Heather Sutherlin's Blog, page 10

Author Spotlight: KC Blake

K.C. Blake is a ninja on the keyboard.  When she is locked away in her office, pounding out another story, no one dares disturb her.  She probably wouldn’t hear them anyway.  They don’t get it.  They think she’s in her office, but she’s lost in another world.  Sometimes she is fighting vampires or hunting ghosts.  Sometimes she is running with a werewolf pack or falling in love with a misunderstood creature.  Her books appeal to lovers of the paranormal.  Whether you are twelve or fifty, you will fall in love with her stories.

Website:http://kasi-kcblake.blogspot.com
Twitter:@kasiblake
Vampires Rule Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vampires-Rule/184193604955442
K.C. Blake Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/K-C-Blakes-Author-Page/246146215412824
Goodreads Page:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4809417.K_C_Blake
 
Here’s what we wanted to know about K.C.:
1) What is your all-time favorite book and why?
City of Bones.  I love the way Cassandra Clare writes, so visual that I can see it, and I love her awesome characters.

2) Is there an author you could be compared to or popular fictional characters your book’s characters could relate to and why?
I don’t think my characters are like any other characters I’ve read about.  My writing is my own.  I’ve been told I have a unique voice, a unique way of writing.  Some people love it and some of don’t.

3) Can you give us your favorite quote from one of your books and explain it?
This is a hard one. I can’t think of one off the top of my head, so I will use one that people have put on Goodreads as their favorite.  It is from Vampires Rule.

“Stop!” she screamed. “Don’t hurt him.”
“Back off!” Billy shouted.
She yanked harder on Billy’s arm.
“He isn’t a vampire anymore, idiot. Look! Do you see that big, yellow thing up in the sky? That’s called the sun. It’s shining down on him, and he isn’t exploding. His fangs are gone. He’s as human as we are. Case closed.”
Billy stared up at the sky, his jaw slack. “Not possible.”
Jack mumbled, “They don’t call me Jackpot for nothing.”
“What?” Billy blinked at him.
“Private joke.”

I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.  Jack was a vampire and now he’s not, and his brother just found out.

4) What types of things/people/music inspires you and makes you want to keep writing?
There isn’t any certain thing that inspires me.  Once in a while a movie or book will speak to me.  Sometimes a person I know will say something that sends me into a ‘what if’ daydream.  As for music, I love listening to songs while I write.  What I listen to depends on what sort of scene I’m writing.  I need a song that captures the emotions of the scene.  Then I can picture it in my head, and I’ll listen to that song a hundred times if I have to in order to finish what I’m working on.

5) Describe your typical writing day or week.
Within five minutes of waking I am thinking about whatever book I’m working on.  I might listen to music and daydream about it for a while, or I might jot down some notes.  Usually I spend time on-line before pulling my book up on the computer.  I check email, do some research, and play games (lol) before starting to work.  Then I work on and off all day until I get a chapter finished or am too tired to keep going.  I take breaks quite often.  If I don’t, my eyes and head hurt so bad the next day that I can’t work at all.

6) Is there a food or drink do you have to have when you’re writing?
No.  Eating and or drinking distracts me from the writing.  If anything, once in a while I will have some chocolate, something I can just pop into my mouth.  I’ll use it as a reward.  I get one after I finish a certain amount of pages.

7) Can you tell us what you’re working on right now (& possibly provide an excerpt & cover)?
I am editing a book called Bait, the first in a new series.  Here is the blurb for it:

At sixteen, Bay-Lee Bishop is not your typical girl.  The last thing she wants is to be popular, but flying below the radar isn’t easy when you’re the tallest girl in the eleventh grade.  She works hard to keep a steady C point average, never raises her hand in class, and avoids extra-curricular activity of any kind.  The other students would be stunned to learn she’s living under an alias as she and her uncle move from town to town, just barely staying a step ahead of the monsters hunting her just because she’s Van Helsing’s daughter.

Life is weird.  Then it gets worse.  A reaper uses her closet to cross over with a dire warning the day before she’s whisked away to her new school.  This time it’s the school she was always meant to attend, a school that trains hunters.

This is what she’s been waiting for her whole life, only it isn’t anything like she imagined. The other students hate her, something evil is killing hunters, and her mentor refuses to give her the slightest bit of help.  Determined to make her father proud, Bay-Lee focuses on her training.  Nothing is going to distract her.  Not border monsters or wraiths or the boy with jungle green eyes.

For Bay-Lee, love is not an option.  But try telling that to her heart.

Excerpt: (keep in mind this book is still being edited)
At some point during the night a stranger crawled into Bay-Lee’s bed while she snored softly, unaware.  The mattress springs squeaked in complaint beneath the additional weight as he reclined on his side and stared down at her face in the moonlight.  It bothered him that she continued to sleep.  After all the stories he’d heard about this girl, exploited rumors verging on myth, he’d expected more from her.  Shouldn’t she be able to sense danger?
This was Van Helsing’s daughter?  She looked insignificant, vulnerable beneath the green sheet.  He could snap her neck so easily—and maybe he should.  The world would continue on, undisturbed, but the dark cloud hanging over his head would finally dissipate.
A fraction of moonlight filtered through partially open curtains, not enough to see clearly, but it didn’t matter because he’d seen pictures of this girl on Van Helsing’s desk.  Her features were burned into his retinas.  Every time he went into the office he tried not to look at the photographs, purposely pointing his gaze elsewhere.
There was something about her, something unsettling which inevitably pulled him back to stare at her reproduced image.  She looked like an average girl at first glance.  A pretty face framed by dark hair that nearly reached her waist, parted in the middle and layered stared back at him.  Of Brazilian descent, her eyes were the darkest of browns, nearly black.  They hid a mountain of secrets.  She had attitude to spare and the camera caught it, recording it for future historians—if the prophecies were correct, they would want to study her.
She possessed a ‘bite me’ expression that must drive vampires crazy.
Fortunately, he was not a vampire.
Her mouth bothered him the most. Full lips haunted his dreams with a secretive smile curving the ends and a bottom lip that begged to be nibbled on. Sometimes, when he wasn’t carefully controlling his thoughts, he wondered what she would taste like.  In his dreams, when he wasn’t fully in control of his mind, he kissed her without ceasing.  He wondered what would happen if he kissed her in real life.  Would it stir something deep in his soul?  Would the prophecy come true?
Something hard lodged in his throat and he swallowed.  It was a near miss, so he swallowed again.  Kissing her shouldn’t even be a blip on the radar. This girl was the reason he didn’t have a home or a family.  It was her fault he’d grown up on the outside looking in, her fault people whispered behind his back, and her fault he was destined to die young.
Bay-Lee stirred in her sleep.  Mumbling, she pushed against his chest with two fingers.  “Go ‘way.”
Cute like a box of kittens, for a second he forgot to hate her.  His heart momentarily softened—not for long.  The unfamiliar sensation was enough to wipe the half-smile from his face.  Delivering a mental kick to his brain, he reminded himself this girl was the last person in the world he could let his guard down around.  She was worse than trouble.  If he wasn’t careful, this seemingly harmless meeting would lead to his total destruction.
Ready to wake her, he leaned in close and whispered her (fake) name.  Like him, she was forced to live under an alias.  Michelle.

Vampires Rule:  FREE
They don’t call him Jackpot for nothing.

Jack has always beat the odds… until now. When a werewolf tried to kill him, vampires saved him. When he got tired of life as a vampire, another attack gave him back his mortality. Now Jack just wants to live a normal life, but what’s normal about having a hunter for a girlfriend, a brother who wants to stake him to be on the safe side, and a werewolf building an army to rule the world?

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Vampires-Rule-Series-ebook/dp/B004YZB8XU
 Smashwords:   https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54214

 
 

Werewolves Rule: $2.99
 The second book in the Rule Series

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Werewolves-Rule-The-Series-ebook/dp/B005IDV3OG/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/83046



Shifters Rule: $2.99
 

Third book in the Rule Series

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shifters-Rule-Series-ebook/dp/B009SFWWN6/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2
 
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/246117

Crushed: $2.99
 
The Noah sisters rule Titan High with their beauty, brains, and magical powers.

Each year they play a secret game: Crushed. The girls pick their targets carefully and blow enchanted dust into the boy’s faces, charming them, but this year Kristen makes a grave mistake. She chooses the wrong boy and almost dies that same day. Coincidence? Maybe.

But something isn’t quite right about Zach Bevian. He doesn’t behave like a boy who’s been Crushed. He goes from hot to cold, from looking at her with contempt to asking her out on a date. She doesn’t know what to think. Does he hate her or is he truly falling for her? Is he trying to kill her, or is he trying to save her?

Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Crushed-The-Witch-Game-Books-ebook/dp/B005CJ8H9A/ref=pd_sim_kstore_5
 
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/73251
 
Witch Hunt: $2.99

A magical game of Hide n Seek begins.

Find the missing player and win.

The game resets, everyone forgets, and they start to play again.
Starr Hughes hasn’t believed in magic since her mother died. As a reporter for the school paper she’s only interested in cold, hard facts. When she hears rumors that the mysterious It-Squad members are about to play a secret game, she is determined to learn all about it, especially since she’s been in love with one of the members half her life. Hiding under the headmaster’s desk, planting bugs, and breaking into a fellow student’s locker are all on her to-do list.

Starr is about to discover that witches not only exist, but they need her help. Someone is using the game to steal their memories, their powers, and maybe even their lives.

ATTENTION: Although this is the second book in the series, each book has its own set of characters and can be read as a stand-alone book.

Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Witch-Hunt-Witch-Game-Series-ebook/dp/B007JCNEYQ/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1
 
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/171249
 
Bait:  (coming Summer 2013)  FREE
 
If you don’t think monsters in the closet are real, ask Bay-Lee.

At sixteen, Bay-Lee Bishop is on her way to a new school, a training ground for hunters.  Before she leaves she gets an unexpected visitor, a reaper with a warning: It kills you on your birthday.  For years she’s dreamed of becoming a great hunter so she can avenge her mom… but school is nothing like she imagined.  The students resent her, a border monster is running loose, her mentor refuses to help her, and hunters are dying on their birthdays.  If she’s going to live long enough to reach her goal, she’ll have to solve this mystery before the day of her birth arrives.

The last thing she needs is to fall in love.  No problem.  Bay-Lee is focused and determined.  She barely notices boys.  Then she meets Nick Gallos, a gorgeous boy with jungle green eyes, a reckless heart, and a past darker than her own.

Author Spotlight: Rachel Coles

Here’s another fabulous writer from the YA Author Club, Rachel Coles.
Rachel Coles lives in Denver with her family in Denver, Colorado. She works in public health disaster preparedness. She enjoys researching mythology to incorporate into story-telling. Her family and friends share her enthusiasm for fantasy and science fiction, she is the proud mom of one of the youngest Trekkies in the state.
Social Media Sites:
Author Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
Goodreads


Spotlight Author Questions

1. What is your all-time favorite book, and why?
I’m not sure I could pick a single one. One of my favorite series is Dan Simmons’ Hyperion series: Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Rise of Endymion. I loved those books because they were complex, and when I put the last one down, it felt like my brain had changed after reading them. Mind-blowing. The series explored human evolution, not just physical, but religious and cultural, in the kind of time-span covered by Dune. It also explored artificial intelligence, in a different way than anything I’d read before. I also loved reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I always enjoy reading that because Discworld really picks you up and carries you away in the story. And that world is hilarious. Terry Pratchett takes typical tropes like vampires, dwarves, werewolves, etc, and turns everything on its head. He’s a really fun read, great for escaping. But I would say that the book whose phrases stayed with me for decades was either Something Wicked This Way Comes, or The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. He was one of the most poetic writers I’d ever seen, and really impressed upon me the power of words.

2. Is there an author you could be compared to or a popular fictional character you could relate to and why?
 I have been compared to Neil Gaiman once or twice, because of the mythological content of some of my stories. That absolutely makes me feel honored. He is another one of my favorite authors, and I have to admit that I’ve emulated him in a lot of ways. As for characters I could relate to, I guess I would have to say Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit. I come from a family of Hobbits, pretty much. We’re mostly little people who love to eat and talk, and eat and talk, and eat and talk. I’m mostly not exaggerating. When I went to my aunt’s retirement party, we stopped at a deli and got pounds of meat, knishes, whitefish salad, bagels etc, on the way to her place from the airplane. Two hours later, we went to her party at which we didn’t stop eating, talking, and dancing for five hours. And when we got home, we cracked open the leftovers and ate again, chatting around the kitchen table. And that was just the beginning of the weekend. Elevensies/luncheon/afternoon tea/dinner/supper, they all ran together. Somehow I’m not 800 pounds. That’s why I think we’re secretly Hobbits. I am specifically a bit like Bilbo Baggins because I like telling stories, I am a creature of habit, and don’t normally go for anything unexpected, but every once in a while, I throw my hands up, give in to my wild side, and get into trouble.

3. Can you give us your favorite quote from your book and explain it?
 My favorite quote, spoken by Pazuzu, is “I will do whatever I have to do to protect you, even if I do it poorly in your eyes. You are young and angry and nothing is as simple as you imagine.” I like it because Pazuzu’s Girl is partly about what it means to be a parent. Whatever his other flaws are, he loves his daughter, and insists on being a dad, even if it means Morpho is mad at him. It reminds me of what I have heard some parents say, ‘It’s not my job to be your friend, it’s my job to be your mom/dad.’ I’m sure that I will someday have this conversation with my daughter when she is a teenager, because I had it with my parents at some point.

4. What types of things/people/music inspires you and makes you want to keep on writing?
 Everything. I’m a space cadet and cannot stop daydreaming, and every experience I have somehow wends its way into a story. But specifically, I’m a child of the 80′s. I mostly listen to 80′s music because even though it’s corny often, there was an optimism then, and now a nostalgia. It’s energetic, bittersweet, and just kind of grabs my emotions. I write best when I’m caught up in some emotion or other. People who inspire me to keep writing are my family and friends. My daughter was the reason I started writing. She loves to hear bedtime stories, particularly scary stories. And when we had burned through all of the remotely age-appropriate scary stories we could find, we started making them up together. I started writing them down, and kept going. My husband who is my best friend is really supportive and beta-reads my stories. The writing group I’m part of, we critique each others material, and have peer-pressure writing nights and get each other to write (pssst, just a few words, you know you want to, all the cool kids are doing it…)

5. Describe your typical writing day or week.
 My writing can be kind of scattershot. I have weeks where I’ll sit up until midnight after my daughter goes to bed, and write every night. Other times, it’ll be only on peer-pressure writing night, when I take my daughter with me to Panera and she plays Minecraft, while we all write, though I often have her write me a story on her iPad too.

6. Is there a typical food/drink you have to have when you write?
 Well, I don’t know if I have a particular food or drink, whatever I’m in the mood for at the time. Usually iced tea of some kind. I’ve gotten into the habit of eating a Panera sandwich and soup, and one of their brownies. I love eating their brownies when I’m writing, and am sad when they’re all out by the time I get there. Their chocolate chip cookies are nice, gooey, and chewy too. But I can’t eat those every time I write, or I’d need a forklift to get me to the restaurant.

7. Can you tell us what you’re working on now, possibly an excerpt?
 I’m working on a sequel to Pazuzu’s Girl. For now the working title is Iron Butterfly. But I will probably change it, because there are really four main characters: Morpho– the demon Pazuzu’s daughter who is also part Sidhe, Ereshkigal–ruler of the Underworld, Ninhab Agresti–Morpho and JD’s high school principal and future consort of Ereshkigal, and Marduk–ancient god-king of Babylon now a CEO.

From ‘Iron Butterfly’
The tunnel went on in darkness for a ways. Morpho couldn’t tell how long. She had the feeling of rough walls on either side and above. The ground felt like loose dirt underneath her sneakers. But light grew ahead, and slowly they emerged out of the tunnel. There was sky overhead, but it wasn’t like any sky she’d ever seen. There was a moon like the moon outside in the regular world, except bigger, and brighter. It was clearer, and looked somehow like a bowl of molten silver dripping little pearls into the rest of the sky. The sky around the moon was deep emerald green shading into black velvet, which was littered with rainbow swaths of stars.

“Whoa.” JD stared around him at the thick bushes and trees. Their leaves were bronze and teardrop-shaped, with an iridescent sheen. Other bushes looked periwinkle blue in the glow from dozens of insectile motes that flitted away through the trees. The forest went dark, and she had somehow gotten the impression that they hadn’t been alone when they had come out. “Okay, then.” JD whispered. He kept going along a faint trail. “That was cool. Like Tinkerbell’s family.”
She looked back at the tunnel, but there was only foliage behind them. “Tunnel’s gone…Of course.” She muttered. “Okay.” She followed him until the trees thinned out to a broad plain of rolling grass-covered hills. The trail widened into a road that threaded through the swells of land. They had been walking for about five minutes, cresting the first hill when the baying started in the distance to the left. It got louder quickly as whatever made that sound came closer, but as she stared out at the hills, she couldn’t see anything, at first. Then a form took shape in the low mist that cloaked the valleys. As it got closer, it looked like a woman riding a chariot, that was drawn by the largest dogs she had ever seen. They were the size of horses, so black the light of the moon just sunk into their fur. Their ringed yellow and red eyes shone from their heads like lamps, and their sharp teeth were as black as obsidian. She didn’t get as far as noticing what the woman looked like.
“Oh hell!” Morpho and JD turned and ran.
“Change, Babe, change!” JD yelled to her. “They won’t be able to chase all of you!” he panted. “Or maybe you could test your Cuisinart wings move!”
She changed into a cloud of butterflies with razor wings and flew up into the sky above the chariot to get a vantage point, but the chariot had gained on JD. Then just when she thought that it couldn’t get worse, the chariot split into three. Three chariots, three sets of hellish dogs, and three women. They circled JD.
Leave him alone! She thought, as she dived at them. But the woman in the middle raised her hand, and suddenly, Morpho was human again as she slammed down onto the ground in front of the figure, whose hand was still outstretched toward her. Morpho couldn’t move, not even to turn her head, so she had a moment to see the women who had captured them. The tallest one had blazing red hair, not just Irish red, but so red it was almost like flames drifting around her head, barely restrained in long braids that were bound by delicate chains ending in tiny golden balls. She wore a gold circlet with swirls across the band. Her eyes were blood red. The woman to her left had a face very much like the red-haired woman, enough to be sisters. Her hair was as black as the messenger Raven’s wings, almost as black as the hell-hounds’ fur, absorbing light. Her black irises were like two holes in her eyeballs. Her nose was long and slightly curved, and her lips were thinner than her sister’s. The last woman was as pale as her sister was dark, the shortest of the three. She had pure white hair, as long as the other two. Her skin was the color of bone, and the eeriest part was her eyes. They were completely white. There were no pupils or irises, just milky white all the way across. They were terrible to look at, and oddly beautiful.
The red-haired one spoke. “You certainly are curious little creatures, aren’t you? Lugh told us you were coming. I warned your mother that you would be too curious for your own good at some point. I told her you would be your father’s child.”
“Who are you?” Morpho choked and strained against the force that held her head down. It released suddenly, and she sat up, spitting soil.
“I am Nemain. We are the Morrigan. We rule here. You would do well to show us some respect. Especially since you are trespassing.”
“Lugh is here? He told you about…us?” She glanced at JD. The dogs stood in front of him, a low rumbling growl issuing from their throats.
“Yes, though Macha saw that you would come.” She nodded at the white sister.
“Uh, sorry, we didn’t mean to trespass.” JD gulped, looking at the length of the dogs’ teeth.
The black-haired sister turned to her sibling, opened her mouth and a caw bordering on a shriek came out. It wasn’t amiable, like Raven’s caw. It was sharp and dangerous. Her nose seemed longer and her lips and white teeth seemed sharper.
Nemain studied JD. “Badb says you are young and…cute, like a lapdog. She wants to let you live, for now. Very well.” She reached over Morpho, as if her arm simply stretched and grew. Her long-fingered white hand grasped the back of Morpho’s shirt and hauled her up as if she were a kitten, into the chariot and dumped her at her slippered feet. Badb took JD. His face was frozen somewhere between terror and the goofy look he got when he stared at his busty guitar girl posters. If Morpho had been closer to him, she would have smacked him. But then, the chariots took off with a lurch and they were moving so swiftly she didn’t have a chance to do anything but slit her eyes against the wind as they flew. Everything turned grey and when she looked down at her hands, they seemed insubstantial, like mist. The dogs, JD, Badb and Macha, all of them seemed to blend into the grey so their edges blurred. She didn’t want to turn and see the red-haired queen behind her. And then, they slowed to a halt. Now, they were in a circle of grey stones so tall, the shadows they cast from the moon must have spread across the plain they were on for a mile. And across the shadows, filling up the plain behind them were hosts of fairies of all kinds. At least that’s what Morpho thought they were when the chariots pulled around. There were some very powerful looking fairies around a semicircle of thrones in the center of the stone circle. Their thrones were all different too. One of them was made of what looked like carved amber, inlaid with gold in the same swirling designs as the red-haired queen’s circlet. Another was made entirely of silver, another of pure gold, shining in the moonlight. Another appeared to be made of woven branches and soft emerald moss. Lounging in the amber throne, was Lugh, their erstwhile legal guardian. He had a gold circlet around his forehead, the only thing controlling his wild tawny locks. He wore what looked like a fine red linen tunic with gold embroidery and woolen plaid leggings.
“Hi, luv! Took you long enough.”
“You knew we were coming.” Morpho said.
“I’ve been livin’ with you for almost a year. And I know your mama.”
“So…you’re not mad? That we, uh, poked around and, uh, followed you?”
“I didn’t say that.” His pale eyes flickered for a moment with golden light. “But you’re my cousin’s girl. I’m under a geas that I’d look after you if something happened to…the other side o’ yer family.”
“Under a what?”
He smiled grimly. “Geas. An oath.”
“Oh.” She swallowed, somehow deflated.
“Relax, I like you. I like yer boy too,” he nodded at JD, “or we’d be havin’ a very different conversation right now.”
 “Do you vouch for them, Lugh Lamfada?” The man who sat in the golden throne boomed. Though he was seated, he was obviously tall and powerfully built. His hair was silver. He had none of the other marks of advanced age, but Morpho could tell he was old. Really old. Not crusty though. He radiated power. He had the bearing most jocks took steroids to try to look like, with half the brains.
“I do, your Highness.” Lugh inclined his head.
The Morrigan hauled her and JD out of their chariots in front of the King. Then the chariots collapsed into a single throne made of black sharp rock and padded with what Morpho seriously hoped wasn’t human skin. There were six heads tied by the hair onto the sides of the throne. And instead of three women, there was only Nemain now. She stared at Morpho. Her expression was somewhere between contempt and curiosity. Either way, it was unsettling. She said nothing.




 
 Books by Rachel Coles
Pazuzu’s Girl - Morpho Wilson thought her life was difficult enough. Her father is Pazuzu, the Mesopotamian demon of plague and the Southwest wind. As a teenager Morpho struggles against her father, while trying to adjust to high school in a new neighborhood. The family is constantly moving in an attempt to elude Pazuzu’s murderous ex-wife, a demoness known for killing children.Then something unique happens. A socially-impaired classmate becomes so intrigued by Morpho that he pursues her, despite the mystery surrounding her family and the danger that accompanies it.

But before their romance can grow the demoness tracks Morpho down, and now only needs an ancient artifact called the Tablet of Destiny to complete the destruction of the world. The tablet confers on its owner the ability to control the fate of everything and everyone on earth.

Once the tablet is discovered in the Middle East, the oldest and most powerful gods begin a battle for its possession, with the human population caught in the middle. Morpho, her family, and her new friend must decide, do they escape from the horrifying demoness or fight for their own destiny. How far will Pazuzu go to save his daughter from a hellish fate? Will his banishment from Heaven so many millennia ago end up being a curse…or a blessing?

Into The Ruins is an urban fantasy anthology featuring life-changing or world-changing events. They feature everything from comic horror, as in Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, horror, as in Mushrooms, historical fantasy, as in Plagues, science fiction, as in Whistles, and finally a fun animal story, as in Beergarden.In Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Detective Nate Mallon investigated vice, when he was alive. Being a police officer was his life. Even dying didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for solving his last case. However, there are others who aren’t ready to be dead yet, and they aren’t trying to solve cases. They are at the center of them.

In Mushrooms, Kallie and Mark Sangiovi didn’t live complicated lives. They enjoyed their humble home in Denver, fresh food, and most of all: each other’s company. But one strange summer in 2011, everything changed. What begins with an invasion of ants, and summer colds, brings them to the brink of death, in a few days. And they aren’t the only ones. During this time, Denver becomes an eerie city, populated by the sick, whose imperative is to bite the people closest to them. The city grows still as the epidemic progresses, and Kallie and Mark leave the human race behind.

In Plagues, Miryam, humble daughter of Hebrews, doesn’t have many aspirations as a slave in the city of Ra’amses. It might not be much, but the stability of her husband, child, and home are enough for her to live her life as it is. Her brother, Moses, raised in the Pharaoh’s palace and ‘touched by God’, has grander aspirations for their entire people. But there are many sides to the growing conflicts. The political situation deteriorates in Mitzrayim with the rising power of Ramses, and the advent of terrible environmental disasters. And Miryam finds that her friendship with her Egyptian neighbor, Acenath, means as much to her as her religion.

Beyond The Veil is an anthology of ghost and spirit stories that encompass everything from vengeance, closure, or justice from beyond the grave, to portals from which sinister things can enter our world. Take a ride through these stories and explore some of the possibilities of existence beyond life.Bees of St. John:

Shana Latray needs a vacation. Her life as a telecommunications service provider feels like a dead end. St. John of the Virgin Islands seems like paradise, but behind the frozen drinks, and the beaches, is a complicated history of invasion and ancient predators. Shana Latray realizes quickly that nothing, from the warm, friendly locals, to the ever-present bees among the profuse tropical flowers, are at all what they seem.

Kisses:

Terry Cooper always hated Valentine’s Day, more so since losing her husband. In fact, she hated it so much, she inadvertently put a curse on it. Now, dreadful things are happening on this romantic holiday, as anyone who is kissed will die. And in the midst of this crisis, is a strange ancient ghost warning Terry that only she can revoke the curse. But she doesn’t know how. What she does know is that if she doesn’t find a way, for hundreds of people across the city, their Valentine’s Day kisses will be their last.

Tribulations of a Jewish Vampire:

Becoming a vampire was not on Leah Horowitz’s list of life goals. Contrary to all the romantic and dark hype about the sexy life of vampires in the movies and books, Leah’s life, when she was turned after her fatal motorcycle accident was anything but glamorous. With no guidance but her still human wedding-happy cousin, her orthodox Jewish aunt, and skeptical mother, she almost dies as her culture and her needs as a vampire clash.

Full Circle:

Life for Jim Red Eagle and his family is unfair. He is an auto-mechanic in his Lakota community, who runs a simple honest business. When his son is involved in an accident that leaves him paralyzed, and he can’t seem to find anyone who can help them, he starts falling apart. As he sits in the hospital chapel, wondering what to do, a mysterious Irishman shows up. As the two men get to know each other, and the man’s shocking history are revealed, Jim finds that good deeds in the past can return in forms he never expected.

The Muse:

Do you ever feel like statues can hear you, see you, feel your presence? Eliza Shourd is a sometime sculptor, filling credits with an art class while she works through another degree. But after falling asleep by the Platte River in the middle of the night, and waking up to a disturbing drawing she didn’t remember doing, her life, and her art takes a turn for the dark. When people in her life begin disappearing, she returns to the river to find out why.

You can follow Rachel at her blog and find out more about the authors of the YA Indie Carnival at our website where we just posted a cover reveal of Witch Hearts by Liz Long. Tomorrow, meet KC Blake, author of books filled with vampires, werewolves and witches. Oh my!

Happy reading!

~ Heather

YA Author Club is Awesomesauce!

I promised yesterday that I would cover all that I missed during my little winter hibernation. The area I regret neglecting most is highlighting some fabulous indie authors I get to call friends through the YA Author Club. These women are incredible and I just know you’ll find a book worth reading (or half a dozen!) when you check out their mad writing skills! Since they are all so fabulous I’ve decided to highlight one each day until I’m caught up. Let’s start with the ring leader of this circus, T.R. Graves.

T. R. Graves is the mastermind of our cirque magnifique we call the YA Indie Carnival. I’m blown away by her work and personally can’t wait to read her Warriors of the Cross series. You may remember that she offered them as a prize in our Share the Love Scavenger Hunt! The YA Author Club made her our spotlight author back in February while I was distracted with our Share the Love Scavenger Hunt, so here is what you all missed, dear friends.

T. R.   Graves  lives along the Texas coast with her husband. Together, they raise T. R.’s beta-reading daughter and their football-loving son. Besides being blessed with a supportive family, she counts her career as a registered nurse in not-for-profit hospitals high on her list of fulfilling accomplishments.
Social Media Sites:
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Spotlight Interview Questions
What is your all-time favorite book and why?

I have a  - very eclectic - three-way tie that includes The Mortal Instruments Series, The Tiger Saga, and the Fifty Shades Trilogy.

All three of these series have strong female leading characters, and they are written by authors who are amazing enough to write romance into the story in a way where it actually becomes tangible for the reader. I can’t help but love stories that make me fall in love with the characters or admire the authors who are talented enough to just that.
Is there an author you could be compared to or popular fictional characters your book’s characters could relate to and why?

My beta-reader claims I could be compared to Colleen Houck (separated at birthwere his exact words). Our similarities may be the reason I love her and her books so much. He believes we both have the ability to turn situations that could easily be unrealistic into scenes that seem absolutely real.

 Can you give us your favorite quote from one of your books and explain it?
 In Grave Bound  (Secrets) , Levi Bryson journals. His writing is not traditional, perfect, or by-the-book, but it sweetly shows Emily how he feels about her. Something about it is charming. Below, I’ve included one of his many doodles:

Facets

 Her words… sweeter than any book written, poem recited, or song recorded.

Her intentions… pure as the driven snow; a wholesome schoolgirl, and a naive child.


Her beauty… perfect as an emerald’s cut; stunning as a ruby’s color; and timeless as a diamond’s clarity.


Her essence… struck me with the force of a bolt of lightning, the power of a sledgehammer, and the command of the chosen one.


Her love… engulfed my life the way the dawn’s rays swallow the darkness, the tsunami’s waves ravage the coast, and the tornado’s funnel plows its way through a forest.


- Levi Ian Bryson

What types of things/people/music inspires you and makes you want to keep writing?
Books inspire me. Not just any book. It has to have strong characters, a mission filled with action and romance, and unfathomable consequences attached to failure.
Music inspires me. There is nothing fad-like about the artists I appreciate most. The music I listen to is embedded with so much emotion that it is palpable all the way through the song(s): Kings of Leon, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Alanis Morissette, Adele, Diana Birch, Audra Mae & The Forest Rangers, Black Eyed Peas, Eminem,….
People inspire me: My nineteen-year-old daughter worked hard through high school, graduated with both a high school degree and an associate’s degree, and she’s now trying to get into medical school. She did all of this while working and saving almost every penny of her money so she’d have a nest egg when she went away to school. That is inspiring. My eight-year-old son practices (baseball & football) four to six days a week (depending on the time of year) and turns all of that training into winning championships. He does this while maintaining A’s & B’s on his report card and without the first complaint. I can’t help but be inspired by their dedication and commitment and work ethics.
 Describe your typical writing day or week.
 Monday thru Friday, I’m up at 5:30, writing/reading/socializing from 6:30 – 7:30, commuting from 7:30-8:30 (or 8:45), working from 8:30-5:30 (or 6:30 or 7:30), commuting from 5:30-6:45, supper/homework/miscellaneous from 7:00-8:30, and writing from 8:30-10:00.
 On Saturday/Sunday from 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., I have family, errands, reading, writing, socializing, etc.

I put in the hours I do because I’m fortunate enough to have two jobs that I’m passionate about. First, I work within a hospital system where the patients (not their ability to pay) are our priority. The nurse in me… the humanitarian in me is thankful there are still healthcare systems where curing illnesses and saving lives are the focus. Second, I’m an author. If I’m not writing, I’m planning and plotting in my mind. My goal with each new book I write is to create a great story that is thrilling, suspenseful, and romantic enough to take the reader away from their own problems/lives for a few hours. Nothing more. Nothing less.
One thing is for sure. I’d never be able to do all of this if it weren’t for my husband. He does everything around our house I can’t do, and he never says a word. He’s supports me, loves me, and cares for me. I absolutely adore him.
 Is there a food or drink do you have to have when you’re writing? 
 Diet Dr. Pepper (preferably) or Diet Mountain Dew. I work, write, and drive so many hours a week that caffeine is a basic necessity.

 Can you tell us what you’re working on right now (& possibly provide an excerpt & cover)?
 I’m working on my first adult contemporary, Grave Bound (Secrets)(tentative release date of 3/1/13). At the same time, I’m writing book four of my original young adult paranormal series Dark Angels of the Cross (Warrior, #4).

Books by T.R. Graves
 Grave Bound (Secrets)
Some Secrets follow you to the grave. Others send you there.
Emily Riddle has lived her entire life inside a patriarchal commune led by her father. There are many rules, but the most important one,‘keep it in the commune’, is the most difficult for her to follow… especially since the only people willing to champion her cause live on the outside.
When Emily learns her father has promised her to Lorenzo, a perverted man who has plans for her that extend well beyond marriage and kids, she rebels. Regardless of the consequences, she refuses to marry someone who’d rather beat her than caress her.
A day of hooky that starts out as a tiny act of defiance – sneaking out of the commune for a swim – turns into a day filled with hope. After spending time with Levi, a man camping near the lake, she finds what true romance looks like and catches a glimpse into a future that’s filled with love and admiration rather than hate and submission.
That tiny peek is enough to change the course of Emily’s existence and makes it nearly impossible for her to go back to the commune and pretend she’ll ever be able to tolerate the life chosen for her instead of the life she longs for. One that includes Levi.
Fighting to escape the commune, its leaders, and her fiancé proves to be more dangerous than Emily expected. The secrets she knows, as the leader’s daughter, will either follow her to the grave or send her - and Levi - there.


T. R. Graves’s YA Books:
Warriors of the Cross  (Warrior #1)
Allison La Crosse, beginning a challenging family medicine residency, leaves the protection of her family. With the transfer, her worst nightmares come true. Her closely guarded mystical talents – those which seldom appeared before the move – unleash themselves from her confinement and reveal their presence with very little provocation.Allison’s most terrifying power is her compulsion to cure the dying with her touch. Given her career, this gift would be valuable if she were not drawn like a magnet to the ailing person’s every symptom. Some of which are fatal.

At the hospital and surrounded by life-and-death emergencies, Allison’s inability to manage her impulse turns deadly. When it does, her mentor, Brody, rescues her from her own demise. His resuscitation ignites an exciting and tempestuous bond between them.

Desperate for a cure, they join forces and embark upon a journey to uncover the origins of Allison’s lethal curse. In the midst of their adventure, Allison exposes a secret pursued by many…known by few.

Guardians of the Cross (Warrior #2)
Allison La Crosse discovers she has several powers, including a spiritual gift to heal the dying with her touch. With the newfound awareness, she uncovers mind-boggling truths about a world, which has been hidden her whole life, thanks to her mother’s selfless actions.The most important revelation pertains to her ordained place within The Disciples of the Cross as one of their Warriors. This position moves her even closer to her mentor, Brody Kennedy, who ends up being the only other Warrior.

Just as suddenly, it catapults her into the middle of a war between The Sect and The Disciples. Allison’s appointment to Warrior—alongside Brody—exacerbates the leader of The Sect’s malicious hunt for her.

As a result, everything about her existence is altered. With the modification of her life, she prepares to do anything necessary to save everyone loved by her… including Brody and Clark.

Enemies of the Cross (Warrior #3)
Allison La Crosse’s picture perfect world quickly becomes more of a nightmare than the fairytale she’d been expecting when she married Brody.With enemies leading and destiny in control, she embarks upon a journey of the soul where she unearths an underwater realm that is beyond believable…beyond fantastical…beyond comprehension.

Deep within this undiscovered world, Allison is forced to battle a new breed of adversaries. Ones willing to do whatever necessary to capture her — dead or alive. While fighting for her life, she joins forces with an exceptional team of protectors. Because they are unconditionally loyal, she sees firsthand that they are prepared to sacrifice their lives in order to guard her existence and defend the purity of their world.

Love, friendships, and unforgivable actions have Allison wondering if going home will ever be an option even if home is the only place where she can have a life with Brody.

I hope you’ve enjoyed “meeting” my pal T.R. Graves. Join me tomorrow for a close up look at another one of my friends from the YA Author Club and Indie Carnival, Rachel Coles.

Happy Reading!
~ Heather

Confession: I Hibernate for the Winter

I admit it – I fell a little behind. Okay. A LOT behind. I haven’t blogged in a month and I haven’t written any new material in almost three months. THREE MONTHS! How did that happen?

Well, winter came along and took all of my energy and tossed it in a deep dark hole somewhere. I’ve always had trouble with winter, but this one seemed extra dark and depressing for some reason. I’m not sure I have ever documented exactly how crazy my life as a writer has been in the last year, but it started to catch up with me around Christmas time and by mid-January I was burnt out. It went something like this:

March 2012: Decide to become a full-time writer. Rewrite 1st book.

April 2012 : Start a blog, edit 1st book, research self-publishing

May 2012: Find an editor, blog like crazy, start working on book 2.

June 2012: Finish rewrite of book 2, start work on cover art

July 2012: Read editor’s notes, revise book 1, finalize cover art

August 2012: Publish 1st book (A Light In The Darkness), send book 2 to editor

Sept 2012: Read editor’s notes and revise book 2, photo shoot for cover

Oct 2012: Publish 2nd book (To Light the Path)

Nov. 2012: Finish book 3 and send to editor. Get elected president of Fiction Writers of Central Arkansas

Dec. 2012: Read editor’s notes and revise, finalize cover art plans

Jan. 2013: Publish book 3 (Seen) and work on book 4

Feb. 2013: Host a month of book giveaways and call it “Share the Love Scavenger Hunt”

March2013:  CRAWL IN BED AND DON’T COME OUT UNTIL SPRING!

So, here it is spring and I’m finally coming out of hiding. I apologize to all of you and especially to my Young Adult Author Club friends who missed out on a month’s worth of author promos and personal indie author chatter. I am so deeply sorry that I dropped the ball. I’m going to make it up to you. Cross my heart! As a matter of fact, starting tomorrow I’m going to be posting all the fabulous author awesomeness that I missed while hibernating. In the meantime, hop on over to the YA Carnival website and check out what you’ve been missing. Those girls have got it going on!

Love you guys!

Heather

 

 

8 Ideas to Get Kids Reading

Visiting our new children’s library in Little Rock.

“How do we get kids interested in reading?”

I hear teachers say it all the time, and it makes me sad. Instead of focusing on entertaining the few kids who don’t enjoy reading, why don’t we engage the kids who DO enjoy reading? Their enthusiasm may prove contagious. Create opportunities for them to interact with the written word and then ask them to comment on it, or to recreate it in their own way. Then, encourage the other kids to join in or to view the finished product. Here are just a few ideas to help you get started:

8 Ideas to Get Kids Reading

1. Start a book club. (duh!) Encourage them to choose the books so they feel more invested and less like it’s assigned homework.

2. Start a book review blog. Each kid takes turns writing a book review and they post it on the site for other kids to see.

3. Invite authors to visit or Skype with your group/class/kids. Big time authors might be too expensive/busy, but indie authors and first time authors are often eager to connect with readers and happy to help. (Raises hand to volunteer!)

4. Throw a book themed party. Send invitations with a free book or a link to the book online and ask kids to read it before coming to the party. Plan games around the theme and have a contest or two. You could even ask them to dress up like their favorite character or choose a side to represent (aka Team Edward/Team Jacob, etc.) Here’s an example of a book party we hosted.

5. Host a book swap and invite kids to bring a book they love to share with friends. Everyone goes home with a new book to read!

6. Organize a writing club to encourage young authors to keep writing what they love. It could be poetry, songwriting, fiction, fan-fic, comics, a mini-magazine, or even a group newspaper. If you’re writing books, try CampNanowrimo. At the young writer’s program website, you can find all kinds of resources to help you teach/lead a group of young writers as they try to tackle the goal of writing a book.

7. Host an open mic night or other reading event where kids can share their creative efforts with others. This would be a great way to end a series of writing lessons or finish up something like Camp Nanowrimo, but it could also be a regular event where kids can share their creative endeavors with other like-minded folks.

8. Remember pen pals? What if you had book pals? You could match up kids from different schools or libraries with similar reading interests and encourage them to swap book ideas and write back and forth with each other about the books they are reading and the characters they love. Then, host an event once in a while where book buddies get to hang out together. Man, now I want a book buddy!

These are just 8 ideas for encouraging kids to read more and share their love of books with others. Do you have any great ideas? Please share them with us and then pass this post along to a friend you think might be interested. We’d love to have a long list of fabulous ideas to inspire the kids in our own communities to pick up a book and READ!

The Real Me

An icy milkshake is just what my sore throat needed this morning. And a bunch of fabulous friends is just what my heart needed after saying goodbye to my sweet friend T last week. I was blown away by all of the Facebook shares and comments I received when I took a leap of faith and shared my heartache with all of you. I am surrounded by such fabulous people who stood together to lift me up when my heart was broken. Thank you for your incredible gift of kindness!

Last week I poured out a bit of my pain and you all took my breath away with your response. It gave me hope that maybe I could be myself after all. Maybe a blog written by a real, live person (flaws and all) is something worth reading. Maybe even preferred? I know my favorite moments with authors have been when I got a glimpse of them as real people with real passions and ideas and questions. So, that is where I’m headed. I hope you’ll be along for the ride. I want to be real with you. I realize that this means I may put my true self out there and you, dear reader, may decide you can’t stand the real me. I hope not. I can fully admit that I want you to like me. No, that’s not true. I want you to adore me. There. I said it. I want us all to be friends and I want you to come over and have dinner. I’ll bake bread and we’ll have tea. I want to hear all about your hopes and dreams and then we’ll stay up late playing cards (I prefer Dominion) and end the night with hugs and smiles and promises of another night soon. THAT is what I wish for as I write this post.

If that’s ever going to happen, then I can no longer hide behind an impersonal persona on this website or in my business life in general. I started out thinking it was best business practice to appeal to as many as possible. So, I tried to focus on what I thought my audience wanted to hear. It wasn’t long before that began to wear on me. It’s hard to keep up a neutral image and really, in the end, quite pointless. I’m a passionate person full of big ideas (those who know me are snickering. I can hear you!) and I want to share those ideas with the world. That’s part of why I’m a writer. But it’s a scary thing to put yourself out there in the world where someone might come along and stomp on your dream right in front of everyone. It took me seven years to tell anyone other than family that I was writing. So, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that I’ve spent my first seven months as a published writer hiding behind a pristine business image and hoping none of you would notice the real me.

So, here it is. Here’s the real me, like it or not:

I’m a Christian. I believe in one true God and I worship Him. I go to church several times a week and can’t quite get enough.
I love people. I love being with people, I love serving people, I love feeding people. I love people.
I am a talker. I have a hard time keeping my thoughts and comments to myself. (And I have the marks on my report cards to prove it!)
I love to feed people. I enjoy cooking, but it’s really seeing the smile on someone’s face when I hand them a homemade dish that makes me happy. I especially enjoy cooking for those who are living with true hunger. I want to invite the hungry world to dinner and see them well fed and happy.
I care about the homeless and hopeless. I have served in soup kitchens and in shelters. I especially mourn for all of the millions of single moms in America who are trying to raise their babies without living on the streets. This often drives them into desperate situations and it breaks my heart to hear their cries of pain and fear and loneliness as they feel judged and abandoned by the world. This needs to stop. I’m going to do everything in my power to help.
I am a homeschooling mom. I love exploring the world with my kids and watching them learn new things. We have a blast and they are growing fast. Soon they’ll leave me behind to explore on their own. Until then, I’m going to soak up every minute I can!
I am a writer. I write stories that let you escape this world for just a bit and travel on new adventures with some fabulous people. My characters aren’t terribly flawed, my stories aren’t tragic, and I’m certainly no literary expert. However, I believe this world holds more magic than we suspect and I try to tempt you to wonder about it just a bit as you journey along with a few characters as they discover their own surprising reality. Maybe you’ll find your reality a bit surprising, too.

If any of that makes you think you don’t want to be my friend, then I wish you the best of luck. Thanks for hanging with me this long. I hope your life is fabulous and you pursue your purpose with passion.

If, however, you have reached this sentence and still want to give me a chance… I consider myself blessed. Thank you for showing me kindness and sticking around. I’m not perfect. I’m deeply flawed. But I have a few stories to tell and I would love to share them with you. From here on it, it’s the real me.

Thanks for reading!

~ Heather

I Ran Away

Has it only been a year? Because it seems like a lifetime. A year ago, almost to the day, I ran away. After our adoption fell through and I kissed my baby girls goodbye, sending them off into the world with prayers for a better life, I packed my bags, buckled the kids into the minivan, and drove away, trying desperately to outrun my pain. I went first to Oklahoma City and then on to Abilene, Texas hoping my sisters could distract me from my heartache. Or, at the very least, sit and mourn with me. And it worked, sort of. I came home from that little road trip more in love with my husband and my children, more determined to be a better person, and for the first time – a writer. I came home determined to become a published writer. Out of the ashes of my former life rose this new career and a whole new identity.

Today I find myself planning my escape all over again.

I found out last night that one of my good friends died in her sleep Sunday night, leaving behind her 4 month old daughter. This is bad enough, but let me tell you how I met her and why my heart may never let this go. T was homeless when I met her through our church’s food pantry program. She had almost no personal belongings and not a dime to her name, unable to come up with enough money to take a bus to the hospital where her baby girl was fighting for her life after a traumatic, premature birth. Can you imagine not being able to see your newborn baby? T worried that she wouldn’t be able to care for her daughter properly, trying desperately to find a place to live and a way to support the two of them. She brought her baby girl home to a warm hotel room just before Christmas and we were so happy to watch that baby grow bigger and stronger every day. T struggled to get the paperwork she needed for housing and a proper job while we tackled such items as clothing and food and spare change for doing laundry.

I never realized what an uphill battle it is to get off the streets. So often I’ve heard people say, “Why don’t they just get a job?!” Can you imagine trying to get a job when you don’t have a birth certificate, a high school diploma, a driver’s license, or even clean clothes to wear? The list of hurdles seemed daunting even to me and then there was that sweet baby who now needed a lot of extra care, especially in the middle of winter with the flu spreading around us like wildfire. It’s hard to make it to appointments when you are told not to take your baby out in public for a few months. And when you do take the baby out, you will be walking in the cold wind and rain or, if you’re lucky, riding a public bus with a premature infant in a car seat that you have to carry, so if you were on your way to get groceries well…you’re screwed!

While I was watching all of this and wrestling with how best to help her, something else was happening all around me. I began to realize that T wasn’t the only one. As a matter of fact, I knew several young women who were living with very similar situations and I just never realized it even though we were friends. I began to wonder how anyone ever really gets ahead once they find themselves that low. And I don’t mean just financially low. The stress and fear and loneliness that weigh on a person’s soul in this situation is caustic. No wonder people in desperate circumstances so often make disastrous choices!

It began to weigh on my soul, too. How can I sit in my beautiful home filled with a mountain of belongings I don’t need and more food than we could possible eat in a month while my friends struggled just a few miles away to survive another day? It ate at me. It still does.

I hope it always will.

So, today…I was planning my escape. I want to run away. Maybe I’ll take a drive down to my favorite ridiculous getaway destination – Ikea. It’s far enough to make it a weekend trip. I’ll go and spend money on things I don’t really need and eat fabulous food that traveled across the world to fill my tummy and I’ll play music really loud in the car and sing till my throat hurts.

Then, the phone rings. It’s about T’s funeral. They’ve set the date for Saturday. And there it is, rushing back at me: How can I escape this pain when T deserves so much more from me? Will it really make me feel better? Or will I wake up Monday morning with a few new bookshelves to line my office and a burning hole in my stomach that says I wasted much more than money? I wasted time. I wasted talent. I wasted myself in search of pleasure when I could have been helping a friend.

Instead of running away and coming home more empty than I already am, I think I’ll be sitting in church on Saturday morning as T’s family says goodbye. I’ll cry my eyes out for T and her baby girl who will never know the incredible brave and beautiful mother she had. I’ll try to sing along as the choir sings about heaven and the beautiful home T has now in the city above. I will whisper heartfelt prayers for her soul and her family as they try to move on without her. And then, I’ll say goodbye to her body and go home.

I won’t run away anymore, because there is no escape. Not for any of us. We have just one life. One life to spend chasing our own pleasures and our own hopes and dreams. Or… One life to give away. One life to spend making others feel loved who’ve spent their lives feeling abandoned and despised by the world around them. I will no longer run from this pain. I will embrace it. I will remember this pain of letting go and use it to move forward, finding new ways to help the hurting in my community. I will never again allow myself to look past those who are so clearly needing our attention. My eyes have been opened and so has my heart. Thanks T. I love you, girl. And I want you to know, I won’t run anymore.

~Heather

Free Books and Fun

Today we wrap up our Share the Love Scavenger Hunt. What an incredible month it has been! I hope you’ve had a blast learning about me and my books, but also found a few new authors you can enjoy. To wrap things up, we’re going to be giving away a huge stack of free books from some fabulous indie authors at our Facebook event page. So, hop over there and join the fun. We’ll be posting new games every hour, so if you miss out on one, just jump in for the next! Then, come back this afternoon for one final clue to our Scavenger Hunt here.

Happy hunting, and don’t forget to Share the Love!

Heather

Want to know what you could win? Check out all of these fabulous books! We’re giving them away today on FB, so get over there!

Review to Win

Earlier I showed you a few ways you can share the love with your favorite authors by reviewing their books or sharing their links with friends. Now it’s time to put that to good use in today’s Share the Love Scavenger Hunt clue:

Read the post,

Review a book,

Then, share the link

And we’ll take a look.

Be sure to post your review link in the comments below so we’ll know where to find it! For a bonus entry, Share the Love with your friends by tweeting/sharing on FB this comment:

Want to win FREE books and #sharethelove with an author? Join the hunt! http://heathersutherlin.com/share-the-love-scavenger-hunt/ @HeatherSutherli

Our big giveaway day is next week, so if you’ve missed any of the clues, hurry and catch up with the hunt! You can find all the clues for the month here and don’t forget to look for bonus entries where you can help us Share the Love. In the meantime, we’re giving away prizes and sharing some of our favorite indie authors on the Facebook page, so join us there for more fun and free books. Happy Hunting!  ~Heather

Share the Love for Your Favorite Author

All month long we’ve been sharing the love of books and our favorite indie authors with our Share the Love Scavenger Hunt. If you’ve been following us on Facebook, you know that the authors are sharing some too and that means FREE books!

Most of us become authors because we have a story to tell. Before we were writers, we were readers, and even now the writers I know are passionate fans.  The discussions and debates over books in a group of writers can get downright…lively. So, if you ask us what we think about a book or an author, we’re happy to tell you! And that is the best thing any reader can do for an author they love – Tell someone!

With that in mind, I thought I would share a few tips on how YOU, dear reader, can share the love with your favorite authors.

Share a Review

This the most powerful way to shout your love from the rooftops and tickle your favorite author’s fancy. A review is a public declaration of your affections. It not only cheers your author on to greater things, it sells books! That’s right – YOU have the power to help your author succeed. In the end all the work we put into our books is still worthless if our readers don’t share their enthusiasm with other readers. We rely on you to tell friends and family and anyone on the street with an iPhone or Kindle that we have a story worth reading. A positive book review is even better because it’s permanent and posted for all to see. Book reviews sell books!

While I was preparing for this post, I hopped over to Amazon to check out the changes they’ve made (They’ve recently nixed “likes” and “tags” which used to be easy ways to help readers find your favorite authors.) I stopped by the Amazon page for A Light In the Darkness and found a new review had been posted. My heart began to race and I nearly squealed with delight (yes, I really do this!) A new review filled with thoughtful opinion and cheerful enthusiasm can carry me afloat for the rest of the day and drives me back into the arms of my worrisome “work in progress” so that I struggle through another round of edits just to satisfy the desires of my readers who leave comments like, “I can’t wait for her next book in this series!!” Want to see more books from your favorite author? Leave a review telling everyone why they should read the author’s book and end it by cheering them on to keep writing. At the very least, maybe your review will help sell a few more books, pay another bill or even fund the next book in the series. Remember, reviews sell books!

Share a Link

Do you follow your favorite authors online? Another simple way to share the love is to join an author’s Facebook page, Twitter following, and blog and then share the links with friends. This is twice as fun when you are a fan of indie authors because most of us have a lot more time on our hands for fan interaction than the big names do. As a matter of fact, even when we don’t have a lot of time, we are likely to respond because most of us opted for indie status in hopes of connecting with our readers in a more personal way than traditional publishing allows. We’re fan girls (or boys) too, for the most part, so we get it. You want to know what’s up with a certain character or when the next book is coming out? Wonder how they were inspired or why the book writing is taking so long? All of that is usually shared in social media if you’re keeping up. So, if you have groupie tendencies, join the fun. Then, share the love by retweeting or sharing links to the posts that fascinate you and might interest your book loving friends. Who knows, you might even become actual friends with your favorite author! Wouldn’t that rock?!

 Share the Love

Now that you know how to share the love with your favorite author, it’s time to get busy! Come back later for today’s Share the Love Scavenger Hunt clue!