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One of my most embarrassing situations happened many years ago and involved a pair of winter boots. They were tall and white and I polished them every night to keep them looking nice. They laced up the front, with metal eyelets, like a pair of figure skates, only these boots went all the way to my knees. The laces had begun to stretch quite a bit so I’d lace them to the top and then back down to somewhere in the middle where I’d tie them off. One morning I was running really late for work so I laced the boots to the top, then tied a bow which made a couple of big bunny ears on each boot. I left them like that before hurrying out the door.
I was making good time and only had a few more blocks to go. On King Street East the sidewalk was on a slight downhill grade, then turned into a walkway on a sharper decline which was my shortcut through the park. All of a sudden, just as I started onto the walkway, one of the bunny ears on my left boot looped around a metal eye on the right boot and effectively tied my legs together, turning my stride into a hop. I couldn’t get stopped without falling flat on my face. Since I had momentum, it meant hopping all the way to the bottom of the walkway. It was more than just a few feet I can tell you, but I couldn’t get stopped until I was on flat ground. Anyway, when I did get stopped I undid the binding and everything was fine. I don’t know how I managed to keep from falling.
The sidewalk and subsequent walkway through the park were busy at that time of morning and people must have wondered why one second I was striding along and the next I started hopping. There was no way anyone could tell I was having a wardrobe malfunction, and that I had been hobbled. It must have been quite a sight, me in my tall white boots and mini skirt hopping down the hill.
I should use that sometime. Like they say, nothing is ever lost on a writer.
By the way, I wasn’t late for work.
The motion picture, Retribution, could be the big break Alexandra Martel has been waiting for. A Canadian movie star and strong female lead, even greater success may be within reach. But she also envies her married sisters, and has been hoping to meet her own soulmate.
Dr. Beau Remington, handsome male lead is the hometown veterinarian. He’s been contracted by motion picture execs to be on set when animals are called for, so when he and Alexandra eventually cross paths there is undeniable chemistry. However, Hollywood heartthrob James Langford has already laid claim to the striking young actress and tries to stop the budding romance.
Then everything changes at sunrise one morning when Alexandra goes for a run alone in the picturesque Belleisle, New Brunswick countryside. That’s when the man who’s been stalking her for weeks finally makes his move. She must endure the terrifying ordeal of being kidnapped and drugged in this Eastern Canada romantic suspense.
Enjoy an Excerpt
The old dog, soaked from a tumble into the icy water and limping badly, continued to pick its way along the creek that rushed between steep boulder-strewn banks. Beau Remington, far above on horseback, spotted the bedraggled canine and quickly dismounted, clamouring down the embankment toward it. With one arm wrapped around a sturdy yellow birch to anchor himself, he stretched forward to scoop up the small dog and slipped it inside his jacket. Steadying the terrified animal with one hand he then began the climb back up to the trail where his horse, Chance, waited patiently.
He talked to the dog soothingly, the rich timbre of his voice comforting as the shivering slowly began to subside within the warmth of leather on a cool spring day. Beau urged the gelding into a trot for the final half-mile to his ranch nestled deep in the rolling hills of Belleisle, New Brunswick, Canada’s picture province. He loved the quiet solitude, but soon the area would have some unlikely visitors when they started shooting the movie, Retribution, a few miles up the road. As a veterinarian he’d already agreed to be on set when animals were scheduled to appear in the movie, so it should be an interesting experience.
The dog whimpered plaintively against him, reigniting Beau’s anger at the insensibility of some selfish, cold-hearted pet owners. This had definitely been a dump, an old dog, half-blind and likely no longer wanted. The poor thing had either been lame before being abandoned, or injured in the fall, and it was because of situations like this that he’d dedicated his life to animals.
About the Author:
Eden Monroe writes about real life, real issues and struggles, and triumphing against all odds. A proud east coast Canadian, she enjoys a variety of outdoor activities, and a good book.
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Seeker: As societies grow increasingly fragmented, hopelessness, nihilism, and division are on the rise. But there is another way—a way of mystery and magic, of wholeness and transformation. Do you dare take the first step? Our path is not for the faint-hearted, but for seekers of ancient truths…
I believe in free-will, and that we all can make a difference. I believe that beauty blossoms in the conscious life, particularly with friends, family, and strangers. I believe that genre fiction has become generic, and it doesn’t have to be.
Nick Forte has lost his detective agency and makes ends meet doing background checks and other paperwork. He pays for everything else through jobs he takes for cash and without any written contract. What starts out as a simple investigation into a traffic accident exposes Forte to people who have truly lost everything and have no viable hope of reclaiming their lives. That doesn’t sit well with Forte, leading him and his friend Goose Satterwhite to take action that ends more violently than anyone expected.
Off the Books is Dana King’s sixth Nick Forte private investigator novel. Two of the earlier books (A Small Sacrifice and The Man in the Window) received Shamus Award nominations from the Private Eye Writers of America. Dana also writes the Penns River series of police procedurals set in a small Western Pennsylvania town, as well as one standalone novel, Wild Bill, which is not a Western. His short fiction appears in numerous anthologies and web sites. He is a frequent panelist at conferences and reads at Noirs at Bars from New York to North Carolina. 
A town on its knees, dread’s bony fingers wrapping around its throat and squeezing, death rattles soon to follow.
Mark Towse is an English horror writer living in Australia. He would sell his soul to the devil or anyone buying if it meant he could write full-time. Alas, he left it very late to begin this journey, penning his first story since primary school at the ripe old age of forty-five. Since then, he’s been published in over two hundred journals and anthologies, had his work made into full theatrical productions for shows such as The No Sleep Podcast and Tales to Terrify, and has penned fourteen novellas, including Nana, Gone to the Dogs, 3:33, and Crows. Chasing The Dragon is his debut novel.
Alex is twenty and confused. He always is. The world presses on him with its horrors and pain, with scintillating auras that bewilder his eyes and drive the migraines deeper. He hears the cries of the children, sees the brutal images of tortured victims. He feels out of control and his mind slips…
Dianne grew up in one of the older homes in the middle of Los Angeles, a place of hardwood floors and secret closets and back staircases. A house where ghosts lurk in the basement and the faces in the paintings watch you walk up the front stairs. Rooms where you keep the closet doors closed tight at night. It’s where her love of the mysterious and wonderful came from. Dianne is the author of m/m romance, paranormal/suspense, fantasy adventure, the occasional thriller, and anything else that comes to mind.
When human remains are found at the Vore Buffalo Jump, the short-staffed local sheriff’s department requests assistance from Park Service Investigators Doug and Jill Fletcher.
Dean Hovey is a Minnesota-based author with three mystery series. He lives with his wife south of Duluth.
Pursuing a Killer
