C.D. Hersh's Blog, page 157
September 1, 2015
Wednesday Special Spotlight Ryan Jo Summers Chasing The Painted Skies
Focuses on
Ryan Jo Summers
And her book
CHASING THE PAINTED SKIES
For today’s spotlight we are sharing one of our author friends blog. So, here is the beginning of her post.
Cover Reveal– CHASING THE PAINTED SKIES– and Giveaway
August 31, 2015 by summersrye
I am so excited to share the cover for my brand new book. This is my fourth novel, and third release through Soul Mate Publishing. Coming this November, ‘Chasing the Painted Skies’ is an alternative paranormal.
Part mystery, part treasure hunt, part ghost story and all romance…
To read the rest of the post and enter for a chance to win a special gift click here.
August 31, 2015
Tell Again Tuesday Realistic Dialogue Melissa Pearl
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Realistic Dialogue – Things to Remember About Your Characters and What They Say
Posted on July 21, 2015 by Melissa Pearl
One of the fastest ways to pull your reader out of your book and back into reality is to write unrealistic dialogue. When a character says or does something that is “out of character” it always makes me flinch or wince. So I thought it’d be helpful to share some of things to remember when writing or editing dialogue in your books.
One of the easiest ways to be aware of good dialogue is …
For the rest of the blog go to:
August 27, 2015
Friday Feature Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn Linda Bennett Pennell
Welcomes
Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn
By
Linda Bennett Pennell
Tagline: Will seven days be enough time to save the Allied war effort and the girl he loves?
Buy link Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn http://amzn.com/B0121Q6S88
Blurb:
Casablanca, 1943: a viper’s nest of double agents and spies where OSS Officer Kurt Heinz finds his skill in covert operations pushed to the limit. Allied success in North Africa and the fate of the First Allied Conference—perhaps the outcome of the war—hang on Kurt’s next mission. The nature of his work makes relationships impossible. Nonetheless, he is increasingly torn between duty and the beautiful girl who desperately needs his protection and help.
Sarah Barrett, U.S. Army R.N., is finished with wartime romance. Determined to protect her recently broken heart, she throws all of her time and energy into caring for her patients, but when she is given a coded message by a mysterious dying civilian, she is sucked into a vortex of danger and intrigue that threatens her very survival. The one person who can help Sarah is Kurt Heinz, a man with too many secrets to be trusted.
Background of Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn:
I have always been interested in World War II. When I originally started work on what is now Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn, it was entitled Wings and was set in Hialeah, Florida. It was to feature a ninety-day-wonder, as WWII pilots in training were known, and an army nurse. It just wasn’t working for me. While in communication with a former WWII pilot, he mentioned a friend who had been stationed in Casablanca. That sparked my interest. A bit of research into the First Allied Conference, which took place in Casablanca at the Anfa Hotel, and my pilot evolved into an OSS officer from Texas who speaks perfectly unaccented German and looks like a poster boy for Himmler’s SS. The Army nurse remains but she has transferred from Florida to Morocco.
The details of the Casablanca Conference are particularly interesting. It was at this meeting that Roosevelt prevailed upon Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, and Henri Giraud to formulate the policy of unconditional surrender by the Axis powers. Many in the German military and High Command hoped for very different terms of surrender if the unthinkable happened and Germany lost the war. Spying and communications interception being what it was at the time in North Africa, Hitler knew the conference was to take place and its approximate date. What he did not know was the correct location. The translator of the intercepted Allied communication made a significant error. He translated Casablanca correctly as white house, but assumed incorrectly that the conference was to take place at the White House in Washington, D.C., not the city in Morocco. The error was eventually corrected, but not in time for any meaningful action by the Nazis. Imagine how things might have turned out if the Nazis had figured out where the conference was taking place in time to attempt to disrupt it! That’s what I did while writing Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn.
BIO:
I have been in love with the past for as long as I can remember. Anything with a history, whether shabby or majestic, recent or ancient, instantly draws me in. I suppose it comes from being part of a large extended family that spanned several generations. Long summer afternoons on my grandmother’s porch or winter evenings gathered around her fireplace were filled with stories both entertaining and poignant. Of course being set in the South, those stories were also peopled by some very interesting characters, some of whom have found their way into my work.
As for my venture in writing, it has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures, but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Perhaps you, too, want to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget, all good fiction begins when someone says to herself or himself, “Let’s pretend.”
Where to find Linda:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLindaBennettPennell
Website: http://www.lindapennell.com/
http://historyimagined.wordpress.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@LindaPennell
Thursday Threads How to Train Your Knight Stella Marie Alden
Welcomes
How to Train Your Knight
Authored by
Stella Marie Alden
Genre: Historical Medieval Romance
Heat: Sensual
Blurb:
Year of our Lord, 1276.
In the hours just before dawn, blasphemous curses echo throughout the stone manor. A knife clatters to the floor and a feisty young widow is bound, blindfolded, and led to the marriage alter. The king couldn’t possibly have sanctioned this farce of a marriage, could he? After all, she alone transformed a few mud huts and starving serfs into a flourishing town, never once hesitating to pay generous taxes to his royal kingdom. Abandon her beloved people to be ruled by her new husband, an ignorant Templar knight? Never!
A murderous witch for a wife? The Beast of Thornhill finds himself in the middle of either a cruel jest or an evil conspiracy. After returning from the Holy wars, he accepts endowment of a small parcel of land in return for saving King Edward’s life. But the reward comes with a warning regarding the estate’s mistress. Despite his insatiable attraction to the black-haired beauty, he allows her time to warm to him while observing her strange, forward-thinking ways. But when all is on the line, will he stand by her through the inquisition or will they both hang for her secrets?
Hook: A feisty widow and a Templar knight? What could possibly go wrong?
Book excerpt:
Year of our Lord 1276
“By God, drag her down here! Naked if you must! Bread and water from now to eternity if you can’t!” Sir Marcus Blackwell slammed his fist on the well-worn table and the sound echoed back from every direction. Of all the bad luck. Forced into marriage with a foul-mouthed, murderous widow.
He clenched his teeth when the next bout of high-pitched screams and curses exploded from the floor above. Crashes, clanging, and banging followed. He cringed as the Lady Ann’s strident screaming rang throughout the stone manor and probably into the courtyard.
“He can’t steal my lands this easily. He’ll live just long enough to rue this day. I shall never, ever, turn my people over to a blood-thirsty, gold-grabbing beast. I’d rather be cursed to hell. Nay, verily, I’d rather marry the devil himself than see myself married to him.”
Beast? He’d strangle the minstrel who’d taken his sword’s moniker and baptized him with it instead. He was a holy crusader, deserving of respect, not an animal.
Crossing himself while counting to ten, he paced the dark hall lit by a single weak torch. Shadows danced across dark tapestries, beyond a hearth the size of two horses, and over enough tables to feed a small army. Thatch crunched under his boots, releasing a perfume of lavender and grasses. He stopped for a respite of blessed silence. What in God’s creation have I stepped into?
When the mayhem started up again, it was from his first-in-command, Thomas D’Agostine. “The devil take it, watch out. A knife!” A dagger fell upon stone with a metallic clatter.
“Damnation. The bitch nicked me.” The smack of a hand against skin, a female yelp of pain, then the battle paused momentarily.
“Enough!” The king’s command would be obeyed. Certainly, she’d have to understand that. He stood at the foot of the massive stone staircase and waited for the thundering echoes to cease before continuing at a lesser volume. Envisioning the vile creature, he shuddered. It was far too late to retreat now. He’d wanted the land and bedding the ancient hag was part of the bargain. “I said, do her no harm. Gag, bind, and blindfold the wench if you must. For the love of God, she’s but one woman.”
Buy links and social network links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WRNKOOU
Website: http://www.stellamariealden.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stellaMarieAlden
Twitter: http://www.twitter/stellamariealde
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25366748-how-to-train-your-knight
August 25, 2015
Wednesday Special Spotlight Rachel Sharpe Retribution
Focuses on
Rachel Sharpe
And her new book
Retribution
RETRIBUTION
“What started out as a star-studded vacation has turned into a sensational avalanche...”
When private investigator Jordan James decided to join her best friend on the set of her hit television series in the Rocky Mountains, she had no idea she would become a key player in a murder mystery more suited for the big screen than the slopes. With one actor dead and a killer on the loose, can Jordan uncover the culprit before another victim makes headlines on Hollywood Minute?
RETRIBUTION EXCERPT
“Maybe it’ll be okay?” he repeated, his green eyes widening. “Have you decided to eighty-six common sense? Jordan, you watched somebody die today! You yourself said he was murdered. What makes you think everything’s gonna be all sunshine and lollipops with a killer on the loose?”
“RETRIBUTION,” Coming this Fall from Soul Mate Publishing!!!
Available Now in the Jordan James, PI Series – COLD AMBITION and LOST DISTINCTION!!!
COLD AMBITION
“It was my life-long dream to become a private eye. Little did I know that with my very first case, that dream would become a life-threatening nightmare…”
When Jordan James decided to embark on a career as a private investigator, she never could have imagined that a chance encounter would lead to her staring down the barrel of a gun on the roof’s edge of a high-rise building. As she begins to investigate her first case, the puzzling murder of a prominent businessman that has left Boston’s finest mystified for more than two decades, she finds herself suddenly immersed in a treacherous underworld brimming with betrayal, raw greed, and political subterfuge of international proportions. In the midst of this, she discovers she is falling for her mysterious client despite the hints of his dark past. Can this feisty Southern girl with a penchant for trouble solve this baffling case or is she doomed to become another tragic chapter in an international conspiracy?
“COLD AMBITION” Available Now on Amazon! http://www.amzn.com/B00L2OLQPG/
LOST DISTINCTION
“It all started with a favor…”
When private investigator Jordan James agreed to search for the missing son of a U.S. Ambassador, she didn’t realize she was walking into a case one hundred years in the making. The deeper she delves into this unusual assignment, the more shocking, and the more dangerous, it becomes. With time running out and lives at stake, Jordan must race to identify the culprit of an elaborate plot while also uncovering a far more personal truth too intimate to ignore…
“LOST DISTINCTION” Available Now on Amazon! http://www.amzn.com/B00Q5OGCS4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Sharpe is the author of Cold Ambition and Lost Distinction, the first novels in the Jordan James, PI series. Although born and raised in the South, “Yankee” relatives first led Rachel to historic New England, which she has come to consider her second home and is the setting for the series.
After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in English, Rachel began dedicating her free time to her childhood passion, writing, and in the fall of 2013, she signed with Soul Mate Publishing. An active member of Sisters In Crime, Rachel currently resides with her husband in the Greater New Orleans area.
Check Out Rachel’s Sites to Keep Up with Jordan James!!!
Website: http://www.rachelsharpe.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorrachelsharpe
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RachelCSharpe
August 24, 2015
Tell Again Tuesday Stages of Writing a Novel
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
The Writer’s Face: Four Phases of Drafts
(As interpreted by Jack Sparrow)
Or The Stages of Writing a Novel
By Angela Christina Archer
With my final read through of When the Black Roses Grow finally done, I’ve started, once again, on the first draft of As the Liquor Flows.
Ah, yes, the joys of that first draft. The highs, the lows, the excitement, the pain, the jumping for joy, and the banging my head into either my table or the wall, whichever is closer.
Yes, the range of emotions is vast.
Although, I suppose every draft can be just like this.
Unlike most of my writing friends, I actually prefer editing to writing from scratch. While I do like creating new scenes and chapters, I like …
For the rest of the blog go to:
http://angelachristinaarcher.com/2015/07/06/
August 21, 2015
Gerri’s in the House! Please Welcome Gerri Zimmerman to the Blogathon!
Another new author from Soul Mate Publishing tells about her journey.
Originally posted on
Welcome, Gerri! Tell us all about you! Are you one of those writers born with a pen in your hand and ideas flitting through your mind, or did your interest develop later?
I have always wanted to be a published author. I wrote a science fiction story when I was about eight years old; had a neighbor read it; and then I threw it away. Apparently, I lacked confidence. Let’s face it—I was too young.
When did you become serious about seeing your name in print and begin writing your first romance novel?
I became serious about writing just before I retired from the workforce in 2011. I had started writing Master of Seduction and Ancient Martian Echoes before I actually retired. Retirement has given me the ‘time’ to write (inspiration to write has always been with me).
How long did it take you to complete your first manuscript? Did…
View original 1,116 more words
August 18, 2015
Wednesday Special Spotlight Eros Element
Shines on
Eros Element
Book Title: Eros Element
Series Name: Aether Psychics
Author: Cecilia Dominic
ISBN13: 978-1-61923-000-2
Length: 90k
Genre: PAW: Steampunk, H: 19th Century
Theme: Steampunk, Beta Hero, Suspense Elements, International, Psychics
Price: 5.50
Publication Date: August 25th 2015
Tagline:
If love is the ivy, secrets are the poison.
Blurb:
Aether Psychics, Book 1
After enduring heartbreak at the hands of a dishonest woman, Edward Bailey lives according to scientific principles of structure and predictability. Just the thought of stepping outside his strict routine raises his anxiety.
Adding to his discomfort is Iris McTavish, who appears at his school’s faculty meeting in place of her world-famous archeologist father. Worse, the two of them are to pose as Grand Tourists while they search for an element that will help harness the power of aether.
Iris jumps at the opportunity to prove her worth as a scholar—and avoid an unwanted marriage proposal—while hiding the truth of her father’s whereabouts. If her secret gets out, the house of McTavish will fall into ruin.
Quite unexpectedly, Edward and Iris discover a growing attraction as their journey takes them to Paris and Rome, where betrayal, blackmail and outright theft threaten to destroy what could be a revolutionary discovery—and break their hearts.
Warning: Allergen alert! This book was produced in a facility that handles copious amounts of wine, tea and baked goods. May contain one or more of the following: a spirited heroine, a quirky hero, clever banter, interesting facts both made-up and historical, and lots of secrets. It is, however, gluten free.
BIO:
Cecilia Dominic wrote her first story when she was two years old and has always had a much more interesting life inside her head than outside of it. She became a clinical psychologist because she’s fascinated by people and their stories, but she couldn’t stop writing fiction. The first draft of her dissertation, while not fiction, was still criticized by her major professor for being written in too entertaining a style. She made it through graduate school and got her PhD, started her own practice, and by day, she helps people cure their insomnia without using medication. By night, she blogs about wine and writes fiction she hopes will keep her readers turning the pages all night. Yes, she recognizes the conflict of interest between her two careers, so she writes and blogs under a pen name. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with one husband and two cats, which, she’s been told, is a good number of each. She also enjoys putting her psychological expertise to good use helping other authors through her Characters on the Couch blog post series.
You can find her at:
Web page: http://www.ceciliadominic.com/
Wine blog: http://www.randomoenophile.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CeciliaDominicAuthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RandomOenophile
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5011217.Cecilia_Dominic
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ceciliadominic/
Instagram: @randomoenophile
To buy her books, you can get them in trade paper and all ebook formats from Samhain Publishing: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/author/1740/cecilia-dominic
Cecilia’s books are also available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, and anywhere else books are sold.
Eros Element Buy links:
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eros-element-cecilia-dominic/1121969555?ean=9781619230002
Google Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Cecilia_Dominic_Eros_Element?id=hR51CQAAQBAJ
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/eros-element
Samhain Publishing: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5545/eros-element
Excerpt:
From Chapter 5
“Big hairy ox’s bollocks.” Iris allowed herself to swear after the professor left the room.
“Miss!” Sophie looked at her with a shocked expression.
“I don’t know who to be angrier at, the ridiculous Professor Bailey or his friend who has gotten me into this situation.”
“Why are we here, Miss?” Sophie had been so busy packing their things for the journey that Iris hadn’t been able to fill her in on Bledsoe’s stealing the telegram.
But if I tell her he has it and we are revealed, she may refuse to come with me for fear of exposure, and where would I be? I would have to excuse myself from the trip because I couldn’t go unchaperoned. And we’ll all be poor and ruined.
“Because Professor Bailey needs our help packing for the sake of the entire party’s sanity,” Iris said. “As you can tell, he’s somewhat quirky.”
Sophie shot her an I don’t believe you glance but didn’t say anything. “It seems we should let him bring some sort of equipment to keep himself occupied on the trains and boats we’ll be on. And a book or two to keep him quiet.”
“Yes, that sounds wise.” It’s like packing for a child.
The child himself returned with a worried expression and picked up a pen to toy with. Iris thought he would be much handsomer if he would relax, then wondered where that notion had popped up from.
I have no desire to ponder whether Professor Bailey is good-looking or not.
“Oh, you’re still here,” he said, his tone indicating he did not find their continued presence to be pleasant.
“Yes,” Iris replied with a brightness she would use with a capricious toddler. “Perhaps you could aid us with your prodigious intelligence and let us know what would be most important for this particular journey. You can’t bring everything, I’m afraid,” she added before he responded that all of it was necessary.
The professor closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked around the office, anywhere but at her. “Well,” he said with the deliberate air of a man who picked his words from the torrent flowing through his brain, “we’re going in search of something that will help harness the energy of aether into power. It is difficult to determine since we don’t know whether we’re looking for a formula or an actual substance.”
“Is there something you could convert?” asked Iris.
Bailey shot her a withering glare. “My equipment is so specialized and aether so unstable it is difficult to convert or adjust anything.”
Iris stifled a sigh. This is going to be a long morning. “What about reference materials? Pick out your two or three most important.” She slipped one of her gloves off and grabbed the pen he’d placed back on the desk. It primarily gave her a sense of anxiety over the uncertainty of the whole adventure. Then there was sadness at having to leave his work and the sense of abandoning his responsibilities to his experiments, his life, and, with much lower priority, his students. She placed the pen back on the desk where she’d found it and hoped to appeal to his innate enthusiasm for his subject and desire to share the knowledge. Or show it off—she sensed pride in his work. Either would do. “Or how about this? Will you do a simple demonstration for me to show me why you want to bring everything?”
He gave her a skeptical look. “Fine, to give you some familiarity with my work and its importance.”
Ten minutes later, they met in a large room down the corridor. Several pieces of equipment Iris had never seen sat in neat rows along the long table in the middle and the counters around the edges, which were also stacked with books and journals. Everything seemed arranged with mathematical precision, and she felt round and messy…and intrusive.
“I’m going to show you a basic aether isolation and patterning,” Professor Bailey said.
“Would you mind starting with what aether is?” she asked. “I’ve heard the term, of course, but I’m not familiar with it.”
“The ancients called it the fifth element, or spirit,” he told her and lit a burner beside a glass apparatus with two globes, one copper and one glass, joined by a valve. He gestured to the shiny metal sphere. “This one has a small bit of liquid in it.”
“But the elemental science has been disproved,” she couldn’t help but say. “Now there are actual, you know, elements.”
He looked up with a startled expression, and she bit her tongue—no challenges to the fragile ego.
“Do you want me to show you or not?” he asked.
“Please continue.” She stood with her hands folded in front of her and hoped she portrayed an image of being an eager student.
He put a pair of goggles on and moved the burner beneath the copper globe. “Not that I fear an explosion, but we know so little about this substance it’s best to be safe. You have a pair on your side of the table. Now, this will boil the water and create steam, which will fill both chambers.” Indeed, the glass globe filled with white vapor. “As for aether, there are phenomena unexplained by elements such as the nature of light and how it travels. We’ve come to a more sophisticated understanding of aether as the substance between matter, and therefore what light travels through.”
Iris watched the glass globe through the goggles, which smelled of old leather and chemicals. The air inside the sphere was almost white by now. “Aren’t you worried it will explode?”
“It’s tempered, so if it does, it will cause minimal damage. But don’t worry. These experiments are simple ones with low risk. As I said, the goggles are a precaution against a low-probability occurrence. I’ve done this demonstration hundreds of times.”
Which makes a mistake more likely due to careless familiarity. But she didn’t say anything.
“Now I’ll shut the external valve, cool the copper globe, and create a vacuum in the glass globe, which I will isolate by closing this middle valve.” He reached below the counter and pulled out a carafe of water. “The University keeps ice on hand for us to keep our water cold.”
Iris watched as he poured the water over the copper sphere, and the vapor in the glass sphere disappeared, leaving it clean with a little condensation on the bottom. But that vanished in a moment, and he closed the connection between the two.
“So now you have a vacuum,” she said. “What about the aether?”
“As you can see, light passes through the globe, so there is aether present.” He picked up a tuning fork. “Passing waves through the aether will cause it to arrange itself into a visible form.” He struck the tuning fork on the desk and held it to the copper globe. “This way the waves get diffused and muted through the seal. It’s a delicate process.”
Indeed, something glowed in the middle of the glass globe, and Iris noticed the area around it became dark. She moved closer. “Where is the light going?”
“When you condense aether, it pulls from the surrounding area, which changes how the light travels,” he said.
Iris watched the glowing worm in the center of the glass globe with fascination. Not a worm, more like a snake biting its own tail and writhing in pain. It swirled with opalescent sparks, at times pure white and others breaking apart into colors. “Like a rainbow,” she murmured.
“Right. Your eyes perceive the colors as the light moves in different ways through the medium I’ve given it, like it does through the water droplets that lead to rainbows. I would love to do experiments such as this on an airship higher in the atmosphere, where aether and light are more abundant. Perhaps I could condense it and capture it there.”
“I see.” She straightened from her scrutiny, disconcerted by the aureole of darkness. It faded, as did the aether donut in the middle of the globe.
“I allowed the sound waves to die,” he said. “It works better with tones that reflect Pythagorean ratios.”
“So do you ever use two tones at once?”
He shook his head. “Early experiments tried and failed catastrophically. Hence why we wear goggles.”
“The mysterious music of the spheres keep their secrets,” Iris said. “My father studied some of Pythagoras’s writings to gain insight into the art and architecture associated with his cult.”
“Exactly.” He smiled, which did turn him into a handsome man. “So you see why I need to bring as much equipment as possible. If this journey is going to lead to the breakthrough we need to harness the power of aether, or alternately, capture it and distill it into a noble gas like hydrogen or helium, I need to have my tools with me. You wouldn’t go to a dig with only a shovel, would you?”
Iris had to admit he had a point. “No, but I am also able to pack lightly enough to travel. Has the University provided equipment for field work, say for those high-altitude experiments?”
The smile vanished, and the professor’s face resumed its irritable expression. Iris evidently hit a mark, and from Bledsoe’s description, knew Bailey wouldn’t lie to her.
“You do, don’t you? Perhaps while you pack that equipment, I can help you with your references since we have a point of commonality with Pythagoras.”
“Maybe.” He was obviously not convinced, but Iris put on her bravest smile.
Oh, it’s going to be a long, long morning.
August 17, 2015
Tell Again Tuesday Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Movie Review: Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Posted 3 August, 2015 by MK Smith
What you need to know: With the Impossible Mission Force (yes, you actually read that correctly) or IMF disbanded because of an 007 style obsession with disbanding successful spy agencies as obsolete, Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) is off the clock. Queue the international group of uber special agents who show up to create a new world order (cliché alert) with a series of terrorist attacks–The Syndicate.
Now at this point I had my first quandary with the story. If Ethan Hunt was such a great leader of such a great team, how could their organization not have seen the Syndicate coming? They are global, powerful, well funded and seemingly everywhere with resources and an army of people to spare.
On the other hand, the plot says that the IMF must …
For the rest of the blog go to:
August 13, 2015
Friday Feature The Turning Stone Chronicles
This week is
The Turning Stone Chronicles
Today we’re sharing about our series entitled The Turning Stone Chronicles.
The catalyst for the series happened during a trip, where we often plot stories to pass the time. We were reading road signs, brainstorming book ideas. We came up with several book ideas, but the one that caught our interest came from a road sign in New York State pointing to a place called Turning Stone. That idea just took off for us.
One question many ask is if we were casting our stories with any movie star who would be our picks. Since our 6 book series has three characters that run through them all we would have to say that:
Alexi Temple – Angelina Jolie
Rhys Temple – Chris Pine
Eli McCraigen – Sean Connery
Currently the first three books of the series are published and available as listed below. The fourth book is under contract with a possible late 2015 release. There will be a bit more world travel in book four but, the main action is once again taking place in and around Cleveland, Ohio. There is of course a new couple involved in the interweave of romance, and evil they must overcome that puts up roadblocks for their HEA. Evil still has a strong hand in the action, and Falhman is branching out with his plans for domination. Our heroes have to work overtime to stop his plans and put things back in balance while protecting, to the best of their ability, family and friends.
Why not get started with the first books in the series while we produce the final three? You’ll experience action and romance and shape shifting that reviewers describe as being “turned on its ear.”
Series Blurb:
Three ancient Celtic families. A magical Bloodstone that enables the wearers to shape shift. A charge to use the stone’s power to benefit mankind, and a battle, that is going on even today, to control the world. Can the Secret Society of shape shifters called the Turning Stone Society heal itself and bring peace to our world?
Find out in The Series The Turning Stone Chronicles
GENRE: Urban fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
HEAT LEVEL: Sensual
Book one of the chronicles titled “
The Promised One
” currently available on Amazon in eBook:
http://amzn.com/B00DUMODKI
and paperback:
http://amzn.com/1619353504
In the wrong hands, the Turning Stone ring is a powerful weapon for evil. So, when homicide detective Alexi Jordan discovers her secret society mentor has been murdered and his magic ring stolen, she is forced to use her shape-shifting powers to catch the killer. By doing so, she risks the two most important things in her life—her badge and the man she loves.
Rhys Temple always knew his fiery cop partner and would-be-girlfriend, Alexi Jordan, had a few secrets. He considers that part of her charm. But when she changes into a man, he doesn’t find that as charming. He’ll keep her secret to keep her safe, but he’s not certain he can keep up a relationship—professional or personal.
Danny Shaw needs cash for the elaborate wedding his fiancée has planned, so he goes on a mugging spree. But when he kills a member of the secret society of Turning Stones, and steals a magic ring that gives him the power to shape shift, Shaw gets more than he bargained for.
Book two of The Turning Stone Chronicles titled “Blood Brothers” currently
available in eBook on Amazon at: http://amzn.com/B00OVNFC8W and paperback: http://amzn.com/1619358271
When Delaney Ramsey is enlisted to help train two of the most powerful shape shifters the Turning Stone Society has seen in thousands of years, she suspects one of them is responsible for the disappearance of her daughter. To complicate matters, the man has a secret that could destroy them all. Bound by honor to protect the suspect, Delaney must prove his guilt without losing her life to his terrible powers or revealing to the police captain she’s falling for that she’s a shape shifter with more than one agenda.
The minute Captain Williams lays eyes on Delaney Ramsey, he knows she’s trouble. Uncooperative, secretive, and sexy, he can’t get her out of his mind. When he discovers she has a personal agenda for sifting through all the criminal records in his precinct, and secretly investigating his best detective, he can’t let her out of his sight. He must find out what she’s looking for before she does something illegal. If she steps over the line, he’s not certain he can look the other way for the sake of love.
Book three of The Turning Stone Chronicles titled “
Son of the Moonless Night
” currently available in eBook on Amazon at:
http://amzn.com/B00XK3E172
Owen Todd Jordan Riley has a secret. He’s a shape shifter who has been hunting and killing his own kind. To him the only good shifter is a dead shifter. Revenge for the death of a friend motivates him, and nothing stands in his way . . . except Katrina Romanovski, the woman he is falling in love with.
Deputy coroner Katrina Romanovski has a secret, too. She hunts and kills paranormal beings like Owen. At least she did. When she rescues Owen from an attack by a werebear she is thrust back into the world she thought she’d left. Determined to find out what Owen knows about the bear, she begins a relationship meant to collect information. What she gets is something quite different-love with a man she suspects of murder. Can she reconcile his deception and murderous revenge spree and find a way to redeem him? Or will she condemn him for the same things she has done and walk away from love?
Excerpt from Son of the Moonless Night:
A crash in the alley stopped Katrina Romanovski mid-stride. Like the October mist swirling in off the lake, her gypsy blood stirred sending her intuition into high gear. Something unnatural was happening.
Go see what’s wrong. She heard her father’s voice as clearly as if he stood next to her.
On the heels of his words came her mother’s pragmatic warning in clipped British tones. You know what curiosity killed. Katrina pushed the ever-present warning aside. Mom never approved of Dad’s supernatural hunts and even less of his drawing her into them.
Pulling the oversized cross she always wore out from under her shirt, Kat looked around for a weapon. Please, not a vampire. I hate vampires! A piece of wood sticking out of the trashcan at the front of the alley caught her eye.
Grabbing it, she broke the end off into a sharp point. The mist-filled air filtered the light from the single bulb over one of the alley doorways. The wind swirled the loose trash around making a quiet approach difficult. Sidestepping the paper, with the stake in one hand and holding the gun she took from her purse in the other hand, she crept into the alley.
A roar echoed against the buildings, the sound nearly sending her running. That roar wasn’t a vampire. It sounded more like an animal. Kat inched closer. In the yellow pool of light from the back door of the building, a black bear, over seven feet tall, reared on its back legs and swung its paw at the man standing at the edge of the light. He crashed to the ground, shirt torn open from the slashing claws. Blood covered the fabric, and he clasped his left hand over his shoulder to stem the flow. The bear bent toward him, teeth bared in a smile. A wicked smile.
Kat aimed her gun, but before she could pull the trigger, a shot rang out. The flash of gunpowder lit the face of the injured man. The blast reverberated against the buildings. With an enraged bellow, the bear staggered backward against the wall. Shaking his head, the animal dropped to all four paws. Weaving like a drunk, he lumbered toward his attacker. The man took aim again, shooting the animal between the eyes. Animal and human collapsed on the dirty, littered pavement.
As she started to move forward, Kat’s gypsy senses crawled over her skin like angry red ants. As she slipped back into the shadows, the bear shed fur. Changing size. Then, finally, turning into a man.
Shape shifters. Her stake wasn’t any good against them, and her bullets weren’t silver. This one appeared dead anyway. Had the wounded man seen the shift? Tossing the stake aside, she paused by the shifter and quickly moved to the wounded man. Out cold. Still human.
When she touched him, his eyelids fluttered open. “Did I get it?”
“What?”
“The bear.”
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