Meet Two Characters from Kinetics by Nathaniel Koszer – Guest Blog and Giveaway

March 4, 2025 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nathaniel Koszer will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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Kinetics, my second novel, is a superhero sci-fi thriller and a direct sequel to 2024’s Latency. It occurred to me that not everyone who reads these blog posts will have read Latency, and many may not want to have that homework before diving in to a newly found nugget of interest. So, I thought I would use this space to introduce two of the six main characters in the series: Sera and Naren. You can also find character bios about the other four characters on other stops of this tour! Nadine and Edgar are explored on Fabulous and Brunette, and Victor and Symon are written about on Gina Rae Mitchell’s blog.

SERA

Even among the six superpowered LO-ECs, Sera is a shining and terrifying force to be reckoned with. Sera can fly and has the same superhuman strength and durability as her peers. The big difference between her and them is the amount of biological energy her body produces. It is so great that it is visible in the form of glowing light that twists and bends just under her skin. When needed, she can physically and violently force this energy out of her body, creating an explosion of energy several hundred feet wide. Sera can store this energy for a time to make a bigger explosion, but doing so causes her physical pain and can eventually cause damage to her insides.

Sera’s back story is the driving force behind the six LO-ECs finding each other and uniting on an objective, and that objective was vengeance. Sera was six years old when the LO-EC extermination effort began. The military campaign in her hometown was led by three experimental, powerful, ruthless androids named Can, Tank, and Russ. Sera witnessed her parents’ murders at the hands of the androids but was too young to do anything but flee. It was that day that her unrelenting hatred for the androids was born, as was the frustration of knowing there was no way she alone could destroy them.

Sera spent the next twenty years living with a religious community that, due to her powers, considered her to be a messiah. When she grew up, she began helping her followers with the construction and maintenance of a self sustaining, underground, hydronic garden. Some equipment needed for this could only be found in military facilities. Using her powers to her advantage, Sera stole what was needed and while she was never caught, the androids did realize it had to be a LO-EC perpetrating the thefts.

To crack the case, the androids enlisted the help of a top military investigator from Los Angeles, a young man named Naren. What the androids didn’t realize is that Naren was a LO-EC too, with his own set of unique powers. Naren had orchestrated his transfer to New Orleans specifically so he could find more people like him and his twin sister Nadine, who remained behind in LA. As Naren helped Sera avoid detection and capture, they fell in love, and Sera’s thirst for vengeance became their shared goal.

They bided their time until 18 months later, when an opportunity arose for them to unite with more superpowered LO-ECs, including Nadine. Together, they finally ended the androids once and for all. Sera delivered the final blows to Russ, the android that gunned her parents down, and used its self-contained power generator to power her followers’ garden. She then joined the LO-ECs as they hopped from city to city, stoking rebellions wherever they could in the hopes that the world government that hated them would one day be overthrown.

NAREN

There are three LO-ECs that can fly, and Naren is the fastest of them. But besides that, Naren’s powers are fairly straightforward. The others all have something unique about their ability that creates an advantage when fighting, but Naren just has his flight and the strength, speed, and durability that all super-powered LO-ECs have. Naren’s true strength is strategy and planning. He knows military capabilities and strategies well and is usually the person responsible for planning attacks.

Naren and his twin sister were six-year-olds living in Chicago when the LO-EC extermination campaign began. While the details are grainy, what Naren distinctly remembers is that his father had been officer in the military but led a rebellion in Chicago when the world leader, Spidre, ordered soldiers to invade the city. When it became apparent that the rebellion would fail, their father gave Naren and Nadine his military ID and put them on a train to hide out with relatives in another city. Cut to twenty years later, and the twins were living in Los Angeles. Naren had digitally altered his father’s ID to create a fake military persona and joined LA’s military regiment as an investigator. He used his access to military intel to find others like them, while Nadine stayed off the radar and set up an underground net access point to communicate with other rebellious sorts around the world.

When the androids in New Orleans put out a call for assistance in solving a suspicious theft ring, Naren and Nadine realized it might be a fellow LO-EC. Nadine stayed in LA while Naren transferred to New Orleans. In short order, he found out where the LO-EC would strike next and got there before the theft happened. It was then that he met Sera, and their fates became forever intertwined.

Again, please look out for more character bios on Gina Rae Mitchell’s blog, and on Fabulous & Brunette comming up. I hope you enjoyed learning about these characters, and if you did, I hope you go learn more about them by picking up a copy of Kinetics and/or Latency!

After stoking rebellions across the globe, six super-powered LO-ECs dealt a massive blow to the military by disabling their worldwide communication tower. But in doing so, they suffered grave injuries, and Spidre, the world leader, will not let them rest. As he desperately clings to power, there is only one course of action for the LO-ECs: hide and heal, then finally bring the fight to Spidre’s front door.

Breaching Spidre’s force field will require splitting up and launching simultaneous surprise attacks all over the world. And in some of these places, the military is the least of the LO-ECs’ concerns. They’ll also face legions of robots controlled by an eccentric oligarch, guerilla outfits led by their own super-powered LO-ECs, and the ever-present threat of being discovered and bombed into dust by a world leader with nothing left to lose.

If their power is enough to survive all of this, the reward for the LO-ECs is a confrontation with Spidre at his compound, complete with all of the secrets and plans he has amassed for the last twenty years.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“So how do you feel? And I need you to be honest with me,” Symon asked.

“No pain. Honestly. Not from the jaw, not from my arm and not from the ribs,” Nadine replied.

Symon sighed. “Okay, I believe you. You are cleared for takeoff,” he said with a smirk.

As soon as Symon uttered those words, Nadine took to the air and screamed at the top of her lungs. She started doing laps above Heinz field, circling ever higher and farther outward. From the second Nadine had learned to fly, every takeoff had been for a purpose: fighting Spidre’s peacekeeper soldiers, saving Edgar so she could confess her love, escaping an ambush, playing her part in bringing down the Net Tower and crippling the military’s communications. Add to that an additional six weeks of being grounded due to injuries from the net tower assault, and it all made this into a moment of complete ecstasy for her. She hoped to follow this celebratory flight with a celebratory fight, but when she looked south, where the peacekeepers had decided to attack today, she could see them in retreat at the hands of Edgar, Naren, and Victor.

As much as she wanted to get involved, she knew that if they had it under control, then strategically speaking she was more useful waiting at Heinz field in case another attack came from somewhere else. Spidre’s army had tried this strategy many times while she was recovering, and on a few occasions they’d almost succeeded. So she descended back to the field, toward a lonely orange glow at the northeast corner. It was Sera. She was awake but lying down on a mattress with a bunch of pillows propping up her back.

“Glad to see you didn’t forget how to fly!” Sera joked as Nadine landed next to her.

Nadine chuckled. “I spent 26 years trying to get off the ground. You are all lucky I ever came back down.”

About the Author: Nate grew up in Brooklyn NY, but now calls the Bronx home along with his wife and their sons. Nate grew up on all things sci-fi. Partly due to his chronic illness, Nate always had a special place in his heart for the X-Men, and especially the invulnerable Wolverine. This was heavy inspiration for his first novel, Latency a superhero sci-fi story which released March 5, 2024. His second novel, Kinetics, releases today.

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Behind-the-Scenes Writing After the Red Carpet by Patricia Leavy – Guest Blog and Giveaway

February 27, 2025 By 6 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Patricia Leavy will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Behind-the-Scenes Writing After the Red Carpet
After the Red Carpet is the second book to follow Finn Forrester and Ella Sinclair. Finn is a Hollywood movie star and Ella is a free-spirited philosopher. In the first book, The Location Shoot, the two meet on a film set in Sweden and fall madly in love. I don’t want to give too much away for people who haven’t read it yet, but it ends with Finn proposing to Ella on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. After the Red Carpet is about what happens next. Now it’s time to build a life together. Ella moves into Finn’s Beverly Hills mansion and must adjust to his Hollywood world. Can Ella retain her own identity and still love Finn with all her heart? It’s a really cozy and sweet love story about what happens after we say, “I do.” It’s about partnership, unconditional love, and what happens to “me” in a “we.” I would describe it as a romantic comfort read.

I wrote The Location Shoot during the pandemic. This is back when we were all locked in our houses double fisting potato chips (maybe that was just me). Ella and Finn were a lifeline. During a time when I was depressed and afraid, as many of us were, this little love story brought me enormous comfort, escape, joy. I looked forward to getting up in the mornings (in the same sweatpants I had worn for months) and entering their love-filled world. When it came time to write After the Red Carpet, the lockdown was long over so I decided to set a few scenes in London and travel there to do research. In one scene the characters attend an awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall. It had to be there because it’s a real awards ceremony and that is where it’s held. I decided to take a group tour. My intention at the time was simply to take notes about what it looked like inside—an in-person experience is always so much more helpful than what you can find online. I thought I’d glean a little tidbit or detail that I’d be able to throw in. Little did I know, the history of the hall actually tied in perfectly to the major theme in my novel. The chapter became so much better and more important than I could have imagined. You’ll have to read the book to see what I mean!

For fans of Tessa Bailey and Hannah Grace, After the Red Carpet is a feel-good, contemporary celebrity romance about what happens after the fairy-tale beginning as two lovers work toward their own true meaning of “happily ever after.”

After legendary Hollywood star Finn Forrester proposed to philosopher Ella Sinclair on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, the couple captivated the press and public with their real-life fairy tale. Now they vow to prioritize their romance and live an adventure of their own making. Ella moves into Finn’s Beverly Hills mansion and must adjust to his world. Finn, secretly afraid of losing Ella, is determined to make everything perfect for his betrothed. Meanwhile, Ella wants nothing more than to retain her own identity as they build their new life together. All the while, she is writing a philosophical treatise on love, exploring the question: when we love so deeply, where do we end and where does the other begin?

In this highly anticipated follow-up to The Location Shoot, will Ella and Finn finally live the life they’ve dreamed of? See how their epic romance unfolds, after the red carpet.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Finn took her hand and led her upstairs. As they approached the closed double doors, he said, “This is the room I had in mind for your office. It’s empty now, but my decorator is coming by tomorrow afternoon so you two can plan and scheme. When you see it, just remember we’ll redo it from top to bottom, flooring to light fixtures.”

“Oh my God,” she gasped as he opened the doors to a massive room featuring sky-high ceilings and windows to match. “It’s big enough to be a ballroom!”

He smiled. “You spend your life writing about the big topics, the big questions, and I hoped this big space might be inspiring.” She silently let her eyes follow the crown molding around the entire ceiling as she tried to catch her breath. He took her hand and continued showing her around. “There’s a full bathroom over here, and in this corner, there’s a walk-in closet. We could install some built-in cabinets and shelves. But just wait—I think you’ll really love this bit,” he said, leading her to a pair of doors. They stepped outside onto a large, furnished veranda with an outdoor fireplace, overlooking the entire back of the property. He rubbed her fingers and asked, “Do you think this will work for your office, sweetheart?”

“Do I think this will work?” she whispered incredulously, her voice shaking. She turned to him with tears in her eyes. “Finn, this is the nicest room in the house.”

“I think so too,” he said.

“No, I mean . . .”

“What, baby?”

“It’s just lovely beyond words that you would save this for me.”

He kissed her softly. “I’ve been picturing you here for so long, waiting to see how you would make this space your own.”

About the Author: Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than forty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than one hundred book honors. Her last novel, The Location Shoot, was featured on Ms. Career Girl‘s “10 Perfect Books to Get Your Fall Reading List Started” and was the 2023 Firebird Book Awards 1st Place Winner in 4 categories: Contemporary Novel, Pop Culture Fiction, Romance and Summer Beach Read. Patricia has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” Patricia lives in Maine. In addition to writing, she enjoys art, reading, and travel.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Romance Tagged With: , , ,

The Art to Online Dating by Fleur Lamot – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 26, 2025 By 2 Comments

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Fleur Lamot will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

A step-by-step guide to navigating dating and finding love on the World Wide Web, written by someone with firsthand experience on the topic, and who has also tested the theory on a number of case studies and through research. Authored from a female perspective, directed to a female audience, although potentially an eye opening and helpful read for a male reader too.

This book is not about making you a better person, nor is it a self help book. It is about changing your mindset when embarking on singledom and internet dating to not fear it, by equipping you with the understanding of people’s actions and motives.

Throughout the book you will be guided in setting up your online profile, picking your match, the all important art and the do’s and don’ts through every step of courting someone, all the way to going forward with your ultimate love match!

Reading this book will bring you confidence and or at least clarity. It will make you think about your past experiences and open your eyes to see where they may have gone wrong, and more importantly to ensure the same mistakes don’t happen to you on future experiences.

Read an Excerpt

This is a firsthand guide to using internet dating as a tool to its best outcome: to find love online. It is unemotional and it is a practical handbook. It worked for me, and it has since been tried and tested over and over, successfully working on the majority of people I interviewed. You will note a few of their cases documented, referred to as test cases later in the guide. There is no guarantee this will work for you, but it will give you an opportunity, and the more opportunities you get in life, the more chances you will have at succeeding. If this doesn’t work for you, at least you gave it a go and you will definitely have learnt something about yourself along the way.

This book is a step-by-step guide to navigating dating and finding love on the World Wide Web. It is written by someone with firsthand experience on the topic who has also tested the theory on a number of case studies and through research. The book has been written from a female perspective and is directed at a female reader/consumer. In saying this, a male reader would also find this book interesting, and potentially eye-opening and helpful. This book is not about making you a better person, nor is it a self-help book. Although there are a number of psychologists’ viewpoints here, I am not a psychologist; I am an ordinary person who has a successful career I am married, and I am a mother I am a businesswoman, and I built a very successful business from the ground up. This was achieved through my networking and relationship management experience as well as the professional mentoring and coaching that I was lucky enough to receive. I found love online using historical human principles, understanding people’s motives and actions, listening to the right people, as well as trusting my own instincts.

About the Author: I successfully found love online using historical principles, understanding people’s motives and actions, listening to the right people, as well as trusting my own instincts. I am now married and a mother. I am a business woman with a very successful business, built from extensive networking and relationship management experience. I have received professional mentoring and coaching, which has helped me achieve all of this.

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A Killer Whisky by Susan Calder – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 26, 2025 By 8 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Susan Calder will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The 1918 influenza pandemic strikes Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Great War rages overseas. While her husband fights in Europe, Katharine works in a doctor’s office to support her children and her brother, a wounded veteran. One night their neighbour suddenly takes sick and dies. The attending doctor concludes the man died from influenza, but Katharine suspects someone laced his whisky with a drug that mimics the deadly flu’s symptoms.

Katharine convinces the police to investigate. Worried about her brother’s involvement with a suspect, she delves into his secrets and comes to fear he’s connected to the murder. She grows disturbingly attracted to the investigating detective who returns her affections. He’s convinced her brother or someone else close to her is a killer and risks his career to pursue the crime. Katharine must discover the truth so she can move forward in a world that has changed forever.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Katharine’s fingers slid over the piano keys. Her daughter strummed a toy banjo, and her son banged pots and pans. They drowned out her brother, John, on the alto saxophone. “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” blared through the living room. Katharine turned to the next page of her sheet music. She struck a wrong note then a sour chord. The song stumbled to a merciful end.

She swivelled the piano stool to face John. “I haven’t played that since before the war.” She remembered the merry evening in this room with her husband and their friends. By the following month, all the men who had been there had enlisted. One had since died in the mud of Passchendaele.

“With a little practice, we’ll be playing the dance halls,” John said.

“Really, Uncle John?” Lillian’s eyes lit up.

“Absolutely.” John raised his saxophone. “What’s our next tune?”

“Bedtime for Henry and Lillian,” Katharine said.

“Why?” Henry bolted up from the floor. “We don’t have school tomorrow.”

“Uncle John will teach you.”

John smirked at Henry. “I’m sharpening my ruler for when you misbehave.”

Henry jumped onto the davenport and clapped his wooden spoon “drumsticks.”

“You go change,” Katharine told him. “Lillian and I will clean up.”

He pointed the spoons at his sister. “There’s a Hun. Pow.”

“I’m not a Hun,” Lillian said. “I’m an Ally.”

“A dirty Hun. Pow, pow.”

“An Ally.” Lillian held her banjo to her chest in defence. “Tell him, Mama.”

“We’re all Allies,” Katharine said. “Canadians.”

“Huns. Pow, pow.” Henry aimed a spoon at them both.

Lillian squealed and ducked between the davenport and piano.

“Pow.”

“Stop it, Henry,” Katharine said, firming up her tone. “If you don’t get into your nightshirt now, Lillian and I will walk in while you’re getting dressed.”

About the Author Susan Calder lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is the author of five novels published by BWL Publishing Inc. A Deadly Fall, Ten Days in Summer, Winter’s Rage and Spring Into Danger are part of her Paula Savard Mystery Series. The books follow the adventures of Paula, a Calgary insurance adjuster who works with the police to solve insurance-related crimes. Susan’s standalone suspense novel, To Catch a Fox takes a troubled Calgary woman to Southern California on a quest to find her missing mother. In December 2024, BWL will release Susan’s first historical novel, A Killer Whisky. The story is set in 1918 Calgary and will be the 12th and final book of the BWL Canadian Historical Mystery Series. Susan has also published non-fiction articles. Her short stories and poems have won contests and appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.

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Finding His Wyoming Sweetheart by Virginia McCullough – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 21, 2025 By 4 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Virginia McCullough will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When it comes to his seven-year-old son, new lodge owner Mack Fisher has a lot to make up for. Fortunately, the small Wyoming town of Adelaide Creek provides the perfect fresh start—that is, if he can avoid the distraction of Erin Hunnicutt’s warm brown eyes. The free-spirited musician has a way of bringing out the best in everyone—especially Mack. When they’re thrown together unexpectedly to help their town, sparks fly and a dangerous secret is uncovered. But searching for the answers only leads them to fall deeper for one another…and starts Mack wondering if there’s room for one more in his new family.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Mack grinned at Erin. “Admittedly, an awkward introduction. But you’ll have to overlook it.” He put his hand to the side of his head. “I can barely think straight.”

Erin frowned. What did that mean?

“I’m awestruck,” he explained, his grin widening. “It’s not every day I come face to face with a woman who’s a talented musician and also a restoration expert who brings battered and charred wood back to life.”

Without thinking, Erin returned the smile. “Now you’re making me blush.” It was true what he said. She’d built her work life around wood restoration, but making music was her favorite hobby. Although those things weren’t making her cheeks heat up. That had more to do with Mack’s deep, smooth voice and how her stomach fluttered looking into those amused blue eyes. She’d always had a soft spot for a neat—but not too neat—beard.

“As I recall, Mack, you don’t live in Adelaide Creek, but here you are, celebrating the grand opening of the restored town hall with the rest of us. And on Valentine’s Day, too.”

“We do too live here.” Liam stood up a little straighter and lifted his chin a notch. “In a bunkhouse. Real cowboys lived there a long, long time ago.”

“That’s right, kiddo.” Mack spoke to Liam with a laugh in his voice before turning to Erin.

About the Author: Award winning author, Virginia McCullough writes romance for the Harlequin Heartwarming line, and FINDING HIS WYOMING SWEETHEART is Book 4 of her Adelaide Creek series. She also writes women’s fiction and nonfiction on a variety of topics. Virginia’s characters could be your family, friends, or neighbors, and all her stories offer hope, healing, and plenty of second chances. Drawn to water, she almost always sets her stories on a body of water, from oceans, lakes, rivers, and the winding Adelaide Creek.

A ghostwriter, book doctor/editor, coach, and experienced workshop presenter, Virginia is a wanderer, but currently lives in Northeastern Wisconsin. When she’s not writing, she’s walking on trails near her home or in some faraway place. She reads, streams series, hangs out with other writers, and daydreams about her next adventure.

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Bitroux: High Country by Jordan Harcourt-Hughes – Interview and Giveaway

February 13, 2025 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. A randomly drawn winner will be awarded a $25 Amazon/BN gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Are you a big listener of podcasts?

I love everything about podcasts. I listen to them, make them and teach others how to create podcasts as well through my creative courses. And I also love audio books – I listen to them whenever I’m on the road.

Tell us about the podcast that you created as part of the process of creating artworks for the book.

I thought it would be really interesting to create a podcast that explores the process of starting and finishing a creative project in six months; hence the name of the podcast (168 Days of Magic). The podcast has three thematic pillars – creativity, wellbeing and meaningful productivity.

What were the creative goals that you set out to achieve, and talk about during your podcast, as you were working on the artworks for Bitroux: High Country?

As an artist and a writer, I wanted to create an illustrated book for adults, but I’ve always struggled to find anything like what I wanted to create. So, I just had to create my own framework. The goals I set for myself included creating a distinct style of visuals for the book, integrating my paintings and my ideas about language, and actually getting the book over the line! And, of course, I wanted to improve as a writer and an artist in the process.

Are you a fan of project management frameworks for writers?

I’m more about the value and benefit of creative projects just for the fun of it. I don’t think the size of the project matters. It doesn’t have to be a novel. It can be journaling, gardening, painting; anything really.

But in my professional life working in marketing and communications, we use project management frameworks a lot. And they’re useful for really asking good questions. What are you doing this for? Who are you doing it for? What do you want to get out of it? Who will benefit?

As much as anything, those kinds of questions can really help us to define our own creative, personal and life goals. And that’s fun and it’s healthy and it allows us to add our own meaning to our work, which is important.

What would you recommend to other artists, writers and creative practitioners?

I think that all artists – writers, designers, painters –whatever creative profession you’re in, the question of why you are doing the work is helpful. You don’t have to tell anyone else, but you should at least be able to answer that question for yourself. Why is this meaningful an important to me? Why am I investing my time and energy into this work? I often encourage people to write their own creative manifestos because if you know your why, it helps you get through the parts of the work that are more challenging.

If Merouac ever thought his life’s work would culminate in leading the metal workshops of the Transcontinental Railroad Project, he was sorely mistaken.

Now, his true challenge lies in navigating the other-worldly abilities he’s only beginning to understand—abilities that allow him to tune metal to interdimensional frequencies.

While trying to be a guardian to his niece, Evra, he’s realising she may have more to teach him than he ever expected. At the same time, his decision to help an interdimensional race find refuge underground puts him at the centre of an even deeper mystery.

As reality reshapes itself around him, Merouac faces a growing realisation: the world of Ahm is on the brink of a profound transformation, and everything he thought he knew may soon be shattered.

Enjoy an Excerpt

There was something about that zone of quiet concentration. It was always somewhere in the middle of those quiet moments where the blue light of the Top Hats had started to appear at the edge of his gaze. It had always been hard to see the things directly in his sight; they shifted and moved and always seemed hazy and insubstantial. He wondered if, in those moments, he had drifted into the Maolfi state without realising it.

He kept working. The surges of static came and went, heating his body, and then leaving, giving him a sense that his whole body was buzzing, vibrating. He kept moving, concentrating only on the wood. And things started to shift, but not in the way he had anticipated.

Soon, two piles had been moved and Merouac was starting to feel a welcome feeling of tiredness. He contemplated leaving the last pile of wood for the morning but kept moving instead. Then, something sounded.

He looked up. Nothing. Had anything made a noise at all? He felt sure he had heard something. All was still. What was it that he thought he had heard? Like someone or something was crashing through the trees, perhaps. He shook his head. Nothing unusual stirred, the flickering lights continued and below he could see hummers and their fluorescent markings shimmering in the trees.

Then he realised. He hadn’t heard it. He’d felt it.

He closed his eyes, tried to make his way to the place the Faurin called the Maolfi state. Kii had wanted him to find a place of deep listening. And perhaps what he was just starting to understand was, that you could listen with all your body, and feel sound in other ways than just noise.

After a time, he opened his eyes again and saw spheres hovering in the air, full of something he couldn’t quite comprehend.

Reaching out to touch them, they felt full and weighty and yet his hand could partially pass through them. They were not solid, and yet they were full. Like bubbles being blown by some invisible child, they formed and hung in the atmosphere.

They grew larger, then fuzzier, then collapsed from their own weight, dripping a strange sentience that dispersed back into the atmosphere. Often, they formed again straight away, the same spheres, the same size and colour, the same weight, only to burst and disperse once again.

Some of the smaller ones were only as large as his hand. Others, twice the size. And then hovering at greater height, larger spheres his whole body could have walked through. They shifted and mutated, formed and faded, pulsed and glowed. They were magical.

‘This is different,’ he said out loud, and grinned.

About the Author: Jordan Harcourt-Hughes is an abstract painter, writer and communications professional. She’s passionate about all aspects of creativity, life-long learning and personal wellbeing. Over the last fifteen years she’s led, coached and developed creative professionals across the Asia-Pacific region.

Jordan’s books, studio workshops, courses, coaching and resources are an invitation to explore the rich landscape of creative experiences open to all.

High Country is Jordan’s second novel set in the world of Bitroux.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , ,

Inn the Dead of Winter by Rhonda Blackhurst – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 12, 2025 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rhonda Blackhurst will be awarding a free e-book of Inn the Dead of Winter or book one, Inn the Spirit of Murder to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to Spirit Lake in the dead of a Minnesota winter, where the brutally cold temp isn’t the only thing to fear.

Andie Rose Kaczmarek, a six-year sober life coach and owner of the haunted Spirit Lake Inn, has learned the hard way that the living are far more dangerous than anything in the spirit world.

When a controversial guest fails to return to her room on the same night a body is discovered in a fish house on Big Spirit Lake, Andie Rose teams up with her sponsor and sidekick, Sister Alice, and her emotional support red retriever, Aspen, to solve the case.

After Andie Rose discovers illegal activity on the inn’s property that ties to the murder, the investigation shifts into high gear. As she uncovers shocking secrets of those she thought she knew, someone is intent on keeping her quiet at any cost.

Can the inn’s resident ghost save her from impending harm when it seems the ones closest to her pose the greatest threat?

Enjoy an Excerpt

We were in the dead of winter in Spirit Lake, Minnesota, a town dubbed the paranormal capital of the nation. I gazed through the frosted windowpane at the ominous fog that hung low over Whisper Lake.

I crossed my arms in front of me, briskly rubbed my biceps, and shivered. It was a brutal cold that seeped deep into the bones and seemed to even send the inn’s resident ghost into hibernation.

The library’s gas fireplace clicked off by itself, the dancing flames disappearing. I guess I wasn’t in the room alone after all. I shuddered and glanced down at my feet where Aspen, my red retriever emotional support animal, stretched lazily on his side, eyes half closed, unfazed.

Since the 1940s, guests of the Spirit Lake Inn, home to the famous apparition, have heard a woman’s whispers on the lake, earning its name, Whisper Lake, the fireplace in the library turned off and on by itself, the espresso machine in the coffee bar hummed to life, and many other unexplainable incidents, all while no one else was present.

The old grandfather clock in the corner of the room ticked methodically as the pendulum swayed back and forth. When the clock’s St. Michael chime announced the top of the hour—and fifteen minutes until teatime downstairs—Aspen rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up onto all fours.

“Come on, boy,” I said, ruffling the fur on his neck. “Snack time.”

Abut the Author: Rhonda is an avid reader, writer, coffee and dark chocolate connoisseur, and certified life coach. She has 10 independently published novels: The Inheritance, a contemporary fiction novel; seven books in the Melanie Hogan Mysteries; and Finding Abby and Abby’s Redemption in the Whispering Pines Romantic Suspense duology. She was awarded the 2022 Master of Literary Arts Award from the Brighton Chamber.

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These are Not My Words (I Just Wrote Them) by Donovan Hufnagle – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 11, 2025 By 9 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Echoing Chuck Palahniuk’s statement. “Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known,” this collection explores identity. These poems drift down rivers of old, using histories private and public and visit people that I love and loathe. Through heroes and villains, music and cartoons, literature and comics, science and wonder, and shadow and light, each poem canals the various channels of self and invention. As in the poem, “Credentials,” “I am a collage of memories and unicorn stickers…[by] those that have witnessed and been witnessed.”

Enjoy an Excerpt

Refurbished

Susan taught me that poetic energy lies
between the lines, white noise scratching
and clawing between images, ideas,
things…

And like a poem,
the chair was molded by my Tio’s hands,
an antique wooden upholstered desk chair.

My Tio moved from Durango, Mexico
to Forth Worth in 1955.

He became a mason and wood worker.

He bricked the stockyards

He built the signs

He died in 2005.

Now,
matted. Worn. Faded floral design. Wood
scarred like healing flesh.

The arms torn, ratted by the heft of his arms
and the stress of the days. The foam peeks
out.

The brass upholstery tacks rusted. I count
1000 of them. With each,
I mallet a fork-tongue driver under its head.
A tap, tap, tapping until it sinks beneath the tack,
until the tack springs from its place.
I couldn’t help but think of a woodpecker.
A tap, tap, tapping into Post Oak,
a rhythm…each scrap of wood falling to the ground
until a home is formed.
Until each piece of wood like the tacks removed
shelter something new.

I remove the staples, the foam, the fabric,
the upholstery straps
until it’s bones.
I sand and stain
until its bones shine.

I layer and wrap its bones with upholstery straps,
foam, fabric, staples and tacks.
New tacks, Brass medallions
adorning the whole, but holding it
all together—
its bones
its memories,
its energy.

About the Author: Donovan Hufnagle is a husband, a father of three, and a professor of English and Humanities. He moved from Southern California to Prescott, Arizona to Fort Worth, Texas. He has five poetry collections: These Are Not My Words (I Just Wrote Them), Raw Flesh Flash: The Incomplete, Unfinished Documenting Of, The Sunshine Special, Shoebox, and 30 Days of 19. Other recent writings have appeared in Tempered Runes Press, Solum Literary Press, Poetry Box, Beyond Words, Wingless Dreamer, Subprimal Poetry Art, Americana Popular Culture Magazine, Shufpoetry, Kitty Litter Press, Carbon Culture, Amarillo Bay, Borderlands, Tattoo Highway, The New York Quarterly, Rougarou, and others.

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Bad Guy by Ana Diamond – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 10, 2025 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ana Diamond will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Luke Daniels has done his fair share of bad things. But when the FBI offers him a deal in exchange for infiltrating the local Mafia’s infamous Costa Crew, Luke has no choice but to accept the challenge.

Beautiful, smart and tough, Sophia Costa wants out of the Crew. Appointed boss by her brother after he’s sent to prison, she wants no part in the murder, deceit and secrecy typical of Mafia life.

Just as things heat up between Luke and Sophia, a mysterious hitman targets Sophia, and Luke’s handler starts to wonder if Luke is up for the task.

As the lovers face the possibility of losing everything in order to be together, the line between loyalty and betrayal blur.

Enjoy an Excerpt

At the entrance, a burly guy with a pug nose and dressed in a long black trench coat scanned the bar, like he was looking for someone. Kid turned toward the other end of the bar, signaling to a guy wearing a black fedora, who then promptly disappeared into the back room.

Pug Nose took notice of Kid’s intervention and barreled toward him with gritted teeth. But before he could get his hands on Kid, Luke elbowed him right in the center of his face. He fell back, clutching his bloody nose, while Luke continued the onslaught until he sensed surrender. Then he jumped off him while the others in the crowd lifted Pug Nose off the floor. Blood ran down his face and soaked his shirt. The room fell quiet as the sound of stilettos clicking on the floor became louder by the second.

Luke shook off the pain in his knuckles as he watched the dark-haired beauty approach.

She stopped and stared at Pug Nose’s injuries, quickly glanced at Luke, then back at Pug Nose. “Take this message back to your boss. We’re not afraid of you and if you come back, we’ll kill you one by one.” She nodded at her crew to take Pug Nose away, then turned to Luke.

A nervous tickle made him clear his throat as she stared up at him with deep sapphire-colored eyes. He couldn’t imagine what role she played in this dirty game full of thugs and thieves.

“I have to personally thank you for stepping in for Kid. What’s your name, Fighter?” she asked with a tiny smirk on her full red lips.

“Luke Daniels. May I ask who you are?”

“My name is Sophia Costa. I’m the boss.”

About the Author: When Ana Diamond isn’t writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.

Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.

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Character Interview by Dana Hammer – Guest Blog and giveaway

February 6, 2025 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Dana Hammer will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift certificate to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Character Interview

In Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Sirens, Fanny attends a summer camp for aspiring sirens. As you might have guessed, the camp has…issues. What follows is an interview between a disgruntled parent and Lotus, one of the sirens who runs the camp. The parent’s name is Tiana Jost.

Lotus: Hello, this is Lotus, how may I help you?

Tiana: Hi, Lotus. I’m Tiana, Cleo’s mother.

Lotus: Oh…

Tiana: Yeah. What kind of camp are you running there? What is the matter with you people?

Lotus: Well, we all have our flaws, Tiana. We are imperfect beings, just trying to exist on this imperfect planet. You know?

Tiana: No. I don’t know. My daughter got stung by a poisonous something or other-

Lotus: Portuguese man-of-war.

Tiana: Yeah. That. And then your lack of medical care sent her into a coma! A coma! What do you have to say for yourselves?

Lotus: I can assure you that she was given the best medical care we could, given that we are located on an island with no hospital. But sometimes things just don’t work out the way we want them to. You know? Like, this one time I made a whole batch of peanut butter balls, and I stashed them in my nightstand, thinking I could ration them out and eat one every night before I went to bed. But you know what happened?

Tiana:…

Lotus: Ants. Ants happed, Tiana.

Tiana:…

Lotus: Because ants love sweet treats, so-

Tiana: I DON’T CARE ABOUT ANTS!

Lotus: That’s a shame. Ants care about you.

Tiana: I can’t handle this. Is there someone else I can talk to?

Lotus: Well, my partners are…indisposed. They’re in deep water, so to speak.

(Giggles)

Tiana: I have no idea what you’re laughing about. My daughter could have been killed, and it seems like you don’t even care.

Lotus: Do you like poetry? I do. When I get all worked up about stuff that’s out of my control, I like to recite this little ditty to myself. It’s by Alabi. It goes: Life may not let me choose my lot,
But whether I’d be happy or not…That is my choice. Lovely, right?

Tiana: No. It’s infuriating, and I need some actual answers from you.

Lotus: Alright. Here are some answers. Your daughter was the victim of an unfortunate stinging. We don’t know why she went into a coma. Maybe her body had some kind of severe allergic reaction. When we realized the extent of the damage, we shipped her home to you, where she could receive proper medical care. We were informed that she came out of the coma, and is fine now.

Tiana: Yes, but-

Lotus: Not finished. It has been four moon cycles since she was sent home. Why are you calling me now, after all this time?

Tiana: Because…

Lotus: Whatever the problem is, I’m here to listen.

Tiana: I just…

Lotus: You can tell me.

Tiana: There was a…chemical spill.

Lotus: Oh no!

Tiana: Our house is damaged beyond repair. We don’t have any money to buy a new house. It’s all just…

Lotus: I understand. You were hoping that I could give you money. Is that right?

Tiana: Hey! I’m not out of line here. My kid was seriously injured!

Lotus: Of course she was. But, moving on — tell me about this chemical spill. How did it happen?

Tiana: It was a hazmat truck. It crashed on the overpass, and all the contents spilled onto our house. It was some kind of radioactive stuff. We had to evacuate, and our house is totally uninhabitable.

Lotus: That is completely unacceptable. Something has to be done.

Tiana: So…you’ll give me some money? For damages?

Lotus: No way! I can’t afford that kind of payout! We live on a self sustaining island. All I have to offer is chickens and sand — I would have to sell organs to pay you more than a few hundred dollars.

Tiana: Oh.

Lotus: But there is something else I can offer you.

Tiana: We aren’t interested in attending your camp again.

Lotus: I’m not offering that. I’m offering something much better. Justice.

Tiana: What?

Lotus: Toxic waste is a huge problem, not just for you, but for the whole planet. It ruins everything, destroys ecosystems, makes humans sick, and is just plain evil. I think that the way this toxic waste was handled is deeply problematic. We on Feather Island have ways of solving these kinds of problems.

Tiana: What ways? What are you talking about?

Lotus: Well…I’d rather not discuss it on an unencrypted line. But maybe I could pay you a visit, so we can discuss our options?

Tiana: Um…I guess.

Lotus: Great! Sit tight, and I’ll be there within the week. Tell Cleo I’m excited to see her.

Tiana: I will. But what’s going to happen? Are you going to get them to pay me for damages, or…

Lotus: You’ll see. Everything is going to work out perfectly. Don’t you worry about a thing.

(Call ends)

It’s the end of the school year. For most kids, it’s time to relax and get ready for summer. For Fanny, there’s work. She has a brand-new baby brother, and she’s been hired by Zeus to look after his “injured” son. And she still has her and her friends’ cheesemaking business! Fanny is overwhelmed.

But then she meets three sirens who want Fanny to join them on Feather Island for a summer of singing, instrument playing, and fun at the beach. The program is totally free and could start an amazing musical career-the thing that Fanny has always wanted the most.

Athena and Gemma are dead set against it. Athena says that the sirens are bad news; that their whole purpose in life is to lure men to their deaths with their beautiful singing. Gemma says that Feather Island is part of a network of unmappable islands, the type of place where criminals and sketchy organizations hoard their wealth and do their crimes.

Surely, the sirens don’t do that anymore, right? All that stuff was a long time ago. If the sirens want to keep their island paradise a secret, well, that’s not so weird, is it? Fanny has talked to them, and she just knows that they aren’t as evil as everyone says. They are perfectly nice ladies.

Right?

Follow Fanny Fitzpatrick as she navigates big sisterhood, friends who disapprove of her life choices, burning ambitions, and a bunch of sirens luring her away to their private island.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The thing with funerals is, you have to be sad. Or at least, you have to act sad, because it’s ghoulish and weird to be happy at a funeral, even if you really, really didn’t like the person who died. But when someone dies, you can’t say you didn’t like them. You have to pretend that whoever died was a nice person, who you will miss very much.

That’s the situation I’m in today. I’m at a funeral for my cousin, Ava May. And it IS sad that she’s dead. OBVIOUSLY. My aunt and uncle are devastated, and my mom has been crying all morning, and even my dad got a little teary, and I don’t think he liked Ava May either, but of course he can never say that, because she’s dead.

The thing with Ava May is, she was never nice to me. Ever. She was always saying terrible things about my family because we don’t have as much money as hers. My aunt is an oceanographer and a college professor, and my uncle is an investment banker, and together I think they make a lot more money than us, but that doesn’t mean my family is trash or whatever. My family is fine. But Ava May was always like, “Oh my god, who doesn’t have a pool in this day and age? Don’t you get hot in the summer?” And “I can’t believe you’ve never been to France. You’re so provincial.”

But now Ava May is dead, and I can’t be mad at her anymore, because A) it would be petty and B) it wouldn’t do any good.

About the Author: Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She has won over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generated income, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she is the author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middle grade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to write something her 9 year old daughter could read.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , ,
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