Margo Bond Collins's Blog, page 151
December 13, 2013
Character Interview: Callie Taylor, from Waking Up Dead
Today Callie Taylor, the narrator of Waking Up Dead, stops by to chat!
Thank you for coming to chat with us today. Why do you think Margo Bond Collins chose you to represent her/him?
Margo was driving to work one day and caught a glimpse of me as I drifted across the Civil War statue in the middle of downtown. Of course, I just looked like fog to her at the time. I had to expend some pretty serious energy to get her to hear me! But once she did, I was able to get my story out.
Tell us a little about yourself?
When I was alive, I was a technical writer in Dallas, Texas. But then I died—I was murdered, actually; I’ll spare you the gory details—and I ended up as a ghost haunting someplace I’d never even been. I’m now a ghost in Abramsville, Alabama. It’s the weirdest damn afterlife. . . and I’m apparently destined to spend it fighting crime.
What is your birth date?
None of your business.
Where do you live? What is it about that area that drew you?
I don’t live. I haunt. And I’m not sure what it is that drew me here. I just woke up dead in Alabama! But I do spend a lot of time with my friend Ashara and her grandmother, Maw-Maw. They’re two of the very few people who can see me!
What’s your favorite music?
Right now? My favorite kind of music is whatever makes Ashara crazy. I like to change her music over when she’s driving. It’s easier to manipulate electronic objects than anything else, so it’s something I can do.
Will we be seeing more of you or are you stepping out of the lime light?
Hardly anyone can see me. But my story isn’t done yet! I know I have things left to do; I just don’t know what, yet.
What do you do to relax?
I drift. It’s kind of like sleeping, but it’s apparently what ghosts do. And when I’m not drifting, I watch a lot of television. Crime shows, mostly. Luckily I found Ashara and Maw-Maw and can interact with them. Until I found them, my afterlife was boring. BORING.
What’s your biggest turn on?
Now? Watching out for the people I care about. I’m no guardian angel—just the thought of all that responsibility gives me the creeps—but I do what I can to care for the people in my life . . . um. Afterlife. . .
What your favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?
Oh. If only I could taste food again. I can kind of smell it, which is nice. But not as nice as eating it was.
Do you believe in ghosts?
I kind of have to, now, though I’m the only one I’ve seen so far!
Do you feel the cover accurately represents you?
Sure. It’s a shadowy woman who disappears into nothing. That’s me these days, though when I look at myself, I still see just me, wearing the clothes I wore the day I died. Black slacks, gray button-down shirt, black leather jacket, medium-heel black boots. Casual professional. When I manage to cast a reflection in the mirror, I still look like me. Medium-toned skin, green eyes, dark wavy hair to my shoulders. But some people see me as a shadowy figure.
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Callie Taylor expected Heaven or Hell. She got Alabama. . . .
When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, when she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex, she went to Alabama. Now she’s witnessed another murder, and she’s not about to let this one go. She’s determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up dead in Alabama?
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About the Author
Margo Bond Collins lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, several spoiled cats, and a ridiculous turtle. She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other monsters. Waking Up Dead is her first published novel. Her second novel, Legally Undead, is an urban fantasy forthcoming in 2014 from World Weaver Press.
Spotlight On: The Field by Tracy Richardson
About the Book – About the Author – Prizes!!!
Welcome to another exciting publishing house spotlight tour from Novel Publicity. Join us as two new titles from Luminis Books–we’re calling them the Luminis Dyad–tour the blogosphere in a way that just can’t be ignored. And, hey, we’ve got prizes!
About the prizes: Who doesn’t love prizes? You could win either of two $25 Amazon gift cards, an autographed copy of The Field by Tracy Richardson, or an autographed copy of its tour mate, Second Verse by Jennifer Walkup. Here’s what you need to do…
Enter the Rafflecopter contest
Leave a comment on my blog
That’s it! One random commenter during this tour will win a $25 gift card. Visit more blogs for more chances to win–the full list of participating bloggers can be found HERE. The other $25 gift card and the 3 autographed books will be given out via Rafflecopter. You can find the contest entry form linked below or on the official Luminis Duo tour page via Novel Publicity. Good luck!
About the book: Eric Horton finds himself plagued by terrible nightmares of explosions, fire, and someone screaming. The more they occur, the more real they seem, causing him to question whether they’re just harmless dreams or foreshadowing of a dark and devastating future.
And that’s not the only strange thing happening. On the soccer field, he’s been in the zone, saving shot after shot with what feels like a supernatural awareness of where the ball is going to go next. Then there’s the connection he feels with Renee, the hot new student from France. It’s as if he’s known her forever.
Still, all these wild visions and synchronicities pale in comparison to the strange experiments Renee’s dad is cooking up in the University physics lab. When he asks Eric to serve as a test subject, Eric must again question whether what he’s seeing and hearing is reality—or something far beyond it.
When his best friend Will starts drinking way too much and Renee has eyes for other guys, Eric loses the edge he’s always had in the goal, and confidence in himself. If he’s going to pull it together, Eric must tap into a part of himself that he never knew existed, and that might just be the part that connects us all.
Pick up your copy of this Young Adult/ Paranormal/ Mystery through Amazon US, Amazon UK, or Barnes & Noble.
About the author: 
Tracy Richardson wasn’t always a writer, but she was always a reader. Her favorite book growing up was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. In a weird way that book even shaped her life through odd synchronicities. She has a degree in Biology like Mrs. Murry and without realizing it she named her children Alex and Katie after Meg’s parents! Tracy uses her science background in her writing through her emphasis on environment issues and metaphysics. When she’s not writing you’ll find her doing any number of creative activities – painting furniture, knitting sweaters or cooking up something in the kitchen for her vegetarian, carnivore and no-carb family. She lives outside of Indianapolis with her husband and two children and their Jack Russell terrier, Ernie. Connect with Tracy on her website, Facebook, or GoodReads.
Luminis Books was launched in January, 2010 by husband and wife team Tracy Richardson and Chris Katsaropoulos with a mission to publish thought-provoking literary fiction for children and adults. We publish what we love: Meaningful Books That Entertain. Our award-winning books engage and inform readers and explore a wide range of topics from love and relationships, teen sexual assault and homelessness to string theory, consciousness, and the Universal Energy Field. Luminis Books is a proudly independent publisher located in Carmel, IN. Learn more at www.luminisbooks.com.
Learn more about The Field‘s tour mate HERE.
December 12, 2013
Book Highlight: Program 13 by Nicole Sobon
Program 13 by Nicole Sobon
316 pages; published August 15th, 2012
Young Adult, Sci-fi
Two identities. One Body.17-year-old Emile Reed, may have died, but she isn’t dead. Her body now belongs to Program Thirteen, where her every thought, every movement, is controlled. Until Emile begins to find her way back inside of Thirteen’s core, where she manages to fend off Thirteen’s programming to reclaim the life that she lost. But Charles McVeigh, the owner of Vesta Corp, isn’t willing to let Thirteen go. And he will stop at nothing to reclaim control of Thirteen’s programming. Because without her, McVeigh has nothing.
What makes you human?
Amazon
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The leather straps constricted my wrists forcing me to endure the electric current soaring through my body. With each jolt of energy, the wires beneath my skin buzzed, sending a shrill throughout my core. Programmed to respond to pain, my body flung forward involuntarily.
“Pain is a natural reaction,” they told us. “It’s a part of being human. It is something you will better understand once your human identity is finally installed.”
But no matter how much I might look human, I was not.
I was a Program, a machine built to appear human.
The straps dug into my skin, tearing it slightly. I could feel the cold brushing against the metal surrounding the wires beneath the break. The tearing didn’t hurt, but my Program reacted as though it did. The scientists wanted to see how we react to pain. They wanted to believe we were capable of acting human.
This body, this skin, it was a cover for what I truly was.
“They do not have enough experience with your kind,” the White Coats said. “We just want to make sure you are safe out there. This is your world, too.”
At least, that was what they told me.
“Program Thirteen,” a harsh voice called from behind the glass. I could faintly make out a shadow of the man as he held his clipboard in his hand, carefully checking each box indicating I’d passed my daily inspection. I was making excellent progress, or so I’d heard.
“Your Program is coming along quite nicely,” McVeigh had told me. “I can only imagine how well you will do once your human identity is programmed into your core.”
I knew that McVeigh was happy with my progress here at Vesta Corp, but I did not comprehend much of what he said. What I did know was that as long as my treatments continued to work, I’d remain activated. I’d retain a purpose. That was all that mattered.
Looking down, I could see that the leather straps were hanging down, no longer constricting my wrists. Even without the straps to hold me down, I did not move. I remained seated, waiting for a White Coat to come strolling in through the door. As I waited, I noticed that my skin where it had been torn from the pressure of the restraints was flapping around. I’d have to pay a visit to the doctor again so that she could tend to the tear.
“You must find a way to fight the pain, Thirteen,” she’d tell me, just like she always did.
And then I’d nod, because that was what I was expected to do.
The truth was that I had no control over how my Program reacted to pain. Everything I did, everything I was – it was all controlled by the scientists. I didn’t choose to react. My Program, the one which they’d built, did. I twisted my wrist so that my palm was facing up, and I gazed down at the open skin. No blood. No bone. Only exposed metal.
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Nicole Sobon is the author of The Emile Reed Chronicles (Young Adult Science Fiction), the Outbreak duology (Young Adult Dystopian), and various short stories.
Her novel, Program 13, was quoted on an episode of Criminal Minds (season 8, episode 13, “Magnum Opus”).
Website | Facebook | Twitter
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Hosted by Good Choice Reading Blog Tours
Interview with S.A. Wolfe, author of Fearsome
Welcome today to S.A. Wolfe, author of Fearsome!
Tell us a little about your work in progress.
I have two works in progress. I’ve put one aside to focus completely on a follow up book to Fearsome. I had so many requests from readers who want another story about a particular character in Fearsome. Just so you know, Fearsome does not have a cliffhanger. It is a standalone novel with an HEA, and the sequel will not be about Jessica Channing. She’ll have a background role for sure, but some new characters will be introduced as well.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
I’ve been writing since my teens, and what I know for certain is that writing is hard, producing the book and quality of work you want is hard, managing writing time is hard, and selling books is hard. Treat it like a job and develop a strong work ethic that gets you through those times when you sabotage yourself with doubt and fear. Write every day to improve your skills and creative muscles. Read a variety of novels and study how other writers develop their craft. Finally, surround yourself with supportive people, and seek out other authors in online communities to gain support, friendship, and valuable advice.
What is your personal writing process?
My writing process involves a loose outline of the plot, twists, reveals, and conflicts. I create a bio for my main characters, so I can really get to know them before I start writing. Once I have these ideas down, and events and dialogue have been percolating in my brain for weeks, I start writing. I think the first two chapters are the most difficult because you need to hook your readers, you have to introduce characters, and you have to give some background, but not bury the narrative in backstory. If I write 3000 words or more in each writing session, then I’m able to get into a good groove. Part of my style is pantsing even though I follow some loosely defined plot points. Once I’m in the middle of the book, around 50,000 words, then I go on writing binges because I’m emotionally invested in the story and highly motivated to keep writing as much as possible.
That gets me through the first draft. After that, I work on some revisions and editing before I send the book to my beta readers. Once I get their feedback, I do some more revising before sending it off to my editing team. And then it’s another one or two rounds of revising and polishing before I have the book I want.
Who are a few authors you look up to?
I have always admired Jhumpa Lahiri and Jennifer Egan, especially their early work from over a decade ago. Egan’s wit and Lahiri’s prose are terrific. Years ago I got hooked on Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series and that was a fun sexy ride. I like Elle Casey and Mimi Strong – they write some pretty great romances with a lot of humor. I also admire Elle Casey’s incredible dedication to her writing career. She gets an amazing amount of writing done everyday!
What book are you reading now?
Right now I’m reading Forever Jack by Natasha Boyd, Four Seconds To Lose by K. A. Tucker, and Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I wrote my first full-length novel when I was twenty-two. My boyfriend at the time (now my husband) kept urging me to write because he couldn’t believe how much I read. I would talk about writing and stories I’d like to write someday – he put his foot down and said I needed to get busy writing. So I did.
What books have most influenced your life most?
Books that influenced my life at a young age were my mother’s Anne Tyler collection, especially The Accidental Tourist. Her characters are ordinary people, often ones we’d never really notice, and their stories can be conventional or tragic, but it’s the way Tyler writes that moves me even to this day. Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex was a major influence, both for its epic tale and its prose. In Romance, I think Karen Marie Moning’s books got me interested in writing something different, at least for me. I don’t write paranormal or fantasy story lines, but Moning’s books are probably the ones that opened the world of romance novels to me.
What do you find particularly challenging about writing?
I think the most challenging part about writing is 1) producing the words and getting the draft done, and 2) editing. Editing is exhausting and sometimes very frustrating. I’m so glad I have an editing team to get me through that stage.
If there was one message you could send to everybody who reads your books, what would it be?
I would hope everyone enjoys my story with its sexy, funny, quirky, imperfect characters, and that the romance gives them that happy feeling at the end.
Have you ever used characteristics from someone you know in one of your books?
All the major characteristics in my book are taken from real people in my life: friends, family, people I’ve met along the way.
What inspires you to write?
I’m inspired to write because I love a good romance. My brain begins inventing characters I like, and then the story unfolds when I’m daydreaming, which is a lot. That’s when I know I have to write it down.
Where can readers find you and your work?
Readers can find me here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sawolfe24
Website: http://www.sa-wolfe.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sawolfe_
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fearsome-s-a-wolfe/1117036774?ean=2940045368353
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/362988
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18461247-fearsome?from_search=true
Jessica Channing’s big city life should be more exciting than sixty-hour work weeks and popcorn nights with her girlfriends, but it’s not. She has worked hard fulfilling her role as a child prodigy and graduating college years before her peers. She’s the good girl, the brilliant girl.
Unfortunately, she’s also the dateless young woman.
That all changes with one phone call. Jess’s rigid, predictable life upends when she must visit a small, obscure town to deal with a relative’s death. This isn’t just any little speck of a town, though. Long lost memories come crashing down on Jess’s world when two men, the Blackard brothers, seem to lure her in.
Dylan is cover model handsome, and pursues Jess the minute she comes to town. Then there is tall, dark and gorgeous Carson, who hides his own secrets behind his hardened reserve.
For someone who has been governed by her own obsessive behaviors and fears, Jess lets her guard down and jumps at the opportunity to have an affair with a man she actually finds attractive for a change.
There’s just one problem. Jess discovers that she can’t have a simple romantic fling because true passion does indeed come with some very big strings attached to it. She will have to own up to her own truths about love and face the two extraordinary men; both troubled in their own ways and both determined to have her.
Genre: Romance/New Adult
* This novel contains graphic sexual content and strong language. It is intended for mature readers.
December 11, 2013
Top Ten Books that Inspired the Godsland Series by Brian Rathbone
Welcome to my stop on the Godsland series blog tour! This is a YA epic/high fantasy adventure series by Brian Rathbone. The tour consists of reviews of all of the books and the audiobook, as well as guest posts, interviews and more. Be sure to check out the tour page with all the tour information and additional tour stops.
The books in the Godsland series:
Call of the Herald (Book One) – FREE
Inherited Danger (Book Two)- FREE
Dragon Ore (Book Three)
You can also find it in one bind up called The Dawning of Power Trilogy Omnibus.
Find the full list of titles and links at http://brianrathbone.com/ As this is only the first trilogy in the World of Godsland series.
Top Ten Books or Series that Inspired the Godsland Fantasy Series
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l’Engle
Dragonlance books 1, 2 and 3 by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman
The Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn
The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
The Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony
The Belgariad by David Eddings
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
Godsland Book One – Call of the Herald
243 pages
Echoes
of the ancients’ power are distant memories, tattered and faded by the passage
of eons, but that is about to change. A new dawn has arrived. Latent abilities,
harbored in mankind’s deepest fibers, wait to be unleashed. Ancient evils
awaken, and old fears ignite the fires of war. When a Catrin Volker, a teenage
horse trainer, inadvertently fulfills the prophecy of the destroyer, she
becomes the most feared and hunted person on all of Godsland. With the help of
her friends, she must convince the world that she wants only peace.
Godsland Book Two -
Inherited Danger
276 pages
Leaving
her homeland behind, Catrin Volker goes in search of knowledge and peace,
unaware that she will face the greatest evil her world has ever known.
Godsland Book Three- Dragon Ore
268 pages
Dragon
Ore is the exciting conclusion of The Dawning of Power trilogy.
Clinging to life, Catrin Volker struggles to regain her strength as her
foes go in search of even greater power. Ancient enemies threaten and
forgotten alliances emerge.
Brian Rathbone started out as a professional racehorse trainer, but
he later transformed himself into a network engineer, programmer, and,
more recently, rural broadband specialist. One thing that never changed
was Brian’s love of reading fantasy fiction. For years he would think of
story lines for his own stories as a way to keep from dreaming about
writing code. When the time came that Brian could concentrate on
writing, The World of Godsland became real.
Author Sites:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads | Trailer | Free Web Game Feral Dragons | Free Web Game Grumpy Dragons
Books can be found at: GoodReads |
Amazon
Spotlight: Fallen, by Laury Falter
Title: Fallen
Author: Laury Falter
Series: Guardian Trilogy
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Audeamus LLC
Release Date: April 1 2009
Editions/Formats Available In: eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
Fallen – the first book in the bestselling Guardian Trilogy…
Maggie is unaware of the terrifying fate that awaits her. It isn’t until she lands in New Orleans for a full year at a private high school and her unknown enemies find her does she realize that her life is in danger.
As a mystifying stranger repeatedly intervenes and blocks the attempts on her life, she begins to learn that there is more to him than his need to protect her and that he may be the key to understanding why her enemies have just now arrived.
Laury Falter is a bestselling author of young adult romantic suspense and urban fantasy. She has three series out: the Guardian Trilogy, the Residue Series, and the Apocalypse Chronicles.
Places to find Laury
Goodreads
Website
Places to find Fallen
Amazon
Barnes
and Noble
Smashwords
The Book
Depository
December 10, 2013
Character Profile and Spotlight: Monochrome by H.M. Jones
A young mother, Abigail Benet, battles postpartum depression, marital troubles and addiction. Her weary mind plagued with horrible thoughts not her own, she decides to end it all. Suddenly, her mind and heart begin to race, her vision blurs and goes black. She awakes in a strange, dull, monochromatic blue world.
Here, she comes face-to-face with the most beautiful and ugliest moments of her life, choosing those that she will lose forever, and those that are too precious to let go.
In a world where many choose a living death, and no one is above suspicion, will her handsome Guide, Ishmael, help her fight her way back to the beautiful life she left behind, or will she succumb to her ugliest urges and let her sweetest memories disappear into the blue?
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Character Profile
Abigail Benet:
Favorite drink: whiskey, but it’ll be the death of her
Favorite poet: Aphra Behn
Favorite book: Le Morte D’Arthur
Worst Fear: hurting the ones she loves
Favorite hobby: MMA and reading
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About the Author
H.M. Jones lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her two preschoolers and husband. She spends most of her time making sure her children are well-rounded, open-minded citizens of this world. She spends the last hours of the day and the wee hours of the morning, writing, reading, blogging about writing and reading, and imagining different things to read and write about. She also likes running, drinking tea, martial arts, watching period pieces and going second hand bookstore hopping with the handsome Mr. Jones and crew. Her cat, Pepper, likes to meow at her, in a critical manner, when she is writing.
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Contact the Author
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Favorite Review
This was an absolutely awesome book.
For anyone who has ever questioned where their life has taken them, this is most definitely a MUST read. Jones effectively tells a story of a young woman who is struggling with her identity as a wife and mother. The compassion with which she tells the story grips the reader from the very beginning and will stay with you long after you turn the first page.
I look forward to many more enjoyable reads from this author.
READ THIS BOOK!!
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Buy Links
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Top 10 Things That Make My Life As A Writer Easier, by Colleen Collins
Today we welcome Colleen Collins (no relation!), author of Sleepless in Las Vegas, with her Top Ten list!
Top 10 Things That Make My Life As A Writer Easier
1. My husband (he could be 1-10 for everything he does to support my life as a writer!)
2. My listserv of fellow writers I’ve been with for 16 years (we started out writing romantic comedies and have branched out into mystery, nonfiction & all flavors of romance…we’re also great friends after all these years)
3. My cats (the 3 of them are with me every day I write)
4. My dogs (2 Rottweilers, named Jack Nicholson and Aretha Franklin, who make me laugh and think…they sometimes become characters in my stories, too)
5. Computer (love my Mac!)
6. iPad (reading books is an important part of being a writer, and I mostly read ebooks on my iPad these days)
7. 52 Novels. When I self-publish a book, I use 52 Novels to format the book – they definitely make my life as a writer easier.
8. Harlequin editors. I’ve been lucky to have some great editors at Harlequin who help me shape stories and characters.
9. My sister Barbara Graham. For each of my last two deadlines she’s sent me a gift that I keep on my dresser as an incentive to write my way to The End…because after that, I get to open the gift 
10. Martini. Nothing like a chilled dirty martini to end a good writing day!
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Sleepless in Las Vegas Spotlight and Giveaway
This investigation is getting very personal…
P.I.-in-training Valerie LeRoy is dying to get into the field. So when a client asks her to spy on someone, the thrill of her own case is too tempting to refuse. Instead of a cheating fiance, however, Val’s actually checking out P.I. Drake Morgan! Worse, she ends up working with the guy!
Their differing opinions on techniques, and the instant attraction, make the sparks fly. It’s almost impossible to focus on their arson investigation. As the hunt for the truth intensifies and their passion rivals the triple-digit temperature, she and Drake learn why Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps…
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18050861-sleepless-in-las-vegas?from_search=true
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sleepless-Las-Vegas-Harlequin-Superromance/dp/0373718934/
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sleepless-in-las-vegas-colleen-collins/1115566121?ean=9780373718931
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About the Author
Colleen Collins is an award-winning author who’s written several dozen novels for Harlequin and Dorchester, including an indie-published mystery, The Zen Man and three nonfiction books, Secrets of a Real-Life Female Private Eye, How Do Private Eyes Do That? and How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths (the latter co-authored with Shaun Kaufman).
Her books have placed first in the Colorado Gold, Romancing the Rockies, and Top of the Peak contests, and placed in the finals for the Holt Medallion, Best Indie Books 2012, Coeur de Bois Readers Choice, Award of Excellence, More than Magic, and Romance Writers of America RITA contests.
After graduating from the University of California Santa Barbara, Colleen worked as a film production assistant, improv comic, telecommunications manager at the RAND Corporation, technical writer/editor, speech writer, and private investigator. All these experiences play into her writing.
She’s a member of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), the Sisters in Crime.
When not sleuthing or writing, Colleen likes to spend time with her husband and their two Rottweilers and three cats
Visit Colleen online at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/104928.Colleen_Collins
Website: http://colleencollinsbooks.com/
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Rafflecopter Giveaway:
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Spotlight and Excerpt: The Man from Sweet Loaf by G. Franklin Prue
The Man from Sweet Loaf by G. Franklin Prue
456 pages
Published: March 9, 2013
Format: Paperback
I am hoping that crazy people run and sane people hide as they read my novel The Man from Sweet Loaf . The story is about Sam Murphy. He is a truck driver. He is a Vietnam era Veteran. He has PTSD, but he can only see his father as a winged Gargoyle. This is related to war veterans in every war. He falls in love with a Haitian woman, she belongs to a powerful Colonel Labossier in the Ton-Ton Macoute; Sam Murphy has to fight this man and his bodyguards. He enlists his brother who is a cop, Ray. However, with Myrthe this woman is involved in the culture of Voodoo.
Sam Murphy in a major section, As the Gargoyle sings to thee….this section deals with the relationship of his delusional view of his father. Thus, this dialogue shows us Sam’s fear towards him.
Sam Murphy finds the Colonel dead, and his Myrthe free to be with him. But more definition to Sam and his past shows up on his door. Petey-Pete comes back to the Eastern shores, and visits his old truck driver partner. He is a major drug dealer from Florida, he is now a Rastafarian.
Petey-Pete is a symbol, he a Christ like figure for our image of the crucifixion. Sam’s brother, Ray is searching for this major drug lord. He is determined to get him. Sam has no idea of Petey-Pete being a major drug dealer, thus on a Sunday, Sam takes his family to church, Petey-Pete also attends. Ray spots Petey-Pete, shoots him dead on the church steps.
Sam goes to his dying friend, pulls out a book of poems; dedicate to their life on the road. Sam takes his daughter and wife and takes them away from this trauma, and leaves his past behind.
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Excerpt:
PART ONE
Earth, Wind, Fire
1
The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.
–Blake, Proverbs of Hell
Sunday, 22 August 1985. A kiss and a noble ending was not meant for them as they awake in each other’s arms. Mabel Friday, with brown rainbow sun hair, was just a child of jazz from the sixties. A cool chocolate popsicle. Sassy woman. With a high heel walk that would make you melt in five minutes. She rode out the sticky hot summer season with her boyfriend Sam, who drove a dented-up red truck. He carried carpets to new office buildings from a dusty-quiet city on the Eastern Maryland shores, Sweet Loaf. He made his runs through the I-95 Beltway: D.C., Maryland and Virginia. They met like other children in the past. On the street. Years after a war and the death of his soul in a Viet Cong raid. Sam came out in broken pieces of a no-nonsense selfish man. He even had the sailor nerve to paint on the side of his truck: EL, ZORRO.
Sam Murphy was a womanizer. A street gambler, common sense, drinking man. She would do almost anything for this man of many puzzling qualities. He was a hard man about living. Who wasn’t around most of the time, which made their screwing just a Sunday handshake. Now his other women didn’t make her mad and damn sure didn’t make her sad. Mabel knew she was a good woman for any man. But with Sam, she was on this road a long time. A long time. Cuddling, bouncing up in the back woods to the Sweet Loaf Carnival. They both drank up a lot of gin with the radio turned up to James Brown; begging for love on WKSL-AM Soul station. As they move behind the purple valley city and white corner moon.
Folks forgave Sweet Sam Murphy, you see; he had put it all in. He was one of the living dead who chain-smoked from a face of a dark storm wind coming to the shore’s edge. Most of the time he wore a greasy, pale blue golf cap on his head. Over wide brown, soft eyes that took in the yellow-green day and sometimes another man’s wife.
Mabel gave him that lullaby stare: Drugs, money or love over on the side of the road? Naw! She wanted something else as she rolled her moon-shaped butt on the black vinyl seats of the truck.
“Baby, what you want?” Sam pleads. “Tell me! But don’t just sit there like a fly on a elephant’s ass.”
“I need another cigarette,” Mabel said, scooting over closer to his ear. “Daddy.”
“Mabel, I just bought you some,” he said. “Darlin’, you got’s to be supportin’ your own habits!” Sam got real cruel. “Dey be cutting your tits off one of these days.”
“Sam, you don’t have to talk like that to me!” Mabel lights up, gives him the pack back. “You a thirty-two-year-old asshole!” She sucks in the smoke. Scoots away from him. “Shit, man! As much as I give you.” She gazes out to the sights of yellow, brown, burned summer alabaster leaves. Butchers in her dreams. “Maybe I’ll just die before they cut dem off! Butcher bastards! Son-of-a-bitches cut my momma up too! I ain’t never going to let them put the knife to my pretty tits!” She grabs, and cuddles them. “Sam, feel these! Feel these!” Rolls her eyes, drags hard on the cigarette. “Goddamn butcher men. . . that’s all the fuck they are anyways!”
He knew it was the gin talking. She was a sweet screw a sad, kissable, chocolate milk woman from the Sweet Loaf woods. Sorry he put fear in her face. But people he cared about were sacred to him, their lives a part of his life. Secure in his web. Made her think about the knife her mother died under. Tender memories of a wife, a sister, a lover, mother. He noticed pieces of her brownish-black hair fly behind her right ear. Gold earrings flash. The ones he bought her for her birthday. He rubs a thumb across her cheek to take the pain from her lips. He searches for that blueberry-apple smile. He surrenders his love and forgiveness in the silence of a dusty shoo-fly road. A wand over her heart. Summer madness concocted under a hell-fire sun. A bead of sweat drips from her neck. Down her V-neck red dress. When the truck shakes, her breasts jump, jiggle, pow, boom, wow in the dress. He slows down over a dead squirrel. Dry red leaves crack under the tire wheels that take up the space between their lives and the rest of the red clay, chain gang road.
He squeezes up behind a Chevy station wagon. Scares the hell out of a family man with his long-neck wife, two kids and a standard size hound dog. Mabel laughs as the man’s horn curses Sam out.
Sweet Sam became childish, high with his Mabel. He put it all in; speeding sometimes. Crying, laughing and flying. Smoking good dope. Sam was all mixed up with dog shit on a county road: Route 87, to Bailey’s Cross. He sips his brown bag of gin from a paper cup. All he cared about was the fire from a pretty woman in the middle of a lost country road. Starve away the dream nightmares of a war. A wife, a son. He found Mabel after. After a country lost another son…who cares? He was alive. Alive to taste. Feel. Smell the sun, moon, stars from a woman’s panties. He had time to hear the silence in his heart. Play the sax in the night. Kiss up an angel’s tears that fell with the rain.
“We almost there, baby.”
“I know.” She puts his right hand on her left breast. “And they going to stay there too.” She draws closer to him. “I love you.”
“I’m sorry I scared you,” he said. “You know that.”
“Yeah I know.” She teases him. “Watch that pole.”
“I just love you . . . that’s all.” He sticks his golf cap on his right knee. “I can’t stand somebody else dying in my life, ’specially you.”
“You made that clear.”
Earth winds blow from east to west.
Gas and fumes drift in their noses. Sam looked over her eyes of blossoms and lips of red watermelon lipstick? Yes! Yes! He wouldn’t give a fuck if he did die with her. It was better than leaving in some war with dog-tags around your neck at nineteen. He puts more gas on the pedal. Shifts some gears before she gets sick in the cab of the truck. Hell! He knew she had to be tired. He didn’t look at her. He counts to ten over and over. Before the sleeveless, tight red dress almost makes him go right into a three hundred-year-old oak. Pleasant surroundings of her French-blood perfume mixed in with the sun and gin. He got up the nerve to see if she calmed down. Was she still looking for a fight? He throws an arm over her bare shoulders. He takes one eye off the road to keep from hitting the cows. Sneaks a passenger kiss on her cheek. He takes his arm from around her to concentrate on the road, jazz and her rich cream thighs.
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Author Bio
When I was a little boy; I was sent to the library as a punishment. My daddy use to joke with me that I was born in a library. Now I am published author G. Franklin Prue. I was born in Washington, D.C. I am also ex-military Vietnam veteran. I am also teaching in Seattle as a special educational Instructor. I have also worked as a government Consultant for the Defense Department. I travel a lot to the Caribbean, Central & South Americas. I have a BA in Political Science & Masters degree in Education/Administration. My published novels are, A Year of Madness, Mammie Doll and The Man from Sweet Loaf , all by CreateSpace/Amazon.com.
December 9, 2013
Waking Up Dead is now available at B&N!
Hi, everyone!
I just wanted to take a moment to announce that Waking Up Dead is now available in paperback through Barnes & Noble, as well as in Kindle and paperback from Amazon!
