Tribute Books Reviews & Giveaways

Claudia Riess - Love and Other Hazards - Review & Giveaway

2017-11-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

About the Book

Glenda Fieldston is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her seven-year-old daughter, Astrid, when Eugene Lerman comes walking by with his eight-year-old daughter, Meredith, a schoolmate of Astrid’s. The families spot each other, Glenda and Eugene engage in long-range cursory assessments, and then they go their separate ways. But not for long. Glenda and Eugene cross paths professionally soon after, and circumstances at work bring them into close association. So begins a friendship fraught with complications. Glenda’s independence is self-imposed and fierce. Eugene’s was foisted on him by a wife who left him. Although Glenda’s and Eugene’s personal demons are incompatible, their longings are, confoundedly, in harmony. Their cautious friendship is further inhibited by past and present relationships, and it remains to be seen if they can break out of their set ways to make a break for uncharted love.

Review

Do we ever really grow up?

That's the loaded question that often arises among families. Who is the parent and who is the child? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Glenda is a single mom of seven-year-old, Astrid, a child who was artificially conceived. As a mother, Glenda is open and honest with her daughter about how she came into the world, courtesy of the sperm of a nuclear physicist. She chooses not to withhold the truth, even when Astrid begs, "I want a father. All the other kids have fathers." It has to be painful for Glenda to hear that, but she doesn't evade the subject. She addresses it head-on with Astrid, at an early age.

However, Glenda can be a little too forthcoming when she talks to her little girl about the men in her life. One guy even remarks, "She knows about you and me? She's seven." That's when the line between parent/child and parent/friend gets a little blurred. Should a mother treat her grade schooler like an adult?

The moments of when to use her better judgement weigh on Glenda's conscience. Outwardly, she wants to appear as a confident, modern parent, while inwardly she questions the decisions she's making and how they're affecting her daughter. These feelings build up inside Glenda until "suddenly feeling like she often had as a child - powerless to express her emotions, uncertain whether they would be accepted or whether they were acceptable. How close was she to any adult? With a rush of neediness, she wanted desperately to hug her daughter, to be charged again with the only unrestricted love she had ever known."

Things take a turn when Glenda meets single dad, Eugene and his daughter, Meredith. When Eugene starts to spend time with Astrid, playing soccer with her - providing her with a fatherly influence she's never known - Glenda starts to rethink how she's been living her life. She's a mother, but she's never been a wife, "because [she] wanted a baby very much, but [she] didn't want to be tied to a relationship that might be difficult to get out of if it didn't work out."

But now Eugene is offering her something she thought she'd never want, never mind find. What Glenda thought was impossible for her, is now right there, ready for the taking. Yet she remains hesitant, unsure if she should trust what her heart is telling her, refusing to let go of her independence. But what if going after what she wants actually coincides with what's best for her daughter? It all comes down to whether or not she can convince herself to believe it.

***

Love and Other Hazards can be purchased at:
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Barnes and Noble
iTunes

Prices/Formats: $2.99 ebook, $14.95 paperback
Genre: Family Life, Romance
Pages: 256
Release: May 10, 2017
Publisher: River Grove
ISBN: 9781632991225
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About the Author

Claudia Riess is a Vassar graduate who has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker magazine and Holt, Rinehart and Winston books and has edited several art history monographs. Her first novel, “Reclining Nude,” was published by Stein and Day. Oliver Sacks, author of “Awakenings,” had said her first book was “exquisite—and delicate… a most courageous book, full of daring—a daring only possible to a passionate and pure heart.”

The author divides her time between the Hamptons and Manhattan with her husband, Bob.

Links to connect with Claudia:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site

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Jerome Charyn - Winter Warning - Review & Giveaway

2017-10-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Reflecting our own world like a volatile funhouse mirror, Winter Warning lures us back to the 1980s, an era that could have been ripped right out of our most recent political upheaval. Isaac Sidel should have been vice president, banished to some far corner of the West Wing, but the president-elect has been forced to resign or face indictment for his crooked land deals—and Sidel becomes the accidental president. He’s a maverick, a crusader with a Glock in his belt, who defies both the Republicans and the Democrats. He seems haunted by Lincoln’s ghost, and the presidential palace becomes his own “great white jail,” as it did for Harry Truman. There’s never been another president quite like Isaac Sidel, New York’s former police commissioner and mayor. There’s a secret lottery created by some bankers in Basel to determine the exact date of Sidel’s death. And Sidel has to outrun this lottery in order to save himself. His greatest allies are not the Secret Service or the DNC, but a former Israeli prime minister who was a explosives operative during the British occupation of Palestine . . . as well as a mysterious billionaire who belongs to a brotherhood of killers and counterfeiters. His only companions in the capital are the captain of his helicopter fleet and a sexy naval intelligence officer who realizes that something has gone amuck at Camp David, when a band of mercenaries arrive with their sights trained on Sidel.

My Review

"America worships a true original."

…or so Isaac Sidel has been told.

He's a president who created himself, a president willing to enter the maelstrom.

"In a world of monuments and antiques and the must of history," he can't help but take a look at the men who came before him, and how he measures up in the grand scheme of things.

FDR had Camp David built as his mountain retreat to deal with his polio. And now one of the boys suffering from the same dreaded disease - one who Roosevelt once took under his wing - is all grown up and trying to kill Sidel. Unnerved, Sidel openly confronts the man.

"You were paid to kill me?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't finish the job."
"I would've dishonored Mr. Frank. It would've been like fratricide."

So it's not surprising that Sidel can't believe in Lincoln's "better angels." He's a guy who's been wrestling with demons all his life. Now as president, he's the lone white man who happens to appeal to both Latinos and blacks. And that designation quickly makes him persona non grata on Capitol Hill. Lincoln may have been an outcast thanks to his mad wife, but Sidel is more of an outcast than Lincoln ever was.

"He had to deal with all the sudden fury around him - the recriminations, the death threats, the talk of impeachment, congressional reprimands, editorials against his imperial presidency. He couldn't escape the barrage."

Yet Sidel is ashamed of the presidency and all its pomp. He feels like a fraud since, "Lincoln had carried a divided nation on his crooked back and prevented it from utterly unraveling and he took the time to visit a little school for the deaf. What had Isaac done except the irregular arc of his own demise?"

It's not for kicks that Harry Truman nicknamed the White House, "the great white jail," and Sidel readily agrees with his predecessor's assessment of things. In the book, Sidel's tenure begins in 1989, a year that "wasn't good for spies. Agents could be bought and sold by the bushel. Private contractors prospered among all the confusion."

So when it all comes down to it, Sidel doesn't have to be reminded of any of the greats who went before him - he's already walking in their footsteps.

***

Winter Warning can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
iTunes
Biblio

Prices/Formats: $25.95 ebook, $25.95 paperback
Genre: Political, Espionage, Thriller
Pages: 256
Release: October 1, 2017
Publisher: Pegasus Books
ISBN: 9781681773483
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Jerome Charyn published his first novel in 1964. He's the author of Johnny One-Eye, The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, I Am Abraham, and dozens of other acclaimed novels as well as nonfiction works. His short stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Paris Review, American Scholar, Epoch, and Ellery Queen. Charyn's popular crime novels featuring homicide detective Isaac Sidel inspired a new animated drama series: Hard Apple debuts on the small screen in 2017, helmed by Hollywood insider James Gray (The Immigrants) and illustrated by famed artists Asaf and Tomer Hanuka. Charyn lives in Greenwich Village, New York.

Links to connect with Jerome:
Web Site
Facebook (author)
Twitter (author)
Facebook (Isaac Sidel)
Twitter (Isaac Sidel)
Goodreads

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A. Keith Carreiro - The Penitent: Part II - Review & Giveaway

2017-09-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Hidden in the bottom of a roadside ditch as a baby, Evangel is only steps away from her viciously murdered parents. An old hermit finds her there a day later and takes her to his home in the heart of a sylvan wilderness. She is raised in a hermitage built by Matthew where he learns she is touched by a rare spiritual power. 17 years later a series of miracles occur that rock the very nature of her reality. Befriended by outlaws and a king’s champion, she is also betrayed by a woman of the cloth during a bard of the realm’s performance. That night, in a dream, Evangel envisions her future soul mate, Pall Warren, on a battlefield of death, and casts a prayer of protection around him. Thus begins a remarkable journey to save herself and those who believe in her. A hauntingly beautiful and startling tale of wonder.

My Review

The nature of duality always makes things interesting.

In this case, can a young girl really save a deeply troubled man? Well, let's say, she tries.

When Tabard meets Evangel all of the classic conflicts come into play: innocence versus experience, femininity versus masculinity, light versus darkness. Not to mention, the violence and utter brutality he inflicts on her family definitely does not make him a hero. In fact, a character so repulsive seems well beyond the bounds of ever achieving likability.

Yet somehow she manages to redeem him by rising above it all—by forgiving him.

Bewildered, people ask her flat out, "You're friends with him and not mortal enemies? How's that possible?"

Her response? "Perhaps the burden of what has befallen [him] should be borne by both of us."

Now that's a powerful statement.

She knows that seeking revenge will only end up killing the goodness inside her. Emotionally, she's strong enough to break the cycle of hatred. She's not allowing his pain to extend any farther than it already has. She's putting an end to it right here, right now.

But it's a process. Complete healing doesn't happen overnight. Tabard is very much a work in progress. Being good doesn't come easy for him as "he kept brooding over this newly perceived awakening from the darkness he had so long inhabited. He views the change in himself "as a weakness, a vulnerability that seemed distasteful to him."

So it's not surprising when it's not long before he's lured off course. Symbolically, he even falls three times, "as though he was still drunk, drugged, damaged." Evangel certainly has her work cut out for her. He's literally in a struggle over the peace of his soul, and when he comes back to her looking "aged, careworn and beyond weary," she fears that she's failed him, that he may very well be beyond her reach.

Yet she doesn't give up on him. Bravely, she continues to battle his double mindedness until it feels like it's suffocating her. She takes on his emotions becoming fearful, angry, lonely herself. Yet she's willing to do anything in her power so that his spirit can become a little less filled with fear.

In order to keep her bearings she clings to God, trying not to let her doubts overtake her, wondering again and again why her prayers for Tabard keep going unanswered.

Until her wise, old grandfather gives her some pertinent advice, "Your prayers may have saved him from an even greater plight had he continued on the soul's journey he was electing to take. Don't be mad at yourself. He is who he is supposed to be."

But is that enough for her…will he ever be the man she wants him to be? That's the question.

***

The Penitent: Part II can be purchased at:
Amazon

Prices/Formats: $4.99 ebook, $15.99 paperback
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 274
Release: May 15, 2017
Publisher: Copper Beech Press
ISBN: 9780997382716
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

A. Keith Carreiro earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard Graduate School of Education, with the sequential help and guidance of three advisors, Dr. Vernon A. Howard, Dr. Donald Oliver and Professor Emeritus, Dr. Israel Scheffler. Keith’s academic focus, including his ongoing research agenda, centers upon philosophically examining how creativity and critical thinking are acquired, learned, utilized and practiced in the performing arts. He has taken his findings and applied them to the professional development of educational practitioners.

Earlier in his teaching career he was a professor of educational foundations, teaching graduate students of education at universities in Vermont, Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor of English at Bridgewater State University, as well as teaching English, philosophy, humanities and public speaking courses at Bristol Community College.

He lives in Swansea, Massachusetts. He has six children and 13 grandchildren. He belongs to an eighty–five–pound golden retriever, an eight–pound Maltese, and an impish Calico cat.

Due to his love of family, he has seen his fervor for history, as well as his passion for wondering about the future, deepen dramatically.

Starting on May 23rd until October 9th of 2014, he sat down at his computer on a daily basis and began writing the first book of a science fiction/fantasy thriller in a beginning series about the quest for human immortality.

Links to connect with A. Keith:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog

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R. Franklin James - The Bell Tolls - Review & Giveaway

2017-09-08T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Hollis Morgan has survived imprisonment, received a pardon and persevered to finally become a probate attorney. Tough as she is, her newest case will further test her mettle. She discovers her client, Matthias Bell, is a deceased blackmailer whose last wish was to return the damaging documents he collected, letting his victims off the hook. It falls to Hollis to give them the good news. But it’s revealed that Bell was murdered, and the victims of “Bell’s tolls” are now suspects.

Hollis’ white-collar criminal past has left her with keen survival instincts. A gifted liar she knows a liar when she meets one. A lot of people in this case are lying and one is a killer.

On top of that, she’s also representing a dying stripper, a wealthy widow whose estranged daughter spurns her attempts at reconciliation, but whose husband sees the potential inheritance as mending all wounds particularly financial ones.

Clients aside, Hollis is defensive and wary. Her mother, who hasn’t spoken to her for years, needs a kidney, and Hollis is a match, but neither are ready to put away the past. With Hollis’ fiancé and emotional support off on an undercover mission for Homeland Security, she must count on her own survival instincts. She is swept along on an emotional roller coaster as her absent love and her family’s coldness take their own toll.

Work is her salvation. The specter of a killer keeps her focused. Hollis has always had to rely on her wits, but now she finds that others who don’t have her well-being in mind are relying on them as well.

My Review

"The daughter she wished were dead was the only daughter who could keep her alive."

Harsh words, but true. It's clear Hollis is the proverbial black sheep. Ever since her incarceration and release from prison, her relationship with her family has been, to put it mildly, strained. Out to make a fresh start for herself, she decides to put some distance between them by choosing to go by her middle name. That is until her sister calls out of the blue, looking for her dear sibling formerly known as Rebecca. Because guess what? Mom needs a new kidney, and they're really hoping she's a match.

The family circle now needs her, but it still doesn't feel like including her. In fact, her family cares so little about her that they even make her sleep on the couch when she returns home for a round of preliminary testing. Their lack of consideration kills her inside, and "the emptiness she thought she'd locked away was falling open to the reality of daylight."

Because Hollis isn't agreeing to help her mother because she wants them all to think she's the big hero, riding in to save the day. That's just not who Hollis is, and she readily admits, "She's my mother. It's what you're supposed to do." Yet she's honest with herself about the reality of the situation she's facing, not sugarcoating anything, "She…chose me over death."

It's the honest to God truth, but it offers little in the way of comfort. However, Hollis carries on, determined to make the best of things, even sharing with her friends that for years she's been imagining herself as part of a pretend family in order to cope with the pain of estrangement she's experienced for most of her life. But now that things have taken a turn in a different direction, she relates, "I need to feel like a good daughter. I don't want to be cheated of how that feels like. And a good daughter donates a kidney to her mother."

As the two emerge from surgery, Hollis's mom, who is well know for hating displays of affection, opens the door to her heart, just a crack, and Hollis, unsure of this change in her mother, doesn't know what to make of it. Thrown off kilter, she's puzzled, not wanting to lower her defenses, only to be hurt again. In fact, "her mother's attempt to be kind was almost more than she could bear. Her sharp, mean-spirited barbs were more common and easier to block out."

So will they be able to repair their broken relationship? Only time—and the next installment in the series—will tell.

***

The Bell Tolls can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Kobo
Overdrive

Prices/Formats: $4.95 ebook, $15.95 paperback
Genre: Women's Sleuth, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Pages: 239
Release: June 1, 2017
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603812177
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

R. Franklin James grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. From there she cultivated a different type of writing—legislation and public policy. After serving as Deputy Mayor for the City of Los Angeles, under millionaire Richard Riordan, she went back to her first love—writing, and in 2013 her debut novel, The Fallen Angels Book Club was published by Camel Press. Her second book in The Hollis Morgan Mystery Series, Sticks & Stones, was followed by The Return of the Fallen Angels Book Club, and The Trade List. The Bell Tolls, book five was released in June 2017.

R. Franklin James lives in Northern California with her husband.

Links to connect with R. Franklin James:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

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Rich Zahradnik - Lights Out Summer - Review & Giveaway

2017-08-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

In March 1977, ballistics link murders going back six months to the same Charter Arms Bulldog .44. A serial killer, Son of Sam, is on the loose. But Coleridge Taylor can't compete with the armies of reporters fighting New York's tabloid war--only rewrite what they get. Constantly on the lookout for victims who need their stories told, he uncovers other killings being ignored because of the media circus. He goes after one, the story of a young Black woman gunned down in her apartment building the same night Son of Sam struck elsewhere in Queens. The story entangles Taylor with a wealthy Park Avenue family at war with itself. Just as he's closing in on the killer and his scoop, the July 13-14 blackout sends New York into a 24-hour orgy of looting and destruction. Taylor and his PI girlfriend Samantha Callahan head out into the darkness, where a steamy night of mob violence awaits them. In the midst of the chaos, a suspect in Taylor's story goes missing. Desperate, he races to a confrontation that will either break the story--or Taylor. Book 4 in the Coleridge Taylor Mystery series.

My Review

The "Yes Virginia" editorial…a front page editorial affirming the existence of Santa Claus in exquisite language. Yet it said more… Affirmed the idea of hope.

Think about it—it's only 1977 and Taylor is already mourning the glory days of newspapers. Why is a career newsman so forlorn nearly twenty years before digital media? Because for him, facts are stubborn things. You blow your credibility with your sources, you're done. You don't jump on the bandwagon. You go after the stories no one else is doing. Yet not many reporters follow these hard and fast rules. They run in a pack, chasing the one big bad guy, they're told to chase.

Remember half the stories in the Post are made up now that Murdoch owns it. Might as well be crime fiction… No flipping out because the Post has some fantastic story. Fantastic because it's fantasy.

So when the Son of Sam killer strikes New York City—shooting defenseless young white girls in the dark—every news outlet in the five boroughs is giving extensive daily coverage to the story—but not Taylor. He'd rather look into the murder of a black woman, that occurred on the same night as one of the Son of Sam killings, the one no one is talking about.

However, Taylor's not exactly what you would call a big-time reporter. He works for the City News Bureau, a wire service that supplies quick news bites for radio stations. In fact, his late father used to say he was nothing more than "a scribbler with a high school degree." So when temptation comes calling in the form of a job offer from the New York Post, proudly boasting a healthy circulation of over half a million, it feels "like any bargain with the devil…it offered something he wanted so badly."

Because realistically, Taylor doubts that he can keep doing what he's doing, and make a living out of it. He knows the Post would think he was nuts to care about a story no one cares about. That's not what sells newspapers. So after wrestling with the decision for a while, he comes to realize that it's not that he can't compete with the big guys—it's just that he doesn't want to. In his mind, all victims deserve to have their stories told, instead of the mass media making the decision to focus on a single case just "because the victims look like your family."

If you chased what readers wanted, not what they needed to know, you'd do anything. Bend facts. Break them.

So Taylor chooses to fight the good fight, and give a voice to the people, everyone else in the city is quick to write off. Who needs Panavision when you can do so much more with a close-up?

***

Lights Out Summer can be pre-ordered at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound

Prices/Formats: $4.95 ebook, $15.95 paperback, $29.95 audio
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 288
Release: October 1, 2017
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603812139
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Rich Zahradnik is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed Coleridge Taylor Mystery series (Lights Out Summer, A Black Sail, Drop Dead Punk, Last Words).

  The first three books have been shortlisted or won awards in the three major competitions for novels from independent presses. A Black Sail was named winner in the mystery category of the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Drop Dead Punk collected the gold medal for mystery ebook in the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Last Words won the bronze medal for mystery/thriller ebook in the 2015 IPPYs and honorable mention for mystery in the 2015 Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards.

"Taylor, who lives for the big story, makes an appealingly single-minded hero," Publishers Weekly wrote of Drop Dead Punk.   A Black Sail received a starred review from Library Journal, which said, “Fans of the late Barbara D’Amato and Bruce DeSilva will relish this gritty and powerful crime novel.”

Zahradnik was a journalist for 25-plus years, working as a reporter and editor in all major news media, including online, newspaper, broadcast, magazine and wire services. He held editorial positions at CNN, Bloomberg News, Fox Business Network, AOL and The Hollywood Reporter.

  Zahradnik was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1960 and received his B.A. in journalism and political science from George Washington University. He lives with his wife Sheri and son Patrick in Pelham, New York, where he writes fiction and teaches kids around the New York area how to write news stories and publish newspapers.

Links to connect with Rich:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog

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Sharon St. George - Spine Damage - Review & Giveaway

2017-08-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Paulo Ferrara, a young Portuguese man, lies comatose in the Intensive Care Unit of Timbergate Medical Center, shot in the spine. The neurosurgeon who would normally be in charge of his care has left town to attend to an injured daughter, and the only other neurosurgeon, the rude and egotistical Dr. Godfrey Carver, is about to be suspended for not completing his continuing education requirements. The unpleasant duty of ensuring that the staff obey the rules lies with Aimee Machado, the medical center's forensic librarian and Continuing Education Coordinator. Aimee and her pilot boyfriend Nick live together on her grandparents’ llama farm. While dealing with Dr. Carver, Aimee learns the circumstances of Paulo’s injury and enlists Nick’s help. Aimee is half Asian and half Portuguese, and her parents live on Faial, one of the Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal. Faial is the closest neighbor to Pico, home of Paulo and his family. Paulo came to rural Northern California in search of his fifteen-year-old sister Liliana, who vanished two weeks ago. Nick’s wealthy employer Buck Sawyer takes an interest in the girl’s plight as well, especially when they learn that she left the Azores on a superyacht. Not only is Buck a yacht owner, but he is also on a crusade against drug trafficking, and Paulo and Liliana have clearly stumbled onto a criminal operation of some kind. The trail leads Aimee and Nick from Timbergate, to the Azores, to San Francisco. Paulo’s condition is deteriorating, and he might never be able to explain what got him shot. Can Aimee, her brother Harry, and Nick unravel the mystery in time to save Liliana? Book 4 in the Aimee Machado Mystery series, which began with Due for Discard.

My Review

The human trafficking of young girls is the ugly secret of life on the high seas.

Liliana Ferrera, a fifteen-year-old girl, willingly boards a fancy super-yacht that's docked in her hometown, a small island in the Portuguese Azores, thinking she's going to America to meet her online boyfriend and finally pursue her interest in fashion design. For Liliana, it's all about breaking free of parental control and doing what she wants to do with her life, but little does she know that she's in way over her head and in a heck of a lot of trouble.

The boyfriend she never met could very well be a creep, who's catfishing for an unsuspecting kid. The boat she's on could be in the hands of an ISIS terror network or any number of major crime organizations. Ultimately, she could end up anywhere in the world, and not even know it. Impetuous and headstrong, "she knew she was exquisite looking. That was obvious. What she apparently didn't know was how her beauty might put her life in danger."

It's a known fact that violent crimes committed in international waters frequently go unreported. Young girls are lured onto these yachts with the promise of employment as a maid or galley worker in exchange for their passage. Some are convinced that they're being hired as models, as Liliana is led to believe, when she's really been classified as "unblemished merchandise," or code for still a virgin.

When the auctioneers release a photo of her to prospective buyers, she appears happy and unharmed, ensuring that if the photo ever falls into the hands of the police, they'll simply classify her as a runaway, with little chance of ever being rescued. When the bidding for her starts at half a million dollars, she quickly becomes a valuable commodity for the rich men who charter flights and arrive in limos, ready to quietly haul away their human cargo and avoid detection by the authorities.

When an undercover DEA agent happens to stumble upon a drugged Liliana during an unrelated raid, she sums the situation up best by saying, "Just when I'm convinced human beings can't think of anything worse to do to each other, someone comes up with another creative way to prove me wrong."

***

Spine Damage can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Kobo

Prices/Formats: $4.95 ebook, $16.78 paperback
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 328
Release: May 15, 2017
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603815819
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Sharon St. George’s writing credits include three plays, several years writing advertising copy, a book on NASA’s space food project, and feature stories too numerous to count. She holds dual degrees in English and Theatre Arts, and occasionally acts in, or directs, one of her local community theater productions. Sharon is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, and she serves as program director for Writers Forum, a nonprofit organization for writers in northern California.

Links to connect with Sharon:
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

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Tricia Dower - Becoming Lin - Review & Giveaway

2017-06-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

It’s 1965. Twenty-two-year-old Linda Wise despairs of escaping her overprotective parents and the town of Stony River where far too many know she was sexually assaulted as a teenager. Deliverance arrives in the form of marriage to the charismatic, twenty-six-year-old Ronald Brunson, a newly ordained Methodist minister who ignites in her a dormant passion for social justice. He tells her war and racial discrimination are symptoms of the “moral rot” destroying the country, conjuring up something dark and rancid in her mind, thrilling in its wickedness. He sweeps her away from New Jersey to serve with him at a church in a speck-on-the-map prairie town in Minnesota. What lies ahead for her over the next seven years is the subject of Tricia Dower’s penetrating study of a marriage and a woman’s evolving sense of self as she confronts the fear that keeps her from an unfettered future. Becoming Lin conjures the turbulent era of Freedom Riders for civil rights, Vietnam war resistance, the US government’s war against the resisters, the push for equal rights for women and the unraveling of the traditional marriage contract—an era that resonates today in tenacious racism and sexism, perpetual war and wide-reaching government surveillance.

My Review

No one addresses the concept of God quite like Tricia Dower.

In her latest release, BECOMING LIN, she picks up where she left off in STONY RIVER, by following the path of Linda Wise, the girl who gave up on God after being violently attacked by a man in the front seat of his car.

So when she falls head over heels for a passionate, young pastor/civil rights activist named Ron, she surprises even herself. Throwing her former doubts about the Almighty aside, "she knows, just knows, God has made her endure the ignominy of remaining in Stony River so she can meet this man."

It seems before she can blink, she's Mrs. Lin Brunson, imagining the good they'll be able to accomplish together as a couple. Unfortunately, her new husband may have a commanding presence behind the pulpit, but in their personal life he tends to spout Scripture verses at the most inopportune times, so much so that Lin exclaims in anguish, "I'm not a lost sheep that has to be found."

Going into their marriage, Lin thought the two of them were going to be equals, yet when Ron informs her that there will be no secrets between them and that her dad has already told him about the assault she went through as a teenager, she withdraws from him. After practically losing her faith over the whole traumatic ordeal, she resents how Ron tries to comfort her by saying, "It's obvious, my love. God was watching over you."

But Lin hasn't asked Ron for his prayers. All she wanted was a fresh start. And being around him day and night, all his Bible talk gets to be too much for her. When she openly resists his attempts to coddle her, he asks her flat out, "What's wrong with me taking care of you?"

Unfortunately, Lin realizes a little too late that she's not cut out to be a pastor's wife. She never wanted anybody to rescue her, and she definitely doesn't want to live the rest of her life under the pressure of having to be perfect. What she eventually does come to understand is her need to find herself. Ultimately, at some point it's up to every person to decide what to believe—about themselves, and God.

***

Becoming Lin can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
IndieBound
BooksaMillion
Midpoint Trade
Kobo

Prices/Formats: $12.99 ebook, $22.95 paperback
Genre: Women's Fiction, Historical, Coming of Age
Pages: 240
Release: March 20, 2017
Publisher: Caitlin Press
ISBN: 9781987915075
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Tricia Dower hails from Rahway, New Jersey. You can find her on the “Rahway’s Own” website with other individuals the town has recognized for innovation and creativity. A graduate of Gettysburg College and a Phi Mu, she built a career in business before reinventing herself as a writer in 2002. Her literary work has crossed borders and won awards. She expanded a story from her Shakespeare-inspired collection, Silent Girl (Inanna 2008) into Stony River, which was published in both Canada (Penguin 2012) and the US (Leapfrog 2016). She gave a character from Stony River her own novel in Becoming Lin (Caitlin Press 2016), now available in the US.

The Vancouver Sun says, “Some of the most powerful and eloquent novelists of the 20th and 21st centuries…including Margaret Atwood, Margaret Laurence and Ethel Wilson...open up what had been cloaked in silence, the oppression of women and their self-discoveries in resistance. We can now add to this important liberation canon the name of Tricia Dower.”

A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, Dower lives and writes in Brentwood Bay, BC.

Links to connect with Tricia:
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Michael J. McCann - Burn Country - Review & Giveaway

2017-06-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

The latest in a series of barn fires in Leeds County turns ugly when a body is discovered inside the burned-out husk of an old hay barn near the village of Elgin. When the victim turns out to be Independent Senator Darius Lane, a renowned artist and social activist recently appointed to the upper chamber by the prime minister, Detective Inspector Ellie March of the Ontario Provincial Police finds herself coping with an RCMP national security team which must first assess whether the senator’s involvement in sensitive government business led to his brutal murder by forces hostile to Canada. While Detective Constable Kevin Walker works the case files of the previous barn fires looking for a serial arsonist within Leeds County who may have killed for the first time, Ellie discovers that the intervention of RCMP Assistant Commissioner Danny Merrick, unexpectedly polite and charming, will place her directly in the cross-hairs of a homicide investigation with national repercussions! This is the second book in the March and Walker Crime Novel series and the sequel to Sorrow Lake, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Hammett Award for best North American crime novel.

My Review

"The loneliness of seeing things the way no one else sees them."

That's how romantic modernism is defined—a type of realistic painting style that finds significance in the commonplace. And it's also the school of thought employed by the unfortunate murder victim in Michael J. McCann's latest detective story, BURN COUNTRY.

"The Fire in a Boy's Heart" is Darius Lane's most famous work, ironically titled since he ends up meeting his demise amid the smoky remains of his torched artist cabin. But there's more to this painting than meets the eye. It's also the childhood favorite of Canada's current prime minister, who used to stare at it for hours on end, imagining he was the boy standing in the sunburned field against a horizon on fire, a look of determination on his face.

Now this same prime minister wants to know why his favorite painter is dead and it's up to investigator Ellie March to find the answer. A self-professed people watcher, Ellie's a pro when it comes to interrogations, but not so much in dealing with the internal politics attached to such a high profile case. She's not someone who's out to make a name for herself. For her, this murder isn't a lucky hand she's been dealt in order to advance her career. To her, they're all important. Each and every case is personal to her.

That's why in order to get to sleep at night she allows herself one cigarette, before washing it down with a splash of alcohol. She's learned to compartmentalize her emotions because she's had to. People don't understand that the mind of plain and awkward Ellie March is continuously filled with terrible things. She's not out to network or cultivate relationships based on someone else's tragic demise. Her focus is on the work, thereby lending her own brand of quiet dignity to the deceased.

Others probably would use the opportunity to butter up the prime minister—but not her. Because deep down she knows that later that night she'll be staring out at the calm water from her lakeside cabin, hoping to bring some relief to her restless mind. And she knows that no amount of money or influence will change that.

***

Burn Country can be purchased at:
Amazon
Kobo

Prices/Formats: $5.99 ebook, $24.99 paperback
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9781927884096
Publisher: Plaid Raccoon Press
Release: March 17, 2017
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

About the Author

Michael J. McCann was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. He earned degrees in English from Trent University and Queen's University in Kingston, ON.

He is the author of Sorrow Lake, the first March and Walker Crime Novel, which was shortlisted for the 2015 Hammett Award for best crime novel in North America.

He is also the author of the Donaghue and Stainer Crime Novel Series, including Blood Passage, Marcie's Murder, and The Fregoli Delusion. The Rainy Day Killer, the most recent in the series, was longlisted for the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel in Canada.

Links to connect with Michael:
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Blog (paranormal)
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Jerome Charyn - Jerzy - Review & Giveaway

2017-05-12T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Jerzy Kosinski was a great enigma of post-World War II literature. When he exploded onto the American literary scene in 1965 with his best-selling novel The Painted Bird, he was revered as a Holocaust survivor and refugee from the world hidden behind the Soviet Iron Curtain. He won major literary awards, befriended actor Peter Sellers (who appeared in the screen adaptation of his novel Being There), and was a guest on talk shows and at the Oscars. But soon the facade began to crack, and behind the public persona emerged a ruthless social climber, sexual libertine, and pathological liar who may have plagiarized his greatest works.

Jerome Charyn lends his unmistakable style to this most American story of personal disintegration, told through the voices of multiple narrators—a homicidal actor, a dominatrix, and Joseph Stalin’s daughter—who each provide insights into the shifting facets of Kosinski’s personality. The story unfolds like a Russian nesting doll, eventually revealing the lost child beneath layers of trauma, while touching on the nature of authenticity, the atrocities of WWII, the allure of sadomasochism, and the fickleness of celebrity.

My Review

Jerzy Kasinski was a bit of a head case.

In Jerome Charyn's colorful portrayal of the mid-20th century writer, we get a look at this tragic figure from many different angles. Peter Sellers. Lana Stalin. His mistresses. His ex-wife. His parents. And yet in the end, when the book circles back to his early childhood years in Nazi-occupied Poland, we still don't know who the guy is, not really.

Jerzy's claim to fame was the book, The Painted Bird. His name was on the cover, but as it turns out, a young woman, he picked up off the street, is the one who honed it to perfection with her little green pencil. This unknown girl knew how to work on instinct alone, something Jerzy was never able to do. He could think in chapters, in swaths of connected material, but he couldn't put it down on the page, never mind translate his thoughts into English. Charyn describes his futile attempt at writing as "chaotic, without a fine thread…the charm of his narration wasn't there."

Meaning Jerzy could BS with the best of them, but when it came to knowing how to fully capture his haunted voice in print, he was clueless. His audience was expecting a factual story of a Holocaust survivor. Instead, they got a book filled with pious little lies about himself. Charyn even labels Jerzy's duplicity as "the greatest disease of his life."

When he's found out, the critics decide to either ignore him or crucify him. Yet even as they mock him, Jerzy remains defiant. Charyn explains his response in this way, "All his gifts, all his talents, are tied up in mischief. His currency was pain - pain he inflicted on others and himself."

Jerzy's defense? That his father burnt it into him, that he couldn't have gotten through the war "without a million lies." But upon reaching the final page of Charyn's intriguing portrayal of him, the question still remains: Was it worth it?

***

Jerzy can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
Bellevue Literary Press

Prices/Formats: $16.99 ebook, $16.99 paperback
Genre: Historical, Jewish
Pages: 240
Release: March 14, 2017
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
ISBN: 9781942658146
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

Excerpt

CLICK HERE to read an excerpt from Jerzy.

About the Author

Jerome Charyn is the author of more than fifty works of fiction and nonfiction, including A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century, Bitter Bronx: Thirteen Stories, I Am Abraham: A Novel of Lincoln and the Civil War, and The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson: A Novel. Among other honors, he has been longlisted for the PEN Award for Biography, honored as a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, named a Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture, and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York.

Links to connect with Jerome:
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David E. Grogan - Sapphire Pavilion - Review & Giveaway

2017-04-28T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Steve Stilwell’s former Navy JAG Corps buddy Ric Stokes has been jailed for possession of heroin in Vietnam. He was found in the same room with his traveling companion Ryan Eversall, dead of an overdose and in the company of a prostitute. Steve knows his friend is a straight arrow. Was he set up? If so, for what reason? Steve travels to Ho Chi Minh City in search of the truth. In no time Steve is targeted by the people who framed his friend. A beautiful young American businesswoman insinuates her way into the case. Can she really help, or is she just a dangerous distraction? Ric and Ryan came to Vietnam in search of an Air Force transport plane that disappeared in 1968. The pilot was Ryan’s father. Before the heroin bust, they had located the wreckage. Ryan’s notebook, which Steve manages to obtain, spells out the exact location. Ryan’s widow has given Steve’s associate Casey another piece of valuable evidence, a file labeled “Sapphire Pavilion.” Someone is willing to go to any lengths to steal both the notebook and the file. From Virginia and Texas to DC and Vietnam, powerful, all-seeing forces with unlimited resources are determined to bury the truth about Sapphire Pavilion. But they have grossly underestimated Steve Stilwell and his associate Casey, a former Army pilot who lost her leg in a helo accident. And the ability to inspire loyalty wherever you go can come in handy when danger lurks behind every corner.

My Review

Sometimes an author's profile reads as interesting as the book itself. David E. Grogan is a retired Navy Judge Advocate, just like his main character, Steve Stilwell. However, in this case I really hope that the international intrigue that unfolds in the novel is more a product of the author's imagination, and doesn't have any basis in reality.

It all starts on May 14, 2000, Mother's Day, when Steve's good friend, Ric, is arrested in his hotel room in Vietnam. His business partner is dead in the adjacent bed, and a wad of heroin is found in Ric's suitcase. It's clearly a setup, but in a country where possession is nine tenths of the law, Ric has little chance of avoiding the death penalty.

And the corruption doesn't end there. Ric was in Vietnam investigating an American plane that disappeared mid-flight during the Vietnam War. He actually found the remains, however, no one at the State Department is willing to confirm operation "Sapphire Pavilion" or even the names of the downed crewmen who were onboard that fateful flight in 1968.

As the action transitions from the violent, racketeer culture of Vietnam to the more genteel, colonial-lined streets of Virginia, the duplicity doesn't end there. Because in the back of Steve's mind, he can't help wondering, "What if it's our own government?" And he can't help putting himself in Ric's shoes, the innocent man he left behind, who's unjustly languishing in the bowels of Chi Hoa Prison.

But the scope of the matter goes far beyond one man's desperate plight. Steve learns that the "S" and "P" in Sapphire Pavilion stand for "secret peace," as in a top secret peace mission ordered by President Lyndon B. Johnson that was supposed to bring an early end to the Vietnam War, until the plane carrying the diplomat sent to negotiate peace was mysteriously shot out of the sky—by antiaircraft missiles bearing American-made serial numbers. Does this newly unearthed knowledge free Ric from prison or does it simply embroil Steve in a political scandal that's way over his head?

Their ultimate fate harkens back to the Latin inscription Steve saw above a church in Vietnam: Deo Optimo Maximo. It means: "To God, who is the best and the greatest." Man may try to hide the truth, but it always resurfaces sooner or later, and the old cliché still rings true—the truth will set you free.

***

Sapphire Pavilion can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Prices/Formats: ebook, $15.95 paperback
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 280
Release: May 1, 2017
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603816038
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

David E. Grogan was born in Rome, New York, and was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from the College of William & Mary in Virginia with a B.B.A. in Accounting, he began working for the accounting firm Arthur Andersen & Co., in Houston, Texas, as a Certified Public Accountant. He left Arthur Andersen in 1984 to attend the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia, graduating in 1987. He earned his Masters in International Law from The George Washington University Law School and is a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Grogan served on active duty in the United States Navy for over 26 years as a Navy Judge Advocate. He is now retired, but during the course of his Navy career, he prosecuted and defended court-martial cases, traveled to capitals around the world, lived abroad in Japan, Cuba and Bahrain, and deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf onboard the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. His experiences abroad and during the course of his career influence every aspect of his writing. Sapphire Pavilion is his second novel. His first was The Siegel Dispositions.

Grogan’s current home is in Savoy, Illinois, where he lives with his wife of 33 years and their dog, Marley. He has three children.

Links to connect with David:
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Kate Bloom - The Legend of the Dwarf - Review & Giveaway

2017-03-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

About the Book

Ever Trollkiller is a young dwarf, twenty-three years old, who had lived her entire life in an isolated cave far away from the dwarven kingdom. She lives with twelve other dwarves who have raised her in complete isolation, keeping the surviving dwarves a secret from the rest of the word. They hide form Terrisino, the Great and Evil Sorcerer, who demolished their kingdom a quarter century ago. But when Ever accidentally meets an elf, she decides that she is no longer satisfied with the stories she hears from her clan. She decides to seek out the mysterious elf so that he might show her the world. But it isn’t long before she realizes that the freedom of the world and the future of the races of elves, men, and dragons will soon end like the dwarven race. Orcs run rampant in the land, killing innocents and plundering the villages. Strange creatures are given rise as they bring death to those who dare harbor the dwarf that they seek. Evil men lie in wait till they might strike. And each of them is allied under Terrisino himself. The stories of hope reach Ever. The stories of legends that all center around one strange dwarf who is destined to defeat Terrisino and ensure the freedom to the world. Convinced that she is the dwarf of legend, she unites with the unlikely company of men, sorcerers, elves, and dragons to save the races and discover who she is.

My Review

"Every great history starts with one brave soul."

These inspiring words serve as a rallying cry for the mystical creatures of a land, soon to be plunged into a pitched battle between good and evil. The only problem is, it is a land divided. Elves, dragons, sorcerers, all keep to themselves. No one wants to stick their neck out for anybody who doesn't look or act like them. Until a little dwarf arrives on the scene and changes everything.

A dwarf? Yes, a dwarf. They're not all dead, as commonly believed. Some did, in fact, survive the last massacre of the wicked sorcerer, some twenty-five years ago. And it's curious that now when the sorcerer is believed to be gearing up for another attack, this long lost dwarf suddenly appears among them, seemingly out of the blue.

And she does one thing that no one ever thought possible - she unites them under the banner of a common cause. She tells them what it's like for her race to face extinction, and she doesn't want it to happen to them. Together, she urges, they have a chance to make a difference before it's too late.

However, the enemy they're facing has no known weakness. He's an all powerful sorcerer. The only advantage they have is that he doesn't know who they are, not yet. They may have enough time to warn the right people.

What started off as a whimsical urge of humoring one of the last known dwarves in existence is now no longer a game. This innocent dwarf is willing to place herself in the direct line of fire in order to save them all. They had no idea what they were stumbling upon when they crossed paths with her, but now they have no doubt that by helping her fulfill her destiny, they have a chance to restore the light to their ever-darkening world.

***

The Legend of the Dwarf can be purchased at:
Amazon

Prices/Formats: $15.00 ebook, $15.00 paperback
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 260
Release: December 18, 2016
Publisher: self-published
ISBN: 9781540574176
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Kate Bloom is a tenacious and edgy millennial with a BS in English and history, giving her a knack for story-telling. As a fantasy writer, her mind is constantly running wild in fictional worlds, such as that of her first project, Alice in Dreamland (kindle2016). Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1994, and where she has lived her entire life, Kate found the dry dessert scenery to grow tiresome to look at. She found her escape in the fantastical worlds that played out in her head. She has fallen in love with the idea of putting those worlds in print so that everyone else might see those worlds as well.

Links to connect with Kate:
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Facebook
Blog
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A. Keith Carreiro - The Penitent - Review & Giveaway

2017-02-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

About the Book

A baby is born and placed in his dead mother's arms. When the funeral shroud is cast over her, his father decides to name his son Pall. It will soon become a name that strikes a shiver into the hearts of those who hear it in combat. A lone survivor on a battlefield many years later, Pall dazedly recovers from the wounds of war. Despite the dead cast about him, everything he looks upon is unfamiliar to him. Wandering away from this scene of carnage, he encounters John Savage, a giant of a man who puts Pall within the sight of Savage's seven–foot, nocked longbow. What ensues from this deadly encounter is an elusive journey for truth. Yet, it is haunted not just by a ravening demon that is out to destroy Pall and John, but by the vision of a startling beautiful young woman protecting Pall from afar.

My Review

Evil has spread throughout the world, a dark, unforgiving evil, eager to decimate everything in its path. In a grim portrayal of life in the twenty-second century, the earth is a desolate wasteland where corpses float down rivers, running red with blood. Packs of merciless men ravage the land, pillaging and plundering the innocent and defenseless, in a futile attempt to stay one step ahead of their own demise.

Since man is not the only one hunting man, not when demons from hell, itself, have been unleashed.

Fear is running rampant—in all but one place. The sacred Wood of the Royal Guard. Here nature remains in its original, untouched state, providing a refuge for tired, forsaken souls to revive their shattered spirits. Despite the tragedy and chaos going on around them, here joy is still felt in creation.

The feeling is beautifully captured in the image of the Sentinel Tree, a copper beech, hundreds of years old, standing tall and proud as the guardian of all that is good. Shining like a beacon of hope, its light is poetically likened to "God's candles." But it's not just impressive to look at, it also exudes a source of power and strength, a divine love, that's ready to protect mankind from the all-pervading sense of evil surrounding it.

A "beauty rarely seen in this life," the tree serves as a reminder of the eternal promise made to man: no matter what, the creator will never abandon creation. Pray for peace and the right order of things will be restored. Yet many do not turn to this oasis of revival, in fact, only a few are able to find rest under the protection of its branches.

THE PENITENT is a remarkable allegorical tale about where humanity may be headed in the next hundred years. If we continue to ignore our roots, our true identity, we're doing so at our own peril. Nature is calling out to us, begging us, pleading with us, that it's never too late to turn back. There's still time to rediscover our origins, be the people we were created to be.

***

The Penitent can be purchased at:
Amazon
Lulu

Prices/Formats: $3.99 ebook, $13.99 paperback
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 254
Release: November 1, 2016
Publisher: self-published
ISBN: 9781365287077
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

A. Keith Carreiro earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard Graduate School of Education, with the sequential help and guidance of three advisors, Dr. Vernon A. Howard, Dr. Donald Oliver and Professor Emeritus, Dr. Israel Scheffler. Keith’s academic focus, including his ongoing research agenda, centers upon philosophically examining how creativity and critical thinking are acquired, learned, utilized and practiced in the performing arts. He has taken his findings and applied them to the professional development of educational practitioners.

Earlier in his teaching career he was a professor of educational foundations, teaching graduate students of education at universities in Vermont, Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor of English at Bridgewater State University, as well as teaching English, philosophy, humanities and public speaking courses at Bristol Community College.

He lives in Swansea, Massachusetts with his wife Carolyn. They have six children and 13 grandchildren. They belong to an eighty–five–pound golden retriever, an eight–pound Maltese, and an impish Calico cat.

Due to his love of family, he has seen his fervor for history, as well as his passion for wondering about the future, deepen dramatically.

Starting on May 23rd until October 9th of 2014, he sat down at his computer on a daily basis and began writing the first book of a science fiction/fantasy thriller in a beginning series about the quest for human immortality.

Links to connect with A. Keith:
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Facebook
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Blog

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Bonnie M. Hennessy - Twisted - Review & Giveaway

2017-02-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

About the Book

An old tale tells the story of how a little man named Rumpelstiltskin spun straw into gold and tricked a desperate girl into trading away her baby. But that’s not exactly how it happened. The real story began with a drunken father who kept throwing money away on alcohol and women, while his daughter, Aoife, ran the family farm on her own. When he gambled away everything they owned to the Duke, it was up to her to spin straw into gold to win it all back. With her wits and the help of a magical guardian, she outsmarted the Duke and saved the day. Well almost… Her guardian suddenly turned on Aoife and sent her on a quest to find his name, the clues to which were hidden deep in the woods, a moldy dungeon, and a dead woman’s chamber. This is not the tale of a damsel in distress, but a tenacious, young woman who solved a mystery so great that not even the enchanted man who spun straw into gold could figure it out. Not until Aoife came along.

My Review

The gift of sight. What we observe vs. what we ignore. Life is full of distractions, and plenty of details get missed. But what if we decided to pay more attention to the world around us. What if we were magically cured of our apparent blindness. What would we see?

In a nutshell, that's what this story chooses to examine. Told under the guise of a Rumpelstiltskin-spun narrative, a young woman is gifted with the ability to peer beneath the facade people hide behind and uncover the truth of life.

It's a heady thing, discovering so much untapped potential, "finding worth in that which makes others turn away." Some embrace her for it, while others feel threatened by her. She's not scared of the darkness she sees in the hearts of men. She's able to look beyond it, and love them anyway. The innate ability to piece together a person's true identity, is a power that's both craved and feared.

But it's also able to bring peace between two brothers who have been pitted against each other all of their lives. Both want to win her favor, and openly admit they yearn to be better men for her sake. However, when they both end up falling in love with her, she can only choose one, and that's where the trouble sets in.

One feels unworthy of her because his body is crooked and malformed, while the other knows his heart is in desperate need of being resuscitated from its torpid state. They both vie for her hand, wanting to bask in the glow of her affections. But by doing so, they wind up taking her away from who she really is.

She begins to lose what they admire about her: her strength and purity of heart. If they refuse to let go of their stupid rivalry and make amends, she's in danger of becoming corrupted like they were before they met her. All she wants is to love them both, even if they won't let her.

With her prophet's eye, can she look inside and mend their broken hearts, and finally bring peace to their family before it's too late?

***

Twisted can be purchased at:
Amazon

Prices/Formats: $2.99 ebook, $12.99 paperback
Genre: Fantasy, Mythological, Fairy Tale
Pages: 306
Release: November 11, 2016
Publisher: self-published
ISBN: 9781539753421
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Bonnie grew up a shy, quiet girl who the teachers always seated next to the noisy boys because they knew she was too afraid to talk to anyone. She always had a lot she wanted to say but was too afraid to share it for fear she might die of embarrassment if people actually noticed her. Somewhere along the line, perhaps after she surprised her eighth grade class by standing up to a teacher who was belittling a fellow student, she realized that she had a voice and she didn’t burst into flames when her classmates stared at her in surprise.

Not long after that, she began spinning tales, some of which got her into trouble with her mom. Whether persuading her father to take her to the candy store as a little girl or convincing her parents to let her move from Los Angeles to Manhattan to pursue a career at eighteen as a ballet dancer with only $200 in her pocket, Bonnie has proven that she knows how to tell a compelling story.

Now she spends her time reading and making up stories for her two children at night. By day she is an English teacher who never puts the quiet girls next to the noisy boys and works hard to persuade her students that stories, whether they are the ones she teaches in class or the ones she tells to keep them from daydreaming, are better escapes than computers, phones, and social media.

Links to connect with Bonnie:
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Facebook
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Nancy McCabe - Following Disasters - Review & Giveaway

2016-12-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

About the Book

On her twenty-first birthday, Maggie Owen receives an unusual birthday gift: a house. That same day, the house’s owner, her aunt, dies. For three years, Maggie has been fleeing her childhood demons: the deaths of her parents, estrangement from her terminally-ill aunt, and a betrayal by her best friend. But now her career on the road, following natural disasters in temporary insurance claims offices, ends abruptly as Maggie returns home to face her past. But why does the house hold a mysterious spell over her? Why does she have the persistent feeling that her aunt is haunting her? Why did her aunt lie to her about the circumstances of her parents’ deaths? Who is the ghost child that may be hanging around the house? And what’s with the guy next door who seems so hostile toward her? FOLLOWING DISASTERS is tightly woven ghost story that raises questions about legacies and their influence on our choices.

My Review

Perception is in the eye of the beholder. How one sees oneself can vastly differ from how others view you. Maggie Owen is a young woman, who has been misunderstood most of her life. Friends tell her that it takes a lot of work to get to know her. Why is that? Apparently, she gives the impression that she's self-sufficient, that she doesn't need anybody. Not only that, but she comes off as cynical about love, expressing high expectations that nobody can possibly meet.

But for Maggie that assessment of who she is couldn't be further from the truth. She just doesn't trust her own judgment since she's been burned so many times in the past. Mainly because she finds it incredibly difficult to figure people out. It handicaps her ability to open up. In light of her weakness, she prefers to be alone rather than risk getting hurt, again and again and again.

To her, it's comical that people think that she's difficult and complicated, because in her mind she sees herself as really quite simple. She knows who she is, but has a hard time, expressing that to others. And it's understandable why. Her father dies in a house fire when she's a little girl. Years later, when her mother dies unexpectedly, she can't bring herself to go to the funeral. While shortly thereafter, her aunt passes away without their estrangement ever being reconciled. It's clear Maggie is carrying around some pretty heavy baggage for someone so young.

To protect herself from having to share the details about her past, she's learned to make adjustments to her personality in order to survive. It's not her fault, but it also limits her ability to move forward. She literally hems herself in by moving into her aunt's house, sheltering herself within the same four walls where she once felt loved and cherished as a child, hoping to bring a semblance of that feeling back into her life again.

The book casts an interesting glance at the idea of self awareness. Maggie wants to resuscitate her heart, but she knows she can't do it alone, no matter how much she insists that she can. Despite her ardent refusal not to depend on others, deep down she realizes that she's going to need someone to get her broken heart beating again, no matter how much she hates to admit it.

She's not delusional. She knows what's going on with her. Something's wrong. Something that needs to be fixed. And maybe, just maybe, someone out there will be able to understand her without her having to explain every single detail of her life to them. They'll like her simply for the person she is.

***

Following Disasters can be purchased at:
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Prices/Formats: $9.99 ebook, $16.00 paperback
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Ghosts
Pages: 234
Release: October 1, 2016
Publisher: Outpost19
ISBN: 9781944853037
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Following Disasters is Nancy McCabe's first novel. She has also published four books of creative nonfiction, including Meeting Sophie: A Memoir or Adoption; Crossing the Blue Willow Bridge: A Journey to My Daughter's Birthplace in China; and From Little Houses to Little Women: Revisiting a Literary Childhood. She is a regular blogger for Ploughshares and has published work in Newsweek, Writers' Digest, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast, Fourth Genre, and other magazines and anthologies. Her work has received a Pushcart and six times made notable lists in Houghton Mifflin Best American anthologies.

Links to connect with Nancy:
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Tricia Dower - Stony River - Review & Giveaway

2016-10-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

It wasn’t all poodle skirts and rock ‘n’ roll. From its deceptively innocent beginning—two young teens exploring the riverbank and spying on “Crazy Haggerty’s” dilapidated house—through the intertwining story lines of paganism, murder and sexual violence, Stony River shows how perilous life was for some girls in the 1950s. Absent mothers, controlling fathers, biblical injunctions, teenage longing and small-town pretense abound. The threat of violence is all around: angry fathers at home, dirty boys in the neighborhood, strange men in strange cars, a dead girl and another gone missing.

The central mystery, inspired by the crimes of Robert Zarinsky as documented by Robin Gaby Fisher and Judith Lucas in Deadly Secrets (Newark Star–Ledger 2008), keeps the reader guessing until almost the very end, when the frightening truth is revealed. In this coming-of-age mystery, three girls learn who they are and what they’re capable of surviving—and forgiving.

My Review

It's sad when religion gets distorted because it can really mess a person up. In STONY RIVER, the spiritual views of three different characters are shaped based on what they experience in their lives and the varying influences of the people around them. Who is God? Teresa, Miranda and Linda are all searching for an immediate truth to what is, in fact, a lifelong quest.

For irreverent, provocative Tereza, God is a "Peeping Tom," who spies on everyone, but doesn't do squat to help them. Admittedly, she doesn't think about God much, probably because her mentally ill husband is always referencing the devil. Tereza doesn't take his claims seriously, when he says sometimes Satan takes over his body, as he stands outside of it, watching himself do terrible things. Even though he's had violent outbursts at home, Tereza has no faith whatsoever in what he believes, until something tragic happens.

Miranda, on the other hand, is shockingly impregnated by her father during a pagan ritual in the basement of their home. She doesn't know what to believe when she goes from total seclusion into the care of the nuns of St. Bernadette's orphanage. There, it's discovered that she has a gift of clairvoyance, seeing things others can't. She doesn't know if her deepened spiritual sense is a result of her father's ancient gods and goddesses or if she's on the verge of becoming the latest in a long line of saints the good sisters urge her to pray to.

Linda is perhaps like most people, her God is the god of guilt. She thinks she has to be perfect in order to get to heaven, and it's up to her to save the souls of every hoodlum boy who comes her way. When something terrible happens to her, she wonders what happened to God's divine justice. Why didn't he avenge her? Why did he let it happen? Her faith, weak to begin with, shatters. Trying to piece together the lessons she memorized in Sunday School into some kind of meaning, she valiantly attempts to sort out the misinterpretations from the half-truths.

Religion is a difficult subject to tackle for any author. Challenging anyone's beliefs is bound to get a writer into hot water. But Tricia Dower doesn't back away from addressing several controversial topics. She brings them out into the light in order to examine them for what they are. She's not out to claim that one religion is better than the other. She's just out to make the point that when misapplied, any one of them can be made to look ridiculous.

***

Stony River can be purchased at:
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Prices/Formats: $10.99 ebook, $15.95 paperback
Genre: Crime, Historical, Coming of Age
Pages: 320
Release: October 6, 2016
Publisher: Leapfrog Press
ISBN: 9781935248866
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Tricia Dower confesses to smoking a river punk or two in Rahway, New Jersey, where she was born and raised by perfectly fine parents who did not keep her hidden in a spooky house. A graduate of Gettysburg College and a Phi Mu, she built a career in business before reinventing herself as a writer in 2002. Her literary work has crossed borders and won awards. She expanded a story from her Shakespeare-inspired collection, Silent Girl (Inanna 2008) into Stony River, which was first published in Canada (Penguin, 2012). Her novel, Becoming Lin (Caitlin Press), was released in Canada in 2016. A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, Dower lives and writes in Brentwood Bay, BC.

Links to connect with Tricia:
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Rich Zahradnik - A Black Sail - Review & Giveaway

2016-08-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

On the eve of the U.S. Bicentennial, newsman Coleridge Taylor is covering Operation Sail. New York Harbor is teeming with tall ships from all over the world. While enjoying the spectacle, Taylor is still a police reporter. He wants to cover real stories, not fluff, and gritty New York City still has plenty of those in July of 1976. One surfaces right in front of him when a housewife is fished out of the harbor wearing bricks of heroin, inferior stuff users have been rejecting for China White, peddled by the Chinatown gangs.

Convinced he’s stumbled upon a drug war between the Italian Mafia and a Chinese tong, Taylor is on fire once more. But as he blazes forward, flanked by his new girlfriend, ex-cop Samantha Callahan, his precious story grows ever more twisted and deadly. In his reckless search for the truth, he rattles New York’s major drug cartels. If he solves the mystery, he may end up like his victim—in a watery grave.

My Review

Doing the right thing. Does anyone ever do that anymore? Apparently, not in 1976. Yet, there's a dichotomy to this book that rings true even today. In America, there's a group of people who are powerless to fight the system. They're either too poor, too uneducated, too unconnected to stand up for their rights. While there exists another sort, those who know how to manipulate those in charge until they get what they want. They're either rich, involved in criminal activity or both, and they're not about to take no for an answer.

Taylor is a seasoned New York City reporter. He's seen a lot. He knows how the game is played, and yet he refuses to play it. He sticks to his own personal code of honor. If a young woman turns up dead, he wants to know why and who did it, and nobody is going to silence him.

Yet, his chivalrous attitude isn't all about the greater good. Taylor's looking to move up the ladder, possibly catch the attention of an editor at the Post or the Daily News. He's a guy with a high school education who started off as a copy boy. He wants to do something important with his life, something that'll make an impact. He's ambitious, but at the same time, he's out to help what he calls the "strays" of society, the people who fall through the cracks, be it a child drug addict, a college student going down the wrong path, or even his dog.

However, by doing so, he realizes that in many ways, he's just as helpless as they are. When threatened for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, the wrath of the federal government descends upon him. For daring to cross them, they make it clear that they can destroy his entire life in an instant by taking away his job, dragging him to court, you name it. They have all the power, and he has none.

Is that how any freedom-loving American likes to think of themselves, being at the mercy of those in positions of authority? I don't think so. But is that the way it is? Unfortunately, yes. Taylor is coerced into backing down and shelving his story, if only to continue to keep fighting another day for those without a voice, including himself.

***

A Black Sail can be pre-ordered at:
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Prices/Formats: $4.95 ebook, $15.95 paperback
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 264
Release: October 1, 2016
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603812115
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

Rich Zahradnik is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed Coleridge Taylor Mystery series (A Black Sail, Drop Dead Punk, Last Words).

  The second installment, Drop Dead Punk, won the gold medal for mystery/thriller ebook in the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs). It was also named a finalist in the mystery category of the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Last Words won the bronze medal for mystery/thriller ebook in the 2015 IPPYs and honorable mention for mystery in the 2015 Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book of the Year Awards.  

"Taylor, who lives for the big story, makes an appealingly single-minded hero," Publishers Weekly wrote of Drop Dead Punk.  

Zahradnik was a journalist for 30-plus years, working as a reporter and editor in all major news media, including online, newspaper, broadcast, magazine and wire services. He held editorial positions at CNN, Bloomberg News, Fox Business Network, AOL and The Hollywood Reporter.

  In January 2012, he was one of 20 writers selected for the inaugural class of the Crime Fiction Academy, a first-of-its-kind program run by New York's Center for Fiction.

  Zahradnik was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1960 and received his B.A. in journalism and political science from George Washington University. He lives with his wife Sheri and son Patrick in Pelham, New York, where writes fiction and teaches kids how to publish newspapers.

Links to connect with Rich:
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Michael J. Bowler - A Matter of Time - Review & Giveaway

2016-07-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

The world's greatest evil stalks the world's greatest ship, and the only one who can stop him hasn't been born yet. Jamie Collins is a junior at Santa Clara University in 1986. He has friends, a professor who mentors him, and a promising future as a writer. Then the dreams begin - nightmarish memories that transport him back to a time and place fifty years before he was born: Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912. When Jamie discovers a foreign cell in his blood that links him to the famous vessel, the two timelines begin to overlap and he realizes an unimaginable truth - something supernatural stalks the ill-fated ship, something that will kill him if he can't stop it first. And the only way to stop it may be to prevent Titanic from sinking. But even if he can figure out a way to do that, should he? What will be the effect on history if he succeeds? And what about the lady he wasn't supposed to fall in love with? As her destiny becomes entwined with his, Jamie discovers the value of friendship, the power of love, the impact of evil, and the vagaries of Fate.

My Review

It's no secret that author, Michael J. Bowler believes in a higher power. You can read as much in his bio. But the way he works faith into a science fiction novel about time travel and the Titanic is what makes this book more than just a fun read.

Bowler explores some pretty deep topics under the guise of what Hollywood considers to be the supernatural, i.e. vampires. Of course, there's the usual play on light and dark imagery associated with good versus evil, but the novel goes a step further by focusing on the causes of spiritual blindness.

It turns out sight is the predominant theme. In fact, Bowler often returns to a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's THE LITTLE PRINCE to bring it to the forefront: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye." Whenever characters are tempted to make a bad decision, it's no coincidence that their vision starts to dim.

For Bowler, the eyes are the window to the soul, and he uses that particular metaphor to good effect. The gaze of the vampire is cold, empty, heartless, while the look of a young mother is full of life, warmth and understanding. Despite everything that's going on around him, Jamie is so taken with her goodness that, "All he could see with his eyes and his heart, was her." For him, her ethereal glow pierces through all the gloom surrounding them. Light fosters life, while darkness becomes the harbinger of death.

The crew members don't see the iceberg in the blackness of the eerily calm Atlantic, even though the ship's lights are illuminating the dark for miles. After the impact, they send flares up into the night sky, but it's too late for anyone to cheat death. Once the Titanic begins its final descent, the lights flicker, trying to stay on, echoing the heartbeat of those clinging to the rails, hoping to survive. Yet the tragedy circles back to how Jamie first encountered the ship as it churned out of the darkness toward him, in all reality denoting that the souls onboard were already dead. There was really nothing Jamie could do to save them, no matter how much he wanted to.

Biblical references abound from David and Goliath to the Good Samaritan to the holy water of Lourdes, but it's the struggle of God granting man free will that the novel pivots around. Bowler claims that the choices an individual makes ultimately result in making the world better or worse for the rest of humanity. It's pretty heady stuff to think about, but it's an issue worth examining, both inside the context of the story, and outside of it.

***

A Matter of Time can be purchased at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iTunes

Formats/Prices: $2.99 ebook, $12.95 paperback, $14.95-$21.83 Audible
Genre: Historical Fiction, Suspense
Pages: 340
Release: March 2, 2012
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 9781432787110
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

About the Author

Michael J. Bowler is an award-winning author of nine novels—A Boy and His Dragon, A Matter of Time (Silver Medalist from Reader’s Favorite), and The Knight Cycle, comprised of five books: Children of the Knight (Gold Award Winner – 2013 Wishing Shelf Book Awards; Reader Views Honorable mention; Runner-Up Rainbow Awards; Honorable Mention - Southern California Book Festival), Running Through A Dark Place (Bronze Award Winner in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards), There Is No Fear (Finalist – 2015 Wishing Shelf Book Awards), And The Children Shall Lead, Once Upon A Time In America; Spinner (Winner Hollywood Book Festival; Honorable Mention San Francisco Book Festival; Bronze Medal from Reader’s Favorite; Literary Classics Seal of Approval; Runner-Up - Southern California Book Festival; Honorable Mention - Halloween Book Festival; Finalist – 2015 Wishing Shelf Book Awards), and Warrior Kids: A Tale of New Camelot (Honorable Mention in the London Book Festival and The New England Book Festival; Finalist – 2015 Wishing Shelf Book Awards).

His horror screenplay, “Healer,” was a Semi-Finalist, and his urban fantasy script, “Like A Hero,” was a Finalist in the Shriekfest Film Festival and Screenplay Competition.

He grew up in San Rafael, California, and majored in English and Theatre at Santa Clara University. He went on to earn a master’s in film production from Loyola Marymount University, a teaching credential in English from LMU, and another master's in Special Education from Cal State University Dominguez Hills.

He partnered with two friends as producer, writer, and/or director on several ultra-low-budget horror films, including “Fatal Images,” “Club Dead,” and “Things II.”

He taught high school in Hawthorne, California for twenty-five years, both in general education and to students with learning disabilities, in subjects ranging from English and Strength Training to Algebra, Biology, and Yearbook.

He has also been a volunteer Big Brother to eight different boys with the Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters program and a thirty-year volunteer within the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles.

He has been honored as Probation Volunteer of the Year, YMCA Volunteer of the Year, California Big Brother of the Year, and 2000 National Big Brother of the Year. The “National” honor allowed him and three of his Little Brothers to visit the White House and meet the president in the Oval Office.

He has finished writing a novel based on his screenplay, “Like A Hero,” and another book aimed at the teen market. He hopes to find a publisher or an agent for both.

His goal as an author is for teens to experience empowerment and hope; to see themselves in his diverse characters; to read about kids who face real-life challenges; and to see how kids like them can remain decent people in an indecent world. The most prevalent theme in his writing and his work with youth is this: as both a society, and as individuals, we’re better off when we do what’s right, rather than what’s easy.

Links to connect with Michael:
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Claudia Riess - Semblance of Guilt - 99¢ Ebook Sale, Review, Excerpts & Giveaway

2016-07-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Ellen Davis’s husband left her for another woman. Post-divorce, she’s trying to reassert her independence and lands a job as a reporter for her local newspaper. One of her assignments is covering weekly items on the police blotter, which is how she gets to know Lieutenant Pete Sakura—a handsome, witty Japanese- American Ellen is drawn to immediately.

Another of Ellen’s assignments is interviewing for the paper’s “Around The Town” column, and in this capacity, she meets Graham and Sophia Clarke, newcomers to the community. He’s an administrator at Columbia; she’s his beautiful Greek wife. Ellen and Sophia become fast friends, so it comes as a great shock when Sophia ends up dead.

Sophia Clarke is found murdered, and to all appearances, Ellen is the last person to have seen her alive. When Ellen’s fingerprints are found on the murder weapon, she’s arrested, and evidence steadily mounts against her. Ellen takes matters into her own hands as her romantic feelings for Pete intensify. Closing this case could either save Ellen or lead to her destruction.

Review

Details—a good book hinges on them. And when it comes to a mystery novel, an author must leave a tantalizing trail of breadcrumbs to make for a satisfying read. Nothing written into the story can be insignificant. Thought must be put in before sitting down to write, mapping out a strategy, planning where every clue will be dropped. Whether an author does so or not becomes evident in the first few chapters.

And for the most part, I can say Claudia Riess certainly made the effort.

In fact, she winks at her readers, sprinkling subtle hints throughout the novel. I was most impressed with the introduction early on of an artistic photo book full of controversial subject matter. It's a head-scratcher of a moment that Riess doubles back to it later in the book, using it to expose the motivations behind one of her main characters, setting the stage to deliver when it counts.

Riess is a writer with a keen eye for people watching, seamlessly incorporating a character's body language to infuse the story with a treasure trove of little important gestures that don't get overlooked or ignored. In order to show how alone Ellen is feeling, Riess places her in the back of a cab, forcing her to make small talk with the driver. This happens right before a pivotal moment, revealing just how desperately Ellen is seeking some kind of connection with another human being, even a total stranger who cares more about the cab fare than he does about what happens to her.

How people observe one another resides at the heart of Riess's storytelling. It's how Ellen gets herself into trouble in the first place. After her husband leaves her, she befriends Sophia, and it's not long after that that she catches Sophia's husband out with another woman. Transferring what happened to her onto the infidelity she thinks she's witnessing, Ellen follows the other woman to the door of her apartment, the whole time telling herself that she's only snooping in order to help her new friend, something she wished someone had done for her.

However, everything is not is as it appears to be. No two marriages are alike. Each dissolves in its own way. And Ellen, feeling adrift, goes looking for something she would've been better off staying away from. Blinded by her own sense of heartache, she forgets the wisdom behind the age-old adage, misery loves company.

But what keeps you on the edge of your seat is: will she have to pay the price for it? Or will her good deed go unpunished?

Excerpts

After navigating past the desks, she knocked on the door of the cubicle. No response. The second, more deliberate, rap was answered with an impatient “Come!”

Ellen entered the office and was somewhat taken aback by the sight of an attractive Asian man in shirt-sleeves awkwardly poised by the side of his desk, arms out, legs spread one behind the other, the front one slightly bent, the rear rigidly locked. He looked, she thought, as if he were trying to keep his balance on a skateboard. His attention was fixed on an open book sitting at the edge of his desk. “Give me a second,” he said testily, without taking his eyes off the book and at the same time adjusting the position of his front foot to a more pigeon-toed angle.

“I won’t ask what you’re doing,” Ellen said.

“Smart.” There was a sound of raised voices coming from the outer room. “The door!”

She closed it. “However, maybe you’d like to know what I’m doing?”

He ignored her question. “Damn, I’m not getting it.” He glanced up. “Do me a favor, take a look at number fifty and tell me what the hell is wrong here.”

Ellen approached the desk and peered down at the open book. A two-page spread of photographs showed a man in what looked like an usher’s uniform demonstrating a series of exercises. “Is this tai chi?”

“This is a pain in the ass. Could you look at the picture, tell me where I’m off, please?”

“‘Fair Lady works at Shuttles,’” she read aloud. She looked up from the page at him then back down again. “I see where you are. Figure fifty-A. It says: ‘Elbow bent, your right hand comes to your center line, fingers pinched together…’” She looked up. “For starters, your fingers aren’t pinched together.”

“Just hold the book up so I can see it from a better angle, okay?”

She held the book, show-and-tell style. He went through a variety of disconnected motions, clearly becoming more frustrated. “Shit.”

Ellen had formed a perception of the Japanese male as meditative, controlled, mysterious, soft-spoken, one who quietly went about transcending the material world while politely manipulating it. She had never realized she harbored this fully defined and fallacious stereotype until that moment, as she was looking at what appeared to be its antithesis. “If your phone rings, should I answer it?”

“Forget it.” He dropped the pose, took the book from her and put it back on the desk. “I’m all out of sync.”

“Now I’ll ask. What are you doing?”

“Getting my goddamn yin and yang together. My doctor tells me I have an ulcer and prescribes pills, but I don’t like pills. I’m taking up the eastern approach.”

“But isn’t tai chi Chinese?”

“Yeah, so?”

“‘Sakura’ sounds like a Japanese name.”

“Let me ask you a question. You ever eat chow mein?”

“Well, yes.”

“I rest my case.” He waved her toward the chair on the other side of the desk and dropped down into his own. “Sit.”

She remained on her feet. “I’m Ellen Davis. I was told you had the data for the Chronicle’s ‘Blotter’ column. I’m just here to collect it.”

He threw up a hand. “What’s the point of that column? All it does is stigmatize the poor saps who appear in it. There’s no investigation of circumstances, no disclaimers stating charges could be erroneous. Just a cold-blooded list of citations.”

“It’s supposed to serve as a deterrent,” she said without conviction. “Actually, I don’t particularly like the column myself, but I don’t make up the rules. I’m sorry I messed up your exercise routine. May I have the material, please?”

She became aware of herself as an unattached, uncompromised individual as she once was at Penn. She sensed the boundaries of her being as clearly as she felt the hem of her knit dress pull tightly against her legs with each step she took. It was as if she had never been married, had instead dressed for an interview and walked straight out of west Philadelphia into Morningside Heights.

Mid-block between 109 and 108 Streets, as she was passing a shoe store and scanning the view across the way, her attention was drawn to the bright blue awning of Charlie’s Snack Bar. At that moment the door to the restaurant opened, and a tall young woman with cropped red hair and wearing a tight black turtleneck sweater, clingy black pants and black cowboy boots, stepped out into the daylight. The girl stood aside to allow the man behind her to pass, and as he emerged completely into the sunlight, Ellen recognized Graham. She was about to hail him, when he took a step toward the redhead and Ellen realized he was with her. Unable to tear her focus from the scene or insinuate herself into it, she backed up into the shadow cast by the overhanging eave of the shoe store.

While Graham snapped down and adjusted the removable sun-visors of his eyeglasses, the young woman reached into the breast pocket of his blazer, drew out a pair of sunglasses he must have been holding for her, and put them on, in the process grazing her breasts against his left elbow. The act defined them as intimate friends, yet the distance springing up between them immediately afterward seemed devised to refute it. They stood apart talking to each other, their postures stiff and formal, their not touching as conspicuous as an open embrace.

Ellen watched them as her years at Penn were sucked into a black hole, and all she could remember was her husband Kevin dropping the bomb, telling her he was leaving her. Watching Graham and the redhead across the street was like catching the discovery scene she had missed, seeing it replayed for her benefit, like a burlesque in which she was both captive audience and object of scorn.

Almost at once she felt a connection with Sophia.

Sophia pulled her hands away and struck out at Ellen in one continuous movement, throwing herself off balance and stumbling sideways. She stared in horror at the gouge one of her nails had made on Ellen’s chest, and Ellen, stunned by the violence and not yet feeling the pain, gazed in disbelief at the drop of blood tracking toward the scalloped edge of her white satin bustier.

“Go—get out of here,” Sophia rasped. “I’m afraid what I might do to you. Get out, get out.”

The blood trickled onto the rim of smooth white fabric, forming a small, irregular stain. Ellen looked up at Sophia. The woman she thought she knew had become a trapped animal, her eyes wary-wild.

A sharp pain from the nick in her chest jolted her from her numbing inertia. She moved quickly from the room, feeling the tears coming, holding them back, postponing them as she ran silently down the hall. She descended the steps with blazing deliberation, her pace quick and even, her focus on reaching the door and disappearing into the sheltering night. She could feel her eyes, static-wide in bewildered alarm, betraying her attempt to appear in total control. Still, she focused straight ahead, concentrating on her goal, hearing Anna calling her name but moving through the sound, pacing herself to simulate haste without flight as she sliced through the clear zone of the foyer and pushed open the storm door. Midway across the porch she collided with an incoming guest, all pearls and black silk, the woman’s staccatoed “Shit!” like a gunshot in an open field of combat.

Picking up speed, she hurtled down the bluestone drive, anticipating the sound of the engine starting up even before she could spot her car.

***

Tuesday, March 13. First day in court. The jury sat knit-browed and entranced, leaning forward so as not to miss a word, not yet settled in their role of deliberative body. To Ellen, they looked as if they’d been caught off guard at the supermarket, a rainbow assortment of shoppers rounded up one afternoon and transported to a box at the opera, best seats in the house.

Ellen sat in a heavy, slat-back chair drawn up close to a long oak table. She was wearing a gray suit and paisley print blouse because Rosenthal had told her to wear something conservative but not somber. The skirt buckled and slid around her waist every time she moved because in the last two months she’d lost ten pounds from under-eating and over-exercising. As she’d taken her seat in the courtroom, she’d snagged her pantyhose on a rough spot on the table leg and felt the rip crawl up her leg, making her feel exposed to the prying eyes in the room. She’d been unable to choose earrings that morning, vacillating between small and large, shiny and dull, gold and silver, fixating on this final aspect of her attire as if she could determine the decision of the jury by choosing the politically correct objects to hang on her earlobes. When Rosenthal blew his car horn in the driveway she’d grabbed for familiarity, the small gold hoops, before allowing herself to be whisked off to the mind-boggling unknown.

Sitting next to her at the oak table, “Try to relax,” Rosenthal whispered in her ear, leaning toward and away from her in one smooth, condensed motion.

Ellen sat back in the chair, her rigid spine meeting hard wood, the word “relax” banned from her body’s vocabulary. Through an impromptu technique of auto-suggestion and deep breathing, she was barely managing to bring under control the strangulating tension in her neck and the explosive blood-humming in her ears. It was not her lawyer’s fault she hadn’t been prepared for Mark Gilbert’s speech. Rosenthal had described the prosecutor’s meticulous approach, but there was no way he could have prepared her for the immediacy of the event: the way Gilbert cocked his left hip as he stood facing the jury; how his dark eyes seemed to glow from some deep passion or conviction; how he flashed her alternating looks of consternation and pity; how he stressed syllables unexpectedly, so that his words jumped against the wall of her chest—“enter the room,” “points of the scissors,” “homicidal violence”; how his brow suddenly furrowed as he reminded the jury—“You and I, we represent the People. We have been charged not to avenge a wrong, but to deliver justice.”

***

“Come up to the bedroom.”

“Yes.”

“Stay the night.”

“Yes.”

“Hurry.” She wanted to be taken on the spot, jammed against the table or pinned to the floor, but delay would set the act apart. She could foresee it, her first experience of absolute exposure—the loss of her true virginity on her sex-worn bed. The chaste and devilish nuances of amazing contradiction lifted the event to the peak of desire. He was one step behind her, holding on to her hand as they climbed the staircase. She was aware of every footfall, every breath, every sound of this outwardly conventional drama. She led him down the hall, almost turning in at the wrong doorway, almost forgetting where she slept, his presence casting an aura of unfamiliarity on the surroundings. He caught her hesitation and uttered a short, nervous laugh, sharing her bewilderment.

As they entered her bedroom, it seemed to lose all connection to her past, as if it had come into existence at that very moment just to harbor them.

In rapt silence they helped each other with the shedding of clothes, marveling at the unhurried pace of the ritual, as if their bodies had agreed to temper urgency with curiosity.

They lay on the white comforter, barely disturbing it in their intent exploration, the upheavals taking place inwardly, while over audacious globes and rises and along newly accessible furrows, their fingers, lips, tongues concentrated movement in targeted pressures, exacting exquisite modulations of sensation from each focal point.

***

Semblance of Guilt can be purchased at:
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runs July 1-30, 2016

Prices/Formats: 99¢ ~~$3.99~~ ebook, $21.99 paperback, $39.95 hardcover
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 328
Release: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Archway
ISBN: 9781480827851
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

"A determined amateur detective who'll garner fans with her refusal to either back down or give up." -Kirkus Reviews

***

About the Author

Claudia Riess, a Vassar graduate, has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker and Holt Rinehart and Winston. On her first novel, Reclining Nude, Oliver Sacks, M.D. commented: “exquisite—and delicate.” Her second, art suspense Stolen Light earned: “complex and intriguing” —Kirkus Review

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Frank Nappi - Welcome to the Show - Review & Giveaway

2016-07-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

It’s 1950 and Mickey Tussler—the now-famous pitching prodigy with autism and a golden arm—is back for another baseball season in this third installment of Frank Nappi’s critically acclaimed Legend of Mickey Tussler series. Talk of Mickey’s legendary exploits on the field has grown since his improbable debut two years prior, as have the fortunes of Murph and the rest of the lovable ragtag Brew Crew. Now Mickey, Murph, and Lester find themselves heading to Bean Town to play for the Boston Braves.

The call up is sweet, for all of them have overcome insurmountable odds to get where they are. But life in the major leagues is filled with fast-paced action both on and off the field. The bright lights of Boston hold a new series of challenges, hardships, and life lessons—especially for Mickey, who finds himself a long way from throwing apples into a barrel back on the farm. The three newest Braves have each other to lean on, as well as a new group of fans who are swept away by pennant fever, but balancing everything this new world has to offer may prove to be the greatest challenge of all.

My Review

Could an autistic pitcher really get Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio out?

As a baseball fan, it's fun to think about. Back in 1950, when Frank Nappi's tale takes place, not many people knew what autism was. Which means, this story isn't too far-fetched. There very well could've been players in baseball with autism at the time. They, themselves, just didn't know they had it, and neither did the fans watching them.

Instead, Mickey Tussler ends up being one of those guys who's automatically labeled a "retard," a "nitwit" or a "bonehead." He doesn't talk much, and when he does it's only to share his encyclopedic knowledge on some random topic. He also has a bad habit of referring to himself in the third person, and when someone speaks to him, he has a tendency to take everything literally, to the point most of his teammates just laugh at him and walk away.

His social skills are very weak, but not through any fault of his own. It's just the way his brain is wired. So it's not hard to see why this farm boy from Indiana prefers the company of animals to that of people. They don't judge him. They're not unkind to him. They don't bully him.

Yet despite all the challenges he's facing, Mickey has a lot to offer. When he's able to tune out the sensory overload and simply focus on the ball in his hand, he can really pitch, the pop in his fastball unlike anything anyone's ever seen. But his outings are irregular. Sometimes he can tune out the verbal insults of his father he hears running through in his head, and sometimes he can't.

Like any autistic person, sticking to a routine helps. He has a strict regimen he follows, putting on his uniform. When he takes the mound, he smoothes the dirt out just right before starting his warm-up tosses. That sense of familiarity settles him.

But it's the support of his manager that allows him to succeed. Mickey's special. He needs someone to watch out for him so that he can thrive in an environment that's mentally taxing even for a non-autistic player. All it takes is a little patience, a little tolerance and it's not long before Mickey's well on his way to becoming the Rookie of the Year, while giving his team a legitimate chance of making it to the World Series.

It's a great, feel good story about overcoming obstacles, and educating people on how to treat those who may be different from them. It's a book that makes one stop and think, while at the same time tugging at the heartstrings in a tender, yet powerful, way.

Hands down, this is one of the best books I've read all year.

***

Welcome to the Show can be purchased at:
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Prices/Formats: $9.99 ebook, $9.99 paperback
Genre: Sports, YA, Special Needs
Pages: 288
Release: April 19, 2016
Publisher: Sky Pony
ISBN: 9781634508292
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

Video

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About the Author

Frank Nappi has taught high school English and Creative Writing for over twenty five years. His debut novel, ECHOES FROM THE INFANTRY, received national attention, including MWSA's silver medal for outstanding fiction. His follow-up novel, THE LEGEND OF MICKEY TUSSLER, garnered rave reviews as well, including a movie adaptation of the touching story "A Mile in His Shoes" starring Dean Cain and Luke Schroder. Nappi continues to produce quality work, including SOPHOMORE CAMPAIGN, the intriguing sequel to the much heralded original story and the thriller, NOBODY HAS TO KNOW, which received an endorsement from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille. The third installment of Nappi's Mickey Tussler series, WELCOME TO THE SHOW, was released April 2016, and he is currently working on his next thriller, AS LONG AS WE BOTH SHALL LIVE. Nappi lives on Long Island with his wife Julia and their two sons, Nicholas and Anthony.

Links to connect with Frank:
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M. Glenda Rosen - Dying to Be Beautiful Mystery Series - 99¢ Sale, Excerpts & Giveaway

2016-06-22T00:01:00.000-04:00

BOOK ONE: WITHOUT A HEAD

Saturday Morning, 6:00am

The head in the sink stared up at her. Darcy Monroe, the owner of a popular, chic hair salon was used to this. Only this time, the head was there without a body.

Chapter One: The Murder

As a Private Investigator, Jenna Preston had been hired to help solve murders, insurance fraud, cheating spouses and more. This was a new one for her.

She received what could only be described as a hysterical call from Darcy Monroe, owner of a popular, upscale hair salon in The Hamptons. A head without its body was rolling around in one of her shampoo basins.

Almost five-feet, five-inches tall, always looking taller in her two- or three-inch heels, Jenna had long red hair, blue eyes and was often seen driving around the East End in a white jeep, and in recent years, with her Irish setter sitting next to her.

Excerpt

Chapter 1
The Murder

Saturday, 6:10 A.M.

As a Private Investigator, Jenna Preston had been hired to help solve murders, insurance fraud, cheating spouses and more. This was a new one for her.

She received what could only be described as a hysterical call from Darcy Monroe, owner of a popular, upscale hair salon in The Hamptons.

A head without its body was rolling around in one of her shampoo basins.

Almost five-feet, five-inches tall, always looking taller in her two or three-inch heels, Jenna had long red hair, blue eyes and was often seen driving around the East End in a white jeep, and in recent years, with her Irish Setter sitting next to her.

As a well-respected private investigator in the area, she told the salon owner, “I’ll be right there, and don’t touch anything until the police arrive.”

Jenna knew they needed to secure the business as a crime scene and Coroner Doc Bishop and Head of Forensics Lara Stern had to be brought in as well.

“Troy, someone left a head, without the body, in a shampoo bowl at Darcy’s Salon. I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

”Damn it, Jenna, I nearly spilled my coffee listening to this bizarre message. I’ll be there within the half hour. Meantime, I’ll ask Lara to get over there to check the crime scene for prints and other possible evidence and for Doc to arrange to bring the head to the morgue. We’ll want to look at it there, after he’s had a chance to determine how it was cut off and anything else he might find.”

Detective Johnson hung up.

He and Jenna had worked together and known each other for a long time. They clearly trusted each other. He knew she would follow police protocol at the crime scene.

Saturday, as always was an exceptionally busy day, “in season” at Darcy’s Salon, which is why she had gotten there so early. She always wanted the salon looking perfect, ready for stylists and clients, who this day had appointments beginning at 7 am.

Located off the main avenue of this posh resort at the East End of Long Island, less than ninety miles from Manhattan, the salon was known for catering to the rich and famous, as well as some of wanna-be customers, primping for weekend parties and fundraising events.

The salon was truly beautiful with warm color tones and soft matching leather client chairs facing gold (well, fake gold), trimmed mirrors. There was a reception area with the latest issues of fashion magazines from Paris and Rome, and a few of the more popular Hampton rags, like Dan’s Papers were spread out on a marble table, next to it a coffee machine offering gourmet flavored coffee and teas.

Most of the women who came to Darcy’s Salon had plenty of money, some from their own success, although others were arm candy for much older, wealthy men. Sometimes one of them would joke (maybe not) that they were “Dying To Be Beautiful” like some of the famous models and celebrities, many of who summered in the Hamptons.

“Jenna, you’ve seen how difficult and fussy they can be, and their egos—they’re constantly seeking confirmation of how beautiful they look. They want to come to a high-end salon, expecting to be treated like royalty. And believe me, we do.”

Darcy Monroe was only too glad to charge megabucks for her services since it included a whole lot of catering to their whims and demands. Beauty could indeed be expensive in The Hamptons. The chatter amongst the clients, the eight hair stylists, three manicurists and several assistants meant gossip was a basic ingredient of conversation. The story about the body without a head, and the head found in the salon, was sure to explode through The Hamptons. It certainly had all the elements of a soap opera.

“My god, Jenna, the gossip about this mess is going to be like a volcano spilling over this town.”

***

Dying to Be Beautiful: Without a Head can be purchased at:
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99¢ EBOOK SALE!

runs June 1-30, 2016

Prices/Formats: ~~$2.99~~ ebook, $14.99 paperback
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 140
Release: February 1, 2016
Publisher: Lulu
ISBN: 9781483445304
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

BOOK TWO: FASHION QUEEN

Monday, 6:45am

Kevin Larson swam in his pool nearly every morning. Going on sixty-five, he prided himself on being in good shape.

Walking toward the small pool house, off to the left of the pool, he noticed a light was on. He was certain he turned it off the night before. Strange, he thought.

Even stranger, lying in a different sort of pool—blood—was his long time friend and lover, fashion designer Andre Yellen. Yellen was stuffed into one of the gowns he had designed and a wearing a blond wig.

The gown had been auctioned off the night before at a huge Hamptons fundraiser.

People in the Hamptons were certainly dying to be beautiful.

Excerpt

Chapter 1
THE GOWN

Monday, 7:30 a.m.

Detective Troy Johnson was at Larson’s house when Jenna arrived. He had covered the victim with a large beach towel until the coroner and forensics arrived. [deleted “He and”] Sergeant Stan Miller, who had taken the call, accompanied him and was presently attempting to hold back the media. They had heard about Yellen’s death on the police scanner, and in no time, the active crime scene was quite a wild sight.

It was 6:30 A.M. when she had received the call from Johnson that he was on his way to Kevin Larson’s house: “Jenna, there’s been a murder. Designer Andre Yellen, the Fashion Queen, was found dead this morning at the home of movie mogul Kevin Larson. He gave her the address and exactly where it was located, “past the windmill at the edge of Southampton.”

“More like the situation was at the edge of reason,” Jenna thought.

“Jenna, they’re acting like a bunch of hungry vultures. Help! These are your people. Well, they’re reporters like you used to be. The homeowner is either in shock or just completely uncooperative except for telling me where and when he found Yellen’s body.”

Jenna sighed, “Sure, I can’t say no to such a lovely invitation.”

The death of Andre Yellen was big news.

Andre Yellen was squeezed—really, truly squeezed—into a beautiful ocean blue, sleeveless, silk gown he had designed and donated for a fundraiser the evening before. The size-8 dress was torn at all the seams. Yellen, in his early fifties, 5’9” and clearly out of shape, was more like a size-18-plus, and stuffed into a dress way, way too small for him.

As a designer for major celebrities for nearly twenty-five years, Yellen was a man about town who loved both the ladies and the men, or so it had been gossiped around the East End of Long Island, also known as The Hamptons.

After all, this is THE HAMPTONS, and all sorts of lifestyles are accepted, where choices are supposedly not judged, and relationships are not restricted by conventional boundaries. Unfortunately, there are always those determined to exercise their own brand of severe judgment.

However, there was no evidence this murder had anything to do with narrow minds. Not yet, anyhow. In fact, it wasn’t clear at all what this murder was about—or who had committed it.

Private Investigator Jenna Preston was familiar with many celebrities who lived or vacationed on the East End. Before becoming an investigative reporter, she was entertainment and social events reporter for the local daily paper and had interviewed quite a few of the “anointed” as she had once called them. Gossip columnists covered the rest.

Jenna was regularly hired by law firms, insurance companies and businesses for corporate fraud issues. She also had an arrangement and relationship with the local police—especially when it came to murder investigations. Some of the people she had once written about also tried to hire her for personal investigations and for, what she considered, ridiculous reasons. Such complaints included some new fence being too high or people walking on the beach in front of someone’s home.

Most of these cases she didn’t accept.

“For me, it’s about justice. We all have reasons, even life experiences motivating our passions. I have mine for what I do,” Jenna told a local reporter whose paper was doing a story on crime in The Hamptons.

Jenna had a solid reputation for being smart, resourceful and most definitely charming—without an attitude—which was different from many of the people who summered in The Hamptons.

She did love nice clothes, including the red shoes or red boots she almost always wore.

“Hey,” she laughed once when Troy made fun of her red shoes, “you wear a cowboy hat most of the time, so don’t make fun of me, Tex.”

Jenna and Troy worked together professionally almost as soon as she had become a licensed private detective. It was a small police force, often stretched thin during the summer season. Because they actually had few experienced investigators, he had requested and been given approval by his captain to use a discretionary fund to hire Jenna on an as-needed basis. She was often a member of his investigative team, usually for murders.

Lately, there didn’t seem to be any shortage of them.

Slender and almost 5’5,” yet always looking taller in her two- or three-inch heels, Jenna had long red hair, sometimes pulled back in a ponytail when she was working. She also had deep blue eyes. With more than a hint of spunk and mischief about her, she was definitely considered attractive.

Jenna’s new romance, Dave, thought so!

***

Dying to Be Beautiful: Fashion Queen can be purchased at:
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runs June 1-30, 2016

Prices/Formats: ~~$2.99~~ ebook, $14.99 paperback
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 132
Release: June 1, 2016
Publisher: Lulu
ISBN: 9781483449159
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

About the Author

M. Glenda Rosen is the author of The Woman’s Business Therapist: Eliminate the MindBlocks and RoadBlocks to Success, and award-winning My Memoir Workbook. For over fifteen years, she helped numerous authors develop and market their books, and presented writing programs in New York, The Hamptons, New Mexico and Carmel, California, on “Encouraging and Supporting the Writer Within You!” She's the founder and owner of a successful marketing and public relations agency for twenty-five years.

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Jerome Charyn - A Loaded Gun - Review & Giveaway

2016-06-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

We think we know Emily Dickinson: the Belle of Amherst, virginal, reclusive, and possibly mad. But in A Loaded Gun, Jerome Charyn introduces us to a different Emily Dickinson: the fierce, brilliant, and sexually charged poet who wrote:

My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—
…
Though I than He— may longer live
He longer must—than I—
For I have but the power to kill,
Without—the power to die—

Through interviews with contemporary scholars, close readings of Dickinson’s correspondence and handwritten manuscripts, and a suggestive, newly discovered photograph that is purported to show Dickinson with her lover, Charyn’s literary sleuthing reveals the great poet in ways that have only been hinted at previously: as a woman who was deeply philosophical, intensely engaged with the world, attracted to members of both sexes, and able to write poetry that disturbs and delights us today.

My Review

It's always fascinating when one author examines the life of another, and Jerome Charyn has his work cut out for him with Emily Dickinson. Few traces remain of the celebrated poet. She's the unknowable genius…because she wanted it that way.

But Charyn won't be deterred. He's determined to make contact with her coquettish spirit. From the secrecy of the grave, she delights in hiding behind many masks. The virginal recluse. The half-cracked spinster. The resentful daughter. The village harlot. The closeted lesbian. The patrician princess. The doting aunt. The affectionate mistress. Take your pick.

So he delves into her poetry line by line, dash by dash, until a seminal moment occurs when he's in the presence of the few remaining scraps covered in her actual handwriting. He's so moved, he's literally bowled over, like he's discovered the building blocks of the universe, the charge that ignited the Big Bang.

Not stopping there, he holds up to the light the one known photograph of her in existence, before turning a critical eye upon the second, recently unearthed by a junkman in a Massachusetts estate sale. He meticulously presents the testimony of family members as well as scholars, critics and artists from all mediums that span the better part of three centuries. And still the mystery remains.

Just who was this woman?

A loaded gun. That's the conclusion Charyn inevitably comes to. Returning to the source, Dickinson's words remain at the heart of his search because they allow him to relate to her on a personal level and that's where the richness of his portrayal comes into sharp focus. Charyn is a man, a New Yorker, living in the twenty-first century, yet he understands this female rebel from New England like no one else can. He sees a part of himself in her, and that's when the book hits its stride.

In terms of making a lasting impact, Dickinson was the longest long shot in history. She never sought earthly ambition. She kept to herself, composing her work in the silence of her bedroom or scribbling away in the pantry, diluting the sunlight just enough through the window slots to accommodate her failing eyesight. She was closer to her dog, Carlo, than she was to any living person. Yet her words roared with thunder at a time when women weren't encouraged to explore an inner life full of the tumult that comes for those brave enough to strive for perfection.

Not many writers reach the pinnacle, and Charyn feels this deeply. He knows no one walks away from reading Dickinson unscathed. Chasing her is an exhilarating—often frustrating—journey, one that he's obliged to preface with a warning: Beware. Her words leave a permanent mark.

***

A Loaded Gun can be purchased at:
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Bellevue Literary Press

Prices/Formats: $11.99 ebook, $19.95 paperback
Genre: Literary Criticism
Pages: 265
Release: March 15, 2016
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
ISBN: 9781934137987
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

***

Video

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Excerpts

CLICK HERE to read Excerpt One.

CLICK HERE to read Excerpt Two.

***

Reading Groups

CLICK HERE for a Reading Guide.

About the Author

Jerome Charyn was born and raised on the mean streets of the Bronx. He graduated cum laude from Columbia College. He has taught at Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, Rice, was Distinguished Visiting Professor at the City University of New York and is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the American University of Paris. Charyn is a Guggenheim Fellow and has twice won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. His stories and articles have appeared in The Atlantic, Paris Review, Esquire, American Scholar, New York Review of Books, New York Times, Ellery Queen and many other publications. Charyn's most recent books are The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson, I Am Abraham and Bitter Bronx: Thirteen Stories. His latest book is A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century.

Links to connect with Jerome:
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Kathleen Gerard - The Thing Is - Review & Giveaway

2016-06-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Can a woman mired deep in the throes of grief have her heart and soul rallied by a therapy dog named Prozac who possesses supernatural wisdom and a canine Mensa IQ? Meredith Mancuso is depressed. Ever since the death of her fiancé, she has shrunk from the world. Even with her successful writing career, she's not motivated to work. When her sister, Monica, begs for a favor, Meredith wants nothing more than to say no. But she’s ultimately roped into pet-sitting an orphaned Yorkshire terrier named Prozac. Blessed with spiritual wisdom and a high IQ, Prozac is an active pet therapy dog. To heal broken-hearted Meredith, he rallies his fan club at Evergreen Gardens, an independent living facility, where he visits each week. Prozac and the community of resilient older folks challenged by losses of their own propel Meredith, often against her will, back into the land of the living. Meredith learns that most people carry some sort of burden, but it's still possible to find meaning, purpose, and joy—and even love—along the way. THE THING IS—a perfect read for fans of General Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romantic Comedy, and Dog and Pet Lovers!

My Review

Is this an endearing book about a dog? Yes. But it's more than that. The devastating ache of loss throbs through its pages from beginning to end. Even though the story is tempered with a good dose of humor and tail-wagging cuteness, be prepared—it's an emotional read with a capital E.

But that's what I like about it.

Author Kathleen Gerard doesn't sugarcoat anything. She doesn't patronize the reader by simply writing a standard dose of feel-good fluff. Her book is funny. It's sad. It leaves its mark on the heart by putting you inside a grieving woman's head. You feel everything she's feeling—why she's withdrawn, why she's given up on life, but then Gerard goes the extra mile by showing that woman's pain from the point of view of a therapy dog.

That's what got to me, feeling the pity the dog has for her. He doesn't want to see her so sad. He wants her to live again. And something about that, really tugs at the heartstrings. This little Yorkshire Terrier becomes her biggest cheerleader, rooting for her to take a chance on life again, encouraging her to follow his example and not be afraid to open up to people.

And the beautiful thing is, that little by little, that's exactly what she does.

***

The Thing Is can be purchased at:
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Prices/Formats: $5.99 ebook, $14.99 paperback
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Pages: 299
Release: February 9, 2016
Publisher: Red Adept
ISBN: 9781940215587
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

About the Author

Kathleen Gerard writes across genres. Her work has been awarded many literary prizes and has been published in magazines, journals, widely anthologized and broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR). Kathleen writes and reviews books for Shelf Awareness. Kathleen's woman-in-jeopardy novel, IN TRANSIT, won "Best Romantic Fiction" at the New York Book Festival.

Links to connect with Kathleen:
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Michael J. Bowler - Warrior Kids - Review & Giveaway

2015-11-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

About the Book

The future looks bleak unless eighteen year-old Lance and his New Camelot Earth Warriors can save the planet from catastrophic climate change. Spurred by twelve year-olds Billy, Enya, Itzamna, and his ten-year-old brother, Chris, Lance creates a branch of Earth Warriors, a youth-led movement designed to save the earth from its greatest enemy – greed. His involvement leads to Earth Warrior crews springing up all across America. Millions of kids leap into action, paralyzing the country and alarming the rich and powerful. Having adopted his father’s philosophy of doing what’s right, rather than what’s easy, Lance makes serious enemies when he calls out New Camelot donors who represent fossil fuel or other polluting industries, and then barely escapes a series of "accidents” designed to kill him. When he challenges the United States Congress to step up and act immediately on the climate crisis, the attacks on him escalate. With the majority of America's kids on his side, Lance and his young Earth Warriors prepare for the United Nations Conference of the Parties in Paris, where they will call upon world leaders to stop talking about sustainability and start acting on it. But whoever wants him dead isn't giving up. Will Lance and his crew live long enough to even get to Paris? Warrior Kids is a standalone tale set within the Children of the Knight universe.

My Review

What if it were illegal to abuse nature?

That's the question Michael J. Bowler poses in his rollicking middle grade adventure tale, WARRIOR KIDS.

He makes a valid case that environmental damage continues to be tolerated as long as it generates a profit. Everyone from governments to international organizations are willing to turn a blind eye if they're persuaded to believe that increased pollution, overflowing landfills and the destruction of natural ecosystems can somehow benefit the bottom line.

When it comes down to it, jobs are considered more valuable than the future viability of the planet. Consume more, think less. That's the message. The endless cycle of production needs to go on, for if it stops, the consequences of wide scale unemployment will be catastrophic.

"You'll be dead by the time the damage you created falls on us."

That in a nutshell is Bowler's counter-argument. Do we really want to leave the problem for our kids and grandkids to solve? It's not something most adults want to ponder, but it's a reality the young people of today are going to have to face.

"Selfish people who had no intention of changing their lifestyle so the next generation would have a sustainable planet on which to live."

The theme of Bowler's novels centers around the message, "Strive always to do what's right, rather than what's easy." He's well aware that where things stand now, a solution is probably beyond reach. But he doesn't think sitting back and doing nothing is a justifiable alternative. He offers a multitude of ideas that readers can incorporate into their lives, everything from using the cold water setting on a washing machine to giving away useable items to those in need instead of throwing them in the trash. It can be as simple as turning off a light switch when leaving a room.

"Most people weren't willing to sacrifice their personal ambitions for the greater good."

It's an uphill climb when preservation isn't the priority of many. Yet Bowler feels strongly that the kids of today are "a generation on the rise" and that they "intend to rise to the challenge." His characters don't want to be treated like their generation doesn't matter. They want their voices to be heard.

It's only a matter of time before it becomes apparent if kids like Billy, Itz and Enya will succumb to the same pitfalls as their parents or if they will in fact rise above them and change things for the better. Putting books like WARRIOR KIDS into their hands may very well be a critical first step in a new direction.

***

Warrior Kids can be purchased at:
Amazon

Formats: ebook, paperback
Genre: Middle Grade
Pages: 211
Release: October 6, 2015
Publisher: self-published
ISBN: 9780990871149
Click to add to your Goodreads list.

Special message from the author:

THE eBOOK OF WARRIOR KIDS IS FREE FOR EDUCATORS. It is available in the following formats: PDF, Kindle (mobi), and ePub (Nook and iBooks). In addition, teachers can purchase the paperbacks at the per unit cost of $3.08 (plus shipping and applicable tax.) Educators can contact the author via the Warrior Kids Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1505241449796357/) or directly by email – stuntshark2.0@gmail.com. For paperback orders, the author will generate an invoice from Createspace (the physical publisher of the book) and payment can be made through PayPal. There is no profit motive and he will earn nothing off the paperbacks sold to teachers. Per unit cost and shipping rates are exactly as Createspace charges him – no markup. As an educator, he has always sought supplemental reading material that would engage his students on important issues. Having found very little, he decided to write one and make it readily available.

About the Author

Michael J. Bowler is an award-winning author of nine novels—A Boy and His Dragon, A Matter of Time (Silver Medalist from Reader’s Favorite), and The Knight Cycle, comprised of five books: Children of the Knight (Gold Award Winner in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards), Running Through A Dark Place (Bronze Award Winner in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards), There Is No Fear, And The Children Shall Lead, Once Upon A Time In America; Spinner (Winner Hollywood Book Festival; Honorable Mention San Francisco Book Festival; Bronze Medal from Reader’s Favorite; Literary Classics Seal of Approval), and Warrior Kids.

His horror screenplay, “Healer,” was a Semi-Finalist, and his urban fantasy script, “Like A Hero,” was a Finalist in the Shriekfest Film Festival and Screenplay Competition.

He grew up in San Rafael, California, and majored in English and Theatre at Santa Clara University. He went on to earn a master’s in film production from Loyola Marymount University, a teaching credential in English from LMU, and another master's in Special Education from Cal State University Dominguez Hills.

He partnered with two friends as producer, writer, and/or director on several ultra-low-budget horror films, including “Fatal Images,” “Club Dead,” and “Things II,” the reviews of which are much more fun than the actual movies.

He taught high school in Hawthorne, California for twenty-five years, both in general education and to students with learning disabilities, in subjects ranging from English and Strength Training to Algebra, Biology, and Yearbook. He has also been a volunteer Big Brother to eight different boys with the Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters program and a thirty-year volunteer within the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles.

He has been honored as Probation Volunteer of the Year, YMCA Volunteer of the Year, California Big Brother of the Year, and 2000 National Big Brother of the Year. The “National” honor allowed him and three of his Little Brothers to visit the White House and meet the president in the Oval Office.

His goal as a YA author is for teens to experience empowerment and hope; to see themselves in his diverse characters; to read about kids who face real-life challenges; and to see how kids like them can remain decent people in an indecent world.

Links to connect with Michael:
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Leta Serafim - When the Devil's Idle - Review & Giveaway

2015-11-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

About the Book

In the Book of Revelation, written by St. John on the Greek island of Patmos, it was said a pale horse would appear whose rider was death, others would cry out for vengeance, and the stars of heaven would fall to the earth. Death does indeed come to Patmos when a German tourist is found murdered in the garden of one of the island’s fabled estates. Yiannis Patronas, Chief Officer of the Chios police, is called in to investigate. He summons his top detective, Giorgos Tembelos, and his friend and amateur sleuth, Papa Michalis, to assist him. What the policemen discover will disturb them long after the conclusion of the case. Only six people were at the house at the time of the murder—the gardener and housekeeper, the victim’s son and his wife and their two children, a boy of seven and a teenage girl of sixteen. All appear to be innocent. But access to the isolated estate is severely restricted. Surrounded by high walls, it has only one entrance: a metal gate that was bolted at the time of the crime. Patronas can only conclude that one of the six is a killer. He continues to probe, uncovering the family’s many secrets. Some are very old, others more recent. All are horrifying. But which of these secrets led to murder?

Book 2 of the Greek Islands Mystery series, which began with The Devil Takes Half.

My Review

"An old enemy cannot become a friend."- Greek proverb

So begins a mystery novel where a ninety-year-old man is found murdered, a swastika carved into his forehead.

Not many people are killed in such an idyllic setting—in a garden on a Greek isle in the Aegean Sea. His death raises the question: Why would someone brutally kill a man who only had a few years left to live?

His identity turns out to be a key component. Living under an alias in Germany, he's been in Greece before. Namely, during World War II.

"Evil was indeed an entity and certain human beings embodied it, wore it like skin."

It's only when the police begin to look at the villa's housekeeper that a possible motive begins to emerge. As a child, the woman's entire village was massacred by the Nazis, and she's one of the last remaining survivors. When the police ask her if she had ever encountered the victim before, her response changes the scope of the entire investigation.

"Maybe that's how they grieve in Germany. They cry themselves out and return to their computers."

The cultural divide between the victim's family and the local community is a chasm that isn't easily breached. The man's son is a UN humanitarian worker in Africa. His daughter-in-law is a Heidi Klum knockout, who's devoted to her children. They swallow their grief without making an outward display of it. This confuses the Greeks in their midst who are more accustomed to a show of theatrics when it comes to the ritual of mourning. They expect to see wailing and gnashing of teeth, not a stiff upper lip.

Does this lack of remorse implicate the family in some way? Or are these two cultures still trying to come to terms with each other? One, mired in guilt. The other, bearing the burden of memory. Yet both seeking a way forward, beyond death, beyond grief.

***

When the Devil's Idle can be purchased at:
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Formats: $6.95 ebook, $13.95 paperback
Genre: Mystery Suspense Thriller
Pages: 192
Release: September 1, 2015
Publisher: Coffeetown Press
ISBN: 9781603819985
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Excerpt

The police cruiser arrived later that day and Giorgos Tembelos and Papa Michalis disembarked, the priest inching down the ramp like a tortoise.

“I think the identity of the old man is the key,” Papa Michalis announced when they’d all gathered in a taverna to review the case. “I analyzed it and that is my conclusion. It simply cannot be anything else. It has elements of an Agatha Christie story, one of her locked-room mysteries like And Then There Was None. Nobody else had access; ergo, one of the people inside the estate, a family member or a servant, must be the guilty party.”

“Anyone could have gained access,” Patronas pointed out. “The Bechtels were careless. They didn’t keep the door locked and there were keys lying around everywhere.”

“No matter. It’s got to be one of them. We can interview other people forever, but it will eventually come back to them. Them and them alone.”

“I think Father is right,” Tembelos said. “The identity of the victim is the important thing here. There was nothing about him in any of the European databases I checked. I called our counterparts in Germany and asked them to run him through their system, but I doubt they’ll find anything. It’s like he never existed. We need to establish who he was. Could be he changed his name.”

“Why would he change his name?” Patronas wondered.

“I don’t know.“

The four of them were sitting outside by the water, it being too hot to venture inside. A haze hung over the sea, and the air was very still. Suddenly, a soft breeze rose up and stirred the tamarisk trees that lined the shore, setting their feathery branches in motion. Patronas liked the rustling sound the trees made, the relief the wind brought. It was almost as if he could hear the earth breathe.

I’ll go swimming tonight, he told himself, looking out at the harbor. Float on my back and look up at the stars. Frolic like a dolphin.

Maybe he’d ask Antigone Balis to join him. He pictured her dripping wet, that long hair of hers hanging down over one shoulder like Botticelli’s Venus. Adrift in his vision, he subsequently lost track of the conversation.

“Hey, boss, you with us?” Tembelos nudged him with his elbow.

Patronas made a show of straightening his back, stretching. “Sorry, it’s the heat. Always makes me sleepy.”

“You were grinning.”

“So what if I was? A man’s allowed to grin.”

“I don’t know, Yiannis,” the priest said. “I think when one is discussing a homicide, it might be better if one dispensed with grinning. At such a time, such behavior is unseemly. It makes one appear insensitive at the very least.”

“Thank you for that, Father. In the future, I will dispense with grinning.” He tapped his pencil on his notebook. “So, to sum up, we have nothing concrete in the case, no witnesses or physical evidence, nothing that will lead us to the killer.”

“Gardener’s clean,” Tembelos reported. “I ran his fingerprints and there was nothing. There was a match on the shoes, too, exactly like he told us.”

“What about the housekeeper, Maria Georgiou?”

“Same thing. The case is heating up. If we don’t catch the killer, it could get ugly. Ministry’s already clamoring for action.”

“We need to turn the housekeeper, Maria Georgiou, inside out, also the members of the family,” Patronas said. “Check their history. Something’s going on here, but as of yet, I haven’t established what it is.”

“You can’t rule out a random act of violence,” the priest said, “directed at them because of their nationality.”

“Worse would be if it were a case of mistaken identity,” Patronas said, “the killer targeting the owners—the Bauers—and killing one of their guests by mistake.”

He was thinking of Charlie Manson, who along with his disciples had wiped out six people without blinking an eye, not realizing his intended victim was a subletter. “Personally, I think someone targeted the family for reasons we don’t know. The cat, the old man. It stands to reason.”

“I’d start with the housekeeper,” Tembelos said. “What she said doesn’t add up. That bit about coming to Patmos on holiday and staying on as a maid.”

“Unlikely, Giorgos. She’s in her seventies.”

Papa Michalis continued to promote the locked room concept. Citing a case in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, he described how the killer had released a cobra through a fake vent and activated its poisonous energy by whistling. “ ‘Oh, my God, it was the band,’ the victim shouted, ‘the speckled band.’”

“Fiction, Father, fiction,” Patronas said impatiently. “Remember? We discussed it.”

“My point is if you are determined to kill someone, a lock is no deterrent. Sometimes murderers are ingenious. Using a cobra as a murder weapon is brilliant when you think about it. Absolutely brilliant. No fingerprints involved, no way to trace it back to you. The snake does all the work.”

“I repeat, Father, there is no snake involved here. A stone maybe, but no snake.”

“A stone? What makes you think that?”

And around they went again, weighing the possibilities. The victim had been hit on the head, but with what? A hammer or a rock? A shovel or pickax? Rock, scissors, paper.

Forget swimming, Patronas told himself. I might as well drown myself.

About the Author

Leta Serafim is the author of the Greek Islands Mystery series, published by the Coffeetown Press, as well as the historical novel, To Look on Death No More. She has visited over twenty-five islands in Greece and continues to divide her time between Boston and Greece.

Links to connect with Leta:
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Scott A. Lerner - The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest - Review & Giveaway

2015-10-30T00:01:00.000-04:00

About the Book

Samuel Roberts, a lawyer in Champaign, Illinois, has just moved to a new home to escape the memories of his old place—the stray body parts left by evil entities as well as traces of his relationship with Susan, who left him because he couldn’t stop risking both their lives trying to save the world. That leaves Sam free to fall in love again. Sam falls hard, suspiciously hard, for Bridget Gillis, a beautiful fortune teller who also happens to be a witch and a member of a coven. The village that encompasses the coven was founded by Bridget’s great-great aunt, also named Bridget and a dead ringer for her descendant. The new relationship quickly gets complicated. It is two days before Halloween, and Bridget is about to be tried by her fellow witches for the crime of practicing dark magic involving the blood of children. The punishment is to be burned at the stake. Bridget needs an advocate, and Sam is the perfect man for the job.

Sam brings in Bob, who is suspicious of his best buddy’s sudden passion. The two of them have until the Witching Hour on Halloween to clear Bridget’s name and find out who is killing the local children. As they comb the area for clues, quiz the locals, and take a crash course in witchcraft and Wiccan customs, Sam and Bob can’t shake the question: is Bridget a good witch or a bad witch?

The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest is the fourth book in the Samuel Roberts Thriller series, which began with Cocaine Zombies and continued with Ruler of Demons and The Fraternity of the Soul Eater.

My Review

"Witchcraft is like the Indian idea of Karma. Bad magic will come back to harm its maker."

That's the premise behind Scott A. Lerner's latest paranormal thriller as he explores the guilt still hovering over the American consciousness when it comes to the Salem Witch Trials. In the seventeenth century, innocent women were put to death because of mass hysteria. Mob rule took over when fear, not justice, became the driving force in a community that was struggling to hold on at the edge of the wilderness. The idea that evil could take human form wasn't so hard to believe—be it a mother, a sister, an aunt, a neighbor. Evil was a very real concept to them, with the threat of Indian attack ever present and the deep, dark woods casting a formidable shadow upon their fledgling attempt at building a civilization. It's their close ties to nature that many believed gave the Salem witches their power.

"Some Wiccans think of nature itself as a deity and that everything around us holds magic within it. Kind of like The Force in STAR WARS."

That's how Lerner explains the Wiccan religion to the casual reader. He's not looking to provide a history lesson instead he shares some interesting nuggets of information about why women who consider themselves witches have been feared for generations. He debunks the pointy hats and riding on broomsticks, even while giving a nod to pop culture references like the TV show CHARMED and Carlos Santana's "Black Magic Woman," but his tone doesn't trivialize what many consider to be a way of life. Instead, he shines a light on Wiccan practices and traditions, illuminating them for the reader through the context of his story.

"To open a hole in the world that separated the living from the dead, blood was always required."

Samhain, otherwise known as Halloween, is one of the most important dates on the Wiccan calendar. It's when communication with the dead becomes most likely. And Lerner delves into that concept using the idea of Blood Thorns, a plant with a Venus flytrap mentality. But instead of flies, it eats young, helpless children. Surviving on their blood, it produces a type of fruit that resembles the shape of a baby in the fetal position, a fruit that can only be harvested on Halloween.

"At this time of year, the veil between the living and the dead would be at its thinnest."

In Lerner's tale, cultivating Blood Thorns is strictly forbidden within the Wiccan community. The penalty for growing them is death. It's not until a woman "with long black hair that fell to her waist and intense blue eyes like a Siamese cat's," is accused of seeking to reap its rewards, that another trial is conducted, this time pitting witch against witch. Why would anyone take such a risk in growing Blood Thorns? What could the benefit possibly be?

Immortality.

It turns out Bridget Gillis, the witch in question, is a direct descendent of one of the village's founding members, Bridget Bishop, a name synonymous with the Salem Witch Trials as the first woman executed. While Lerner's Bishop doesn't claim any direct ties to Salem, he does have her fleeing London for America in order to establish a utopia of sorts for those seeking to practice their craft. She chooses a spot smack dab in the middle of Illinois farm country, where for over a hundred years its residents have coexisted peacefully beside their Amish neighbors—until now. The bones beneath the Blood Thorns are believed to be from missing Amish children, the young victims of an abhorrent sacrifice.

Lerner skillfully employs the misconceptions that surround the occult to aid his plot. He introduces Cotton Mather, one of the Salem elders who allowed the witch trials to get out of hand. He appears in a dream-like state, talking to the book's main character and advising him to play on the emotions of the audience–just like he did. Lerner has Mather express remorse for what happened in Salem, but refuses to pass judgement on a time and place so very different from his own.

Lerner is not an advocate of the death penalty, and he makes his position clear in the story. Being a lawyer, he's well aware of the mistakes that can occur through forced confessions and of the acquittals that have been handed down thanks to DNA testing. He writes the novel from that viewpoint and never deviates from it. Lerner also argues that cases where a child victim is involved are often impossible to defend against, since the sympathies of the jury usually end up swaying in favor of the prosecution.

Everyone wants to see the bad guys punished. Even if the bad guys are women. Even if the bad guys are innocent.

The point Lerner is trying to make is that the Salem of the 1600s is not so very far removed from the America of today. The ingredients for this particular spell are one and the same. Add a dash of prejudice to a cauldron of ignorance. Skim the surface for any remaining trace of logic or reasoning. Stir until simmering, and serve with a side of fear.

***

The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest can be purchased at:
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Formats/Prices: $4.99 ebook, $13.95 paperback
Genre: Paranormal, Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 230
Release: October 31, 2015
Publisher: Camel Press
ISBN: 9781603812917
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About the Author

Author and attorney Scott A. Lerner resides in Champaign, Illinois. He obtained his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and went on to obtain his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. He is currently a sole practitioner in Champaign, Illinois. The majority of his law practice focuses on the fields of criminal law and family law. Lerner’s first novel and the first Samuel Roberts Thriller, Cocaine Zombies, won a bronze medal in the mystery/cozy/noir category of the 2013 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Awards. The second book in the series is Ruler of Demons. The Fraternity of the Soul Eater is book 3. Book 4, The Wiccan Witch of the Midwest, will be released on Halloween, 2015.

Links to connect with Scott:
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