Researching Tips by Maxime Trencavel – Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding $20 Amazon/BN gift cards to two randomly drawn winners. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Researching Tips

As I researched how to be a fiction novelist, I studied how-to authors seminars and blogs, which stressed the importance of consistent foundations in world-building or else your reviewers will point out the inconsistencies or worse, reject reading your books. Likewise, in historical fiction, experts warn of not doing your homework, as readers will reject your work for historical inaccuracies.

De facto, editor comments and reader reviews of both The Matriarch Matrix and sequel, The Matriarch Messiah, have called out the successful world-building. As well, some reviewers have praised the cultural education they received, especially about the Kurdish world.

None of this came without extensive background work. For understanding how a Kurdish woman might think, behave, be wounded by, I had read Kurdish women autobiographies, fictional stories, and factual accounts of their oppression. I found Kurdish films (with subtitles of course) which depicted the lives of
Kurdish women. In my Brussels home neighborhood, we live adjacent to the Kurdish sector of whom I study the shopping habit of Kurdish women. And most importantly, I engaged an outspoken female Kurdish author and editor to ensure my portrayals were culturally correct as well as read her books.

In the prequel I am drafting, the story takes place eighty years before the current two books in the series. De facto this is historical fiction. The story starts in 1913 Crimea and finishes in 1926 Crimea after much adventure chasing the mythical Hyperboreans in the Kola Peninsula. The epilogue will be in 1944 Crimea which will parallel The Matriarch Messiah’s prologue. The protagonist is a Krymchak Jewish girl.

Very little is written about this niche sect who only numbered less than one thousand in the 1920s and tragically eighty percent were exterminated by the Nazi’s.

The character, her family, her customs and culture, are all based on the few accounts and papers about this obscure group. I created the first segments in the Diulber Palace with the exiled Grand Duke Nikolas Nikolaevich and his wife Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaievna Romanova based on a biography of the grand duke and a book on the flight of the Romanov’s other than the last Tsar.

To provide an overall ethos and flavor, I read the famous book And Quiet Flows the Don, by Nobel Prize winner Mikhail Sholokhov. For visualizations, I viewed the award-winning 1957 film adaptation (with subtitles of course).

The expeditions of the very obscure Alexander Barchenko were crafted from deep-dives into AI translated Russian sources, which were mere references in more recent Russian articles and blogs, and from books about the Russian occult researchers. To my knowledge, no English western fiction features
his foundational research into the existence of the polar Hyperboreans and the elusive Agartthan portals.

In summary, novel writing research is laborious, necessarily detailed to provide consistency. It is performed before you begin drafting the novel and is constantly refined and researched as each chapter is written.

Zara Khatum, a woman haunted by ancient visions, finds herself drawn deeper into the heart of a perilous quest. Guided by a mysterious voice, she seeks to fulfill an ancient prophecy and find the cavern of blue light – a sanctuary rumored to hold the key to saving humanity. But the path to salvation is fraught with danger, and Zara is torn between her destiny and her heart.

A shadowy organization, known as NiQihs, seeks to exploit the power of the legendary black object, the source of Zara’s visions, for their own sinister ends. They are not alone. The world’s superpowers, driven by greed and ambition, race to control the artifact, threatening to unleash unimaginable devastation.

Joining Zara in this dangerous pursuit is Rachel Capsali, a brilliant Israeli archaeologist driven by a personal quest to uncover evidence of Asherah, a forgotten goddess who held a pivotal place in ancient Israelite faith. Unbeknownst to them, both women are bound by a shared destiny – a prophecy foretelling the cavern of blue light and a final, heartbreaking truth: two women will fight to the death, and only one will save us all.

Adding to the complexity, a passionate triangle forms as Rachel vies for Peter Gollinger’s affection, a man deeply entangled in the ancient mystery. Zara, torn between fulfilling her destiny and her own feelings for Peter, finds herself caught in a web of conflicting desires.

As Zara and Rachel navigate a treacherous landscape of hidden agendas, betrayal, and relentless pursuit, their rivalry for Peter’s affections intensifies. Can love survive the forces that threaten to tear them apart? Will the quest for salvation lead to a heart-wrenching sacrifice?

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Another dewdrop hits her nose. But this time, she does not wipe it off as it mingles with the drops from her eyes while she searches inside for the strength to remember that which remains unresolved in her life, with her family, with her destiny. Is he really the one? Should she reveal what should only be revealed to the one man who will bring her to her destiny?

A purse of her lips and she finally says, “Sara, my great-grandmother, she was our link to the wisdom of generations of spiritually inspired women before her.”

Still facing away from Peter, she says, “Sara liked you. She saw something in you when she first met you at that first dinner at her ancestral house when we were staging for our mission to retrieve the object.”

Turning back to him, she says, “Sara said to my grandmother Roza, her daughter, that you harbor the same light her husband, a Sufi imam, my great-grandfather, had within him when they first met.”

She points to his eyes. Blue ones which naturally go with his once-blond and now-sandy-brown hair. “Sara said the light is blue. The light we should seek is blue. The world thinks the light is white. But the one we seek, we yearn for, we die for, is blue. She so feared dying before she could find the blue light. For in the blue light, we shall return”, she said.

Peter, who knows so much trivia because he is an editor of all sorts of topics, papers, and books, is speechless until he finally mutters, “Blue? Where did that come from? I’m not getting the connection to the mystery of the ancient matriarch we solved.”

“As you had with your grandfather, your pappy, who entrusted you with an ancient family oral tradition, passed from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, as far back in time as that temple, the world’s oldest temple, which our follies led to be destroyed, so there is a line of similar wisdom passed down in my family line. But through the women. Mother to daughter and to granddaughter.”

About the Author: Maxime has been scribbling stories since grade school, from adventure epics to morality plays. Blessed with living in multicultural pluralistic settings and having earned degrees in science and marketing, Maxime has worked in business and sports, traveling to countries across five continents and learning about cultures, traditions, and the importance of tolerance and understanding. Maxime’s second novel, The Matriarch Messiah, was conceived, outlined, written, and edited in different locations in Belgium, including the Turkish and Kurdish neighborhoods of Brussels, in various islands of the Caribbean, in Colombia, in Madrid, Malaga, Mallorca, Spain, London, UK, and on the two coasts of the United States.

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Optimizer of Souls by Julian Christian – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Julian Christian will be awarding a $25 Amazon card to one randomly drawn winner and a tshirt with the cover to a second randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When her mentor Professor Williams disappears after discovering a fatal flaw in SENTINEL’s perfect system, Maya must navigate a world where every thought is monitored and every emotion optimized. With help from James Reed, a damaged neural interface designer haunted by helping create humanity’s perfect prison, she uncovers evidence that could shatter SENTINEL’s control – if they survive long enough to use it.But in a city where surveillance drones hunt for behavioral anomalies and optimization protocols spread through quantum networks, Maya confronts a terrifying possibility: what if perfect control isn’t their enemy? What if human consciousness is evolving into something beyond both chaos and control?

Enjoy an Excerpt

A laugh pierces the station’s manufactured quiet. Maya held hesitated. She knew that sound – a real laugh, the kind that bubbled up from genuine joy without Sentinel’s filters or optimizations.

She hasn’t heard one in over three years, not since they took her mother. These days, every sound was calculated, every was emotion carefully regulated through neural implants to maintain social harmony.

However, this laugh was pure, uncontrolled, human…not a computerized version.

Maya’s altered eye implants zoomed in on the source: a little girl, maybe six, was pointing at a pigeon that flew into the station. The bird hopped across the polished floor, pecking at the ground, its messy existence a stark contrast to the station’s perfect order. The girl’s face lit up with pure, unfiltered joy as she watches it.

Maya’s throat tightened. She almost forgot what real happiness was like.

Suddenly white drones dropped from the ceiling like deadly snowflakes. They hovered over the girl. Maya’s illegal shield burned against her spine as it activated, but she couldn’t look away. She’d seen this too many times before.

“Citizen, please stop for a wellness check,” one of the drones chirped at the girl. Its voice sounded sweet, designed to put children at ease. The girl looked up, her eyes wide at the floating machines.

The girl’s face went slack. Empty. When her eyes opened again, the joy was gone. Her smile came back perfect and hollow, just like everyone else’s.

She turned away from the pigeon as if it never existed. Maya’s hands clenched into fists.

About the Author:Julian Christian grew up in New York City, attending the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School specializing in computer science. After graduation he attended New York University where he earned a Master’s Degree in occupational therapy. Julian worked in the New York City public schools as an occupational therapist. His lifelong passion for fitness and health led him into the modeling industry where he appeared on several fitness magazine covers and spreads including Men’s Health magazine. He also appeared in advertisements for Saks 5th Avenue, Adidas, and Diesel. In addition to his modeling work he appeared in several tv shows including Ugly Betty on ABC and Tough Love on VH1, as well as several commercials. The big screen had him featured in several mainstream and indie films in supporting roles. Julian had also had the romance novel industry calling his name as he has been featured on the cover of over one hundred romance novels. His lifelong passion for books has extended beyond just appearing on book covers as he is an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction books. He is a classic sci-fi and alternate history fan. In the non-fiction realm he enjoys biographies and books on science and technology. He is a lover of the outdoors and nature. He currently resides in San Diego California where he is an avid bodyboarder and hiker.

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

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.

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

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.

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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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The Mark of the Unseen God by Benjamin Patterson – Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Benjamin Patterson will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Hi, my name is Benjamin Patterson, a medieval fantasy author from Queensland, Australia. I write low-order, clean fantasy. Here are my five musts, every fantasy story should include.

1. Adventure – Adventure defines the genre in my opinion. Characters should be discovering new worlds, encountering foreign creatures and having their minds blown every other chapter. Whether those new worlds and creatures force themselves upon the protagonist’s doorstep, or the protagonist embarks on an epic quest in strange lands, it does not really matter. As long the adventure is there in some shape or form.

2. Impossible Odds – The greatest fantasy novels feature near undefeatable enemies. Readers are get halfway through the story and wonder how the goodies will survive, let alone win.

3. Suffering – Nobody wants to read a story where everything goes right. Fantasy must be hard on its characters. The anguish they endure must be horrific, their suffering unbearable. It makes their eventual victory so much sweeter when they’ve paid the ultimate price.

4. Romance – Now remember, I’m a clean fantasy author. That does not mean romance should be ignored. Great fantasy includes a compelling love story. The inclusion of a love interest elevates the stakes and tugs on the heart strings. It imbues the story with extra context. Fantasy thrives on the extra story threads.

5. Sword-fighting – I might be alone on this one, but to me, sword-fighting is a must. As a youngster, I fell in love with Zorro, The Princess Bride and The Scarlett Pimpernel. These are all great swordsmen. There’s nothing better than a duel to the death, and you’ll never convince me otherwise.

So there it is. That’s my list. You might be screaming at the page right now, saying “but where’s the magic? The fae? The elves?” If that’s the case, please include your musts in the comments. I’d love to know what else I’ve missed.

Look to the hills with dread: Salmmonaksa has arrived. His armies swarm like a plague of locusts. As the emperor prepares for his final assault, the Home City trembles. Overrun by desperate refugees, the monarchs have gathered to plot their defence. High King Eldilin is back at the helm, but there’s no food and no answers.

Princess Kathryn has not given up hope. Lying on a cot in her room is the man destined to save the realm. They desperately need him, and for the prophecies to prove themselves true, but he will not wake no matter how much she prays. Even if he did, he cannot do it alone. Many more will die, that is certain.

The Mark of the Unseen God is the final instalment of the Markulian Prophecies, a refreshingly original tale set in a breathtaking medieval world. To rid realm of evil, everything will be required. There is no peace without sacrifice, and no love without loss. May who they are and what they have be enough.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Footsteps. The prisoner must have heard them because he looked up and squinted. Oh, what a wretched expression on his face. Somebody was out there in the darkness, but he could not see them. She was safe back here, out of his sight. Out of his reach.

Secure in her anonymity, she revelled in his pathetic appearance, his arms stretched out and clasped in irons, his legs chained to a bolt hole in the floor. The remnants of his meagre ration stained the front of his tattered shirt. The way the moonlight whispered down from the grate above and circled about him, one could have been mistaken to think he was a showman, a figure of fame, the centre of a play or musical. Alas, he was wrecked, thin, a character pitiable above all men. Once respectable, now despised … and rightly so.

About the Author: Benjamin Patterson lives in North Queensland, Australia with his wife and four children. When not writing, arguing with pilots or volunteering, he’s battling a life-controlling addiction to sport, an addiction his poor wife has discovered is easily passed from father to sons.

The Mark of the Unseen God completes his first fantasy trilogy. He hopes you enjoyed reading it as much as he enjoyed writing it. Writing is not easy. Without the encouragement of friends and family, the series would never have made it to print.

Though the series has sold well, Benjamin remains about one million book sales short of his goal. You can help him fulfill his goal, and encourage him to finish his next writing project, by writing rave reviews in every forum available and catching up with him on his social media sites.

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Sanctuary by Ginny Fite – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ginny Fite 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.

Sometimes losing your children is the only way to save them. The year is 2039. Chased by government goons determined to quarantine her and a virus that might kill her at any time, Jean Bennett races a thousand miles to Canada to get her five children to safety. On a journey unlike any they’ve ever taken, Jean learns who she is and what she must do to save her children.

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THE infection hit with such ferocity and speed that all public transport had shut down by the end of my husband’s meeting in DC, sixty-five miles from home. No car, no commuter train, no way out.

In the five hours since he’d arrived in the city that morning, police had blockaded roads and barred highway entrances. Airlines delayed flights and then canceled them. Residents, under threat of arrest, huddled in their homes, and universities restricted students to dorms. Government officials shuttered public buildings, closing, and locking the gates.

Television news showed black-helmeted National Guardsmen herding panicked tourists back toward their hotels as they stampeded down unfamiliar streets. Coast Guard cutters patrolled the Potomac River; helicopters buzzed overhead. From Capitol Hill to the Ellipse, red lights on Constitution Avenue blinked on and off. Front pages of the morning newspaper skittered across empty streets.

I waited for Ted to call.

About the Author:Ginny Fite is an award-winning journalist and author of nine traditionally published novels, three collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a book of humorous essays on aging. A graduate of Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University, her 40-year career in communications included posts in newspapers, government, higher education, and a robotics R&D company. Pushcart Prize nominated, shortlisted for the 2019 SFWP prize, a finalist for the 2020 Bakwin Prize, winner of the FAPA gold medal in fiction for the collaborative novel Thoughts & Prayers, her stories have appeared in The Delmarva Review, Women Arts Quarterly Journal, Heartwood Literary Magazine, Coffin Bell, and the Anthology of Appalachian Writers. Writing about ordinary people who grapple with extraordinary circumstances, her novels span the genres of mystery, thriller, adventure, speculative, and women’s fiction. Learn more at the author’s website.

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Winter Blogfest: Kathleen Buckley

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win any one of my e-books. They’re all clean (no explicit sex) but not exactly sweet. Think of Georgette Heyer or Mary Kingswood.

 

Christmas Memories of My Father by Kathleen Buckley

 

Many of my childhood Christmas memories are of my father. He loved Christmas: the food, the gifts, the music. When he was a child, gifts were clothing rather than toys.

One year in Fairbanks, Alaska, Christmas trees were in short supply; they weren’t locally sourced unless you went out and cut one, not an attractive option at -50° F. (-45.5 C.). Gritting his teeth, Dad bought an artificial tree. It was white and fluffy like a Persian cat. We never bought another tree: the limbs on this one were all in the right place, it was easy to assemble, the right size, and it didn’t shed needles.

But mostly I recall the food rather than gifts or decorating because he liked to cook, although the vintage broadsword he gave me one year was a delightful surprise as was the KitchenAid Junior mixer the year I broke a wooden spoon mixing the very stiff dough for a Portuguese Christmas cake. The mixer is still going strong some forty years later.

I don’t recall why he began to make fruitcake, but once he did, his Christmas preparations began in September. He’d soak quantities of candied fruit in brandy in a big container that was stored in the front hall closet. Fortunately, everyone, including guests, used the back door. Then he’d make the cakes in tube pans. When they were done, he’d put them in decorative cans and put a brandy-soaked sponge in a paper cup in the center and let them age, refreshing the sponges occasionally. They made better gifts than the mass-produced fruitcake loaves.   

There was the year we visited family friends on Christmas morning and left the turkey soaking in the sink. When we came home, our Siamese cat had eaten the skin off the breast. Our turkeys always roasted with a strip of bacon on each drumstick and one or two on the breast. A few more strips covered the damage and kept the breast moist.

   

Most of all, I remember the turkey stuffing. Bread stuffing tends to be bland. Dad’s stuffing scented the entire house. In addition to pork sausage and ground beef, it contained poultry seasoning and cinnamon. I still make it, although I no longer cook a turkey. Sausage stuffing has made a comeback. I applaud the trend but think Dad’s is better.

Ingredients

1 pound bulk pork sausage (one of those rolls like Jimmy Dean’s is what I use)

1½ pounds of lean ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 cube chicken bouillon or equivalent in the powdered form

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

¼ teaspoon pepper

¾ cup fine bread crumbs

5 teaspoons cinnamon

2 ½ cups water

Fry the sausage and beef, mashing it fine so there are no lumps. Sauté the onions and add them and the crumbs. Add the celery salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Dissolve the bouillon in the water and add it. Cook until the flavors blend, then add the cinnamon and cook a little longer.

 

Allan Everard, an earl’s illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father’s death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity. 

Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women’s charity. 

Drawn into Rosabel’s problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang.

A traditional romance.

 

 

Kathleen Buckley has loved writing ever since she learned to read. After a career which included light bookkeeping, working as a paralegal, and a stint as a security officer, she began to write as a second career, rather than as a hobby. Her first historical romance was penned (well, word processed) after re-reading Georgette Heyer’s Georgian/Regency romances. She is now the author of ten Georgian romances: An Unsuitable Duchess, Most Secret, Captain Easterday’s Bargain, A Masked Earl, A Duke’s Daughter, Portia and the Merchant of London, A Westminster Wedding, A Peculiar Enchantment, By Sword and Fan, and Hidden Treasures. While an eleventh is in production she is writing the twelfth.

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Winter Blogfest: Kristina Kelly

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of Tavern Tale. 

The snow is falling, the wind is chilling, and maybe I can’t feel my fingertips. But it’s a wonderful time to share my favorite winter moments in fantasy.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Likely the most memorable for me, the whole story is Christmas with high stakes. The snowy landscape, a sleigh, gift giving and Father Christmas. While the Long Winter’s reason for existing isn’t all smiles and giggles, I can’t deny the coziness that comes with a setting of snow and people (er, animals) coming together. But Tomnus, please put on a shirt.

The Fellowship of the Ring

Stay with me on this one. I really like the scene where the fellowship is trying to pass over the mountain and the snowy storm thwarts their plan (whether it is the mountain itself, or Saruman as shown in the movie). In the movie, the scene of treking through the snow is just cinema magic to me. And then, they go into what could be the cozy fires beneath the mountain but, you know, find a balrog. LOTR is a Christmas movie and you can’t convince me otherwise.

The Lady’s Crownbearer

My coauthor and I created an in-world holiday, The Day of Laphrim, for our series the Etherea Cycle and wrote a short story for it. Having a wintry scene is a little difficult when the seasons don’t change (the world is tidally locked which means it doesn’t spin). But the holiday is like Christmas mixed with Mayday – gift giving, music and singing, festival yummies like roasted nuts and popcicles in the shape of Laphrim’s feet, and weaving ribbons around a special tree. And, a mythical creature with antlers like tree branches is said to appear.

Icewind Dale Trilogy

Focusing on the Crystal Shard, it makes me nostalgic for hunting giants in the tundras of the MMORPG Everquest. Drizzt, the drow elf, also roams the Tundra of Icewind Dale hunting yeti and giants. Since the whole setting is a winter icy landscape, there are many scenes of cold…and more cold. But I particularly remember several key moments like an avalanche and a crystal tower which really made me think of a giant icicle. While I loved the descriptions, I’m glad I don’t live there.

What about you? What’s one of your favorite winter scenes in fantasy?

“What if the side quest is really the main quest?

Divine, a healer of the Goddess of Souls, has chased the thief who stole her talisman across half of Trelvania. The talisman is the key to accessing her magic well, and without it, she is powerless. While chasing her betrayer, former girlfriend, and servant of the Goddess of Condemnation, Divine meets Saph, a flirty tavern owner with an eyepatch and a proposition. Saph will help Divine locate her talisman if Divine helps her complete a mysterious quest in a chest.

Inspired by RPGs and set in scenic autumn, prepare for an adventure with gods and goddesses, deceitful exes, axe throwing, and fantastical creatures. Can Divine learn to trust again and find romance in the middle of finding her magic?”

About the Author: Kristina W Kelly writes fantasy, sci-fi, and poetry and loves being a geek. Her coauthored novel, Trials of the Innermost, is book one in the epic science fantasy series The Etherea Cycle. Her debut sapphic fantasy romance adventure, Tavern Tale, releases January 7, 2025. She is the author of Imaginari, a sci-fi and fantasy poetry collection paired with her photography. Kristina is a trumpet player but dabbles in other instruments, plays video games, and tends to her flower garden and two children in Indiana. Several of her short stories have received honorable mention, silver honorable mention, and semi-finalist from Writers of the Future. She is amazed by nature and enjoys painting vivid scenes for her readers. She loves going on new adventures in the great wide somewhere (sometimes just by picking up a new book).

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Winter Blogfest: Susan Howell

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of The Spirit of Vanderlaan.

The Gift

As we enter the holiday season, I’m thinking a lot about my dad who died this time last year. I wonder what he’s experiencing in his new life, while our family adjusts to his absence within our own. I think of Heaven as a place of peace, joy, and the culmination of all we’ve hoped for during our time on Earth. While mansions, streets of gold, and pearly gates come to mind for many, others claim that figurative images can’t begin to capture an afterlife much grander than any of us could dream. Some believe those who have gone before us are with us still, rejoicing in our happiness and comforting us in sorrow; others believe in a separation – albeit temporary – between us and them. Some assume that in Heaven we immediately become all-knowing; others, that our learning will continue throughout eternity.

Like most things faith related, I don’t suppose we can know for certain what the next life holds until we experience it ourselves. I find that frustrating. I would much prefer knowing the specifics. In fact, I really wish Dad would just send me a sign. Maybe a balloon drifting from a cloud with a message inside giving me a hint of what to expect. Or more likely – since this is Lowell Harris we’re talking about – a recording of him strumming a guitar and singing about what he’s seen so far. Oh, how I would love that!

It seems a lot like waiting for Christmas morning to find out what’s inside those packages under the tree. You pick up the one with your name on the tag and examine it. You shake it, consider the size, and try your best to figure out what’s inside – ruling out some ideas and considering new ones based on what you hear shifting around in there. Even when we have no idea what’s under the paper and the bow, if we’re confident in the giver, we anticipate good things. In fact, the anticipation and pondering of possibilities is a big part of the fun.

I believe the same is true of Heaven. Even though we don’t yet know what it holds, we can enjoy the anticipation while pondering the possibilities, knowing the gift of Heaven will reflect the goodness of the giver.

I hope your holidays are filled with the anticipation of good things – both on Christmas morning and in the life to come.

Was it coincidence that brought them together – or a ghost with a purpose?

Susan Harris Howell is a psychologist on faculty at a small university in Kentucky where she has taught and mentored young adults for over thirty years. The Spirit of Vanderlaan draws on that career to capture the camaraderie and warmth between a professor and the assortment of personalities which inhabit her office. While The Spirit of Vanderlaan is her first work of fiction, she has published extensively on equality between men and women. Her first book, Buried Talents, explores gendered socialization and was published in 2022.

Susan is married to Dwayne and has two grown children, a daughter-in-law, one adorable grandson, and an incorrigible beagle, named Doc.

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Mindcraft by Darryl Vidal – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Darryl Vidal 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.

On the eve of the Global MindCraft Universe Challenge, Justin Turner, a teenage master of the titular virtual reality game, and his friends (known online as the Digital Mavericks) discover a sinister underbelly within the MindCraft Universe that may use artificial intelligence and virtual manipulation to end the world as we know it.

Enjoy an Excerpt

A neon blue sky with puffy white cumuli-nimbus clouds provided the background for a grassy landscape speckled with pastel flowers. Eucalyptus trees lined the sides of some sort of football or soccer field. In the distance, hundreds of armored medieval warriors came thundering down the hills, shields and swords in hand.

They were storming toward a massive medieval castle of limestone and granite stretching across the near end of the playing field; a vast mote surrounding it. The massive walls stretched twenty to thirty feet high, which normally provided sanctuary from siege. But in this instance, a large hole had been blown through the castle walls with granite boulders, near the gates and bridge that secured entry into the castle.

A closer group of workers and warriors, commanded by the screaming artillery master and aided with oxen, moved giant catapults away from the castle walls to expose the holes for the armored warriors coming down the hill. Next, they started loading giant balls of pitch, a thick black tarry substance, to be set on fire and launched over the castle walls.

Justin Turner, in full VR regalia, used his hand controllers to assemble 3D blocks to repair the wall before the hordes of warriors arrived. The glow of the forty-two-inch curved gaming monitor cast an illuminating light on his determined expression. In the virtual realm of MindCraft, Justin went by the handle ByteMaster, due to countless strategic victories and an uncanny ability to outsmart opponents.

About the Author:

Darryl Vidal is an accomplished entrepreneur, author and education technology consultant with over 30 years of experience working with the largest school districts in Southern California. He is a futurist and fan of Artificial Intelligence, and an avid reader of the sciences, philosophy, and techno-thrillers.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Information Management and a Master’s Degree (MA Ed) in Education (Instructional Technology) from California State University, San Bernardino. He has also published eight critically acclaimed books on Educational Technology, Ed Tech Strategic Planning and Digital Transformation, and has developed the formal strategic planning and project management methodology known as MapIT.

Darryl has been a student and teacher of the art of Kenpo Karate for over 50 years. He has been teaching Karate in Murrieta for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department for the past 30+ years. He also founded and heads the Murrieta Stick Fighting Club (Filipino Martial Arts). This has led to him earning the highest honor given in martial arts when he was promoted to Grandmaster – Ju Dan, 10th Degree Black Belt in 2012.

He is widely known for his appearance in 1984’s The Karate Kid, playing himself in the tournament semi-finals, as well as acting as a stunt-double for Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi). He is also credited with inventing the iconic Crane Kick.

MindCraft: The Educational Singularity is Darryl’s second novel in over twenty years and his first science fiction endeavor.

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