Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
AUTHOR PROMO OPPORTUNITY! Our 17th Anniversary Bash!
August 6, 2024 By 1 Comment
Long and Short Reviews is having a big 17th Anniversary Bash!!
This celebration is for all fiction genres we feature and review (romance, erotic romance, YA/Middle Grade/Children’s Fiction, Mystery/Suspense, SFF and mainstream fiction) as well as non-fiction books (memoirs, self-help, etc.) and poetry, and will run August 19 – 23, 2024. We expect a huge turnout, with thousands of visitors, just like we’ve had every year on our anniversary! It’s a chance for some significant exposure. We’ll also be heavily promoting on all our social media accounts. Additionally, this year we’ve partnered with Goddess Fish Promotions to help promote the event even more through features on their book blog tour host partners and promotion on their social media accounts!
Along with several other prizes, we plan on giving away at least two $100 Amazon/BN GCs, and several smaller Amazon/BN GCs, all of which are sure to be a draw. Final number and dollar amount of prizes will be based on participation. The more authors who participate, the more and bigger prizes we’ll offer and the more eyes on YOUR book! So… share this invitation everywhere
To win one of the $100 GCs, we’ll be posting a blurb, book cover and buy link on a post, and in order to earn entries, our visitors must read the blurb and answer a question on a rafflecopter. The hope is that they’ll be intrigued by what they read and buy your book! Author participation will cost $7 per book, but you will receive a $7 credit toward any ad or service offered by Long and Short Reviews or by Goddess Fish Promotions. So, it’s practically free!
For the other $100 GC, we’ll be offering social media spots for participating authors. Our visitors may enter by visiting you (Facebook page) or following you (all other social media). Each social media link you want to feature will be an additional $1 fee.
It’s easy to participate. Simply complete this form: https://form.jotform.com/41804468836160
If you have any questions, please email us at lasreviews@gmail.com
Thank you,
Marianne and Judy
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The Big Comb Over by J.P. Rieger – Interview and Giveaway
August 6, 2024 By 7 Comments
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. A randomly drawn winner will receive a $25 Amazon/BN gift card – a Rafflecopter giveaway. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
What are your favorite TV shows?
I really enjoyed the series, Severance. A wild and wacky ride in an alternative reality. I love good comedies so Resident Alien is another winner. Of course, as a fan of mysteries, I enjoy the tons of shows available on BritBox. My spouse and I have been binge-watching for months, now. The Brits really know how to do crime and mystery.
What is your favorite meal?
Well, mostly the ones you’re supposed to avoid: pizza, hot dogs and potato chips, cheeseburgers and fries. I enjoy those but try not to overdo. A nicely dressed Cesar Salad with grilled chicken is a favorite that carries less guilt, carbs and fats. (And then I’ll sneak a fry or two from my spouse’s plate.)
If you were to write a series of novels, what would it be about?
I enjoyed writing the characters in my second novel, Clonk! which features Baltimore City Police Detective Kev Dixit and his coterie of old high school friends. My fourth, as yet unpublished novel, Sunscreen Shower, is a standalone that reprises many of the characters from Clonk! including Dixit. But I’ve considered moving that gang forward, and my fifth novel (under construction) may take Dixit and the gang into series mode.
Is there a writer you idolize? If so who?
I’m a big fan of the crime writer, Charles Willeford. He passed away in the late 1980’s but not before gifting us with his four-book series featuring Miami Police Detective Hoke Mosely. Willeford’s darkly existential humor brings the characters to life. He writes in an unsentimental fashion and always includes a sociopath or two in each novel.
How did you come up for the title of this book?
The reader will quickly learn that the character of Roland, a mildly hypochondriacal actor and one of the three uncles, is obsessed with his hair. He’s going bald and is desperately trying anything/everything to enhance his hair. The comb over is one of his “go to” hair compromises, but not one he particularly wants to employ. (Yes, I comb over myself, daily.)
Three nephews and three eccentric uncles.
———
It’s 2050 and Robbie Elders has all but forgotten about his oddball, religious fanatic uncle, tim tim. He’s taken up the latest fad, genealogical research based solely on DNA. But Robbie’s “inconclusive” DNA results are unsettling. He crashes back to his childhood, back to his world of comic books and tim tim.“I opt for posh and London” declares Lady Florence Stour. It’s 2019 and time for a Royal Wedding. Robbie’s uncle, Stef, is engaged to Lady Florence, a distant member of the British royal family. Stef’s Baltimore clan have been invited, but Robbie’s mom and dad can’t attend. They’ve entrusted Robbie and big brother, Doyle, to their mom’s two eccentric brothers, uncles Roy and Roland. Roy, a weathered waterman with a severe Baltimore accent, lives for Maryland blue crabs. Roland, a mildly hypochondriacal actor, lives to survive the Karens he unavoidably encounters. And then there’s Desales, Roy’s smart aleck, teenage son. He lives to prank. They’ve descended upon London. What could possibly go wrong?
Meanwhile, tim tim has been coaching Robbie on “the mission.” A silly religious fantasy according to Robbie’s atheist parents and the therapists. Or perhaps not? Things are not always as they appear in The Big Comb Over.
Enjoy an Excerpt
Roland looked at the bottle in awe. “Fletcher’s Dry Shampoo – Hint of Almond.” He looked over the directions and ingredients on the back. “Wow! It’s gluten-free and approved by PETA, too!” He handed back the bottle, gingerly, as though it were an egg.
“Yes! So, I’ll get things started, today, but when you use it, remember to follow the instructions carefully. You have to shake the thing like a bastard.”
He pulled off the top cap and shook the bottle frantically.
“Okay, shield your eyes with your hands, Roland.”
Morris began carefully spraying the bald spot. The bottle produced several quick spurts—the initial “targeting” move. He then pulled the can back several inches and sprayed in a wider arc, slowly filling in the surrounding areas. Excess brown powder fell gently onto the cape; iron filings mixed with cinnamon.
“Yes, there we go! Success! Let me give it a brush-through and a good zhuzh!”
Morris began to carefully run the boar’s hairbrush through the mixture of hair and powdered shampoo. There was that one tricky area, so he gave it another quick blast with the aerosol can. He completed brushing and found the most optimal place for the all-important part. Something natural. Avoiding the comb-over effect was difficult. Balance . . . balance . . .
He then gave Roland’s hair a quick blast with the hair dryer. Not too much, as there was not much to dry. The shampoo had absorbed most of the hemp oil treatment. He put the dryer aside and gave Roland’s hair a two-handed, final zhuzh. He spun the chair around, dramatically, and placed a hand mirror in front of Roland’s face so that he could check out the back.
“Looky loo, Sir Roland! Nary a hint of . . . deficiency!”
Roland looked with disbelief. He no longer had that bald spot! It was gone!
“Oh dear Lord, Morris! You are a genius! Look at this! Michelangelo!” He handed back the mirror, stunned.
“Thank you, thank you!” Morris took a quick bow and rapidly turned the chair back around, causing Roland some dizziness. “Now, let me hit you with a finishing spray to hold everything in place!”
He dramatically removed the top of the hairspray aerosol and shook the can furiously. He sprayed the mist in a near random fashion near the scalp and then away from the scalp and then back toward and quickly away again—a symphony conductor of a twelve-tone sound poem.
He spun Roland around again and thrust the mirror before his face. “What do you think?!”
“Yes, yes, Morris, this is perfect! This is what I’ve been waiting for . . . dreaming about!”
About the Author: J. Paul (J.P.) Rieger is a born and bred Baltimorean and mostly retired Maryland attorney. As such, he’s well acquainted with the quirkiness and charm of Baltimore’s unique citizens. He’s author of Clonk!, a police farce set in Baltimore and published in 2023 by Apprentice House Press (Loyola University-Baltimore). He’s also author of The Case Files of Roderick Misely, Consultant, a mystery novel featuring a wannabe lawyer anti-hero. The Big Comb Over, a slipstream comedy of manners featuring three nephews and their three eccentric uncles, is Paul’s third novel. Paul is married and lives in Towson, Maryland.
Buy the book at Amazon.
Secrets of My Favorite Genre and Hero Writing by Sandy Lender – Guest Blog and Giveaway
August 5, 2024 By 9 Comments
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
I’ve learned not to pause when people ask what genre I write in. Although I have over 20 titles out there in a few genres, the main one is fantasy. Epic, to be exact.
I love reading and writing big, sweeping stories of good versus evil with a complex dragon who could switch sides if you don’t treat him (or her) right. Readers who know me know I write strong female characters but a secret to keeping this genre exciting for myself is in the dragons and the heroes. I’m a sucker for a hero who, like the dragon, could switch sides if you betray him. Or if you harm his dragon companion.
Another secret to my genre fiction is the type of hero I write. Considering I’m talking this week about my latest release, “100 Things Duran Duran Fans Should Know & Do During This Life,” it’s probably time to come clean and admit most of my heroes bear a striking resemblance to DD’s bass guitarist. There’s a reason for that.
John Taylor is hot like the rising sun. He has aged like a fine wine you want to sip while listening to all the slow, moody-and-grey Duran Duran songs through high-quality headphones.
Why wouldn’t I model the look of the hero you’re supposed to fall for after my lifelong crush? Now, don’t let this fool you into thinking my heroes are “based on” Mr. John Taylor. That would be creepy. (And probably worthy of a cease-and-desist.)
While John Taylor definitely inspires the heroes in the CHOICES series, the DRAGONS IN SPACE series, the FAERIE HOLIDAYS series, and a few other stories I’ve penned, these heroes are their own fabulous hotties with their own back stories and blends of mannerisms and traits from interesting people I’ve met or observed over my lifetime. It takes more than a handsome face to create a hero, no matter what genre you’re working in.
For me, it’s fun to write in the fantasy genre. It’s fun to bring a gorgeous hero onto the page to assist the strong young women I’m writing about. And to add in some epic dragons.
Best-selling, award-winning author and life-long Duranie, Sandy Lender, offers a delightful guidebook to the fun and sometimes wacky events that bring a fandom together. 100 THINGS DURAN DURAN FANS SHOULD KNOW & DO DURING THIS LIFE is a unique, positive, optimistic, totally new take on exploring nostalgia alongside your BFFs with the supergroup that continues to provide the dance track for so many people’s lives.
This non-fiction foray into Duran Duran history is unlike any biography you’ve read before. Instead of dry stats and facts, it’s a reminder of the joy and positivity that comes from obsessing over a shared musical interest. Herein you’ll find a series of random acts “to do” and trivia you might have forgotten to celebrate. To-do: Dive in and celebrate again!
Enjoy an Excerpt
Introduction
Let me admit, up front, you’re about to read a frivolous romp through a Duranie’s brain. We’re about to dance together down Memory Lane, inspired by a Star Wars book title I saw about four months ago. To prevent myself from stealing the author’s intellectual property, I didn’t open the unauthorized 100 Things Star Wars Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.
Instead, I’ve put together a Duran-o-rama of my own making. It’s arranged exactly as the title suggests: first an item of what a Duran Duran fan should know, followed by an item a fan can do. This order proceeds from one to one hundred in a conversational tone.
The prompts of nostalgia might be numbered, but they’re not in chronological order. Most of the to-do items are geared toward sharing your insanity with others.
Basically, you’re holding amusing reminders of carefree times when a ticket to a concert cost all of eighteen dollars, when you listened to the local radio station at midnight because they were playing the entire new DD release, or when you could grab a crew of giggling girls to plop down on the couch with a six-pack of Pepsi—because that’s what John preferred over the sponsor of the Arena tour—to watch and sing along to Arena: An Absurd Notion, complete with parental advisory.
Now, let me lift the needle off the record for a second.
About the Author 
Sandy Lender is an international best-selling poet and award-winning author of fantasy, literary fiction, poetry, and short story work. She’s a construction magazine editor by day and author of #GirlPower fantasy novels by night, living in Florida to help with sea turtle conservation and parrot rescue. You can follow her author page on Amazon, check her website at SandyLenderInk.com, or subscribe to her newsletter at https://bit.ly/SSReNews.
With a four-year degree in English and thirty-year career in publishing, Sandy’s successes include traditionally and self-published novels, hundreds of magazine articles, multiple short stories in competitive anthologies, a handful of technical writing awards, a handful of creative writing awards, and the 2023 Michael Knost Wings award. Sandy’s been writing stories since she was knee-high to a grasshopper when her great-grandmother shared her odd little tales of squeaky ghost-spiders around an apartment complex in Southern Illinois. The stories have developed to include strong young ladies working with dragons to save worlds from terrible fates, but those pesky spiders still show up from time to time.
There’s always something brewing at Sandy Lender Ink headquarters where some days, you just want the dragon to win.
Buy the book at Amazon.
Research by Jeanette Watts – Guest Blog and Giveaway
August 2, 2024 By 4 Comments
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a Jane Austen Coloring Book (US only) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
I think one of the reasons I am usually writing historical fiction is because I*love* research!
I’ve heard other authors talk about falling down a rabbit hole while researching as if it were a bad thing…but it’s those very side trips that make someone a better writer. If I were writing fantasy novels instead of historical fiction, it’s called “world building.” If the year is 1882, and it’s Pittsburgh, and I want to know about the hospital that my character is in, so I’m reading newspapers at the Heinz History Center, and I just found out there was record rain that year, or record snow, or there was a new craze for roller skating, that’s all useful information. It helps build texture. The reason people read historical fiction is because they are curious about what it was like to live in the past. Telling them what it smelled like, what it sounded like, and what it tasted like is what I’m here for. To educate as well as entertain.
Even my two modern novels, A Woman’s Persuasion and Jane Austen Lied to Me, required research. AWP is set in 2007 – my readers have lived through it. So they remember it. Don’t screw up. Because as soon as you forget that iPhones first come out on June 29 of that year, and either assume that either no one has them, or everyone already has them, you’ve just lost all the tech enthusiasts among your readers. JAL2M, the book currently coming out right now as an audiobook, is set on a modern college campus. (Well, modern to 2017, when it was first published.) I haven’t been a college student for a long time, and being an adjunct professor only takes you so far. What’s the registration process like nowadays? I bet students don’t run around campus with a registration form like when *I* was in school…I asked my students a LOT of questions.
That’s all that research is. Asking questions. I want to know the answer because either my readers want to know, or my readers already know, and I will look like an idiot if I demonstrate to them that I don’t know.
The thing that people forget is that research is more than just reading. That’s why the best crime novels are written by former members of the justice system, and the best cookbooks are written by chefs (or moms that cook every day). Experience is a form of research. That’s why they say “write about what you know.” In order to write about something, you have to go do it. Unless you write murder mysteries. Then I suggest you job shadow the mortician, not the murderer…
I am a dance teacher, and there’s a dance scene in every book I’ve written. Because I know what different social dances in different eras feel like. (I had a dance student from one of my dance groups read one of my novels and correctly identify the name of a set dance from 1878 by my description! That was satisfying.)
I am also a costume enthusiast, and there is no understanding corsets, and hoopskirts, and bustle dresses, until you put one on and wear it all day. For every actress in Hollywood whining about how uncomfortable they are, there are three re-enactors or living history presenters rolling their eyes at this stupid fuss about underwear that women wore while dancing the polka, and building log cabins, and lifting heavy iron pots. I can talk about what it feels like to waltz in a bustle dress, when your skirts arrive a few seconds after the rest of you had finished turning, because I’ve done it.
Research is about getting out and doing, as well as reading. I confess I do absolutely *love* the growing digitized newspapers available online. The University of Illinois has a fabulous collection, and it’s all searchable by keyword. But in order to really understand what I’m reading, I had to have gone out and done it. I teach historical dance, and all the descriptions of “the mazy waltz” would make no sense if I haven’t been on a crowded dance floor, where my partner and I have to navigate a dance floor filled with other spinning couples.
And sometimes, while writing a modern story about a college girl who loves Jane Austen, that research means sharing personal stories about working at the library or being really bad at math.
What college girl doesn’t dream of meeting Mr. Darcy? Lizzy was certainly no exception. But when Darcy Fitzwilliam comes into her life, he turns out to be every bit as aggravating as Elizabeth Bennett’s Fitzwilliam Darcy. So what’s a modern girl to think, except….
How could my hero be so wrong?
Enjoy an Excerpt
Well! That was interesting. My roommate invited me along to this frat party she was going to. She went through something called rush week, and she is now pledged to a sorority. She said the frats are less formal than the sororities, and even though I wasn’t a pledge I could go with her. I figured, why not, it should be fun, right?
I got to meet the guy she’s chasing. I couldn’t blame her for being interested. He’s cute, and sweet, and considerate, and a total people-pleaser. One of his parents must be the demanding sort who is never happy.
He introduced us to his friend… whose name is Darcy Fitzwilliam! I wasn’t sure at first that the guy wasn’t just pulling our legs.
“Your mother obviously loves Jane Austen,” I laughed.
“Obviously,” he answered. Not much to go by.
“I love Pride and Prejudice,” I continued.
“I hate Pride and Prejudice,” I can only describe the look he was giving me as hostile.
“I think you will find yourself very much in a minority,” I answered, returning his look with one of my own.
We didn’t talk any more that night. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot!
About the Author: 
Jeanette Watts has written three Jane Austen-inspired novels and two short stories for Jane Austen Fan Fiction anthologies, two other works of historical fiction, stage melodramas, television commercials, and historical dance manuals. She is a regular contributor to MOMCC Magazine.
When she is not writing, she is either dancing, sewing, or making videos for her YouTube channel and TikTok accounts, “History is My Playground.”
Researching Tips by Dale E. Dallman – Guest Blog and Giveaway
August 1, 2024 By 6 Comments
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Dale E. Dallman will award a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
I think the best research for a book is living it! If you are going to write about a place, go there, live it, touch the dirt, listen to the wind. I am part Native American, and I swear, I can feel my ancestors as I go into the Montana and Dakota country. I can hear their wisdom. I do research the area I am writing about, but firsthand experience seems to be what the reader wants! They can read research, look up, look at pictures, but they can’t find the thoughts in your head, unless you tell them. That is what sets you apart from books based on research! My book just released “LETTERS FROM A WARRIOR P.S. Mom, I love you” has no research. It is actual events that you would never be able to research. Every letter is real. Every event is something you can’t find unless you tell it! It is the most personal, look inside another person’s brain, you can get!
Writing is my destiny! It took 60 years to finally get it to happen! I started writing in Grade School! My projects always got good reviews from my grade schoolteacher. She would give a project. The other kids would have two or three lines–I would have 30! High school changed me! I started running and lost interest in school! I went from an A student to barely passing. I was the epitome of the Elvis Pressley look! The greasy, Vitalis, combed back, Duck Tail hair, the black leather jacket, the t-shirt, with the Camel Cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve! The Engineer boots. No interesting anything, let alone writing. Joining the Marine Corps started me back. I kept a Journal, which I incorporated into letters I sent home. That was the extent, until I started VA treatment with a shrink. She suggested I get writing again. SO, I opened the bottom desk drawer, took out the old letters and started this book. It was a combination of the shrink and a GREAT Publisher, Traci Wooden, that I got back into serious writing.
Publication was never a reality. I tried a few times to send the book idea to publishers! Most never even responded! I kept working on three books, knowing that the only person who would ever read them was me and the guy who didn’t publish! My wife, who is a professional photographer, and a singer was going to Las Vegas to record a song. I went along to lose my $300. BUT-the people who were doing her recording started asking me questions! I made the mistake of saying I wish I could publish a book! Oh Oh-that started a flood of questions, with me promising to send the series of letters used to write this book. Long story short, they loved em’! They in turn sent them to Traci Wooden, a great publisher! With the help of my wife, Traci and GOD, I got one!!
My favorite author has always been Louis L’a Mour. I have read his works for decades! He wasn’t just an author; he was an inspiration to the American West. I don’t stick to a specific genre! I jump from Western, to military to women’s rights! Every book I write, I am involved! It is personal. I travel the land I write about. I walk in the shoes of the characters in my books.
The best part of being an author is being able to influence people, connect with people, relate to people! I am not very polished. I don’t have an Ivy League education. I learned street smarts from failure and success. The Marines taught me to “IMPROVISE, ADAPT and OVERCOME! I write from experience! The book about the car business that is coming out-I sold cars, the book about the WHITE BUFFALO that is in process is written on ground I stood on! The Marine Corps book is me!
The worst part-well, the first chapters of the BUFFALO book were written on a trip into the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. I was in a cabin that was 12 miles in by horseback. It was so quiet that at night, a fly sounded like a bomber! The Packrat that lived there would scamper through my stuff and steal every pen or coin I dropped! The pages were written with pen and paper! It is just recently that I advanced to a computer! You would laugh (as my wife does) to watch me type with one finger! (her sister was sitting out in the living room, asking my wife “what that clicking noise was as I beat out a chapter!) That is the worst part! I wish I was not Electronically challenged! I have a 50 word a minute brain, but a 5-word finger!
Well, I’m presently working on three books!! I didn’t plan it that way! I will be putting together a part in one book and think, “you know, I can use that thought in this other one” The WHITE BUFFALO is probably the next one to go to TAWC Publishing! If Traci sees fit! I will continue the work of this military book that is just published and plead with Traci to publish another for this poor ol’ country boy!
I really get involved in my books! I try to feel what the character is feeling! I dedicated the book- Letters From A Warrior P.S. Mom, I love you-to every mom who received a flag back, instead of her son or daughter!
Writing is a high hanging fruit! I encourage every reader who thinks they have a story in them to reach out and grab that high hanging fruit. It tastes so good when you get it!
“Letters From A Warrior, P.S. Mom, I Love You” is a captivating true story full of adventure and self-discovery. It is portrayed with a relentless wit that offers an intimate glimpse into the world of the US Marine Corps Boot Camp in 1960. This is all done through the eyes of a young man who trades his small-town roots in Minot, North Dakota for the thrilling and challenging life of a Marine.
Through a series of unapologetically honest and unintentionally humorous letters to his mother, the author shares his unvarnished experiences as a naive 18-year-old navigating the tribulations of boot camp. With the specter of his seemingly menacing drill instructors looming large, this young man’s quest for a life beyond his hometown quickly becomes a rollercoaster of exhilaration, fear, and personal growth.
Witness the author’s transformation from a small-town boy to a dedicated warrior as he overcomes adversity and learns invaluable lessons about courage, resilience, and the true meaning of strength. From his first day at the MCRD to his thrilling new beginning in Hawaii, this unforgettable memoir stands as a testament to the power of determination and the indomitable spirit of youth.
Enjoy an Excerpt
I sat up in bed and observed a Marine with two stripes coming toward me. He was shaking and yelling at each bunk as he went by. He did an about-face when he reached the end of the aisle and yelled that he was Corporal Johnston, corporal of the guard.
He said Staff Sergeant Smith was busy so he was taking us to chow. He said we had fifteen minutes to shit, shower, shave and dress after which he wanted us all standing on the painted stripes outside. He said anyone late would die. He said the one they’d taken out last night was already dead.
I wanted to say, “You can’t kill a man for pissing his bed,” but my mouth wouldn’t open. I decided I didn’t need a shower, I was too scared to shit, and I was still too young to shave so I just dressed, used the urinal, and stood around talking to my friends.
Todd asked me if I had seen Adam. I said no, but I figured he was gone for good.
Thomas delivered the next question with as serious a face as I’d ever seen on him. “They really can’t kill him for pissing his bed, can they”?
I said no but I thought they might put him in jail. I had read stories about military brigs, and I figured Adam was already in a striped suit, breaking rocks as we spoke.
About the Author: 
Dale E. Dallman, Senior was born on a hot dry day in Britton, South Dakota, just off the Sisseton Indian Reservation, east of Lake Tewaukon, because that was the closest hospital. His relatives all worked for the railroad and/or farmed near Fort Ransom, Cayuga, and Rutland, North Dakota. When his father got the chance to quit farming and transfer to the railroad they moved to Minot, North Dakota where Dale attended grade school at Sunnyside and graduated high school at Minot High.
After Dale and a few of his friends got themselves into trouble towards the end of their senior year, a nice judge “suggested” that he and several of his acquaintances join the United States Marine Corps. The formation of the “NODAK PLATOON” made the timeline fit. The Marines took him to San Diego, California, Hawaii, Asia, and back to San Francisco, California. He grew up fast in the Marines. One of his buddies stuck with him after they were discharged and the two followed each other off and on through life.
His first real job after the service was in Billings, Montana with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. as a road salesman. This led to other road salesman positions with the American Greetings Company and the Bristol Myers Drug Company. He ventured into real estate, casinos, auto sales, RV sales, which took him to Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. He became a deputy sheriff in California for a while, then traveled on to Washington, Arizona, Virginia, Germany, and Colorado, to name a few.
Today, Mr. Dallman lives in the South with his wife Cassandra Dallman, a professional photographer and singer out of Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys and continues to take great pride in his children and their offspring.
This book is neither his first nor last written work so please check back to see upcoming books from Dale E. Dallman.
Buy the book at Amazon.
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for July 31, 2024
July 31, 2024 By 4 Comments
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
Would I Stay in a Haunted House? Why or why not?
Heart and Soul by Toby Negus – Spotlight and Giveaway
July 30, 2024 By 7 Comments
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Toby Negus 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.
Truths beautifully expressed
Toby Negus, author and illustrator of The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See, has created a collection of lyrical inspirational prose messages coupled with colorful and mesmerizing symbolic illustrations that speak to the soul.
The author has continued his exploration of the most transformational psychospiritual concepts that lie deeply within all humans, bringing the wisdom of heart and soul into the light for our minds to connect with and grow from. He weaves his messages through a variety of topics, including love, freedom, choice, truth, self-awareness, the now moment, healing, peace, and most importantly, the role of the heart and soul in enlightening humanity’s journey on Planet Earth. Connections are made among these concepts to help readers make the same connections in order to find peace in their own lives.
As an artist, the author takes his ethereal subject matter, fuses it with the colors and shapes presented by his own spiritual muse, and gives the reader a visceral inner transformation through symbol, intense color, and cosmic shape.
Heart and Soul creates a deep and beautiful immersion for the reader into their own heart’s beautiful depths.
Enjoy an Excerpt
There is a direct correlation between the amount of love we feel in life and the freedom we give to our soul.
It is true that the heart knows what the mind cannot see, and it is also true that the soul lives in what the heart loves.
The loves we have in life allow us to know the soul’s resolve. They are urges of the soul’s wish to know life. They give us signposts of our soul’s intention, and where the heart can find joy.
They are the aspects of life where the soul seeks freedom; the times and places where we become, in that loved moment, set free from our labour and become the dream that we love.
We are then both lost and found at the same time. Lost to the mystery of life and found within the company of the love we have made.
If we do not love we confine our soul, for it is in the quest of love that the soul fulfils its purpose on earth.
Our love may be known from a sight in nature, a piece of art, a song, within the company of loved ones, or any of the thousand things that lighten the heart and inspire the mind.
Our loves are always close, beckoning us to adventure. Their presence has pushed and pulled us throughout our life.
Their persuasion is for us to make a way that is true to ourselves; an indigenous journey that honours the deeper truth of who we are.
They light the path to our true happiness, and often, to our greatest self-learning. For the journey that loves take us on is often not what we expect.
They will cause us to dig deep into the mystery of ourselves in order to summon the courage to surrender our old security for the adventure that love will always bring.
But when we love what we do, put our heart into it, then love’s providence empowers the heart and inspires the mind.
About the Author: 
Toby Negus is an artist, both with paints and of the spirit. His work reflects a deep commitment to meeting life on its terms and an equally deep understanding of human nature.
Toby has studied and taught spiritual and personal development in the UK and around the world for over two decades. He is qualified in advanced counselling, as a life coach and as a Cognitive Behaviour therapist. He is an Amazon best-selling author of a collaborative Conscious Creators book and has illustrated and self published two books on the subject of self-awareness and the spiritual journey. He has articles published in national magazine and has given talks and run workshops in support of his published work within the UK.
In the last few years, he has created many pieces of artwork that are a reflection of his spiritual journey. These have appeared in magazines and have been exhibited in the UK.
Buy the book at Amazon.
Twice Hung by Vanessa C. Hawkins – Spotlight and Giveaway
July 24, 2024 By 4 Comments
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Vanessa C. Hawkins 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.
Ethel Arsenault’s been hearing noises in her brother’s house ever since she arrived from Summerside, but when he turns up dead, could the supernatural be to blame, or her sister-in-law Dolly whose been caught talking to herself when night falls?Ethel isn’t sure, nor is she happy when she’s left alone to care for Ernest’s estate. Was her brother the victim of sweet, little Dolly Arsenault, or is some other sinister force at work? The city of Charlottetown is quick to point the blame at Dolly, but now Ethel has been hearing things in the house…
… or is it just her imagination?
Enjoy an Excerpt
The day was damp, yet hardly a day at all. Gray clouds hung low in the dismal sky with the promise of reluctant showers. A storm loomed behind the ashen canvass. It had been present ever since the winter months had concluded, and a sodden pall had swept over the coast of the island to remain indefinitely.
Ethel Arsenault longed for the summer days back home at Green’s Shore, even though it would be just as wet there. The farmers would prepare their fields, and heave at the heavy earth in hopes it would soon be pregnant with their summer harvest. Ethel liked when the potato fields stood in perfect columns like soldiers. When she was young, she often gathered the flowers in her apron, picking them before they were pruned to make laurels for the boys.
She hadn’t done that ever since her brother, Ernest, had moved to Charlottetown to invest in shipbuilding. Now, as the wagon bumped between the muddy ruts of the road, the scent of mussel mud was prevalent over the low-hanging lady slippers and spruce trees that crowded the marshlands. It crept in the nose, more sour than regular fertilizer, and made Ethel and her servant, Beulah, want for warmer weather.
“How much longer till we arrive?” Beulah asked as she rearranged the cushions beneath her bottom. Ethel smiled, sympathetic to her friend’s condition. They’d only been traveling a day and had stopped for the night in Cornwall, but even the simple journey in an extravagant stagecoach had taken its toll on their backsides.
“We’ll be crossing the Yorke River soon, Miss Murphy,” one of the lads called from the front, spitting out a mouthful of chew to plop upon the ground.
“It seems to me like we’re headed back in the direction we came, Mr. Carlow!”
Aloysius Carlow—Al—laughed and reached into his pocket to draw out another handful of chewing tobacco. The young man must have taken a liking to Beulah Murphy’s robust personality, as he never spoke back to her when she complained or prattled on idly about dirt, mud, flowers, and horses. For a servant, Ethel had to admit that Beulah was unusual, but the girl was cheerful and had a good head on her shoulders, despite her many eccentricities. Ethel loved her dearly.
“Only way to cross the river, Miss, is by Moor’s Bridge north of Cornwall. Most people take the boats these days. They tend to be faster.”
Mud had speckled the sides of the carriage, but Beulah hung her head out anyway, catching a few freckles upon the slope of her ample cheeks as she peered at the young man’s back.
“Never-you-mind about that, Mr. Carlow!”
Al laughed and tugged at the brim of his straw hat that sat low over his brow. “Just sayin’ is all, Miss Murphy. Mr. Arsenault would have had you and your lady carried by royalty if you’d have wanted.”
About the Author:
A life-long lover of horror, Vanessa wrote her first story in the genre when she was only in grade five. It was titled Mutilated and it warranted her a trip to the school guidance counsellor. A lifetime later, she continues to write about anything that suits her fancy. She was afforded second place in the David Adams Richards Prize this year, and honourable mentions in the WFNB writing competition for her novel A Child to Cry Over. With over a dozen publications under her belt, Vanessa was celebrated as a bestselling author with Books We Love Publishing for the sale of over a thousand copies of The Curious Case of Simon Todd! She lives with her husband Brendon and daughter Bernie in New Brunswick.
Vanessa is the author of the following BWL Publishing Inc. releases:
The Curious Case of Simon Todd
Bunker Blitz
Ballroom Riot by Vanessa C. Hawkins & Tara Woodworth
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for July 24, 2024
July 24, 2024 By 2 Comments
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
