Posts Tagged ‘guest post’

Upas Street by Sherrill Joseph ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: October 20, 2024 in Excerpt, giveaways, middle grade, Mystery
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Do you dare enter Dr. Frankenstein’s la-BOR-uh-tree? 

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Upas Street: Shocking Specter

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The Botanic Hill
Detectives Mysteries Book 6

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by Sherrill Joseph

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Genre: Middle Grade Paranormal Mystery

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Do you dare enter Dr. Frankenstein’s la-BOR-uh-tree?

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 A fearless quartet of teen sleuths, the Botanic Hill detectives, travel to
Llanfair, a fictitious Welsh village in present-day California, to solve the
mystery of the Shocking Specter.

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The green-glowing apparition reportedly roams the countryside, setting
fire to buildings and meadows during the new moon. The occurrences began
shortly after a motion picture stagehand Scotty Roberts’s accidental death by
electrocution in this case inspired by the filming of Universal Pictures 1931
classic horror movie Frankenstein.

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Supernatural?

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Coincidence?

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Or is criminal activity at work?

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And why, nearly a century later, has the Shocking Specter returned?

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Readers will enjoy learning about real-life horror film star Boris
Karloff, Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, other key players
in the movie’s production, and some early Hollywood cinematic history. Our fabulous four might need to kick some monsters to the curb to solve
this challenging mystery!

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 For ages 9 to 14. Adults like this series,
too! My present-day Middle-Grade mysteries have a twist of history,
this time, harking to the filming of 1931’s Universal Pictures classic horror
movie Frankenstein.
It is not within the Young-Adult genre that serves ages 14 to
18. 

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What readers are saying:

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 “Follow our detectives to the fictitious Welsh
settlement of Llanfair, California, as they chase a green-glowing specter and
get caught up in a riveting mystery that will introduce young readers to the
magic of old Hollywood horror movies. Kids will stay intrigued from start to
finish.”

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–KIMBERLEY KRAMER, Literacy Specialist, Saint
Katharine Drexel Academy, San Diego, CA

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“I loved this book and could not put it down! I
loved learning about the Hollywood monsters from the old-time days and meeting
the people of Llanfair. You will not be sad that you chose this book to read.”

–SOPHIA O., age 10, San Diego, CA

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“As a professor of History of Film and Monster
and Character Makeup Design, I was intrigued from the first page of this book!
The Golden Age of Hollywood is brought to life in the eyes of the young
protagonists through their exploration of Universal Studios’ Frankenstein
franchise. Joseph not only captured my attention with the charm and
intelligence of her four detectives but had me searching for clues and secret
messages (Easter eggs) to unravel this horror-movie-inspired mystery. Joseph
includes facts about Boris Karloff that I did not know, which delighted me to
no end. Jack Pierce may have never received an Oscar for his iconic makeup
designs, but he gets a wonderful tribute through this exciting story. A
must-read for mystery lovers and film buffs of all ages.”

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–SHARON LYNN, award-winning author of A
Cotswold Crimes Mystery series; aka SHARON BOLMAN, Senior Professor of Digital
Video and General Education, University of Advancing Technology, Tempe, AZ

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Background: The four Botanic Hill detectives are having dinner with their Llanfair hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Llewellyn. There was one night to go before the new moon and the specter’s likely appearance, so this evening should be relaxing . . . 

The detectives took turns filling the couple in on all the clues and leads they had gathered so far. As usual, Lanny was quick to remind everyone that evidence was scarce so far, but they hoped they were on the right track.

The diners also discussed the day’s unlocked-door issue at the tower museum and were glad the problem seemed under control now. But it would be critical to find out who made a duplicate key and why.

As Moki was reaching for dessert, a powerful, clanging sound began.

The Llewellyns pushed back their chairs immediately and headed for the front door.

Mrs. Llewellyn turned around to the detectives. “It’s a warning bell coming from the village church. Something terrible must have happened! Come with us, quickly.”

Everyone abandoned the dinner table and bolted outdoors. Smoke was already clogging the air, and the group heard a roaring sound. But they continued toward the source. Soon, they joined other villagers, who were shouting and gathering in the town square.

The detectives noticed a large wooden structure on fire! The fire brigade was on the scene trying to douse the tall flames.

“What’s burning?” Lanny asked anyone who would answer.

“Our St. David’s Day festival stage!” said a young woman with a catch in her voice. “We thought building it early would be a good idea, but . . . ” She shook her head.

Lanny looked at the squad. “Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yep,” replied Lexi. “The Shocking Specter did this to distract everyone. It’s on the run—a day early!”

Lanny exhaled. “Ugh! And it’s got a jump on us.”

Rani tugged on Lanny’s sleeve. “Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go after it.” The athletic girl raced ahead without waiting for a reply. Her three friends followed.

The Shocking Specter likely had a good head start, so the squad decided to go right to the cemetery and tower, ignoring the pond and bridge. The detectives traversed the grassy field in record time. No villagers followed them. Upon reaching the cemetery, Lanny told Moki and Lexi to check there while he and Rani would see if there was any trouble at the tower or its back door.

Soon, the four met between the two destinations.

Lexi held up a large corpse candle. It was a duplicate of the one Lanny had found in the pond, only hers was sparkling a bright red. “We found it by Scotty Roberts’s grave! And congratulations, Moki, for not complaining about returning to your least favorite spot in Llanfair.”

Without waiting for Moki’s reply, Rani said, “The tower museum’s door is still locked, thank goodness, but the doorknob’s loose as if someone’s been tugging on it. And we found a speck of its costume on the bush going down the steps!” She smiled and held up a few threads of fabric, brilliantly glowing green in the dark.

“Hey, guys. Look out there!” Lanny said, pointing.

Far off in the deserted meadow, running northwest toward the dense woods, was the Shocking Specter. It glowed a ghastly green from head to toe, shimmering and pulsating like an animated, computer-generated image. Just as Lanny was going to suggest they follow it, the apparition vanished— as if its lights had been switched off!

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**Don’t miss the rest of the series!**

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Find them on Amazon! 

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Q:  Please discuss your favorite inspirational authors or books.

A:   Nancy Drew mysteries (The Secret of Red Gate Farm and The Phantom of Pine Hill are two favorites), Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden), and Phyllis A. Whitney mysteries (The Mystery of the Green Cat; The Secret of the Samurai Sword) still enthrall me. I still reread those for fun and inspiration. As a college English major, I developed a lifelong love of the classics, especially the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (“The Hound of the Baskervilles”), the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights), Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca), Bram Stoker (Dracula), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems, and Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone; The Woman in White). From modern times, I am awed and inspired by the writing style of Hazel Gaynor (The Cottingley Secret), John Fowles (The French Lieutenant’s Woman; The Magus), and Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), particularly, all three authors’ uses of metaphor and descriptive language. Among children’s authors, I enjoy Steven K. Smith (The Virginia Mysteries), Aaron Johnson (The National Park Mysteries), and Nancy Springer (The Enola Holmes Mysteries).

Q:  Is any of your writing inspired by your actual life?

A:  Yes, mostly from my ongoing childhood! Mysteries have always been my favorite reading and writing genre. Therea re snippets of memories that influenced each of my Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries. For example, in Book 1, Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets, I employed a memory of visiting my great-aunt. She lived on a canyon and had an old, mossy pond down some steep stone steps. Many trees created a dark, mysterious world there for me. A cousin told me a big black snake hid in the pond and came out at night. In Book 2, Eucalyptus Street: Green Curse, I recalled childhood-book mysteries with secret passages and characters hunting for something hidden. In Book 5, Jacaranda Street: Gravestone Image, I wrapped a mystery around one of my favorite writers, Edgar Allan Poe. In Book 6, Upas Street: Shocking Specter, I showcased my love of Universal Pictures 1931 classic horror film Frankenstein and its inimitable star Boris Karloff as the monster. As a kid, I used to watch those old horror movies on television’s Shock Theater on Saturday nights. I often collect plots ideas on my daily walks in my neighborhood of vintage, historic homes.

Q:  Why the mystery genre, and why do you write cozy mysteries for kids?

A:   I have loved the mystery genre since I discovered Nancy Drew Mysteries at the age of ten. I would finish my schoolwork early so I could pull my book out of my desk and escape to “Nancy Land.” I used to write short mysteries starring Nancy and her friends and vowed that someday, I would write mysteries for children. Kid cozies offer kids a safe place to try on problems and work out solutions. There is crime, but minus the gore and dark peril, so squeamish readers won’t be turned off. Instead, young readers can focus on the actions of likable, role-model amateur sleuths who want to help right wrongs to ensure justice is served. There are often intriguing twists and turns in cozies, lots of clues, food, pets, a red herring or two, and a believable solution to wrap things up with a smile for everyone except the villains.

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Sherrill Joseph was a shy kid whose BFF was
Nancy Drew. From her, the author learned to seek adventures, be kind and fair,
help others everywhere, and become a mystery author someday.

Convinced early on that she was an architect in
a former life, Sherrill was receptive to the magic of her Southern California
neighborhood’s historic houses. To this day, she dramatizes those old
“castles,” filling them with mysteries, staircases, a ghost or two, and
exaggerated occurrences.

The author graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa
cum laude from San Diego State University. Once retired in 2013 after
teaching kids for thirty-five years in the San Diego public schools, the inner
child in Sherrill created the multi award-winning Botanic Hill Detectives
Mysteries series so her grandkids and all kids can gallop with her and her four
forever-thirteen-year-old sleuths in their standalone cases after clues to nab
the bad guys.

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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

The Llysygarn Series by Thorne Moore ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: September 28, 2024 in Excerpt, giveaways, Guest Post, Historical
Tags: , , ,
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 There are old tragedies sealed in the stones of Llysygarn and their shadows don’t let go.

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Shadows

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Llysygarn Book 1

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by Thorne Moore

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Genre: Paranormal Historical Crime

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 Kate Lawrence can sense the shadow of violent death and it’s a curse
she longs to escape. But, joining her cousin Sylvia and partner
Michael in their mission to restore and revitalise the old mansion of
Llys y Garn, she finds herself in a place thick with the shadows of
past deaths.

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She seeks to
face them down but new shadows are rising. Sylvia’s manipulative son,
Christian, can destroy everything. Once more, Kate senses that a
violent death has occurred…

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A haunting
exploration of the dark side of people and landscape, set in the
majestic and magical Welsh countryside.

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Amazon
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No!

I didn’t hear the word, but I felt it, pushing me out of the cramped attic room, with its leaking dormer window among the chimney pots.

All through our tour of the house, I’d been waiting for some shadow to spring out on me. Sylvia had led me up staircases, down corridors, through one derelict room after another, but this, high up under the eaves, was the first sense of death and dark emotion I’d felt. There was fear in this garret, and a lingering panic, but mostly there was a strident, fierce defiance, determined to push me out.

No!

So I pushed back, and followed Sylvia in.

I’d done it. I’d conquered. Not so difficult after all. I just had to be strong. It was still there, that melting pot of fear and resistance, but I could put it firmly to one side.

‘…and perhaps the guttering.’ While I was vanquishing my shadows, Sylvia was considering the large blooms of damp on the sloping ceiling. She looked at me anxiously. ‘Could we?’

‘Sure!’ I felt absurdly all-conquering. ‘Nothing to worry about.’ I followed her, gleeful in my triumph, back down servants’ stairs to the ground floor.

She flung open double doors. ‘Ta-Ra! The drawing room. It’s the only one we’ve seriously tackled so far. What do you think?’

‘Hey.’ I could see why the room had inspired her into action. It was all mock-medieval plasterwork, with a Gothic fireplace and touches of stained glass in the tall arched windows that opened onto the terrace. Sylvia had decked it out with William Morris wallpaper, a chaise longue upholstered in faded red velvet, an Oriental rug and a brass oil-lamp with Tiffany shade. It was hard not to be impressed.

‘Wonderful. Creative. Just right.’ I reeled off compliments. It certainly demonstrated the potential of the place. Every other room merely screamed ‘Rewiring! Dry rot! Woodworm!’

‘I love it,’ said Sylvia. ‘Well, I think that’s it here. Now come outside.’

In the entrance hall, with its patterned tiles and mock-Tudor staircase, we struggled with the bolts of the towering front door, and emerged into the rinsing chill of a spring morning. Tissues of mist were clearing from the tree tops and the distant fields were already free from frost, though the sloping pasture below us was still crystalline grey.

From a mossy balustrade with crumbling urns, I surveyed the house. Solid Victorian, with heavy-handed touches of Gothic Revival; a pointed window here and there, a gargoyle or two, writhing vines on the woodwork.

‘We were so lucky to find it,’ said Sylvia happily. ‘When it went up for auction, I expect most people were put off by the amount of work it needs. Listed building and all that.’

‘But you and Mike didn’t mind?’

‘Of course not! I know there’s masses to do, but it’s such a dream and we’ve got money between us. Not endless money but you know, if we manage it carefully.’

I laughed. Sylvia had never managed anything carefully in her life, least of all money.

‘And if we can get the easy bits up and running, like the lodge, well, it will just pay for itself, won’t it?’

I doubted it, but practicalities could come later.

‘Of course it’s a gamble,’ she went on. ‘But we fell helplessly head over heels in love with it as soon as we saw it. And it does have incredible possibilities, doesn’t it?’

‘Oh God, yes.’ If the initial financial nightmares could be sorted out. That was where I came in. Nothing like a challenge.

‘Obviously guests,’ Sylvia took my arm and led me along, scrunching on gravel. ‘Music festivals perhaps. And a restaurant. You know, local organic produce, and our own herbs and vegetables. Themed weekends.’

We reached the end of the terrace. ‘And of course this is the real pièce de résistance.’

I jumped. There had been something so comfortably bourgeois about the Victorian façade that I was unprepared for what lay round the corner. The remnant of an old house. Much older, crouching behind the new. Nothing fake about this Gothic. Crumbling stonework, sagging beams, a small bush sprouting from a chimney.

‘What do you think?’ asked Sylvia, gleefully. ‘I could have taken you in through the house, but it’s so much more dramatic from this angle. Isn’t it incredible?’

I stared into the darkness behind crooked mullioned windows. My victory over an odd twinge in a servant’s attic was forgotten. This was altogether more forbidding. There were centuries upon centuries fossilised here.

‘A pity there’s so little of it,’ Sylvia continued. ‘Not much more than a hall, really, with a minstrel’s gallery. Oh, and there’s a dungeon. With a spiral stair! Lord knows how old it is. Mike’s researched it all, says it was already here in 1540. The rest of the house was demolished and rebuilt in Queen Anne’s time, and then again in Eighteen something.’ She patted the neat Victorian stonework as we passed.

I shivered. Hardly surprising with the frost still intact on the shaded gravel. Shiver with cold if I must, but it was absurd to shiver because of what might lie within.

There might be nothing.

Then again… Dungeons, Sylvia said. I’d dealt with an attic. Did I really have to deal with a dungeon too, on my first day?

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Long Shadows

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Llysygarn Book 2

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Llys y Garn is an ancient mansion riddled with mysteries. What
tragedies haunt the abandoned servants’ attics, the derelict great
hall, the deep mire in the woods?

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1884. The Good
Servant. Nelly Skeel is the unloved housekeeper whose only focus of
affection is her master’s despised nephew.

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1662. The
Witch. Elizabeth Powell, in an age of bigotry and superstition, who
would give her soul for the house she loves.

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1308. The
Dragon Slayer. Angharad ferch Owain, expendable asset in her father’s
eyes, dreams of wider horizons, and an escape from the seemingly
inevitable fate of all women.

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Amazon
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Llys y Garn, a rambling Victorian-Gothic mansion, with vestiges of older glories, lies on the steep slopes of the Arian stream, under the Preseli heights, in the isolated parish of Rhyd y Groes in North Pembrokeshire. It is the house of the parish, even in its decline, deeply conscious of its own importance, its pedigree and its permanence.

Others see it differently.

Rooks wheel over the deep valley of the Arian and see it in its entirety. Below them, tangled oak forests cloak the slopes, from the high crags to the glinting flash of the river as it swells, gathering the gullies that pour down from the hills, heading for the thundering ocean.

The rooks are the real owners of these forests. Their nests cluster in the trees and have done so from time beyond time. To them, the great house, Llys y Garn, is a transitory thing, intrusive, shape-shifting, of value for the occasional perch it offers, the food it discards. But it isn’t permanent, like them.

They see it from above, a mess of slate and cobbles, gable ends and chimney pots and mossy urns on terraces, clinging to the hillside.

But they saw it too when there was nothing here but round houses, women squatting over querns and wolves howling in the deep woods.

They saw it when, below the Devil’s stones of Bedd y Blaidd, a nobleman held court for poets, in a timber hall under sooty thatch, and men quarrelled over family feuds.

They saw it when gatehouse, stables, kitchen and stores clustered around a great stone hall and tower, and kings fought for sovereignty.

They saw it when Tudor wings embraced the hall and people battled and butchered over the sanctity of bread and wine.

They saw the dismantling and remodelling as Queen Anne breathed her last.

They saw the slow decay, the arrival of Victorian affluence and the building of a house that dreamed of King Arthur and croquet on the lawn. The rooks were not, and never will be, greatly concerned with documents, but it might be of interest to note that in the 1881 census, Llys y Garn, with its associated dwellings, was listed as the home of Edward Merrick-Jones, gentleman, aged thirty-six, his wife Agnes, son James, aged five, aunt Eleanor Pendrick (visitor), and twenty-seven servants, indoors and out. The Arthurian croquet lifestyle required a great deal of maintenance.

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Romancing the past.

I write historical fiction, or fiction in which history plays a vital part, but my books don’t necessarily fit the usual sub-genres. I don’t write about famous people – not even Tudor Queens. Plenty of other authors do that very well. There is a whole sub-genre, I know, of Historical Romance, but I don’t think anyone reading my books would mistake them for romances.

What a lot of romance there was in the past. Romantic fiction too, from tales of King Arthur, Tristram and Isolde, Lancelot and Guinevere. Everywhere, troubadours were singing about knights wooing fair ladies, begging for their favours, swooning with desire, passion swirling in the air. One thing that was lacking was the final line “and they married and lived happily ever after,” but it does seem to be an essential part of historical romances. Man and woman fall in love and therefore, after various adventures, with plots to divide them, they finally get married.

In the 20th century, except in royal families, it was taken for granted that love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Go back to the start of the 19th century and the idea is germinating, but it is still an ideal rather than a norm. There are repeated conflicts in Jane Austen’s novels between characters who see marriage as a matter of affection, like Elizabeth Bennet, and those who see it as a financial settlement, like Charlotte Lucas. Sometimes there are characters, like Eleanor Dashwood, who realise that a certain level of financial security is essential to ensure the survival of affection. There are also characters, especially among the older generation, who see marriage as a matter in which parents arrange and children obey. Jane Austen was writing at a critical moment in romance. Prior to the nineteenth century, marriages were arranged, by parents or by the couple, as a deal, a contract providing benefits and demanding duties, and romance had nothing to do with it.

Among the propertied classes, marriage was very much a matter of exchanging assets. It was the families of bride and groom and their potential alliances that mattered, with a view to enrichment, security or improved status. Sons and daughters were at the disposal of their parents or, if they were noble orphans, at the disposal of the King, who had an interest in the land, titles and, especially, military forces they represented. If they found their future spouse agreeable, that was a lucky bonus. Their duty, impressed by society, church and outright force, was to produce children who would ensure a line of succession to keep that all-important land and title in the family. They didn’t have to like each other. They didn’t have to fancy each other. They didn’t have to be heterosexual. They just had to procreate.

For the ordinary labourer, there might have been less pressure to obey parents, but the same imperative existed to produce children, because without them, how would men and women survive in their old age when they were too crippled or blind to be able to work and feed themselves? Love wasn’t really a consideration, although lust played a useful part. Come May Day, or Harvest Home, or those long summer nights when the rye was high, there was plenty of frolicking opportunity to get down and dirty. Any resulting pregnancy would likely lead to marriage, not because of disgrace or the need to amend sin, but because if the couple were capable of producing children, that was good enough to make their future relatively secure.

My books feature marriages, but that really isn’t the same as romance. In SHADOWS, which is set in the present day, there are marriages created in the 20th century way, via a belief in the all-conquering power of love, attraction and romance, and they don’t work out very well at all. In LONG SHADOWS, set across six centuries, there are marriages or attempted marriages created in the old way, via arrangement, command, calculation and convenience, and I am afraid they don’t work very well either. But then, if I don’t write romance, I do write drama.

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Thorne was born in Luton and graduated from Aberystwyth University (history)
and from the Open University (Law). She set up a restaurant with her
sister and made miniature furniture for collectors. She lives in
Pembrokeshire, which forms a background for much of her writing, as
does Luton.

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She writes psychological
mysteries, or “domestic noir,” exploring the reason for
crimes and their consequences, rather than the details of the crimes
themselves. and her first novel, “A Time For Silence,” was
published by Honno in 2012, with its prequel, “The Covenant,”
published in 2020. “Motherlove” and “The Unravelling”
were also published by Honno. “Shadows” is set in an old
mansion in Pembrokeshire and is paired with “Long Shadows,”
which explains the history and mysteries of the same old house. Her
latest crime novels, “Fatal Collision” and “Bethulia”
are published by Diamond Crime. She’s a member of Crime Cymru.

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She has also written the
Science Fiction trilogy “Salvage,” including “Inside
Out,” “Making Waves” and “By The Book” as
well as a collection of short stories, “Moments of Consequence.”

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Website
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* Amazon
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

The Man Who Dealt In Death by Marlena Frank ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: September 25, 2024 in Excerpt, giveaways, Guest Post, Paranormal or fantasy, Western
Tags: , , ,
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Deep beneath the desert town of Peridot, something evil lurks. 

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The Man Who Dealt in Death

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The Colton Fen Series Book 1

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by Marlena Frank

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Genre: Paranormal Weird Western

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Deep beneath the desert town of Peridot, something evil lurks.

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Werewolf detective Colton Fen is used to strange mysteries, but when he
arrives in Peridot on his latest assignment, he’s less than pleased
to be assigned a partner. Rennick Dalton is a blood-drinking,
illusion-wielding card shark who doesn’t have the best reputation.
The two unlikely partners will have to put aside their differences if
they hope to stop the horrible acts taking place beneath the streets
of Peridot.

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Together with the help of sharp-shooting
actress Mary Silva, they’ll track the demonic creature that
slithers beneath the desert. But the demon is waiting for them. It
wants to turn them into one of its many disturbing minions — or add
them to its grotesque collection.

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Step into a dangerous
and fantastic world set in the old west of 1893, where supernatural
creatures and unexplainables live alongside cowboys and gunslingers.
THE MAN WHO DEALT IN DEATH is Book One of the COLTON FEN series.

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Amazon
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Colton hated waiting rooms. He didn’t enjoy sitting in a cage while someone more important carved out time to see him. It always rubbed him the wrong way and made him feel unimportant. It didn’t help that waiting rooms were for things he didn’t enjoy, such as seeing a doctor, being suspected of a robbery, or, in this case, meeting his new boss.

He drummed his fingers on the edge of the table beside him, ignoring the sweat marks left behind on the thick varnish. The room was full of chestnut furniture that smelled freshly polished. The oily scent clung to the back of his throat. It wasn’t that strong to humans, but to werewolves, it was a mild form of torture. He tried to keep his leg from bouncing.

The heavy door at the end of the room opened and a tall man with dark, umber skin emerged. He wore an immaculate tan suit, quite rich, which was strange for someone who worked at the Agency.

“Mr. Fen,” he said with a wide smile, “sorry to keep you waiting. Come on in. I just have a few more things to finish before we can talk.”

Colton rolled to his feet, removed his Stetson hat, and wiped his sweaty hand on his duster coat before shaking the man’s hand. His new boss’s wealth had taken him off guard, but it was Colton’s inability to figure out what he was that made him uncomfortable. Almost every member of the Agency was some kind of supernatural being. He wasn’t a werewolf, and he didn’t smell like a vampire. Colton didn’t have an inexplicable sense of dread come over him, so he couldn’t be a wendigo, either. Nothing about him seemed unusual, and that normality made Colton uneasy. He was just a rich human who was far more put together than Colton.

“Not a problem, sir. I’ve got nowhere to be,” he said.

His new boss chuckled. “It’s good to meet you in person. Grady speaks highly of you.”

“I’m surprised. Grady doesn’t speak highly of anyone. It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Tep.”

“Please, call me Mekhu.” He gestured into his office. “Why don’t you come in and take a seat?”

Colton had the strange sensation of walking into a sacred space when he stepped through the threshold. While the waiting room smelled of buffed oils, this place was the exact opposite. The window was open, letting in the sounds of the bustling city below along with all the scents that came with it. Beneath the city smells of horses and the occasional automobile, some unusual ones lay just below the surface. It was difficult to resist openly sniffing the air. He wandered away from the open window and toward the bookshelves. There were some books, but what caught his eye were the trinkets sitting on a low shelf, intended to be missed by casual guests.

Little jars stood with various animal heads on top used as lids. One was a cat, another might have been a bird with a long beak. Colton was no historian, but he could tell they were ancient. He squatted down to look more closely at an ornamental human skull in the back, but he suspected there was more to it.

“Are you an anthropologist, Mr. Tep?” Colton asked.

Mr. Tep sat at his desk rifling through paperwork, and looked up to give a wide smile. “I see you’ve found my collection.”

Colton stood up straight and put his hands into the pockets of his coat. “I guess that’s where you got the money from, selling off whatever you stole from those tombs in Egypt?”

He laughed. “You’re mistaken, Mr. Fen. I’ve never stolen once in my life, merely claimed what was mine.”

Colton smirked. “I guess one man’s otherworldly riches are another man’s property.”

Mekhu pursed his lips. “The Agency for the Betterment of Supernatural Creatures: we employ the skills and knowledge of many shades of the supernatural, as you know, Mr. Fen. That also means that it doesn’t take much to offend.”

It took Colton a minute to realize he had said something wrong, and he hadn’t even sat down yet. “Sorry, sir.”

Mekhu smiled again. “Why don’t we just do what’s best for both of us and start over? How does that sound?”

He swallowed down the lump in his throat and settled down in the seat opposite his new boss. “My apologies. I have a bad habit of poking around too much.”

Mehku laced his fingers together. “Always the detective, I see. I understand your compulsion, Mr. Fen, but it’s that attitude that will end up getting you killed on assignment in the Agency. You need more tact.”

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Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

 

I started where so many authors start, with fanfiction. I wrote a bunch in junior high, high school, and into college. It was an escape from my rigorous degree program and a fun way to make friends. In 2010, I had the idea for a standalone short story, so I wrote it and tried to get it published. I didn’t really expect anything to come of it, but it was picked up by a small press called Short-Story.Me and was even included in their paperback collection. It was the first time I was paid for plucking a story out of my head and putting it down on paper. My friends had always told me I was a good writer, but it was in that moment that I thought maybe, just maybe, I could write books.

 

Invigorated, I tried my hand at writing novel-length pieces. I enjoyed fanfiction competitions that aimed at long stories. So, I tried doing NaNoWriMo and ended up finishing with a 50,000-word book. It was a rough draft and has never seen the light of day, but it was the impetus I needed. From there, I started writing regularly. I continued to find homes for my short stories and kept trying to write longer pieces. I eventually got picked up by Radiant Crown Publishing, now known as Aurelia Leo, for my novella, The She-Wolf of Kanta. It was an amazing experience.

 

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Back when I was writing fanfiction, I really didn’t consider myself a writer. I wrote for fun. Even when I first published a short story, I knew I was a writer, but I didn’t really feel like it. It wasn’t until I had my novella published by Radiant Crown Publishing in 2018 that I felt like a writer. There was something about seeing a book with only my name on it as the author that really made it feel real. That is an awesome feeling every single time I get a book of mine in my hands.

 

Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?

I’ve been told that a lot of my books have a cinematic quality to them! The Man Who Dealt in Death is one that has frequently gotten that commentary from early reviewers. There’s something about the Old West in 1893 with werewolves, vampires, and gunslingers that really lends itself to film.

 

What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?

The literary pilgrimages I’ve made were never intentional. I was visiting with family in Austin, Texas when I came across the tiny home of O. Henry. I was amazed because I used to love his short stories when I was in school, and it was remarkable to see it in real life. More recently I got to visit Peggy’s Cove up in Canada and was inspired to write a book about a lone lighthouse. I had no idea that inspiration would happen when I visited, but the story idea bit me and wouldn’t let go. I’m hoping that will be a novel that comes out sometime in 2025.

What inspired you to write this book?

I first wrote Night Feeders, the novella prequel to The Man Who Dealt in Death, back in 2011. The westerns I loved growing up included The Quick and the Dead, Wild, Wild West, and Maverick. I had this image of a werewolf detective roaming the Old West with a mission: to solve the case he was handed. After I wrote that short, this story came to me in a rush. I could clearly see the characters, the big baddie, and the world spread out, and I hammered out the first draft in a month. It was amazing, I’ve never written so intensely before. It’s so exciting to finally see it out in the world.

 

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

I just love how fun it is! The characters crack jokes even when the situation is dire, the world is always packed full of danger and interesting turns. The story is just an entertaining, romantic, and exciting page-turner from start to finish. It’s a blast to read and it was pure fun to write.

 

Do your characters seem to hijack the story, or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story?

I tend to have story beats that I follow as I write stories, but mostly I let the characters lead the way. They choose the dialogue, they come up with the romantic interests, and they ultimately decide how we get to those main story beats. It feels like a more fluid way of letting the story come to me. Of course, it does require me getting a good handle of the characters first, and that can sometimes take time. But once I get that part figured out, the story tends to flow.

 

What are some of the exciting aspects of The Man Who Dealt in Death?

My main protagonist is Colton Fen, a detective working for the Agency for the Betterment of Supernatural Creatures, or ABOSC. He’s a reluctant werewolf and although he’s in his 40s and has been through some tough cases, he’s still relatively new to being part of the agency. Meanwhile, his new partner, Rennick Dalton, is a vampire illusionist and a card shark. He is way more outgoing than Colton and he’s more comfortable in his supernatural skin. They have a rocky start working together and it takes them time to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They have a “buddy cop” relationship that evolves throughout the book. It’s a lot of fun to see how they start to respect each other and rely on each other more as the stakes get higher.

 

Have you written anything else in this world?

You can find the novella, Night Feeders, that’s in this same world. It’s the prequel to this novel. It’s a glimpse into Colton working on his own with a vicious sheriff in an Old West town. He makes some big mistakes and you really see how he would be helped with a partner, even if it’s a reluctant one. Night Feeders is a great way to get introduced to the world, the supernatural elements, and step into the Old West of the Colton Fen series. During the release of The Man Who Dealt in Death, you can pick up Night Feeders for a limited time at a discount. So if this sounds like a fun read, go grab your copy and dive into the story that inspired this book.

 

Do you have any fun facts about this book?

I have a whole series of books planned for this world. I see these books as comic book style adventures that can be read on their own or read in a series. You’ll get to see the characters progress by reading them in order, but you can also read them on their own for individual adventures. Readers I’ve described this series to have said it sounds a lot like The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher as well, which was high praise to me.

 

What kind of research did you do while writing this book?

While this series isn’t purely historical, I’ve done a lot of research to ensure it’s as accurate as possible for the Old West. I’ve found a lot of interesting facts about what clothing was worn, the way women were treated, and the way gun holsters were worn. I even found old train maps, city maps, and estimates of travel time back then. So while this series isn’t what I would call historically accurate, there are werewolves and vampires for example, it’s got a lot of historical flavoring. I worked hard to create that historical immersion with a supernatural flair.

 

What are your favorite genres to read?

I read a bunch of different genres including biographies, popular science, fantasy, horror, fantasy romance, mysteries, women’s literature, true crime, comic books, and graphic novels. I have a hard time settling down to specific genres. I want to read all of them. I tend to read a bunch of different books at once too, hopping between each one.

 

Do you write one book at a time, or do you have several going at a time?

I wish I could say that I focus on writing a single book and that’s all I put my focus on. I would probably be a faster writer if I did that. However, I don’t. I tend to have a main book that I’m working on, but I’ll also be working on some short stories, or working on writing a novel on my phone while on the go. I’ll get an idea and jot it down in my notes app or in my notebook so I don’t lose it. I’ll be brainstorming the world for a new book while working on actively writing a current one. I don’t have a reason for it, it’s just how my creative brain works.

 

Pen or typewriter or computer?

My preferred writing method is with a fountain pen and a nice lined journal. I have a few Metropolitan fountain pens that I love and a variety of inks. I try to use different color inks for different novels and worlds because it helps me since I write across so many novels at once. I feel like writing by hand forces me to get the story down, to create the dialogue, and not get caught up in scenes I want to add in later or anything like that. Especially on a rough draft. It helps me get the story down on paper, and even if it needs a lot of work, it at least gets the story started.

 

I tend to flush that out a bunch when I transcribe it onto a computer. I use Scrivener so I can easily add new scenes and keep track of shifting POVs. But having that first draft written by hand really helps me focus on just getting the story down. I do write some directly into Scrivener or when I’m travelling on my phone, but those tend to be more snippets than full-length novels. I have to turn those into more fleshed out stories later, but it’s great to have that flexibility when I don’t have the time or the ability to write long-hand.

Describe your writing style.

Character-driven stories are my favorites. I love seeing how characters evolve and where they take the story. I focus on fluid dialogue and realistic actions for the characters. I also tend to really have immersive world-building. In my fantasy books, the world-building is one of my favorite aspects, and of course even in the Old West fantasy world of The Man Who Dealt in Death, I can’t help but keep some very detailed world-building.

 

What advice would you give new authors?

There are a ton of ways to get discouraged when you’re first starting out as an author. Between all the rejections and the steep climb to get noticed by readers, there are a bunch of times you’ll want to give up. That’s perfectly normal, and I also got beaten down by that for a couple of years where I questioned if I wanted to continue my journey to become an author. I realized the stories kept coming even if I doubted myself.  Even if gatekeepers have you questioning yourself, don’t give up. Keep writing. There are so many ways to get your work into the world today. Find what works best for you and your writing. Hold on to that. Don’t let go and don’t give up. The world needs your writing.

 

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading several books right now (which is no surprise to anyone). I’m reading Malorie by Josh Malerman, The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery, the Batman Arkham: Scarecrow comic book, and I’m re-reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. That last one is a slow read for me since I haven’t read it since I was in Junior High. I also loved Bird Box by Josh Malerman when it came out years ago and Malorie is fantastic so far. I have to pace myself with it because it’s an intense read.

 

How long does it take you to write a book?

It really depends. Sometimes I can knock out a rough draft really quick, and sometimes it takes years. While I knocked out the first draft of The Man Who Dealt in Death in a month, it’s taken me over a decade before it will see the light of day. Some books I can draft and finish up in six months or so. I try to have around two books come out every year, but sometimes that’s just not possible due to personal things going on in my life. Like this year, The Man Who Dealt in Death is my only book release, which is fine for me. It really just depends.

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Marlena Frank is the author of young adult fantasy and horror novels, short
stories, novellas, and book series. Many of her books have hit the
bestseller charts, including her debut novel, Stolen.
Readers’ Favorite has praised several of her books with 5-star
reviews. Reader’s House awarded her book, The Seeking,
with the Editor’s Choice Award of Literary Excellence in May 2024.
De Mode of Literature Magazine featured her in November 2021. Her
stories have appeared in anthologies such as The Darkest Lullaby,
Emporium of Superstition, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Georgia Gothic,
and The Librarian Reshelved.

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Although born in Tennessee, Marlena has spent most of her life in Georgia. She
has various professional memberships, including the Atlanta chapter
of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy
Writers Association. She enjoys cosplaying, gaming, and spoiling her
adopted cats. Her drink of choice is a dairy-free chai latte. As a
wildlife enthusiast, she can share a plethora of weird animal facts
and talk about her favorite cryptids.

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Website
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Bookbub *
Amazon
* Goodreads

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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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$10 Amazon gift card.

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ebook of Night Feeders by Marlena Frank.

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.1 winner each! 

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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~~~~~

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

Daughter Of The Lost by Kay Stephens ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: July 28, 2024 in Excerpt, giveaways, New Adult, Romance
Tags: , , ,
3
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Daughter of the Lost is a roller-coaster journey of self-exploration and finding family-even

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among your mortal enemies.

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Daughter of the Lost

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The Porn Star’s Daughter Book 2

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by Kay Stephens

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Genre: New Adult College Romance

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When the freshman party ends, the sophomore hangover hits.

Trinity Tachel has no use for society’s rules. Not after the New Orleans
police failed to investigate the murder of her sex-worker mother. Not
after she was abandoned to the Louisiana foster care system as a
child. And certainly not after fighting through freshman year to
prove herself worthy of a spot at the prestigious Filton University.

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Trinity is overjoyed when she’s invited to spend the summer in the Los
Angeles mansion of retired porn star Missy Mariola. Escape the daily
struggle to survive as a New Orleans college student? Yes please.
Shock proper society by openly embracing an adult film star? Even
better.

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But when Trinity returns to New Orleans for her sophomore year, she’s an
unrecognizable version of herself.

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Missy Mariola has taken over Trinity’s life. Missy doesn’t want Trinity to
work, makes all the rules-and even chooses Trinity’s housemates.
Trinity finds herself living with people she despises, including a
hot New Orleans cop who has a frustrating habit of showing up during
her worst moments.

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Trinity has to decide if she wants to remain the abandoned child of her past
or embrace a future with people who love her.

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Daughter of the Lost is a roller-coaster journey of
self-exploration and finding family-even among your mortal enemies.

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Amazon
* Bookbub
* Goodreads

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No, it’s not time yet.”

Trinity batted at the finger incessantly poking her shoulder and pulled a pillow over her head to

block out the blare of the alarm clock. And, for just a moment, she escaped. She slipped back

into a world of sleep so seductive she would have willingly traded her remaining days to let it hold

her for eternity.

But Tali was relentless. She wedged both of her hands under Trinity and rolled her limp body to

the edge of the bed.

“This isn’t New Orleans,” she said. “It’s going to take us two hours just to get to the airport.”

“Then I’m dropping out of school.” Trinity yawned and pulled her pillow tighter over her ears.

“Fuck it,” Tali whispered. “Me too. We’ll stay here and start our own business.”

“Sex shop?” Trinity asked.

“Sex shop.” Tali grabbed Trinity’s hand and held it up in a blind show of unity before dropping it

to the mattress.

They had started the summer in separate rooms, rooms so far apart it felt as if they were still

living in different zip codes—distant and lonely and better at following each other’s lives via

social media than actual human interaction.

And Trinity had missed her. Though they were temporarily residing at the same address, eating the

same food, and driving the same car, she missed the days of living their lives together out of

Tali’s cozy dorm room at Richardson Hall—Tali tangled up in James, Trinity trying to peel

herself off Seth’s sweaty body. Waking up to Tali’s beautiful smile every morning. Hugging her

tight every night. Together in their freshman-year sanctuary, they knew no matter what they had

to face that day, they could come home to their safe space—their stability no outside force could

crack. Apart in Tali’s massive LA home, it felt like their floor had fallen out.

And Tali had missed Trinity too. By June, they had started making excuses to sneak into each

other’s rooms. Trinity’s room was too hot. Tali’s was too cold. Tali’s room was too close to the

noise of the busy city streets. Trinity’s room had sheets that were too fucking expensive to sleep

  1. By July, they had given up the excuses and just moved into the one room. And it felt like a

sleepover that would never end, Trinity’s best friend next to her, passing a bottle of wine back and

forth over stories of their freshman year at Filton University. Their school work, their boys, the

battles they had fought together. Going back to school now felt like tainting the memories they

had already created. It was far better to start over in LA.

 

The door to their room burst open, and a harsh light from the hallway spilled onto the bed. The

curvy outline of a silk robe and high heels was the only shadow cutting through the glare.

“Did I just hear my girls aren’t leaving me?” a voice cried into the room, startling them both from

their last moments of sleep.

“Jesus, Missy,” Tali said. “Did you just creep outside our room all night? Don’t you ever sleep,

woman?”

“You can call me Mom, Tali. I didn’t shove Trinity out of my vagina, and even she calls me

Mom.”

Tali turned her back to the open door and stole Trinity’s pillow before slamming it down on her

own head.

“You’re grossing everyone out, Missy. Can you at least put more clothes on before you start

talking about your pussy today?”

“Absolutely not. You know how much I hate clothes.” Missy ran across the room and jumped into

bed between the girls, wrapping her arms around their heavy shoulders and pulling them close.

Trinity breathed into Missy’s hair and took in the lingering scent of high-end perfume mixed with

higher-end liquor she had surely been sipping all night in preparation for the morning. She

smelled like home now, fleeting though it might have been.

“Good morning, Mama,” Trinity whispered, smiling into Missy’s neck.

“No, this isn’t a good morning, love.” Missy ran a hand over Trinity’s dark hair and down to her

cheek. “This is the best morning. My girls are staying in LA and opening up . . . what did you

say? A sex shop? My beautiful, genius girls. You can do anything, but you choose to stay here

to get into the family business. We’ll have to get started immediately.”

She pulled her phone out of her robe pocket and started punching out a text to her assistant as

she read aloud.

“Make sure to rush order the molds we had made of my vagina. My girls are dropping out of

school to start a sex shop.”

She finished typing, reached a finger high in the air, and slowly brought it down toward the send

button before Tali grabbed the phone and threw it across the room.

“Fine.” Tali grunted as she dragged her legs to the side of the bed. “We’ll go back to school. But

when we both end up hospitalized from sleep deprivation, you’re the one that’s going to have

to come get us. You.” She pointed a sleepy finger at Missy.

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**FREEBIE ALERT!**

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,

Get book 1, The Porn Star’s Daughter FREE July 22-26!!

.

Find it on Amazon

.

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Question: When did you begin writing and what inspires you to continue?

Kay Stephens: I began writing romance in 2015 as a creative outlet during a messy

divorce. And my first book was as ridiculous as the failed marriage—no character

development, no plot line, no underlying message. But it was incredibly fulfilling to

realize I had used my energy to create something rather than devolve into negative

emotions.

 

My romance writing improved significantly with two other, simultaneous life changes.

Following my divorce, I lived my own romance stories that continue on today with my

current (amazing) husband! However, my boss took the divorce as an opportunity to

both slut shame and sexually harass me, both in the office and in my home. It was life

changing to see how some important people in your life can raise you up and give you

space to become the best version of yourself, while others can work tirelessly to destroy

you. And it was in that life disparity that I found a message that continues to motivate

me—growing through the positive people into your life while combating the destructive

people (and learning to distinguish between the two).

 

Question: Who would you say is the ideal reader for Daughter of the Lost?

Stephens: The ideal reader loves love, has faced bullying, and finds strength reading

about how other people have combated bullying. They not only accept others’

differences, they accept and embrace their own differences too.

 

Question: How do you respond to the negative stigmas associated with reading

romance (shame, embarrassment, guilt…)? Do you feel that the genre is growing and

changing to adapt to modern times?

 

Stephens: If I could wave a wand and erase the negative stigmas associated with

reading romance, I would be the wand-wavingest girl on the streets. However, since I

cannot, I try to appreciate the stigmas for two reasons. First, these stigmas are such an

efficient way to identify people to avoid, because it takes a really broken person to

stigmatize an activity that makes people happy and has no negative impact on the

world. Second, these stigmas create such a strong reading community. Romance

readers are an amazing, supportive group in part because they continue bonding over

what they love despite outside condemnation.

 

I feel the romance genre mirrors societal norms and continues to adapt to modern

times, specifically in relation to misogyny and other forms of bigotry. Like society, the

romance genre is far from perfect, but we are seeing movement toward stronger female

characters and more representation in modern romance novels than those written in

prior decades. Readers now seem to be rejecting authors that refuse to evolve—just

another example of a strong, supportive community!

 

Question: Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

Stephens: I have one quirky writing habit that I always hoped no one would ask about.

Even during the hottest days of the summer, I must wear my favorite writing sweatshirt.

It’s hot pink, three sizes too big, and rocks the Circus Circus logo across the chest. Yes,

the Vegas casino that looks like the set of a 1980s gameshow. But I’m always cold, I

refuse to be uncomfortable, and if I’m being completely honest with myself…I love

Circus Circus. So it’s a win for everyone except my husband who would probably burn it

if he didn’t think it would lead to certain divorce.

 

Question: Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Stephens: “It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are

so many of us.” – Jane Goodall

I have been considered a difficult woman since birth. But now that I’m writing romance

novels about the sex-work industry from my cozy little nook in the US Bible Belt, my

difficulty scores are measuring off the charts. It’s nice to remember I’m in good and

plentiful company.

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KAY STEPHENS is a lawyer
turned romance novelist, divorcée turned member of the illustrious
third-wives club, and party girl turned . . . uncomfortably old party
lady. Kay spent her early days living throughout the world, from
Boston to Barcelona to New Orleans, before finally settling down in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has the extraordinary privilege to write every
day due only to the loving support of her wild-ass husband and four
crazy teenagers. She has written for Your Tango and been featured in
Bustle and Female First among others.

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Kay’s debut novel, The Porn Star’s Daughter, is a steamy, laugh-out-loud
story about self-acceptance and sexual empowerment. Kay writes for
the people who like to shame the slut shamers, who wear their
too-tight skirts with pride, and who laugh at society’s
ever-conflicting expectations of them.

.

.

Website
* Facebook
* Instagram
* Bookbub
* Amazon
* Goodreads

.

.

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

.

.

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

The Devil’s Spies by K.C. Sivils ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: June 30, 2024 in Excerpt, giveaways, Guest Post, Historical
Tags: , ,
8
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 The devil has eyes and ears everywhere!

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The Devil’s Spies

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by K.C. Sivils

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Genre: Historical Fiction

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 Needing to stop the flood of humanity fleeing communist oppression by
making it to the divided city of Berlin, the communist government of
East Germany took drastic measures. In August of 1961, construction
of the Berlin Wall began.

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Two young lovers, an American
refugee worker, and an East German seminary student, find themselves
separated by the wall. Desperate to be reunited and build a life
together, Angela Wettin and Michael Dieterich, with Michael’s
brother Joseph, set in motion a dangerous plan to escape by tunneling
under the Berlin Wall.

Determined to stop any hope of
gaining freedom, the East German Stasi, the dreaded secret police of
the communist state, formed Department XX/4 to infiltrate and spy on
the Church in East Germany.

Faced with betrayal, dangerous
cave-ins, and family conflict, the trio enters a life-and-death race
against the Stasi and Department XX/4.

Can they gain their
freedom before they are caught by the Devil’s Spies from the Stasi?

.

**On Sale for Only .99cents June 30th – July 6th!!**

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Amazon
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“It’s after two in the afternoon,” Angela complained to the nearby soldier. The GI studiously ignored Angela. He’d learned the hard way to ignore pretty girls when on duty. Hating the fact time moved so slowly, Angela decided the best course of action was to get a cup of tea before making her crossing into East Berlin. She’d expected to at least see Michael on the other side of the checkpoint, and if not Michael, then her fiancée’s partner in crime, Werner.

Shouting, followed by the sound of gunfire, jarred Angela out of her pique. A hundred or so yards from Check Point Charlie, a young man appeared at the top of the wall, caught in the wire. Spellbound, Angela watched as the man made no effort to free himself from the wire, simply rolling off the top of the wall and falling, taking several feet of barbed wire with him.

The bark of gunfire stopped, and a West Berlin police officer pulled himself up to the top of the wall and peered over, looking down. Screams from the onlookers propelled Angela forward. Sprinting towards the chaos, she could hear the cries of a man in pain, begging for help.

Another West Berlin police officer reached the wall as the first dropped down from it. They spoke, and the second officer climbed the wall and shouted to the man on the other side. Angela watched in horror as the second officer produced bandages and dropped them over the wall.

“Murderers!”

“Criminals!”

As an angry crowd gathered, Angela took notice of the escapee who had made it over the wall. He was cut and bleeding and clearly stunned by what had happened.

“You! You’re an American!”

Turning to the voice, Angela stared at the red, angry face of a young Berliner.

“Neither side will do anything to help him! Get the American soldiers!”

The sound of tear gas canisters being launched could be heard from somewhere on the other side of the wall. In seconds, tendrils of the greyish-white gas and its pungent smell began to reach across the wall.

The Berliner covered his face and pushed Angela. Shouting, “Go! Now, while there is still a chance to help him!” Angela nodded, relieved to suddenly find herself useful. She turned and ran as fast as her feet would take her to Check Point Charlie.

“Someone’s been shot trying to escape,” Angela panted as the Lt. in command of the detail came out to meet her. He said nothing, instead looking up in the sky at the helicopters that had suddenly appeared.

“We have our orders, Ma’am.”

“Your orders?!”

“Yes, Ma’am. We contacted General Watson for instructions.”

“Good, do something.”

“Ma’am, our orders are to stand down.”

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How did you come up with name of this book? 

 

More people had died under the rule of communist governments than any other form of government or ideology in human history. Something the devil himself would be proud of.

 

Throw that in with the fact the Church in East Germany was the target of the Stasi Department XX/4, it seemed like an appropriate name for a story set in East Berlin that involved the Communists infiltrating and spying on the East German Church and Christians.

 

The exact name came about after writing down about ten combinations of the words devil, spies, and some other topics related to Cold War Berlin. Once I wrote down The Devil’s Spies the title simply made complete sense to me.

 

Perhaps it should be noted I always come up with the title of the book I am writing before starting the first chapter.

 

What is your favorite part of this book and why? 

 

The different levels of conflict found within the story. Conflict is a part of life.

 

If you could spend time with a character from The Devil’s Spies, who would it be? And what would you do during that day? 

 

Joseph Werner. I would love to sneak around with him and see how he goes about running his assorted black-market enterprises. It would be interesting to see who his customers are as well.

 

Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination? 

 

In the case of The Devil’s Spies, many of the characters are fictionalized versions of real, historical figures who are well known such as President Kennedy, Vice President LBJ, and Mayor Willy Brandt. Others are obscure and sadly, often forgotten today. For example, Peter Fechter, the youth who was shot trying to climb the Berlin Wall and died in the attempt, is largely a footnote in history today.

 

The remainder are figments of my imagination who decided to take part in the telling of the story that became The Devil’s Spies.

 

Do your characters seem to hijack the story, or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story? 

 

My characters like to tell me their story. Especially if I know them well. Periodically, I have to set them straight and control what they say and do. But, by and large, they inspire the story. It’s just a matter of knowing and understanding your characters.

 

Convince us why you feel your book, The Devil’s Spies, is a must read. 

 

It’s a cautionary tale based on historical events. Humanity has an infinite capacity for both evil and stupidity, both of which are driven by laziness or greed of the worst kind. Despite having a historical record to show us the folly of our choices, we will repeat the same mistakes of the past over and over.

 

People seem to have this blind willingness to “let the government do it.” It’s a dangerous thing to trade freedom of choice and personal liberty for a promise of security. Small people will seek out the positions of power over others and once they have that power, they will do whatever it takes to extinguish the slightest hint resistance or individual free thinking.

 

The great lie of communism is that it promises equality. It doesn’t. Lenin believed in the need to create an elite, intellectual ruling cadre that controlled the masses, the same masses he promised to elevate and set free from the chackles of oppression.

 

How well did that turn out?

 

What’s even worse, is that if you rob one man to pay another, you make both of them poor, if not in terms of actual poverty, then in poverty of life and the ability to create and make things prosper. People don’t grasp the fact that government, any form of government, doesn’t create anything.

 

Now, people will say, “look at all the jobs the government created.” Those are government jobs, paid for by the money of the taxpayers, who happen to be the ones who take all the risks, do all the innovating, and do the real work of building an economy. Government merely acts as a conduit to transfer the wealth and economic prosperity created by others to whatever group or individual the government sees fit.

 

History shows us the Berlin Wall wasn’t built to protect East Berlin. It was built to keep the citizens of East Germany and other parts of the Eastern Bloc from fleeing communism. Economics were a consideration as well as the Soviet Union and East Germany were losing the very individuals necessary to produce economic activity so the communists could redistribute the products those with education and skill would produce.

 

The Stasi spied on everyone. The organization kept records on everyone. The driving force behind Department XX/4 was the fact the Church was the one place where people had some small degree of freedom and within the confines of the church body, people would speak freely about things they dare not whisper anywhere else.

 

Throw in the fact that communism cannot tolerate any social force that dictates what is morally right and wrong and will often protest the excesses of the government and you have an institution that must be destroyed. It was surprising the Church and Christianity was allowed to exist at all.

 

As I take in the news on a daily basis, I find it disturbing how intrusive government has become. Not just the United States government, but the so-called democracies of the West. London is the most surveilled city in the world. The FBI has gone on record, begrudgingly, as having deliberately infiltrated the Catholic Church in the United States and placing believers who attend traditional Latin mass on lists of possible domestic terrorists.

 

Each day, the government seems to be encroaching more and more into the lives of citizens. Many welcome this encroachment. They feel it makes their life safer and the government will provide for them. They don’t realize they have made a deal with the devil.

 

So, if you want to read it that way, The Devil’s Spies can be seen as a cautionary tale. That government should be kept as far away as possible from certain aspects of people’s lives. Freedom to speak what is on one’s mind as well as the choice to worship the God one believes in, or not, are fundamental human freedoms that are not granted by government.

 

Or you can simply read it as a story. A story I hope every reader finds entertaining and engaging.

 

Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?’-type tidbits about the author, the book, or the writing process of the book. 

 

The Devil’s Spies was not written in chronological order. I wrote the first few chapters in order to introduce the primary characters. Then I moved on to the actual events that were included in dramatized form in the book. Once those segments were finished, I worked on different storylines that made up the story as a whole. Finally, I pieced everything together and worked to make the story an integrated whole as far as the big picture story went.

 

I have a general idea when I sit down to tell a story how I want it to start and how I want it to end. In general, I have some ideas of what goes in the middle. As the characters develop, they seem to sort of take on a life of their own and tell me the remainder of the story. Of my seventeen novels and novellas, none of them were written from start to finish in chronological order.

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 U.S.A. Today and Amazon Best-Selling author is the creator of the
scifi crime noir series of Inspector Thomas Sullivan novels as well
as the southern noir series of stories centering around the private
investigator James Benoit “Heat” Heatley.

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A longtime fan of
crime noir and science fiction, director Ridley Scott’s adaptation
of Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi classic Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep into the masterful Harrison Ford vehicle Bladerunner encouraged
Sivils to consume as much of both genres as possible in his younger
years.

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A fan of past noir
masters such as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Sivils also
enjoys the current generation of storytellers like Sandra Woffington,
Tom Folwer, Jeff Edwards, Renee Pawlish, and James Scott Bell.

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In addition to his
aforementioned series, Sivils is also the creator of the Agent Nelson
Paine Historical Mystery series set during WW II and the early years
of the Cold War.

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In a previous life,
Sivils was a varsity basketball coach and high school history
teacher. He and his wife, Lisa, have three adult children, seven
grandchildren, and two four legged furry children who still live at
home, Bella and Mr. Darcy.

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Website
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Amazon
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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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Enter to win a  $10 Amazon giftcard,
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ebook of The Devil’s Spies,

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ebook of The Price of a Lie,

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ebook of Murder on the Harz Mountain Railway

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– 1 winner each!

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The Tribal Wars by Stella Atrium ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: April 17, 2024 in giveaways, Interview, Science Fiction
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“First rate sci-fi novels. Atrium’s worlds compel both in their alien detail—and what they reveal about our own world.” — BookLife

HOME RULE was named a finalist in the Book Excellence Awards announced in April 2024.

**All books are half price at $1.99 in celebration!**

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The Bush Clinic

The Tribal Wars Book 1

by Stella Atrium

Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera

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A space colonization story about seeking independence and home rule in the face of corporate greed. Tribal women bind together in a war zone where they are discounted as not important enough to save or keep safe.

On Dolvia, Lt. Mike Shaw demands Dr. Greensboro’s doctoring skills at the hospital, forcing the closure of her bush clinic. She witnesses forced labor, forced migration, and the threat of an epidemic from bad water. She sees how tribal women–often wearing burkas–find solutions for saving the children in a conflict zone, and she commits to the their cause for Home Rule.

Brianna Miller is an isolated girl–a mixed-blood orphan–among the Dolviet tribes. With the lessons from Dr. Greensboro, the abuse from soldiers, the sisterhood among victims, Brianna prepares for a future she will choose for herself. But first she must travel offworld.

**On Sale for Only $1.99!**

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The Body Politic

The Tribal Wars Book 2

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Brianna Miller returns to Dolvia where tribal women protest the oppressive rule of Rabbenu Ely by self-torchings in the Cylay Square. Brianna re-establishes her tribal schools and takes on assistant Kelly Osborn who is mixed blood and also a poet.

Kelly visits a neighboring planet Cicero where her aunt Carline Bryant takes over her education. While returning to Dolvia, Kelly meets the Australian adventurer Hershel Henry who has signed on for a tour of Dolvia as a photo-journalist. Henry takes an opportunity to interview the khalif on the opposing side of the tribal wars.

**On Sale for Only $1.99!**

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Home Rule

The Tribal Wars Book 3

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Brianna Miller and rebel leader Karlyhi emerge as leaders uniting the tribes against the offworld mining cartel. Reporter Hershel Henry opens a local newspaper to report a more honest version of events leading to regime change. But will bringing down Rabbenu Ely only stir more violence and unrest?

Unity starts at home. How can the tribes bind together as a nation-state after fighting among themselves for generations? Inspiring leaders are needed, and a flashpoint act that binds individuals to a single cause. When Henry witnesses (and broadcasts) the ninth death-by-fire, this one by respected teacher Kecouroo, all the tribes feel the outrage and call for Rabbenu Ely to step down.

**On Sale for Only $1.99!**

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Tribal Logic

The Tribal Wars Book 4

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From Paris, Jesse Hartley jumps back to Dolvia in the galaxy’s Westend. A bloodless coup on Stargate Junction interrupts her travel plans and sends her in a different direction. Hershel Henry is tasked with rescuing abandoned conscripts after the abusive Company withdraws from asteroid mining.

A change in leadership on Stargate Junction makes all characters question how the future will shape. How to survive the shifting loyalties among the city-states? Will my home even be there when I return?

While on a deep space rescue mission, Hershel Henry misses karsci on Dolvia the Abydian khalif steps down. Within the turmoil, will Henry connect with Jesse Hartley, or is that romance lost forever?

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**Get it for Only .99cents or free in KU! **

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What book do you think everyone should read?

 

The Little Prince is a classic for readers of all ages.

 

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write? 

 

Some characters are added to a scene so the action work, but later they step forward a primary characters. I’m often as surprised as the reader.

 

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book? 

 

Today’s writers are lucky with internet research so that details can be vivid and follow the laws of physics (at the very least).

 

I like to develop magic out of found-in-nature wonders, such as Utcan’s talisman that is a serpent pouch based on a “mermaid’s purse,” shaped in nature by a shark for a developing fetus. Utcan can spy though a hole drilled in the head of a dead fetus in the pouch and view the universe. No lie; true story.

 

What do you think about the current publishing market? 

 

Self-publishing changes every 18 months, and the services play follow the leader. If one group focused on direct sales from the writer’s website, soon enough all groups are offering the same. It’s all pay-for-play, so be certain that you have enough capital stashed away to afford the next steps such as offering audible books.

 

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

 

I like humor and romance and action, but not so much dark apocalyptic setups where everybody dies after torture. Set-ups begin to bore me. I do find that when writing a long scene, I start the think that somebody has to die soon so the sequence can end.  LOL

 

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

 

Don’t even get started. Writing is a life style choice. All your days are spent with characters that other people cannot know yet, and at the sacrifice of parties or friends or long walks with the dog.

 

Do you believe in writer’s block?

 

Writing is a daily discipline. There are many tricks to get past the dread of facing the blank page. One principle that I found was that when a scene isn’t working, the problem may reside with earlier scenes where better action is required for continuity. The later event is an outgrowth of a previous action.

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Stella Atrium presents planet stories about female protagonists of diverse ethnicities who encounter obstacles relatable to our lives today. How do women in a conflict zone gain voice in the public square using the few tools available to women?

THE BUSH CLINIC received an Editor’s Pick from BookLife, a 2022 Artisan Book Review Award, and a 2023 Independent Press Award for Science Fiction.

The second novel titled THE BODY POLITIC also received an Editor’s Pick from BookLife and a Artisan Book Review award.

HOME RULE debuted in the Top Ten Amazon rankings for the genre category in August 2023, securing an Editor’s Pick from BookLife, a Literary Titan medallion, and another coveted Artisan Book Review Award for Science Fiction.

TRIBAL LOGIC: Book IV of The Tribal Wars was released in January 2024.

Also be certain to pick up Atrium’s standalone novel SEVEN BEYOND that won a 2014 Reader’s Favorites Award in Science Fiction.

Website * Facebook * X * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

Cretaceous Canyon by Deborah Sheldon ~ Author Interview And Giveaway

Posted: October 2, 2023 in Action/Adventure, giveaways, horror
Tags: , , , ,
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A team on an expedition to explore a mysterious canyon in the Australian outback encounters Cretaceous-era dinosaurs.

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Cretaceous Canyon

by Deborah Sheldon

Genre: Horror, Action, Adventure, Dinosaur Lost World

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Australia’s outback hides a mysterious canyon. Hidden deep within is a forest of pine tree that dates from the Cretaceous Period. A megacorporation sends in a team of experts to research this canyon for botanical riches.

The expedition enters a no-man’s land formed 100 million years ago when Australia was still attached to Antarctica, and dinosaurs ruled the super-continent. But the canyon has more prehistoric and dangerous species than anyone could have possibly imagined.

Trapped and terrified, unarmed and unable to communicate topside, the team’s extraction deadline is six long hours away.

The frantic race for survival is on.

Interview with Author Deborah Sheldon

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How long have you been writing?

My whole life; as far back as I can remember. In primary school, I loved superhero comics and wanted to be an illustrator for DC. I even made my own comics. Then I realised that writing the story rang my bell more than illustrating the panels.

When I was 11 years old, I knew I wanted to be a writer. At the time, I thought the only route was to be a novelist. My three years at university introduced me to a huge range of options that I hadn’t considered before, which fascinated me.

So, my next 20 years were spent penning magazine feature articles, TV scripts such as NEIGHBOURS, and non-fiction including books and medical/patient information. In 2005, at the age of 37, I wrote my first short story. Ever since, I’ve written fiction across the darker spectrum of crime, noir and horror.

Do you see writing as a career?

Most definitely. More than a career; a calling. I’ve been a professional writer across various media my entire adult life. This craft is my passion and a top priority, and that’s how I made it my career.

Do you read yourself and if so, what is your favorite genre?

I read widely across genres and eras. Generally, I’m most invested in any genre of fiction from the early 1800s onwards to the present day, though I also find non-fiction interesting. What I read at any given time depends on how I’m feeling. Books are like food to me; I do have favourites, but occasionally I’m in the mood for something new or unusual.

A day in the life of an author?

I always begin a writing day by editing my pages from the previous session. When I’m finished editing after an hour or so, I’m immersed in the story. Picking up where I left off feels easy. After four or five hours of writing, I’m usually done for the day. My brain feels flattened and I need time to ‘decompress’.

Advice for new writers?

Research your market thoroughly, and submit your work to appropriate markets only.

Back in the old days, when the Internet was just a twinkle in the eyes of various computer scientists, it took legwork to research a market. For example, if you wanted to pitch a feature article to a magazine, you’d have to get your hands on a physical issue to read it. If you wanted to pitch a novel, you’d have to spend a few hours in a brick-and-mortar bookshop browsing the shelves to get the feel of a publisher’s submission requirements. I used to buy market annuals, which provided brief summaries and contact details.

Today, market research is a breeze! Publishing houses have websites and most offer free samples. Many titles on Amazon have the ‘look inside’ feature where you can read the first couple of chapters, which helps you get a feel for a publishing house’s proclivities. Everything you need to know is a mouse-click away.

But the most important tip when researching markets is follow the submission guidelines, no matter how fussy and particular they may seem. Editors and slush pile readers, with their massive amounts of required reading, have no interest in indulging your quirks. Present your manuscript in the exact manner requested, or risk editors hitting ‘delete’ without reading it.

Describe your writing style.

Cinematic, spare, direct.

What are you currently reading?

I have three books on my bedside table: Collected Ghost Stories by M.R. James (reading for the second time); Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut; and the crime anthology Illicit Motions edited by Eddie Generous (in which I have a story, “Fork in the Road”).

What is your writing process? For instance, do you do an outline first?

Outlining is my habit. It comes from writing feature articles and TV scripts, which have fixed formats. You can’t deviate. If you do, you risk getting rejected or fired. For example: if you promise a magazine editor an article of 5000 words, you’d better deliver that within a very small margin; and if you pen a half-hour TV script, you’d better write 21 minutes around equally-spaced ad breaks.

So, from the get-go of my fiction writing career, I’ve always outlined before writing a word. I still do that to this day. Writing an outline lets me pin down a story so that I can get my first draft onto paper. I use brief outlines of perhaps a line or two per plot-point.

If freestyling instead, an idea might lead me around in pointless circles until I lose heart and give up.

READER REVIEWS

Robyn O’Sullivan (Goodreads) 5/5 stars – This book is a gut-wrenching, roller-coaster ride through six hours of time, ripping the reader every which way through emotional and physical upheavals that suddenly crash-land, leaving a sense of “Wow! What the hell just happened?”.

Steve Paulsen (Goodreads) 5/5 stars – Unputdownable! A non-stop, page-turning, visceral, heart-pounding thriller. Highly recommended!

Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads

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Enjoy this peek inside:

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The hiss of the opening door drew everyone’s attention.

Good Christ! Alastair jumped to his feet.

It was Raj Devi himself, wandering into the conference room like a lost and befuddled grandfather, wearing slacks and a giant knitted cardigan. His hair and beard were salt-and-pepper, his seventy-two-year-old face frowning with its usual look of perpetual distraction.

Alastair raced towards the door and took its weight.

“Mr Devi!” he gasped, clumsily grasping his boss’s elbow. “What are you doing here?”

The old man glanced up, his gaze as sharp as darts, and whispered, “Rallying the troops.”

“Let me help you to a chair—”

“Thank you, I already know how to sit in a chair,” Raj said, and this time he lifted his voice, rolling it around the conference room, a deep and rich example of Received Pronunciation English, a baritone fit for the Shakespearean stage.

Alastair saw the effect on his recce team: everyone sat up straight. If he could figure out Raj Devi’s effortless ability to command an audience, then Alastair would rule the world.

“Everyone, pay attention,” Alastair said, his voice in comparison like a squeak to his own ears. “This is Raj Devi, your sponsor. You’re in the presence of a great man.”

Raj took Alastair’s chair and gazed around the table. No one rushed him. No one looked impatient. The silence was still and complete. He held them all in the palm of his hand, and Alastair both idolised Raj and hated him for this charisma, this absolute magnetism. Alastair had to remain standing, which was awkward, but the time for sitting was now lost.

With a half-smile, Raj nodded sagely. “I’m a believer in our power to make a better world,” he said, and the timbre of his voice sounded hypnotic; even Gloria was in thrall. “So, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to tell you a story. A story about seeds. Leaves. Bark. Fruit. The human race has used plants to make medicines since before written language was invented. Traditional medicines date back thousands of years to Egyptian scrolls, Indian clay tablets, Chinese inscriptions etched on seashells and across the dried bones of oxen. Today, one in ten of our essential modern medicines is based on flowering plants. One in ten! My word.”

Lapsing into silence, Raj linked his fingers together on the table and closed his eyes. The seconds ticked on. Alastair checked the faces of his team and felt that he must say something, had to say something, or risk losing them. But what? God, the empty seconds kept ticking…

Alastair said, “Not just medicines! No, the plants we find today could also make new pesticides, and help farmers to breed disease-resistant crops—”

“All of us,” Raj Devi interrupted in his sonorous tone, “has taken a painkiller as simple as the aspirin. That miracle medicine was derived from the willow tree, its properties discovered by ancient Egyptians and other peoples such as Native Americans. Morphine is from the poppy. Today, plants help treat Parkinson’s Disease, diabetes, various cancers, heart disease, other ailments. Your work today could very well discover unknown plants that may herald a new age of medicine. Imagine, a cure for Alzheimer’s! It might be waiting for you, out there in that canyon. Waiting for all of us, the entire human race. Your hike has the potential to change the world, and save countless lives for generations to come. Oh, my goodness. What a legacy.”

The silence in the room was absolute. Alastair became aware that he was holding his breath. The team members appeared transfixed, mesmerised by the old man.

“Thank you,” Raj sighed. “Thank you for striving to help me make a better world.” He pushed out his chair, stood up, went to leave and then hesitated. “Please,” he added, “eat as much of the breakfast buffet as you can. It cost me a small fortune!”

He laughed and everyone joined in. Like Pavlov’s dogs to a bell, they automatically reached for Danish pastries, croissants, donuts, muffins, goat cheese tarts, fruit skewers.

Alastair stopped Raj at the door. The old man glanced up at him, cold and annoyed.

Taken aback, Alastair found himself stammering. “Gosh, sir, that was a…that was a…”

“What?”

“Such a terrific, inspiring speech—”

“I don’t take notes.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean—”

“Focus on the hike. Don’t fuck it up,” Raj said, and put his hand on the door.

“I’ve put together a competent team,” Alastair said, striving to appear confident. “I’m just wondering if you think it’s absolutely necessary that I go with them into the canyon.”

Raj gave a frosty smile. “Hmm. I don’t know. Do you think you’re necessary?”

“Well, yes, in the creation of the team—”

Raj raised his eyebrows. “And now that the team has been created?”

“Ha-ha! I’m sorry, I’m not sure—”

“You’re not sure if you’re necessary anymore?”

Sweat beaded on Alastair’s hairline. “No. I mean, yes. I’m still necessary, sir.”

“Okay.” Raj patted him on the arm. “Enjoy your hike.”

“Yes, sir.”

Raj left the room. Alastair watched him shuffle along the hallway towards the bank of lifts, where he would take a ride to the building’s top floor and probably take a fucking nap. Raj Devi walked like an old man in his seventies, which is what he was, and his refusal to put on a false front was admirable in a way that stuck in Alastair’s craw. Only a multi-millionaire could afford to drop the façade, wear slacks with a baggy cardigan, let his paunch hang out.

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DEBORAH SHELDON is an award-winning author from Melbourne, Australia. She writes short stories, novellas and novels across the darker spectrum of horror, crime and noir. Her award-nominated titles include the novels Body Farm Z, Contrition and Devil Dragon; the novella Thylacines; and the collections Figments and Fragments: Dark Stories and Liminal Spaces: Horror Stories.

Her collection Perfect Little Stitches and Other Stories won the Australian Shadows ‘Best Collected Work’ Award, was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award and longlisted for a Bram Stoker. Deb’s short fiction has appeared in many well-respected magazines such as Aurealis, Midnight Echo, Andromeda Spaceways, and Dimension6, been translated, shortlisted for numerous Australian Shadows Awards and Aurealis Awards, and included in various ‘best of’ anthologies such as Year’s Best Hardcore Horror.

She has won the Australian Shadows ‘Best Edited Work’ Award twice: for Midnight Echo 14 and for the anthology she conceived and edited, Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies.

Deb’s other credits include TV scripts such as NEIGHBOURS, feature articles, non-fiction books (Reed Books, Random House), stage plays, poetry and award-winning medical writing.

Website * Facebook * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

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The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles by Michele Drier ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: August 26, 2023 in giveaways, Paranormal or fantasy, Romance
Tags: , , ,
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Follow Maxie Gwenoch as she takes the job of Managing Editor for SNAP Magazine, the world’s largest and most popular gossip media covering celebrities around the globe….owned by a family of vampires.

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The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles Box Set

Books 1-4

by Michelle Drier

Genre: Paranormal Romance

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This boxed set includes Books One through Four of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles: Book One, SNAP: The World Unfolds; Book Two, SNAP: New Talent; Book Three, Plague: A Love Story and Book Four, DANUBE: A Tale of Murder.

Follow Maxie Gwenoch as she takes the job of Managing Editor for SNAP Magazine, the world’s largest and most popular gossip media covering celebrities around the globe.

First, she finds the owners of SNAP are a family of Hungarian vampires, then she discovers she’s the reason for an escalating war between the Kandeskys and their archrivals, the Huszars.

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Book One, SNAP: The World Unfolds

SNAP, a multinational celeb TV show and magazine, is the holy grail for Maxie Gwenoch. When she snags the job as managing editor, she’s looking for fame, fortune and Jimmy Choos. What she finds is a media empire owned by Baron Kandesky and his family. A family of vampires. They’re European, urbane, wealthy and mesmerizing. And when she meets Jean-Louis, vampire and co-worker, she’s a goner.

The Kandesky vampire family rose in Hungary centuries ago. They gave up violence and killing to make a killing on the world’s commodities markets and with that beginning they built SNAP, an international celebrity multimedia empire. Now cultured…and having found food substitutes for killing…they’ve cornered the world market for celebrity and gossip journalism.

They haven’t fully left the past behind. Their Hungarian neighbors and rival vampire clan, the Huszars are starting to ramp up attacks, maybe looking to start a war to take over all the Kandeskys have built.

Maxie believes she’s found her ultimate career. She doesn’t realize that she’s found a family feud like none other, a centuries-old rivalry between vampire families, with her as the linchpin. Bells ring with Jean-Louis, but she doesn’t realize they’re alarm sirens until she learns that Jean-Louis is second in command of the Kandeskys…but by then it’s too late.

Book Two, SNAP: New Talent

In the second book of the SNAP Kandesky vampire series, Maxie Gwenoch, media-savvy editor of the multinational celeb gossip magazine SNAP, is pummeled in Paris and kidnapped in Kiev as the Huszars ramp up the race to oust their centuries-old rivals, the Kandeskys.

SNAP’s owners, the Kandesky family of vampires, built the world’s most popular celeb coverage empire but this isn’t just a business take-over. These powerful vampire families lived with an uneasy peace for four centuries until Maxie came in to boost SNAP’s coverage and started making inroads into the Huszar’s traditional hunting territories.

Although Jean-Louis, Maxie’s lover, vampire and second-in-command of the Kandeskys, tries to keep her safe, Maxie is determined to do things her way, a way that may lose her her job, her love and her life.

This is a new edition. It has been reformatted and contains additional bonus material.

Book Three, Plague: A Love Story

The third book of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles begins the saga of the family’s start during the chaos of 14th century Hungary. When Stefan’s wife and infant son die in a minor plague outbreak, he has nothing to live for, so Theron’s turning him to a vampire is just a way out of his anguish.

Until he takes over the estate of a merchant, recruits Jean-Louis to teach him business and meets Lady Penelope Kandesky.
Plague returns to Budapest and this time paves the way for Stefan to become Baron Stefan Kandesky, a businessman who builds a trading empire with the help of Jean-Louis and Pen.

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Book Four, DANUBE: A Tale of Murder

The Kandesky management trio, Stefan, Jean-Louis and Pen, find themselves embroiled in a war with their rivals, the Huszars, which is bad for PR and bad for business, but after a judicious assassination they hammer out a pact.

This fourth book of the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles tells of peace agreements with their rivals and the growth of their now-international business ventures.

It also follows Jean-Louis as he meets and falls in love with a young artist, Magda, who desires travel and adventure but never imagined the world the Kandeskys inhabit

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Writing a series as a pantser

By the definition, a pantser is a writer who writes “by the seat of the pants”, someone who doesn’t outline and lightly plans a book.

I’m a panster, the one who in school wrote the paper first, THEN outlined what she’d written.

This allows me to create all kinds of scenarios, add characters along the way, set up action on the fly. And might become iffy as I find I’m writing series.

The one thing I’ve done with all of my series is to keep track of the characters! I list their names, occupations and which book they appeared, a must with the paranormal romance books which are littered with close to a hundred Central and Eastern European characters. Most of the time, I can’t even remember the spelling.

I have three series, the traditional mystery Amy Hobbes Newspaper Mysteries, the Stained Glass Mysteries and a paranormal romance one, The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles. There are three Amy Hobbes extant, Edited for Death, Labeled for Death and Delta for Death; two (so far) in the Stained Glass Mysteries and eleven in the Kandesky Vampire Chronicles. These are like Topsy, they just grewed

I planned ahead a bit in the mysteries and always intended  them to be a series. The main characters are the same, the actual plot changes with a different murder/mystery in each book. The planned-but-unwritten ones have a general mystery plot (who ends up dead and why) but nothing more.

The Kandeskys I initially saw as a trilology but as the characters developed, I had to keep establishing plots. Because the series are character-driven, a roadmap isn’t necessary. The characters can find themselves in the middle of a variety of situations which don’t have to be plotted out ahead of time. My only roadmap for this series is to continue the thread of the characters…they tell me what’s going to happen. My suspicion is that Lee Child didn’t sit down to write all the Jack Reacher books knowing he had a “roadmap” and Janet Evanovich keeps devising quirky situations for her characters. If you have a plot-driven book, although I’m hard pressed to come up with a series like that, some advance plotting might be necessary, but character-driven? No. Think Danial Silva, Robert Crais, Elizabeth George, Agatha Christie…etc. and ad infinitum.

The Amy Hobbes and Stained Glass Mysteries are complete in each book…well, I do have a couple of romances simmering. The Kandeskys on the other hand have loose ends and one GIANT cliff-hanger in book two, SNAP New Talent.

My initial publisher didn’t pick up the Amy Hobbes series so I don’t know if it would be different. I indie-publish for lots of reasons and this might be one of them. I like my characters (well, I love some of the guys) and would continue their story any way I can.

All of my books have some romantic tension. None of the female characters are particularly interested in getting married or even having a relationship, but as they meet a man in the course of their work, they become interested. The romantic tension in the Kandesky Chronicles kept the two main protags going for ten books. Now I need to figure out if Amy Hobbes (Amy Hobbes Mysteries) or Roz Duke (Stained Glass Mysteries) are  going to get totally wrapped up in their male characters.

All the characters grow and change, primarily in the way they understand themselves. In the mysteries, Amy is learning to cope with the hurt her ex-husband incurred when he left her for another woman. She’s rebuilding her life and her trust in men, but slowly. In the Stained Glass Mysteries, Roz’ husband has been murdered in a drive-by shooting. Although the gunman has been caught, Roz harbors a nagging question: Why was her husband at that mall where he was shot? In the Kandeskys, Maxie must make the decision of whether she’s willing to trade eternal life as a vampire for losing all she’s ever known. And the men, 500-year-old vampires all, must learn to love a 21st century career woman, a creature they’ve never met before.

During the writing of the series, the mysteries have shifted slightly. Amy Hobbes is the managing editor of a smaller daily newspaper in Northern California. The plots have changed as the focus of the economy has changed. Each of the books’ central plot centers around a real contemporary issue…but are they important enough to kill for? The Stained Glass Mysteries don’t rely on contemporary issues as much, although the first book, Stain on the Soul, hinges on pedophilia in the priesthood.

The Kandeskys have shifted quite a bit. Initially, the violence and tension was from a war with another vampire family. That family has died (or been killed) off and now the Kandeskys are up against international political issues. They’re living in Kyiv, Ukraine and are fighting off Eastern European thugs and gangs hired by the oligarchs. In SNAP: Pandemic Games, the danger is from Russia trying to break up the EU and NATO.

In a new book, I usually begin with the characters. What are they doing now? What challenges are they having? In the mysteries, this leads to a premise of “What if?” which leads to the plot, or mystery. In the Kandeskys, I usually begin with the events affecting global tensions because SNAP, the Kandesky family’s flagship company, is a multi-formatted international celebrity gossip television show and magazine. And they may be moving toward covering more news instead of gossip.

For me, one of the delights in pantsing, particularly a series, is the unknown. Although I almost always know the ending (not always the murderer), the plot can take interesting twists and the characters surprise me!

Coming in 2023, Resurrecting the Roses, Book Three in the Stained  Glass Mysteries.

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Michele Drier is a fifth-generation Californian and spent better than 20 years as a reporter and editor at California daily newspapers. She is the past president of Capitol Crimes, a Sisters in Crime chapter; the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime, current president of NorCal Sisters in Crime, and co-chaired Bouchercon 2020.

Her Amy Hobbes Newspaper Mysteries are Edited for Death, (called “Riveting and much recommended” by the Midwest Book Review), Labeled for Death and Delta for Death. A stand-alone, Ashes of Memories was published May 2017.

Her paranormal romance series, SNAP: The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles, was named the best paranormal vampire series of 2014 by PRG. Book Eleven, SNAP: Pandemic Games was published in 2022

Her new series is the Stained Glass Mysteries, Stain on the Soul and Tapestry of Tears, and she’s working on the third, Resurrection of the Roses.

She lives in Sacramento with her cat, Malley.

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Tracks by Lyn I. Kelly ~ Author Guest Post And Giveaway

Posted: July 2, 2023 in giveaways, horror
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Skinwalker. Lycanthrope. Werewolf.

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Whatever the name, whatever the legend,

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an old evil has found its way into McGregor Falls, and no one is safe.

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Tracks

by Lyn I. Kelly

Genre: Horror

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“It ain’t nothin’ like you’ve ever seen before, Sheriff.”

That was when Sheriff Cotton Briggs found the body, slaughtered beyond recognition inside a random boxcar. The trains have always moved through McGregor Falls, Texas, but now they have brought something into town, something Briggs had hoped was forever in the past.

Fifteen-year-old Travis Braniff while exploring an old trainyard with a friend, encounters that same something. Both boys escape the creature’s murderous intent, but now it is after them and will stop at nothing to prevent its secret from being revealed…too soon.

In Lyn I. Kelly’s newest novel, the werewolf mythology is explored and rewritten, as vengeance is rendered onto a small Texas town and secrets are revealed. Skinwalker. Lycanthrope. Werewolf. Whatever the name, whatever the legend, an old evil has found its way into McGregor Falls, and no one is safe.

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**Only .99 cents!!**

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Amazon * B&N * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

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Travis turned, Mark at his heel, and took a haphazard step towards the hill they had descended only a short time previous when another sound, a new sound, froze him in his tracks. Something was coming up from behind them. Even through the wind, he could hear it, heavy and deliberate.

Travis stopped to find that Mark was already looking behind them, his body language telling Travis all he needed to know. He followed his friend’s line of sight until he stopped on the dark shadow standing just beyond the boxcar they had been investigating.

Even at this distance, Travis knew it was enormous—its shoulders and chest heaving rhythmically, hot plumes of smoke emerging as its breath and body heat dispelled into the air. Travis did not know what it was, but it was not a man.

“Mark, run,” Travis said, the fear choking his throat allowing for little more than a whisper, and either Mark could not hear, could not move, or both, because his friend did not budge.

Travis started to nudge his light in the shadow’s direction but could not find the courage to do it. In fact, he had never felt more incapable of movement in his life. Run! Tell Mark to run! Both of you run! His mind screamed at him, but he could do nothing. The shadow took a step forward, and Travis was certain this was how he was going to die when—

—the creature screamed forth the most violent of roars, a haunting song whose cadence shifted from pain to anger to rage, metamorphosizing into a throaty, animal rumble.

That was when Travis found his legs.

He started to pull away only to realize that Mark had not moved. He grabbed his friend roughly with both hands. “Move!” he screamed, spinning Mark into action.

Through the yard and up the hill both boys ran, Travis hearing the unmistakable sound of the shadow thing chasing after them. He looked back and saw that not only was it chasing them, but it was also closing fast. Instinctively, he threw his flashlight at the creature, hitting it square in the chest. He turned ahead to find that in his moment of distraction, Mark had sprinted well ahead.

He watched as his friend reached the top of the incline only to pivot, stumble, and disappear over the hill in a swell of obscenities. In two huge bounds, Travis was atop the incline and straddling the railroad tracks looking down the other side where Mark had fallen.

Travis part-ran, part-slid down the hillside and drew up behind Mark. He hastily put his hands under his friend’s arms, Mark jumping at the touch, and hoisted him up.

“I caught my foot on the tracks,” Mark wheezed, almost apologetically.

“We gotta move,” Travis beseeched, pushing Mark ahead of him.

“What was that? A dog? Coyote?” Mark asked as he ran over the gravel road and towards the woodland edge.

Travis didn’t answer, but it was no coyote, much less any sort of dog. He cautiously looked back towards the hillside. The sky was overcast and loomed darkly, and without any light source, everything was painted a deep, unforgiving midnight blue; however, his peripheral vision still caught a shadowy silhouette explode atop the tracks and leap down into the darkness.

“Faster, Mark!” he screamed. They were both heading for the woods, but Travis understood the woods would do nothing, not hide them, and certainly not protect them. It still had to be better than being out in the open, he reasoned.

Through their footfalls and Mark’s labored breathing, Travis heard a new sound: a sharp crunching. That thing, whatever it was, was close, so close that Travis felt a smattering of rocks kicked up by the thing’s pursuit sting the backs of his legs. In desperation, Travis grabbed Mark’s arm in the hopes of helping his friend move faster, but two steps later, they both stumbled and fell.

Travis felt a burning as his cheek skid roughly across the gravel while somewhere around him, Mark let out a shout as they tumbled over the other before settling in a frightened mound of cold pain. For a moment, there was no sound except for his and Mark’s anxious breathing as they lay twisted and cold on the barren gravel road, but then a dark shadow swelled over them, turning the blue night black.

It was pouncing, Travis realized. Instinctively, he turned, throwing his right arm over his face, and felt something like a hot knife slice effortlessly through his jacket and into his forearm before pulling free with a terrible squelch.

Travis heard the thing land in the leaves and twigs of the bordering forest, and he tried to reach for Mark, knowing another attack was coming, but his right arm would not respond. Aside from a sickly warm sensation that was flowing down his arm, it was numb. He switched to his left arm, again trying to help Mark—and himself—up, but after a confusing dance of struggling to right the other, they both collapsed back to the ground.

Travis could hear the thing circling around in the woods, moving towards them. Unable to run, he shut his eyes tightly, hoping that whatever was out there would lose interest and, if not, would be quick about its intent.

Then there was the explosion.

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What are your top 10 favorite books/authors? I would really have to think about my top ten favorite authors and books, but I can give you at least eight of my top books.

  • Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
  • The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (so much better than the movie series)
  • Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
  • The Last Run by Todd Lewan
  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthoney Doerr
  • A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
  • It by Stephen King
  • Patriot Games by Tom Clancy

What book do you think everyone should read? That is an exceptionally tough question because everyone has different tastes so to speak. I will say that I believe Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier is one of – if not the most – well written novels I have ever read. He truly has a mastery on the English language.

How long have you been writing? I have been writing since I was about eleven years old.

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write? The main characters I have in mind before I start writing and many of the second-tier characters are there as well. The other characters I create where needed, to tell a story or bridge a gap. Sometimes these lesser characters grown into (almost) main characters.

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book? I will do research on history or myths and legends when applicable before I begin writing. While writing a will research specifics on certain types of equipment, cars, uniforms for Federal or State entities and the like.

Do you see writing as a career? I see writing as a passion and a hobby. If I ever saw it as a “career”, then I think I would be doing it wrong.

What do you think about the current publishing market? I believe the current publishing market is broken. Right now I promise you there are writers out there who are better than anyone we have ever had the privilege to read, but they are currently toiling in obscurity because of the current publishing industry. It is a subjective market where subjective agents are the gatekeepers. I had an agent tell me once that because of bad financial investments by the major publishing houses they will rarely – if ever – invest in new talent. They will only invest in proven commodities or celebrities with a following (even if they cannot write at all). How backwards is that? If you go to medical school, for example, and graduate at the top of your class, you will be offered a job and given the chance to prove yourself. If you are a writer, you have to know somebody or have a parent who is already an established writer, before anyone will give you a chance. That is why so many small and mid-market publishing houses are failing and the larger publishing houses are losing market share: people are tired of being told what they should read and are investing their time (and money) in independent authors and small market authors.

Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre? I appreciate all genres excepting for the romance genre.

Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why? I prefer to write in silence because I am too easily distracted.

Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time? I write one book at a time.

If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose? That is another tough question. Maybe Cold Mountain? Maybe the Harry Potter series? Maybe any of a dozen-plus books.

Pen or type writer or computer? Computer.

Tell us about a favorite character from a book. The first character that comes to mind is Snape from the Harry Potter series. Gray or conflicted characters are the most fun to read – and to write for that matter. I also enjoy “villains” whose motives are understandable and with whom you would completely empathize with were it not for their methods.

What made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right decision? I have an overactive imagination, and writing is my outlet for that. So, yes, it was the right decision.

A day in the life of the author? The day in the life of an author is no different than a day in the life of anyone else, especially when writing is not your proverbial day job. It is not glamorous.

Advice they would give new authors? The advice I give to new authors is that they need to write their story, what they are passionate about, not what the market tells you to write. If you write about something about which you are passionate, it shows in your work. However, if you are writing about something just because it is popular and it is not your passion, that will also show, and your readers will see through that, and your work will suffer.

Describe your writing style. My style is an amalgam of almost anyone I have ever read. These days there are no unique styles, just styles based on other writers. If I had to be more specific, I would say I like to be detail oriented so that my words paint pictures in my readers’ heads. I also am not one to use too much profanity, if at all. I once heard it opined – by another author – that profanity are cheap words used by those too ignorant to come up with something more appropriate. 

What makes a good story? Well developed characters make a good story. There are very few original ideas out there, but there are original characters. It is the placement of those characters in a situation – new or rehashed – that makes the story worth reading.

What are you currently reading? I am currently reading In the Woods by Tana French.

What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first? I plan out the story, knowing how it will begin, end, and the conflicts in between. Then, I start writing and let the characters and situations take me where they will. After the first draft, it is time for the second and third drafts, or “reshoots” as I like to call them. Then, my editor gets a hold of it. After she is done, I read it one more time and tweak anything that I find needing. 

What are common traps for aspiring writers? Aspiring writers are either hesitant to write or get trapped trying to make their first draft perfect. Just start writing and see where it takes you.

What is your writing Kryptonite? Noise. I cannot write anywhere it is exceptionally noisy.

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want? I write about what I am passionate about, and I hope it intrigues the readers.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be? I would tell him to start writing sooner.

What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters from the opposite sex? As a guy, I will admit that women are much deeper and more complicated than we (guys) are. Women see things and appreciate things from perspectives we will not ever have. So, when I write from a woman’s perspective, I try to be more inclusive in my thought process. I have a wife and two daughters, so I also think about how they had handled past situations. In my Dark Lands series, there are two primary characters, a brother and a sister: Webb (17) and Sundown (14). I was very nervous being a forty-something guy (at the time) writing from a fourteen-year-old girl perspective, especially when in book three of that series, she became the lead character throughout. Ironically, book three is the favorite book in the series for those readers who have emailed me or engaged me at a Fan Expo, and one of the reasons is because Sundown was their favorite character.

How long on average does it take you to write a book? I am one of the world’s slowest writers (and readers). It usually takes me a year or two to write a book. It took me four years to write Tracks.

Do you believe in writer’s block? Yes, I believe in writer’s block, and I suffer from it frequently. Purportedly, most writers suffer from it because they are worried that their next book will not do as good as their last book. For me, writer’s block stems from depressive episodes, times where I am not motivated to write because I just feel down or lethargic.

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Lyn I. Kelly is the author of the Dark Lands series and the horror novel, Tracks. His work has been published in Diamond Comics and in periodicals such as the Wichita Falls Times-Record News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Newsweek. Lyn is a member of the Horror Writers Association of America (HWA). He and his family live in Keller, Texas. He has cats that occasionally hinder his writing.

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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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Soso And The Kako Leaf by Bella Disu ~ Review

Posted: June 29, 2023 in Children's books, reviews
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 Soso and The Kako Leaf by Bella Disu
Category:  Children’s Fiction (Ages 6-12),  78 pages
Genre:  Children’s Book
Publisher:  The Good Work Company
Release date:   June 19, 2022
Content Rating:  G. Children’s Book.

Book Description:

​Follow the life of young Soso as she encounters mysteries and unearths traditions that have existed long before she was born.Be part of her adventures as she gains confidence, self-esteem, and an understanding of her deep cultural heritage.

Buy the Book
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This book is available for special purchases in bulk by organizations and institutions, not for resale, at special discounts. Please email all inquiries to The Good Work Company.
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MY REVIEW

When I received this book I was surprised and excited at how large it was. This definitely added to the allure of the beautifully illustrated pages. It reminded of when, as a young girl, I’d go to my shelves to find something to read and inevitably I’d pull out one of the larger books. I loved the feel of it and still do.

The story is about a 9-year-old girl called Soso. It’s her birthday and she’s excited to begin celebrating, though she’s selfconcious about revealing a birthmark on her leg. She’ll learn the importance of that mark soon enough. Before the party begins she has to wait for her brother’s football practice to end. Restless, she wanders off and stumbles into a hidden kingdom. One where her birthmark identifies her as the princess and savior the people have been waiting for.

There’s much more than just a fantasy tale here. There’s  the message of being different and that’s okay, and a sense of self. Soso grew through her challenge as we’d love to see our children grow and thrive. A pure delight to read. And I know just the young lady I’ll be gifting my copy to.

5 STARS

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Enjoy The Guest Post From Author Bella Disu:
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Promoting Literacy: Empowering Children through Reading. This article can focus on the importance of literacy and the role of books like ‘Soso and the Kako Leaf’ in fostering a love for reading and enhancing children’s language and cognitive skills.

In this guest post, Bella Disu advises parents and guardians on fostering a love for reading in children. She shares strategies, recommends activities, and highlights the positive impact of reading on children’s development, using her book as an example.

‘Soso and the Kako Leaf’ encourages children to express themselves through writing, art, and imaginative play. Discuss how the story addresses emotions, empathy, and self-awareness, providing opportunities for children to learn about and manage their feelings in a relatable and age-appropriate way.

Promoting Literacy: Empowering Children through Reading 

I’m a firm believer in the transformative power of books and their profound impact on young minds. I enjoy sharing the importance of literacy and the role that books like mine (‘Soso and the Kako Leaf’) play in sparking a love for reading and honing children’s language and cognitive skills. Join me as we explore strategies to promote reading and its positive effects on children’s development.

One of the first steps in nurturing a passion for reading is creating a reading-friendly home environment. Surround children with fiction and non-fiction books that cater to their interests and age group. Make sure books are easily accessible and displayed attractively, and set aside dedicated reading time during which the entire family can read silently or share stories. By making reading a regular and enjoyable part of daily life, we can instil excitement and curiosity in children, encouraging them to explore the vast worlds that books offer.

To further enhance children’s engagement with literature, incorporate interactive activities and book discussions. For example, encourage children to participate in book clubs or reading groups where they can share their thoughts and opinions about the stories they’ve read. You can also organise creative activities related to their favourite books, from art projects to writing exercises or even acting out scenes from their favourite stories. These activities make reading a fun and immersive experience and allow children to develop critical thinking, imagination, and problem-solving skills.

Next, leverage books’ power to teach children about emotions, empathy, and self-awareness in a safe and relatable way. In ‘Soso and the Kako Leaf,’ I addressed these crucial aspects of a child’s development. The story allows children to connect with Soso, the main character, as she experiences a range of emotions and learns to navigate them. Through Soso’s journey, young readers learn about empathy, understanding others’ perspectives, and managing feelings. By exploring emotional themes such as self-confidence, my book and others like it provide children with valuable tools for self-expression and social interaction in a gentle and age-appropriate manner.

Finally, remember that reading is a catalyst for language development and cognitive growth. When children immerse themselves in books, they are exposed to new vocabulary, sentence structures, and storytelling techniques. For example, they can learn new words on every page of my book. This is not limited to older children. Reading aloud to young children helps develop their language skills, expand their vocabulary, and improve their comprehension abilities. As they grow older, encourage independent reading, allowing them to explore different genres and authors. Overall, the cognitive benefits of reading extend beyond language acquisition. Reading enhances concentration, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, nurturing well-rounded individuals.

Join me in using these tips to ignite a lifelong love affair with books in the hearts of our children.

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Meet the Author:

​Bella Disu is a mother of two wonderful children. She is an enthusiastic lover of art as well as an avid reader. From a young age, she has been enamoured with rich cultural folktales. Now, she channels her love for art and her passion for reading into writing stories. Her stories use new forms to pass on the tales she heard growing up to the next generation.

Bella is also a renowned business leader who is committed to corporate governance and business innovation. In December 2019, she became the youngest ever recipient of the French National Honor – Chevalier dans L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in recognition of her efforts at promoting French culture in Nigeria.
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She is married and lives in Lagos, Nigeria, with her family.
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connect with the author: website ~ twitter ~ instagram
 
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For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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