Martin and Martine - Part 1, is the next in a series of “Movie Novellas” brought to you by veteran filmmaker Lawrence Bridges.  This new kind of reading experience, serialized in short chapters, was created specifically for the Kindle.

Meet MARTIN, a young American working at a bank in Paris. He surfs the coast of France, drives a classic Alpha convertible through the back roads of the French countryside, and sings in the Metros with his dog “Bits” at his side. Martin is about to meet MARTINE who works in telecommunications. She is 23, tall, with short blond hair. They both love music. They both have perfect pitch.

It is the not-too-distant future and the world has been transformed by the power of technology. Think beyond “The Terminator,” beyond “The Matrix.” Benign machines run the economy and innovate well beyond the capabilities of human brains. The citizens of Paris enjoy a comfortable life, fenced in and protected from the perils of the outside world. Cities like New York, Perth, Tehran, and Beijing share the same lifestyle, frozen early 2000’s.  In return for protection from the forces outside the “Fence”, human beings have relinquished control of their lives to the all-knowing “Server,” a silicone intelligence supervised by an aristocratic race of genetically engineered clones known as “the Perfects.” But for average citizens, life has never been better. Martin has never felt so alive, especially after trying a new form of entertainment released by Apple Computers that overcomes the computer/brain barrier. It’s called Best Friend, and it provides intense emotional encounters as well as instantaneous realizations of dreams and fantasies, all in 3D. Hardwired into the human brain, Best Friend is the rage of Paris and Martin is one of the earliest adopters.

Martine is similarly using the powers of Best Friend, to try to figure out a way to meet Martin. While sitting on opposite sides of the Metro tracks, they are drawn to each and connected mysteriously by Best Friend. But inside Best Friend it difficult to know what is organic and what is artificial. Will Martine be able to find out who he is, or if he even exists, before the trains come and the moment is lost?

Parts 2 and 3 are also available for download at Smashwords and the Kindle Store.

One secret kept, another uncovered…

A disillusioned widow must choose between her new-found home and guarding a secret. Then a devastating discovery leads her down a road she never expected to travel…

Excerpt:

“Look, ma’am.” His picture-perfect smile disappeared behind the long line of his lips, his voice laced with impatience. “I know you’re concerned about accepting a ride with someone you don’t know. Can’t say I blame you. But by the time I get to town, get gas and get back out here, it’s going to be dark. Then you’ll have plenty of reason to be afraid.”

She raised a hand to her lips. What he said made sense, but could she trust him?

His mouth curled at the corners. “Coyotes are pretty bad in these parts. Sure wouldn’t want to be out here after dark. Especially alone.”

Coyotes? Dani yanked on the door handle and hoisted herself onto the grimy seat. After one breath in, she wrinkled her nose and sniffed. What was that smell? Eau de Sweat? She swiveled her head toward him and found his gaze trained on her, his face lined with suppressed laughter.

He needn’t be so amused. She fidgeted with the seat belt and held it with one hand to keep it from riding across her nose. “I think someone up there must not like me.”

“What makes you say that?” He stared at her like she was mentally unbalanced and put the truck in gear.

“It’s just been a rough day, like God has it in for me or something.”

He raised one brow. “I think God must love you a lot, or I wouldn’t have come home this way. Not many people use this road anymore.”

Dani drew in a sharp breath. Did God love her? She gave her wet head a shake, sending droplets of water to the worn seat. Yeah, right. No one could love her. Not even God.

Print Edition coming Spring 2010 to Amazon.com

Texas Roads book trailer

Sample Chapters at: http://TexasRoadsbyCathyBryant.blogspot.com

Author’s Website: www.CatBryant.com

The Essence will help you escape reality with Sophia, a reporter who receives an unusual opportunity to interview a reclusive dictator. She digs in with gusto, but finds she needs more than just reporting skills to survive her adventure!

Here’s an excerpt from the book:

A realization flooded through Sophia. The man who had helped her up — and was still holding her hand — must be the General himself! Yes, he looked somewhat like the photograph she had found — a bit older, maybe heavier than the picture, but definitely the same man — weathered features, squared jaw, charcoal curly hair, and a full mustache with hints of gray. She had rehearsed opening lines and introductions for herself but she couldn’t recall any of them right now.
The photo hadn’t prepared her for his wild eyes. They had small pupils and gray irises with radial lines like stars, which seemed to look right into her brain. As she looked back at him, she realized the hair on the back of her neck was standing up. It was an odd sensation, not fear, but rather like she was sensing a strong unknown force.

Victoria Hudson is 29 and lives in the kind of small town where everyone knows everyone else. She has two great loves in her life — her cat, Mister, and reading books from her used bookstore.

She doesn’t see her life changing much in the future. She’s stuck. Until one night when she’s saved from probable danger by a mysterious stranger.

******

Steven Colburn has moved around quite a bit during his lifetime, never really finding a place where he felt he could be comfortable. Until he buys an old homestead, and fate steps in to forever change his life and that of one of the town’s quiet entrepreneurs.

******

A light romance with a paranormal twist.

I loved this. Perfect for women who like cats and want some spicy romance with a touch of the supernatural. It’s so good, I can’t believe it’s free!

– Catherine Thomas, Smashwords.com

Also available on feedbooks

Piet Van Mechelen was obsessed with capturing Antwerp in pictures. His journey of discovery, through streets and alleys of the changing Flemish city, took place at a time when new discoveries, theories and inventions were shaking society. His aim was admirable, but the elements of his occupation brought about his downfall. This story is modelled on actual events that took place in 1877. A novella based on the history of photography in Belgium

In a fit of temper, Gracelyn’s only sister curses her so she’s forgotten the moment anyone turns away from her. Only one thing, an exact moment, can break the curse, but after years of failed attempts, she is forced to accept living her life completely alone.

Her world is calm and predictable until one Halloween night…
one costume party…
and one masquerading man changes everything.

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Dylan knew how demanding Preston Ashcot was with his employees, yet had no idea he placed the same demands on his sons, withholding approval and love until his definition of perfection had been realized which was impossible for any human being to achieve. He hated old man Ashcot though he never let it be known either by deeds or words for fear of losing the beloved ranch he had come to regard as his own. This new insight into old man Ashcot’s true self served only to heighten Dylan’s hatred of him. He had stripped his own son, the man that Dylan now loved, of his very soul. Dylan would do whatever he could to make Brandon feel loved, and he would try as best he could to restore his self-esteem.

In an alternate present the minds of teen offenders are uploaded into computers for rehabilitation—a form of virtual wilderness therapy. Zach is a homo cognoscens, one of the new humans who can navigate the Fulgrid. Though still a high school student, he is indentured to the Fulgur Corporation as a counsellor. Laura is a homo sapiens. Their story is part odyssey, part tragedy, part riff on the nature of consciousness.

The novel is being serialised in weekly instalments, a chapter each Friday. Podcasts (audiobook) are also available, read by the Welsh actor Ioan Hefin.

To the outside world she was just Leena Duncan, a quiet woman who worked a normal job and lived a quiet life.

A few times a year she could openly use her magical gifts at celebrations within a small community of people she called friends.

Having lived through the horrors that can come from the hands of someone you thought loved you; she decided never loving again would prevent more emotional scarring.

It took one man at a rainy Beltane celebration to change everything with which she was comfortable and one killer to change her safe world.

He created worlds on and put them on paper to entertain others. After years of using his imagination he finds out his friends can do things he thought only his mind created.

For his entire adult life Owen Grey had always played it safe and kept to his own world of writing, never getting too close to anyone.

Having lived a nightmare growing up he would never take the chance of repeating history. He may write about happily-ever-after, but he knew it was pure fantasy and didn’t exist.

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EVAN AUSTIN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR

It couldn’t be simpler. All Evan Austin needed to do was find R.J. Gibson before his eighteenth birthday and the kid would inherit a huge trust fund. Everybody would go home happy: R.J. would be set for life, the mom would appease her guilt, and maybe Evan would finally be able to put a tragic case from his past behind him.

But nothing in life is ever that easy. Adding to the confusion are a young woman whose boyfriend liked to slap her around and the murder of an Assistant U.S. District Attorney, for which one of Evan’s former clients is now a suspect. Throw in his growing attraction to R.J.’s guardian, artist Roman Cavanaugh, plus the Mariners having another really bad season, and Evan’s got a bit more on his plate than he can handle.

Not that it’s ever stopped him before.

Dancing Fools Press is proud to announce the release of its inaugural title, Brushback, a romantic suspense novel by debut author Jamie Scofield. This delightful first book in the Evan Austin Mystery series was released simultaneously in multiple non-DRM ebook formats and trade paperback on July 10, 2009. For more information about the novel, and to read the first chapter, please visit dancingfoolspress.com.

Brushback by Jamie Scofield will be available July 10, 2009. Interested retailers who wish to carry the print edition should either contact the publisher directly or obtain it from Ingram Book Company. To carry the ebook editions, please contact the publisher at the address below.

Book Details

• Title: Brushback
• Author: Jamie Scofield
• Series: An Evan Austin Mystery
• Release date: July 10, 2009
• ISBN: 978-0-9823651-1-3 (ebook)
• ISBN: 978-0-9823651-0-6 (trade paperback)
• 327 pages; 114,500 words
• Publisher: Dancing Fools Press
• Ebook price: $4.99

About Dancing Fools Press

Dancing Fools Press is dedicated to bringing well-written, character-focused stories to readers with a hunger for the good stuff. For more information, review copies, or to arrange a book signing or interview, contact the publisher at the email address below. To order your copy of Brushback, visit dancingfoolspress.com.

Cinderella, save thyself…

Daughters of Change revisits legend and folklore in tales told through the eyes of four different women. Venturing through Norway, Transylvania and other familiar realms, each story depicts arduous tasks and the heroines who must master them.

In Huldre, an ancient Nordic curse rears its head, and Sigrid must conquer it or never know true love. Firewitch has young Fredrika seeking help from Transylvanian gypsies to control her fiery new power before a wicked queen can destroy her. Succubus leads Theodora into a frightening new world her lover may not survive, and Kiss Me proves it’s never too late to find love.

Archane magick, fell beasts, gypsies and witches…Can four women overcome the dark challenges thrust upon them?

John Kennedy was President when five young men, one of them white, sat in at a downtown New Orleans lunch counter. The same five sat in at the Tulane University cafeteria three months later. The University didn’t change its “whites only” policy, nor did Woolworth’s, but in May 1961, the Parish School Board announced they would open the Orleans public school system “a grade at a time” to children of all races.

Wood came to New Orleans on his motorcycle looking for adventure. The first night, he crashed a hotel wedding reception, hustled a Bourbon Street strip joint, was swept up in a police raid, got a part-time job as an animal caretaker, and met the women of his dreams–all three of them.

For a quarter of a century, Professor Mason lived in New Orleans hiding from life. All he wanted was to protect his daughters, though he didn’t know how to begin. For Mason as well as Wood, the integration movement is an intrusion, at best scenery glimpsed from a passing train. For Barcus, a long-time political operative, the sit-ins represent opportunity, a chance to serve as a well-paid “consultant” and to bestow patronage. His friendship with Leonard Zellner, the white boy who sat in among the blacks, was an explainable embarrassment. His pursuit of Little Hamilton, a biological imperative. But when Leonard’s life is threatened and Little Hamilton thrown in jail, Barcus has to choose. Projected on the proscenium of this novel of character development are a sit-in at a five and dime, a meeting of the Congress on Racial Equality, students lounging about the Tulane Cafeteria, Leander Perez lecturing at the Civic Auditorium, a Citizen’s Council fund raiser in the Garden District, and Wood and Maggie in the back seat of a borrowed car.

The story of one man’s sexual obsession, miscommunication and heart break with “the love of his life”. And of him ultimately finding true love.
Kevin meets Alexandra and instantly falls head-over-heels in love with her. He knows she is the love of his life, but can not understand her casual interest in him. He tries to make her love him as passionately as he loves her. But discovers that you can not make someone fall in love with you, no matter how much you give of yourself.
How can he understand her feelings when he can not understand his own? How can he make her love him when he does not understand what love really is? Their relationship is doomed from the start.
Then Kevin meets Jasmine.
Jasmine shows Kevin just what true love really is. And through her he finds out just how much you might have to give if you really love someone.
Contains scenes of an explicit sexual nature.

In the hollows of eastern Kentucky nurse Liz Campbell loses Porter her songwriting boyfriend to a red haired floozy from Nashville. The last person she expects to fall in love with is Jake Larsen - an uptight executive from the opposite end of the country.

Sparks fly as Liz, Jake, and Porter come together in the strangest love triangle Clay City, Kentucky has ever seen.

Set amid the splendor of the Appalachian mountains, Kentucky Moon is a tender story about trust, the power of love, and small miracles that can change lives forever.

Miles Prestwich is in love. The object of his desire is Lady Guinevere Northwicke who is, unfortunately, the daughter of a powerful duke-who also happens to be a very loving and protective father. Believing his suit to be unworthy, he tries to forget and limits his interaction with her. Then his twin brother arrives in Town. Darius is everything that Miles is not. He drinks too much, gambles too much, fights too much, and doesn’t care a rap for Society or its strictures. When the lovely Lady Genevieve Northwicke catches his eye, he ignores the warnings fired at him from all corners, resulting in the death of that lady’s reputation. Rather than facing the consequences of his actions, he flees. Miles must resolve the situation the only way he knows how: offer marriage to the sister of his beloved to rescue her from scandal. But will his action actually solve the problem? Or cause more misery than anyone could possibly imagine?

Redemption is a beautifully entwined story crafted by none other than the gifted Jaimey Grant. Like all her stories, this, too, is set in regency England with the rules and scandals of the time. Here, two people meet, fall in love, employ the scandal of the year, and allow their pride to nearly ruin their love.
This book made me smile one minute and put me near tears the next. The pain and heartache the characters put themselves through was so real I couldn’t help but endure it with them. Ms. Grant has masterfully woven a story of real, everyday occurrences, into a setting where such occurrences could ruin one’s very life.
Of course, with a title such as Redemption, one must know that there is hope. Hope that love will conquer pride. And so, Ms. Grant has cleverly displayed her talents in a heart warming, enthralling adventure of pride, heartache, and love - a love that all women hope for. A love beyond time.

– Rachel Rager “simplyrager”, Amazon.com

Angered that his wife would sleep with his brother, Ethan swore revenge. To his surprise, he becomes involved with the one person his wife never wanted him to get close to…her daughter, Nicole. Once Ethan leaves his wife penniless and then breaks Nicoles heart his revenge will be complete. Too bad Ethan didn’t expect to fall in love with Nicole.

Crossing the large bedroom, furnished in black wood and purple - his favorite colors - he picked up her purse and opened the organizer. Did she purposely write in her lover’s appointment times knowing he could look, or did she think he was just too stupid to look? Either way, he had found out about the many lovers of Lynne Gray-Black about two months ago or the thought of her sleeping with other men didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. He had never loved her in the beginning.

- Excerpt