The Digital Ink Spot

Interview with Derek Birks @Feud_writer

2013-02-12T07:57:00.001-08:00

Derek Birks was born in Hampshire in England but spent his teenage years in Auckland, New Zealand, where he still has strong family ties. For many years he taught history in a secondary school in Berkshire but took early retirement several years ago to concentrate on his writing. Apart from writing, he spends his time gardening, traveling, walking and taking part in archaeological digs at a Roman villa.

The Digital Ink Spot: What can you tell the readers about Feud
Derek Birks: Feud is set during the Wars of the Roses when local disputes are sometimes settled by violent means. It is the story of a fictional family, the Elders, who become embroiled in a savage feud with their neighbors, the Radcliffes.
The central characters are siblings: Ned Elder, a Yorkshire knight, and his sisters, Emma and Eleanor. At the start of the book in September 1459 their father and older brother are killed, their household is ransacked and the two sisters are abducted. The book tells the story of the Elders’ struggle to regain what has been lost to the Radcliffes.
When I wrote Feud I tried to write the kind of historical fiction that I like to read myself: authentic and fast paced. I aimed to include a lot of action which was driven along by the characters and I also wanted several interesting female characters to play significant roles in what was a very male dominated society.

The Digital Ink Spot: You wrote on your website you are inspired by images where a scene might take
place. How much more of your creative process is visual?
Derek Birks: Fiction is born in the imagination of course, so before I can put it into words I need to visualise it. I have to try to put myself in the position of my characters and because I am writing in the distant past that is not always easy.

With scenes that take place in a known place, for example the town of Ludlow, it’s essential to go there and try to envisage how it would have been at the time. Looking at maps, especially of land use in the Middle Ages, helps to develop for me a mental picture of a site. In Ludlow I walked the line of the old town walls to get an idea of the size of the town in the 1450s. You have to strip back the trappings of modern life: what would the street have been like without the supermarket, pavements, double glazed windows, street lights and so on? The point is: it has to be a mental picture because in most modern places there is very little left to see of the medieval period.
In more natural settings, it’s a little easier. There is a scene in Feud which takes place on a misty autumn morning. When you are writing such a scene it helps to be able to call up images of an actual place in similar conditions. You can visualise stumbling through the swathes of brown, dying bracken. It’s damp and you’re disorientated by the mist closing in on you. Knowing how that feels makes it easier to create scenes which seem more authentic.

I create scenes in my head, often when walking or maybe swimming - the brain has to be focussed only on creating the scene. I play the scene through, always asking myself the question: does it feel right? If it doesn’t then I have to “press the pause button” and think again.

The Digital Ink Spot: As a historical fiction writer, what are your thoughts on the discovery of King Richard III’s skeleton in a parking lot?
Derek Birks: Well, it’s a real scoop isn’t it? I’m a keen, though very inexperienced, archaeologist and I know that these sorts of discoveries are about as rare as you can get. As if there wasn’t enough interest in Richard III, it would have to be him that turns up in a car park. Richard carries so much “baggage” with him I’m surprised he wasn’t found with a few suitcases! I don’t think that finding Richard’s corpse will solve any of the mysteries that surround his actions. As an author I have no doubt that Richard will make an appearance in one of my books about the Elder family, not least because his palace at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire is a stone’s throw from the fictional home of the Elder family in Feud.

The Digital Ink Spot: Do you recall how your interest in history originated?
Derek Birks: I don’t think there was a “eureka moment”. I think it developed gradually during my school years. I was fortunate to have some inspirational history teachers and they introduced me to the stories of history. Most people are drawn in by stories, by the qualities of a set of individuals or perhaps by the resilience or courage of just one man or woman. People are interesting and they are rarely one-dimensional. When I taught history to teenagers it increased my own interest because I began to learn what kinds of historical stories intrigued them. The challenge for me as a writer is to be true to the history and at the same time make my characters interesting to the reader.

The Digital Ink Spot: What can readers expect in the future from you?
Derek Birks: The next book in the Feud series is well under way and I’m looking to publish that in the summer if all goes well. The new story is set a couple of years later when King Edward IV is still trying to stamp out Lancastrian opposition and the Elders face a new challenge. I already have plans for the third book and ideas for a fourth. After that I may have to consider whether I want to start a new series in a different period of history but at the moment I’m enjoying recreating the blood and misery of Wars of the Roses with the Elder family.

Website: www.derekbirks.com

Twitter: @Feud_writer

FEUD

What Happened in Witches Wood by Stephen Henning @Henningopolis

2013-02-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

What Happened in Witches Wood (Class Heroes)

In 1987, 16-year-old Katie Blake died in mysterious circumstances in a stream in Witches Wood.
In 2009, a teenage couple enter the wood one hot, summer night and encounter her ghost.
In 2011, James and Samantha Blake are staying at their grandparents’ farmhouse, close to Witches Wood, while they come to terms with their new superpowers.

Those powers are soon put to the test. James comes face-to-face with the ghost of Katie Blake – his long-dead aunt – and discovers that she may be responsible for a number of grisly deaths that have occurred in the wood. Meanwhile, Sam foils an armed robbery in a nearby village and sets in motion a chain of terrible events that threatens the whole family.

Sir Michael Rosewood, owner of the world’s largest pharmaceutical firm, knows the secret of their superpowers and has taken a keen interest in the Blake family. But is he friend or foe?

https://twitter.com/Henningopolis
http://www.247interactivenews.com/
www.classheroes.com

FAMILY FALLACIES by Kassandra Lamb @KassandraLamb

2013-02-06T08:35:00.001-08:00

FAMILY FALLACIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series #3)

2/6/13 – 2/7/13

Psychotherapist Kate Huntington is having a rough autumn. Someone’s been sending anonymous and vaguely threatening notes to the counseling center where she works, and now she’s being sued for malpractice, for supposedly planting false memories in a client’s head. There is one bright spot. She’s falling in love. Now if she could just get the ghost of her dead husband out of her head.

As the budding romance is heating up, the note sender ups the ante and is threatening to “destroy” Kate’s family. Can things get any worse? Yes, they can. Kate becomes a murder suspect when a party in the lawsuit ends up dead. Her good friend, lawyer Rob Franklin, still has some misgivings about her too-handsome-to-be-trusted suitor. But now the two men must work together to support the woman they both love, and help her stop a killer... before he or she comes after Kate’s baby girl.

https://twitter.com/KassandraLamb
http://kassandralamb.com
http://www.facebook.com/kassandralambauthor

Treading on Borrowed Time by Evelyn Klebert @EvelynKlebert

2013-02-06T08:10:00.003-08:00

Treading on Borrowed Time

02/06/2013-02/08/2013

For Julia Moreau life seems complicated. Emerging from a failed marriage and managing a lifetime of diabetes, she lives alone in her childhood home where she communicates with the spirit of her Great Aunt Lilia. But Julia doesn't have a clue what complicated is until she is thrust into being the key chess piece in a match between two powerful men of extraordinary abilities on the wild hunt for a mystical creature hidden in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter. Will Julia lose her soul to the karma of a devastating past life or her heart to the love of a man driven by dark forces? What is clear is that whichever way she turns she is "Treading on Borrowed Time."

"Set in the marvelous city of New Orleans, Ms. Klebert takes us on a journey that's layered through lifetimes current and past. It is a marvelous adventure, and one that encompasses healing, trust, and the rapture of undying love. Treading on Borrowed Time is an outstanding achievement. It is a story that lingers upon the heart and mind." -- Aiden James author of The Forgotten Eden and The Vampires' Birthright

http://twitter.com/EvelynKlebert
http://www.facebook.com/eklebert
http://www.evelynklebert.net

Five, Six ... Grab your Crucifix by Willow Rose @MadamWillowRose

2013-02-06T07:55:00.002-08:00

Five, Six ... Grab your Crucifix (Rebekka Franck #3)

02/06/2013 to 02/10/2013

The Priest is a man with a mission from God. He is to help those possessed by evil to finally become free from their stronghold. He has expelled demons for years and had great success.

But there is one demon he never managed to cast out. And that demon has now come back to get him.

Rebekka Franck and Sune are on a vacation in Northern Zeeland when they suddenly find themselves involved in what turns out to be their most horrifying case to this date.

"Five, Six ... grab your crucifix" is a spine-chilling Scandinavian mystery-novel from the International Bestselling author Willow Rose. It is the third book in her series about the Danish reporter Rebekka Franck. Willow Rose will be writing the fourth book in the spring of 2013.

https://twitter.com/madamwillowrose
http://www.willow-rose.blogspot.com/
www.facebook.com/willowredrose

Frozen Footprints by Therese Heckenkamp @THeckenkamp

2013-02-05T11:28:00.005-08:00

Frozen Footprints

02/05/2013 - 02/06/2013

"Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night." Eighteen-year-old twins Charlene and Max Perigard have grown up under the wealthy but tyrannical rule of their oil-tycoon grandfather. When Max disappears and a ransom note shows up, Charlene's world is shattered. She desperately tries to persuade her tight-fisted grandfather to pay, but the old man is convinced that Max is merely faking his kidnapping to extort money. Fearing the worst, Charlene determines to find her brother before it's too late. Her quest hurls her into a twisted, frigid world of snow and ice that leads to terror in an isolated cabin. Together the twins struggle for survival while enduring fierce trials of mind, body, and spirit. Devoid of all worldly comfort and consolation, will faith and hope be enough to get them through this chilling nightmare?

http://www.thereseheckenkamp.com/
http://www.frozen-footprints.com
http://www.facebook.com/therese.heckenkamp
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16153542-frozen-footprints
https://twitter.com/THeckenkamp

The Survivors by Angela White @Angelawhitelaw

2013-02-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

The Survivors: Book One (Life After War)

An action adventure quest, with a supernatural romance, and many other subplots, set during the aftermath of the apocalypse.

So what's really in this series? Here's a short list:

*The End of the World, right-up-close and full of apocalyptic horror.
*A government conspiracy that caused the apocalypse.
*An adventure into the wastelands to find family, supplies, and safety.
*A supernatural romance with a dangerous secret about a child's parentage and a love strong enough to survive the end of the world.
*An invasion, ambushes, attacks from Nature and man - guns and magic.
*A refugee camp with very different laws, picking up those who've survived.
*A Hero you'll love, even as you ponder the secrets that could lose him leadership.
*A Witch, a Doctor, a government Storm Tracker, a TV Star, and three Marines struggling to keep their people alive and together as they prepare to defend themselves against Cesar's Slavers.
*A constant battle for survival that includes deadly trips into decaying American cities, insanity, relics of the past, and ghosts that stalk their every move.

Life After War. Magic and Reality blended into a post-apocalyptic fantasy series that you won't ever forget.

The Survivors (book one) has been a bestseller on multiple retailers in fantasy series, dark fantasy, science fiction adventure, and romance series. It has sold, or been downloaded, more than 50K times in its first 24 months.

http://www.law-angelawhite.com

Nook: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Survivors-Book-One/book-YReNN9M2j0O-TPuK8Woobg/page1.html

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-survivors/id430914727?mt=11
@Angelawhitelaw

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Brooke and the Magic Spectacles by Heather Richmond @marquettepress

2013-02-04T08:41:00.001-08:00

Brooke and the Magic Spectacles (Magical Murphy Farm Series 1)

2-1-13 to 2-28-13

This story is the first in the Magical Murphy Farm series. The Murphy Family Farm is an enchanted farm that owes much of its success to an agreement made between the Murphys and the Fairy Folk over a century ago in Ireland.

With over a hundred acres of farm land, the fairies and enchanted creatures work together to help the Murphy Family keep the farm prosperous enough to be generous to the community. The fairy folk call the Murphy Farm Lismore Baile, their words for "Bountiful Home."

The wondrous world of Lismore Baile awaits!

In this first book, young Brooke Murphy enjoys life living on a her family's centennial farm. The Murphy Family Farm has prospered for over a century, producing better than any farm in the area. Life on a farm couldn't be better for Brooke and her animal friends. One day, she decides to go for a walk in her mother's elaborate garden. On her way there, she finds some magical spectacles that allow her to see fairy folk and magical creatures. Brooke becomes more and more excited during her adventure while learning about the inner workings of the farm she calls home.

As she ventures down the hidden path of the garden, she greets the enchanted people of Lismore Baile, a magical realm where fantasy meets reality and the two work together to bring in the harvest. Brooke is given an errand by one of the fairies, one that she has to get done before bed time.

Some of the characters she meets include the flower fairies Marigold and Violet. Aurora is another fairy that Brooke meets along the way. Aurora helps keep the farm warm with some special help from her friend Fireglide (a volcano dragon). Everyone has something to do to keep the Murphy Farm thriving, including Brooke.

Brooke learns from Lily (possibly the last water nymph of her kind) that fairies and magical creatures have always been a part of the Murphy Family Farm.

After so many adventures, how will Brooke get safely home before it gets dark? With time running out, perhaps a little magic is needed.

Perfect reader for ages 9+ or great to read to children of any age. Adults will also like this uplifting story. This story emphasizes helping others, being thankful and the rewards for being generous.

http://marquettepress.com/authors.html
http://marquettepress.com
http://facebook.com/marquettepress

From Man to Man by David E. M. Emrys @DEMEmrys

2013-02-04T07:48:00.004-08:00

From Man to Man (Wroge Elements)

02/02/2013 - 03/03/2013

‘I’ve traded my old enemies for just this one…’ The axe thundered home. ‘I miss the old ones.’

Every man has a past, none more so than Draven Reinhardt. Abandoning his old life to settle down as a villager, he struggles to fit in, let alone hold down a job. When opportunity offers the much needed coin, Draven is torn between a promise and a purpose.

But, what’s one last job if you’ve already got blood on your hands?
‘From Man to Man’ is the story of how one man can change – or not – for the best. Prequel to the upcoming novel ‘It Began With Ashes’, the short (6400 words) introduces the reader to a world of suspense, intrigue, and action.

BONUS MATERIAL:
Exclusive preview chapter from ‘It Began With Ashes’.

https://twitter.com/DEMEmrys
http://www.facebook.com/dememrys
http://written-with-a-sword.blogspot.co.uk

Seems Like Old Times by Joanne Pence @JoannePence

2013-02-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

Seems Like Old Times

When Lee Reynolds, nationally known television news anchor, returns to the small town where she was born to sell her now-vacant childhood home, little does she expect to find that her first love has moved back to town. Nor does she expect that her feelings for him are still so strong.

Tony Santos had been a major league baseball player, but now finds his days of glory gone. He's gone back home to raise his young son as a single dad.

Both Tony and Lee have changed a lot. Yet, being with him, she finds that in her heart, it seems like old times...

[This story was previously published under pseudonym JoMarie Lodge.]

Website – www.joannepence.com
The book website - http://www.joannepence.com
Twitter -- @joannepence

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Bluegrass State of Mind by Kathleen Brooks @BluegrassBrooks

2013-02-01T08:30:00.003-08:00

Bluegrass State of Mind (Bluegrass Series)

2/1/13 - 2/3/13

McKenna Mason, a New York City attorney with a love of all things Prada, is on the run from a group of powerful, dangerous men. McKenna turns to a teenage crush, Will Ashton, for help in starting a new life in beautiful horse country. She finds that Will is now a handsome, successful race horse farm owner. As the old flame is ignited, complications are aplenty in the form of a nasty ex-wife, an ex-boyfriend intent on killing her, and a feisty race horse who refuses to race without a kiss. Can Will and McKenna cross the finish line together, and more importantly, alive?

http://www.kathleen-brooks.com
http://kathleen-brooks.com/books/bluegrass-series/bluegrass-state-of-mind/ https://www.facebook.com/KathleenBrooksAuthor
https://twitter.com/bluegrassbrooks

Personal Breakthrough by Martin Sterling

2013-02-01T08:25:00.001-08:00

Personal Breakthrough: A personal development plan and day by day personal development program to transform your thoughts.

January 31, 2013 to February 04, 2013

"Personal Breakthrough: A personal development plan and day by day personal development program to transform your thoughts" explores what makes some people successful and others not. Written in easy to understand language along with illustrations, "Personal Breakthrough: A personal development plan and day by day personal development program to transform your thoughts" helps you begin to connect the dots on what it is you may be doing over and over again that hinders you from accomplishing your goal.
Some of the topics we touch on are:

- Why don't you follow through?
- What it takes to be a real leader.
- How to create success for yourself.
- and much more!

This is a short (under 30 pages) easy to follow book all should enjoy. These are tips and ideas that have been used by the most successful men and woman of our time from businessmen, rappers to inventors as well as featured in the best personal development books. This straight forward take on personal development is great for the person who never sees themselves as reading a personal development book or involving themselves with personal development activities, but is hungry and curious about what else is out there.

https://www.facebook.com/martin.sterling
martinsterling.org

FEUD by Derek Birks @Feud_writer

2013-02-01T08:07:00.001-08:00

FEUD

1st - 5th February 2013

September 1459. England stands on the brink of chaos as the forces of York and Lancaster prepare to settle their differences on the battlefield. As the rule of law breaks down all over England old scores are being settled.

In Yorkshire, the Radcliffe family revive an old feud with their neighbours, the Elders. There is no warning: a father is executed, a brother is killed and a household is ransacked. Emma Elder is dragged from her home and forced to marry the Radcliffe heir. Her younger sister, the beautiful and tigerish Eleanor, is violently abducted and imprisoned in a nunnery.
In a day the Elder family’s world has been destroyed ... but one member of the family remains at large. A young knight, Ned Elder, flees with a handful of loyal companions.
To regain what has been lost he must seek powerful friends and rely on his skill with the sword. But as the brutal Wars of the Roses unfold it seems that Ned cannot succeed on his own. His sisters, his companions in arms and the girl he loves must all play their part if the Radcliffes are to be overcome.

If you like the sort of historical action fiction written by Bernard Cornwell, then you should like this.

https://twitter.com/Feud_writer
www.derekbirks.com
http://historicalnovelreview.blogspot.ca/2012/12/feud-by-david-birks.html

Spent City by Andrew Kealy

2013-02-01T08:03:00.002-08:00

Spent City

Thursday 31 Jan - Saturday 2

Reluctant investigator Gerry Lambe is wasting his days in a booze-fuelled oblivion when he is sent into a dizzying spiral of desperation after being hired by a cynical stripper for what initially appears to be a simple job. Things get out of control in a town where everyone has their price.

www.dimension7.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spent-City/518216641544226

Castles by Benjamin X. Wretlind @bxwretlind

2013-02-01T07:50:00.001-08:00

Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a Girl with Scissors
01/31/13-03/31/13

What would you do to build your castle in the sky?

When Maggie was six, she hid from desert storms under the sink where the Comet and Windex were kept. Now twenty, she welcomes the storms. Maggie has been abused, torn apart by the sins of others and constantly feels as if she is living on the verge of some grand epiphany perhaps passed down through her Grandmother, perhaps given to her by God.

Then again, she may just be insane.

Maggie doesn't know if the four bodies she dismembered and placed inside a rusted Volkswagen Bus are the only bricks left to her castle in the sky, but she hopes you'll understand if they're not. Castles is Maggie's story, a literary horror novel about love and redemption, belief and revenge and what brings a person to madness.

http://bxwretlind.com/

http://bxwretlind.com/castles.php

https://www.facebook.com/bxwretlind

https://twitter.com/bxwretlind

Safety (One Eighteen: Migration) by Will Ross @WillRossWriter

2013-01-30T07:31:00.000-08:00

Safety (One Eighteen: Migration)

It's 2008 in America, and the world has gone very, very wrong. Radio and televison signals drive men to madness, the dead hunt the living, and the ties that hold mankind together have severed.

Isolated, the town of Greenly, South Dakota has walled itself off from the horrors of the wider world. Safe behind their makeshift wall teenage lawmen prowl the streets and men and women struggle to survive in a town where electronics are banned.

In the center of it all, Jonas Waight, an academic in the wrong place at the right time. Waight does what he can to survive and trade, documenting his experiences in his journal. But when Jonas starts asking too many questions, will he be able to handle the dark secrets his curiosity reveals?

Welcome to Greenly...

Behold the Child by Harry Shannon @HarryShannon

2013-01-30T01:00:00.000-08:00

Behold the Child This short novel first appeared in the Cemetery Dance anthology "Brimstone Turnpike." Each character was to be given a brief encounter with a wise old man named Johnny Divine, and one object that would affect the outcome of the story. In Harry Shannon's entry, Sam Kenzie is an LAPD cop who can't escape his obsession with a serial killer due to demons of his own.

FREE Behold the Child by Harry Shannon amazon.com/dp/B003U4W7YU/… via @amazon
— Harry Shannon (@HarryShannon) February 11, 2012

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Kick Your Fat in the Nuts by T.C. Hale @kickitinthenuts

2013-01-29T07:48:00.005-08:00

Kick Your Fat in the Nuts

Not only will Tony have you laughing out loud while he reveals the secrets behind weight loss and how the human body functions, you will also learn how to look at your own body chemistry to understand the underlying cause of YOUR weight issues. Since the reasons for weight gain vary from person to person, once you understand what is going on with your chemistry, this book will help you understand what foods, supplements, or lifestyle changes could eliminate your need to continue buying bigger pants.

http://www.twitter.com/kickitinthenuts
http://www.kickitinthenuts.com
http://www.facebook.com/kickitinthenuts

Interview with Lara Reznik

2013-01-28T23:12:00.001-08:00

Lara Reznik, a native New Yorker, attended college at the University of New Mexico where she studied under esteemed authors Rudolfo Anaya and Tony Hillerman. Ambidextrous from birth, Lara preferred her right-brained creative side, but discovered she could make a better living with her left-brain skills so entered the I.T. field in 1985. Lara launched her debut novel, The Girl From Long Guyland on Amazon last November. The novel has received rave editorial reviews and consistently ranked the #1 spot in Suspense, #1 in Contemporary Fiction, and #4 overall “Free Books,” during it’s Amazon Kindle Select Promotional Days 11/16-11/20. In addition to her novels, Lara has written and optioned three screenplays.

The Digital Ink Spot: Tell the readers about your book, The Girl From Long Guyland
Lara Reznik: Readers have told me that The Girl From Long Guyland reads like memoir-meets-psychological-thriller. Set against a 1969 psychedelic love-in backdrop, the story is shared through the eyes of I.T. executive, Laila Levin, when decades later, an unsolved murder pulls her reluctantly into her past. Facing a dramatic collision of then and now, Laila is forced to make choices that endanger her marriage, family, profession and ethics.

The Digital Ink Spot: How much of you is the main character, Laila Levin?

Lara Reznik: This is a great question. Numerous people have told me that the characters, in both the hippie days of the late ‘60s and the corporate world of 2012, seem very believable and real. A few Amazon reviewers are convinced the novel is my autobiography. I’ll take that as a compliment that I was successful in creating a fictive world with a plot and cast of characters that are composites of people I’ve known. I’m at an age when I’ve begun reflecting on different periods of my life and examining what I’ve learned from them. For me, the late sixties was an aberration from the rest of my relatively conservative life. I wasn’t near as naïve or crazy as Laila, but I was a quintessential hippie, feminist, and anti-war protestor. Evidently, the novel has struck a chord with other baby boomers’ memories.

The Digital Ink Spot: The book cover is simple yet tells a lot, what do you want readers to get from it?
Lara Reznik: The cover is the result of a collaboration with two members of my critique group, authors Cynthia Stone and Tosh McIntosh. It was Cindy’s brilliant idea which Tosh spent endless hours fine-tuning in Photoshop. Marijuana leaves falling from a woman executive’s briefcase are symbolic of how Laila is forced to deal with the dark secret from her hippie past that has come back to haunt her now.

The Digital Ink Spot: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Lara Reznik: It often takes the threat of losing everything to appreciate what you’ve got! As corny as it sounds, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Laila comes to realize, “There’s no place like home.”

The Digital Ink Spot: What can readers expect from you in the future?
Lara Reznik: More novels. I’m working on two. The first is a novelization of my screenplay, The M&M Boys. It’s about a troubled Little Leaguer who meets Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle as they compete to break Babe Ruth's home run record in the summer of '61. The second, Dance of Deception, is a thriller set in the mid-seventies about a wealthy young woman who enters the dark world of Go-Go dancing, while a serial killer, imitating the Son of Sam, targets exotic dancers in Manhattan.

http://www.larareznik.com/

Review: Samurai Vs. Robo-Dick by Steve Lowe @Steve_Lowe

2013-01-27T19:12:00.003-08:00

Samurai Vs. Robo-Dick

Summary:

It’s been a few weeks since Benson returned to his parents’ home in the idyllic gated community of Grand Acres. He hasn’t seen them since. Ever since locking himself in the house with his supply of junk food and pot, he hasn’t seen much of anyone. When he’s finally coerced from the house and joins an ominous neighborhood group know as the Brown Shirts, Benson realizes things in Grand Acres aren’t nearly as tranquil as he thought. Even worse, there’s a samurai on the loose who is settling grudges in very violent ways.

Review:

Samurai Vs. Robo-Dick is a great redemptive story about a habitual masturbating pot head. He lost his job, his home and his spark. He's come home to lick his wounds from his current failures and loses touch with reality at the most inopportune time ever. The world outside has gone to hell but it goes completely unnoticed by Benson due to the ironfisted rule orchestrated by the Brown Shirts that patrol the streets of the idyllic Grand Acres.
I loved the story and the characters Lowe introduces through the novella. Benson evolves from burnout to rebel leader in a manner not out of his character. I appreciate that Lowe doesn't make Benson break character in order to advance the story. Lowe is a extremely talented and creative storyteller.

http://steve-lowe.com
https://twitter.com/Steve_Lowe

Marrying Mallory by Diane Craver

2013-01-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

Marrying Mallory

Is Mallory Harrington jinxed because her name means luckless? Things have gone wrong for Mallory since she was a small child. All she ever wanted was to have a complete family and live happily ever after. It appears she has it all when she marries Toby Harrington and they have a son. Unfortunately, their marriage ends when Toby has an affair with his law partner. Divorced Mallory doesn’t want to date, so she isn’t happy when her girlfriends try to fix her up with a minister friend.

Mallory decides to do something for herself, and get the nose surgery that she's always wanted. What she doesn't expect is her instant attraction to her surgeon.

Sometimes faith is about accepting what can't be changed and grabbing what God offers her. Life must go on.

http://www.dianecraver.com
http://www.dianecraver.com/blog

Talisman Of El by Alecia Stone @Alecia_Stone

2013-01-21T18:32:00.001-08:00

Talisman Of El

WHAT IF YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS A LIE?

One Planet.

Two Worlds.

Population: Human ... 7 billion.
Others ... unknown.

When 14-year-old Charlie Blake wakes up sweating and gasping for air in the middle of the night, he knows it is happening again. This time he witnesses a brutal murder. He's afraid to tell anyone. No one would believe him ... because it was a dream. Just like the one he had four years ago - the day before his dad died.

Charlie doesn't know why this is happening. He would give anything to have an ordinary life. The problem: he doesn't belong in the world he knows as home.

He belongs with the others.

www.aleciastone.com
www.talismanofel.com
www.facebook.com/talismanofel
www.twitter.com/alecia_stone
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12701339-talisman-of-el

Thirst by L.A. Larkin

2013-01-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

Thirst

Antarctica is the coldest, most isolated place on earth. Luke Searle, maverick glaciologist, has made it his home. But soon his survival skills will be tested to the limit by a ruthless mercenary who must win at any cost. The white continent is under attack. The Australian team is being hunted down. Can Luke stay alive long enough to raise the alarm? Can he avert a global catastrophe?
The countdown has begun. T minus 5 days, 2 hours and 53 minutes …

http://lalarkin.com/blog
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/editprofile.php?sk=basic&success=1#!/LALarkinAuthor
Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/lalarkinauthor

Ghost Stories by John Kachuba @JohnKachuba

2013-01-18T17:30:00.000-08:00

Ghost Stories

Ghosthunters and students of the paranormal will find intriguing the four original stories in Ghost Stories by John Kachuba. These stories are not the scary—and cheesy—stories of terror, violence, and gore found in cheap novels and B-movies. Based on his own experiences as a ghost hunter, Kachuba’s stories are something new in paranormal fiction. You might call them stories for the “thinking man” (and woman!). These stories will challenge your ideas about spirits, ghosts, and haunted locations. Just in time for Halloween, Ghost Stories is a must-read for your paranormal bookshelf.

www.johnkachuba.com
@johnkachuba
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/john.kachuba.1

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H10N1 by Marsha Cornelius @marshacornelius

2013-01-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

H10N1

A deadly influenza virus rages out of control. There is no easy-fix vaccine. No eleventh-hour containment. Only death.
With no workforce, power plants are unmanned so there’s no means of communication; police and fire departments have collapsed so no one is safe; looters are scavenging everything from big-screen TVs to canned peas.
When Dr. Taeya Sanchez finds herself unceremoniously dismissed from an emergency medical facility in New York, she decides to steal the hospital’s armored van for a midnight escape.
Unfortunately, Rick DeAngelo, a driver for the hospital, has already stocked the van for his own getaway.
Thrown into an unfriendly alliance, these two must pick their way across the dangerous wasteland of America in search of a safe haven. And as the miles roll by, they discover that the living should be feared much more than the festering corpses out there.

Twitter:	http://twitter.com/marshacornelius
Website:	http://mrcornelius.com