P.D. Workman's Blog, page 127

Giving away 20 copies of Tattooed Teardrops

Recently, you read that Tattooed Teardrops won the first place fiction prize in the 2016 In The Margins Top Ten Books for Teens literary award. Now, in conjunction with the Brain to Books 2016 Cyber Convention, I am giving you a chance to get a free Kindle copy.

How? Sign up for my mailing list! Super simple. By signing up for my list, you will also be notified of my new releases and other promotions. And you automatically get an ebook copy of Diversion, Book #2 in the Breaking the Pattern series. And if you are one of the next 20 people to sign up, you will also get Tattooed Teardrops.

You do not need a Kindle to read Tattooed Teardrops. You can download the Kindle app onto your phone, tablet, or computer, or the Cloud App in your browser.

So what is stopping you? Click to sign up now.

**But what if I’m already on your mailing list, and I still want to get one of the free copies? Think of who else you know who would like to read Tattooed Teardrops. Get them to sign up for my mailing list, and email to let me know you referred them. Then you can both have one of the 20 copies!

Excerpt from Murder in an Irish Village

I hope you will join me this week for the Brain to Books 2016 Cyber Convention on Facebook and Goodreads this weekend! Lots of authors showing off their wares, running contests and giveaways, and putting books on special! I have Stand Alone on sale for the Cyber Conventions already, and lots more excitement to come.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules at Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along!

I am currently just finishing Murder in an Irish Village. This debut novel by Carlene O’Connor is a mystery set in a modern-day Irish village.  Orphaned Siobhan O’Sullivan and her five siblings are out to solve a murder and prevent one of them from going to prison for it. It has been a fun book so far, lots of twists and turns and humor. And, of course, Irish lingo. My teaser:

How one’s destiny could change in the blink of an eye. Niall Murphy knew why she wasn’t in Dublin better than anyone. Her da’s favorite Sean O’Casey quote rose up in her: It’s my rule never to lose me temper till it would be detrimental to keep it. “I could say the same thing about you,” she said. “Why aren’t you still in Dublin?”

Carlene O’Connor, Murder in an Irish Village

A little slice of Heaven on the Emerald Isle…

In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Naomi’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors, enjoy some brown bread and tea, and get the local gossip. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.

It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.

With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans, and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.

Countdown to Camp Nanowrimo!

Just five more hours until Camp Nanowrimo kicks off here!

I have my outline, my beats, my character sketches, my working title and cover. I’m raring to go!

When everything changed, Kelli thought she would be happy. But nothing really changed.

Kelli’s life has never been easy. She’s always faced her problems head on. She’s strong and savvy and in charge of herself. All of that is about to change. Her life is turned upside down when she discovers the secret that her mother has been hiding from her for years. Kelli thinks it is her one chance at happiness. But is it?

If you’re just signing up for Camp Nano and haven’t selected a cabin yet, I still have places open in mine. Feel free to drop me a line for an invite or just to talk Nano. My username is pdw.

Excerpt from God Spelled Backwards

This is your last chance to pick up his Dark is Deepest, a collection of four of my full-length novels, for just $0.99!

And in four days, it is April 1st! To you it may mean April Fool’s Day, but for me it means the beginning of Camp Nanowrimo, and starting on a brand new manuscript, tentatively titled Making her Mark. I love Nano!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules at Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along!

I am just about through a fantastic new read, God Spelled Backwards: (The Journey of an actress into the world of dog rescue) by actress Sylva Kelegian, who will take you on a fascinating journey into the world of dog rescue. This one has had me crying on my morning run and over dinner preparations, and not because of onions. If you are an animal lover, put it on your list! I don’t know if she’s ever met activist Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, but I think the two of them would really hit it off! My teaser:

 

Marilyn was a great gal who adored all dogs, especially pitbulls, of which she had many. “No, Sylva, no one came. I really wish you—”

“I will,” I interrupted. “I’ll adopt her. She’s mine. She’s supposed to be mine.”

Sylva Kelegian, God Spelled Backwards

When newlywed actress Sylva Kelegian shows up at a Manhattan veterinary clinic to walk a rescue dog, a strawberry blonde puppy stumbles down the stairs and into her heart – opening it to the plight of hurt and abandoned dogs everywhere. After a move to Los Angeles with her actor husband, Sylva finds her marriage and burgeoning career challenged by the dramas of good and evil, darkness and light, played out every day in the streets, backyards, and homes of rich and poor pet owners alike. GOD SPELLED BACKWARDS traces Sylva’s journey from reluctant New York dog adopter to passionate animal rescuer in Hollywood. Her story reveals what one determined woman can accomplish in the hope that, one day, man’s best friend will be treated as such.

Easter Sale! Kindle boxed set: Dark is Deepest $0.99

I have an Easter special for you! Get four of my stand-alone books with a female main character together in one Kindle package for just $0.99. This set, titled Dark is Deepest, includes Tattooed Teardrops, which has just won the Top Fiction Prize in the 2016 In the Margins Top Ten Books for Teens literary award. Buying all four books separately would cost you $12. This is a limited-time offer; get it while you can.

**You do not need a Kindle to read these books! You can download the Kindle App on your phone, tablet, or computer, or use the Kindle Cloud reader within your browser.

Included are:

Stand Alone – Is Justine crazy? Everyone thinks so, but Justine can’t give up her sense of who she is—someone far different than the loving daughter Em expects her to be—to just fit in and be happy. She is sure that Em secretly holds the key to who Justine really is. But if she does, Em isn’t talking.

Tattooed Teardrops – “I don’t plan on getting in any trouble.” Tamara had thought that when she got out of juvie, things would be easier. But before long, it seems like her life is spiraling into chaos. If she can’t prove to her probation officer that she is innocent of the allegations against her, she’s going back to prison, and Tamara just can’t let that happen.

Cynthia has a Secret – One day, fifteen-year-old Carmina Knight’s life was perfect, and the next, she’d lost everything. Her family, her home, almost everything that she knew. Alone on the streets, she can’t trust anyone, but she also can’t make it alone.

Questing for a Dream – Nadie is a bright but rebellious teen growing up Manitoba Cree. Living in abject poverty, she tries to help care for the younger children in the band. Devastated by the drowning death of her little cousin and unable to overcome her grief, Nadie leaves the band. How can she find her own place in a foreign world where she is abused and discriminated against, and for the first time in her life, completely alone?

Excerpt from James Patterson’s Gone

I still have a couple of promotions going on right now, be sure to check up on them. And I have a special Easter promotion coming up at the end of the week.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules at Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along!

I have another book from James Patterson for you today, this one from Gone. It is a fun, action-packed police thriller. I consume a lot of my books by listening to audiobooks, and most of them have a musical score at the beginning and end and the narration, and that’s it. But the James Patterson audiobooks also include some sound effects. The first time I listened to one, I just about fell off my bike at the gunshots! My teaser for Gone:

The problem was, the billionaire scumbag escaped custody and put a multimillion-dollar hit out on me and my family.

So there you have it. The feds put us in witness protection, and I’d gone from NYPD Blue to Little House on the Prairie in no time flat.

James Patterson, Gone

A CRIME LORD IS ON THE LOOSE-AND HE’S DECLARED WAR ON DETECTIVE MICHAEL BENNETT’S FAMILY.

Manuel Perrine doesn’t fear anyone or anything. A charismatic, ruthless strongman, Perrine slaughters rivals as effortlessly as he wears his trademark white linen suits. Detective Michael Bennett is the only U.S. official ever to succeed in putting Perrine behind bars. But now Perrine is out-and vows to find and kill Bennett and everyone dear to him.

Bennett and his ten adopted children are living on a secluded California farm, guarded by the FBI’s witness protection program. Soon Perrine begins a campaign of assassinations, brazenly slaughtering powerful individuals across the country. The FBI has no clue where Perrine is hiding or how he is orchestrating his attacks. It is forced to ask Bennett to risk it all-his career, his family, his own life-to fight Perrine’s war on America.

With intensity, speed, and explosive action rivaling James Bond movies at their best-and featuring one of the most complex and chilling villains ever created-GONE is the newest astounding novel by James Patterson.

Review of Once Brothers, now on Goodreads Giveaway

My lovely hubby has written another book review for me. This one for Once Brothers. Don’t forget that I currently have a giveaway running for a signed copy of Once Brothers on Goodreads!

Reblogged from http://flamestr.blogspot.ca/2016/03/b...

Growing up, I was taught to stay away from the gangs and wild kids. Which was not to hard for me to do, because we did not have to deal with gangs in my day. Back then, we mostly got around by dinosaur, but I digress. For this reason, when I started reading Once Brothers, I was wondering how much I was going to hate these kids.  Much to my surprise, I found the exact opposite

The biggest lesson I learned from reading this marvelous book was the old saying you can never judge a book by its cover. In reality, we never know the real reason a homeless kid goes astray. Do you know what going on with those kids? What made those kids make the decisions they made?

I found myself in a predicament reading the book of being furious with the characters one moment and feeling sorry for them the next. Take Jacob for instance. Having a father who is a policeman is bad enough. Being constantly in the spotlight with so much pressure to be perfect. But Jacob had a much darker secret in his life. He has a smaller brother, Nicholas, who he has to take under his arm thanks to his abusive father. Jacob, a fifteen-year-old, was being forced to be a man much too young.  Jacob was looking anywhere for protection, to get away from his father. But can he leave his brother with his dad? His decisions lead to gang life. Can he get out? Can he save himself and his brother?

Deke is out on his own. He has no family, no one to look up to. No one to look to for answers. Where will he go who can he trust? How will he survive day to day? Future goals like education aren’t even his priority. He first has to survive from day to day. What kind of chance does Deke have when everything seems to be against him in an unforgiving world? Is the gang life the only answer?

Sammy is a ten-year-old who would love to have a mother who is not always drunk or stoned. He would like to come home just once without worrying if his mother is still alive. When he is confronted by a gang who want him to be a courier, how is suppose to say no? Sammy has to make some tough decisions. Will they be the right ones?

Pam brings these kids to life in her thought-provoking novel. She makes you realize that life is not always black and white. Quite simply, life is not always as simple as it looks. She makes you think that those kids in the gang might not have the luxuries that you I take for granted.

You will find yourself pulling for these children. She will have you on the edge of your seat until the end. You won’t be able to put this book down.

Book Promos – the Triple Threat!

I have all kinds of promos going on the next little while! Here are the three that you can get in on now:

Intersexion: Click to get the Kindle edition of Intersexion for free! (If you don’t have a Kindle, download the app on your phone or tablet, computer, or use the cloud app in your browser!)

Once Brothers: Click and enter to win a signed copy of the Once Brothers paperback. (Starts March 18.)

The Complete Aerial Adventures of Dave Dashaway: Click to buy all five Kindle books for Just $0.99. Great for homeschoolers and middle-school boys.

Tattooed Teardrops wins Top Fiction Book for Teens

A year ago, I was announcing to you that Ruby, Between the Cracks had won one of the 2015 Top Ten Best Books for Teens award put out by Library Services for Youth in Custody. Wow, how time flies! During the ensuing year, the committee requested copies of three of my books  for the 2016 award:

Tattooed Teardrops

June & Justin, Between the Cracks #2

Cynthia Has a Secret

And then the email arrived with regard to Tattooed Teardrops…

Your book won the award for top fiction title!  Congratulations!

Yes, you read that right, first place winner! Fantastic. As I posted back when they confirmed that Tattooed Teardrops had been nominated, I felt that Tattooed Teardrops was an even better book and better contender for the award than Ruby, Between the Cracks, and it looks like the Committee agreed.

More about the award…

In the Margins Book Award and Selection Committee, (ITM) a committee under the umbrella of Library Services for Youth in Custody (LYSC) strives to find the best books for teens living in poverty, on the streets, in custody—or a cycle of all three.  They identify quality, age-appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in urban, lockdown, homeless shelters and other non-traditional venues for teens living in the margins.

“This is our third year of highlighting self and small press published books that validate, illuminate and humanize those living in the margins. We bring true diversity to bookshelves and libraries by reading, reviewing, debating, soliciting teen feedback and awarding  honors for these titles,” says the Committee. “The majority of  our list may be unknown to you or have gotten little attention in traditional reviews, but are hits with our teens. This is  a statement for the need for more of us to look for and highlight diverse books.”

If you have contacts in your local library or junior high/high school, please make sure they see this list!

As with Ruby, I will be posting Tattooed Teardrops to Wattpad and they will be featuring it.

For schools and libraries that are ordering copies, Tattooed Teardrops is available through Ingram (softcover ISBN 9781926500294 and hardcover ISBN 9781926500409) and Createspace (softcover ISBN 9780993768750).

 

More books on the Top Ten Best Books for Teens list (these all look so good!):

BUTLER, Tewhan. America’s Massacre: The Audacity of Despair and a Message of Hope. – Top Non-Fiction Award!

Raise UP Media. October 2014. PB $19.99.

ISBN 9780692281826

Without making excuses for his past, Tehwan Butler articulately describes the growth of gang lifestyle in inner cities. Butler’s gift at persuasive storytelling is what helped him fill the ranks of the first Bloods on the East Coast. Now he uses that same gift to persuade others not to follow the same path.

CARTER, Alton. The Boy Who Carried Bricks:A True Story of Survival.

Roadrunner Press. March 2014. 196p. HC $18.95.

ISBN 9781937054342.

Growing up in a violent, neglectful environment Alton Carter left his family and faced even more horrifying experiences in foster care. Motivated to be a good father, Carter successfully graduated from high school and college. Carter’s straightforward description will resound with many youth who have faced a troubled homelife.

DEUTCH, Kevin. The Triangle: A Year on the Ground with New York’s Bloods and Crips.

Lyons Press. December 2014. 214p. PB. $16.95.

ISBN 781493007608.

Deutsch traces the violence and futility of the war between the Bloods and the Crips in the New York neighborhood known as The Triangle. A once peaceful community locked its doors and minds to the gunfire and bloodshed of the gangbangers who terrorized them in the gangs’ quest to control the drug trade and fight for the “twisted” rewards of respect, honor, and revenge.

FRANK, E.R. Dime

Simon Teen. May 2015. 336p. HC $17.99.

ISBN 9781481431606.

Thirteen year old Dime thought Daddy was different. She believes she has found the long sought-after love and support she needs. What she thinks she has, soon crumbles when she is told she now had to earn her stay and is sent to the streets to make her way. When she discovers a young 10 year old girl alone in a locked room with video equipment, she is finally shocked straight and can’t imagine what type of person could do something so heinous to a young child. Dime knows she has to get away, but does she have the strength to escape? Can she help the others?

KERN, Peggy. Little Peach.

Balzer + Bray. March 2015. 208p. HC $17.99.

ISBN 9780062266958.

When Chelle’s grandfather dies, she is faced with her mom’s drug addiction and the inappropriate sexual advances of her mother’s boyfriend. Would she be better off following her friend Erica to the place called the Pink Houses? She knows nothing about the city or the houses, she only knows she has a friend there. Hopefully she can find her.

LABOUCANE-BENSON, Patti. The Outside Circle.

House of Anansi Press. June 2015. 264p. PB $19.95.

ISBN 9781770899377.

In this powerful graphic novel, two First Nations siblings are given a chance to change their destiny. Pete and his younger brother Joey were raised in a neighborhood of gang and drug violence. When Pete is arrested and sentenced for murder, he discovers that his gang associates are now seeking out his little brother as a replacement.

LEWIS, Tony Jr. Slugg: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration.

Hanover Place Press. July 2015. PB $9.99.

ISBN 9780692431573.

When Tony Lewis Jr. was two years old, his father was a 19 year old drug kingpin, and a millionaire. They lived with all the trappings of wealth. But at age nine, Tony’s life descended into chaos when his father was arrested and sentenced to life. Lewis also survived the downward spiral after the arrest and the mental breakdown of his mother. In this book, Lewis includes page after page of insight and reflection about prison, choices, fatherhood, and connection.

ROSS, Richard. Girls In Justice. – Advocacy/Social Justice Award!

The Image of Justice. 2015. 192p. HC $29.95.

ISBN 9780985510619.

Ross’s photo-journalistic documentation of girls in America’s detention facilities features full color pages of a stark living experience seldom seen by the public. Each shockingly hard-hitting segment includes national statistics about girls in custody and short biographical stories of the girls in their own words. Short 3-4 page essays by contributors such as Leslie Acosta, founder and executive director of Girl’s Health and Justice Institute and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, round out the bleak picture.

VOLOJ, Julian. Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker.

NBM Publishing. May 2015. 128p. PB $12.99

ISBN 9781561639489.

This graphically formatted biography depicts the life of Benji Melendez, who in 1971 brokered one of the most successful gang truces in the South Bronx and Harlem area. As president of the Ghetto Brothers, he brought a stop to the violence that was tearing his world apart. Instead of gangs meeting in weekly war councils, he promoted planning sessions for weekly rap concerts which fostered the emergence of ’80s hip hop and a new style of dance called break dancing.

Excerpt from Intersexion

First draft of Proxy is finished! Look for it to be published later this year. I’m currently planning for my next Camp Nanowrimo novel, to start April 1.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules at Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along!

Since I just launched Intersexion and it is going to be free on Kindle this weekend starting Thursday (go ahead, write it down!) I thought I would share an excerpt for my Teaser Tuesday this week. Intersexion is a heartwrenching YA novel about identity and being true to yourself that will really make you think.

Don’t you dare cry. You’ll mess up your makeup. Let’s just say that someone did something for me once and I’m passing it along. Someday when your life is going better, you’ll help someone else. And that will be how you pay me back.

P.D. Workman, Intersexion

Taylor is a teen teetering on the edge of a steep precipice. Disowned by his family, living on the street, battling abuse and prejudice, he struggles to discover who he really is and how to carry on with life.

The last person you would expect to touch him is Roz, whose foremost identity is a Christian wife and mother. But her world is about to be shaken. Through all that happens, Roz understands she has to be there for Taylor, knowing he is only one step from despair and self-destruction.

—My heart went out to Taylor as he dealt with abuse and rejection. I had a hard time putting down the book because I couldn’t wait to see what happened.

—I think this kind of story needs to be told right now.

—I applaud you for creating such a book that was so near to my heart and one that could and did make me forget daily life.