn on the television...the internet...grab a grocery store check-out-stand magazine...click on any social media site...and they will tell you who to be.  The conundrum is that when we are told to be ourselves, we search for what that means.  We panic, realizing that we don't know the answer.  We pick an identity.  We choose a theme.  We try some out.  Some of them stick...some do not.  And then we become even more confused.  Who the hell am I?        The more we search, the more messages are thrown in our path.  It's hard to ignore the influx of advertising that bombards us minute...by minute...by minute.  We tell our children, just be yourself, and then we hold them to rigid rules.  Rules that by society should never be broken.  And depending on what part of the country you live in, the rules vary and change.          So how do we pull ourselves out of the muck, strip ourselves down to bare naked vulnerability and find out the true nature of our souls?        I really don't know.  Honestly.  I don't.  But what I do realize is that when you follow your heart...your deepest intuition...and you do what “feels” right, ignoring all of the other subliminal -charged messages....you will find a glimmer of yourself.  The one you remember as an eight year old child who didn't know anything other than the smell of fresh air, sunshine and grass-stained jeans.  I know that girl...        And so as with life, to be yourself as a writer involves returning to the love.  The love of conveying words, rearranging thoughts, retrieving your imagination no matter how suppressed it has become, and playing so that the true art of writing shines through.  There are no formulas in this world.  No “writing rules”.  Forget about deleting adverbs, writing in only one POV and worrying about adding too much back-story and just write.  For the love of God, just write.  Find a style that is “you”.  And the rest will follow....  
        “ We are constantly invited to be who we are.”   -Henry David Thoreau  

        Angela Burke is the author of LUCIDITY and BENEATH the MAYAN MOON.  She lives in Boulder, Colorado and enjoys running, skiing and taking long hikes in the mountains. A former teacher, she now spends her time building her massage therapy practice, while chasing after her three great kids and daydreaming up new story ideas.        You can find her at www.angelaburkebooks.com, on the Solstice Publishing website, Facebook and Twitter.  Her books are available on Amazon.


BENEATH the MAYAN is FREE December 1-5 on Amazon -  
Beneath the Mayan Moon at Amazon 

Spotlight: Grace by K.C. Sprayberry

Good morning. Today, Solstice Publishing releases my sweet Christmas story, Grace. A few friends and I will be spotlighting this tale. Check it out. We'll have links later today!


Bio: KC Sprayberry started writing young, first as a diarist, and later through an interest in English and creative writing. Her first experience with publication came when she placed third in The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge contest while in the Air Force, but her dedication to writing came after she had her youngest child, now in his senior year of high school. Her family lives in Northwest Georgia where she spends her days creating stories about life in the south, and far beyond. More than a dozen of her short stories have appeared in several magazines. Five anthologies feature other short stories. She has three books that are Amazon best sellers: Softly Say Goodbye, Who Am I?, and Mama's Advice. Her other novels available are: Take Chances, Where U @, The Wrong One, The Ghost Catcher, Family Curse … Times Two,and Secret From The Flames.



Blurb: Grace Winston yearns for one last family Christmas before she leaves for England, but first she has to convince her brothers and sisters it's worth their while to come home. While her parents are happy that she's been accepted at Oxford University, they are pining for their family to gather together for the holidays. Grace talks her older brothers and sister into coming home, but then they must convince their other siblings: a brother who attacked their father to get money to feed his drug habit, and a sister who recently gave up alcohol and is raising her four young children alone. While Grace manages to bring them all together, she is soon wondering if this was really worth all the trouble she's gone through, especially when no one acknowledges her efforts to make this a Christmas to remember--until she receives an early gift that leaves her certain that everything will turn out all right.
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Excerpt: Grace Winston had celebrated her eighteenth birthday a mere three weeks ago, the same day as Thanksgiving. There were no thanks in her house, no special foods prepared to celebrate her becoming an adult, nothing to mark the day as unique.Her parents hadn't said "Happy Birthday" until it was time to go to bed. Even then, the acknowledgement had sounded more like "goodnight."It's not Mama and Papa's fault. They can't help how sad they are. My brothers and sisters should have come like they said they would. They're not even making false promises anymore. All of them claim that they have other plans for Christmas, and we need to get over our selfish desire to have the family together.For as far back as she could remember, that day has been one where her whole family showed up, until her oldest brother, Adam, decided that he had too much work to spend a week at his childhood home. Mark begged off the next year, claiming his wife's job required him to appear at the White House. The others never bothered to make an excuse the year after that. 



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Spotlight and Review: Daughter Cell by Jay Hartlove

Welcome Jay Hartlove to Out of Control Characters. Today, I feature his latest book, Daughter Cell!




Jay Hartlove Bio
Jay Hartlove has been writing professionally for over 30 years, starting in the gaming industry with Supergame in 1980. He writes banking compliance procedures by day, he blogs about spirituality, and he teaches seminars on the craft of writing. Two of his short supernatural stories have appeared in the Hugo Award winning Drink Tank. He has posted the research he did for The Chosen at www.jaywrites.com. Like The Isis Rising Trilogy on Facebook.
 http://www.jaywrites.com
http://www.jayhartlove.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/chosenthebook
http://www.facebook.com/jayhartlove
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4912710.Jay_Hartlove
 Cover blurbHow far can you genetically alter someone before she becomes someone else? Before she loses her soul?
Cover synopsisLeading genetic researcher Randolph Macklin wakes up in Malaysia to find a four month gap in his memory, his wife dead, and his daughter in a coma. As he and his psychiatrist Sanantha Mauwad unravel the mystery, they find nothing and no one are what they appear to be. Ancient cults collide with cutting edge science in this tale of too much power driven by too much passion. 



Excerpt from Daughter Cell
Without any warning or sign at all, Randy stopped talking and his head fell forward onto his chest.“Randy?” Sanantha got up and grabbed his hand from his lap. It was limp. “Randy!” No response. He had stopped breathing.She put her head to his chest. No heartbeat. She blinked furiously thinking of what to do next. She wondered if she would be able to find the Epi-pen in her medical kit in the bathroom.She startled and sucked in a short breath when she realized what had happened.She got up in his face, grabbed his head with her hands, pried his eyes open with her thumbs, and yelled at him. “Randy! You are still in complete control of your mind! Roll the clock back to thefuneral site! You are still standing at your wife’s grave!”Just as quickly as he had dropped off, he was back. She let go of his head and it came up straight. His breathing resumed. His eyes fell back closed, and he was still hypnotized, but he was back.She put her hand on his chest, and found his heart was beating normally.She dropped back into her own chair and blew out a deep breath. She grabbed her mouth and squeezed her cheeks with her hand, stared at him, and slowly shook her head.
Buy Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Cell-ebook/dp/B00F3KCMFI/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_tnr_2
http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781629290379     Review
A daughter lies in a coma from a snakebite. A wife dies in a fiery car accident. A man can't remember four months of his life following these tragedies. Randolph Mackin hunts for answers, once he becomes aware of his surroundings, but he's caught in the middle of events he can't change. Or can he?
Science and religion clash in this thriller by Jay Hartlove. Despite a slow beginning, the plotline plays out as the characters strive to untangle what has happened. Macklin, Sanatha Mauwad, Young Nae Yoon, and Lo Cheung are all major players in this twisted story, but their relationships aren't defined well enough until far into the story.
The slow beginning is almost enough to turn off most readers. A fan of science/medical thrillers, to include those with DNA in the plot, for many years, I found myself almost ready to put this book down on more than one occasion. While character development is important, the beginning should also be defining to the story, one that hooks the reader into the action rather than a dry rendition of the facts followed by many, many chapters of each character going through moves that can best be described as background information.
That being said, once things heated up, once it became apparent what the Daughter Cell truly was, the story enthralled me. The science is good, backed up by facts and adding a few facets that will grab a reader in a "That is not happening" reaction. Hartlove does know how to pull the reader into the lushness of Malaya, the differences between the rich foreigners in that country, and the oftentimes poor residents eking out a living. Once the pivotal point was reached, Hartlove stretched his writing muscles and keeps you on the edge of your seat. As each facet of this convoluted tale falls into place, you must wonder if it can get any worse.I recommend this story to all science thriller buffs with a caveat. You must continue on past the beginning at all costs.

Black Friday Extravaganza: So Fell The Sparrow by Katie Jennings

Welcome to Katie Jennings and her book, So Fell The Sparrow!




International bestselling Author Katie Jennings is the author of six full length novels, including the popular fantasy series The Dryad Quartet as well as the bestselling family drama series The Vasser Legacy. She lives in sunny Southern California with her husband and cat, who both think she s the biggest nerd ever. She s a firm believer in happy endings and loves nothing more than a great romance novel.



After the tragic death of her parents, Dr. Grace Sullivan inherits more than she bargained for. An empty house she's never heard of, a nosy neighbor, and the restless spirits of a violent, century old murder.

A hard-nosed skeptic, Grace refuses to believe in ghosts despite hearing sounds and seeing things that can't be explained.

When she unearths antique furniture from the basement, the spirits become agitated and dangerous. Ian Black and Alex Gallagher, a team of ghost hunters, come in to investigate.

Still denying the paranormal events in her home, Grace can't bring herself to take the ghost hunters or the psychic medium who teams up with them seriously. As Grace struggles with her grief and the feelings she's developing for headstrong Ian, the disturbing mystery of the house deepens. Now she'll have to face the unbelievable before the spirits claim her for their own. 
Amazon PaperbackKindle

The Koolura Series Takes Off

The Legend of Koolura tells the story of the metamorphosis of a pre-teen girl with extraordinary psychic powers overcoming a stalker bent on her destruction.
She has the ability to dematerialize at will and reappear where she chooses. She can move objects with her mind and she can even defy gravity!In book one of the series, The Legend of Koolura, a degenerate, determined to retrieve Koolura’s unrealized cool powers and hurt any of her friends who get into his way, is stalking Koolura.
In book two, Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddleback, just released by Solstice Publishing, Koolura wakes up after her first night at camp drained and powerless. Who or what has stolen her psychic powers?As Koolura searches for the truth about her power loss, she and the Chumash Girls have to deal with pranksters ruining their cabin and destroying their summer. Campers plan revenge but problems escalate as lives are threatened. Will Koolura and the Chumash Girls solve the mystery at Camp Saddleback?Let’s look in on Koolura the morning of her second day at camp:


Excerpt: In the morning Koolura awakened to the chatter of voices. Andrea, dressed in a camp shirt with blue shorts, was heading out the door. Linda exited the bathroom giving Koolura a happy wave. “Morning Koolura. Sleep well?” Linda didn’t wait for an answer. She darted out the cabin door behind Aletha.How can everyone be so cheerful? I feel as if I slept on a log. It must have been the nightmare about being chased.Across the aisle, Leila slept. She could probably sleep through an earthquake.Koolura padded into the empty bathroom. With no one in sight, she hooked her mind around the bar of soap three feet away willing it to float toward her. But nothing happened. She focused on the faucet over the sink to turn it on, but no water appeared. Panic filled her mind.What’s the matter? I was able to do it last night.Koolura tried to float, but remained anchored to the bathroom floor as if lead filled her PJ’s.Stunned, Koolura thought, Oh my God, what’s the matter with me? I lost my powers.


About the AuthorMichael L. Thal, an accomplished freelancer, is the author of The Legend of Koolura and Goodbye Tchaikovsky. He has written and published over eighty articles for magazines and newspapers including Highlights for Children, The Los Angeles Times, and San Diego Family Magazine.  Michael’s current project is book three in the Koolura series, Koolura and the Mayans. You can learn more about him at www.michaelthal.com.Michael lives in Sherman Oaks, CA. He's the proud father of two adult daughters, Channie and Koren, and the grandfather of Arielle and Shaye. You can reach him at michaelthal@sbcglobal.net .
LinksFacebook (Koolura Series): https://www.facebook.com/kooluraTwitter: https://twitter.com/kooluraWebsite: http://www.michaelthal.com
The Legend of Koolura Amazon: http://amzn.to/1cNimZFMystery at Camp Saddleback Amazon: http://amzn.to/1c7Iu3k
The Legend of Koolura:http://tinyurl.com/a63jamp
Goodbye Tchaikovsky:
http://tinyurl.com/bh95ht7

Author Website:
http://www.michaelthal.com/
Book Trailers:Koolura: http://tinyurl.com/a69ysgpSaddleback: http://bit.ly/1jKIiYgTchaikovsky: http://tinyurl.com/a8uc6tx

Review: Embracing Death by D. T. Dyllin

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18168194-embracing-death?ac=1

About the Author  Cynical-Optimist. Chocolate-holic. Sarcasm Addict. Paranormal Believer. Self-Imposed Insomniac. Sci-Fi Geek. Animal Lover. Writer…are just a few words to describe D.T. Dyllin. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two very spoiled GSDs.
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

   Review:
Samantha is back with Austin, and she can't be happier, but her happiness is short. She and her beloved husband aren't destined to remain together, but she refuses to accept that. Further, those in charge of their groups are even more determined to keep them apart. Can Sam save Austin before he falls completely to the dark side? Does she even want to remain safe and sane any longer?
D.T. Dyllin's series of empaths with other paranormal abilities dragged me into the adventure from the very first word. She can put a character into the act with a few deft, skillful words, allow the reader to experience the emotion with carefully crafted romantic moments, and put you on the edge of your seat at a moment's notice.
Dyllin has a winner of a series here. I couldn't put it down once I started. I highly recommend not only Embracing Death, but the first book, Feeling Death, for all romance writers who also love an excellent suspense story.

Review: The Mirage by C. Warner-Thompson

Today, on Out of Control Characters, we welcome again C. Warner-Thompson with a review of her book, The Mirage.




Author Bio:Clemy was born in the UK in 1991 where she still lives, growing up alongside one younger and three older brothers.Books and writing was an interest that she began to develop from the first years of secondary school, and on her thirteenth birthday, she began to plan and design the idea to write a fantasy novel. She finished secondary school with high GCSE's and then went on into further education to study English and all aspects of art and design. After six years of writing, planning and overall editing of the book, it was successfully completed, containing over 82,000 words, and self published in the first week of 2011.With high expectations in herself, she immediately began to write a second novel in the series, while keeping her art and design a part of the process. The achievement of completing the first novel 'Purest Light,' allowed the ideas of the second to flow much easier and it was completed by early 2012. As she was writing the third and final book, New Beginnings, at the same time, the series was finished by its publication in 2013.Writing is now a part of her every day life and she has now started her newest project, The Mirage, which is book two of three. 





Review:Abbii and her friends return with more danger, more intrigue, and a quest that might or might now tear them apart forever. The second challenge between the Light and the Shadow delves deeper into this group of people, and the reason Abbii is as she is. The choice she must make pits Abbii against those she's never fully trusted and might ally her with those she's always feared.C. Warner-Thompson pulls the reader into the second installment of this series with an intriguing and impossible mission. Failure means the end of their world, and Warner-Thompson handles the complexities with ease. She sets up the situations, allows the despair to take over, and then pulls almost everyone out. There are disagreements, but don't those exist in real life. No plan ever goes off perfectly, and Warner-Thompson manages to extract every bit of strength and dread from her characters as they move along their set path.The ending of this novel left me panting for more. I definitely will look for a third installment, and recommend this book for all who enjoy fantasy and paranormal books.

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 Excerpt: Tears started to fall from Abbii’s eyes as images of Shadows entered her mind. It was as if she was having a vision. Pain and emotion flowed through her at a hasty pace, but without the use of her powers, she had no control over her own emotions. Darkness was all that she could see inside of her mind. For the first time since her powers had formed, she felt helpless, alone. Jake and Nate had both left her side.Abbii. The voice was delicate, cutting through the Darkness.Opening her eyes as she lifted her head, Abbii felt her heartbeat began to calm.Your friends need you.She didn’t recognise the voice, but that was due to a slight humming which radiated through its tone. Abbii leaned her head against the wall as a small flicker of light sparked ahead of her.Darkness feeds on your fear. You don’t need to be afraid. Come, help those in need of you.Abbii watched as the spark of light created a hazy figure. It had no features, except a thin light which mapped out its shape. A hand extended from it, with each finger clearly made up of light.I have faith in you. Strength comes from the heart.Forgetting all traces of fear, Abbii extended her arm and took hold of the figure’s hand. She was pulled to her feet by a rush of energised air. The light and all evidence of the figure faded.




  

Blitz: Chameleon by Kenya Wright

Title: ChameleonGenre: New Adult Urban FantasyAuthor: Kenya Wright 
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chameleon-Kenya-Wright-ebook/dp/B00G6M2ZZE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1383666973&sr=1-1&keywords=chameleon+kenya+wright 
Blurb:Cameo lives in a caged supernatural city where all species are tagged at birth with silver brands embedded in their foreheads. Her X brand identifies her as a Mixbreed, but she’s so much more. Like a chameleon, she can shift from one person’s image to another. 
It’s a great way to make money for a habitat street kid, or Cage Punk as most people call them. Wiz, her street partner-in-crime, finds her jobs to use her abilities. Some jobs entail changing into people to take academic tests. Others require more skill and involve higher risk. 
When Wiz asks Cameo to stand in for a Were-wolf teenager who doesn't want to go to her debutante ball, it seems like just another job, until a corpse is discovered and an old friend of Wiz appears.  Kenya Wright always knew she would be famous since the ripe old age of six when she sang the Michael Jackson thriller song in her bathroom mirror. She has tried her hand at many things from enlisting in the Navy for six years as a Persian-Farsi linguist to being a nude model at an art university. 
However, writing has been the only constant love in her life. Will she succeed? Of course.For she has been coined The Urban Fantasy Queen, the Super Iconic Writer of this Age, The Lyrical Genius of Our Generation. Granted, these are all terms coined by her, within the private walls of her bathroom as she still sings the Michael Jackson thriller song. 
Kenya Wright currently resides in Miami with her three amazing, overactive children, a supportive, gorgeous husband, and three cool black cats that refuse to stop sleeping on Kenya’s head at night.Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ YouTube ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon

Giveaway: $25 Amazon Gift Card and Kenya Wright's Paranormal Romance ebook Bundle Giveaway (Eight Books: The first three Santeria Habitat Books, Vampire King Series, Incubus Hunter, and Chameleon)
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Blitz: Alive by Megan D. Martin

Title: Alive (Crave, #1)
Author: Megan D. Martin
Genre: New Adult Post-Apocalyptic Interracial Romance
Release Date: November 22, 2013
Buy on Amazon


Blurb:
Flesh-eating zombies, dirty sex, and a shattered past…
What’s more dangerous—the man who broke her heart or those trying to eat it?

Fighting to survive, Eve finds herself alone in the world after the Crave—the only parallel of her former life. On the hunt for her sister, she runs into Gage—the first and only boy to have her heart and break it. It’s been four years and he isn’t a boy anymore, nor is he the same person he used to be. Against her better judgment, Eve agrees to stay with him when he divulges information on a safe haven near the small town they grew up in—but that doesn’t mean she has to like it…

Returning home elicits a myriad of emotions that both Eve and Gage thought they had buried. The past and present collide and they are forced to the face bitter deceits that ruined them in the before and threaten to destroy them now…

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Book Trailer
About Megan:

Megan D. Martin is a multi-published author, mother, student and editor. In her spare time she enjoys decorating her house with strange things that do not match, playing her old school Nintendo Entertainment System, and buying fish for her many fish tanks. To learn more about Megan, check her out on these social networking sites.

Website: www.MeganDMartin.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormegandmartin 
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Megan_D_Martin 
goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6656963.Megan_D_Martin 
Google+: https://plus.google.com/115096823539939478098/posts 

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Spotlight: The Wrong One by K.C. Spayberry

KC Sprayberry started writing young, first as a diarist, and later through an interest in English and creative writing.Her first experience with publication came when she placed third in The Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge contest while in the Air Force, but her dedication to writing came after she had her youngest child, now in his senior year of high school. Her family lives in Northwest Georgia where she spends her days creating stories about life in the south, and far beyond. More than a dozen of her short stories have appeared in several magazines. Five anthologies feature other short stories, and her young adult novel Softly Say Goodbye, released in 2012. During 2013, more young adult stories have been released: The Ghost Catcher, Who Am I?, Family Curse … Times Two, and Amazon Best Seller, Canoples Investigations Tackles Space Pirates, Canoples Investigations Versus Spacers Rule, Take Chances, Mama's Advice, Secret From the Flames, and Where U @.
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Blurb: 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.  


Excerpt: Four-year-old Lyssa Winders landed with a thump on her living room floor. Her bottom hurt from the hard wood, and her head ached from all the yelling and shouting she'd been hearing. Nothing made sense. She just wanted this to stop.Her parents, Auntie Keisha, Nana Brandy, and Grandpa Monty kneeled in front of her. They had their hands on the back of their heads, and they looked very scared."Gonna talk now, Jack?" the stinky man asked. He had carried her out of the safety of her bedroom and dumped her on the floor. "Or do I hurt your kid?"Stinky jerked Lyssa to her feet. She couldn't run. He held her tight in front of his nasty smelling body."She's just a baby," Daddy said. "Don't hurt Lyssa. Let her go. She won't tell anyone anything." He stared at her with scared eyes. "Right, baby? You won't say anything." She nodded, and her daddy faced Stinky. "See, she agreed. Just let her go.""Nope." A man near her laughed.She turned her head and saw her puppy. Rags crept out from behind the sofa. His tail stood straight in the air, and he made growly noises in his throat. Lyssa swallowed hard. Rags couldn't come any closer. Stinky had a gun. He had a horribly tight grip on her shoulder..