My Adventures #9 – I’m a little bit Country – 2014 Night Train Tour

Posted on March 16, 2014 by fundinmental

Mr F and I, his trusty production assistant, had a gig at The Wharf Amphiteather in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The Amphiteather at the Wharf has an awesome country trio for the 2014 Night Train tour – Tyler Farr is the opening act for Florida Georgia Line with Jason Aldean wrapping it up.

I was so excited to hear Florida Georgia Line would be playing. As soon as I heard their song Cruise on the radio during a road trip, I knew it would be a hit. I am unable to share, but be sure to follow the link below and listen to this upbeat song that describes the southern lifestyle for me. I cannot help but sing and dance along with it. I’ll let you in on a little secret, I played it 6 times while I was writing this post. LOL

Cruise by Florida Georgia Line

Lucky me!!!!

Tyler Hubbard (Monroe, Georgia) and Brian Kelley (Ormond Beach, Florida) are the Florida Georgia Line. Looking at their hometowns, you can see where they got their name.

What’s my next adventure?

Stay tuned and I will be happy to tell you about it.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

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Friday 56 #9 – Daughter of Nothing by Eric Kent Edstrom

Posted on March 15, 2014 by fundinmental

The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.

The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find any sentence, or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

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Daughter of Nothing by Eric Kent Edstrom

“I seem to recall you have the key to the pit and the remote control for the front gate.”

“Say I broke down the door to the medical ward and wheeled Vaughn out onto the quad. Say I let Humphrey out and opened the front gate. Where would you go with them?”

(56% on Kindle)

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BLURB

Few people even know that the Scion School exists. Tucked away on a private Caribbean island, the school is host to thirty-six exceptionally gifted students, all orphans. They train and study every day to prepare themselves for an immense responsibility, to lead humankind back from the brink of extinction.

At least, that’s what they’ve been told.

Among the thirty-six is Jacey, 17, one of four Scions in the Eagle class. She is the favorite of the 93-year-old headmaster, Dr. Carlhagen. But when Jacey overhears a conversation between a strange visitor and one of the school’s first graduates, she learns a stunning fact about her future. One that Dr. Carlhagen has kept from all the Scions.

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If you would like to get a copy of Daughter of Nothing or another Eric Kent Edstrom novel, click on the cover below.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

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Sending Thanks and a Question

Posted on March 13, 2014 by fundinmental

As you, my faithful followers and readers, may know, I have been having some blog issues. I love blogging, but am not computer literate. Probably pretty obvious. LOL

Right now, I am using a newsletter program to send out notifications of new blog posts, but I am not sure if it will meet all my requirements.

The blogging community is wonderful in its eagerness to help other bloggers when they have a problem, so this is my call for help. I know a lot of you use WordPress and other platforms that supply all you need, but for us self-hosted people, we need to find our own. My question to you is:

“What email program do you use when notifying your followers of new posts?”

I appreciate everyone who has stuck with me and sympathized with my frustration. I look forward to entertaining you with many more posts in the future and want to thank you for all your support!

Sending warm thoughts your way

Michigan Great Lakes ice cover has positive effects for the region

Posted on March 13, 2014 by fundinmental

I started my life in Flint, Michigan and left there for sunnier climes in 1987. I love my home state and still have family there. It holds a special place in my heart and I would like to share this interesting almost record of ice cover on the Great Lakes.

Michigan is known as The Great Lakes State, The Wolverine State, The Mitten State, and the Water (Winter) Wonderland State.

The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning “large water” or “large lake”.

Great Lakes Water Levels
In this Feb. 16, 2014 satellite image provided by the NOAA Great Lakes CoastWatch is the ice cover on the Great Lakes. (AP Photo/NOAA Great Lakes CoastWatch)

Michigan’s State Motto

“Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice”
“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.”

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I still have family living in Michigan and we have always enjoyed the Great Lakes, plus many smaller lakes that dot the entire state. No matter where you live in Michigan, you are never more than six miles from a natural water source or 85 miles from a Great Lake shore.

The Great Lakes have receded miles from the shoreline I used to enjoy from the time I was a child. Whether it is being siphoned off for the drinking water, global warming or just Mother Nature doing it’s thing, I cannot say for sure, but it is something that we should be concerned about.

I have been watching the freeze over of the Great Lakes with much interest. It is now 91% frozen over, a near record that was set in 1979 when almost 95% froze over. Hopefully, this will help to raise a declining water level.

This does not mean we do not need to be ever vigilant when such a huge fresh water supply is concerned.

To read more, go HERE or visit Wikipedia.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

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Austin Carr is at it again – Big Money by Jack Getze – Giveaway and Review

Posted on March 12, 2014 by fundinmental

Jack Getze and Austin Carr had me laughing so hard……..

His colorful and eye catching covers only hint at the gut busting hilarity inside.

Big Money (An Austin Carr Mystery)
Publisher: Down & Out Books (January 12, 2014)
E-Book File Size: 884 KB
ASIN: B00HHAOZN4
Paperback: 218 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1937495671

SYNOPSIS

In this jaunty follow-up to Big Numbers, a scruffy stockbroker returns to tangle with mobsters, women and his own big mouth. The good news, as the story opens, is that the hero is in the company of a gorgeous naked lady. The bad news is that she’s pointing a shotgun at him. It’s a typical predicament for Austin Carr, a semi-shady New Jersey financial professional temporarily in charge of Shore Securities…He’s being extorted into opening a money-laundering account for local crime boss Bluefish; an auditor who was investigating his company has turned up murdered; a fetching state police captain figures he’s the key to her organized-crime probe; and his boss’s mother has been picked up for fixing her church bingo game.

Carr is continually getting into trouble over his weakness for breasts, his penchant for self-incriminating statements and his vestigial moral sensibility, which, like an appendix, makes itself felt at inconvenient times. — Kirkus Indie

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Former Los Angeles Times reporter Jack Getze is Fiction Editor for Anthony nominated Spinetingler Magazine, one of the internet’s oldest websites for noir, crime, and horror short stories. Through the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Syndicate, his news and feature stories were published in over five-hundred newspapers and periodicals worldwide. His two screwball mysteries, BIG NUMBERS and BIG MONEY, are being reissued by DOWN & OUT BOOKS, with the new BIG MOJO to follow. His short stories have appeared in A Twist of Noir and Beat to a Pulp. Getze is an Active Member of Mystery Writers of America’s New York Chapter.

Author Links

Blog / Goodreads

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My Review of Big Money by Jack Getze

I found Big Money a light, humorous and entertaining read. Not only did I laugh with Austin, I laughed at him. Jack Getze and Austin Carr have a rather perverted sense of humor and I love it. There is more mystery and thrills going on than first meets the eye. It seems like a simple little story, but keeps spreading out, drawing in characters you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, or anywhere for that matter. So, don’t blink. You may not see it coming.

Let’s see what kind of mayhem Austin Carr is up to today. I’m sure we can find him at his usual haunt, Luis’s Mexican Grill.

A naked lady is pointing a shotgun in Austin Carr’s face. I am not surprised that the book starts out this way. It is par for the course in Austin Carr’s world.

Austin is a hard drinking, margarita loving kinda guy that seems to attract trouble just by breathing. I would like to compare him to some noir character, but he is so low, I don’t think there is another one like him. When I think he can’t get any lower, he digs the hole deeper. Morals and ethics are nonexistent when the femme fatale walk into the room. He’s a horny, seat of your pants kind of guy.

Austin’s stockbrokers license has been suspended, so he joined forces with Vic and some other pals at Shore Securities.

There is no lechery too base in the pursuit of love or big commissions.

Humor and mayhem rule Austin’s life. I can’t help but laugh at the messes he gets himself into, mostly because of women. He tends to think with the wrong brain. He has a bad habit of opening his mouth and inserting his foot.

All that being said, I love him. Just can’t help myself. So join me while we see how he gets out of another fine mess.

4 STARS – Would Highly Recommend To Others

I received a signed paperback from Jack Getze in return for an honest and unbiased review. I have reviewed another books of his, Big Numbers (see the review link below) so I was happy to oblige.

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Big Numbers by Jack Getze

Stop in and meet Austin Carr. You’ll be glad you did.

Review for Big Numbers by Jack Getze

SYNOPSIS

Root for divorced dad Austin Carr, a funny, oversexed scamp who’ll use anything and everything to get his kids back.

Divorced father Austin Carr wakes up every day in a beat-up camper, parked on someone else’s private property. Why? Because his alimony and child support payments were established by New Jersey’s family court system when his income was double, and for the last two years he has failed to earn the legally mandated monthly nut. He’s had his savings drained, his Maxima repossessed, his salary attached, and his visiting rights suspended. He bought the twelve-year-old Chevy pick-up with the rusty camper for $800 last month because another landlord tossed his butt in the street. Will stretching the rules, his own morals, and the boundaries of common sense raise the cash needed to get his kids back? Or will his big mouth and bad behavior set him up for a nasty double-cross? Find out if Austin can redeem himself and win back his children.

Praise For Big Numbers

It’s a good, funny story filled with suspense and adventure.
~Socrates Book Reviews

…quite a bit of action, drama and intrigue to balance out all the hilarious trouble Austin seems to bring with him wherever he goes.
~Turning The Pages

If you like your mysteries with plenty of thrills with a side of crazy these pages will be flying.
~Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

I was definitely surprised at some of the twists that occurred.
~Storeybook Reviews

I was hooked. I like an early hook in books. It grabs me and sucks me in quickly.
~fundimental

I love the character that is Austin Carr…
~Shelley’s Book Case

Big Numbers was a great read.
~Kaisy Daisy’s Corner

This book is so f*&%*&g funny, I read it right through in one sitting.
~Rantin’ Ravin’ and Reading

The book is full of nonstop humor, lots of violence, sex and enough bad guys and other quirky characters to keep the pages turning.
~Celtic Lady Reviews

The twists and turns that happen are not predictable, and the writing is superb. I’m definitely a fan of this series!!!
~Reviews by Karen

The story is dramatic and funny.
~Brooke Blogs

A well developed main character, good dialogue and colorful secondary characters kept me turning the pages to discover what could possibly happen next.
~Queen of All She Reads

…very entertaining, quick to read, and though it is a mystery – it also has a light hearted feel to it.
~Books and Needlepoint

Getze has combined humor, action, and quirky characters to keep the story going!
~Author Rosalee Richland

I think a lot of people will love the situations that Austin gets himself into and watching him wiggle his way out of!
~Community Bookstop

Austin reminds me of Charlie Brown. You keep hoping things will workout for him. But you know that Lucy will jerk the ball out from under again.
~readalot

I recommend Big Numbers to mystery fans, especially those who like their mystery splashed with a dash of noir, a pinch of zany, some thrilling, and a lot of funny.
~Jane Reads

… this mystery/thriller is filled with edgy humor and sharp dialogue.
~The Self Taught Cook

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GIVEAWAY

taiwan flag smiley animated gif Pictures, Images and Photos Jack Getze is offering for the giveaway, 2 ebooks. Enter now to get one for your very own. Easy entry. Just leave your email and answer the question:

“What attracts you to a mystery novel?”

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If you just can’t wait, grab your copy of a Jack Getze novel by clicking on the cover below.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look below or on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

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Teaser Tuesday #11 – Kingdom by Anderson O’Donnell

Posted on March 11, 2014 by fundinmental

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page.

•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Kingdom by Anderson O’Donnell

My Teaser for Kingdom by Anderson O’Donnell

“The soul,” Jael affirmed. “And not some abstract philosophical concept, but the real deal; an actual, physical thing. Hell, Campbell – you’ve seen the backroom at Ramoth, all the equipment. That’s what it’s for: mapping the soul.”

(page 142)

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Blurb from Goodreads

In a secret laboratory hidden under the desert, a covert bioengineering project–codename “Exodus”–has discovered the gene responsible for the human soul.

Somewhere in the neon sprawl outside the nation’s collapsing economic core, a group of renegade monks are on the verge of uncovering a secret that has eluded mankind for centuries.

In a glittering tower high above the urban decay, an ascendant U.S. Senator is found dead–an apparent, yet inexplicable, suicide.

And in the streets below, a young man races through an ultra modern metropolis on the verge of a violent revolution….closing in on the terrible truth behind Exodus–and one man’s dark vision for the future of mankind.

Welcome to Tiber City.

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You can grab your copy of Kingdom or learn more about Anderson O’Donnell by clicking on the cover below.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 56 #8 – She sees things – A Time of Demons by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Posted on March 7, 2014 by fundinmental

The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.

The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find any sentence, or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

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A Time of Demons by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Demons, psychics, tarot cards, a clown in a carnival, apocalyptic events, what more can you ask for?

Kathryn Meyer Griffith is a prolific writer and I am slooooowly going through her book list, ticking them off one at a time. Click on the covers below to check out her wide selection of books, such as Dinosaur Lake, Spooky Short Stories, Vampire Blood and Human No Longer.

(56% on Kindle)

“The fire took the whole building,” she’d told him. “Burnt it down to the ground. There’s nothing left.”

“We’re being eyeballed again. I can feel it.”

“Then the sooner we get out of the area the better.”

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BLURB

Since Cassandra Graystone was a child and her family perished in a fire she knows and sees things other people don’t…when someone will die or that a demon lurks beneath a human skin. She sees phantoms. Yet she craves a simple life singing out with her musician brother, Johnny, and caring for her elderly aunt and uncle; to be with her friends, Sarah, a psychic, and Walter, a clown in a carnival circuit. But when Sarah sees apocalyptic events in her tarot cards and demons are everywhere, Cassandra fears she’s going insane or something terrifying is happening in the world. Rayner, an ancient blood demon, lodges next door. He becomes obsessed with her. Never having felt pity or affection for a human before he believes he loves her, would die to protect her. The demon realm gathers for the final confrontation between us, Rayner warns. The apocalypse comes. You and your friends must prepare. Cassandra flees that knowledge until an angelic being, Manasseh, appears. Your powers will grow. You must fight for humanity’s survival after the first wave is taken. Seek out others like you. Persuade them to join the battle. Only these can see and challenge the demons until the end when all eyes see them. She doesn’t want her life to change; doesn’t want to be a nomad who battles demons. Doesn’t want to be anyone’s protector. Until a tornado flattens Sarah’s house. Johnny’s apartment. There are monsters maiming and killing everywhere. Demons persecute her and those she loves, burn down her home and force her family and friends onto the road, as everywhere cataclysmic weather and signs of the end days make things hellish for humans. Cassandra and her friends can no longer deny their destinies. They must fight…or see the remnants of humanity engulfed in flames.

You can get your copy of A Time of Demons or learn more about Kathryn Meyer Griffith by clicking on a cover below.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blog Tour – Excerpt & Giveaway for Moccasin Trace by Hawk MacKinney

Posted on March 6, 2014 by fundinmental

Hawk MacKinney is a writer that I have had my eye on for a while. Any time I see one of his books come up for promotion, I’m in. So let’s check out Moccasin Trace.

Moccasin Trace by Hawk MacKinney

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BLURB

… it was about the land…a tale of love and loss and hope…

Hamilton Ingram looked out across the fertile Georgia bottomlands that were Moccasin Hollows, seeing holdings it had taken generations of Ingrams to build. No drop of slave sweat ever shed in its creation. It was about the land…his trust, his duty to preserve it for the generation of Ingrams to come… It is July of 1859, a month of sweltering dog days and feverish emotional bombast. Life is good for widower Rundell Ingram and his Hazel-eyed, roan-haired son, Hamilton. Between the two of them, they take care of Moccasin Hollows, their rustic dogtrot ancestral home, a sprawling non-slave plantation in the rolling farming country outside Queensborough Towne in east Georgia. Adjoining Ingram lands is Wisteria Bend, the vast slave-holding plantation of Andrew and Corinthia Greer, their daughter Sarah, and son Benjamin. Both families share generations of long-accepted traditions, and childhood playmates are no longer children. The rangy, even-tempered Norman-Scottish young Hamilton is smitten with Sarah, who has become an enticing capricious beauty—the young lovers more in love with each passing day, and only pleasant times ahead of them. But a blood tide of war is sweeping across the South, a tide that might be impossible to stand before.

“The most engaging and brilliantly crafted historical work since Margaret Mitchell’s great classic.”

Barbara Casey – Author, The Gospel According to Prissy

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EXCERPT

Bessie’s head jerked around, “…them gun shots.”

A stooped-over Sarah looked up, “What?”

“Gun shots…” Bessie put down the box of jars and headed toward the cellar door. “From the direction where the men be. We gittin’ upstairs, an’ gittin’ now.”

Sarah’s heart pounded as they came up out of the cellar and looked in the direction of more shots.

“Come on…” Bessie hurried into the pantry where she reached down the powder horn from the top shelf, then the rifle and pistols. “Git ’em ready with all that shootin’. Till we know different, we make sure two-legged low-downs don’t sneak to the house.”

Sarah rushed to the window and murmured, “Hamilton…” She feared for him, for their child, for all of them. “Surely you don’t suppose it’s Federals?”

“Might be better if’n it is ‘stead of what else be skulkin’ in them woods. Stay away from the winder, an’ finish rammin’ this powder.”

Sarah poured the ball and powder firm, rammed it, pulled the rammer out, and whispered, “Bessie listen…birds stopped singing.”

“Except that cawin’ crow seein’ somethin’ what don’t belong.”

Sarah took another quick peek, “There’s several horses, but I don’t see any riders. Mules are still hitched. I don’t see anyone at the plow, but there’s men on among the trees.”

“You watch the front door.” Bessie snugged the pistol in her apron pocket. “I cover the back. Anybody tries comin’ through the dogtrot door or through the parlor, we back into here, keep ’em from circlin’ us.”

“What about Papa Rundell?” Sarah’s stomach was queasy.

“He keep his rifle ready. Anyone bust in his room be dead ‘fore they twitch a hair.”

With a crash the kitchen door flew open. Sarah brought her rifle up and fired, the shot splintering door and jamb. The sound thundered through the house. Bessie’s rifle steadied dead-on.

The silhouetted head and shoulders ducked into a hunch and Hamilton yelled, “Sarah!” His hand smeared at stinging blood-speckled splinters of wood along his cheek.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With postgraduate degrees and faculty appointments in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. In addition to professional articles and texts on chordate neuroembryology, Hawk has authored several works of fiction. Hawk began writing mysteries for his school newspaper. His works of fiction, historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers are not genre-centered, but plot-character driven, and reflect his southwest upbringing in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his serial protagonist in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series… murder and mayhem with a touch of romance. Vault of Secrets, the first book in the Ingram series, was followed by Nymrod Resurrection, Blood and Gold, and The Lady of Corpsewood Manor. All have received national attention. Hawk’s latest release in the Ingram series is due out this fall with another mystery-thriller work out in 2014. The Bleikovat Event, the first volume in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science fiction series, was released in 2012. “Without question, Hawk is one of the most gifted and imaginative writers I have had the pleasure to represent. His reading fans have something special to look forward to in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series. Intrigue, murder, deception and conspiracy–these are the things that take Hawk’s main character, Navy ex-SEAL/part-time private investigator Craige Ingram, from his South Carolina ancestral home of Moccasin Hollow to the dirty backrooms of the nation’s capital and across Europe and the Middle East.”

Barbara Casey, President

Barbara Casey Literary Agency

Website / Amazon / B & N

GIVEAWAY

Hawk will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found by clicking on the image below:

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look below or on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blood and Gold by Hawk MacKinney

Blood and Gold by Hawk MacKinney

Nymrod Resurrection by Hawk MacKinney

The Swan and the Jackal by J A Redmerski now available

Posted on March 5, 2014 by fundinmental

<<< Gremlins have attacked my blog.Please be patient while we locate them >>>

(In the Company of Killers, #3)

By NYT Bestselling Author J.A. Redmerski

An Adult Suspense/Crime/Thriller/Romantic Suspense

Releasing March 5, 2014

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

Fredrik Gustavsson never considered the possibility of love, or that anyone could ever understand or accept his dark and bloody lifestyle—until he met Seraphina, a woman as vicious and blood-thirsty as Fredrik himself. They spent two short but unforgettable years together, full of lust and killing and the darkest kind of love that two people can share.

And then Seraphina was gone.

It’s been six years since Fredrik’s lover and sadistic partner in crime turned his world upside-down. Seraphina went into hiding and has eluded him ever since. Now, he’s getting closer to finding her, and an innocent woman named Cassia is the key to drawing Seraphina from the shadows. But Cassia—after sustaining injuries from a fire that Seraphina ignited—suffers from amnesia and can’t give Fredrik the information he desperately seeks. Having no other choice, Fredrik has been keeping Cassia locked in his basement as he not only tries to get her to recall her past—because she and Seraphina share it—but also to protect her from Seraphina, who clearly wants her dead.

But Cassia is a light in the darkness that Fredrik never believed existed. After a year subjected to her kindness and compassion, he finds himself struggling with his love for Seraphina, and his growing feelings for Cassia—because he knows that to love one, the other must die.

Will light win out over darkness, or will something more powerful than either further destroy an already tortured soul?

(Note: THE SWAN & THE JACKAL is NOT a New Adult title.)

Release Event Exclusive Excerpt

Cassia pushes herself closer when I thought she couldn’t get any closer and urges me to look at her. Her right hand moves toward my face to console me, but I stop it, holding it at the wrist and pushing it back down.

“The only one of us who should be talking about our past, is you,” I tell her.

Her doe-like eyes fall under a shroud of disappointment.

But she’s not going to give up so easily.

“You’ve asked so much of me, Fredrik,” she says with such kindness, “but when I ask anything of you, you turn me away. I only want to know this one thing. I don’t care anymore about Seraphina, or the history you have with her. I don’t even care what I have to do with it.” Her soft hand ends up touching the side of my face anyway, and I’m not sure how she slipped it past my barrier. “All I care about anymore is you, Fredrik.” She peers deeply into my eyes and ensnares my gaze, her face full of heartbreak and longing. “What are your demons trying so hard to kill?”

I push her hand away more forcibly this time.

“Do you remember anything?” I ask, disregarding her question altogether.

“Stop,” she says with more intensity than I expected. “You’re going to give me this. Before you leave me alone down here another night, you’re going to tell me.”

The desperation in her eyes bores into me. I look away, only to look right back at her.

“Please…,” she says.

A lump moves down my throat and settles somewhere in my chest. All ten of my fingers spear through the top of my dark, messy hair and I let out a miserable sigh of defeat.

I never talk about my past to anyone. Ever. I try not to think about it, but on some days that is as futile as trying not to breathe. It wasn’t until I met Seraphina eight years ago that I learned to control it, that I became a much different man from the one who hunted shit stains like Dante Furlong, tortured and murdered them every other night, never feeling the satisfaction that I longed to feel with every kill. I was like a drug addict, always looking for a fix but never really satisfied enough to stop. Never satisfied at all, because I only wanted to do it more and more.

Seraphina helped me control the perpetual urges. She showed me how to release the darkness within me with quieter, cleaner methods so that I didn’t leave a trail of bodies and evidence behind. But the biggest impact that Seraphina had on my life was making me feel like I had one. Because before her, I was just a speck of dust floating around in oblivion. I didn’t know the meaning of happiness, or understand the thrill of pleasure or the hunger for excitement. I was just a shell of a man who knew only darkness and death, who only felt the emotions of anger, and hatred, and rage and vengeance.

But Seraphina, she was my dark angel, who came into my life and showed me that there was so much more to living than I ever understood. Ever since she left me in that field the night she set my house ablaze, I’ve been slowly but surely succumbing to my old life again, and I need to find her before I fall too far.

If I haven’t already.

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To grab your copy of a J A Redmerski book, click on the cover below.

About the Author

Born November 25, 1975, J.A. (Jessica Ann) Redmerski is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. She lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her three children and a Maltese. She is a lover of television and books that push boundaries and is a huge fan of AMC’s The Walking Dead.

Website | Facebook | Twitter| Pinterest | Goodreads

To grab your copy of a J A Redmerski book, click on the cover below.

GIVEAWAY

3 Signed print copy sets of Killing Sarai, Reviving Izabel and The Swan and the Jackal. International.

ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HERE

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar at Home and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sparky is a very special dog – Come meet him in Stray Ally by Troy Lambert

Posted on March 4, 2014 by fundinmental

<<< Gremlins have attacked my blog.Please be patient while we locate them >>>

It’s launch day for the newest book by Troy Lambert, and you’re invited to participate! This incredible book is being released by Tirgearr Publishing, just after it’s recent Anniversary event, on the 4th of March. As ever, Troy’s kept everyone abreast of the writing of this book on Facebook, and even had a mini-competition to name it. Troy is a stalwart supporter of other writers and is well worth following.

blurbblack

Stray Ally by Troy Lambert - 500

A strange accident on the freeway, accusations of murder, and an encounter in the Idaho wilderness all propel Todd Clarke into a new friendship with a dog named Sparky. But Sparky is no ordinary dog, and there is more going on than Clarke could have imagined.

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A military commander he investigated for Aryan activity and links to domestic terrorism is after him, and he’s not sure why until another chance encounter provides the answer.

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With Sparky and the help of his canine friends, will he be able to figure out the Colonel’s plan and stop him in time? All Clarke knows for sure is none of it would be possible without the help of his Stray Ally.

Buy the book here, from the Tirgearr Publishing.

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The skateboard collided with my windshield, and I braked with both feet, screeching forward. The body hit the glass next, spider-webbing it as the skater’s helmet-clad head struck the glass in the center of my vision. The rear view mirror separated from the window and hit the center of the seat with a thud as the car skidded to a stop.
Marsha is gonna be pissed, came the unbidden thought. We just replaced this windshield.

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Where did he come from? Creedence still blared from the stereo speakers and I turned the ignition key to the rear. Silence descended, broken a moment later by distant sirens.
I lifted my hand and felt wetness on my forehead, cut by—something. Glass? Must have been.

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I opened the door, dazed. Under the helmet, a young face offered a blank stare. Nothing but blackness in the eyes: no color. Not good.

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“You okay, kid?” I felt stupid asking. Stupider for expecting a response. “What were you doing on the freeway?”

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I heard distant voices. Looked up. Kids, on the overpass above. Did he fall?

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They pointed. One slugged the other one. A scuffle brokeout and they ran. All of them.
The sirens came closer. Another car pulled up, tires squealing as it stopped, rocking on its springs.

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“What happened? Is everyone okay?” the driver asked.

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Struck dumb, I just pointed. The skateboard rested half on the roof, half on the shattered windshield. The skater lay below it, unmoving, his left foot against the hood ornament, the Mercedes star cocked sideways.

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“Is he..?”

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He didn’t finish, but rushed over, feeling for a pulse, checking for breath. All things I should have done, but couldn’t.

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He shook his head, glanced over at me. “What was he doing here?”
I shrugged.

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“Did you see him?”

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Head wag, substituted for speech.

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“Are you okay?”

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Another head wag. I couldn’t articulate what was wrong.

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“You’re bleeding.”

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I managed a nod, and then my legs gave out. I dropped to the pavement and grimaced as my tailbone impacted the hard surface. I heard a whimper. It must have been me, because the other driver rushed over.

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I stared ahead, seeing and not seeing the scene.

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The sirens got closer, red and blue light illuminated Marsha’s car, the body, the skateboard, the chrome of her wheels, even making the brake lights appear to flash.
Help arrived, even though the boy was clearly beyond help. So was I, but no one knew it yet.

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Troy works as a freelance writer, researcher, and editor. He writes historical site characterization reports for those performing remediation on former resource extraction sites, software instruction and help guides, and edits the research of others as well. His true passion is writing dark, psychological thrillers. His work includes Broken Bones, a collection of his short stories, Redemption the first in the Samuel Elijah Johnson Series, Temptation the sequel to Redemption, along with the horror Satanarium, co-authored with Poppet, a brilliant author from South Africa and published by Wild Wolf Publishing. His next novel, Stray Ally, will be published March 4^th by Tirgearr Publishing. The final in the Samuel Elijah Johnson Series, Confession will be published May 1^st.

Troy lives with his wife of twelve years, two of his five children and two very talented dogs. He is a skier, cyclist, hiker, fisherman, hunter, and a terrible beginning golfer.

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giveawaysblack Best story of a dog (Stray Ally) that you rescued or that helped you through a hard time sent to author@troylambertwrites.com by March 29^th wins a $25 Amazon gift card. Winner and story shared on my blog Monday, March 31^st. Share your story today!