The Lost Journals of Bun Wiper by S.M. Morgan – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 23, 2023 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. S.M. Morgan will be awarding a Kindle Paperwhite, a signed Hardback cover of the book and a featured character spot in our next Bud Wiper story to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

“Help!! My head is being lowered into the swirling vortex of a toilet!”

My name is Teddy, and I’m in the 6th grade. It’s my first day at a different school, and so far, the only person I know is Zane, the school bully. I was just your everyday kid trying to stay off everyone’s radar, but when I met my new best friend, Bud Wiper, everything changed.

Bud is a 6th grade millionaire from 60 years ago.

Yep, that’s right, Bud Wiper is a treasure hunter from the 1940’s who left behind his journal full of life and adventure, and even though we’ve never met, I think he might be the only thing that gets me through the 6th grade alive.

The Lost Journals of Bud Wiper is a fantastic story of bravery and friendship, perfect for kids, middle school students, and adults.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Leo jumped out of his car and stood in front of Ramsey. “ This not good, mister. Not good. Tell him, perdoon stary, do it now, or they will surely kill us.”

Give them the book Ramsey,” I said, motioning toward the guard.

on his face and then repeated what Leo had told him to say, “Perdoon Stary.” It sounded— strange hearing it from Ramsey with his American accent.

The guards busted out laughing hysterically. Ramsey turned to Leo. “ What did you make me say? ”

“Old fart,” came a voice in a thick Russian accent.

I turned to see a man that looked like he was in charge step forward. He wore a large rounded bill military cap with a red band and golden emblem around the center. “ Nothing in Russia is private. Now give me the book.”

About the Author:

S.M. Morgan is the author of The Lost Journals of Bud Wiper — A Middle Grade Adventure. He lives in East Texas with his wife, daughter, and son, and when not writing potty humor for kids, he is trying to get alone to read more mystery adventure stories.

When the real world calls him to be social, he can be found canoeing with his family or trying to convince his wife to watch action movies.

Amazon Author Page | Goodreads | https://budwiper.com

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When Writing a Flawed Protagonist… Use Humor by Allyson Rice – Guest Blog and Giveaway

February 22, 2023 By 7 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Allyson Rice will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When Writing a Flawed Protagonist… Use Humor

When writing protagonists, you want them to be flawed. You want your protagonist to be human, and since none of us humans are perfect, the fact that your protagonist isn’t perfect either makes her relatable. You want your reader to feel for your character and her struggles and root for her throughout your book.

In the case of Jesse, one of the three siblings in my recently released novel The Key to Circus-Mom Highway, I wanted to add another wrinkle. One of the themes within the book is how we often make snap judgments of others based on the way they look, or speak, or act, and they’re not always accurate assessments of the person. They’re usually more about our own preconceptions. It takes getting to know them a little before we see beyond what made us initially judge them.

Personally, I love the character of Jesse. I think she’s hilarious. But… she starts as a bartender in a strip club, has arms covered in tattoos, she swears a lot, and presents herself in “an aging tough-girl, you-wouldn’t-hire-her-to-babysit-your-kids kind of way. Like if Joan Jett and Reese Witherspoon had a love child…” I knew the tattoos and particularly the swearing were going to be off-putting and make some readers judge her negatively. (The strip club job she quits right away with relief once she receives the call from the lawyer about her deceased birth mom and the inheritance). I knew that the process of making readers root for her was especially important since among the three siblings, Jesse is the one that leads the action.

There are two ways I attempted to do this. First, little by little I let the reader in on Jesse’s backstory–the difficult things that have happened to her that have made her act the way she does. Since we’ve all had difficult things we’ve been through in our lives, how can you not respond compassionately to someone else once you know the struggles they’ve been through? Second, and this was key for me with Jesse’s character, was to use humor. She’s smart, funny, and sarcastic at times. As I wrote dialogue for her, it often made me laugh out loud. She has no filter. It felt like the lines were coming from her, the character, and not me, the author.

When the BookLife review in Publisher’s Weekly came out and said of Jesse, “Refreshing in her underdog melancholy and snarky repartee, she’ll have readers cheering as she gains wisdom along the back roads of the American South. Her irreverent humor lightens her anger at her birth mother, even as she faces new family challenges,” I felt like I had been successful!

If you get a chance to read the book at some point, drop me a line through my website http://allysonrice.com and let me know your thoughts. I’d love to hear whether your views about Jesse (and her two siblings, Jennifer and Jack) changed along the way.

In an attempt to secure an unexpected inheritance—and hopefully find a few answers—two estranged sisters and their newly discovered brother embark on a comically surreal trip through the Deep South to retrace the life of the mother who abandoned them as infants.

On a Tuesday afternoon, sisters Jesse Chasen and Jennifer McMahon receive a phone call notifying them that their birth mother has died, leaving behind a significant inheritance. But in order to obtain it, they must follow a detailed road trip she designed for them to get to know her—and that includes finding a brother they never knew existed.

For the next week, this ill-assorted trio treks across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to meet their mother’s old friends, from circus performers to a juke joint owner, each of whom delivers a shocking vignette into the life of a young mother traumatized by loss and abuse. Along the way, these three siblings—Jesse, whose fiery exterior disguises a wounded, drifting musician stuck in a rut; Jennifer, whose carefully curated family life is threatened by her husband’s infidelity; and Jack, whose enigmatic Jackie, Oh! persona in the New Orleans drag queen scene helps him escape the nightmares of Afghanistan that haunt him at night—must confront their own demons (and at least one alligator). But in chasing the truth about their real mother, they may all just find their second chance.

This uproarious debut novel is a reminder that sometimes, the family you’d never have chosen may turn out to be exactly what you need.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Westley re-entered with five boxes of food that said Zunzi’s on the side. “Best sandwiches in Savannah! We’re going on a traveling picnic. There’s a young couple, just got married, staying here tonight too, so they’re going to join us. I hope you don’t mind.”

Duke and Ivy Parker had met at the Monster Truck Destruction Tour in Lubbock, Texas a mere two weeks ago. Christian Rock radio station KZOL was having their annual Monster Truck ticket giveaway to the first two callers who could answer these two questions correctly:

1) What former WrestleMania star has driven a Monster Truck in a movie and has also founded a church? (answer: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson); and,
2) According to Wikipedia, what Christian Grindcore band has said that their band name was inspired by Revelations 3:15-16? (answer: Vomitorial Corpulence)

Complete strangers, Duke and Ivy had been the first two correct callers, at number fourteen and number thirty-one, respectively. When they both showed up at the Monster Truck event wearing the same vintage edition Bigfoot Monster Truck t-shirt, they were convinced that it was The Lord that had guided them to each other in Section 104 Row 25 Seats 16 and 17. They knew it was literally “a match made in Heaven,” and so they eloped.

Right on cue, Ivy and Duke, an excruciatingly gung-ho couple in their early twenties dressed in color-coordinated NASCAR gear, entered, holding hands.

About the Author:Allyson Rice is the author of the novel The Key to Circus Mom Highway. (“Fans of family drama, road trips, and non-stop laughs will love this cross-country adventure.”–BookLife/Publisher’s Weekly). She’s an award-winning mixed media artist, and a producer with Atomic Focus Entertainment.

After spending many years as an actress on stage and on television, she left acting and spent the next decade running yoga/meditation retreats, women’s retreats, and creativity retreats around the country. After that, she pivoted to focus once again on her own creative work. In addition to her writing and art, she’s also a photographer (her work was most recently seen in an exhibition at the Soho Photo Gallery in NYC).

Some random bits of Allyson trivia: 1) She’s been skydiving, paragliding, bungee jumping, ziplining through a rainforest, and scuba diving with stingrays; 2) she has an extensive PEZ dispenser collection; 3) she played Connor Walsh on As the World Turns for seven years; 4) she’s been in the Oval Office at the White House after hours; 5) she’s related to the Hatfields of the infamous Hatfield/McCoy feud; and 6) her comedic rap music video “Fine, I’ll Write My Own Damn Song” won numerous awards in the film festival circuit and can now be seen on YouTube.

Also available from Allyson Rice is her line of women’s coloring books (The Color of Joy, Dancing with Life, and Wonderland), and The Creative Prosperity PlayDeck, an inspirational card deck about unlocking and utilizing your creative energy in the world. She’s currently at work on her second novel and her fourth women’s coloring book. But she is most proud of being mom to musical artist @_zanetaylor.

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What Keeps Me Going With Writing by Ben Gartner – Guest Blog and Giveaway

February 21, 2023 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Ben Gartner will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What Keeps Me Going With Writing

I’ve said this before, but I need a reminder too: Have fun! For me, as soon as I lose sight of that goal with my writing, it becomes a chore and the story and characters suffer. My writing is worse when I’m only putting down words that please someone else or I’m doing it solely to meet some expectation for achievement I’ve placed on myself. That nagging voice that I “should” be writing does me no good! But the excited, carefree kid egging me to get back into the world – that’s the one that works.

I have to remind myself that I started writing again without the intention of putting the work out into the world or quitting my day job (sure it’s a dream, but I’m pragmatic). Okay, yes, maybe there was a little part of me that knew I would eventually want to try and put it out there, but I didn’t listen to that voice when my reinvigorated love of writing came back to me. I intentionally suppressed that desire because it was a joy-killer. I was writing for me and for my kids, period. Full stop. I was writing to please myself, and please them. And I like to think that I succeeded at that. And only after that was accomplished did I realize that we had something others might enjoy too. And they did! This is pure bonus on top of the joy I’d already given myself.

I should also be clear that “have fun” does not mean you can’t or shouldn’t also do something worthwhile and meaningful. In fact, the motivation very much encompasses that goal as well. To have an impact IS fun. To teach IS rewarding. It is exciting to think that your words might stick with some young reader you’ve never met. That is an awesome responsibility one should wield very carefully.

Writing is a game of temporal and geographic telepathy. Influencing someone through words has a powerful potential. And maybe the person you may influence the most with your writing is yourself. And isn’t improving and growing as a person FUN? As many of the writing craft books will tell you, Stasis = Death.

So, don’t forget, Ben: Have fun. Get back in there, open up that writing software, and lose yourself in the adventure. Let the time fly by while you are blissfully unaware, fingers flying across the keyboard. If you ever lose that sense of excitement, you might as well put down the pen and find something else that brings you joy.

Until then, write on!

“I’m pretty sure I’m about to die in space. And I just turned twelve and a half.”

Blast off with the four winners of the StellarKid Project on a trip to the International Space Station and then to the Gateway outpost orbiting the Moon! It’s a dream come true until space junk collides with the ISS, turning their epic trip into a nightmare of survival. Alone aboard the Aether starship, the kids have to work as a team to save the adults before the ISS is destroyed. Suit up, cadet, and launch into adventure with One Giant Leap!

Enjoy an Excerpt

I’m pretty sure I’m about to die in space. And I just turned twelve and a half.

The frayed end of my tether whips around like a lasso as I flip front over back and sideways.

I see the long blue smear of Earth hurtling past. The silver hull of my ship, the Aether, whizzes by in a blur before I gasp at the once-glorious International Space Station. Now, just wreckage. The ISS spits pieces that twinkle in the sunlight. Sparks sizzle and blink against the black backdrop of the endless universe.

My spin continues until all I can see is the void of deep space, punctured by bright pinpricks of gaseous stars millions of light-years away.

The horizon of Earth again, with its clouds and land and water. Home.

The shiny tube of my ship, the Aether. It’s. So. Close. And yet, it can’t save me.

The ISS, Earth, the Aether, and here we go again on this terrible merry-go-round— You get the picture. It’s not good. I close my eyes.

I’m tumbling, and I think I’m squirting oxygen from my life-support backpack, which isn’t helping my somersaults. My suit is losing pressure. At least that’s what I guess is causing the fuzz in my brain. It’s hard to think. My vision is narrowing, dimming, like I’m about to wink away.

And the thing that I think is actually going to kill me? Water is leaking from somewhere inside my suit. Quickly it builds up and clings to my face like a wet rag. It’s a film over my eyes, it plugs my nose, and it slides into my mouth like alien slime whenever I try to cough. I shake my head violently to jiggle the liquid free, so hard that a nerve cries out in my neck. The head-whip kinda works, and I’m able to suck in a tiny breath. I choke down some water and, though the idea sounds ludicrous, I think, Am I going to drown . . . in space?

At this point, you might be asking, “What is a twelve-year-old doing in space?”

And I’d say, “That’s what you’re worried about? Not that I’m going to die?!”

It’s cool. Let me answer both questions. Why I’m one of the first kids in space, and how I ended up in this mess, adrift from my craft and about to become a permanent orbiting satellite. If I don’t plunge into the atmosphere and burn up first.

I’ll pause my death scene to explain a bit about how I got here. Because that’s a thing, right? Aren’t you curious how I got into this impossible quagmire? It’s a pretty amazing story. And 100 percent true.

The books I tend to enjoy reading are about kids being brave, or learning how to be, and I’d like to tell you this is one of those. But I’m not feeling it right now.

To be fair, in those books the kids are fighting fantasy monsters that disappear into dust when you stab them, or they’re in a simulation, or a video game, or you kind of know everything’s going to be all right, right? It’s fake danger.

This story is different. This one’s real. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to survive this. Adrift in space with my oxygen running low, all alone, spinning uncontrollably, a water leak in my suit threatening to drown me.

It all started innocently enough when a harmless package arrived in the mail . . .

About the AuthorBen Gartner is the award-winning author of adventure books for middle graders. His stories take readers for a thrilling ride, maybe even teaching them something on the journey. Ben can be found living and writing near the mountains with his wife and two boys.

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The Warlock’s Curse by C.B.Oresky – Q&A and Giveaway

February 21, 2023 By 4 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. A randomly drawn winner will be awarded a $50 Amazon/BN GC. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

If you could have one paranormal ability, what would it be?

I can see into peoples’ hearts, whether they are rigid like stone or soaring like an ecstatic gull in a clear blue sky. I can see peoples’ auras: black, grey, golden, or white. What’s next on my bucket list? My cup would overflow if I could speak telepathically with animals.

What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?

I will whisper my most treasured secret: I have and always have been a Buddhist monk. I don’t wear orange robes, I have not shaved my head, but I made a vow, a sacred promise. And I will tell you meditation is hard, stopping thoughts is hard, sitting still for hours on end is hard…but, with patience and perseverance, a beautiful light fills me, and the magic begins.

When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature do you start with?

When writing descriptions of any character I like to describe his or her face first: the shape of the face and nose, the color of the eyes and hair. I then usually move on to depicting height, weight, and clothing. This is followed by the magical things they say and do.

What part of the writing process do you dread?

This may seem strange, but I absolutely abhor those pesky semicolons, colons, commas, quotation marks… In other words, I dread all punctuation, with the exception of the noble period or elegant question mark at the end of a sentence. And I received an absolute F (as in failure) at reading the very commandments carved in stone, the bible of writing: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. My hatred of punctuation was part of my rationale for hiring my writing coach, a short man with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality, who spoke incessantly, helped greatly, or ranted loudly. Even in the end, my meticulous editor, a woman with a heart of gold and a magical wand, changed quite a few of my crazy coach’s punctation proposals.

Did you learn anything from writing this book? If so, what?

Writing is a hard, hard, very hard, often lonely process. Everyday I had to look directly into my characters eyes and ask them what are you going to do now? Sometimes they’d answer quickly with big smiles on their faces, other times they’d turn their backs on me, not saying anything at all.

Also, the process does not end with writing the book. An endless train of tasks appeared chugging around the bend: write and submit query letters, respond to all emails and requests, put on your most holy robes, drop to your knees, and pray. Then, if a publisher loves the book there’s the wonder of the editorial process, where a big-hearted, believing editor that hardly ever sleeps and has a sharp tongue cajoled me into revising the manuscript even more. With ears wide open, I listened and altered, because she knew what was right…and it made all the difference in the world.

Clara and Angelica Grace have never met ghosts. They’ve never sailed on a tall ship, ridden wild unicorns, or fought with magical weapons. Instead, the teenage twins have a wretched existence, ignored by their troubled parents in a rundown home and tormented by the town’s snobs.

Everything turns topsy-turvy all of a sudden when discovery of an ancestor’s hidden journal with an odd key to an unknown door leads them into an entirely different realm.

The girls go on a thrilling oceanic voyage to search for mysterious whales, train with a seasoned warrior, and are befriended by a wise Master. But all is not a bouquet of lovely lilies…they are hunted by a cunning warlock and must rid themselves of The Warlock’s Curse.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The whales’ frenzied song grew even louder—the electrical atmosphere intensified.

“Now what’s happening? We’re dissolving!” Clara yelled, watching her little hands disappear and then reappear again.

Angelica observed different parts of the ship, their cats, their bodies, and the monkey crew all vanishing momentarily. She drew a sharp breath. She was about to say something when the ethereal whale swimming directly before them opened its massive mouth, saltwater pouring down its yawning maw that seemed miles and miles deep.

“This is madness!” Clara shrieked, staring down the vast gaping throat of the beast. “Even a hurricane would be much better than this.

We’re going to die, for sure!” Angelica lost her composure. “Turn the ship!” she demanded. “I don’t wanna die!”

“Impossible!” Claudius cried. “We must go!” “I’m gonna be sick!” Clara cried, her face pasty. She clasped her sister’s scrawny hand in horror. What lay before them was far worse than that scary roller coaster Angelica had once convinced her to try at their town fair.

Catapulted forward by the hurrying tide, Claudius’s ship now sailed upon the phantasm of a massive whale. The sleek vessel hung momentarily on the edge of the watery precipice of white light, then slipped straight down the monster’s wide-open chasm…

About the Author:

Fascinated by the works of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, C.B. Oresky began writing her own fantasy novel, The Warlock’s Curse, after dreaming of being whisked off to an alien realm. Besides her debut novel, she has seen four of her short stories published in a small, national literary press: Conceit Magazine. When she’s not writing, she can be found wandering through the woods, dancing flamenco, or planting flowers in her garden. She currently lives in a small town in Connecticut with her bodybuilder husband, their exceptionally naughty Scottish terrier and Siamese cat, ten chickens, Mr. Tiggy the hedgehog, and a yard filled with majestic flowers.

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The Breaks Between You and Me by Taiya Collier – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 20, 2023 By 4 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Taiya Collier will be awarding “bookish” sweatshirt and sticker pack (US ONLY) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Somewhere out in the hills of Montana, 17-year-old Harper Cassidy has a home. Really, she does! And so does her sister, Lil. But since all they’ve ever done is skip across the Pacific Northwest from town to town, following her mom’s every desire from Montana to California, it’s been getting harder and harder to feel rooted anywhere.

Until tragedy strikes. And, before she knows it, Harper is… free. Free to go home to Montana and return to a stability she never had. Only, there are several problems standing in her way.

First, she has to create a stable life for her and her seven-year-old sister. Second, she has to do it alone. And third, worst of all, she has to keep her mother’s absence a secret from the people she grew up with: her grandfather, her aunt, and him, the boy.

Andy Madden is Harper’s best friend, and the answer to her aching loneliness, but he is also the threat to containing the secret that her life depends on. A secret that seems just a little too heavy for any one person to keep.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Younger me goes wild running across these floors. In the kitchen I’m making jam with Mom. On the living room’s stained couch, there’s me, my scraped-up arm, and you, busy patching up scrapes with Spiderman Band-Aids with an ironic amount of doctor formality. On the four-seater table a couple steps away, are the piles of magazines I would bury myself in because I liked the feeling of losing myself in vivid, exaggerated, and bold colors and shapes and silhouettes. Younger, nostalgia-bound me runs across the dusty dirty floors of this house boundless and uncatchable and she laughs and giggles loud enough that it can no longer be considered music.

About the Author At just eighteen years old, Taiya Collier is already making a name for herself as an author. The Austin-native has set her sights on creating age inclusivity within young adult fiction and shattering the notion that writing about teen life can only be done by middle-aged writers who lack true understanding of the experience. She’s published four books so far, each filled with riveting storylines sure to enthrall readers from start to finish! By inspiring other teens towards authorship, she hopes to build up a new generation of YA novelists capable of capturing accurate accounts of today’s youth culture. Taiya is currently attending college full time while continuing to write as often as she can. Her recent works explore themes of identity, strength, growth, and resilience in young adulthood—all of which are important aspects of her journey as a writer. In addition to writing her own stories, Taiya is also involved in various literary events and speaking engagements throughout the year. As an advocate for literary inclusion, she uses these opportunities to spread awareness about the importance of diverse representation on all platforms.

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Character Creation by Henry Mitchell – Guest Blog and Giveaway

February 20, 2023 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Henry Mitchell will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Character Creation

I don’t feel that I create characters. When I meet them in the process of writing a tale, they seem to have previous histories, as if they were real and fully-formed long before the author came on their scene. Writing a story around them is an excuse to get to know and appreciate them as unique, even eccentric individuals.

My novels are place-driven. I try to understand the setting of the novel early on, for the place shapes the character. If I write out of places I know, then I have an idea of what sort of characters I might expect to inhabit them. Even so, often I am surprised. Once a character gains their footing, they take off on their own agenda. The best an author can do then is to follow along, try to keep up and write it all down. It is the author’s job to write true to the characters, not to try to force them into motivations and situations contrary to their individual natures. They will tell their own story if their writer pays attention and listens to what they want readers to know. If they are free to surprise, mystify and delight the writer, they will do the same for readers.

Of course, this means that my stories seldom turn out the way I expect when I start writing them.

I wouldn’t dare try to write an outline before the story is finished. I tend to agree with Stephen King when he says that plot is the last refuge of a bad writer.

The places I write about resemble places I know. It follows then that the characters I write might resemble people I know in the outer world. If you could find your way around Saluda, North Carolina, where I live, you could navigate Drovers Gap, the town that provides the setting for my novel, Among the Fallen. They are not the same place, not at all, but there is a resonance between them. One informs the other.

The same with characters in my tales. Some of them might remind you of my neighbors and family in Saluda, but it would be a mistake to regard them as copies. They live their own lives, quite different and distinct from ours. When The Summer Boy, my first novel, came out, I gave a copy to my Aunt Mary, who was in her nineties at the time. I went to visit after she read it, and asked her how she liked it. There was a character in it named Mary, several decades younger than her.

“You didn’t tell me you were going to put me in your damned book,” she said.

“That wasn’t you, Aunt Mary, I said. “She just looked like you.”

Not everything is what it seems.

Drovers Gap, population 703, appears to the tourists passing through as one more sleepy Appalachian village, just off the interstate, on the way to someplace spectacular and important. But there are simmering tensions and unspoken malice behind the seemingly placid facades, and a spark from afar will ignite an explosive and insatiable evil that hungers to devour the town and everyone in it.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Wendl was reading the story aloud. It was an old story. He knew it by heart. After a while, lost in the flow of his remembrance, he no longer even glanced at the ReadPad. Mid-way through the tale, he felt something wet and warm and viscous in his palm. Wendl stared down at the ReadPad. A thick red liquid oozed out of it, dripping off his fingers. He raised his hand to his face and inhaled. Wendl had been in the War, a long time ago when he was still young. There was no mistaking. He had never forgotten the smell of blood.

“Are you alright, Grampa?” said the child sitting beside him. There were two of them, a boy and a girl. The boy had spoken.

“I’m sorry, children,” Wendl smiled down at them, “I must have dozed off.”

“You were talking funny,” said the girl.

“It was the Old Tongue,” Wendl said, “as we spoke it among the Fallen.”

“But the Old Tongue is not allowed,” said the boy. His voice tremored with fright.

“We should report you, Grampa,” the girl admonished, looking suddenly very serious and grown-up.

“Are you going to report me, children?” asked Wendl, chuckling, as if they were sharing a joke.

“Oh, no, Grampa,” the boy said, shaking his head, vigorously, “They would cut out your tongue.”

“Then how would you tell us stories?” asked the girl, wild-eyed and giggling.

About the Author: Henry Mitchell reads and writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

He has written five novels and two collections of short stories.

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Deadly Betrayal by Sheila Kell – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 17, 2023 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sheila Kell will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When trusting the wrong person can be deadly.

From Romantic Suspense BEST-SELLING and AWARD-WINNING Author • What happens when a former FBI analyst quits her job to become a PI and ends up partnering with the man who left her fourteen years earlier? In Sheila Kell’s riveting novel of secrets, deceit, and romance, two people rush to find a killer while reckoning with their growing attraction.

Cassie McKay was tired of being passed over as a FBI field agent. She quits her job as a FBI analyst, moved back home with her mother, and takes a job as a PI. Only she hadn’t expected her partner to be the one man who’d left her years before.

Jack “JD” Walker had done a lot wrong in his life, but he hadn’t killed the mother of his child as the police believed, nor had he expected the only women he’d ever loved to come to his rescue. The two work diligently to prove JD’s innocence while someone is determined to make JD pay.

Deadly Betrayal is the first book in the Coastal Investigations series. If you enjoy a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat read, you’ll love this installment of Sheila Kell’s new romantic suspense series.

Read an Excerpt

He noticed a vehicle approaching from the rear fast. He sped up, but the car kept closing. Idiot. He hated tailgaters. Just because the guy wanted him to go faster didn’t mean he would, not with his son in the truck.

Then the vehicle behind him did something JD hadn’t expected. He rammed JD from behind. The impact threw him forward in his seat belt, and he noticed Henry Kyle do the same. Someone had tried to hurt him with his son in the car. No fucking way was he going to allow that to happen. Then the vehicle rammed them again, and this time his truck spurred forward toward a busy cross street. Henry Kyle screamed, and JD, braking hard, tried to regain control of the vehicle.

About the Author:

Sheila Kell writes about the romantic men who leave women’s hearts pounding with a happily ever after built on memorable, adrenaline-pumping stories. Or, (since her editor tries to cut down on her long-windedness) simply “Smokin’ Hot Romance & Intrigue.” Her debut novel, His Desire (HIS Series #1), launched as an Amazon #1 romantic suspense bestseller and Top 100 overall, later winning the Readers’ Favorite award for best romantic suspense novel.

As a Southern girl who traveled the world with the United States Air Force, she remembers all the embarrassing moments of her fellow veterans to include in her books and laughs every time she does it. Having left behind her days as a College President, she can usually be found nestled in the Mississippi woods, where she lives with her cats and all the strays that magically find her front door. When she isn’t writing, you can find Sheila with her nose in a good book, dealing with the woodland critters who enjoy her back patio, or wishing she had a genie to do her bidding.

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Things That Will Make Me Hate a Character by Dana Hammer – Guest Blog and Giveaway

February 16, 2023 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Dana Hammer will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Things That Will Make Me Hate a Character

Sometimes, when I’m reading a book, I wind up hating a character I’m supposed to love. This doesn’t mean I hate the book, or that I’ll stop reading it, but it does mean that I will now actively root for this character to suffer and fail. Here are the things —

1) Refusing to use swear words
Unless it’s a children’s book, or this is a person who has been raised in a religious cult, I don’t want my likeable characters to clutch their pearls whenever a “bad word” is uttered. I’m fine with it if it’s a villain (think Annie Wilkes) but if I’m supposed to like the person, I don’t want any irrational prudes.

2) Refusing to read the letter
We’ve all encountered this. The heroine receives a letter from her ex-boyfriend, or her estranged mother, or a mysterious man in a parking lot and SHE DOESN’T OPEN IT. The reasons are always stupid. “It would be too painful.” “I don’t want to hear what she has to say. NOTHING can excuse her behavior.” “It’s probably a scam.” Then she stashes the letter away until a convenient time, when the plot starts to lag, and suddenly she gets the urge to open it. I get that it’s a plot device, and an easy one to use. But I hate any character who’s so dull-minded that they aren’t even a little bit curious about a letter from a former lover.

3) Nursing a terrible, secret guilt that only proves to us how noble and awesome she is.
We read the book, knowing that our heroine is deeply troubled because of something that happened in her past. Something that makes her believe she is unworthy of love, because of how horrible it is. Then, after many chapters of cryptic allusions and hand-wringing we finally discover the truth. She was working in a soup kitchen, feeding the homeless. She gave a piece of candy to a little boy with big sad eyes — and he choked to death! IF ONLY SHE HADN’T GIVEN THE POOR CHILD A PIECE OF CANDY! HOW CAN SHE LIVE WITH HERSELF?

4) Couples who want to be together, but can’t, because…oh, wait, there’s no reason they can’t be together.
This one annoys me. There are lots of reasons why people can’t be in a romantic relationship —they live too far apart, they’re already married, he’s a firefighter and she’s an arsonist. It’s not hard to come up with a reason for people who want each other to be kept apart. But sometimes, the couple just…can’t get their shit together. And that’s not a valid reason, and I will hate them both for their invalid dithering.

5) Kids who only talk about homework and school.
If I’m reading a book, and a child in it talks in tired childhood cliches, I’m done with that child. In any given book, a child may use ONE of these phrases ONCE: homework, soccer practice, late for school, school dance, sleepover, study. (Exception: it’s a kid’s book, and soccer or the school dance is integral to the story.)

6) Writers who are confused by bare feet indoors.
“She walked down the stairs, bare feet padding on the carpet.” “She was cooking in the kitchen, barefoot.” “Her bare feet were propped up on the couch.”

If you’re indoors, you’re supposed to be barefoot. Or at least, it shouldn’t be so abnormal that the writer feels the need to point it out. If the character is barefoot outside, in a snowstorm, OK, that’s weird, and you should address that. But the fact that anyone feels the need to point out that a character isn’t wearing shoes in her own damn house is bizarre and grating.

I guess this isn’t something that will make me hate a character. More just a thing that will annoy me when I read it.

6) Modern characters who unironically call each other “Dear” and “Darling” or “Dearest”.

No one has called anyone “Darling” since 1942.

7) Characters in historical fiction who are waaaay too modern.

This one is super weird. You’ll be reading this book that’s set in 1662, in a rural village in England, and the main character is all “Wait, I can’t be an atheist-feminist-anti-racist-college professor? I’m so confused by this society.” She somehow holds all the currently correct views on things. She is perfectly accepting of gay people, and people from other countries, and people of all religions or lack thereof, and she doesn’t understand why other people aren’t like her. Even though it’s 1662.

I understand that you want the character to be relatable to a modern audience. She doesn’t need to be a total ignorant racist who only likes getting beaten by her husband, but she should have some grounding in her time and place. Unless it’s a time travel novel. Even then, she shouldn’t be totally perplexed by the realities of the past. We all know that the past sucked, and if we were to be sent back into it, we’d have to alter our expectations somewhat.

Anyway, these are a few things that make me frustrated with characters. I’ll still read the book, if it’s good, but I will actively root for these characters to have a terrible end.

Fanny Fitzpatrick has the coolest best friend ever. Athena is smart, and pretty, and brave, and kind. Fanny loves her friend, but sometimes, she feels a little jealous of how perfect Athena is.

But even “perfect” girls make mistakes, and Athena makes a big one when she accidentally turns the school bully into a cockroach. He was picking on their friend Gemma and Athena lost her temper and her magic powers just slipped out right in front of Fanny.

Now Fanny knows that Athena isn’t an ordinary girl – she’s the reincarnation of a Greek goddess, powers and all – and now she needs Fanny and Gemma’s help to hunt down the bully-turned-cockroach and turn him back into a human boy.

Fanny doesn’t want to spend all her time looking for a cockroach. She’s got the Junior Miss Super Pretty Pageant to prepare for, if she can get over her stage fright. Besides, Athena’s Dad, Zeus, has forbidden the girls from meddling with any more cockroaches or magic, and Zeus is a god you don’t want to mess with.

Fanny has to make a choice. Should she pursue her pageant dreams, or risk Zeus’ wrath to find the cockroach-boy? What’s the right thing to do? And how do you hunt down a cockroach anyway?

Enjoy an Excerpt

Normally, when I arrive at school, I’m tired and cold and grumpy, but not today! Because today I’ve got the World’s Coolest Necklace, and everyone’s gonna notice it and give me compliments. It’s a “statement” necklace, and I got it at an old lady’s estate sale yesterday. I was shopping with my best friend, Athena, when I saw it. It was sitting on a dresser, with a bunch of other jewellery, but this necklace was the only one that caught my eye. It’s a large octopus, with jewel-covered tentacles, and two pearls for eyes. I tried it on, and it looked like the tentacles were reaching around my neck, trying to choke me. I’d never seen anything so cool in my life. It was $20, which was more than I had, but luckily Athena was there, and she bought it for me. Athena always has lots of money, because she’s a rich kid, but that’s NOT why I’m friends with her.

Anyway, she saw how sad I was that I couldn’t afford the necklace and she just bought it for me, probably because she has excellent taste and could see what a great investment it would be. She said it was “quirky” and “an interesting piece,” which I happen to know is code for “high fashion”.

My mom said it was “tacky garbage” but she doesn’t know about fashion. She mostly wears gym clothes, even when she’s not at the gym, and she never wears jewelry, except her wedding ring.

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

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The Menagerie by Judy Willmore – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 14, 2023 By 4 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will award a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

FranÇoise-AthÉnaÏs de Rochechouart de Mortemart had to have Louis, King of France, but his other mistresses stood in the way. Then she meets the very helpful sorceress and AthÉnaÏs gets her wish. But soon Louis hears tales of witchcraft and poison, a conspiracy spreading through his court—like the beasts in the Versailles menagerie, courtesans are clawing their way to his favor, and his bed. He orders Lieutenant General of Police Gabriel-Nicolas de la Reynie to investigate. Mysterious deaths mount while La Reynie presses on, hauling in witches, charlatans, and the nobility alike. Grimy fingers point to AthÉnaÏs, the King’s mistress, with whispers of a black mass celebrated over her naked body. Then La Reynie discovers a plot to kill her.

Enjoy an Excerpt

They were about to alight when Athénaïs shrank back into the shadowed corner of the coach. “Look—could that be?” A man built with the broad shoulders and determination of a bull walked briskly past them towards the first coach in line.

Her maid gasped, but quickly squeezed Athénaïs’ hand. “I told you, madame, tout Paris consults the famous La Voisin. Come along, now.” In a rustle of brown silk, the laughing mademoiselle got out of the coach, followed by the wary Athénaïs.

They were greeted at the door by a girl of about fifteen, her frowzy hair peeking out of her lace-edged cap. “Bon soir, mesdames,” she curtseyed. “Please come into the parlor.” Light from a chandelier and a few candles pierced the shadows, reflected in a crystal ball on the tea table near the settee. Next to the crystal ball was a deck of tarot cards lying on a square of purple silk. “Please be seated,” the girl announced. “I will fetch my mother.”

“Isn’t this exciting,” whispered Mlle Claude as she looked around the room.

Athénaïs stared at the murky crystal ball. “How can anyone see anything in there?”

“Only someone with my gifts can see the future,” boomed a woman’s voice behind them.

Startled, both ladies turned to see La Voisin in the doorway. Although short and plump, she radiated authority in her magnificent sea-green velvet dress and crimson velvet cloak embroidered with hundreds of double-headed, wingspread eagles. Even her slippers were stitched with gold thread in the same motif. What stunned Athénaïs were the woman’s eyes: black as night, so piercing as to invade one’s soul.

About the Author:

Judy Willmore is a former journalist, then private investigator, and now a psychotherapist who practices in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her historical mystery The Menagerie was published in 2021 by Artemesia Press, and she is now working on a sequel.

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Sanctuary on Victoria Island by Karen Andover – Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway

February 13, 2023 By 9 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Karen Andover will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Victoria Island is an idyllic place to live and work. Or so Emma Rutledge had always thought. Working for her family’s property company, she enjoys professional success. But her personal life is more complicated. She struggles to move past her childhood infatuation with Donovan, her brother’s best friend, and to cope with his callous rejection of her feelings.

But things are not always as they seem on the picturesque island. The sunny and peaceful haven conceals dangerous secrets. When Emma unexpectedly stumbles across the darker side of life, her life is threatened.

Donovan Evans is leaving the military after fifteen years and returning home to Victoria Island. He is ready to start the next chapter of his life with a different job and the hope for a new relationship. But old hurts frustrate his plan. And unforeseen violence transforms his priorities. Suddenly Emma and Donovan have more at stake than getting past their troubled history. They must work together to say alive.

Enjoy an Exclusive Excerpt

Emma slurped the last of her frozen margarita. She carefully set the massive wide-rimmed tumbler down.

“You know something? You almost waited too damn long.” She accentuated her comment by pointing a tortilla chip at Donovan.

“You weren’t seriously involved with that banker.”

He took a swig of his beer. When he set it down, beer spilled over the top.

“I could have been. Stephen and I had a lot in common.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“We both volunteered for the Save the Seas charity.” She ticked one item on her finger.

“Hmm…” His eyes narrowed. “What else?”

Emma screwed her face up. She was having trouble organizing her thoughts, and this interrogation was making her think too hard. She blinked.

“He’s attractive. He’s my age.” She counted off two more fingers. She extended another finger, then hesitated. “Oh, yes! He has a good job. That’s four reasons.”

He shook his head. “Those are superficial rationales at best. They don’t establish long term compatibility. Anything else?”

“Uh, he was a good dancer.” She made a “voila” motion with her hands.

“Right.” He set his beer down precisely on the mat.

“It’s clear to me that you could never have been deeply committed to him.”

About the Author:Karen Andover is an author of romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and science fiction. Karen lives an idyllic island life and her goal is to share her happy place with readers one book at a time. She lives in Florida with her family and rescue pup.

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