Liv Rancourt's Blog, page 17

Aloha, Baby (A Short Story Serial - Part 3)

Blue eyes, dimples, and a hot surfer's body means trouble, right? There's only one way for Katie to find out...Losing seventy pounds was sure something to celebrate, but at the same time it created problems Katie never expected to deal with. Like, what to do when the hot-bodied surfer, Jack, turned out to be the DJ at her roommate's favorite dance club. Katie was positive he had ‘Trouble’ stamped on his butt. Didn't he?


Here's a link to Part 1 and Part 2

So at the end of last week's excerpt, Katie and Meli headed out for a night of dancing and other shenanigans...




Honolulu was a colorful honeycomb of activity on the south end of the island of Oahu, set between the shoulders of the Koolau Mountains and the ocean. At night it was a jumble of bright lights and velvet darkness. Instead of the highway, Meli took surface streets to get to Waikiki. As we circled the skirts of Diamond Head, whitewashed houses flashed by, their windows lit gold from within. I thought about the kind of guy my mother would like. She probably hoped I’d meet a young intern at the hospital where I worked. For sure he wouldn’t be like Meli’s dumb jock friend or Jack from the beach. As if I was interested in either of those two. Not me. 

Our first stop was the Red Lion Pub. To get there, we had to go down a narrow flight of steps. The pub was dimly lit, perfumed with stale beer and populated with guys sporting military haircuts. Just the kind of place to find a guy to please Mom. Not. Meli made a quick circuit, gripping my arm to drag me along. “Let’s get a shot here and go someplace else,” Meli said when we got back to the bar.


“Peppermint schnapps?” I suggested, naming something I was pretty sure I could down without puking.

Meli turned and ordered from the woman who was working the bar. They both carried themselves like they were six inches taller than real life, and I wasn’t really surprised when Meli leaned over and introduced her as a cousin. Even in a dive like this she had family connections. After a quick shot of peppermint schnapps, we were off to our next stop. 


Two clubs later, we were headed to the Shorebird Restaurant, still trying to find Meli’s friend Dave. To keep my head clear, I used Weight Watchers as an excuse to drink soda water instead of more alcohol. Meli, however, had a little buzz on. Her cheeks were flushed and her giggle was even higher pitched than normal. And we were both giggling a lot. Between the novelty of being out on the town and the peppermint schnapps, I was actually having fun.


The Shorebird was on the main floor of a hotel. Although the club called itself a restaurant, its big business came after ten o’clock when the dancing started. Walking across the lobby, I was bummed out by the huge line of people waiting to get in. The bouncer, a tall, stern-looking Samoan man in a polo jersey with the Shorebird logo, glared down at the crowd. Meli never slowed down, ignoring the line and marching right up to the door. When we reached the bouncer, Meli threw her arms around his neck. 


“Hey Katie, this is my cousin, Junior.” 


“You girls wanna come in?” As he shook my hand his smile was all joy, totally undercutting the fierce line of his brow.


“We promise to behave.” Meli elbowed me and winked, as if that was somehow going to reassure him. 


“You bring pretty girls like this to my club, cousin, and you can come in any time.” Junior never stopped smiling as he waved us through. I tried not to notice the dirty looks we got as we walked past the people at the front of the line.


Once we were inside, I clutched at Meli. “I can’t believe we just did that. I feel like a movie star.”She grinned and led the way to the bar. “Let’s have another shot.” 


“No, just a glass of white wine.” White wine had the fewest calories, and I sure didn’t need any more schnapps. After the last bar, Meli started talking about Jagermeister. I really didn’t want any of that.


Meli squealed as she passed me a glass of white wine. “Dave’s over there.”


The Shorebird was built right on Waikiki, with big windows opening out onto the beach. The long rectangular room had a dance floor at one end and a covered lanai at the other. Meli took off, heading in the direction of the windows. I did my best to weave through the people behind her. After a confusing flurry of introductions, we were seated at a table with Dave and his brother Dan. 


They were as handsome as Meli had hinted; both a little over six feet tall, tanned, their long layered haircuts bleached by the sun. Dave was blond with blue eyes and Dan had darker hair and brown eyes. Both had pale circles around their eyes from wearing sunglasses. One of them was wearing enough Polo cologne for all of us. It didn’t really matter that I couldn’t tell which one it was.


Meli velcroed herself to Dave’s side, so there was never any question of who belonged to whom. To my chagrin, Dan seemed to think I was there as his date, despite Meli’s pledge that it wasn’t one. His style involved leaning and leering, so I thought it best to keep him talking, even though the loud music made it tricky to hear what he said. 


I took a sip of my wine. “You both just moved here, right? Are you working?” 


“Yeah, babe. I’m an assistant coach for volleyball at UH and I work at the Honolulu Club in their gym.” 


I didn’t have to say much. He was mostly interested in talking about himself, and pretty quickly I learned all I needed to know. I just kept sipping my wine, trying to keep track of the thread of his monologue and prompting him with the occasional wide-eyed “Oh, really?” 


Someone opened one of the big sliding windows behind us, letting in a breeze off the water that stirred around the humid air. It felt good and, as Mr. Boring went on about himself, I started to wish I could take a walk down on the beach.


As a sign of how desperate I was, when the DJ put a pop-y hip-hop song, Jump Around, on the turntable, I said, “Let’s dance.”


Dan took my hand and tried to pull me back into my seat. I leaned back on my heels, tugging on him until he stood up. “Come on, Meli,” I yelled and grabbed her arm. As much as I hated to dance, it was a better option than listening to more stories of volleyball heroism. 


The dance floor ran the width of the room, bordered by windows on one side and a DJ booth on the other. Once Dan and I meshed ourselves into the mass of sweaty bodies, I started to swing back and forth, hoping I was close to the beat. Dan didn’t want to let go of my hand, which made things totally weird. He was just as oblivious to the rhythm of the music, relying instead on the white-boy-bob instead of actually dancing. He made me want to giggle, so I kept my eyes on the couples around me. 


Then I made my big mistake; I glanced over at the DJ booth. Surprise threw my heart rate into double time. The guy behind the turntables looked a whole lot like Jack from the beach. I couldn’t tell if it really was him, but the flashing lights made shadows out of a pair of dimples that were real familiar. All I could think of was getting off the dance floor, so I dragged Dan back to the table. He was easy to drag because he had yet to let go of my hand.

The night had reached a messy point. From what I could see, Meli and Dave were slow dancing to MC Hammer, which was pretty lame. I couldn’t free myself from a guy who was so self-absorbed I doubted he’d remember my name. And there was a good chance Mr. Trouble was breathing the same air I was. It was almost enough to make me wish I could have twenty or thirty pounds back just so they’d all leave me alone.



Oh no, sistah! You DO NOT want to gain that weight back. Not really. Because who knows what may happen in next week's installment...
Mahalo,
Liv 

Cover Reveal: Age of Blood by Shauna Granger

Age of Blood (Ash and Ruin #3) by Shauna Granger Available 5/5/2015Add on Goodreads- Preorder on Amazon -  Preorder on Barnes and Noble - Preorder on Kobo


Blurb
Hope is a dangerous thing, but powerful. Hope keeps you going. Hope can keep you alive. But hope can shatter your world. Kat and Dylan have found a home, but the monsters are still out there. The pox and plague still ravage the world. They have hope of finding a vaccine, but their encampment isn't equipped to develop it. Dylan is still too weak from the pox to leave the encampment, so Kat must decide between staying by his side and protecting her last remaining family member as he leaves to find supplies. Separated for the first time since they came together, Kat and Dylan will have to fight their own battles to save what is left of their bloody world. Kat will have to hold on to hope that she has anything left to save and someone to come home to. If she can survive.

  About the series:World of Ash - book 1
There are two inherent truths in the world: life as we know it is over, and monsters are real.The Pestas came in the night, spreading their pox, a deadly plague that decimated the population. Kat, one of the unlucky few who survived, is determined to get to her last living relative and find shelter from the pox that continues to devastate the world. When it mutates and becomes airborne, Kat is desperate to avoid people because staying alone might be her only chance to stay alive. That is, until she meets Dylan. Dylan, with his easy smile and dark, curly hair, has nowhere to go and no one to live for. He convinces Kat there can be safety in numbers, that they can watch out for each other. So the unlikely couple set off together through the barren wasteland to find a new life – if they can survive the roaming Pestas, bands of wild, gun-toting children, and piles of burning, pox-ridden bodies.
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Smashwords
Time of Ruin - book 2  
The world has ended, and hope is the most dangerous thing left.Battered and bruised after barely escaping San Francisco with their lives, Kat, Dylan, and Blue press north – desperate to reach the possibility of a new home. But strange, monstrous ravens are tracking the remaining survivors, food is becoming scarce, gasoline is running short, and people are becoming suicidal, making survival almost impossible. And the Pestas are growing bolder. Somehow, their numbers are growing. The further north they go, the harder it becomes to ignore the signs that they’ve made a fatal mistake. Kat must face the impossible truth that there is no escape, there is no safe haven, and their worst nightmares don’t come close to their new reality.
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Smashwords

About the author:  
Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, but it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer. She released the first installment of her Paranormal YA Series, The Elemental Series, Earth, on May 1, 2011 and has since released four sequels, with the series coming to an end with Spirit. In December of 2013 she released the first in her Paranormal Post-Apocalyptic trilogy (Ash And Ruin Trilogy), World of Ash. Be sure to also check out her newest series: The Matilda Kavanagh Novels about a spunky witch just trying to pay her rent in West Hollywood. Shauna is currently hard at work on one too many projects, trying to organize the many voices in her head. It's a writer thing.Stalkables:Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads 


About the Cover Artist Stephanie Mooney:
I am a 25-year-old graphic designer, artist, and aspiring author currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio. I’m a renaissance girl — a lover of all things creative and artistic. From the moment I learned to use my hands, I was writing stories about princesses and sketching ballerinas. I guess I never really stopped. Most of my training has been informal, and many of my skills are self taught. In 2006-07, I spent a year interning at a church in Louisiana where I worked in their art and design department. In July 2007, they hired me as one of their designers. I worked there for three years, gaining experience in graphic design, advertising, set building, event planning, and product design. From there, I began my career in freelance design. Many of my clients are indie authors looking for affordable cover designs. I love working with authors and getting excited about their stories with them. I’m still building my web portfolio, but I really enjoy designing and developing websites as well.
Stalkables:Website | Flickr| Twitter | Instagram

Plagiarism Happens

So, this happened... This is obviously an Amazon listing, describing a novel written by someone named Melissa Rogers. The listing rather prominently advertises 'bdsm' and 'alpha male' tags, and for several days it was a free download, with a ranking of around 5000.So why is this a problem?It's a problem because The Perfect Man wasn't written by Melissa Rogers. It was written by my friend Amanda Byrne, aka Radiodemon. (It also doesn't contain any bdsm, and the hero is more of a beta with strong alpha tendencies, but that's beside the point.) She entered her story in last year's Valentine's contest at Literotica.com, and she won. The entire story (not just the first 18 pages as shown here in "Part One") has been available at Literotica for free, although it will be taken down soon at Amanda's request.Last Friday someone emailed Amanda, letting her know a chunk of her story had been published on Amazon under three parts. A Literotica reader saw the story, recognized it, and was thoughtful enough to contact Amanda about it. (So YAY for conscientious community members.) Amanda downloaded all three parts, the first half to 2/3 of the piece, just to confirm it was in fact her story. The other two parts were published under different authors' names, with similar cover art. All three were free, though as is apparent from the image at the top of this post, Part One is now priced at $2.99, and parts 2 and 3 appear to have been taken down.Amanda contacted Amazon on Friday through their copyright complaint tool,and she's sent Amazon a cease and desist letter. She's provided them with as much information as she had. It's her story. The story has been up on Literotica.com under her log-in. She has a copy of the cancelled check for the prize money, Amazon acknowledged receipt of her complaint, but says it takes 5-7 business days for them to investigate the situation. That's five to seven days someone could be making money off of Amanda's work.So this makes me mad, and not just because something shitty happened to a friend of mine.Authors have their work pirated all the time. It's sort of an occupational hazard of publishing in the digital age.  I don't usually get too excited when I find one of my books on a shady "download for free" site, because I figure as soon as I send off the cease and desist letter, it'll disappear from one site and put up somewhere else.  I also figure if you're a big enough loser to download people's work from a pirate site, you deserve whatever malware or viruses come along with it.But Amazon is different. Regardless of what you think of their business practices, most of us trust it as a place to shop. My experience with Amazon customer service has always been good, too, so it's appalling to me that they're slow to respond to the concerns of an author, one of the many who keep their machine running. It's bad enough that losers out there would rip off someone else's work, but when an author is lucky enough to uncover such blatant plagiarism, it's frightening to feel like you don't have back-up.In a perfect world, Amazon would have pulled the listing down while they investigated the complaint, ensuring that no one would benefit from this fraud. In a perfect world, anyone stumbling on this listing would look at the ten one-star reviews and stay the hell away.In a perfect world, cheaters wouldn't win.If you're interested in reading all of The Perfect Man, I'll be sharing the listing when Amanda publishes it for real, and if you've got any advice on how to avoid situations like this, or what to do when they happen, please leave your thoughts in the comments. I'm putting this same post up on the SpellboundScribes blog, because I want people to know about what happened. Jump HERE for Amanda's own blog, to get her thoughts on the issues this raises.
Peace,
Liv

Aloha, Baby (A Short Story Serial - Part 2)

Blue eyes, dimples, and a hot surfer's body means trouble, right? There's only one way for Katie to find out...
  Last week I posted the first section of my short story Aloha, Baby. If you didn't catch that post, jump to Part 1. Then come right back to see what trouble Katie gets into this week...



Losing seventy pounds was sure something to celebrate, but at the same time it created problems Katie never expected to deal with. Like, what to do when the hot-bodied surfer, Jack, turned out to be the DJ at her roommate's favorite dance club. Katie was positive he had ‘Trouble’ stamped on his butt. Didn't he?
Part 2
I stepped off the elevator carrying a white Styrofoam cup of frozen yogurt and smiled at my neighbor Darla out in the hall. “Hey lady,” Darla said in her smoker’s rasp.“Hey Darla.” I juggled my backpack and fished out my keys. Our building was surrounded by residential neighborhoods. From our fifteenth floor unit, we gazed over the tops of palm trees and red-roofed houses to the aqua ribbon of ocean at the edge of the world. Or that’s how it felt.“You need a nice young man to take you to dinner.”“Nope.” I glanced over my shoulder at her and laughed. “You do.” Darla laughed too, a sound as wrinkled and leathery as her skin. She owned an extensive collection of old cotton bathing suits in graphic block prints and neon colored flowers. Straight from the sixties, they had built-in skirts, bullet boobs, and wide shoulder straps. She seldom wore anything else. Today’s choice had sunshine yellow hibiscus blossoms on a green background. “Oh, I’ve done my time.” Darla punctuated her thought with a loose cough. “Miss Bitty and Stinker keep me busy enough.”Miss Bitty and Stinker were cats. In my mind, they were the finishing touches on a perfect nightmare. In my ugliest fantasies, I ended up like Darla, living alone, dressing crazy, and talking to my cats all day. I wouldn’t be Meli’s roommate forever. Then what? It’s not like I had much hope of getting married. I’d had no practice with men. Seventy pounds ago it wasn’t an issue. Now, at size eight and with Meli coaching from the sidelines, it might be.Our apartment was fairly standard. There was a short entry hall with a galley kitchen on the right and two bedrooms on the left. The kitchen was separated from the living room area by a waist-high counter. Two bar stools on the living room side to allow visitors to sit and watch the cook, if we ever cooked. We were more into Lean Cuisine frozen dinners.Across the living room was a sliding glass door leading to the lanai. Our carpet was beige, the walls were beige, and our furniture was made from a pale polished wood. If it weren’t for the forest green couch and bright coral flowered pillows, the place would have resembled a bowl of oatmeal. I plopped onto the couch and dug my spoon into the frozen yogurt, quickly shuffling exchanges in my head. Weight Watcherswould prefer I wrote everything down and I would…later. Hula Girl, our dancing doll, was in her usual spot standing next to the TV. Flipping a switch made her hips swing and her grass skirt swish while the music box played The Hukilau Song. The rest of the time she listened to my problems and gave me advice about diet and exercise and stuff. Okay, so I talked to a plastic doll. Everyone’s got their little eccentricities. Today she was quiet until I remembered Jack, carving the curl of a wave, his shoulders and chest broad and sun-kissed over a pair of those ubiquitous baggie shorts all surfers wore. She smiled like the Cheshire Cat. “What? I barely know him.” Hula Girl just grinned at me. Thank goodness Meli wasn’t home from work yet. If she knew I talked to a doll, I’d never hear the end of it.
A quick cloudburst right before sunset had cleared the air of most of the day’s heat, though it was still muggy in the apartment. The door to the lanai was open to let air circulate, and the smell of plumeria blossoms from the trees down below floated through the living room. That smell was my very favorite thing about living in Hawaii.By the time Meli got home, the yogurt container was in the garbage, and I’d taken a shower. My hair was pulled up in a French twist and I had the curling iron in hand, creating a corkscrew cascade of bangs to frame one side of my face. Any hairstyle turned into an ongoing battle between my natural curl and the moisture in the air. My weapons were mousse, gel, and a tall white can of Paul Mitchell Super Hold hairspray, unless it was really muggy. Then I pulled out my big gun: Aqua Net. Meli blew in, a four-foot-eleven whirlwind of Chinese-Filipino energy. “How you gonna get your tee shirt off with your hair all done up?” At five-foot-six-inches, I always felt gawky around her. “Very carefully?”“Lo-lo. You shoulda taken the shirt off first.” She shook back her waist-length black hair and crossed her arms, leaning against the door jamb.“I said I’ll be careful.”“Do it now so we have time to fix what you mess up.”I mock-glared at her in the mirror before reaching for the hem of my t-shirt. She was going to yell at me even louder when she saw what I had on underneath. I wore a cheap bra I’d bought forty pounds ago. Now it was faded, frayed, and hopelessly baggy. Every time she saw it she ragged on me to get rid of it. I lifted the hem, carefully keeping the neckband of the shirt away from my hair.“Stop right there.” I froze with my hands at about shoulder level.“This thing needs to go.”With a snap, she unbuckled the bra. It stayed up because my arms were raised, though one boob popped out of the cup. “Damn it,” I said under my breath.“No, you damn it. You’re a pretty girl. You shouldn’t wear crap like that.”I got the t-shirt off with a minimum of trauma to my hair before turning to face her with my bra at half mast. “No one sees it except you.”“Even I shouldn’t have to see that nasty thing.”“All right, I promise I’ll throw it away.”She raised her chin and smirked. “No, sistah, you’re going to give it to me and I’m going to throw it away.” With a heavy sigh, I dropped the bra into her outstretched hand and pushed past her out of the bathroom, trailing the t-shirt behind like a drooping tail.“Now go put your dress on.”“Yes, mother.” I let my bedroom door slam just a little harder than necessary.





Meli had a good job. She worked in the business office of a big law firm, Bernstein & Rowe, and made a decent salary doing it. Family connections helped her find the job, and family connections helped her get a deal on a shiny blue BMW. Family connections are key, whether you live in a small town or a big city like Honolulu.My family connections went in a somewhat different direction. My dad was a Navy officer. He and my mom had moved to Honolulu when I was in high school. When they moved on to their next duty station, I stayed to go to the University of Hawaii. After graduation I couldn’t come up with a reason to move back to the mainland, so I took a job at one of the local hospitals. Every winter I took a trip to wherever my parents were living to get my cold weather fix. This year they were in Norfolk, Virginia, which was warmer than many places they’d lived. At least I’d had an excuse to wear a sweater.While Meli finished getting ready, I caught part of an episode of Entertainment Tonight and wondered what it would be like to be famous. Hula Girl pointed out real surfers didn’t like artificial girls. “So what?”“What?” Meli called out from her room. Actually, I’d been talking to the doll again. Hula Girl told me I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.“Shut up already.” Oops. Out loud again. The doll was starting to get on my nerves. It was almost like she wanted me to get together with Jack.Meli poked her head out of the bathroom. “Did you say something to me?”“Let’s go.”She came out of her room, running a comb through her silky hair. She wore a pair of dressy shorts with a black bustier top. In her high black pumps, she was almost as tall as me, at least until I put on my own high heels. “You lo-lo. First I’m dragging you out against your will, and now you’re rushing me.”“As if.”Meli curled her lip and looked down her nose at me. “Shut up already.” The comb flew in the general direction of her bedroom. “I hope we can catch up with this guy Dave from work. He keeps trying to go out with me, but my mother would freak out if I brought a haole home. She only wants Asian boys for me.”“So this isn’t a date?” The humidity made my scalp itch under my perfect curls. I had to keep reminding myself not to scratch it or, for sure, everything would frizz out, despite the layers of product and hairspray.“Oh, no.” Meli made her eyes wide and shook her head, like a kid who’d been caught being naughty. “Did I mention he has a twin brother? Super cute, both of them. They went to Pepperdine to play volleyball and just moved here a couple months ago when Dave got the job at Bernstein & Rowe. I’m pretty sure his brother doesn’t have a girlfriend.”I tried to ignore the suggestion in Meli’s words. If he was an athlete, he probably liked skinny girls. Even though I knew my strappy black dress said “Size Eight” on the tag, I still felt like an imposter. “You’re not going to wear that watch, are you?” Meli pointed to my black Swatch.“Um…maybe not.” I unbuckled it and tucked it in my purse. Meli was right. It didn’t go with the outfit. Without it, though, there was a pale stripe around my wrist.Meli glanced at me significantly and raised an eyebrow. “Fix that.”
She was out the door so fast only Hula Girl heard me muttering about bossy roommates as I searched my jewelry box for a bracelet wide enough to work.


So do you think Meli will get Katie out on the dance floor? Check back next week and see!
Mahalo...
Liv 

Re-Release Celebration with Morgan O'Neill!

So a while ago I read a really fabulous book, Love, Eternally by the writing team of Morgan O'Neill. (Jump HERE for my review.) Well, you know the old saying, the only thing you can count on is change? Yeah, that one. It seems that things changed for Morgan O'Neill, and now they're re-releasing all three of their Roman Time Travel series. The new cover art is lovely and the stories are still wonderful, so I thought I'd give you a peek here on the blog so you can see for yourself...

Love, Eternally



Blurb:
A witch's ancient curse propels talented flutist Gigi Perrin back to A.D. 408, to the court of the depraved Roman Emperor Honorius and his admirable sister, Princess Galla Placidia. There, Gigi grapples with her disbelief about what has happened, and with the strange, new world of violent politics, social upheaval and barbarians straining at the very gates of an empire. Through it all, she must struggle with her powerful attraction to a pagan senator and military commander, Quintus Magnus, a man exotically different from anyone she has ever known. On the brink of a dark and war-torn age, Gigi joins forces with Magnus, battling to save a princess and her people, and ultimately finding love amid the chaos, before the fall of Rome.  
The Deets:  Title: Love, Eternally (Book 1)
Author: Morgan O’Neill
Publisher: Time’s Arrow Productions
Publication Date: February 18, 2015
Genre: Historical/Time Travel Fiction
Available from Amazon  After the Fall 

Blurb:
After the Fall ratchets up the tension as time traveler Gigi Perrin and her husband, the Roman warrior Quintus Magnus, join forces with the Visigoth King Alaric to march on Rome. There waits Princess Galla Placidia, the admirable sister of the despicable Emperor Honorius. About to be forced into an arranged marriage by her brother, Placidia fears a bleak future, trapped in a loveless union. 

In an attempt to save Rome from barbarian invasion, Placidia puts aside her troubles and meets with Alaric’s delegation, which includes Gigi and Magnus, and the king’s second-in-command, the Visigoth prince, Athaulf. The attraction between Placidia and Athaulf is instantaneous and overwhelming, but theirs is a forbidden love, destined to fail because of implacable politics and impending war. 

Bound by a friendship that transcends time, Gigi and Placidia must do whatever they can to protect the men they love, after the fall of Rome. The Deets:  Title: After the Fall (Book 2) Author: Morgan O’Neill Publisher: Time’s Arrow Productions Publication Date: February 17, 2015 Genre: Historical/Time Travel FictionAvailable from Amazon

Return to Me
Blurb:
Return to Me finds time traveler Gigi Perrin happily settled into twenty-first century life with her husband, the former Roman senator and military commander, Quintus Magnus. Gigi has resumed her successful musical career, playing the flute for her adoring fans, while making her first foray into Hollywood by creating the musical score for a feature film about the Roman emperor Nero. 

At the film’s wrap party, Gigi is presented with a gift to commemorate her work: an ancient Roman ring depicting the goddess Victoria. Stunned, she and Magnus recognize it as the very ring that brought them together, and the one subsequently stolen from her and lost in A.D. 410. How did it make its way back to them? Magnus believes the answer is clear; Victoria sent it as a warning about their dear friend, Princess Galla Placidia. They start researching what happened to Placidia after Gigi and Magnus time traveled from the barbarous fifth century. To their shock, they discover Placidia's life took a series of terrible turns, culminating with the murders of her children. 

Realizing they have no other choice, Gigi and Magnus prepare to embark on a perilous quest to go back in time and rescue them. But one ominous question remains – how can they save the children without altering the course of history?  The Deets: Title: Return to Me (Book 3) Author: Morgan O’Neill Publisher: Time’s Arrow Productions Publication Date: February 17, 2015 Genre: Historical/Time Travel Fiction
Available from Amazon 
Morgan O'Neill


Bio A chance meeting at a writers' conference brought Cary Morgan Frates and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction. Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan O'Neill" was born.

Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a Master's Degree in history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years.

The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest.

 
Contact Info
Website - www.morganoneill.com
Newsletter - https://madmimi.com/signups/125219/join
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23723313-the-thornless-rose?from_search=true
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/morgan.oneill.books.12
Twitter - https://twitter.com/AuthorMONeill

Thank God It's Monday

My neighbor's white camelia...the same color as my blank blog page.
I was sitting here looking at a blank blog page, wondering what today's post should look like and coming up with nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

So I toggled over to Pinterest (because when it doubt, Pinterest). Someone I follow had pinned a whole bunch of pix of really handsome men, and I thought, "Wow, David Gandy. At least I have that to be thankful for."

Then I thought, "You nerd. You've got a whole lot to be thankful for." And I figured there was no better way to start the week than by coming up with a list of ten things to be thankful for. Not big-picture things like my house and my husband, but the ten specific things that are making today special. 

Your mission - while reading my list of ten - is to come up with a couple of your own and share them in the comments.

Here goes...in no discernable order...my list of ten things I'm thankful for...


1. Pretty Flowers I'm not gloating, because I know the entire East Coast is encased in a block of ice, but we're having a Northern California winter. The weather is drunk, and stuff is blooming that really shouldn't be, and the husband and I actually got out in the yard and did some pruning yesterday.



2. Taxes(And no, I don't have a cute picture for this one.) April 15th is still almost two months away, but we met with the accountant last week and we're not going to owe as much as usual. Yay! Which means we're going to be able to replace our God-awful 1948 4x4 tile kitchen countertop with something more like this...
Dream kitchen.

3. The Day JobIt might not work for everyone, but my job as a neonatal nurse practitioner is one of the most satisfying parts of my life and the night shift crew I work with is really a stellar bunch of people.




4. Aqua FolliesI'm happy that this novel is in the hands of half a dozen editors, I'm cautiously optimistic it's going to find a home, and I'm eternally grateful that my agent Margaret seems to have a sixth sense about when I'm starting to twirl myself into a ball of anxiety. Her email and FB messages are consistently well-timed and very much appreciated.



5. The Teenagers
These two possess creative, intelligent minds and incredible humor. They're great friends, and the conversations I've shared with them - individually and together - make me glad I'm alive.




6. Burnsie  Don't think I need to add anything here.

7. Lady Gaga's performanceI'm throwing this in here because I love surprises, and this one blew me away.


8.


8. Text messagingIt started with something simple. What does Marion Cotillard have hanging off the back of her dress? After that, all bets were off. My sister - in L.A. - was watching the Oscars with a couple of her favorite drag queens, and I couldn't have asked for better company. Forget Twitter; our text convo was the BEST.



9. No-pressure readingPart of the reason I'm a writer is because I love to read, however there are times when reading becomes an obligation. People ask me to review books, or I pull something off Netgalley, or I check a book out of the library. All of a sudden I have a deadline, which puts a layer of pressure on something that should be fun. At any rate, I've got one more RITA book to read, and that's it. For the foreseeable future, I only have to read what I want.
Last night's read...no pressure....fun stuff...

10. Be WeirdI'm going to hit the Oscar thing one more time, because this is the message I want my kids to internalize and that I believe we all should live by. (And I wanted to post  his full acceptance speech, but couldn't find it on YouTube. Will keep looking.)



So those are the ten things I'm thankful for today. What's on your list?Peace,Liv

Aloha, Baby (A short story in several sections.)

Blue eyes, dimples, & a hot surfer's body means trouble, right? There's only one way for Katie to find out...


A couple years ago I wrote a short story for an anthology put out by Still Moments Publishing. They've since gone out of business and I've got the rights back. I love this story, and to celebrate my own upcoming Aloha Adventure, I'm going to post a section every Friday between now and the time I leave for my vacation. I'll link all the posts together and when it's all done I'll make it available as a download. So, without further ado, Aloha, Baby...




Losing seventy pounds was sure something to celebrate, but at the same time it created problems Katie never expected to deal with. Like, what to do when the hot-bodied surfer, Jack, turned out to be the DJ at her roommate's favorite dance club. Katie was positive he had ‘Trouble’ stamped on his butt. Didn't he?
Part one
I curled my toes into the hot sand at Makapu’u Beach, planning my escape from Meli. She was tiny, but persistent, like a kid with the perfect birthday gift in her sights. And she had it in her head that when the sun went down, we were going dancing. As if she’d actually get me, Katie Maloney, on the dance floor. It was…unlikely. Meli was my roommate, though, which made her hard to avoid.
I glanced at the black plastic Swatch watch on my wrist. The brand had been so trendy when I bought it in nineteen-eighty-eight that I couldn’t see how butt-ugly it was. Four years later it remained reliably waterproof and accurate, so I still wore it.
Since there was half an hour before I had to leave, I tugged my fins back on and jogged out towards the water, lifting my knees high to clear the sand. I headed in the direction of Rabbit Island, a huge rock formation jutting out several hundred yards from shore. 
When I got past where the waves were breaking, I drifted on my back, sculling my hands so I could tip my head up and watch the whole beach without being seen. The smell of the briny water almost washed out my cocoa-butter suntan oil. 
Three men sat on a pile of rocks near the surf. One was a grizzled old guy whose hair was a solid matt of dreadlocks hanging down his back. He was always there when I came down to the beach. For all I knew, he lived on that pile of rocks. 
The other two guys were surfers who only showed when the waves were right. Kalani was a local boy whose long black hair had bleached to gold at the ends. He’d tip his chin and raise his eyebrows to acknowledge Meli if she was around. He ignored me, but then I was used to men ignoring me. It wasn’t a problem. 
His buddy Jack was friendlier. He was about twenty-five with shaggy brown hair and the posture of an ex-Marine. One day, while they were waiting for the swell to pick up, Jack plopped his board down in the sand next to me and started talking. 
“It’s pretty flat out there.” His killer, pale blue eyes stood out in his tanned face. Deep dimples cut grooves down his cheeks. 
I blushed because not only was he trying to talk to me, but I was paranoid he’d said “fat” instead of “flat”. I shifted my weight just enough so I could check him out without being obvious about it. Deciding he’d said flat, I gathered my wits to answer. “It’s probably breaking out towards Waimanalo.” 
“Yeah, but the pretty girls are over here.” 
I opened my mouth and closed it. Any hope for a snappy comeback faded when I glanced at him again. His smile was incredibly distracting, and I just knew he had Trouble stamped on his butt. The cute ones always did. I was saved when a set of two-foot waves came in, big enough to draw him out onto the water. 
That was our one and only conversation, and it was so minor I hadn’t even told Meli about it. After that, every time I saw Jack, I secretly hoped he’d talk to me again. But not now. Anticipating a night on the town was enough.
The water was cool, not cold, and it gave me a liquid hug as I watched the beach. I loved to body surf. Even when I had to stretch a size twenty swimsuit to make it fit, I’d come down to the beach and catch some waves. Working nights in a hospital ICU meant I could come to the beach almost every day. Since joining Weight Watchers, I’d added hiking Diamond Head to my exercise plan and I’d even joined a gym. Body surfing was more than exercise though. It was my therapy, a way to blow off steam that didn’t involve calories.
With a few quick kicks my fins brought me back towards shore, closer to where the waves were cresting. From there it would be easy to stroke into a wave although they were slow in coming, giving me time to look around. Makapu’u Beach was surrounded by a horseshoe of ragged volcanic rock, just past Koko Head Crater on the island of Oahu. It was known as a bodysurfing beach because of its tough current. The guys who rode these waves on surfboards had to know what they were doing. 

Jack and Kalani came down the beach, side by side, their boards tucked under their arms. When they were ankle-deep, they stopped and stared across the water, checking which way the current was pulling before getting out into it. After a few minutes, they flopped onto their boards and paddled past me. Kalani stared straight ahead while Jack flashed me a dimpled grin, which stopped my heart for a beat or two. 
Pretending I wasn’t flustered, I pinched back a smile and kicked into a wave, riding it towards the beach and ducking out just before it crashed so I wouldn’t get caught up in the tangle of sand and foam. I came up shaking my head, partly to get the water out of my ears and partly because I wasn’t sure what to make of Mr. Trouble-on-his-butt. He had almost acted…interested.
Stroking back out, I could feel my shoulders getting warm. Could be a problem. The strappy dress Meli wanted me to wear tonight would look funny if I had sunburned racing stripes. I let her help me pick out my clothes because I wasn’t used to my new body yet. I’d lost seventy pounds in the last year and had gone from a steady wardrobe of muumuus and drawstring baggie things to a size eight. Size eight. I mouthed the words, trying to make them seem real.
I bobbed over the top of the waves as they broke past me. Jack caught a wave and rode it, his form perfect. The sun highlighted the muscular definition of his chest. He neatly flipped back out of the way as the wave curled down toward the sand and bobbed back up again next to his board. He glanced towards me, which made me flip my gaze in the other direction so he wouldn’t catch me staring. My cheeks got as warm as my shoulders. A handsome surfer dude was the last guy I wanted to mess with.
Three waves later the big black Swatch said it was time to go, so I let the next one bring me all the way onto the sand. Going out to Waikiki sounded painful, but not as painful as dealing with Meli if I pissed her off. I squeezed the water from my hair and gathered my things. Damn, it was going to take a major overhaul for me to look halfway decent.
Check back next week for part 2. Mahalo...

Author Interview: Cathrina Constantine

A week or so ago, my friend Cathrina celebrated the release of her newest novel, Don't Forget to Breathe. It's a young adult thriller/mystery, with a clever premise and a gorgeous cover. I was intrigued by all this, and wanted to learn more, so I invited Cathrina for an interview...
BIO:Cathrina Constantine resides in Western New York with her husband, five children, two Labrador Retrievers and two cats. When not with her family, reading, or stationed at the computer, you will find her walking in the backwoods with her dogs, conjuring up a new tale.Cathrina’s published credits are Wickedly They Come, Wickedly They Dream, Tallas, and Don’t Forget to Breathe.
You can find Cathrina here: Amazon Page        Twitter        Facebook        Pinterest        TSU
INTERVIEW
LR: What’s the most compelling thing about Don’t Forget to Breathe, the thing that’s kept your butt in the chair through hours of writing and revising?
CC: I fell in love with the characters and the new genre. It was the fastest first draft I’ve written. 3 months. But then months and months of editing….
LR: Your bio says you took some time off to raise children (though I’d argue you were probably more ON during that time than ever before), then got back into writing. How’d you do it? If you had to recommend one writing resource, either a class or a book or a workshop, what would that be?
CC: Yes, I did write pre-kids and pre-computer age, but nothing became of it. I saved those stories and chuckle reading them. One day out of the blue an idea came into my head, I grabbed pencil and paper and began to write. Not until the pages started adding up when my son said, “Why don’t you use my computer?” That was my first manuscript, Wickedly They Come, which went into years of rewrites and editing.
I never studied creative writing or took any workshops, which I should do because my technical prose needs work. But I’m a reading carnivore. I’m self-taught and it shows in two drafts that will never see the light of day.
LR: Most of your work has a touch of the paranormal, which I think is cool. Does that reflect how you see the world?CC: The mystical and inexplicable happenings I find intriguing. I truly believe there are dimensions all around us. Heaven and Hell. Good versus Evil.
LR I love the joint book reviews you and Nana Prah do – and not just because you said nice things about my book. J  How’d you get started doing them? Who chooses what to read next?
CC:  We loved BetweenThe Sheets! Nana and I connected after both becoming contracted with Black Opal Books. We were floundering authors, wondering how to make ourselves known. The Prah & Constantine Reviews were Nana’s brilliant idea. As far as how we choose what book to review, we sometimes take monthly turns or we discuss it.
LR: So, how’s the winter going up there in New York State? Are you getting any writing done between bouts of shoveling snow?
CC: Brrrr….frozen artic region. My favorite time to write is in the winter, especially during swirling snowflakes. Summer’s short, so I don’t like to spend my time behind a computer.
LR: What’s your favorite non-writing activity? Like, are you a closet marathon runner? Could you crochet a house-cozy if you had to? Maybe you secretly want to appear on Antiques Roadshow?
CC: Your questions are cracking me up! I do crochet and hand-quilt, but I never made a house-cozy. I recently started babysitting my first grandbaby. I love it. But my writing’s been tossed in the background. 
LR: What’s next on your horizon? Describe your current WIP(s) or other upcoming project.
CC: I just finished the first draft to the sequel, Tallas. Now the hair pulling edits. I’ve started two fantastical stories that I’m itching to sink my teeth into. And I have a short story in Crushing Hearts & Black Butterfly’s Anthology called Mystical Bites coming this spring.



BLURB
Sixteen-year-old Leocadia arrives home from school to find her mom’s bloody body. Unaware that the killer still lingers, she rushes to her mother’s side, only to be grabbed from behind and then everything fades to black.
After a year of retrograde amnesia and battling personal demons, Leo’s dreams are getting worse—she’s starting to remember. More bodies are discovered and they seem to be oddly linked to her mom’s unsolved homicide.
When Leo allows her friend, Henry to drag her into the haunted Lucien Mansion, misty ghosts appear, ghosts that just might lead to her mother’s murderer.
Will Leo let her memories threaten her into a relapse or, will she fight to find her mother’s killer – only to become his next victim?

EXCERPT 
I trekked farther along the tracks. Using the heightened berm to observe the area, I could scarcely make out the tombstones that pocked the ground amidst the fog; it looked eerie and lonesome. Then spotting remote figures, I counted three. It could be kids looking for a place to party in private. I crouched and balanced on my heels to monitor the dark shapes and wondered if one might be Henry. They traveled behind a large monument, losing sight of them. To the left a prowling cat distracted me when suddenly, a blood-curdling scream scraped into my bones, clutching my heart.

Available from AMAZON!

Bonus Post: Unscripted Love (@hthurmeier)

It's not a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, but here I am making a post. You know why? Because my friend Heather Thurmeier has bundled her three reality TV romances and set the price at $0.77. That's a screamin' deal! 




Blurb
Hollywood and romance mix in this delightful trilogy that explores the passion that can develop from friendly rivals on reality television shows. It's a behind-the-scenes dream come true sure to capture fans of The Bachelor, Survivor, The Amazing Race, and American Idol.

Falling for You: Newly single Cassidy Quinn is thrilled to be a contestant on the new reality dating show, The One. But her excitement turns to horror when the gorgeous bachelor turns out to be her ex-boyfriend, Brad. Should she reunite with him or take a chance on hunky cameraman Evan?

Stuck on You: If being forced to team up with reality TV's favorite bad girl wasn't enough, falling for her partner's brother might just make this treasure-hunting reality show a real nightmare for Paige Anderson. But an alliance with Jack Miles might lead to more than just winning the prize . . .

Lost Without You: Reality TV diva Zoe Oliver is used to putting up a good front, but she isn't thrilled to rough it in the woods without indoor plumbing and electricity - and with producer Chip Carmack. When her secrets are revealed on camera, she worries she'll lose everything - including her chance at redemption and the affections of the only man she's ever trusted with her heart.

And did you see it's priced at $0.77?!
Here's a link to the bundle's Amazon page.


Heather Thurmeier is a lover of strawberry margaritas and a hater of spiders. She was born and raised in the Canadian prairies, but now lives in New York state with her husband and kids where she’s become some kind of odd Canuck-Yankee hybrid. When she's not busy taking care of the kids, Heather’s writing her next romance, which will probably be filled with sassy heroines, sexy heroes who make your heart pound, laugh out loud moments, and always a happily ever after. You can find out more about Heather and her books by checking out her website at: http://heatherthurmeier.com.

Email:  heatherthurmeier@gmail.comWebsite:  http://heatherthurmeier.comBlog:  http://heatherthurmeier.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/hthurmeierFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherThurm... https://www.goodreads.com/HeatherThur... https://madmimi.com/signups/91094/iframe

Business Plan: Checking in

Promo banner created using GIMP
Over the first couple weeks of January, I spent some time developing a business plan for my work as a writer. (I blogged about it HERE and HERE.) Since it's been a month since that last post, I thought I'd check in and see how things were progressing. I figure I started out making this plan public, and for the sake of accountability I should keep putting it out there.

My plan has three main themes:
Increase ProductivityIncrease VisibilityImprove SkillsThere are goals related to each theme, and for this check in, I'm going to focus on the goals and tasks I'd hoped to accomplish in the last month. Here's what I found out...

Increase Productivity
My first goal for increasing productivity was to improve time management by developing a weekly schedule. I tracked all my writing-related activities for one week but then didn't take the next step to put that information into any kind of template. I did identify Facebook/social networking as a huge time-suck (which, DUH), but my day job and family demands have been so variable it hasn't made sense to come up with a schedule that will only likely frustrate me when I can't keep to it. I have tried to limit my focused social networking to a couple hours in the morning and to dedicate time to writing with the internet turned off.

I set a goal of 4500 words per week, and I've done pretty well with that. I'm about 17,000 words into The Lyric Assassin, but have hit a sticking point so have been playing with a different project while my ideas sort themselves out.

My third goal was to work up a portfolio of resources. I gave myself six months to complete that task, and haven't done anything so far. Maybe next month...


Increase VisibilityFirst goal: Blog regularly. Check. I've done at least three posts a week for this blog, along with my regular posts for the Spellbound Scribes & the Relentless Writers blogs. For my own blog, the most popular post was the one I did on self-publishing with 604 page views, and my average page view per post is 315, although I need a few more months of doing this so I can assess whether the overall page views are increasing.

My second goal for this time frame was to self-publish another short story. That hasn't happened yet, in part because I picked up a theme in the reviews for The Santa Drag. Most of the reviews were positive, but a couple people mentioned it was too short. On the one hand, SHORT STORY, but on the other hand, I don't want to turn off potential readers by having another release with the same problem. While I'm not sure if this is a valid concern, or just something I'm fretting about needlessly, for the time being I made the decision to defer this goal and focus on longer projects.


Increase SkillsMy goal was to take part in 3 classes over the year. So far, I had a great time with the GIMP class. I learned a lot about manipulating images, and hope to keep playing with it. Now I just need to find another good class...

So that's where I am this month. If you're still reading along, THANK YOU. I appreciate your patience, and your willingness to hang in there with me. If you have any thoughts, I'm totally open to suggestion. Am I needlessly worrying about the short story thing? Do you know any good classes I could sign up for?

Thanks again, and I hope your Monday is a happy one!
Liv