Reader's Choice Books

Author Alle Wells Releases Railroad Man

2012-01-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

Rail Road Man is author Alle Wells second published book.

Mickey’s job with the railroad is the best gig going in north Georgia in 1933. He’s tall, dark, and handsome and has it made in the shade. Mickey found his true love at an early age and dreams of the perfect life they will share. He roams the speakeasies and clip joints of Atlanta, looking snazzy and ready for some action. The women call him Killer. He seeks the exotic creatures of the city and the wonders they hold. What Mick finds on a cold, dark night in a lowdown speakeasy changes his life forever. Forty-five years later, Mick wonders what happened.

Praise for Railroad Man:

I think that most people can relate to Railroad Man where life's dreams and disappointments meet somewhere in the middle. I highly recommend this book for any man who dreams of days gone by. Amazon Review.

This is a story of forbidden love in the 1930's. The conflict, drama, and surprising twists in this story held my interest. The characters are so real, I feel as if I know them. This fast moving, easy read held me tight until the end. Amazon Review.

The Author

Alle Wells writes Southern Fiction set in specific time periods. Genres may include Southern Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance or Human Interest stories. Each book tells the story of one life and how society, beliefs, and culture shape the outcome of that life. The reader may find a family member, a friend, an acquaintance or themselves in her characters. Her stories are like life: funny, tragic, romantic, happy, and sad. Choose one of her titles and find yourself or someone you know.

Alle’s first book, Lame Excuses, tells the story of a young woman’s blissful love for food that leads her to a bitter end. This story addresses the crippling epidemic of food addiction in the rural South.

The new era of self-publishing opened the door for Alle to pursue the dream of sharing her stories with the world. Other interests include supporting other Indie Authors, reading, yoga, bird watching, healthy lifestyles, and a vegetarian diet. Alle lives in North Carolina.

http://www.allewells.com

The Zombie Fallout Series by Author Mark Tufo

2011-12-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Zombie Fallout Series:

Zombie Fallout

It was a flu season like no other. With fears of contracting the H1N1 virus running rampant throughout the country, people lined up in droves to try an attain one of the coveted vaccines. What was not known, was the effect this largely untested, rushed to market, inoculation was to have on the unsuspecting throngs. Within days, feverish folk throughout the country, convulsed, collapsed and died, only to be re-born. With a taste for brains, blood and bodies, these modern day zombies scoured the lands for their next meal. Overnight the country became a killing ground for the hordes of zombies that ravaged the land. This is the story of Michael Talbot, his family and his friends. This is their story a band of ordinary people just trying to get by in these extra-ordinary times. When disaster strikes, Mike a self-proclaimed survivalist, does his best to ensure the safety and security of those he cares for. Book 1 - Of the Zombie Fall-Out Trilogy, follows our lead character in his self-deprecating, sarcastic best. What he encounters along the way leads him down a long dark road always skirting on the edge of insanity. Can he keep his family safe? Can he discover the secret behind Tommy's powers? Can he save anyone from the zombie Queen? - A zombie that seems by all accounts to have some sort of hold over the zombies and Mike himself. Encircled in a seemingly safe haven called Little Turtle, Mike and his family together with the remnants of a tattered community while not fighting each other, fight against a relentless, ruthless, unstoppable force. This last bastion of civilization has made its final stand. God help them all.

Zombie Fallout 2: A Plague Upon Your Family

This story picks up exactly where book one left off. The Talbot family is evacuating their home amidst a zombie apocalypse. Mankind is on the edge of extinction as a new dominant, mindless opponent scours in search of food, which happens to be non-infected humans.
In these pages are the journal entries of Michael Talbot, his wife Tracy, their kids Nicole, Justin and Travis. With them are Brendon, Nicole's Fiancee and Tommy previously a Wal-Mart door greeter who may be more than he seems. Together they struggle against a ruthless, relentless enemy that has singled them out above all others.

Zombie Fallout 3: The End.

Continues Michael Talbot's quest to be rid of the evil named Eliza that hunts him and his family across the country. As the world spirals even further down into the abyss of apocalypse one man struggles to keep those around him safe. Side by side Michael stands with his wife, their children, his friends and the wonder Bulldog along with the Wal-Mart greeter Tommy who is infinitely more than he appears and whether he is leading them to salvation or death is only a measure of degrees.

Zombie Fallout 4: The End Has Come and Gone

She is coming for you....

The Author

Amazon’s bestselling horror author Mark Tufo will be wishing ebook readers a Happy Holiday season with a free copy of his Zombie Fallout novel from 12/24/2011 to 12/31/2011.

Zombie Fallout has been on Amazons top 100 in horror since its release. It is followed up with Zombie Fallout 2: A Plague Upon Your Family, Zombie Fallout 3: The End and Zombie Fallout 4: The End Has Come and Gone, which are all on the top 100 in horror list.

All of Marks books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo and Diesel.

Zombie Fallout

M.R. Mathias Releases The Confliction–The Dragoneer Saga Book III and Confliction Compendium

2011-12-19T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hold on to your dragon! You’re about to journey through a brave new world of hearty survivors straight into a dragon riding, troll fighting adventure for the ages.

M. R. Mathias is proud to announce the official release date of The Confliction – The Dragoneer Saga Book III –AND– Confliction Compendium, an omnibus edition of the full Confliction cycle of books that will be an Amazon Kindle exclusive, and free to borrow from the Amazon lending library for members of Amazon Prime on December 23^rd.

The Confliction will be released in paperback just before Christmas. The eBook version is already available at your favorite eBook store, as are all of the other bestselling Dragoneer Saga books.

Confliction Compendium including The First Dragoneer, The Royal Dragoneers, Cold Hearted Son of a Witch, and The Confliction, as well as the first two Crimzon & Clover short stories, will be available for free borrowing and for purchase at Amazon the week before Christmas.

The Confliction - Dragoneer Saga III is the thrilling conclusion to the full Confliction cycle of Dragoneer Saga books. In this episode, The Dragoneers face the Sarax that were loosed in Book II - Cold Hearted Son of a Witch, as well as the rogue Druids of Dou, and something else that no one, not even the remaining Hazeltine Witches, expect.

Wild aerial antics, powerful magical attacks, a bit of love/romance, and a final conflict that ends in a breathtaking climax are just some of the thrills that await readers in this installment of the international bestselling Dragoneer Saga.

Don't blink your eyes, watch your back, and no matter what you do: HOLD ON TO YOUR DRAGON!

Praise for the Dragoneers Saga:

Mathias is an absolute pleasure to read. Unique storyline, fascinating characters and a fast paced novel that practically reads itself. The Royal Dragoneers easily lived up to the promise shown in the prequel. Lovers of fantasy everywhere this is a fresh, new talent with plenty of truly original ideas. Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to this book. -GoodReads Reviewer

Genuine, gritty, well-imagined, with pleasing reality and humor seasoning fantasy and fear, this second book fulfills all the promise of the first, and more, leaving me eager to move on to book three and glad I've had the chance to revisit the series. Amazon Reviewer

Praise for The Dragoneers Saga "The action is fast and furious, and the novel has the author's trademark twists on the traditional storyline and keeps one guessing where it will go. It is a fun book that I heartily recommend." -- Fantasy Book Critic

Mathias is a master at characterization. The dragons are magnificent in the story. The Royal Dragoneers is book one in the The Dragoneers Saga. The plot is action is fast, furious and never ending. The plot is intricately woven with twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing. The story has a mythical quality. Fans of fantasy will not want to miss this one. -Reader’s Favorite Book Reviews

M. R. Mathias is the author of the bestselling Wardstone Trilogy, The Dragoneers Saga, and the Crimzon & Clover Short Story Series. He lives in the Big Easy with his tweeting dog, Mr. Stubby Freckle Butt. You can follow M.R.'s tweets @DahgMahn.

http://www.mrmathias.com/Dragoneers.html

Book Review: Memory's Wake by Selina Fenech

2011-12-17T06:57:00.000-08:00

Fairies and Fantasy Pty Ltd (July 3, 2011)

978-0987151117

328pages

Looking for a young adult urban fantasy with enough adventure, romance, and page-turning excitement to keep even the most easily distracted teen captivated? Then look no further than Memory’s Wake by Selina Fenech.

Imagine being dropped into a strange world with nothing more than the clothes on your back. From the opening pages, this is our heroine’s reality as she finds herself in a land called Avall. Her body is bruised, she is confused about how she got there, and she cannot remember anything about her life, not even her own name. She meets a beautiful yet timid human named Eloryn who has the ability to cast magic spells.

Eloryn’s unauthorized use of magic has her on the run from the wizard hunters who will not rest until she is arrested. Despite her own predicament, Eloryn decides to help this lost girl with pink-streaked hair, piercings, and ripped jeans find her way home. First, Eloryn gives her the name Memory. Memory and Eloryn must learn to trust each other if they’re going to survive as there is no shortage of danger in Avall. The wizard hunters, fae, dragons, and even the King of Avall, all want a piece of Memory.

Roen, the son of a Duke, joins the group after a failed attempt to steal from the girls. Roen fills the role of the handsome prince to Eloryn’s beautiful princess. Playing the part of the mysterious stranger and love interest for Memory is Will. Fenech gives all four characters turns as the POV narrator to paint a clearer picture of who Memory is, and does a remarkable job of giving each character their own perspective and unique voice.

Fenech keeps us guessing throughout. There is non-stop action and new perils to keep readers hooked. Fenech has a knack for setting up cliffhangers at the end of each chapter to make sure we can’t put down her debut offering. The setting is vibrantly described and the writing flows well; however, it’s the character development that sets Memory’s Wake apart. Memory is a strong yet flawed, believable heroine. Young readers will easily identify with the problems she faces.

If the vivid description in this novel is not enough, the author has included dozens of her own skillful illustrations. The story is wrapped up with an ending that won’t disappoint and readers will desire a sequel. Frequent POV changes may distract some readers in the early chapters, but overall, this is an exceptionally entertaining novel that I would highly recommend to tweens, teens, and adults alike.

Available at Amazon.com

The author.

Born in 1981 to Australian and Maltese parents, Selina lives in Australia with her husband, her baby girl, an unnamed cat, and a lorikeet who’s far too clever. During her life Selina has found ancient Roman treasure, survived cancer, had knights joust at her wedding, been mugged for doughnuts, made a living as a visual artist, and shared her imaginary worlds in paintings and now in her novels.

http://www.selinafenech.com

Lori L. Otto is the Author of the Emi Lost & Found Series

2011-12-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

Her Books

Lost and Found

Nate Wilson has loved his best friend, Emi Hennigan, since the moment he met her, but he's spent the last thirteen years denying his attraction to her. As Nate tries to move on with another woman, Emi makes a surprising discovery about her own feelings. Will Nate and Emi find happiness together, or will their choices destroy the friendship they've been cultivating their entire adult lives?

Time Stands Still

A near-death experience leaves Emi Hennigan injured and confused, but it's a chance meeting with a man from her past that has her questioning everything she's believed in. Emi is stunned when Jack Holland reminds her of their one evening together in college. Will her heart forever be with Nate Wilson, her best friend and soulmate? Or will she find love with someone completely unexpected?

Never Look Back

In Never Look Back, the conclusion of the Emi Lost & Found series, Emi Hennigan continues her quest for a happy ending with a man who loves her unconditionally. When she receives some unexpected news, she realizes she may never be able to give Jack Holland everything he wants. If Jack wants to be with her, Emi will have to convince him that she is worth the sacrifices he'll be forced to make.

Praise for the Emi Lost & Found series:

“I really enjoyed this book! The author does a great job of drawing you in to the characters and their story- I found myself relating to each of them! Once I started reading I could not put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone, and cannot wait to start the next book in the series!” Amazon review

“Lost and Found takes readers on a journey of two people who are in search of love and companionship...something all of us long for. The author does an amazing job of crafting the characters throughout the novel, so much that you start to feel like you actually are friends with Emi and Nate. I love novels that are not predictable and have genuine voice and tone. The novel evoked true emotion and I didn't want to put the book down!! (I read the novel in one day!) I am eagerly awaiting the next book!” GoodReads review

The Author

After an exhilarating, collaborative writing project, Lori L. Otto had an idea for an original novel. The characters and their rich stories would keep her awake at night, and even with barely any sleep, she felt more alert and alive than she had in years. Her days off were spent in cafés, sandwich shops and bookstores, feverishly trying to get all of the details out of her head and onto paper.

In the spring of 2009, after a few months of writing, Lori decided to tweak one chapter from the novel-in-progress and enter it as a short story in the 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, where she was awarded Honorable Mention in the Mainstream/Literary Short Story category.

A year later, she completed a series of three novels, with the hopes of one day having them published. She is currently working on her next series and a screenplay!

The Emi Lost & Found series is available at Amazon.com

Lori L. Otto

Author AJ Gallant Releases Madman in the Mirror: a Story of Murder, Romance and the Paranormal

2011-12-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

Madman in the Mirror

What happens when a serial killer raises his child to be just like him?

Henry was brought up from an infant to be a serial killer just like his old man, but years later as he discovered that he perhaps wanted to turn away from the dark and into the light, it had become a complicated thing for a shattered mind.

Harold forced Henry to observe the act of murder in the mirror before he could even walk. He saw terrible things in that mirror, and now in fact the man in the mirror talks to him. He was never shown affection of any kind and driven insane at a young age.

Henry has a difficult time forming relationships with anyone, especially the opposite sex. Humorous conditions arise as he’s like a whale in a small pool, his fractured mind simply doesn’t fit.

It’s only when Henry takes a golden retriever pup from an abusive teen that he feels affection for the first time in his life. The dog does wonders for his self-worth. It makes him think that there just might be more to life than just killing.

Coming soon! Dracula: Hearts of Stone

First of the trilogy, available March 2012.

Dracula is a bit of a good guy and must emerge out of his suicidal funk to help save the word. It's a place where romance, magic and vampires coexist.

The Author

The writing spark was first initiated by reading the works of Harlan Ellison. A. J. Gallant is now inspired by such authors as Steven King, J. K. Rowling, Dean Koontz and many others.

The author resides in New Brunswick and is at work on a new Dracula series, with magic, romance, and the battle to save humanity. The first of the vampire trilogy should be available in the first quarter of 2012. Formerly a writer of screenplays, Madman in the Mirror is A. J. Gallant's first novel.

Praise for Madman in the Mirror:

Fascinating peek in the mind of a serial killer

"A highly engrossing tale, "Madman in the Mirror" is a story about a man - Henry Johnson - who is raised by a psychopath and forced to watch - even as a baby - his father murder people on a regular basis. He is also abused and brainwashed, turning him into a sociopath. Henry stalks and murders people efficiently - he tells himself that he may be a killer, but he doesn't want people to suffer. He is haunted by hallucinations, including a specter in his mirror that talks to him." Amazon Review

A Most Imaginative and Brilliant Book

"A very unique and well written book- MADMAN IN THE MIRROR is on a class by itself- and that is a very impressive class at that- A.J. is a master at creating word images that remain with the reader long after the book is finished- the true sign of a great writer" Rick Friedman, Founder The James Mason Community Book Club

MADMAN IN THE MIRROR

Award Winning Author Jennifer Chase Releases Dark Mind - An Emily Stone Novel

2011-12-08T22:48:00.001-08:00

Dark Mind

Vigilante detective Emily Stone continues her covert pursuits to find serial killers and child abductors, all under the radar while shadowing police investigations.

Emily searches for an abducted nine-year-old girl taken by ruthless and enterprising slave brokers. Following the clues from California to the garden island of Kauai, she begins to piece together the evidence and ventures deep into the jungle.

It doesn’t take long before Emily is thrown into the middle of murder, mayhem, and conspiracy. Locals aren’t talking as a serial killer now stalks the island, taking women in a brutal frenzy of ancient superstitions and folklore. Local cops are unprepared for what lies ahead. In a race against the clock, Emily and her team must identify the killer before time runs out.

The Author

Jennifer Chase holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master’s degree in criminology. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling. She’s a member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists.

She is a freelance writer, award winning author, and a criminologist. She has published four thriller novels and one screenwriting workbook. She currently resides in California and is working on her next book.

5 Stars for DARK MIND

Reviewed by Rita V for Readers Favorite

“Jennifer Chase does not disappoint in this remarkable mystery murder novel. The plot is well thought out and the chapters flow nicely from one subject to the next. The descriptive words and the use of imagery immerses the reader directly into the story among serial killers and evil perpetrators. The tension build-up blew me away as I could not put down this novel because I was so entwined in the mystery and suspense. I felt as if I was right by Emily and Rick’s sides as they put the puzzle pieces together in tracking down a sadistic serial killer. This book had me on the edge of my seat in fear and contains many twists and turns that I had not seen coming. I absolutely love a great mystery murder novel and could easily see this novel turned into a television series or motion picture movie. I highly recommend this book for all avid mystery readers and am greatly looking forward to the next novel written by Jennifer Chase.”

Praise for the Emily Stone Thriller Series:

“A top notch mystery-thriller of a read.” Midwest Book Reviews

“The tension, twists, and turns are perfect!” G.A. Bixler, IP Book Reviewer

“A deftly crafted piece of writing!” Simon Barrett, Blogger News Network

“Chase is at the top of my author list!” Readers Favorite

“Comparable to the likes of Lawrence Sanders’ Deadly Sins Series” Bengal Book Reviews

“A fascinating story of serial murderers, pedophiles, and the one amazing woman who is able to bring them all to justice.”

http://www.authorjenniferchase.com

Dark Mind is available at Amazon.com

MR Mathias Reveals The Cover Design For The Wizard And The Warlord The Wardstone Trilogy Book Three

2011-11-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

M.R. Mathias is proud to reveal the cover design for The Wizard and the Warlord – The Wardstone Trilogy Book Three. Book One - The Sword and the Dragon, has been in the Amazon Kindle Fantasy/Mythology charts for over 18 months and counting, and Book Two - Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools, has been in those same charts since its release in July 2011.The Wizard and the Warlord will bring Gerard and Hyden’s story to a climactic conclusion. This final installment of the trilogy is scheduled for paperback release in July 2012. The eBook version should be available a little sooner.

Sandara of DeviantArt.com rendered the image of the baby red dragon sitting in its mother’s lap, while Gary V. Tenuta of www.BookCoversAndVideos.webs.com turned the work into the wonderful cover you see here.

If you are familiar with the story then you will know who the young hatchling in the image is. If not, maybe you should pick up The Sword and the Dragon and find out for yourself.

Accolades for The Wardstone Trilogy:

5 stars - By Dr. Jamal

I have read many a dragon novel in my time. But none compare to Mathias' The Sword and the Dragon. The personal character development and attention to detail are so rich, that you are literally sucked into this novel. This massive work of a masterpiece will be glued to your hands and mind. One of the greatest novels I have read in a long time. A must read for any and all interested in the lives and times of dragons.

5 stars - Great Read

I enjoyed this one so much that I purchased the author's 'Dragoneer' series. I honestly don't know which I enjoyed more. I am eagerly awaiting the next one.

5 stars - Loved it!

This book is intense. It has suspense, romance, heartache, action, and magic. It's an incredible story that will keep you on your toes. :) I can't wait for the next one!

5 stars - Phenomenal!!!

The next epic adventure of our time! If you like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy you are gonna flip for this! M.R. Mathias's storytelling prowess is on full display here taking you on an adventure into a land you will not soon forget or want to leave. I am chomping at the bit for part two! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for allowing us to be part of yours and their world!

***A note to all fantasy fans:

Book One – The Sword and the Dragon (eBook version only) is available at Amazon and B&N for just $1 until Thanksgiving. That’s 700+ pages of pure epic fantasy for just a buck.

MR Mathias.com

Win A Kindle In Time For Christmas!

2011-11-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

How would you like to win a Kindle? Perfect for yourself, or you could use it as a Christmas gift! Here's how:

Read and review any of Renee Pawlish's books (except Take Five) and let Renée know where the review is posted (Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads).

Join the email list. Sign-up on her website www.reneepawlish.com

That's it! Read a book and win a Kindle!

Contest Rules:

Reviews and email sign-up must be completed by December 9, 2011. Previous reviews of another book do not count, sorry.

By entering you agree to participate in a fan interview that will be featured on Renée's website, blog, and Facebook fan page.

Winner will be announced the second week of December. The Kindle should ship in time for Christmas.

Here are the Amazon links to the books (ebook links but there are paperbacks for Nephilim and This Doesn't Happen In The Movies)

http://www.amazon.com/Nephilim-Genesis-of-Evil-ebook/dp/B0053DUCVG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321403293&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Doesnt-Happen-Ferguson-Mystery-ebook/dp/B005DJHWRW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1321403293&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Estate-Rip-off-Ferguson-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0061HSJ4A/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1321403293&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.com/Sallie-House-Exposing-Within-ebook/dp/B005UJQZMS/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1321403293&sr=8-8

More Info at www.reneepawlish.com

Nicholas A. Rose is the Author of the Ilvenworld Fantasy Series

2011-10-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Nicholas A. Rose has been an avid reader for most of his life and a writer for almost as long. He is the author of the ilvenworld novels and novellas.

He enjoys anything to do with the sea, the outdoors and mountains, all of which he finds inspirational, and the rather more sedentary pastimes of chess, photography, real ale, reading and, of course, writing.

His books.

Markan Throne

Two rival claimants to the empty Markan Throne meet in battle. When Marcus Vintner defeats his cousin Branad, it seems the matter is settled. But Marcus is implicated in a murder and his claim to the throne is suspended.

Zenepha, an intelligent and literate sylph, is plunged into the depths of Markan politics when he is thrust, unwillingly, onto the throne.

Hingast, a third claimant, is also traveling to Marka, determined to press his claim and prepared to use force to get his way.

Marcus must prove his innocence before it is too late and the throne again falls into abeyance.

Markan Empire

New enemies plot, old enemies wait, and only a sylph stands in their way.

Cleared of all wrongdoing, Marcus Vintner is eager to press his claim to the Markan Throne. But he must first convince the Senate that it is time to replace the sylph-emperor. Zenepha has however proved himself an excellent monarch and the Senate is reluctant to push him aside.

Hingast's army still waits in the west, plotting a fresh assault, and a new threat has risen in the east. Nobody in Marka is certain of Re Taura's plans, so Neptarik and Balnus are sent to learn what they can, where spies have an unfortunate habit of getting killed. They must learn Re Taura's intentions quickly, because Marka cannot fight a war on two fronts...

Markan Empire is the sequel to Markan Throne.

Gifted Apprentice

Sallis ti Ath lies seriously ill and only a touch-healer, usually the preserve of the wealthy, can save his life. But when Elvallon heals the sick boy, he reveals that Sallis is Gifted, one of the few born to touch the power that allows the universe to exist.

But the boy's skills turn out very different from anything Elvallon expected.

Markan Empire by Nicholas A. Rose (A Sample Taken from the Prologue of Markan Empire)

Even snug in the folds of her cloak, Silmarila wished the late winter wind would ease its chill blast. Carts and sedans queued, patiently waiting their turn to enter Marka. She waited with them on the narrow road into the city, wanting to draw no attention to herself. Many less patient than she walked past and ignored choice comments thrown their way by those less mobile than themselves.

She smiled wistfully at the huge pyramid dwarfing the city, a giant ruby light-crystal at its apex. Those seeing Marka for the first time stared more at this feature than any other and she overheard their awed murmurs. The city was impressive, but the pyramid overwhelmed it, dating from a time when much knowledge, now lost, abounded.

Mounted guardsmen rode down the line to break up a fight a little further along. One glanced at Silmarila; he eyed her walking staff and tried to see into the cowl of her cloak. Then he was past and she was forgotten.

Many fighting men eyed her walking staff with respect. They knew a quarterstaff when they saw one. She'd had no call for it on her journey, but these were troubled times.

"All right, that's enough!" One of the guardsmen tried to break the fight up. "Enough, or your time in Marka will be spent in a cell."

The queue surged forward before halting again after a few steps. Many were travel-worn family groups, drawn by the offer of free land. Some might even be farmers and their families.

Silmarila wondered how much "free" land was left and of what quality. Although for very different reasons, the rumors that lured these people were the same that brought her to Marka. She had no need of free land. She looked towards the city gates.

Marka had an emperor again.

Rumor that two claimants to the vacant Throne had been called to Marka caught her attention and stirred her to action a year before. She left her comfortable village to return home and hopefully reclaim her rightful place.

More rumors followed hard on the shirttails of the first. One claimant had defeated the other; one had murdered the other after the battle; a general had gone berserk and murdered both claimants... Silmarila could hardly wait to learn the truth.

There were always rumors, but these were many and too fast to be other than truth, even if embellished.

"Break it up, I'm telling you!" The scuffle had broken out again. "Any more and you're arrested. All of you!"

She was already on the road when she heard the whisper of a no longer vacant Throne. She had initially discounted what the rumor said; she had laughed at such a ridiculous notion. A sylph on the Throne? A sylph, ruling humans? But the nearer she came to Marka, the more persistent the tale and, now she was here, she had no alternative but to accept it as truth.

When stories of the siege reached her, she almost turned back. She had never flinched from advising it when necessary, but she hated war. All that suffering and pain and hunger and grief.

Then other stories came.

There was an ilven in Marka. She hadn't seen one of the sisters for, for... Well for longer than she cared to remember. But it was not the ilven who pulled her onward. There was also a young gwerin. A baby gwerin with no idea what was expected of her, alone and in need of schooling.

She shivered as the wind chewed through her cloak.

The city walls were more or less as she remembered them, with a repair needed here and there after last year's siege. Most buildings that poked their upper levels above the walls were different, but some familiar edifices loomed benignly toward her.

The only constant in life is change. She smiled as she recalled her tutor's words. Sometimes it came slowly and sometimes it seemed as though change had ground to a halt, only to rush forward like an avalanche in winter. It was inexorable, but blind and not all was for the better. She wished change would affect this damned wind. In early spring, the Markan winter clung tenaciously to its empire, spiting nature's attempts to drive it away.

She grimaced at the human remains hung in a cage above the gate, picked white by carrion and weather. The placard announced to the literate that these were some of the remains of Hingast, failed invader of Marka. He was not the first to fail to take the Jewel of the World and she doubted if he would be the last. Some rumors claimed Hingast was still alive.

She pushed the cowl of her cloak back to show her face to the guard at the gate. He gave her a once-over before nodding her through. He had no reason to deny her entry, even if he knew who and what she was. Especially if he knew. She passed through the gate and into the city.

She took a deep breath, she was home.

Though the trees that lined the center of the main road were new, the streets followed a familiar layout. The bustle of Marka at work was the same and she was certain of the way to the Imperial Palace.

Sylphs thronged the crowd, as numerous as ever. If any recognized what she was, they gave no sign of it, but Silmarila increased her pace anyway. She sensed the end of her journey while drinking Marka's sounds and scents, all so painfully familiar she knew she had missed them.

Another corner and she was there.

The Coronation Building was the same; she would be shocked if that had changed. She grimaced at the ugly warehouse, built a good time ago to judge from the state of it. That would never have been allowed in Emperor Evlander's day. She left Senate Square and the Imperial Palace was before her.

Nicholas A. Rose

Book Review: Cold Hearted Son of a Witch by M.R. Mathias

2011-10-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Cold Hearted Son of a Witch – Dragoneers Saga Book II – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

‘The Crown Prince lay peacefully, as if asleep, inside the currently green-colored magical field. He was afflicted with the Goblin King’s poison, a terrible stuff that had maddened and then slowly corroded from the inside out anyone who’d breathed it. If the stasis failed before an antidote was concocted, he would surely die. Jenka knew Herald was right about what had to be done, but that didn’t relieve the urge Jenka was feeling to just ignore common sense and keep his word by saving his fellow Dragoneer.

The Dragoneer’s Lair, as the hall was now called, was an intensely morbid place. Queen Alvazina was often found there arguing with her husband or weeping over her son’s body. Like Mysterian, she was a witch of the Hazeltine, and she fully understood the magnitude of the situation. She knew Richard’s life hung in the balance, and that there was no certainty about the antidotal potion Mysterian hoped to brew. Her sorrow seemed to sap the hope out of some of the others, thus the hall was sometimes the quietest place in Mainsted.’

In his first book, Mathias introduced us to Jenka De Swasso, Rikky Camille and Zahrellion, along with their dragons Jade, Silva and Crystal. He took us through the battle with the Gravelbone and the poison that put Prince Richard into his state of suspended animation. We saw King Blanchard and Linux change places for the benefit of the war. We also learned the prophecy of what is called the “Confliction” that will be fought by 10 – 5 Dragoneers and 5 dragons. But what is the “confliction” and who are the other 2 Dragoneers? Where will they come from? Where will the battle take place? Will the antidote, once brewed and administered to Prince Richard, counteract the poison and bring him back to help fight in the confliction? And will Linux and the King finally make the switch back into their own bodies?

It didn’t take me long to read M. R. Mathias’ first book. It was packed with action, excitement, suspense and a little humor now and then, making it a fast enjoyable read. When I read his second book in this series Cold Hearted Son of a Witch, I expected more of the same. Well, he didn’t disappoint me. It has everything that the 1^st book had and more.

I’ve never been a big fan of fantasy books but this author is changing that. He could carry this book into a series of 10 and I’ll read, and am sure, enjoy every one. I love reading this series.

Amazon.com

Book Review: An Uncommon Family by Christa Polkinhorn

2011-10-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

An Uncommon Family – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

“Mama?” she whispered. She saw the woman only from behind, but the bounce in her step, the long, reddish-blond hair flowing down her back, swaying left and right, the tall, slender figure – it must be her mother. She tossed the rest of the ice cream into the trash can, got up, and ran after the woman. “Mama!” she called as the woman got ready to cross the street. The light turned from blinking red to solid red, just as the woman reached the other side. Karla rushed after her, barely aware of the honking around her or of the shrill warning bell of the blue-and-white streetcar. She heard someone yell at her but by then she had arrived at the other side. The woman was walking along the river toward the Lake of Zurich. “Mama, wait!” Karla bumped into someone. “Watch it, kiddo.” A man stepped aside. “Mama…” The woman finally turned around and looked back, scanning the people behind her, then walked on. Karla stopped dumbfounded. It as the face of a stranger.

Six year old Karla is devastated when she realizes the woman she followed wasn’t her mother. The disappointment she felt when finding out she had been mistaken brought her to her tears causing her to fall and skin her knees. Jonas Bergman was walking by at that time and helped the little girl up and tried to ease her pain until her Aunt Anna made it to her side. When Karla explained that she thought the lady was her mother, Anna had to explain to not just her but Jonas as well that her mother wouldn’t be coming back. Karla’s mother and grandmother had both been killed in a car accident. This was something that Karla knew but wasn’t ready to accept.

After her sister and mother were killed, Anna took custody of Anna. She was a single woman with memories of a happier, yet devastating time when she was younger. Twenty years ago she was married to a wonderful man and living in New York. Live couldn’t be better. But it could be worse and that’s exactly what it became.

Jonas was a widower. The love of his life had died of cancer leaving him with an emptiness that no one would ever fill again. His life now consisted of his art work and teaching. And after seeing some of Karla’s work, he knew she would be a master student.

Now, can you take 3 very lonely people and make them into one happy family? Can you take the lack of trust from a woman that has been hurt so badly that she swore to never trust another man and turn her into a loving companion? Can you take a man who spends his free time talking to his deceased wife as if she is there and convenience him to take a step toward healing and happiness? This is what Karla and her best friend Maja plan to do.

An Uncommon Family was an extremely heart touching book. When I read a book to review I normally make notes or post stickies on pages marking events I want to remember. I didn’t do that with this book. I didn’t have time. I became so engrossed that I turned page after page and forgot the notes. This is a truly beautiful story about love and the loss of love.

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Book Review: Legends of Tsalagee by Phil Truman

2011-09-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

Legends of Tsalagee – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

“One day I was out looking, as I did pretty regular back then. It was in November. A rainstorm had come through the night before and left it cold and damp. The woods dripped, and dark thick clouds still filled the day. Anyway, I was climbing up the side of this wooded hill. My feet kept slipping on the thick fall of wet leaves, and I had to grab saplings as I went so’s not to slide down the hill. All of a sudden, this feeling come over me that I was being watched, so I stopped and looked around. Didn’t see a thing. I then noticed how quiet it had gotten. Now in November in the woods around here you don’t hear a lot anyway, but this was beyond that. No birds, no wind, no nothing. It was down right spooky. And things just didn’t smell right. I tell ya, I’ve done a fair amount of hunting in these woods, and when a bear or a cougar or bobcat came around, I knew it; even came up on a small pack of wolves once. But this wasn’t like them times. Something in the woods was watching me that day, and I had no idea what. What I did know was that a little voice inside was yelling at me to skedaddle. So that’s what I did, and I ain’t gone back to look for that treasure since. Don’t really care about that sort of thing any longer, though. I figure I’ve got all I need right here. I wouldn’t know how to act if I’uz rich, anyway.”

In 1889, the famous outlaw Belle Starr was killed. Rumor had it that she had a rather large stock of money and gold hidden, which had been acquired through her robberies, but where? Her son Ed knew where it was stashed so after his mother was killed, he divided it between his sister and lit out before the law decided to pin the murder on him, of which he just might be guilty. Belle Starr lived - and died in Younger's Bend on the Canadian River, near the town of Eufaula, OK. After her 'death' Ed decided to ride up further northeast into the Cherokee Nation where the town of Tsalagee is located. There he met Ned Starr and settled down. But in the back of his mind he still felt the law was looking for him. He decided the best thing for him to do was to not spend any of his mother’s money but to hide it somewhere instead. Thus, the legend of the Belle Starr Treasure took on its beginning.

It turns out that the Starr Treasure wasn’t the only legend floating around the area. The Choctaw and the Cherokees had a legend of their own. All the way back to 1850, the tribal stories of a large hairy man-beast roaming the woods and hills was passed on generation after generation. The Choctaw called him “Hill Man Who Yells at Night” while the Cherokee called him “He Who Lives in the Hills” with the name later being shortened simply to “The Hill Man.” They also believed that the Belle Starr treasure was cursed and protected by the Hill Man. But of course, that didn’t stop many a man from striking out with the desire to find this famous treasure, town’s people included.

Once in a while I’ll read a book that simply hits me as being Great! This is one of those books. In the beginning you have your traditional murder prompted by greed giving the book a bit of “catch me if you can” but the more I read, the more I had to remind myself that there was a murder. The characters are so down-to-earth, even the bad guys. They are comical as well as serious. Author Phil Truman has created characters that I will never forget. He even has me believing in the “Hill Man.” I couldn’t get enough of this book and really hated to have it end. It left me wanting more!

2011

Deadly Niche Press

ISBN #978-0-937660-95-9

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New Release: Cold hearted Son of a Witch by MR Mathias

2011-09-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Author M. R. Mathias announces the release of the long awaited Dragoneers Saga Book II Cold Hearted Son of a Witch.

Print and eBook versions are now available.

The First Dragoneer, a 43-page novella, available FREE almost everywhere online, begins with just a small part of the grand tale.

The Royal Dragoneers is the first full length novel of the saga. It was deemed a top indie release of 2010 by esteemed Fantasy Book Critic, and it was featured in the first ever Publishers Weekly - "Indie Showcase."

Now, Book II - Cold Hearted Son of a Witch brings The First Dragoneer and The Royal Dragoneers together. Zahrellion and Rikky and their dragons go on a quest to find the special mushrooms Mysterian needs to save Prince Richard from Gravelbone’s poison. Meanwhile, Jenka and his loveable dragon, Jade, escort the King's Rangers back to Kingsmen's Keep. When Jenka and the half-elvish mute, Lemmy, find a map at the Temple of Dou, they follow it and find more trouble than they bargained for. Ultimately, the five Dragoneers come together as they are forced to stand and face a terrible threat that is only just revealing itself. Mathias' fans will find grim and pleasant surprises in this novel-length action fantasy. The best surprise of all is that The Dragoneers Saga Book III - The Confliction will be available for Christmas 2011.

Reviewers respond to The Dragoneers Saga

Mathias is a master at characterization. The dragons are magnificent in the story. The plot is action is fast, furious and never ending. The plot is intricately woven with twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing. The story has a mythical quality. Fans of fantasy will not want to miss this one.

The author draws you into his fantastical vortex from the first chapter of The First Dragoneer and you are compelled to read on whether you want to or not. The characters are believable and engaging. It's obvious to me he either researches a lot or is very knowledgeable in archery, hunting and just plain survival. I left feeling I learned a thing or two. I highly recommend this pre-cursor to 'The Royal Dragoneers.'

M. R. Mathias is the author of the bestselling Wardstone Trilogy, The Dragoneers Saga, and the Crimzon & Clover Short Story Series. He lives in the Big Easy with his tweeting dog, Mr. Stubby Freckle Butt. You can follow M.R.'s tweets @DahgMahn.

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Book Review: For Every Action There Are Consequences by Gail M Baugniet

2011-09-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

For Every Action There Are Consequences

– Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat and Think With Your Taste Buds – Desserts

‘Back in my office, I set Jed’s report aside and turned my attention to the witness statements. Neighbors had reported loud noises and shouts coming from the only bungalow in the cul-de-sac. According to a neighbor two houses down, everyone knew about the constant arguing. One statement quoted a woman at the top of the cul-de-sac as saying, “Liticia Tuarence often accused her husband of passing judgment on her. I saw the police arrive more than once when things got out of hand. We went out of our way to ignore the squabbles. This time was different, lots of banging and profanity.” I reread the remark about “passing judgment” and wondered if the woman had chosen the phrase herself or is she’d only repeated Liticia’s words. According to Jed, Wes Tuarence admitted he’d stabbed his wife multiple times though he offered no explanation for his actions and refused to make any further comment. The snapshots stapled to the file told me far more about the man than any written statement ever could. White borders around the photos drew my attention to the gruesome details of each knife wound, giving me a measure of the hatred this man must have harbored.’

Pepper Bibeau is an insurance investigator for Early Settlers Insurance Company. Her boss “Sully” Sullivan has just assigned her to not one but two cases that will take her to Chicago to hopefully solve. The first case is a claim filed by a Doctor Patel who has filed claims for five members of the same family. Due to the heredity of the children’s illness, sickle cell anemia, the probability was that the claim was correct. But due to the lack of blood and other lab work, it became Pepper’s job to check out the claim.

Her second assignment in Chicago came in the form of a favor to Sully. There had been an insurance policy taken out on Liticia that listed her husband as beneficiary and an orphanage as second in line. Sully’s hopes were that Pepper could turn up something, anything, that would help to convict Wes Tuarence of murder and not allow him to claim the proceeds. Sully personally wanted to see it go to the orphanage.

What should have been two simple cases taking just a few days to research ended up taking Pepper into the next week and almost getting her killed. But which case was the real threat? Were the insurance claims legitimate or was the doctor faking claims? Were Liticia and Wes Tuarence in over their heads in something illegal that caused them to flee Chicago or are they victims of the circumstances?

As the number of deaths increased, my list of suspects declined. At one point I really suspected it might be one of the “good guys” gone bad. Actually, I had that suspicion until the end. Was I right? You’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out.

2011

346 pages

CreateSpace

ISBN# 9781456522155

Larry Enright is the Author of Four Years From Home and A King in a Court of Fools

2011-08-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Larry Enright (1949- ) was born to Irish Catholic first‐generation immigrants and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After college, he moved to the Philadelphia area where for the past 40 years he has filled his life with many careers including teacher, musician, computer programmer, researcher, and writer. He has written three novels. "Four Years from Home" (2010) is his first published work.

His Books:

Four Years From Home

Tom Ryan — firstborn of five children in a large, Irish Catholic family, smart and acerbic, a cheat and a bully — calls himself the future king of the Ryans. There are other opinions. His mother calls him a holy terror. Mrs. Ioli calls the police on him. His father says that had Trouble been a saint, that would have been Tom's middle name. But his parents, neighbors, peers, and siblings all must bow down before him or suffer the consequences. Just ask the Christmas turkey leftovers he buried in the side yard.

Harry, the youngest Ryan, was the shining star of the family. Bright, sensitive, and caring, he was protected by parental radar, called by God and Grandma Ryan to the priesthood, and was in Tom's eyes, a brown‐nosing little punk who had become a threat to his kingdom and the primary target of his search and destroy missions.

Then Harry changed. He abandoned his vocation and quit the church, and when he left for college, he left for good. He never called. He rarely wrote. His picture disappeared from the mantle. It was as if he had ceased to exist and his shining star had been but a passing comet. The enemy had retreated and Tom's war was over.

"Four Years from Home" begins on Christmas 1972 during Harry's senior year at college. The Ryan family has gathered without Harry for another bittersweet holiday celebration. When an unexpected and unwelcome gift arrives, the family demands answers and Tom Ryan, bully cum laude, must make a reluctant journey of discovery and self‐discovery into a mystery that can only end in tragedy.

Written by the son of Irish Catholic immigrants, "Four Years from Home" redefines brotherly love in the darkly humorous and often poignant actions of its principal skeptic, Tom Ryan.

A King in a Court of Fools

First published as a free, serialized novel and soon to be available in paperback and e-book, A King in a Court of Fools by H. Ryan is the adventures of the anti-hero from Four Years from Home, Tom Ryan, as told by his brother Harry. Set in the 1950s, A King... is a nostalgic story of friendship, love, rivalry, and growing up. Suitable for ages 12 to infinity and beyond.

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

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Book Review: The Beautiful Evil by Robbi Sommers Bryant

2011-08-18T16:42:00.001-07:00

A Mind Blowing Experience

‘The Beautiful Evil,’ by author, Robbi Sommers Bryant, takes you on a trip down a long dark path through madness. Under the control of a domineering mother, added to the loss of her father, Constance fights the demons that lurk at every corner.

Ms. Bryant manages to weave a story of psychological suspense using characters that are disturbingly real, and distressing situations that while maybe the reader cannot relate to – will certainly sympathize with. The author asks, “How well do you know yourself?” We all have our inner demons – no question of that. It is how we react to our evil thoughts that are of great importance. Why are some of us able to control our demons and others not? What happens when the mind loses all sense of reality? Insanity.

Constance Sartone Jacobson is a young woman struggling to find her identity. Stripped of all self-respect, taunted, and mentally abused from a young age by the hands of her mother, she desperately searches for inner peace – but to no avail. Grieving for her deceased father for whom she had thought was a saint, she finds out even he was not without flaws. When she visits an antique shop, she is mysteriously drawn to a Greek vase. After a strange encounter with the shopkeeper – a peculiar recluse of sorts, she purchases the vase and retreats. Upon opening the vase, she sets free ‘Beautiful Evil.’

‘The Beautiful Evil’ is a riveting, hypnotic tale – one of which I believe its presentation is unique and genius. Bravo Ms. Bryant – Bravo!

Highly recommended by Reviewer by Barbara Watkins,

www.allbooksreviewint.com

Available at Amazon.com

The all new "Avid Reader’s Café" is Now Open!

2011-08-15T09:12:00.001-07:00

Looking for something different in your next book?

Independently published books offer reading experiences not found in mainstream publishing. Mainstream publishers only release books they believe will make them money.

Independent publishers work with authors who bring a unique voice to literature. Self-published authors don’t have agents and editors telling them what they can and cannot write. Self-published books have one limitation, the human imagination.

You will find mainstream published ebooks selling for Kindle and NOOK at $9.99 or more. Independently published books retail from 99 cents for these same eBook readers.

Open your reading world to independently published books and discover endless possibilities.

The Avid Reader’s Café features the best in indie and self published books. All titles are available in eBook format (Kindle/Nook) and most are print published.

All genres of fiction and non-fiction will be represented. Fifty to sixty books are featured here and the titles will change frequently.

Leave your thoughts at the Comments page or sign up for the Newsletter for a chance to win Starbucks and Amazon cards. Prizes awarded monthly.

The Avid Reader’s Café Great reads in store!

Covenant of the Faceless Knights by Gary Vanucci (Sample Sunday)

2011-08-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

Covenant of the Faceless Knights

by

Gary Vanucci

The orc bore down on him quickly and was only within a few arms lengths. He could see the beast’s teeth and drool spray from its mouth as it uttered some foul orc-speak. Elec waited calmly with his weapons drawn, but had not revealed them from beneath his cloak. As the orc reached his position, Elec nimbly dove down and to his left to avoid the brunt of the charge, all the while keeping his foot outstretched enough to trip the orc. The momentum of the beast’s charge took it headlong into the mountainside, sliding on the slippery slush a bit and smashing its helmet down around its eyes, looking a bit worse for wear.

Within a second, Elec was back to his feet, spinning hard and plunging his sword into the back of the creature, placing all of his body weight into the strike. He pierced flesh, but the blade stopped on something, most likely a rib, and therefore was not the killing blow he had hoped for. He cursed his luck, thinking the strike to be well placed. His frustration nearly cost him.

The orc howled in rage and pain and swung a back fist that would have taken off Elec’s head, had it not been for the combination of his sixth sense and the temporary, enhanced state of reactionary speed and reflexes that his elixirs granted him. Instead the blow merely grazed his face instead of crushing bone beneath it and he was able to roll with it. He regained his footing and stood again, shaking the sting of the impact from his mind. A sizable gash on his face was already starting to heal, due to an effect of one particular elixir coursing through his veins.

He waited for the creature to stand again and it straightened its helmet, growling and bleeding from the deep wound in its back. The orc regained its halberd and advanced again, more slowly this time, as orc blood stained the ground.

Elec whispered an ancient elven word under his breath and suddenly, he blinked out of sight and reappeared directly behind the orc. Its yellow eyes suddenly grew wide, contrasting with its dark skin as a rather long blade tip protruded through the front of its chest cavity. It went limp and dropped to the floor, revealing the visibly relieved elf holding Daegnar Giruth in both hands, its blade covered in orc gore.

Elec gave himself a silent congratulation as he acknowledged his victory. He mouthed a whispered thanks for the magic of the ring--it was one of many gifts that his uncle had given him over the years.

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Book Review: The Royal Dragoneers by M.R. Mathias

2011-08-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Royal Dragoneers – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘He saw that his bow was lying back where he had dropped it. His knife wasn’t at his hip either. Beyond the flames, he saw the shredded remains of the stag’s carcass. The dragon had torn half the meat away in only a few seconds. The trolls would have the rest of it, he figured. After they had him. A fist-sized rock slammed into his chest, knocking all of the wind from his lungs. Other stones followed and the primitive troll beasts soon went into a frenzied ritual of howling and savage fighting over feeding position. Luckily for Jenka, a well-thrown chunk of stone bashed into the side of his head and spared him from having to see himself being torn to pieces. All he could think of as he slipped into unconsciousness was that he would finally get to see his father, and he hoped his mother would never have to gaze upon what the trolls left of his body. After that was nothing but blackness.’

Sixteen year old Jenka De Swasso is out on a hunt in hopes of bringing fresh meat back to his mother. When he spotted the aging stag he knew he would have no problem bringing it down but the sun was setting which meant he would have to track the stag after hitting it with his arrow and spend the night trying to protect it, as well as himself, from the trolls that lived in the woods around his home of Crag. Jenka’s mother was Crag’s village kettle-witch, which meant she could cast spells and at times even heal. Jenka’s father, whom he was very proud of, had died while saving the king’s son Richard. With his father being one of the King’s Rangers, Jenka’s dream was to become one too. And if he could get his stag back to town, it might just give him an up on his training to serve the king. But, fate had it that the trolls would spot his fire and come in for the kill and the meal awaiting them. What the trolls didn’t expect was an emerald green dragon named Jade to come to Jenka’s rescue. The bond that formed between Jade and Jenka was eternal. Jenka would find that there were others who were bonded to the pure dragons and along with them they will sacrifice all to save mankind.

The Royal Dragoneers is a book of mystery, magic and love. It stresses the strength of love between man and his devoted friends and in this case his dragon. I must warn you though, The Royal Dragoneers is a very graphically visual book which should not be read by nor to young children. I see this as an adult version of Harry Potter. And since the story has come to no end, I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

2009

301 pages

No Good Like It Is by Mckendree Long III

2011-07-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

“No Good Like It Is” is Historical Fiction in which the protagonists, Lieutenant Dobey Walls and Corporal Jimmy Melton, meet and bond at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory in 1858. Book One follows their pre-war western service, then tracks them through their Civil War combat with the Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry’s Texas Rangers). They are part of the first and final cavalry charges of the Army of Tennessee, play a strange but factual role in the Fort Pillow Massacre, and ride with Shannon’s Raiders, nipping at Sherman’s flanks into the Carolinas.

With surrender of the Confederacy imminent, their regimental commander learns where Dobey’s long missing family is and orders the two men to “recon to the West,” in effect to head home before they can be ordered to give up their guns and horses. Book Two is the story of their trek from North Carolina to the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle. Trying to travel light and fast, they’re slowed by encounters with love-starved widows, smugglers, bootleggers, freed slaves and runaways. Then there are the murderous Home Guard, riverboat thugs, Union deserters, renegade lawmen, a drunken dentist, his prostitute assistant, pitiful refugees, and finally General Stand Watie and his Confederate Cherokees. From these run-ins, they assemble a small army of strays to accompany them ‘home.’ The rag-tag group arrives at Canadian Fort, Texas, just in time to drive off a Comanche attack on Dobey’s family.

This is a winding tale of violence and tolerance, of retribution and changing racial acceptance. It includes the humor that I found among men in my two years of combat, but is not so picaresque as “Little Big Man,” nor as black as “No Country For Old Men.”

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The Exiled Son by Mattius C.S. White

2011-07-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

The Guardian of Decay and the Guardian of Earth are at war. Only when the Guardian of Earth forges a powerful sword, the Luzblad, is there a weapon strong enough to restore order to the Earth, but as the gods clash, the spirit of one of the Guardians becomes trapped within the godly blood used to forge the sword. Darkness falls, and the secret of the Luzblad becomes lost in time.

Centuries later, the wayward son of a SangreLin prince must trace his past within the malevolent SangreLin Empire. When Tallic Shawen realizes that it is his SangreLin blood that allows him to harness the Luzblad’s power, he must embrace his dark roots in order to restore balance to the world. Years of slavery and battles with beasts and men harden Shawen into a formidable soldier, but when confronted with the power that lurks within the Luzblad, he must also face his own weaknesses. Though he will encounter many friends and allies during his journey, even more enemies will stand in his way. Only Tallic can stop the SangreLin Empire from thrusting the Freelands into an even darker age.

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Franki deMerle is the Author of Deception Past, Ripples on the Surface and Dragonfly Dreams

2011-07-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

Franki deMerle was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Huntsville, Alabama. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her name is on the Wall of Tolerance at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. She is a founding member of the Build the Dream Foundation, building a memorial to Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr in Washington, DC. She is a former professional musician and a retired civilian employee of the United States Army. Her hobbies include yoga, gardening, knitting, and, of course, music. As well as poetry and novels, she has also written music and songs.

Her Books:

Ripples on the Surface

Ripples on the Surface by Franki deMerle is a compilation of poetry written from 1969 through 2005. The author’s proceeds go directly to Global Partners for Development to help women in Uganda with HIV/AIDS start their own businesses. This enables them to provide for their families, send their children to school, and help break the cycle of poverty. The poetry itself is in the author’s own style, which disregards common punctuation, and deals with the author’s perceptions and emotions about life, Nature, and the human condition. This collection was self-published to avoid editorial intervention and as a fundraiser for women in Uganda with HIV/AIDS.

Deception Past

Deception Past by Franki deMerle is the story of a girl whose Catholic upbringing leaves no room for her past life. From her earliest memories, Sand Strasburg has known that the life she is living is not her first. Sand’s story is told by Brenda Campbell through the use of tarot cards. Though a generation apart, Brenda grew up as Sand’s neighbor, and both women’s lives are filled with pain and betrayal. As a friend of Brenda’s uncle, Sand is the only strong female role model in Brenda’s life. Sand grew up during the turbulence of 1960s Alabama. She takes in everything around her—the gender inequality, race riots and war protests—during her formative years. Along the way, she finds only a few close friends with whom she can share her past life memories. Her aunt’s death leads her family to discover a blackmail package involving local officials, illegal drugs and prostitution. Finally understanding her earlier premonitions, Sand is convinced that the fire that killed her aunt was no accident. The blackmail package disappears, which eventually leads to a further entwining of Brenda and Sand’s lives. Sand finally learns her past life identity only after it has been stolen by a former friend. She and Brenda are finally able to find peace in forgiveness and loving even those who seemed unlovable.

"Deception Past is a unique novel of reincarnation and past life identity theft told through tarot cards, as those involved learn to resolve betrayal with forgiveness."-New York Times

Dragonfly Dreams

Dragonfly Dreams by Franki deMerle is the story of two sisters and the man one of them falls in love with. Daphne ignores the dream she has on her wedding night and finds herself trapped in an abusive marriage. She dreams that there is a man somewhere who will truly love her and treat her with respect, but she doesn’t know how to find him. Thanks to the sacrifice made by a stray cat, she finally finds the courage to escape her abusive husband. Deandra, her sister and an army officer, sends a friend to rescue Daphne. He is a retired officer, and he turns out to be the man of Daphne’s dreams. When she meets him, the Major is preoccupied with his recent retirement. He and Daphne fall in love, and then she and Deandra discover their hidden pasts. Together, while living in the Pacific Northwest, they explore their past lives and what the past means for them in the present. This is a romance novel about dreams that connect us, dreams that come true, and dreams that reveal the past. “There are places we can only reach in our dreams while our bodies sleep.”

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Lor Mandela 400 Days by L. Carroll

2011-07-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

When Audril, the heiress to the Lor Mandelan throne, sneaks away to Earth to save one of her dearest friends, she finds that a power hungry tyrant from her own world has begun systematically obliterating towns and cities to get her to turn herself over to him.

On Earth, she meets a wildly eccentric old lady named Teedee Venilworth whose imaginary butler/fiancé supposedly holds the key to her success. But how can someone help if he doesn't exist? Could it be that creatures who dwell in shadow are not exclusive to Lor Mandela?

Book number two in the Lor Mandela Series, Lor Mandela – Four Hundred Days, is an action-packed whirlwind of intrigue and fantasy. Join the extraordinary characters from the first book, (both the good and the evil), as they traverse the haunted corridors of Alcatraz Penitentiary, travel via portal to an ancient castle on the cliff shores of Ireland, and meet a foreboding race of mystic warriors known as the Solom.

Soar on the back of a large horse-like creature to the Northern High Forests and discover that on the picturesque world of Lor Mandela, your friends can become foes, your enemies your allies, and just because someone dies, it doesn’t always mean that they’re dead.

Now available on Smashwords.com

CreateSpace

Book Review: Surviving the Fall by William Potter

2011-07-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Had me on the edge of my seat rooting for the protagonists--Reviewed by Donna M. for ReadersFavorite.com

James Goodal is living a life of isolation, solitude, and regrets. He sees his life as a failure and lives in a home that feels like a castle, a house that he dreamed would be filled with children and family. However, his wife and childhood sweetheart decides that she no longer wants the marriage, or the family they aspired for, and leaves Goodal with unfulfilled dreams and memories of better days.

Goodal's life takes a sudden turn when he rescues Ashley who was thrown from a speeding car. As an 11-year-old virgin, Ashley was alienated and isolated from society in the worst way possible. She was exploited in the sex trade market, sold for sex through the internet, so that her mother could purchase drugs and pay off her debt to the drug dealer she is in hock to. Now as a 14-year-old, Ashley's only goal is to save her own life. She makes a brazen attempt to escape this life by using the only thing she knows how to use, her sexuality. While Goodal is greatly tempted by Ashley's wiles, he tries to gather his wits and show Ashley that what was done to her was wrong; he manages with great difficulty to resist her temptations. Ashley's mother and step-father are in deep debt to their drug suppliers because they use more products than they sell; therefore, their lives are in danger. Their only hope of survival is to find Ashley (and a broach that is in her possession) to pay off their drug supplier and save their own lives.

This story has you on the edge of your seat as you root for Ashley to live a normal life and escape the wiles of her mother and for Goodal to hold true to his values and show Ashley that she really can live a normal life. This author has a healthy knowledge of human behavior and a natural talent with dialogue. This story had me on the edge of my seat rooting for the protagonists. It also brought tears to my eyes as I traveled with Goodal and Ashley who were both hurting and struggling to overcome their own personal life tragedies and bring normalcy to their lives.

Available at Smashwords.com

Amazon/Kindle

B&N NOOK

Apple/iBook Store

Book Review: The Covert Element by John L. Betcher

2011-07-13T10:07:00.001-07:00

Author John L. Betcher treats his fans to the third installment in the “Element Series” with his latest, The Covert Element. Betcher instantly hooks readers when he takes us back to 1985 as a US Army Ranger unit drops into the Mexican jungle to take down drug cartel bosses. Master Sergeant Juan Fuentes leads the well-trained and experienced team which includes a young Terry "Bull" Red Feather.

We find our hero, James “Beck” Becker in present day Red Wing Minnesota at the scene of a meth lab fire where 23 men of Mexican background were apparently murdered. Beck, a former Military Intelligence Agent, often aids Ottawa County's Chief Deputy Sheriff, Doug Gunderson in difficult cases.

Beck, with the help of his ex-CIA code cracking wife Beth, are able to use tactics not available to Gunderson and other law enforcement agencies and discover plans of Los Cinco--a Mexican-based drug cartel now setting up shop in Red Wing. Beck knows that taking down a drug cartel meth lab is a dangerous business. He looks to bring in his friend Bull Red Feather for the duration. However, Juan Fuentes is in town and has already recruited his former comrade-in-arms with a plan to blow up the lab. Beck has no interest in risking innocent lives with a bombing and hopes Bull will eventually agree.

Author Betcher has a knack with getting his main characters in and out of tight spots. Personally, I would have liked to have seen Beck kept in trouble a little longer, and perhaps see him vulnerable and fearful for his life and for that of Beth. Still, this is a well-plotted and exceptionally written and researched thriller. Betcher tells a convincing story and yet manages to keep the violence and coarse language to a minimum and thus ensures a wide and satisfied audience.

All the players are brought together as Betcher builds momentum and suspense for a satisfying ending that will leave you entertained and excited for the next episode. The book stands alone well, but I dare you to read this one without needing to quickly purchase The Missing Element (book 1) and The 19^th Element (book 2).

Highly Recommended by William Potter for Reader’s Choice Reviews.

Amazon/Kindle

Amazon Paperback

Barnes&Noble/NOOK

Where There Were No Innocents by Thomas Rowe Drinkard

2011-07-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Mack Brinson is a Green Beret Captain in Vietnam at the height of the war, 1967. He’s been selected to serve on the staff of MACV-SOG, the premier covert operations unit in Southeast Asia. His wife’s lawyer has sent him a divorce notice. He is a lonely man. His assignments have been less than exhilarating and he has been given a mundane task.

The end of the tedious task is anything but boring. He fights for his life in a Viet Cong attack. Excitement enough for anyone.

His loneliness soon comes to an end. Brinson meets a stunning Eurasian woman, Song. He finds love he’d never expected.

After his first combat experience, his command begins sending him on highly classified missions. He works with a SOG Recon Team on a wiretap mission along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.

As a result of his expertise in clandestine surveillance, Brinson becomes a marked man. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong put out orders to kill him. Song also becomes a target.

Brinson’s combat experiences include fighting in the streets of Saigon during the infamous Tet offensive.

Where There Were No Innocents is a true-to-life story of war written by a man who is a former Green Beret, who served with MACV-SOG.

Amazon.com

Barnes&Noble.com

Smashwords.com

Vickie Van Helsing by Solomon J. Inkwell

2011-07-10T00:46:00.000-07:00

Quiet Vickie Jenkins prefers to move invisibly among the student body of Rutgers High School along with her horror fanatic friend Kyle Cooper. Her only weakness is Rod Rainfeld, the handsome football captain who seems to have it all, except loyalty from his friends and acknowledgment from his father, Xavier, the self-proclaimed town benefactor.

Xavier has added a monster to his collection of antiquities. It is known by many names, but its most infamous title is DRACULA. Unfortunately for Vickie, he's neither sexy nor suave. As a matter of fact, he's pretty darn ugly!

Drawn by fate, the bloodlines are reuniting. Renfield, Murray--they are the ones who saved humanity, the ones whose diaries were purchased at auction in 1895 by a humble author in search of inspiration for what would be his ultimate masterpiece.

Vickie can run, but she can't hide from her unreal reality-the truth that will lead her to abilities she never knew she possessed, parents she never knew existed, and a battle to save humanity-and all before graduation! Who is she? The answers to the questions are flowing in the veins of VICKIE VAN HELSING!

Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

The Mark of Kane - A Thaddeus Kane Novel by LW Herndon

2011-07-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

Demons, sorcerers, immortals – a little evil goes a long way

Human sorcerers bent on power are disrupting the underworld with demonic possessions and L.A. with murders. Half-demon half-human, Thaddeus Kane is the bloodhound for his clan, charged with finding the sorcerers and destroying them. His personal rules have always been clear—save his clan, protect innocents, and survive. Solicited for help by a demon from another clan, Kane’s first instinct is to blow her off. Until she dangles his one weakness beneath his nose—a mortal threat to prophetic children. Loyalties stretched in his race to find pre-emerging Irins and wizards, Kane struggles to ward off the danger to his clan. His previously harried, but manageable, life now swirls with secrets, until one fatal shot changes everything he believed about his past, turning the table on enemies and allies alike.

Amazon.com/Kindle

Nate Rocks the World by Karen Pokras Toz

2011-07-07T05:24:00.000-07:00

Ten-year-old Nathan Rockledge cannot catch a break. After all, life as a fourth-grader can be hazardous what with science projects to deal with and recess football games to avoid. Everyone, including his best friend Tommy, seems to have bad luck when hanging around Nathan. Throw in an older sister who is a royal pain, a dad who is stuck in the past, and a mom who keeps trying to poison him with her awful cooking, and poor Nathan’s life as a fourth grader appears to be completely doomed.

Armed only with his sketchpad, his imagination, and his wits, Nathan Rockledge navigates the perils of the fourth grade in style, to emerge heroic, as Nate Rocks, proving that even a ten-year-old can accomplish great things.

Not all is lost however. Give Nathan a sketchpad and a pencil and watch as his drawings transform his otherwise hopeless life into heroic adventures as Nate Rocks. Time and again, Nate saves the day – winning The World Series, fighting evil forces to keep the world from darkness and even saving Christmas. When his sister nearly drowns while swimming in the ocean, Nate Rocks the World one more time, proving that even a ten year old can accomplish great things.

Follow the quirky and imaginative adventures of ten-year-old Nathan Rockledge as his cartoons come to life.

Amazon.com

Smashwords.com

Book Review: Dragonfly Dreams by Franki deMerle

2011-06-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Dragonfly Dreams – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Shortly before 2:30 AM, Daphne awoke from a vivid dream. She dreamt she was in Scotland and had just been widowed. Her husband had been murdered. It was some distant time in the past, and she was dressed in a long black gown with a stiff white headdress She could feel the tightness of her corset contrast the softness of her gown’s material on her skin. Richard was there, but other people in the dream were saying he was responsible for her late husband’s murder. She was confused and didn’t know what to believe. She had thought she could trust Richard, but a voice in the dream announced, “During the Protestant Reformation, these sides were divided.” As she wondered what that meant, Richard captured her and took her against her will to a castle, where he raped her. Then, when he left her alone with a woman companion to look after her, the two women escaped. They disguised themselves as men and used bed linens to climb through a window and down the castle wall. She was terrified. She and her companion rode across the nearby border to England, where they thought they would be safe. At first, when they told their story of what had happened, they were given sanctuary by kind people. But after about a week or so, word came to the household from the authorities that she was to be held as a prisoner again. She did not understand why. Then she was told that Richard had also fled Scotland and was also imprisoned, but in another country.’

Daphne Robin and her sister Deandra were both accustomed to strange dreams. Deandra has dreamed, since childhood, that she was a soldier with lots of brothers. In her dream she was a man and someone was beating her face in. Daphne’s dream about Scotland came shortly after her marriage to Richard Gatorman, owner of a construction company as well as Daphne’s boss. Scotland was a place Daphne had always wanted to go to so when the dream coincided with Richard announcing that they would be honeymooning in Scotland, she let her excitement override the possibility of a warning. But, Richard had always been the perfect mate. He was loving, caring and offered her everything she could ever want…so she thought. The honeymoon would turn out to be the beginning of her seeing the true Richard she had married. A marriage that she soon realized had been a big mistake. The only out for Daphne becomes sleep in which her dreams have her flying the skies with a handsome man. If it weren’t for her dream time she would probably give up on life itself.

Deandra, being an officer in the Army, enlists the help of her friend Major Ursa-Barrios to help Daphne escape the abuse being inflicted by Richard. Major, as he likes to be called, has had his own dreams over the years. In his dreams he would help a young lady and falls in love with her. Could Daphne possibly be the woman in his dream? Could Major possibly be the man in Daphne’s dreams?

As Deandra, Daphne and Major come together, they start searching for the answers to their dreams. Deandra wanting to know who the person getting their face bashed in is and who are the brothers. Daphne wants to know who the woman in Scotland could be as well as who she soars the skies with. And Major wants to meet the lady from his dreams.

Franki deMerle has done it again with a book of mystery, love and a certain air of suspense. The more I read, the more I wanted answers to the character’s dreams but I wasn’t really expecting what the dreams actually turned out to be.

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

2010

iUniverse

299 pages

ISBN# 978-1-4502-7244-5

Game 7: Dead Ball by Allen Schatz Releases in Print

2011-06-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

COMING JULY 1, 2011…

Game 7: Dead Ball – in PRINT!

Indie Writer Allen Schatz is pleased to announce the launch of the print version of his debut novel!

The eBook version has been rated 4- & 5-stars at Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and more…

“Allen Schatz, in his first novel, has proven a welcome newcomer to an overcrowded thriller market sadly diluted with average ho-hum fare… I would highly recommend this book to any thriller fan who is tired of the same old mediocre drivel that is plaguing our bookshelves… Schatz has proven he belongs in the writing game…”

“You might expect a mystery involving a baseball umpire in the World Series to center on fixing games. Schatz happily has chosen to go in a less obvious direction… Game 7 has a huge cast of characters - it is to Schatz's credit as a writer that they're reasonably easy to keep straight… If you like baseball and thrillers, Game 7: Dead Ball is a must read…”

“Simply put, it's a fun, entertaining book that I would recommend for anyone's summer reading list.”

Order your copy of the book beginning July 1 at: https://www.createspace.com/3619727

Additional sales outlets, including Amazon.com, will follow in the coming weeks.

For all the latest news visit www.allenschatz.com – you can also follow Allen on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AllenSchatzWriting or on Twitter (@raschatz).

###

Sharon Cupp Pennington Author Of Contemporary Romantic Suspense

2011-06-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Sharon received the most hits to her IAN member page for the month of May 2011 and was named the "Featured Author" for June.

Sharon Cupp Pennington’s short stories have appeared in numerous online and print venues, with anthology contributions to The Rocking Chair Reader in the Coming Home edition (2004) and Family Gatherings (2005), A Cup of Comfort for Weddings: Something Old, Something New (2007), and Good Old Days Magazine (March, 2007). Her debut novel, Hoodoo Money, was released in May 2008 and the sequel, Mangroves and Monsters, in November 2009. She resides in Texas with her husband, Wayne, where she is currently working on her third novel in this series.

Her books:

Hoodoo Money

Things are not always as they seem in the Big Easy…

After her almost-wedding to a bigamist, successful children’s author Braeden McKay has given up on love. She’s content to live vicariously through her imaginary heroine, Platypus Pearl, and a gaggle of adventurous, web-footed cohorts — until a working vacation in New Orleans shakes up her quiet, structured world. Had she known that souvenir nickel stolen from the grave of a hoodoo woman would catapult her into a nightmare of betrayal and murder, she would have insisted her friend put it back.

Cursed nickel or unfortunate happenstance? Sanderson Montgomery isn’t one to discount the supernatural beliefs of others. This is the Big Easy, after all, Mecca to the spiritual and the superstitious. As a veteran detective, neither does he ignore cold, hard fact. And the fact is, someone or something is bent on harming Braeden McKay, and it’s up to him to protect her while keeping his heart out of the mix.

Can love, the very thing Braeden wants no part of, be the one force greater than any adversary — even a hoodoo curse?

MANGROVES AND MONSTERS

Charlie Cooper, reluctant teacher by day and broken-hearted wanderer by night, is a man desperately in love with a dead woman.

But is Angeline St. Cyr really dead?

The supermodel fell victim to an auto-pedestrian accident in New Orleans. Police reports and medical records substantiate the severity of her injuries. Cosmetics mogul Mathieu Fournier, her former boss, orchestrated a cremation and memorial service. The paparazzi swarmed celebrity attendees. Fans mourned.

Call it gut instinct, call it what you will, but Cooper is convinced Angeline's death was an elaborate scheme Fournier sold to the world. He isn’t buying it, nor is his heart.

A tenuous lead draws him to the Caribbean island of Jacqueme Dominique. Only Cooper isn’t alone in his quest. By chasing his dream of rekindled love, he becomes embroiled in murder, treachery and abduction at the hands of his old nemesis Willem Voorhees — a merciless killer.

For five long years Cooper’s love survived while he searched for Angeline. Will finding her cost him his life?

REPARATION, 3rd novel in the Hoodoo Money series is coming soon!

In the authors own words:Like most writers, I always had a brain bursting with scenarios and a drawer or shoebox or folder of unfinished manuscripts. My first published story, "McTammany's Bed of Roses," appeared online in The Emporium Gazette, Issue 46, February 2003. With that sale, I earned enough to buy a novel in the paperback section at Wal-Mart or a couple of trade-ins at the local paperback swap-n-shop.

But I was a published author at age 54 - and I was flying!

Now my short stories have appeared in numerous online and print venues, with anthology contributions to The Rocking Chair Reader in the Coming Home edition (2004) and Family Gatherings (2005), A Cup of Comfort for Weddings: Something Old, Something New (2007), andGood Old Days Magazine (March, 2007). Finally, after years of rewrites and the unwavering patience of my "do or die" critique group (Writing Well),Hoodoo Money was released by Draumr Publishing in May 2008. It's the kind of romantic suspense novel I love to read, set in contemporary Louisiana and Texas, and will be followed by the sequel, Mangroves and Monsters.

http://sharonpenningtonwrites.webs.com

Twitter @SCPennington

Book Review: A Love Rekindled by Myne Whitman

2011-06-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

A Love Rekindled – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Jane and Joan’s sobs mingled, and they ran out of the room, tears gushing down their cheeks. Ovie came in soon after. “What is this I hear? I saw the twins on my way here.” “Kevwe may have broken up with Efe…” Efe looked up to her. “Is there any doubt about it? His father told me. I’d been hoping he would call, but he hasn’t.” “So he couldn’t face you to tell you himself?” Ovie demanded as she sat. “I saw him today, and he wouldn’t talk to me too…” “You saw Kevwe, today?” Efe sat straight. Time seemed to move in slow motion, and she felt dizzy for a while. “Yes. On my way to First Bank, I saw him at UBA Akpakpava, near the roundabout. When I said hi, he ignored me. Maybe he thought I knew about the break-up…” “Are you sure it was him you saw?” Efe clutched her chest. The ache in her pounding heart was real. “I’m sure. You know how I complain about his habit of jangling his keys all the time as if he’s the only one who has a car. It was the sound that caught my attention, and he was with another girl.” Efe stopped thinking, her breathing also seemed to cease. All the blood in every single part of her body drained to her heart, making it expand, and it pushed against her ribs as if to burst loose. Efe sprang out of bed, screaming in fear.’

Efe Sagay grew up and went to school in Nigeria. While attending school she met the love of her life, her soul mate, the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with…Kevwe Mukoro. And the feelings were duplicated by Kevwe. As soon as Efe graduated, they would be married. This was the dream and this was the plan.

But real life doesn’t always see things the way we do. The perfect future can always be destroyed by unforeseen circumstances. In Efe and Kevwe’s case, one of their biggest obstacles came in the form of his father. Nigeria is made up of tribes and with the tribal wars that had been going on for years sometimes lead to hate between the different tribe members. This was the case with Kevwe’s father when he found that Efe was from the tribe he hated the most. He was determined that there would be no way Efe and Kevwe would ever marry. And with the events that followed the announcement of their engagement, he may have gotten his wish. Through deceit on his part, the couple separated with Efe going to America to finish her education and Kevwe putting his life into the company he had started.

But then again, fate steps in and seven years later the couple will meet again. Can they rekindle what was so perfect for them? Will family again put a stop to their relationship? Or has there just been too much time lost for them to reunite?

A Love Rekindled is a beautiful story of true, 100% love. The hardships and heartbreaks that were bestowed upon Efe and Kevwe are heart wrenching. And their struggles to understand and accept what happened to them and what will become of them is painful as well as healing. This is one great story of complete love.

2011

ISBN# 978-1456516864

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

Book Review: The Fashion Police by Sibel Hodge

2011-06-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

The Fashion Police – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

This was going to be a piece of cake. I would just sneak around, posing as an inconspicuous shopper, and snap a few pictures of Clark stacking shelves. Why had I been so worried about this job? It was ridiculously easy. I heaved through the horde of shoppers, scanned the crowd for signs of any shelf-stocking activity. There was nothing going on in the fruit and veggies aisle, so I picked up a bag of bananas and wandered off in search of Clark. The bakery section was quiet and boring, except for the yummy smell of freshly baked bread. Ditto for the condiments aisle, the dairy isle, and the cereal aisle. Maybe there was a special time of day when all the shelf-stockers were let out in a frenzy, and I’d missed it. I stood in front of the toiletries with the idea that if I stood there long enough, Clark would come to me. I could wait until closing time if need be, no problem. As it turned out, I lasted about ten minutes. I was reading the directions on a box of teeth-whitening strips when I heard a rustling sound coming from my bag of bananas. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bananas begin to move. Wait a sec, bananas don’t move. I stared at the bag as my hands shook. Nope, the bananas weren’t moving at all. It was a ginormous tarantula inside the bag that was moving, tapping on the plastic with its hairy foot. I froze, hardly daring to breath. Omigod! Spider! In my mental world, I was screaming my head off, but in the real world, I think my mouth was just wide open with no sound coming out. I threw the bag on the floor and rocketed out to the parking lot faster than the speed of light, probably warp factor ten at least…Paul Clark and Brad would just have to wait.

Amber Fox is a former Detective Sergeant who was given the choice by Detective Chief Inspector Janice Skipper to either resign or be “resigned.” This all took place after Amber accidently shot Janice in the rear while both were on the firing range one day. Janice said it was intentional, Amber said it was an accident. Either way, Amber resigned and went to work for her former fiancé Brad who was owner of Hi-Tec Insurance. Brad hired Amber to do check out some of the insurance claims he had received by a few clients that weren’t exactly reputable. One claim was by Paul Clark who insisted that he had hurt his back and could no longer work. That’s when Amber discovered him working as a stocker at the local grocery store. Through her surveillance she also discovered that she probably wouldn’t be buying bananas from this store in the future. Added to her work load was the job of planting “bugs” hidden in pens throughout the offices of fashion designer Umberto Fandango. This job turned out to be a bummer too when it was discovered that the pens weren’t working correctly. And Amber’s decision to go back to the offices to replace the pens, she discovers that Fandango is missing and due to the amount of blood at the scene, he just might possibly be dead.

The Fashion Police is one of the funniest murder mysteries I’ve ever read. Amber isn’t a klutz but she sure finds herself in some really dangerous but funny situations. Amber finds her dad, recently retired from the police force, dressed in women’s clothes. His former drug sniffing police dog has some really strange commands. And when she runs into a couple of goons named Sally and Tracy, she inflicts problems on them that will have your laughing out loud. But I didn’t tell you the best part. Her former ex Brad and her policeman boyfriend Romeo are both in love with her and want her for themselves. Amber has decided that she actually loves both and just in case one doesn’t work out she might better hang onto both. Oh yeah, Janice has made it known that she will stop at nothing to wreak havoc on Amber’s life and see that she loses everything, especially Romeo in the process.

So, if you like a good laugh along with your murder, The Fashion Police is a book you don’t want to miss out on.

Sibel Hodge @ IAN

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

Press Release: Bestselling Independent Author M. R. Mathias Releases Kings, Queens, Heroes, and Fools

2011-05-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

International bestselling independent author M. R. Mathias is proud to announce the upcoming release of the second installment of his Wardstone Trilogy: Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools. The ebook version will be available for download in late June 2011 with an official release date of July 4^th2011. Mathias chose this date to celebrate the freedom his writing has brought him.

Mathias’ is a great story says W.R. Potter, founder of the Independent Authors Network. From writing huge epic novels while in prison for drug abuse, to the top of the Amazon fantasy bestsellers lists worldwide. Not only is he an inspiration for rehabilitation, he has shown thousands of Independent Authors that with self publishing, anything is possible.

Book one of The Wardstone Trilogy: The Sword and the Dragon was released less than a year ago and is still at the top of ebook bestseller charts across the board. The third and final novel of the trilogy: The Wizard and the Warlord, is scheduled for release in 2012. Mathias is also the author of the bestselling fantasy series: The Saga of the Dragoneers, as well as the paranormal horror/thriller The Butcher’s Boy that was released in 2010 under the pen name Michael Robb.

The cover of Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools was made by GVX Grafix featuring the original artwork of Sandara Tang (sandara.deviantart.com)

“The artwork is perfect,” said the author. “The woman on the dragon is Shaella, the Dragon Queen. I wanted it the second I saw the work. Then when Gary from GVX finished turning the piece into a cover I was just amazed.”

M.R. Mathias has been clean and free since his release three years ago, and he has every intention of staying that way. He says, “Writing was my salvation. I was in maximum security for a while, because I got into a few fights. I was in a modern day dungeon cell 23 hours a day, everyday. Every word, on every page, of The Wardstone Trilogy was a moment of freedom for me.”

For interviews, ARCs, and publicity queries please contact: michael@mrmathias.com

The Wardstone Trilogy’s official webpage: http://www.mrmathias.com

Follow the author on twitter @DahgMahn

The Docks by VH Folland (Sample Sunday)

2011-05-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

A sample from "The Docks", the novella I've been working on. Originally planned as a short story it outgrew the magazine it was intended for so, with the help of my publisher, it will be available on Smashwords. Rather than another sample from Fire Season or Arrival, for this week's Sample Sunday, I thought I'd use something new.

Sample: The Docks

Bob had told me we were going to sink the ship, but what he hadn't mentioned was that it wouldn't be empty when we did it. My jaw dropped in horror as I saw the arm, smashing out the cabin window, black against the flames behind it as it fumbled for the door handle on the outside to escape the inferno. Fumbled at the door that Bob had blocked.

"Good night's work, eh?" As he clapped me on the shoulder, I looked at him, wordless. "Hey, don't look like that. A few corpses always helps them think it was an accident."

"Bob, I — Insurance is one thing, but this —" I choked, staring out of the office window, down towards the ship. In front of me the hand was still reaching, the arm flailing, but more weakly. I could see the first tongues of flame licking down the sleeve.

"What?" He looked at me scornfully. "Don't go soft on me now. Remember, you're in this up to your neck." He turned his back to look at the ship and smiled. He was still smiling when the crowbar hit him, his skull shattering like an egg and he went down. To make sure, I hit him again and from the shape of his head I knew he wouldn't be getting up. He should have remembered what I'd done time for when he recruited me.

The boat was still burning, and I knew I had to get across there. I ran out of the dockers' office where we had met, metal burning my hands as I slid down the ladder towards the quayside. The explosives would scuttle her in ten minutes unless they could be removed, placed carefully to look like an explosion as the fuel tanks overheated. With the gangway removed — Bob had said to prevent casualties, now I knew he had lied — getting on board would be difficult. I swung myself onto one of the huge docking chains, pulling myself up. Slick, oil-soaked, the climb was difficult. Twice I slipped, saw my legs dangling over the dark gap between the ship and the quayside where the sea boiled and churned, and then I was against the side of the ship, the raised hull too far above to climb. Locking my legs around the chain I released my grip, fumbling for the grappling hook I had used to get on board earlier. One quick cast and it was over the side, hooked on something. I tugged it as hard as I dared and it moved. Slack pulled in in coils until suddenly the line caught and held. I couldn't see what it was caught on, but it held against my tugs, and carefully, reluctantly I put my weight on it, climbing up until I was standing on the chain. It held. No more delays.

Hand over hand I could climb the rope easily, the knots giving me all the purchase I needed. Seconds later I was swinging my legs over the side, and then as I came to my feet, running for the door. Now I was close enough to hear the screams, feel the heat that was beginning to seep through the deck. No time to check the time. I kept running, ducking under the window, feeling the heat of flames on my back and yanking away the fire axe Bob had used to block the door.

The full novella will be on Smashwords. View my profile here: VH Folland on Smashwords

IAN Member page

Fighting the Devil - A True Story of Consuming Passion, Deadly Poison, and Murder by Jeannie Walker

2011-05-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Jeannie Walker is the "Featured Author" at The Independent Author Network

A Texas millionaire rancher discovered his wife and bookkeeper had stolen thousands of dollars from him. After he demanded the money back, he started getting sick. While in the hospital, doctors were mystified as to how an otherwise healthy, energetic man could become so deathly ill. The dying man told everyone within earshot that his wife and bookkeeper were killing him. The man's wife said her husband was hallucinating from drugs the doctors were giving him. The millionaire rancher succumbed in the hospital while strapped down to his bed with restraints on his hands and feet and tubes in every orifice. After the rancher died, an anonymous caller tipped off the police. The widow was the sole beneficiary of the estate and a $350,000 life insurance policy. A week before the man's death, a teenager visited the rancher's home and became deathly ill after he drank juice that was in the rancher's refrigerator. Two years after the millionaire's death, a bottle of arsenic was found in a storage locker rented by a woman under an assumed name. The millionaire's ex-wife, the mother of his children, became a sleuth to help solve the murder. No one could have predicted the aftermath with its strange twists and unexpected results.

Fighting the Devil is a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year 2010 True Crime Finalist and a Reader's Choice.

A Sample

In the midst of Texas ranch country, on a peaceful spring day in 1990, a 49-year-old millionaire rancher sat down to lunch with his wife and bookkeeper, as he often did. Less than half an hour later, he was deathly ill, with stomach pains, severe vomiting and intense intestinal distress. Three weeks later, he was dead from a mysterious illness. His wife seemed to show no emotion when she learned of his death. However, his bookkeeper became very nervous and upset upon hearing the news, and ran through the hospital corridor to the elevator.

The Texas millionaire rancher discovered his wife and bookkeeper had stolen thousands of dollars from him, he demanded the money back by Memorial Day, or else. Instead of getting his money back, the millionaire became very sick from some mysterious illness and was hospitalized, within a few weeks he was dead.

Doctors were mystified as to what had caused this otherwise healthy forty-nine-year-old man to become so deathly ill. The rancher did not smoke or drink and exercised daily. On the rancher's last stay in the hospital toxicology tests showed 4,895 mcg of arsenic in his system. Even while he was a patient in the hospital the arsenic level in the rancher’s system continued to climb. The dying man told his friends and everyone within earshot that his wife and bookkeeper were killing him. The man's wife said her husband was hallucinating from the drugs the doctors were giving him. The millionaire rancher became a virtual prisoner when hospital personnel strapped him down to his hospital bed with restraints on his hands and feet. The man's wife and bookkeeper were constantly at the hospital and at his bedside, keeping visitors at bay. In the last days of his life, the millionaire would scream out that the two women were killing him and beg for someone to help him. On June 12, 1990, the rancher died a horrific and very painful death while still strapped down to the hospital bed with leather restraints on his hands and feet and tubes in every orifice. Immediately after the rancher's death, a doctor called the police anonymously to report the arsenic poisoning death. An autopsy later proved the rancher died from extreme arsenic poisoning. The Death Certificate read: Patient was given arsenic over a period of time until lethal amounts finally killed him.

The widow was the sole beneficiary on his $350,000 Life Insurance Policy and his Estate.

Jeannie Walker is a freelance writer and award winning songwriter. She studied creative writing in New York and Connecticut and is a member of the International Association of Writers. She is an avid reader of mystery novels and the ex-wife of a murdered man. She resides in Texas.

Jeannie Walker @ IAN

Book Review: Erich’s Plea: Book One of the Witchcraft Wars by Tracey Alley

2011-05-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

Erich’s Plea: Book One of the Witchcraft Wars – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘Two months ago he had arrived at Ostland’s Zeaburg prison complex and been taken to this subterranean dungeon with its smooth stone walls, mazes of corridors, little or no lighting and the constant smell of death, blood, waste and decay in his nostrils. He had been alternately beaten and tortured for hours on a daily basis. His own screams blending with the cries, screams and moans of the other, unseen, sufferers in Zeaburg’s nightmarish torture chambers. The horrors here were so great that even the rats eschewed Zeaburg, although the fleas showed no similar scruples and were an additional constant torment. His body was covered head to toe with tiny bites from the multitudes of the awful creatures. Slade would not have believed it was possible for a place like Zeaburg prison to exist if he had not seen it with his own eyes. It well deserved its evil reputation. Zeaburg also had a reputation for being inescapable; no one, in all its long history had ever escaped from its confines, except in death. Slade had never believed half the rumors that had surrounded Zeaburg before, now he saw clearly they were all true and worse. He also knew why so many of those imprisoned here died and, it was said, were glad to, death being preferable to daily life in Zeaburg.’

Einreich Gudmundson is the second son of the High King Erich. Much to the disappointment of his father, he has renounced his life as the Crown Prince of Vestland and now calls himself Slade. He will now be a member of the druids of the Sacred Grove, dedicating his life to serve Freyita. That was all before he was captured and taken to Ostland’s Zeaburg Prison. His committed crimes are still a mystery to Slade but the punishment is completely real. Only when he sleeps is he able to find peace from the pain of the beatings he has endured in his two months of imprisonment but even sleep becomes disturbed by the dreams of his father begging for his help.

How can Slade possibly help his father the king while stuck in this hole of hell? He can only try to keep his mind as clear as possible and practice the training taught to him by the warrior-monks of the Black Lotus and pray for some form of help along the way. And help does come in the form of a being that calls himself ‘Trunk.’ In his dreams his father told him to follow the trunk and Slade is sure this is who he was referring to. So with the help of this larger than life ‘trunk’ as well as help from a few other unlikely allies, Slade finds himself attempting the impossible…an escape from the inescapable prison of Zeaburg.

This book is full of mystery, suspense, witchcraft, magic, dishonesty, espionage…I could go on and on. The characters are colorful not only in appearance but also in character. Author Tracey Alley has written a very enjoyable book and I really hope that Erich’s Plea: Book Two is just around the corner for me to read. I’ve gotten into the story and characters and can’t wait to see what will happen to them next.

315 pages

2010

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

Tracey Alley @ IAN

Flash Harry by Carole Sutton: A Work in Progress Sample

2011-04-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

Flash Harry

Carole Sutton

(Location Australia/Thailand)

Chapter 15

Cimmi woke abruptly to the feel of a hand crushing her mouth. Her eyes snapped open – her tongue tasted blood.

The moonlight seeped through the open doorway. In its light she could make out the bulging eyes of her struggling son. The terrified child was held only inches from her face. Something bulky protruding from his mouth turned his cries to small guttural sounds.

She tried to open her mouth against the hand when something was thrust in between her teeth. So big, so dry she felt she was suffocating. Her flailing arms fought against the black shadowy figure manhandling her. Without a word spoken she was hoisted onto his shoulder, carried out of the house and down the steps. The second man followed with Dik in his arms. They took her down to the edge of the river, and dropped her on the deserted, muddy shore. One pulled her into a sitting position. So swiftly and silently had the villains worked, they had not even woken her parents.

When Cimmi realised who her attackers were, the scalding urge to vomit caught in the back of her throat. She fought it down before it choked her. She must keep her head. Give them what they want. They had been here before. Shortly after Harry left, they had come in the night. They had screamed at her; terrorised her and her parents. They were looking for ‘papers’ they said. When they found nothing of interest amongst Harry’s belongings, they turned on the house itself, and laid its contents bare. Her father, shamed by the violence directed against his family and his home, could do nothing but sit cross-legged on the floor, his eyes downcast, and a knife at his throat.

The two Chinese had left empty handed on that occasion, satisfied they’d missed nothing. Why had they come again, what did they want this time?

One of the men crouched behind her, his knee pressed against her spine. He grabbed a handful of her thick hair and wrenched her head back as far as it would go.

‘The woman came to see you,’ his voice whispered into her ear. ‘We know that. You tell us what she want, who she work for, what you told her and where she’s gone now!’

Out of the corner of her eye, Cimmi could see the glint of a dagger he held in his other hand, its point prickling the soft flesh beneath her chin. She could not see his face, but knew from his high lispy voice which one it was.

He released his pull, and returned her head to its normal position so that she could see in front of her. Po, the second man, held her son Dik with a knife to his throat. The gag stifled her scream to a low moan. She tried to speak, to implore him to let the child go.

‘When I take this out if you make any noise, my brother will slice your boy’s throat from ear to ear. You understand?’ Tan said in a voice as thin and cold as a razor’s edge. To make his point he shook her head until her vision blurred.

Cimmi raised a hand in agreement; the rest of her body rigid as she watched the anguish and incomprehension on the face of her son in the moonlight.

‘As for you, I slice you into little pieces, slowly, until I have all the answers I want, and then some more. Are you ready?’

Cimmi nodded and Tan pulled out the gag. She gulped great draughts of air, and tried to work her tongue around her dry mouth to bring a little saliva back.

‘Please let him go, he’s done nothing.’

Tan jerked her head again. ‘The woman, what did she want?’

‘Only to know where Harry is. That’s all! I promise you. She’s his daughter, she’s looking for him. That’s all.’ Cimmi answered his questions in a throaty whisper keeping her eyes on those of her boy, hoping to instil some comfort into him.

‘What did you tell her?’

Cimmi knew what both of these men were capable of, and didn’t attempt to lie. Her son’s life was in their hands. She repeated everything she had said to Liz.

When they thought they had all the information Cimmi had to give, Po put his knife away and got to his feet, but kept hold of the boy.

Tan, unable to resist a final gesture, pulled her head backwards again. Slowly, using his knife, he slit the front of her nightshirt down to her waist. It fell open. He stared at her dusky body shivering in the cold silver light. Delicately, with the care of an artist wielding his finest brush, he drew a line left to right across her waist with the point of his dagger. Dark, carmine beads blossomed along the thin white line. He slipped the blade in under the fold of her left breast and held it in the crease. Cimmi felt its touch, cold and flat. She opened her eyes wide in terror, waiting for the icy burn of the expected cut.

Tan inhaled her fear—smiling and quaffing it like a fine wine.

‘Come on Tan, no time for that, let’s go,’ Po ordered. ‘We can always come back.’

‘I slice it off and take it home as memento?’ Tan hissed, his face touching hers.

She could feel the movement of his jaw against hers, could smell the grease from his waxy pores, and the cinnamon scent of his hair gel. Petrified and unable to avert her face she held her breath and waited.

Slowly he withdrew the knife, his smile broadening.

‘You’ll keep for another day. Say nothing. There is no place you can hide where I can’t find you. You tell—I come back. And while you watch, I play with your boy. Okay?’ He released her and stood up.

Cimmi folded in on herself like a broken butterfly.

Po grasped his brother’s arm and pulled him away. ‘Come, we waste time.’

Dik, freed from the man’s hold ran to his mother. Cimmi grasped him and hugged him to her chest. Then she turned him around and gently took the wad from his mouth, warning him not to cry out. She held him tightly, willing him to stay quiet. The two men slipped away into the shadows and were devoured by the night.

Cimmi, tears of pain and humiliation streaming down her face, was bruised but safe. Blood from the cut smeared her nightshirt and her child’s face, but it was a shallow wound and would mend sooner than her memory of its incision.

Drained of all energy and aching in every muscle, she was too exhausted to move. For a while she remained where she was; a small huddled figure on a muddy shore by the riverbank. The dark body of water beside her lay flat, and mirrored the face of a fat, uncaring moon. The songs of the cicadas, and the rustles and squeaks of the night creatures resumed to tell her the danger had passed.

Still she could not move. With her body gripped by lethargy, her mind floated in a dream-like state where pictures of her life with Harry raced past her eyes like a disorganised film. She had never considered Harry to be the sort of man to attract much attention. Oh yes, he was a beautiful man, tanned face, solid rows of white teeth, and those dancing, flashing eyes. He was big-hearted, but not flamboyant. In spite of his apparent wealth, he didn’t go in for rich man’s trappings. He loved the simple life, as she had recounted to his daughter, happily barefoot on the beach, lazing in an old fishing boat, or laughing with his mates in the club. He needed so little to keep him content.

For the first time, she allowed a forbidden thought access to her mind. It had flittered there once or twice before, and had been angrily swatted away, but tonight, it had to be given room. What if Harry was dead?

She gazed at the small, innocent face now sleeping in her arms at last. Harry was his father, his protector, and he had vowed to return for them.

‘Har-ree … where are you, when your family needs you so?’ she whispered.

Cimmi had told them the truth: Liz had come alone. Nobody asked if she had left alone. Had they done so, she would have told them what she had seen. She would have told them about the man on the motorbike, the change of clothing, and of Liz being driven away on the large machine. But nobody had asked that question. Cimmi hoped that in the final scheme of things this one missing item of information might make a difference.

The moon had passed its zenith. A warm breeze stirred the air on the riverbank. It dimpled the dark water and fluttered the leaves in nearby trees. It brought with it the familiar smell of mud, men, and elephant. With painstaking slowness, Cimmi rose to her feet and with head held high, carried her son back to his bed.

***

Carole Sutton

A Heart to Mend by Myne Whitman (Sample Sunday)

2011-04-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Gladys couldn’t do anything to stop the soft moans that were coming from her. The sound of her cries seemed to make Edward even bolder and he rested his full length alongside hers on the chaise in his sitting room. Arms wrapped about his neck, she kissed him again with an uncontrolled passion. His fingers played tenderly with her now tight nipple as their legs intertwined. Gasping with pleasure, she pushed her hips closer to his and then bit her lip before another groan escaped as Edward bent his head to nuzzle at her breasts.

Her head fell back in utter pleasure and she scratched her nails across his chest, which was exposed by his now unbuttoned shirt. She didn’t remember undoing the buttons, but she was sure she had done it, considering his hands were still busy ridding her of her outfit. One crept higher up her raised skirt to the zip; while the other pushed the top further off her shoulders to better reach the full, perky breasts. He drew one whole nipple into his mouth, raking it roughly with his teeth. She groaned and her hips bucked at the zap of electricity straight to her core.

She clutched at his broad shoulders as he moved back to her lips. Their tongues meshed, dueling in the warm cavern of their open mouths. His hand left her zip to push her skirt up her thighs and she lifted herself till it was bunched around her waist. Both hands moved once more to her aching breasts, lifting both together as he sought the pouting nipples. Gladys pulled him closer and ran her nails down his back. The deep suckling dragged the moans from her again. His hands moved to her hips and brought her closer to feel his hardness. The ringing phone vibrated under her, they were lying on top of her purse. She pushed his hands away and scrambled up.

“Just ignore it.” Edward mumbled and tried to pull her back.

“We have to stop.” Gladys mumbled. She stood up and did up the buttons of her blouse.

“Baby we don’t have to, come here.” He lounged back with open arms. A quick glance around the room showed his jacket on a chair, his tie draped on the coffee table. Gladys smoothed down her skirt, picked up the fallen ruffle and began to put her hair in order.

“Don’t tell me you’re ending this here, now?” Edward ran a hand over his head and looked down at himself. His shirt buttons were all undone and his erection was throbbing.

He’d accompanied her to the employee end of year party by her firm and had loved her scarlet figure hugging blouse with the pencil skirt she wore. Comparing the sheer joy on his face when he joined her at the office with the disappointment on it now clouded her eyes.

Edward didn’t know what to do in the face of her tears. After the fallout a couple of months ago, the last thing he wanted was to make her unhappy again. They had resolved that problem and over the past month had grown even closer.

After the deep phone conversations and the way she’d run into his arms at the airport yesterday, he thought they were ready to move their relationship further. When she agreed to come home with him, he’d been hopeful but couldn’t have foreseen it would end like this. He’d wanted her to help him with his unpacking but one thing had led to another and now here they were. He jerked to his feet and started pacing the sitting room floor in front of her.

“Darling, you’ve said how much you care about me several times but it’s not enough. I’m sorry to bring this up again but frankly, we’re both adults. We should...” He stopped.

Gladys prompted him after a while. “What?”

He turned his back to her and continued, “These sexual episodes are really hard on me, Gladys. You only go as far as YOU want and then you leave me frustrated and wanting…”

“I’m not without feelings myself Edward. I want you too…”

“I know that and that is why I’m confused.” If he were to be fair, it was obvious there was no pretense in her reaction to his caresses but it seemed she found it easy to switch off when she wished. “Don’t you want to see how this ends? Can you just imagine the two of us together fully? I know I want to fill you, make love to you completely…”

The muscles in her stomach jumped but Gladys tamped them down. “I would like that a lot Edward, but we’ve not planned for it or any of the outcomes.”

“Well there’s a way to resolve this. I want us to get married.”

“How do you mean?” They’d never talked about marriage in relation to themselves.

Edward said the first thing that came to mind. “Will you marry me?”

Gladys was confused at first. This evening that had started off so well had not worked out in any way she could have imagined. What he’d just said made no sense at all and then it sank.

“Is this a ploy to get me into bed or are calling my bluff?”

“No I am serious Gladys. It’s time to take this relationship to the next level.”

Available at Amazon.com & Barnes & Noble.com

IAN Member Page

Book Review: Dreams and Nightmares: The Martha Whittaker Story by Shirley A. Roe

2011-04-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Dreams and Nightmares: The Martha Whittaker Story

Publisher: Realtime Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-84961-095-7

Available: Amazon.com

www.theebooksale.com

The setting varies but begins in England in the 1860s. Martha was looking forward to the dancing, gowns, parties and balls. Her father had different plans. He forced Martha to marry Jebediah Whitaker. The man was a widow with 3 sons. Not only did Martha not want to marry him but she did not like him. He proved himself a cruel, heartless, scoundrel with no morals. Jebediah took Martha and his sons across the ocean to America. From there they traveled to Wyoming by wagon train. Jebediah was a slick character and convinced the others traveling with him that he was an upstanding man. Eventually they came to call him Pastor and built him a church. Little did they know the bible he carried was stolen.

When Martha’s father realized Jebediah was a swindler, murderer and scoundrel he sent for Jeremy Whitaker (Jebediah’s brother) and Austin Wells (Martha’s best friend since childhood.) The two men headed to Martha’s rescue. What they discovered shocked them. Martha and the boys had suffered repeated beatings, mental and emotional abuse.

Shirley Roe has written several books about the Whitaker family. This installment takes place before Return To Whitakerville and The Whitaker Family Reunion. Of Dreams and Nightmares is the beginning of the Whitaker saga. There are several characters but I had no problem keeping up with who, what, when and where. It was fascinating watching Martha grow from an immature, spoiled, impulsive socialite into a mature woman. Jebediah was determined to break Martha’s spirit, he raped her, beat her and threatened her life. She was terrified of Jebediah and yet she stood up to him when he was beating Abraham.

Dreams and Nightmares is a delightful historical romance. Roe effortlessly transports readers back in time. I felt as though I was riding in the wagon with Martha. Together we stumbled through the snow and comforted the boys. I was right there with Abraham when he was hiding under a bush. This tale takes place in several different settings:

England

, on board ship, in a wagon, at a fort, Wyoming, and St. Louis. Martha was the lead character in each of these settings and each setting was responsible for another facet of her character. The protagonist in this tale was Jebediah. He was a frightening person. I suspect he was a sociopath. Isaac was a fascinating character. He was damaged by the things his father did. Watching the change in his character made me eagerly turn pages. While I have previously read the other two books in this series, I now want to go back and reread them. Each book stands well alone but I like to read books in order.

I’d like to mention Abraham’s gift. He would dream something and it foretold the future. As he matured he considered it a gift from God. I would like to see Roe write another book with Abraham as the lead and share more of his story, including his gift.

I’d be remiss if I did not mention Bo the dog. He was a canine hero. This is a very special book. It is easy to highly recommend this book to both young adults and adults. Review by Reader’s Favorite.

IAN Member Page

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

Book Review: Web of Lies - My Life with a Narcissist by Sarah Tate

2011-04-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Web of Lies – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat

‘The feelings of guilt and inadequacy came all too often. Of course, I considered ending the marriage. Thoughts of breaking free were frequent, usually at night when I was lying alone in my bed. But they’d quickly be replaced by the guilt. I genuinely believed that many of the problems we were experiencing were down to my own shortcomings. I’d get angry and frustrated with Bill, and I’d let my feelings show. I’d be grumpy and ratty. I’d nag him and complain about things. He would then feel ‘put down’ and ‘unappreciated’, which in turn lead to more self-reproach from my side. I’d often question him about his past, and this visibly frustrated him. To him, my questions showed that I didn’t trust him. And without trust, he’d said, we had nothing. I had to trust him. I had to put my faith in him, or we’d never get out of this mess. If I wasn’t standing by him, unquestioning and loyal, then I was exacerbating the situation for him, by undermining him. This in turn meant he was unable to ‘solve the issues’, and so the problem perpetuated itself.’

I don’t know the stats as to how many marriages end up in divorce but I’m sure they are extremely high. But there are still those marriages that probably should have ended in marriage and didn’t. I feel that most of these “sick” marriages are due to the wife and I’m sure sometimes the husband feeling that some, if not all problems have been caused by them. If I had only done this. If I had only been a more loving person. If I had only been more understanding. The ifs go on and on.

Even if divorce seems to be the only solution, many still have problems accepting the inevitable. They still feel they must take the full blame.

‘I’d been stripped bare. There was nothing left. I was functioning for the sake of my children, yet I was barely there as a person in my own right. I was losing control, and I saw no way of regaining my life. I wasn’t worthy of my children. They deserved better. I had brought this all on myself. I was being a victim. I lived to be a victim. I could never be a strong and beautiful person, because I was weak and pathetic. I’d allowed this to happen to me because of the type of person I was. I was looking for misery. I wanted misery. I must be craving it, and now the universe had delivered it. Misery. It was no more than I deserved.’

May of us go through bad marriages. I’ve been through a couple myself and as I read Web of Lies I found myself relating to Sarah’s life, feelings and self-disgust. If those of us who have been there will be honest with ourselves we can honestly say “been there, done that.” We find reasons to keep us in a “sick” marriage…kids, money, even not wanting to be accused of being a failure. But in the end, we are very possibly become a victim of a form of mind control.

In Web of Lies, Author Sarah Tate puts her own life out for public view. Throughout the book she expresses her self-loath and sees herself as a weak, pathetic person who deserved everything she went through. I personally see her as an extremely strong person. I can’t say how much I’ve enjoyed reading Web of Lies, not as one would enjoy a novel but as one would find while reading a book that seemed to really hit home for them in so many ways.

292 Pages

ISBN# 978-1456516680

IAN Member Page

Web of Lies - My Life with a Narcissist is out now at Amazon.com

Sample Sunday for April 17

2011-04-17T09:47:00.001-07:00

Today our Sample Sunday Spotlight is on

Ring of Lies by Victoria Howard

2011-04-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

It was dark when Grace left the solicitor’s office. Numbness had finally set in. She moved without thinking, without emotion as if she were one of the stick figures at a theme park—flagging down a taxi and giving the driver her address.

Flicking on the hall light in her home, the home she and Daniel had shared and loved, the pain returned in a torrent. She dropped her purse on the table, and went straight to the study. Daniel’s study, the one room in the house she never entered, not even to dust.

Grace rested her hand on the door knob, and half expected to hear his deep-timbered voice reminding her not to enter. She’d ignored his warning only once, the ensuing argument had left her reeling. Ever since then she’d respected his wishes. All of them.

But Daniel was no longer here to wish for anything.

She pushed open the door and stepped inside. The air smelt stale. She told herself that the lingering aroma of pipe tobacco was permanently embedded in the furniture, but her feelings told her otherwise—that he was here, alive somehow, yet invisible to her. She fumbled with the catch on the window and threw it open, impervious to the frigid air that flooded the room. An old leather chair, which had once belonged to Daniel’s father, stood next to the soot-stained limestone fireplace where ashes of a half-burned log lay in the grate. A large oak desk, its surface covered with a faint film of dust, filled the bay window. The date on the desk calendar showed the seventeenth of November, the day Daniel had left for the conference. She tore off the pages without bothering to read the proverb printed underneath, and threw them into the wastepaper basket.

Daniel’s face, and that of her own, smiled back at her from a small silver framed photograph on the corner of the desk. She picked it up and wiped the dust from the surface with her fingertips.

“What other secrets have you kept from me?”

Daniel’s brown, unfathomable eyes seemed to stare everywhere but at her. With a heavy heart she replaced the photograph on the desk. She collapsed into the chair and rested her aching head in her hands. Their marriage hadn’t been perfect; they’d had their fair share of ups and downs like every other couple, but she’d never thought of Daniel as being secretive. Yet the last few hours had proved that he was just that.

She leaned back and rubbed her temples. Nothing the solicitor had told her made any sense. They weren’t rich. Their joint checking account, which last time she’d looked, held less than two thousand pounds. When they’d purchased Applegate Cottage four years ago, they’d put down the minimum ten percent deposit and borrowed the rest from the bank. So where had the money come from to purchase a house in America? And more importantly, why hadn’t Daniel told her about it?

The desk held seven drawers; three in each pedestal and one in the centre. Her fingers hovered over the small brass handle of the centre drawer. Feeling like an intruder, she pulled it open. It was empty. One by one she opened the remaining drawers. Apart from an assortment of envelopes, a few credit card receipts, a letter opener shaped like a dagger, and some spare batteries for the hand-held dictating machine Daniel occasionally used, she found nothing connected to the beach house.

Daniel’s briefcase, which the police had found in his car, and the personal items from his office, sat in a box next to the door. She slipped out of the chair, picked it up, and placed it on the desk. Item by item she removed the contents: a desk diary, a box of post-it-notes, a calculator, and a framed photograph of her and Catherine. The desk diary she put to one side, replaced everything else, and then put the box on the floor.

She’d given Daniel the Raffaello briefcase for his thirtieth birthday. It had cost two weeks housekeeping money, but it had been worth it to see the smile on his face when he opened the box. She ran her fingers over the now scuffed and torn calfskin.

Grace pressed the locks to open the case, but nothing happened. She dug the fingertips of her right hand into the frame and tugged at the handle. The catch on one side gave, and she realized that the force of the impact had warped the frame. With great care she eased the blade of the letter opener into the lock on the opposite side and twisted sharply. There was a loud click and the case popped open. Inside lay Daniel’s MacBook and a number of manila folders. One by one, she went through the internal compartments, but found nothing else of interest.

Part of the silk lining had come away from the frame. When Grace ran her fingers along the edge she felt something underneath. She pulled back the fabric and found an envelope taped to the bottom of the case. She tore it free and turned it over in her hand.

Why go to so much trouble to hide something as innocuous as an envelope? She slipped her fingernail under the flap and opened it. A passport and a tiny piece of paper fluttered on to the blotter. A series of numbers, written in Daniel’s unmistakeable scrawl, covered the surface. Perplexed, she counted the digits. Twenty-four. Daniel was fascinated by numbers and frequently designed puzzles as a way of relaxing. Were these something he was working on, or the combination to the safe at the office?

The latter seemed the most likely explanation, yet Daniel had an eidetic memory. There was never a need for him to write anything down.

Grace opened the passport at the photograph on the back page. Daniel’s face stared up at her. Only the name in the passport wasn’t his, but that of Lionel Lattide.

A flicker of apprehension coursed through her. She tried to catch her breath, but couldn’t get air. The more she struggled to control her breathing, the more terrified she became. Beads of perspiration dotted her forehead. She willed herself to relax, just as the doctor had told her to, but it was impossible.

She staggered into the kitchen. Her medication lay on the shelf next to the fridge. Standing on tiptoe, she reached for the bottle, but her hands shook so much it slipped from her grasp, the contents spilling out along the shelf and onto the floor.

She could get through this, she told herself. It was only a panic attack—she wasn’t about to die. It wasn’t real. Crying with frustration, her fingers trailed along the floor until she finally pinched a wayward pill between her thumb and forefinger. She popped it in her mouth, and washed it down with a glass of water from the tap.

Leaning against the sink for support, she forced herself to breathe deeply—in, out, in, out. The pill started to do its work, and the room began to steady itself. As her heartbeat slowly returned to normal, she tried to ignore the questioning voice in her mind, but couldn’t. She pressed her hands over her eyes in an attempt to blot out her fears.

What have you been up to, Daniel, that you needed a second passport?

She took another sip of water. The passport lay on the drainer next to her hand. With trembling fingers, she opened it and turned to the visa section.

It was stamped.

She froze. Her mind and body benumbed.

She peered at the faint impression and could just make out the words ‘Department of Homeland Security’. America! She turned to another page, and found that too, had been stamped. During the last six months alone, Daniel or whoever he was, had travelled to the United States on five occasions.

Why?

She wrenched the calendar off the wall, and compared it to the passport. Every entry visa coincided with a date when Daniel had been away on business.

Waves of panic and nausea overwhelmed her, and she sank to her knees and sobbed. The man to whom she had trusted her heart had lied to her. Not once, not twice, but least four times.

Pain yielded to anger.

Who was her husband?

It seemed that the only way to find out was to fly to Miami and meet with the attorney, Zachary Parous.

It sounded so easy when she said it quickly. But the thought of such a journey aroused old fears and anxieties. She wasn’t a traveller—and certainly not alone. What if she had a panic attack mid-Atlantic? Who would help her? And then there was the small problem of getting from Miami to some place called Gasparilla Island and locating the mysterious beach house. How hard would it be to find? Would she be safe?

She’d heard such things about Florida, stories of gangs, drug lords, and even worse. She snatched up the phone before she could change her mind and booked a seat on the nine-thirty flight to Miami the following morning.

Then there was only one call left to make.

Available at: Amazon.com Barnes&Noble.com

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Fling Friday for April 15

2011-04-15T05:33:00.001-07:00

Today we Spotlight

Love of a Stonemason

Christa Polkinhorn

Love of a Stonemason by Christa Polkinhorn

2011-04-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

"The young painter, Karla Bocelli, is all too familiar with loss. When she was five years old, her mother died in a car crash in the south of Switzerland. Her Peruvian father lives at the other end of the world, and a year ago, her aunt and guardian passed away. Now, at age twenty-four, Karla almost gets hit by a speeding car. As if this wasn't fateful enough, Andreas, the driver, turns out to be a sculptor and carver of tombstones. In spite of his profession, Andreas is anything but morbid. Quick-tempered and intense, he exudes a rough-and-tumble energy. After a tumultuous start of their relationship, Karla comes to see in Andreas the "rock in her life," the perfect antidote to her fears of abandonment and bouts of depression. Andreas, however, wrestles with his own ghosts: an alcoholic father who abused him as a child and his own fits of anger. Together, the two artists must confront the demons that haunt them.

Love of a Stonemason is a story about the struggle of two artists with their past, their family, their creativity, and their love for each other. Told from the point of view of Karla, it depicts the world through her painter's sensibility. It takes the reader on a journey full of sights, smells, tastes, and sounds from the south of Switzerland to Italy and the Peruvian Andes."

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

Available in Print and NOOK at Barnes&Noble.com

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Thriller Thursday for April 14

2011-04-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

Today's Thriller Thursday post is

Tiger Woman

John W. Huffman

Tiger Woman by John W. Huffman

2011-04-14T05:17:00.000-07:00

2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award Winner in the Action-Adventure Category.

Tiger Woman depicts a brief period of unconventional warfare that tests the boundaries of humanity in a haunting tale of unremitting evil no ordinary soldier ever trains to face. Captain Christen, a dedicated intelligence officer with the 25th Infantry Division, directs an all-out hunt for a roguish female who leads a small guerrilla force with chilling efficiency as she employs depraved acts of psychological warfare to instill terror in those she opposes. The story provides graphic detail of the bitter struggle between the hunter by day who becomes the hunted by night as the pendulum of power swings to and fro with the rising and setting sun. Tiger Woman infuses great passion into a previously undisclosed segment of the Vietnam conflict in a manner never before portrayed by bringing into sharp focus the female soldiers who supported the communist cause so efficiently.

Available at Amazon in Print and Kindle

REUNION by Jeff Bennington (A sample)

2011-04-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

1st

Crescent Falls, Idaho 7:30 a.m.

David Ray stood in front of his mirror, dressed to kill. I look good, he thought, like the real deal, like a real killer. He narrowed his eyes, grit his teeth and unfolded his checklist. Sharp blades of black hair dangled in front of his face, covering the brownish rings that encircled his eyes. He peered at his scribbled writing and read the list as he felt his insides tense with hatred.

This is it, he thought. No room for mistakes.

David had learned over time that life needed to be carefully navigated to avoid pain. He had come to the conclusion that the only way to control his life was by controlling the lives around him. The list helped him stay on track. He paced back and forth, quietly going over the details of his plans as his adrenalin increased.

He slouched down at his desk, clenched his hair as it draped over his eyes and pondered how the neglect and abuse he’d suffered had snuffed the music from his soul. David longed for old, familiar melodies to bring him comfort and laughter, but found only the clamoring sound of an off-tempo dirge. Although he tried to arrange the chords and time signatures in a way that was intelligible to his ear, he stepped out of time, his notes were flat, and those around him cringed and laughed. He was humiliated and he hated them for it.

He glanced at a picture on the desk of his mother holding his hand as a young child. It stood in a bright red clay frame; a misshapen art project from the fourth grade. Neither of them looked happy, and a lot had happened over the past eight years. Smiles were a rare commodity in their household. He turned the picture face down and stood up.

David walked to his small window. He pushed the roll-up blind to the side, peeked through the glass and watched the fog sinking into the sage-covered valley to the east. He observed the sun stretch its arms over the rocky hilltops to wake the ponderosa pines and heard the mountain bluebirds singing in the distance. For the last time, he witnessed the river in the valley, flowing downward in search of rapids and lower ground. He stared into the gorge with cold and unfeeling eyes. The sight reminded him of the time when Bill, his stepfather, had taken him down there and let him shoot his shotgun just for fun. David knew the activity was meant to keep him silent, a form of hush money.

Peering through the dirty glass, he thought about his plan to finally get even with everyone who’d taunted and bullied him. Today was the day they’d finally get what they had coming to them. Today the world would sit up and take notice of David Ray. Those kids and their families would be sorry. Now they’d know some of his misery. They could kiss goodbye their happy days of Mom’s cookies, home-cooked meals, and playing ball with Dad.

A sliver of sunlight struck his eyes. David squinted and released the window blind. He preferred the darkness.

***

At 7:41 a.m., Tanner Khan climbed onto the yellow school bus, walked down the aisle greeting kids around him, and then took his usual seat by the window. As the bus continued to fill up, the tranquility of the early morning hours escalated to the clamoring roar of cracking voices. Tanner pressed his face to the window and breathed, creating a foggy circle that came and went with each breath. He drew a smile with his index finger.

The bus stopped, and Tanner’s best friend Kenny climbed on and waved at Tanner. Kenny traipsed down the aisle, lugging a large duffle bag filled with books. He was skinny and stood six feet tall. Tanner was six inches shorter and far less developed. Both were seniors. Tanner had a baby face with blonde hair. Kenny had brown curly hair with a square jaw line and strong green eyes. As always, Tanner took note of Kenny’s cool look of confidence.

“Hey, Tan. What’s going on?” said Kenny. He sat down and plopped his bag into his lap.

“Not much. Did you finish the physics assignment?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too.” Tanner looked back outside.

“You okay?” asked Kenny.

Tanner shrugged his shoulders. “I guess. I just have a weird feeling.”

“A weird feeling? What’s that mean?”

Tanner felt Kenny shift his weight and turn in his direction.

“Not sure. I mean, I’m having a bad hair day as usual and my jeans are too short, but that’s not it.”

“So what is it then?”

Tanner wiped the damp smiley face off the window and said, “I don’t know”

Available in Print and Kindle at Amazon.com

Jeff Bennington is asking all of his family, friends and followers to buy a copy on April 15^th, to help send Reunion to Amazon’s Top 100, even if it’s for just one day. This is an opportunity to see what a well-written book by an Indie author can do when given the opportunity to be exposed to a world of readers who otherwise would not seek out this talented author.