Monday, April 28, 2014

Welcome Author Judy Serrano and "Ivy Vines". CONTEST ALERT!



So glad to be a part of Author Judy Serrano's book tour for Ivy Vines!  Ivy Vines has everything...a psychic, paranormal activity, murders, mystery and mayhem...AND...there's a contest to enter to win another of Judy's novels, Easter's Lilly.  But first, here's a little info. on Judy:


300Judy Serrano graduated from Texas A&M University, Commerce with a BA in English. She is a substitute teacher at her children’s school district and teaches developmental writing at a local college. She is also a freelance writer for certain on-line periodicals and does editing for indie authors. She is the author of The Easter’s Lilly Series, The Linked Series, and The Ivy Vines, Visions Series.
Although she is originally from New York, she currently resides in Texas with her husband, four children, (all boys) and five dogs. She is also a singer/songwriter in her spare time.



05
About Ivy Vines Visions

Moving to Sedona was the only way Ivy could think of to start over. She would meet her high school sweetheart and work on making things right between them. Her psychic abilities were gradually becoming a curse and she needed a new start. Little does she know that when she applies for a waitressing job at a local, upscale French bistro, she will come in contact with the dark and mysterious Eli Dubois. What she doesn’t realize is she has just walked into the middle of the Vortex Murders, which involve a great deal of paranormal activity. Elijah’s army of seers are being murdered, one by one, which seems to be magnifying Ivy’s special abilities.

Eli's best friend, Jake, arrives on the scene and reveals the secret that changes everything. With nowhere to turn, Ivy leans on the two men who offer her solace. And who is the old woman in the shroud? Is                                                                she a vision, a dream, or is she real? Only time will tell.

-- Author of The Easter's Lilly Series and Linked published by Black Rose Writing Believe.com

04

Excerpt 

My heart was beating almost out of my chest as I drove to the restaurant to see Simone. I checked my rear view mirror often; just to be sure I wasn’t followed. I parked the car and ran as fast as my legs would carry me to the front door. I felt like I was burdened with cement weights around my ankles as I forced my body to keep moving forward. Trying to catch my breath was futile when Eduardo met me at the entrance. I was in no mood for his pretentious smile and flippant tone, but still he would not let me pass. “I need to see Simone,” I told him, barely able to form the words due to the lack of air in my lungs. “Will that be one for lunch or two?” he asked me. I almost punched him. “Two,” I answered, regaining my composure. “Simone is off in a few minutes. She’ll have lunch with me, I’m sure.” “Very well then,” he answered. He slowly took out two menus and sat me at a table by the window. “Thank you,” I managed. “Please tell Simone I’m here.” He made an unfavorable face at me and walked away. I looked out the window and began to recapture a normal breathing pattern. I noticed an old woman walking by the creek. She had her head covered by a black scarf and she was wearing what looked like a black cloak over her body. It was warm out, being early September, and that’s why her clothing caught my attention. She took off the scarf and looked at me. When our eyes touched, I could feel my blood pressure rise. My face got warm. Long grey curls cascaded down, past her shoulders and her expression got very grave. Her nose looked like a misshapen staircase and she had a mole on the left side of her face along her jaw line. She pointed her finger at me, slowly straightening it out as far as it could go and I felt a surge of fear strike through my body. I stood up quickly, pushing my chair back with the backs of my knees and felt a hand on my shoulder. I let out a shriek that was certainly noticeable and when I turned, it was Simone’s hand on my shoulder. “Ivy, what is it?” she asked. “The last time I heard you scream like that…” I dismissed her, mid-sentence, knowing exactly what she was going to say. Since that day. The day we don’t dare talk about or even remember if we can help it. I turned my attention back to the creek but the old woman was gone. I could feel her. “It’s nothing I told her. Are you done with your shift yet?” “Yes, I’m done,” she answered. “Eduardo is making me change my clothes first. So, sit tight and I’ll be right back.” I sat back down and looked out the window again. A breeze blew open one of the side windows, unexpectedly and I almost fell out of my chair. I could hear a faint humming. It was all too familiar. There was still no old woman, but I knew she was there. She was watching me somehow. Simone finally came back and sat beside me. “What’s going on, Ivy? I haven’t seen you this unraveled in a very long time. It’s a little disconcerting to say the least.” “He’s after me,” I told her. “He knows I’m here.” “Who knows you’re here? Ivy, you’re not making any sense.” “Lucifer,” I whispered, leaning into her so that no one else would hear me. “He thinks I know.” “He thinks you know what?” she asked, looking at me as though I had gone mad. “When Jesus is coming. He thinks I know.” “Do you?” she asked. “Do you know?” A hiss filled the air in the room as the wind picked up and gushed through the open window. I drew a breath but I dared not answer. She was listening. 

As promised, here is the contest for Easter's Lilly.  Good luck everyone!

International Giveaway
For a chance to win One of Ten e-books of Easter's Lilly
The winner will be announced at the end of the tour.

Friday, April 25, 2014


Welcome Author Robin Hewitt and Crawford Hill!  This is a creepy (and I mean that in a GOOD WAY!) scary one.  It is Book One in the Crawford Saga...AND (as if that weren't enough)...there's a CONTEST!!!  


Here's a little about Robin:


Born and raised on the shores of Michigan's Lake St. Clair, one of Robin Hewitt's earliest memories is of Mama warning her to beware of The Bogeyman, who lived in the caves on the banks of the Clinton River. Although extensive teenage explorations brought her to the conclusion that Mama had actually been worried that she would fall in the river, she never forgot the warnings or the idea that a monster could live beneath our feet, slinking out at night to strike terror in the hearts of unsuspecting women and children. 

Robin still lives a few miles away from Lake St. Clair. With extensive experience writing non-fiction articles and books, Crawford Hill is Robin's first published venture into the world of fiction writing.

And here is just a taste of Crawford Hill:

Derek Crawford smiles pleasantly at the anger management counselor as the voices in his head beckon him into spiraling madness.

A burned-out and now unemployed child psychologist, Derek lives alone in the Victorian mansion on Crawford Hill. From his great-grandmother’s widow’s walk on the fourth floor he can watch the lights of Centerville blinking on as the sun sets over Lake St. Clair.

From the basement he can enter his great-grandfather’s network of caves, and prowl beneath the homes of the unsuspecting town.

As he nears his 29th birthday, one voice is getting louder. More persistent. It’s the gravelly voice of his old man, dead a dozen years but no less demanding than when he whipped his belt across Derek’s back.

Only one year left whelp, don’t you screw it up.

Derek knows he’s closing in on the deadline: to inherit Crawford Hill, he must be married and father a son before he turns thirty. A legacy he’s determined not to fulfill, because he refuses to chance perpetuating the insanity and bloodlust of the Crawford family tree.

He’s determined, that is, until unsuspecting Valerie Fleury knocks on the door of Crawford House. Against his better judgment, he invites her in for coffee and more, and a glimmer of hope pierces his soul. Until she mentions she’s working with the cops. Until she starts asking about the caves, and his parents, and a series of rapes and murders that are occurring around Centerville. Again.

That wench would look good barefoot and pregnant. Or dead and bloody.

With the stakes rising in proportion to the body count, Derek must confront the memories he’s spent his adult life learning to bury, and risk unleashing his encroaching madness to save the woman who might hold his redemption.                                               

As promised, here it is:

CONTEST ALERT! International Giveaway Two winners will receive $10 Amazon Vouchers each!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Crawford Hill is on the Amazon Countdown during the blast, for those that have added this to your blogs for today’s blast, thank you Smile
 

Let's stay in touch with Robin!  BTW...Crawford Hill is on Amazon's Countdown during this book blast:

April 25th 1am PST for 22hrs the price will be $2.99
April 25th 11pm PST for 24hrs the price will be $3.99
April 26th 11pm PST back to the orginal price of $4.99

Author Links

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

Purchase Links

Monday, April 14, 2014

Welcome Guest Author, Pat Nelson Childs and "Numen's Trust" - CONTEST ALERT!!!






200About the Author
Pat Nelson Childs currently lives in Maine with his faithful cat, Bo. He was born and raised in Rumford, ME. In previous lives, he owned a clothing store in Provincetown, MA and worked as a computer support technician for a large international corporation based in Ann Arbor. He presently mentors GLBT youth and is at work on his latest book. When he's not writing (which is rarely), the author enjoys reading, watching movies, cooking and traveling. He also likes watching football, baseball & hockey and hanging out with friends.  http://www.patnelsonchilds.com/about.html

 
About the Book
150Seven years have passed on Firma since Rokey’s narrow escape from The Order of the Bone. All of Firma is now at war. The living god, Cyure, and his merciless hordes have succeeded in conquering all other realms save two – the kingdoms of Iceberg and Glacia, far up in the Northern Expanse. As refugees pour into these kingdoms from all over Firma, Rokey, Flash and their companions are working constantly to stay one step ahead of Cyure, who still wants ‘The Scion’ alive in order to steal his awesome, but still largely latent power. Just as things look blackest, High Mage Ellispon and his fellow scholars happen upon a key which at last will enable them to translate the ancient scrolls taken from Moribar years before. It is from these scrolls that they learn of a magical object known simply as “The Heart”, which offers them the means to finally unlock Rokey’s enormous power. The only problem – The Heart is not even in Firma! And so the final quest begins – a race to find this fabled object and to give Rokey the power he needs to confront Cyure at last, saving both the people he loves, and the land that he has already given so much to defend.

http://www.chroniclesoffirma.com/NTsummary

Interview

How much of yourself is hidden in the characters in your book?

I guess pieces of me exist in all of my characters; some more than others. Very few people would be able to connect the pieces though. No one knows me that well.

How much of a story did you have in mind before you started writing?

I carried a notebook around for twenty years with smatterings of ideas for The Chronicles of Firma before I ever really sat down to write it. Hopefully it won’t take me another twenty to get my current book done, but you never know.

Can you tell us what genre you write?

Basically Fantasy and Science Fiction, although I try to throw some Mystery and Romance into everything I write as well.

How do you cope with writer's block?

I worry and suffer a lot, which basically makes it worse. I have no tricks for coping with it. When I can write, I write. When I can’t, I don’t.

How do you develop and differentiate your characters?

All of my work is character-based, so characters are developed before much plotting happens. I’m not sure just how it happens. They speak to me and I get to know them. I put them in various situations and I see how they behave. If I try to force them down a path that doesn’t make sense for them, the story just grinds to a halt, so they also help to drive the plot lines.

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?

I am a big believer in outlines. I do a complete and thorough outline for each book, and I try to stay guided by it as much as possible. Of course, there are times when the plotline I’ve outlined just doesn’t work – like when it runs afoul of what the characters would naturally do. When that happens, I change the outline as necessary. For the most part, though, I make a plan and stick to it.

How (or when) do you decide that you are finished writing a story?

Well, first I try to make sure all of the major loose ends are tied up (leaving enough untied for a sequel if I want). Then I just write until it feels like the characters are done with the business at hand. There’s no formula. It’s more of an intuition.

Is there a message in your writing you want readers to grasp?

Well, the messages vary, but one of the main reasons I write is to give LGBT teens (and adults too) representation and role models in two genres that are very short on gay characters. That’s the reason there’s no explicit sex in my books. I want them to be accessible by teens and also enjoyable by adults, both gay and straight. Fortunately, I’m slowly seeing more writers doing what I’m doing, so in a few years hopefully there will be much more diversity in Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I am working on a Science Fiction novel about a six-foot-eight teenaged genius named Jonathan Starlander. That’s all I can say about it right now.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Yes, but life didn’t give me the talent to write prose until I was nearly forty years old. So I went through the early stages of my life kind of drifting from career path to career path. I knew I would write one day. I just didn’t know when I’d be ready.

At what age did you discover your love of writing?

I started writing poetry at age ten, and I stuck with that pretty much exclusively until I started writing Orphan’s Quest, the first book of the Chronicles of Firma trilogy. I never went through the short story phase. I can’t do them.

What is the most difficult part of the whole writing process?

Outlining. It’s boring. I admire anyone who can manage a complete, well thought out novel without an outline. I sure can’t.

What do you like to read?

All kinds of things: Sci-fi and Fantasy of course, but also mysteries, romances, history, biography. I do a lot of non-fiction reading to research my books, and it all interests me.

What writer influences you the most?

Mercedes Lackey. Her Last Herald Mage trilogy inspired me to go ahead and write The Chronicles of Firma. It showed me that there was a market for good epic fantasy with gay heroes. For that reason, she’ll always be my literary hero.

If your book was made into a TV series or Movie, which actors would you like to see playing your characters?

I don’t have a clue, but I’d sure like to see it happen.

Where can people learn more about you?

They can read my books and speculate about me all they want. Other than that, I’m always happy to have new friends on facebook. I don’t go around spilling my guts all that often, but you can get a little more of a sense of what makes me tick. My facebook “me” page is facebook.com/patnelsonchilds.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself?

A: I think I may have said too much already. I hate talking about myself. But I really want you to read my books!

Thank you for joining us, Pat.  The very best of luck to you on all of your adventures - please come back and visit again soon - let's stay in touch!  

CONTEST INFO.:


This giveaway is (U.S. Only) a signed copy of the Trilogy and (International) a pdf version of the Trilogy.  The winner will be announced at the end of the tour.

ENTER HERE:    a Rafflecopter giveaway