Forget what you think you know. How well do you really know your neighbors or fellow workers? Do you trust your boss? What about politicians? The fabric of our society is under attack. Our way of life, our livelihood, our very existence is under full assault. No one even realizes that it’s happening. Disguised as horrible natural disasters on the news, the world is caught unsuspecting as events draw us ever nearer to extinction. As “natural disasters” escalate and tensions between nations mount, one man hears a whisper. It has begun . . .
No more births. Ever. Extinction. No more rice. No more wheat. Starvation. That is what humanity is facing. The Ascanti, a conquering alien species, have been stopped, but scientists are incapable of reversing the environmental weapons engineered by the vicious aliens.
Clark Jackson, using his secret portal system, must find the Ascanti home world to learn if such a reversal is possible. And he’s on the clock, racing against the frightened nations of the world erupting into the third and final world war, bringing about extinction that much faster.
However, finding the alien planet is one thing, surviving its hostile inhabitants and environment is quite another.
David J. Englund is a former Associate Professor of Economics turned storyteller. He daydreams of visiting other worlds and cultures on Clark Jackson’s adventures.
His interests include reading, writing, baseball, cooking Italian food, and walking/jogging. David currently lives in Fargo, North Dakota.
Clearing in the Woods Women’s Psychological/Crime Fiction Publisher: Independently published (October 31, 2019) Paperback: 321 pages ISBN-10: 1701629364 ISBN-13: 978-1701629363 Digital ASIN: B07ZTZMTVS
Roberta escapes her humdrum middle-class
existence and the persistent ache of her dead mother’s secrets by
fleeing to Alaska. Having abandoned everything she’d spent her life
building, Roberta remakes herself in another place, doing anything other
than responding to the demands of her self-absorbed husband, her
entitled kids, and her Pottery Barn home. Taking her first job since
college, and a small room above a tourists’ shop, she contemplates new
vistas. She never expected, however, to find romance in the form of a
handsome federal agent involved in murder and mayhem.And it is murder
and mayhem, and the discovery of other’s secrets, that causes Roberta to
run for her life into the Alaskan wilderness…
About Phyllis M. Newman
Phyllis M. Newman is a
native southerner. Born in New Orleans, she spent formative years in
Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, and on a dairy farm in Ross County, Ohio.
After a long career in finance and human resources at The Ohio State
University, she turned her attention to writing fiction. She published a
noir mystery, “Kat’s Eye” in 2015, a Gothic mystery, “The Vanished
Bride of Northfield House” in 2018, and the suspense thriller “Clearing
in the Woods” in 2019. Today she lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her
husband and three perpetually unimpressed cats, none of whom venture far
from home.
Twelve-year-old Alex may have lost his ability to play sports, but he gained the ability to see ghosts. Now he must figure out how to put an evil spirit to rest—or die trying.
Once an athlete and popular kid, Alex is in a terrible car accident that severely injures his hip and leaves him with a rare power: he can hear and see ghosts. All Alex wants is to be normal. But when a malevolent spirit begins haunting him, Alex must accept his unwanted psychic powers and work with his best friend, his paranormal investigator cousin, and two friendly spirits to solve the mystery of the bones in the wall and put the vicious ghost to rest. If he fails, he’ll lose his family and friends to a gruesome fate.
“An inventive, fast-paced tale brimming with chills, thrills, and heart. Perfect for fans of Lockwood & Co.”— Henry H. Neff, author of The Tapestry series
Susan McCauley was born and raised on the gulf coast of Texas, not far from Houston. She spent several years in Los Angeles, California acting, writing, and teaching college English. In 2002, she moved to London to further explore professional theater. While in London, her stage adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Nose” was performed at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s George Bernard Shaw Theatre; and, scenes from her play The Prisoner: Princess Elizabeth were performed at HMS Tower of London. She returned to the U.S. in 2005. In 2007, she was the line producer of the Emmy Award nominated Civil War short film Now & Forever Yours: Letters to an Old Soldier. She has had short stories published in several anthologies, and her short story, “The Cask,” was made into an award winning short film.
Welcome to Leaven—oh wait—Santo Domingo, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
Family bombshells, sibling rivalries, blackmail, and a trip that could be deadly…and the new year has only just begun! After a disastrous Thanksgiving, Jolie Tucker is beside herself and feeling the walls closing in around her. She feels like she needs to escape Leavensport before she loses her mind. She unexpectedly gets her wish when her best friend and co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, Ava Martinez, gets a terrifying email revealing that her papa, Thiago, is in danger in Santo Domingo. The girls are off on a dangerous adventure in new territory. Will they be able to save the day before danger finds them?
Monthly Newsletter Link: http://eepurl.com/dIfXdb Get Short Story “Sweet Retreat” for free by subscribing to my monthly newsletter. Subscribe to my newsletter to receive free flash fiction, A Mystery a Month, serial scenes from series, and deleted scenes).
A bargain deal on a safari + one dead body = An adventure no one could plan for.
Naomi and her estranged sister are off
on a trip of a lifetime—an African safari, a bucket list trip for Naomi
on which she got a last-minute deal. Naomi thinks traveling with her
sister will be the worst part of her African safari until she finds one
of their fellow travelers, the unlikable Dr. Higgins, dead. She gets
more adventure than she bargained for when she starts investigating what
she thinks is murder but the luxury lodge says was a tragic accident.
She only has a few vacation days, and a few game drives, to find the
killer.
MY REVIEW
I didn’t sign up to share a review, but seeing I had the book on my Kindle, here is a quickie.
I love the cover and traveling, so going on a safari with Naomi seemed like fun. Until….
Naomi found the prickly Dr Higgins with his throat ripped out by hyenas. It seemed like she was the only one that thought something was rotten in Denmark, so she decided to investigate.
I do enjoy a cozy. We have plenty of suspects, and some danger and mystery. It was fun being along for the ride, seeing the sights, spending a night alone with Naomi in the treehouse, and meeting all the quirky characters. A R Kennedy’s writing made it easy to visualize as we enjoyed seeing the animals and the wonderful scenery that is Africa.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Sleuth on Safari by A R Kennedy.
3 Stars
About A. R. Kennedy
A. R. Kennedy lives in
Long Beach, New York, with her two pups. She works hard to put food on
the floor for them. As her favorite T-shirt says, ‘I work so my dog can
have a better life’. She’s an avid traveler. But don’t worry. While
she’s away, her parents dote on their grand-puppies even more than she
does. Her writing is a combination of her love of travel, animals, and
the journey we all take to find ourselves.
Print Length: 404 pages Publisher: 47North (March 1, 2020) Publication Date: March 1, 2020 Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC Language: English ASIN: B07RJQPB63 Praise for THE KILLING FOG
“Wheeler (Broken Veil) opens the Grave
Kingdom series with this winding tale of valor and sacrifice, set in a
realm where using magic summons a heavy fog that kills every living
thing it touches. [T]he threat of the fog looming in the background adds
atmosphere and tension…This excellent introduction to the prolific
Wheeler’s work will appeal to fans of Asian-influenced fantasy.” —Publishers Weekly
The Wall Street Journal bestselling
author of the Kingfountain series conjures an epic, adventurous world
of ancient myth and magic as a young woman’s battle with infinite evil
begins.
Survivor of a combat school, the orphaned Bingmei
belongs to a band of mercenaries employed by a local ruler. Now the
nobleman, and collector of rare artifacts, has entrusted Bingmei and the
skilled team with a treacherous assignment: brave the wilderness’s
dangers to retrieve the treasures of a lost palace buried in a glacier
valley. But upsetting its tombs has a price.
Echion, emperor of
the Grave Kingdom, ruler of darkness, Dragon of Night, has long been
entombed. Now Bingmei has unwittingly awakened him and is answerable to a
legendary prophecy. Destroying the dark lord before he reclaims the
kingdoms of the living is her inherited mission. Killing Bingmei before
she fulfills it is Echion’s.
Thrust unprepared into the role of savior, urged on by a renegade prince, and possessing a magic that is her destiny, Bingmei knows what she must do. But what must she risk to honor her ancestors? Bingmei’s fateful choice is one that neither her friends nor her enemies can foretell, as Echion’s dark war for control unfolds.
You can purchase The Killing Fog at the following Retailers:
Bingmei turned back to watch the struggle between Kunmia and
the Qiangdao leader. If only it were the man who had murdered her grandfather.
She’d hoped to find him this season, to make him pay for what he’d done. But
this was the first band of marauders they’d come across.
Kunmia’s weapon was soon the only one shining, and the fog’s
sickly haze was drawn toward it like a flock of moths. Magic lured the fog. It
was why the artifacts were used sparingly, if at all.
And then the leader went down, his skull cracked by the staff.
“Lieren!” Kunmia shouted in warning. The valiant man continued
to fight, not seeing the creeping mist that licked at his adversaries’ ankles
as if to taste them. He was still surrounded. And then the fog suddenly surged
forward, engulfing him and the others near him.
“Please!” Marenqo gripped the young man’s arm, hoisting him to
his feet. The fisherman’s boy saw the fog then, the scene illuminated by the
glow of Kunmia’s staff. No further warnings were needed. The boy leaped into
the boat and began unfastening the ropes, working quickly. Screams of panic
started. The fog had begun its deadly work.
“Kunmia!” shouted Zhuyi. “The boat!”
Kunmia stood transfixed, gripping the weapon that had helped
summon the death of her friend, her companion in arms. Bingmei saw the anguish
in her face, which was quickly replaced by implacable determination. The leader
of the ensign rushed toward the boat, the staff’s glow slowly decreasing. Still
it lured the fog to follow her. Knee-high tendrils of mist snaked through the
grass, chasing after Kunmia.
Photo Content from Jeff Wheeler
Jeff Wheeler took
an early retirement from his career at Intel in 2014 to write
full-time. He is a husband, father of five, and a devout member of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeff lives in the Rocky
Mountains. His books have been on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller
list 5 times (for The Thief’s Daughter, The King’s Traitor, The Hollow
Crown, The Silent Shield, and Prism Cloud) and have sold more than 4
million copies. His novels have also been published or will be published
in many languages: Italian, Chinese, Hungarian, Turkish, Polish,
Spanish, Russian, and German.
He is also the founder of Deep Magic: the E-zine of Clean Fantasy and Science Fiction (www.deepmagic.co), a quarterly e-zine featuring amazing short stories, novellas, and sample chapters.
You can usually find Jeff at Emerald City Comic Con, New York Comic Con or at writers conferences.
He welcomes hearing from readers: jgwheels /at/ gmail dot com
If you are interested in purchasing signed
copies of his books for friends, family, or your own collection, please
e-mail: WOJWbooks /at/ gmail dot com
College Life: Friends, Finals, and the Fae trying to kill you.
Attending college your first year is exciting! Unless you fall victim to a siren’s love spell.
The Leopold Otto University, in mysterious Bewachterberg, invites both humans and those from the fairy lands to attend classes.
Beware though, the administration doesn’t guarantee your safety.
American college student, Logan Dannon, quickly discovers a student body composed of creatures from mythology and folklore are tricksy and dangerous. Only if he can navigate the fae’s tangled code of honor, might he survive the semester.
Brigit, a fae runaway, didn’t plan on getting a human roommate. Or that she would be placed under a fairy debt. Will the dryad be able to save Logan from a siren’s love spell or fail the semester?
A contemporary fantasy world where beings from the Perilous Realm make university life for humans precarious. The first book in the College Fae magic series about friendships between humans and the fae.
After gaining her B.A. degree in journalism Byrd worked as a reporter for a bunch of newspapers you never heard of in small towns you never heard of. Eventually she realized she could starve just as as easily writing her own stories as reporting on local vegetable festivals.
Traumatized by events of her past, Charlotte Bennett is not a fan of strangers. When she sees a man touching her daughter at the park, she reacts without listening. It’s only later when her daughter is rushed to the hospital that she realizes how wrong she had been.
Doctor Wesley Young only wanted to help the tender-aged girl he witnessed fall, but when her mother attacks him at the park, he’s left stunned. When the little girl arrives later in the emergency department, he comes face to face with the mother makes more of an impression on him than the cut she left on his face.
Things heat up quick when Marisol is no longer his patient, but when things from the past are revealed, Wes isn’t sure that Charlotte is the woman for him. Can Charlotte find a way to explain it all so that Wes will accept both her and her daughter before it’s too late?
Being a wedding planner is hard, especially when someone is always trying to steal your business, and your family doesn’t support you. However, Roxanne Novak is determined to keep her business afloat. When Roxy’s in a car accident hurrying to meet a potential bride, she’s injured and scared, but paramedic Henley Young takes good care of her.
Henley loves his job and thrives on the adrenaline of helping people in need. Maybe that’s why when he meets Roxy, he’s inclined to help her with more than just medical care. Hooking her up with his older brother Wesley and his bride-to-be could be just what she needs. It might also be the start of something between the Lee and the spunky little wedding planner.
When a position at a country club is offered to Roxy, she finds herself rethinking her entire business plan. Excited to start someplace new, Roxy and Henley begin making plans for the future. Just after she starts her new job, Roxy learns of Lee’s past relationship, and everything she knew about him is questioned.
Can Roxy and Henley put the past to bed and move forward to something that might be more than what both of them had ever hoped for?
The Loving A Young Series is about a family of six siblings finding love in today’s world. Wesley, Book 1 and Henley, Book 2 will soon be joined with Huntley, Riley, Bradley and Kayley.
Stacy Eaton is a USA Today Bestselling author and began her writing career in October of 2010. Stacy took early retirement from law enforcement after over fifteen years of service in 2016 due to a second serious concussion. Her last three years on the job were in investigations and crime scene investigation. She now writes full-time.
Stacy resides in southeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, who works in law enforcement, and her teen daughter. Stacy also has a son who is currently serving in the United States Navy. She is also very involved in Domestic Violence Awareness and served on the Board of Directors for her local Domestic Violence Center for three years.
Stacy writes a variety of genres, but mostly romance. She enjoys writing real-life stories that people can relate too with real-life problems, emotions, and solutions.
Her favorites: Classic cars, photography, Disney, music, coffee and her favorite sweatshirt that says, “You are dangerously close to getting killed in my next novel.”
Visit Stacy’s website for more information on her and her books.
Street of Storytellers by Dough Wilhelm Genre: YA Multicultural Thriller Release Date: September 2019 Rootstock Publishing
Summary:
Luke is 15, and he’s mad at his dad. He blames his parents’ recent divorce on his father’s obsession with finishing a book about a lost ancient civilization in a dangerous part of Asia.
But his father badly wants his son to understand — so he brings Luke to Peshawar, an age-old crossroads city in Pakistan’s North West Frontier. To punish his dad, Luke refuses to learn anything about the project; instead he’s drawn into the strange, intriguing Old City, where a frightening new extremism is on the rise.
Luke is dazzled by Danisha, but in the city’s strict Pashtun culture they can’t ever be seen together. He’s recruited by her brother to assist the jihadis — but he also bonds with Yusuf, an Afghan refugee who knows what could happen. Then there are the musicians Luke befriends, and a mysterious Sufi teacher who opens his eyes.
Street of Storytellers is intensely suspenseful. It’s about three
families across two cultures … about two world religions, Islam and Buddhism
… about music, Western and Eastern … and about how modern extremism affects
ordinary families. It’s about an ancient true story the world has almost
forgotten. And it’s about learning to think for yourself, even if that puts
your life at risk.
Doug
Wilhelm is a fulltime writer and editor in Weybridge, Vermont. His 16 previous
books include The Revealers (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003), a novel
about bullying that has been the focus of reading and discussion projects in
well over 1,000 schools, and continues to be part of the curriculum in middle
schools across the country.
As a young journalist
in the early 1980s, Doug left his newspaper job to spend two years in Pakistan,
India and Nepal. He traveled, wrote, taught English and worked on what he
originally planned as a nonfiction book about his experiences, which years
later grew into Street of Storytellers.
Doug’s other books
include three more young-adult novels, a biography of Alexander the Great for
young readers, and 10 books for the Choose your Own Adventure series.
Where We Belong Shann McPherson Published by: HQ Digital Publication date: February 21st 2020 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
An emotional, compelling page-turner from your next romance obsession, Shann McPherson, about the power of friendship and finding love where you least expect it.
When Alice ‘Murph’ Murphy’s beloved mother died, she promised to keep the family bakery in Graceville, Georgia afloat—even if it meant letting her high-school sweetheart, Nash Harris, go. For years, Murph has been biding her time, waiting for Nash to come back for her.
So when he strolls into Piece O’ Cake, Murph’s heart skips a beat—until he hands her an invitation to his wedding… There are painful secrets in both their pasts that only the two of them share, and Murph can’t bear the thought of Nash belonging to someone else.
There’s only one thing Murph can think of to do: fake a relationship with local bar owner and old friend Harley Shaw to remind Nash of what he’s losing, and win him back for good.
Nash is Murph’s best friend, a vivid reminder of her childhood and all the things she’s lost—but the more time Murph and Harley spend together, the more the lines between real and pretend begin to blur. Can Murph choose between the one who got away and the one who never left—and heal her aching heart?
I push my glasses up my nose for the millionth time, and while holding my breath and with one eye narrowed, I wipe a tiny smudge of frosting from the silver turntable holding Mr. and Mrs. Robertson’s fiftieth wedding anniversary cake. It may have taken me two full days and most of last night, but I’ve finally finished. Exhaling the breath I’ve been holding for a beat too long, I take a step back to really appreciate my craftsmanship. Four layers of lemon and blueberry perfection, covered in a fluffy whipped buttercream frosting, decorated with beautiful red roses, delicate peonies, and a smattering of baby’s breath, all of which have been hand-piped by yours truly.
I place a hand on my hip, smiling proudly. “Alice Murphy, once again you’ve outdone yourself,” I whisper under my breath, mentally high-fiving myself.
The bell above the door to the shop jingles, pulling me from my musings, and I walk through from the kitchen to the front of the store, still smiling at the thought of my latest masterpiece.
“Welcome to Piece O’ Cake,” I sing in a cheerful customer service voice. “How can I help yo—” Stopping dead in my tracks, my eyes go wide as I gawp at the unexpected figure standing in the middle of the shop. He’s shadowed by the afternoon sun shining in through the windows, backlighting him to nothing more than a darkened silhouette, and I blink hard, unsure whether or not I’m imagining things. But then he speaks. And I would know that voice anywhere. This is definitely not my imagination playing tricks on me.
“Hey, Murph.” The shadow takes a step forward, coming in to the glow of the overhead lights, and I’m immediately enamored by that all too familiar grin.
“N-Nash?” I gasp.
His smile is bright and those eyes. I’d remember those eyes anywhere after spending such a big part of my life dreaming about them.
“Oh my God!” I scream, covering my mouth with trembling hands until I finally come to, ripping off my apron before practically throwing myself over the counter. Jumping up, I wrap my arms around his neck, and emotion gets the better of me as I stand there in the familiarity of his warm embrace with tears of happiness streaming down my cheeks.
He’s here.
The love of my life.
He’s home.
Author Bio:
With big dreams of being a published author since she was an eleven-year-old girl writing Beverly Hills 90210 fan fiction before fan fiction was even a thing, Shann McPherson has been writing angsty, contemporary romances for most of her thirty-something years.
Living in sunny Queensland, Australia, when she’s not writing Shann enjoys making memories with her husband and cheeky toddler son, drinking wine, and singing completely off-key to One Direction’s entire discography.