This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Roxanne D. Howard will be awarding a $20 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.
Dreams are the perfect shelter for fantasies, safe havens to step inside without changing our daily lives. For Lark Braithwaite, all that is about to change. During the last six months, Lark has dreamt of a mysterious Irish lover who knows what she wants and gives her exactly what she needs. In her waking life in busy London, things aren’t as ideal as her long-term relationship with her controlling fiancé Charles has hit a dry spell.
When Lark is called home to Oregon for her father’s funeral, she comes face to face with the demons from her past, but she never expects to meet her dream lover in the flesh. Niall O’Hagan steps straight out of her fantasies and into her life, and the powerful connection they share rocks her foundation. Although she’s dealing with the bitterness of her fiancé’s betrayal and his jealousy, Niall soon stirs Lark’s awareness of her superficial existence and reawakens her sexuality….and her soul.
FROM PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY: “Howard (The Longer They Last) explores the concept of fated love in this skillfully woven contemporary erotic romance. Lark Braithwaite, an American in London, is living with her British fiancé, Charles Chase, when she starts dreaming of a sexy mystery man with an Irish brogue. After Lark gets word that her estranged father has died and she returns to her Oregon hometown for the funeral, she meets the dream man in the flesh: he’s her parents’ widowed lawyer, Niall O’Hagan. Lark quickly falls in love with Niall, struggling to decide whether she should follow her heart or the commitment she’s made to her fiancé-a decision that gets easier when Charles shows his true and ugly colors… Explicit sex scenes crackle with heat, and Howard’s characters invite readers to come in and get lost on the pages with them as the plot hurtles toward a shocking, but not unbelievable, climax involving Lark’s father’s past and her future. Erotic romance fans will devour Howard’s suspenseful and heart-filled story.”
Read an Excerpt
If the kiss had stayed careful and guarded, she might have continued to question it. But the blindfold disappeared. She’d fallen asleep. Her eyes flew open, and he was there. Oh, my God. He was there! Heated eyes watched her. Rakish dark hair fell over his forehead as he breathed hard, and the morning sun lit up the world behind him. She shuddered and took a deep breath to speak, but his hands moved to cup her face. He held still and closed his eyes as his lips took her mouth. Right then and there, she knew with crystal clarity this was real. This was the weight of a real man on top of her, clothed. He smelled citrusy and freshly laundered. What in the hell is this?
How did he get here? He was only her dream lover.
Or was he?
Confused beyond all comprehension, Lark didn’t have any time to contemplate a single thing. His lips delivered a breath-stealing, soul-shattering kiss, and then they were all over each other. This, ah, this she knew. Lark hooked her ankle over his, put a hand on his shoulder, and tried to rid him of his jacket as she drew him closer. She fisted his hair as he devoured her mouth. He tasted the same as her dream lover, and she put her tongue in his mouth to savor more of his tangy sweetness.
They both made noises they never had in her dreams, breathy gasps and blasts of air as their mouths met and separated as they sought new angles and depths to their passion.
He made a disgruntled sound as he tried to get more comfortable in the cradle of her hips over the hindrance of clothes. This wasn’t a dream. He nibbled on her lower lip as she opened her mouth to tell him to stop, but then he carried her away in the undercurrent of his large, warm hands, which caressed the skin of her stomach beneath her hoodie and T-shirt. She continued to accept his kisses but pawed her zipped-up sweat jacket. Okay, so she was still clothed. He was rock hard against her, and he ground his hips into her. A disbelieving grunt escaped his lips. Lark shivered at the jolt that went through her.
“Wh— Mmm. Whoa. Stop,” She managed against his mouth. She furrowed her eyebrows and scrutinized him as he breathed in and out. He braced himself on the weight of his hands above her, his bright green eyes bearing into hers. His face was the face of her dreams—the sensual bowed lips and cleft chin, the built body, and the thick hair. His hair… She blinked. His hair was cut at the nape and styled for a day at work. She glanced at his clothes.
“Um, why are you wearing a suit and tie this time?” She squinted against the sunlight. Please, God, let this be a dream. He moved his head and put her in shade.
About the Author:
Roxanne D. Howard is a U.S. Army veteran who has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English. She loves to read poetry, classical literature, and Stephen King. Also, she is an avid Star Wars fan, musical theater nut, and marine biology geek. Roxanne resides in the western U.S., and when she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and children. Roxanne loves to hear from her readers, and encourages you to contact her via her website and social media.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Skye Warren 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.
Blood and sweat. Bethany Lewis danced her way out of poverty. She’s a world class athlete… with a debt to pay.
Joshua North always gets what he wants. And the mercenary wants Bethany in his bed. He wants her beautiful little body bent to his will.
She doesn’t surrender to his kiss.
He doesn’t back down from a challenge.
It’s going to be a sensual fight… to the death.
Read an Excerpt:
Blinding lights. Aching lungs. Thunderous applause. The final show concludes the same way we rehearsed for months, the same way we performed for weeks. My muscles know the movements better than they understand rest. The prospect of after, of what comes next, makes my breath catch. Even as the primas take their bows, relief echoes around the stage. Vacations are planned. Relief for strained muscles. Everyone needs a break, even professional athletes. I’m the only one onstage dreading it.
We bow and curtesy with practiced grace. The curtain descends to the floor. Almost to the second we break formation—a flock of crows startled from the woods. The more exuberant among us, the young ones, the new ones, the ones using steroids, prance and jete toward the dressing rooms. Most of us limp our way out. One hundred percent of NFL players are injured every season. Professional dancing is the same. We hurl our bodies through the air, forcing massive impact through tired joints night after night. I catch my friend Marlena in my arms. Her face is white with pain.
“Ice,” she says. “Or better yet—tequila.”
I push my shoulder under hers as we exit the stage. “Don’t sell yourself short. You can have both.”
A delicate snort. “Not likely. We have to smile and flirt with the old men with big, fat wallets. And for what? I won’t be here next season. You won’t be, either.”
The reminder clangs inside me like a copper bell. I won’t be coming to the New York City Ballet after the break. We fall into our creaky chairs in the dressing room. “Are you going to miss it?”
“Miss it? Of course I’ll miss it.” Marlena turned twenty-eight last month. It’s comfortably retirement age for a dancer. “When the little children do their terrible pirouettes, when they sneeze and throw up and cry all over my leotard, I’ll think fondly of the beautiful art I left behind. Then I’ll be able to walk home. That won’t happen if I try to dance another season.”
“You’ll make a wonderful teacher. You know you were mine.” She didn’t teach me to dance. It was my first love, before I learned to flip and contort myself. Before I ever leapt from a trapeze bar.
Marlena taught me the ropes of the ballet company when I joined two years ago. Most of them thought I wouldn’t last a week. Some of them didn’t want me to. It’s a rigid world, the hierarchy stacked with graduates of Juilliard or the John Cranko school.
I don’t have a pedigree.
All I have is a body that does what it must, no matter how much it hurts.
Which means changing out of my sweaty leotard into a fresh one. We’re contractually obligated to attend the ball. Like Marlena said, we should smile and flirt with the high society people who attend. Both the male and female dancers have to do it. It’s what convinces the sponsors to write checks that will fund the next season. By the time they’re rehearsing The Nutcracker I’ll be in New Orleans, the place I swore I’d never return.
About the Author: Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance. Her books have sold over one million copies. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Geoffrey Saign 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.
A demon haunts Samantha Green’s dreams.
And she fears it’s coming for her…
Book one is on sale for $0..99, book two is also on sale for $2.99.
When wildlife prodigy Sam and her crush—quirky handsome Jake—are attacked by a dragon assassin, Sam discovers her secret past. A past connected to a supernatural giant cat and a glowing faerie.
Sam is quickly pulled into a high stakes battle for the world. Everyone, including a creepy ancient villain, wants her supernatural staff, which she doesn’t know how to use. Sophisticated ninja dragons, a kong-sized gorilla, and mysterious beasts offer help—but are they friends or enemies? Sam has a big heart, but will her love for all creatures tear her life apart?
To survive the hardest choice she’s ever made, Sam will have to unlock the hidden power inside her.
Ready or not, Sam is about to find out if she has what it takes to be a guardian…
Guardian: The Choice is the new exciting start of a magic-filled fantasy four book series starring a powerful heroine, a tough brawny hero, and a slew of not-so-friendly magical beasts.
*****
Sam and Jake must capture a magical golden dragon—or Jake dies. Can Sam can save the man she loves? And will she have to die to do it?
But everyone wants the golden dragon, including the powerful Evil One, who has been hiding for centuries and has sworn to destroy all of life. No one can be trusted. Death Matches and ancient secrets test the guardians as never before.
Sam fears that whatever she does, she won’t be able to save Jake…nor stop the Evil One.
*****
IAN BOTY awards = Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards
CHOICE won the Young Adult category.
Guardian: The Choice was selected as Finalist in “Fantasy,” and “Young Adult” category winner!
And Guardian: The Choice was selected as the “Outstanding Young Adult” category winner!
Read an Excerpt from Guardian: The Quest
“What are we running from, Biggie?” yells Jake.
“Uncle Biggie not sure!” The big guy keeps running.
I step on one of the papery skins and slide, and then stumble over a leg bone lying on the ground. I hurtle forward off balance, crashing into the lower section of a giant rib cage.
“Ugh!” My shoulder hurts, but I squeeze between two ribs, run through the chest cavity, and slip out between ribs on the other side. I spot Jake to my left and veer after him.
A rumble fills my ears and I pump my legs faster. I weave around some skeletons and jump over bones scattered on the ground. I risk a glance back. A mass of indistinct shapes is flowing like water through the boneyard, quickly catching up to us.
Something is chasing us. A herd of large somethings.
Up ahead Ridge waves urgently to us. He’s standing beneath a thick, giant skull missing its lower jaw. Cerac must already be inside.
Uncle Biggie races past Ridge with the crocle-lion, ducking beneath the teeth of the upper jaw bone. Jake follows. Ridge must have decided to make a stand there. I’m disappointed and surprised that Biggie and Jake left me behind.
A deep roar splits the air. I check over my shoulder. I was wrong. I’m not being hunted. But something is hunting everything else.
The stampede sounds like a small earthquake and the ground trembles beneath my feet. A writhing mass of monster-sized snakes, lizards, and mammals—some with golden eyes—are jumping, leaping, and crawling in a crazed pattern behind me.
I estimate the distance to Ridge, and how quickly the mass of bodies is moving toward me.
I’m not going to make it.
About the Author:
Geoffrey Saign’s love of wildlife led him to write the award-winning fantasy series, Magical Beasts. He often experiences the magic of nature and wildlife while hiking and swimming. He has a degree in biology and has assisted in field research on hummingbirds and humpback whales.
Geoff loves to sail big boats, hike, and cook—and he infuses all of his writing with his passion for nature. As a swimmer he considers himself fortunate to live in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota. See what he’s up to at on his website.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Geoffrey Saign 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.
A demon haunts Samantha Green’s dreams.
And she fears it’s coming for her…
When wildlife prodigy Sam and her crush—quirky handsome Jake—are attacked by a dragon assassin, Sam discovers her secret past. A past connected to a supernatural giant cat and a glowing faerie.
Sam is quickly pulled into a high stakes battle for the world. Everyone, including a creepy ancient villain, wants her supernatural staff, which she doesn’t know how to use. Sophisticated ninja dragons, a kong-sized gorilla, and mysterious beasts offer help—but are they friends or enemies? Sam has a big heart, but will her love for all creatures tear her life apart?
To survive the hardest choice she’s ever made, Sam will have to unlock the hidden power inside her.
Ready or not, Sam is about to find out if she has what it takes to be a guardian…
Guardian: The Choice is the new exciting start of a magic-filled fantasy four book series starring a powerful heroine, a tough brawny hero, and a slew of not-so-friendly magical beasts.
*****
Sam and Jake must capture a magical golden dragon—or Jake dies. Can Sam can save the man she loves? And will she have to die to do it?
But everyone wants the golden dragon, including the powerful Evil One, who has been hiding for centuries and has sworn to destroy all of life. No one can be trusted. Death Matches and ancient secrets test the guardians as never before.
Sam fears that whatever she does, she won’t be able to save Jake…nor stop the Evil One.
*****
IAN BOTY awards = Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards
CHOICE won the Young Adult category.
Guardian: The Choice was selected as Finalist in “Fantasy,” and “Young Adult” category winner!
And Guardian: The Choice was selected as the “Outstanding Young Adult” category winner!
Read an Excerpt from Guardian: The Choice
Biting his lip, Jake grips the staff beneath my hands. “Okay, Sherlock. Got it figured out?”
I feel warmth in my hands and a vague memory returns. “I hope so.”
His eyes widen. “You hope so? I don’t want to end up in Africa or on top of a skyscraper! What if we end up inside a rock? I mean we’re turning into what? Beams of light? Maybe we’ll end up off the planet. What if they’re aliens? I mean they are anyway, right?”
He’s quiet for a few moments. “Weird, I think I remember this too.”
The soldiers stop at the edge of the meadow, aiming their weapons at us, while Macy’s voice booms at us. “Drop the staff now, Samantha and Jake.”
“Forget you, Macy.” Jake pushes me around so his armored back blocks me from Macy’s VIPERS. “Hurry it up. They can still Taser my legs. And I have to tell you, it was not fun the first time.”
“Thanks for taking one for the team, Jake.”
He squints at me. “I just don’t want to take another one for the team. What kind of team are we anyway? Batman and Robin? They both get beat up a lot.”
“How about Ant-Man and the Wasp?”
“That’s a little better.” His eyes light up. “They were romantic, you know.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t push it.”
We lift WhipEye off the ground, but Taser darts bite the dirt on either side of us and we freeze.
About the Author:
Geoffrey Saign’s love of wildlife led him to write the award-winning fantasy series, Magical Beasts. He often experiences the magic of nature and wildlife while hiking and swimming. He has a degree in biology and has assisted in field research on hummingbirds and humpback whales.
Geoff loves to sail big boats, hike, and cook—and he infuses all of his writing with his passion for nature. As a swimmer he considers himself fortunate to live in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota. See what he’s up to at on his website.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Rusty Blackwood will be awarding an inscribed and autographed softcover copy of “The Perils of Autumn” to be given to three randomly drawn winners (US/Canada only) via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
From the author of the riveting romantic fiction drama, Passions in Paris: Revelations of a Lost Diary, and the celebrated, 5-star award-winning romantic fiction drama, Willow’s Walk, comes the intense romantic drama, The Perils of Autumn.
This page-turner, set primarily in the early 1970s, centers on a young Kentucky woman, Autumn Leeves, born in 1946 to Abigail Leeves, an unwed mother who struggles to make ends meet. By 1970, Autumn graduated nursing school and is sent on assignment by the local hospital to care for the terminally-ill wife of middle-aged English equestrian master, Cyril Landon, owner of Landon Lawns Stables, a most successful thoroughbred racing stable located just outside Lexington, Kentucky in a posh community known as The Meadows.
Duff Taylor, a world-renown jockey who is tops in his field, lives full-time above the tack room at Landon Lawns and enjoys the many benefits it brings, but he also has a dark secret surrounding an unsolved racing incident from his past that he will go to any length to protect.
Autumn arrives at Landon Manor in time to be thrown into the drama and finds herself caught in the ongoing disruption that ensues.
Read an Excerpt
The time of year a child is born can often explain the name they are given, and this significant gesture seems to happen more often when the new arrival is female. Seasons can play a huge part, as well as the mother’s frame of mind when she gives birth. There can be many contributing factors behind a name, multiple reasons for choosing a certain one, but regardless of the reason, a name can often determine the course of one’s life.
It was mid-spring of 1946 when twenty-one-year-old, blonde haired, blue-eyed Abigail Leeves found herself an unwed mother and totally on her own. Her fiancé, and father of her unborn child had been killed in a car crash on route to their April wedding, leaving the three-month pregnant bride awaiting his arrival of which would never come. This would have been devastating for anyone, and Abigail, who fought to hold it together was no different, but being the strong-willed person that she was, she held her head high, and carried on. The situation was unfortunate in other ways, because it not only meant a difficult life for a single mother by way of integrating into a community of married couples, it also meant the child born out of wedlock would be looked down upon for the simple reason they had no father. This narrow-minded outlook would thankfully change for later generations, but for those born in Lexington Kentucky before the 1960’s it meant a never-ending search for acceptance, and for auburn-haired, brown-eyed Autumn Rose Leeves, born in early October of 1946, it was the normal way of life.
Abigail Leeves was not only resilient to the negative way she was being treated, she was a proud woman, determined to make a decent life for herself and her baby girl. In early December of 1946, with the Christmas season fast approaching, Abigail managed to find employment in the millinery department of Perkins Dry Goods, a popular ladies shop located on the busy corner of Main Street and Elm Tree Line in downtown Lexington. The engaging shop was owned and operated by seventy-eight-year-old Lucy Perkins, a kindly widow who adored children but had never been blessed with any of her own. She immediately took a shine to baby Autumn and fixed an area in a private room at the back of the shop in which to care for her. This oasis was complete with a small table and two chairs, a crib, and an easy chair, all providing the young mother a cozy area in which to take her breaks and spend time with her infant daughter. The svelte Abigail was extra fortunate, for Lucy Perkins lived directly above the shop in a large, three-bedroom apartment that she offered to share with the young family in return for a nominal fee. It was a wonderful arrangement. Not only did it allow the young mother a safe and comfortable home in which to raise her daughter, the cozy area in the back of the shop provided a protective cocoon for the baby during working hours. Lucy Perkins doted on baby Autumn, never once complaining when she cried or became fussy. She would help as diligently as she could, which in turn brought abundant gratitude from the child’s young mother.
The entire setup impressed Abigail immensely for when Autumn was born, she had no-one in which to turn. Her parents were gone, and she was an only child. These thoughts thrust her back to when she had spent countless hours holding Autumn in her arms while searching for a job, only to find door after door slammed in her face. It became a daily occurrence; one that left her no alternative but to go on city relief, that of which paid for a small, dingy room in a boarding house with minimal compensation left-over for food. This treatment continued until she came to Lucy’s shop, where she expected the same rebuttal, but was appeased to find instant asylum in Lucy’s opened arms as she smiled, and welcomed them in.
About the Author:
Top ranking romantic fiction author Rusty Blackwood, who chose her plume de nom by combining the colour of her russet hair with her husband’s great, great, Scottish grandmother’s maiden name, was born in St.Thomas, Ontario, Canada on October 5th, and grew up on her paternal grandfather’s farm in the County of Elgin, located in the south-western portion of the province of Ontario.
She acquired her love of literature while still in elementary school where she entered her original compositions into county fairs, school contests, and whatever venue allowed participants in the writing field. She has carried that love ever since and has put it to use many times since becoming a professional writer in 2001.
From the time of youth she has loved the Arts in their many unique forms, she is a graduate with honors in Interior Decorating & Design. She spent many years on the south-western Ontario stage performing with her family’s country music band: The Midnight Ramblers, followed by the country – rock – blues band: ‘MIRAGE’ as an accomplished vocalist, bassist, and rhythm guitarist. She now resides in the cultural city of St. Catharines, Ontario.
Almost
a century after Keres Triplets asteroid impact and subsequent nuclear exchange
almost ended all human life on Earth, a strange artifact is discovered on one
of the moons of Saturn. Who should be sent to the outer reaches of the solar
system to initiate the first contact with an alien culture? Dr. Varsaad
Volhard, an evolutionary-socio-historian, is chosen to help the world
understand the alien civilization that left an artifact some thirty thousand
years ago, before humans even learned to farm, at the time when other human
species still walked the earth. While Vars prepares for the mission, her
father, Dr. Matteo Volhard, discovers nanobots among the microplastics he
studies. The bots are everywhere and seem to have been created to bond with
human cyber implants. Why? Matteo is made to keep his discovery a secret…as
well as his and his daughter’s true origins. Both were donated to a Human DNA
Vault as babies. Matteo was raised as a Seed before leaving with his young
daughter to study ecology around the world. Who knows what? Who is in control?
How does one communicate with non-human intelligence? People seem to die in
gruesome ways as their cyberhumatics go haywire on Earth and on Luna and Mars
colonies. Is Earth under attack or is it all just a cosmic misunderstanding?
Vars needs to use all she knows to solve the mystery of the ancient
civilization on Mimas, as her dad battles the alien nanobots at home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
Three:
Vars slept on the plane…or tried to. She was too confused,
too keyed up to really sleep. That coffee might have been a mistake. Ian said
that he couldn’t tell her anything until they arrived at his EPSA office in
Seattle, which was conveniently her own hometown where she lived with her dad.
The man just smiled a lot and talked about how much he had enjoyed reading
Vars’s new book.
There was a strange edge to their interaction. If Vars
hadn’t believed Ian’s credentials, she would have bailed on him a long time
ago. Even so, she felt like she was being kidnapped. And, in a way, she was.
She’d had to cancel the last two lectures of her book tour and apologize to her
agent over and over again. Ian had promised that EPSA would send an official
excuse letter, but Vars still felt like she let her agent and publisher down.
They landed at a general aviation airport, and another black
car whisked them to EPSA’s headquarters, just outside of Seattle’s city limits.
She was taken to a conference room on the top floor of the EPSA science
building, which Ian called the “tree house.” She immediately understood why–it
was surrounded on all sides by a balcony planted with a row of trees and some
shrubbery. It was quite nice, but Vars couldn’t enjoy it; she was
simultaneously exhausted and adrenalized. It was just a matter of time before
she crashed.
She must have looked it, too, because someone handed her a
very big, very steamy cup of coffee. She sipped it gratefully, completely
oblivious to how she came to be holding it. It was still very early in the
morning, way before Vars even liked to get up, much less attend a meeting.
About a dozen EPSA people joined her and Ian around the
conference table. Vars noticed that several paper copies of her book were laid
out; some even looked read, with cracked spines and dog-eared pages.
“So,” she said to Ian. “Is now a good time and
place for you to tell me what this is all about?”
“Now is perfect,” Ian said with a big smile. “We are very
grateful to have you with us today, Dr. Volhard. This is my exobiology team.”
He pointed one by one to the people on one side of the table. “Dr. Alice Bear.
Dr. Greg Tungsten. Dr. Bob Shapiro. Dr. Saydi Obara. Dr. Evelyn Shar. And Dr.
Izzy Rubka.”
Vars had heard of some of these people by reputation, of
course, but never met any of them personally. EPSA people were a reclusive
bunch, tending to mix with their own to the exclusion of others, even with the
same research interests. It was one of the reasons Vars always wanted to join
the organization–to get access to the best and the brightest minds and a chance
to discuss the origins of life over coffee… But the introductions were
happening so fast, there was no chance that she would remember how any of these
names linked up with faces. Vars doubted she would even recognize these people
walking down the street.
But Ian just continued. “And this group,” he gestured to two
men and a woman, “is on loan from JPL–Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. Trish
Cars, Dr. Ron Silverman, and Dr. Benjamin Kouta.” Vars gave up on remembering
who was who. “And these two,” Ian said, nodding to a pair of identical twins
sitting next to him, “are Ibe and Ebi Zimov, our computer science wunderkinds
from EISS, European Institute of Space Science.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interview with the Author:
Thank you very much for this opportunity to connect with the Independent Authors Blog readers.
I
had two novels published in 2019: “Harvest” and “God of Small Affairs.”
And
here’s a link to the first few chapters of “God of Small Affairs”:
This
book tour was meant for “Harvest,” but I wanted to give you something a bit
different. I will talk about writing both of these books. I will also make “God
of Small Affairs” free on Kindle for the first 5 days of your book stop:
November 20th to November 25th. It’s something nice that
I can do for your readers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y2FT9H2/
The
text of the post is below, in addition to some background on “Harvest”. If
there is anything I can do to make this interview work better for you, please
let me know. I can provide art, reviews, links…
My husband asked me the other day what do I like more?
Having my books on Amazon and other bookstores? Being “famous”? Getting a hard
copy of my book in my hands (the unveiling, as people call it on Twitter and
post videos of themselves crying upon opening a box of books)? Reviews? The
strange thing is that it’s not any of these things (although reviews are great
and greatly appreciated!). What I love most is the actual writing part of
writing. I like the creation of a brand new world populated by beings from my
imagination. I actually go through a mourning period after each story I
finish. And I feel this way about my painting, too. Don’t get me wrong; having
accomplished something as hard as writing a novel is nice. Real nice. But the
time when I sit in front of my computer and put “words to paper” is the best
part of writing for me. All those ideas and thoughts that were expressing
themselves in my dreams (day and night), the little notes I wrote to myself
about plot points or definitions of words, the searches through interesting
imagery, the many months of research into the subject matter, all congeal into
a story as I sit down to write it. And I get to watch it come to life in real
time. It’s magic!
There are different kinds of writers. And by this I don’t
mean the subject areas or the genres of their stories. It’s all about the
creation process. Some writers create outlines and know exactly the story they
are telling. There might be surprises, there always are, but generally
speaking, those writers know the endings of their books before they put their
pens to paper. Then there are writers like me. I’m, what’s called in the
industry, a “seat of my pants” writer. That means that after doing all of the
research and taking all of the notes and collecting hundreds of images…I just
start writing. I have no idea how the story ends; I don’t know which characters
will live and which won’t make to the end. I’m just as surprised as my readers
by the twists and turns of my stories. Crazy, right? But lots of writers write
this way, just as lots of authors meticulously plot every detail of their
stories. And of course there many who fall somewhere on the continuum between
these extremes.
One of the downsides of not having a story outline is that I
have to reread everything I wrote the day prior before I start generating new
material. It helps me keep my story more cohesive. Sometimes (rarely), I have
to go back and change a few facts to make my story take a twist that I dreamt
about the night before. But the amazing thing is that it all works out! I
believe that it works out because I spend so much time in “pre world”—it takes
me a few years of gathering materials to get to the point of being ready to
write. There is absolutely a ton of unconscious processing stuff that happens
in my brain and that I get to see on paper (screen) only many months after the
fact.
For example, I’ve been collecting information on language
development and word formation, pronunciation drift and grammar evolution,
cultural linguistic adjustments and political manipulations of discourse for
many years. I’m about ready to write that novel… So far, I have written a micro
short story that was produced into a radio play by 600 Second Saga: “Word Magic”
(https://interfaces.com/blog/2018/08/word-magic-narrated-by-mariah-avix-of-600-second-saga/).
And just as I’ve decided that it was time to pen that novel,
another short story came out! This one incorporated language learning,
artificial intelligence, and multiple personality disorder…of an onboard
computer navigation system. Yep, it took me by surprise, but it turned out to
be a good story…novella. I hope to release it in some form soon.
I’ve started on my word magic novel again…but got stuck in
another novella (or is it a novel? Not sure yet.) This one is about sacrifice. What would one give up to
be able to NOT have a disabling medical condition? It’s something strange and
spooky, and it smells like dead leaves, and feels a little like “Something
Wicked This Way Comes.” Subconscious works in mysterious ways.
This
brings me back to “Harvest” and “God of Small Affairs”—my two novels that came
out as bookends to 2019 summer. “Harvest” is hard science fiction. “Hard” doesn’t mean it is hard to read or understand, just that it has a
lot of fun (and accurate) science in addition to a great story. It’s a story of
first contact with an alien civilization. I wanted to know what it would really
be like if we came across another intelligence? I think I’ve learned a lot… The
other story, “God of Small Affairs”, feels like a mirror image to “Harvest.”
It’s a magical realism narrative—the story takes place in the here and now and
deals with the world that we are all very familiar with…except that in this
world, gods live among their people. One could simply walk up to a god and ask
him or her questions, petition for a favor, or simply talk. What would that
kind of world be like? What would those gods be like? Would the people they
serve be strangely unable to grow up and take responsibility for making
important decisions? Both stories deal with the rise of man on our planet, both
focus on normal individuals pushed into difficult circumstances, and yet… It
was very interesting to write these stories back to back. I wonder what it
would feel like to read them this way as well? Somehow, these two stories feel
stronger together. But after I’m done with writing them, it is up to the
readers to discover them and love them. If I’m the mother of stories, the
readers are their other parent, the one that nourishes them and gives them a
future.
So happy reading! And thank you for reading!
About “Harvest”:
“Harvest”
is a story of first contact. 30,000-year-old alien artifact is found on one of
the moons of Saturn, buried in the ancient ice. This means that back when
humans didn’t even begin developing agriculture or domestication of animals or
started using symbols to keep track of ideas or to send messages to each other;
before the days of making clay pots and weaving baskets; back when we haven’t
even discovered the Americas; in the deep time before the dawn of our
civilization (night time, really), some aliens were already advanced enough to
send a craft across the trillions and trillions of miles of space to our home
star system. Why did they come? What do they want?
I became interested in the idea of galaxy’s first star-fairing civilization a few years back. I wanted to use all of the science I knew to extrapolate the implications of being the first intelligence and the first civilization and then the first space-fairing culture to arise in the Milky Way. There had to be the THE first in our galaxy. What if it is NOT us? How would we, humans, handle first contact with such people? Would it go well for us? Would it be like “Star Trek?” I had a feeling that it might not really play out that way…
The
story of Vars, a professor of socio-biology who studies human origins and civilizations,
came from my exploration on these ideas. I wanted her—a “soft” scientist—to try
to solve the puzzle of communicating with someone very different from us, whose
motivations we simply don’t understand. For when the time comes, it won’t be
the physicists and mathematicians who will be on the forefront of interfacing
with aliens. It will be the diplomats, sociologists, linguists, and lawyers!
(perhaps teachers…)
5-stars: “[T]he story is
very believable and that made it a tad bit scary. This could be where we are
headed and what our future could hold. The dialogues were amazing, the plot was
fast paced and the characters were given enough page space to evolve and
develop on their own. Nothing was rushed, everything unfolded as it should…
Interesting and very entertaining.” — Readers’ Favorite
5-stars: “This novel is a deep and meaningful exploration of the
complexities regarding the origins of the human race as well as the intentions
of an alien species.” — Readers’ Favorite
5-stars: “Author
Olga Werby writes with excellent pacing to deliver a detailed and engagingly
deep science fiction plot as well as a fast and action-fuelled novel that keeps
the reader wanting to turn pages. Never too bogged down by the details, gradual
exposition and well-crafted character development lead us to the secret origins
of both Vars and Matteo as they uncover conspiracies and secrets that humanity
would never be able to dream of in their society. I really enjoyed the realism
of this far future, where the new tech and alien culture are drawn from our own
influences, making them more relatable and often frighteningly realistic and
threatening on the page. Overall, Harvest makes compelling reading for its
conceptual prowess, strong plot and commitment to character development.”
— Readers’ Favorite
A bit about me:
I write in the genres of sci-fi and magical
realism. My background is in astrophysics and psychology. Granted, it’s not a
very likely combination for a career…a regular career. But it is perfect for a
writer!
I’ve always hoped to live long enough to see
the day when humans fully dedicate themselves to space exploration…at least to
exploring our Solar System. I’ve studied math and astrophysics in
college…went on to get a doctorate… But I’ve come to realize that one of
the best ways that I can “push” for space exploration in particular
and science in general is by writing stories full of science! So I write
what-if scenarios and embed as much real science as I can into a story that is
gripping enough to get the attention of just the right type of audience. My book, “Harvest,” deals with first contact. I use this setup
to discuss conditions necessary not only for life to develop, but for advanced
civilizations to rise and colonize space.
Thank you again!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Olga
Werby, Ed.D., has a Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on designing
online learning experiences. She has a Master’s degree from U.C. Berkeley in
Education of Math, Science, and Technology. She has been creating
computer-based projects since 1981 with organizations such as NASA (where she
worked on the Pioneer Venus project), Addison-Wesley, and the Princeton Review.
Olga has a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Astrophysics from Columbia
University. She became an accidental science fiction indie writer about a
decade ago, with her first book, “Suddenly Paris,” which was based on
then fairly novel idea of virtual universes. Her next story, “The FATOFF
Conspiracy,” was a horror story about fat, government bureaucracy, and
body image. She writes about characters that rarely get represented in science
fiction stories — homeless kids, refugees, handicapped, autistic individuals
— the social underdogs of our world. Her stories are based in real science,
which is admittedly stretched to the very limit of possible. She has published
almost a dozen fiction books to date and has won many awards for her writings.
Her short fiction has been featured in several issues of “Alien Dimensions
Magazine,” “600 second saga,” “Graveyard Girls,”
“Kyanite Press’ Fables and Fairy Tales,” “The Carmen Online
Theater Group’s Chronicles of Terror,” with many more stories freely
available on her blog, Interfaces.com.
Almost a century after Keres Triplets asteroid impact and subsequent nuclear exchange almost ended all human life on Earth, a strange artifact is discovered on one of the moons of Saturn. Who should be sent to the outer reaches of the solar system to initiate the first contact with an alien culture? Dr. Varsaad Volhard, an evolutionary-socio-historian, is chosen to help the world understand the alien civilization that left an artifact some thirty thousand years ago, before humans even learned to farm, at the time when other human species still walked the earth. While Vars prepares for the mission, her father, Dr. Matteo Volhard, discovers nanobots among the microplastics he studies. The bots are everywhere and seem to have been created to bond with human cyber implants. Why? Matteo is made to keep his discovery a secret…as well as his and his daughter’s true origins. Both were donated to a Human DNA Vault as babies. Matteo was raised as a Seed before leaving with his young daughter to study ecology around the world. Who knows what? Who is in control? How does one communicate with non-human intelligence? People seem to die in gruesome ways as their cyberhumatics go haywire on Earth and on Luna and Mars colonies. Is Earth under attack or is it all just a cosmic misunderstanding? Vars needs to use all she knows to solve the mystery of the ancient civilization on Mimas, as her dad battles the alien nanobots at home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
Vars slept on the plane…or tried to. She was too confused, too keyed up to really sleep. That coffee might have been a mistake. Ian said that he couldn’t tell her anything until they arrived at his EPSA office in Seattle, which was conveniently her own hometown where she lived with her dad. The man just smiled a lot and talked about how much he had enjoyed reading Vars’s new book.
There was a strange edge to their interaction. If Vars hadn’t believed Ian’s credentials, she would have bailed on him a long time ago. Even so, she felt like she was being kidnapped. And, in a way, she was. She’d had to cancel the last two lectures of her book tour and apologize to her agent over and over again. Ian had promised that EPSA would send an official excuse letter, but Vars still felt like she let her agent and publisher down.
They landed at a general aviation airport, and another black car whisked them to EPSA’s headquarters, just outside of Seattle’s city limits. She was taken to a conference room on the top floor of the EPSA science building, which Ian called the “tree house.” She immediately understood why–it was surrounded on all sides by a balcony planted with a row of trees and some shrubbery. It was quite nice, but Vars couldn’t enjoy it; she was simultaneously exhausted and adrenalized. It was just a matter of time before she crashed.
She must have looked it, too, because someone handed her a very big, very steamy cup of coffee. She sipped it gratefully, completely oblivious to how she came to be holding it. It was still very early in the morning, way before Vars even liked to get up, much less attend a meeting.
About a dozen EPSA people joined her and Ian around the conference table. Vars noticed that several paper copies of her book were laid out; some even looked read, with cracked spines and dog-eared pages.
“So,” she said to Ian. “Is now a good time and place for you to tell me what this is all about?”
“Now is perfect,” Ian said with a big smile. “We are very grateful to have you with us today, Dr. Volhard. This is my exobiology team.” He pointed one by one to the people on one side of the table. “Dr. Alice Bear. Dr. Greg Tungsten. Dr. Bob Shapiro. Dr. Saydi Obara. Dr. Evelyn Shar. And Dr. Izzy Rubka.”
Vars had heard of some of these people by reputation, of course, but never met any of them personally. EPSA people were a reclusive bunch, tending to mix with their own to the exclusion of others, even with the same research interests. It was one of the reasons Vars always wanted to join the organization–to get access to the best and the brightest minds and a chance to discuss the origins of life over coffee… But the introductions were happening so fast, there was no chance that she would remember how any of these names linked up with faces. Vars doubted she would even recognize these people walking down the street.
But Ian just continued. “And this group,” he gestured to two men and a woman, “is on loan from JPL–Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. Trish Cars, Dr. Ron Silverman, and Dr. Benjamin Kouta.” Vars gave up on remembering who was who. “And these two,” Ian said, nodding to a pair of identical twins sitting next to him, “are Ibe and Ebi Zimov, our computer science wunderkinds from EISS, European Institute of Space Science.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Olga Werby, Ed.D., has a Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on designing online learning experiences. She has a Master’s degree from U.C. Berkeley in Education of Math, Science, and Technology. She has been creating computer-based projects since 1981 with organizations such as NASA (where she worked on the Pioneer Venus project), Addison-Wesley, and the Princeton Review. Olga has a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Astrophysics from Columbia University. She became an accidental science fiction indie writer about a decade ago, with her first book, “Suddenly Paris,” which was based on then fairly novel idea of virtual universes. Her next story, “The FATOFF Conspiracy,” was a horror story about fat, government bureaucracy, and body image. She writes about characters that rarely get represented in science fiction stories — homeless kids, refugees, handicapped, autistic individuals — the social underdogs of our world. Her stories are based in real science, which is admittedly stretched to the very limit of possible. She has published almost a dozen fiction books to date and has won many awards for her writings. Her short fiction has been featured in several issues of “Alien Dimensions Magazine,” “600 second saga,” “Graveyard Girls,” “Kyanite Press’ Fables and Fairy Tales,” “The Carmen Online Theater Group’s Chronicles of Terror,” with many more stories freely available on her blog, Interfaces.com.
Falling for the
forbidden has never felt so right…
When social worker
Nica Anders indulges in one night of sexual passion with delicious Deaf man Cam
Thompson, the last thing she expects is to see him the next day while visiting
her dying client. He’s Cassie’s grandson and caregiver, the one treat she
shouldn’t have tasted. Now her job is on the line, demanding she stay away.
But their attraction
is building like a raging inferno and Nica can’t help but get burned.
Cam Thompson’s life
is a mess. He’s losing his grandmother, the one person who’s supported him his
whole life, and her dying wish is for him to settle down with a good
woman—specifically her social worker Nica Anders. Despite Nica trying to hold
tight to her ethics, he’s falling for her hard and fast.
Yet Cam’s grandmother
isn’t the only matchmaker in his family, and someone’s determined to keep him
and Nica apart.
Steamy, touching,
heart-warming. A much-needed #OwnVoices romance to go perfectly with that plate
of chocolate brownies and glass of wine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
As I approached the room, my grandmother’s door inched open.
I waited a minute, but no one emerged. I stepped to the side, letting the
social worker finish up, trying not to tap my foot in impatience and envision
how many digits my inbox had soared to.
I wondered if this was the social worker Grandma always
talked about. The thought alone caused me to laugh and my foot to still. For
years Grandma had matchmaking aspirations between me and the social worker.
Then again, Grandma always had matchmaking aspirations, really bad matchmaking,
take one look and run the other way kind. We’d never met but had e-mailed many
times. I contemplated taking another step to the side to avoid any additional
matchmaking attempts when the door opened further. A female with familiar blond
curly hair backed out of the room. She waved to my grandmother and closed the
door. Before I could chastise my dick on the urges the hair created, I found
myself face to face with Nica.
She froze, an expression of pure bewilderment that I surely
mirrored. Eyes wide enough that white surrounded her irises. On the lapel of
her pink button-down shirt she had an ID badge. Her picture was on the badge,
under the logo for Independent Senior Services, with her name: Veronica Anders.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Topic: Tell my readers when and why you started writing
I’m not one of those writers who always knew they wanted to
write. Though I did enjoy writing as a kid, I never considered it as a vocation.
I did love school assignments that involved writing, because I always knew I
could manage to put something on the page.
Writing as a vocation took longer to come to me. In college
I started writing fanfiction. I’m not even sure how I fell into it, but I think
it stemmed from my love of the TV sitcom Frasier. Dating myself a bit here, but
I connected online with other fans and that lead to reading fanfiction and
eventually to writing it. I was involved in a whole little world for a time
there, even co-wrote a few with a fellow fan/writer!
I also wrote fanfiction for the little known miniseries The
Tenth Kingdom and to this day my mom feels that my sequel should be the real
one!
Then I graduated and started to think about those next
steps. I loved writing those fanfiction stories and decided to give a full
length novel a try. I took my favorite story of the bunch, since at that point
creating my own new characters felt daunting, stripped the fan from it, and
then began writing.
That first novel turned out bloated and in desperate need of
revisions, but everyone needs to start somewhere! I spent the next twelve years
working on it, mostly on my own, in isolation. It worked for me, but that’s not
how one gets a story ready for the world. I finally stuck my toe into the
writer community and that made all the difference. Having other authors to
bounce ideas off of, to help show me the ropes and where my writing lacked, was
key to getting where I am today. I thank those early writer friends.
I guess I should also thank Frasier for giving me the desire to think of new episodes (I’m all about Niles and Daphne, their union is why I started watching in the first place), and how that desire grew into a career. And my hopeless romantic self, who will never get tired of happy endings, either watching them, reading them, or creating my own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Laura Brown
lives in Massachusetts with her quirky abnormal family. Her husband has put up
with her since high school, her young son keeps her on her toes, and her two
cats think they deserve more scratches. Hearing loss is a big part of who she
is, from her own Hard of Hearing ears, to the characters she creates.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Suzanne V. Reese 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.
They told me it would be easy—just blend in, observe, and keep to myself. They didn’t tell me that failure would cost me everything.
Mira Johns is pretty much like any other teenage girl. Which is why it’s a shock when she’s selected ahead of six hundred other candidates to be the first student ever to travel from the planet Nreim to Earth. Even though she’s only there to observe, she’s given what feels like a million rules that are mostly intended to keep her away from the planet’s primitive males. But after she finds one mysterious boy too irresistible for stupid rules, she realizes they have a connection that transcends their two planets—and puts both their lives in danger. When a series of serious accidents makes it clear that someone wants to force her return, Mira decides her only hope is to uncover the truth to why she, the most mediocre of candidates, was actually chosen for this assignment—before the agency discovers her secret and sends her back home.
Read an Excerpt
But I could say none of that to these neo-humans. Besides, I’d ignored the cheeseburger for too long. I picked it up again and did possibly the most rebellious thing of my entire seventeen years of life. I took a bite—and moaned with pleasure. I rolled the juicy meat around in my mouth, reveling in the unfamiliar texture on my tongue. I swallowed. My tongue sought the remnants of lingering food against my teeth. I hurriedly put another bite in my mouth, tears forming in my eyes. I savored the juice that splashed against the inside of my cheek, the smooth texture of the melted cheese. Then I looked up. Three sets of eyes watched me. I grinned, realized how disgusting I must look, and clamped my mouth shut.
About the Author:
A decade ago, author Suzanne V. Reese had a string of land-mark events—published her first novel, outlined her second novel (while daydreaming in a university science class), graduated from that university, became a grandmother, and then topped it all with a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.
That second novel, ExtraNormal, YA speculative fiction, became her therapy during a long and difficult treatment program. It was published a few years later with the encouragement of her incredibly supportive friends and family. Despite little marketing, the book quickly became an Amazon best-seller.
Suzanne then made the difficult decision to ensure her long-term existence by focusing on her health rather than continue with the series. Happily, to celebrate her ten-year survival and end-of-treatment mark, she is releasing an updated version of the best-selling novel ExtraNormal, this time to be soon followed by the remaining books in the ExtraNormal Chronicles.
Suzanne has a degree in communications from Utah State University, as well as certifications in nutrition and holistic health. She is the founder of Story Igniters, which offers courses that help readers find their real-life superpowers. She lives with her husband in Draper, Utah, where she enjoys doting on her seven grandchildren.
“She was one in a million…and the day I met her I should have bought a lottery ticket instead.”
***~~~***
Griffith Crowe, the “fixer” for a Chicago law firm, falls for his current assignment, Helena Nicholson, the beautiful heir of a Tech Sector venture capitalist who perished in a helicopter crash leaving her half a billion dollars, a Learjet 31, and unsavory suspicions about her father’s death. As he investigates, the ex-Navy SEAL crosses swords with Helena’s step-brother, the Pentagon’s Highlands Forum, and an All-Star bad guy somebody has hired to stop him. When Griff finds himself on the wrong side of an arrest warrant he wonders: Is he a player or being played?
Lawyers and Lovers and Guns…Oh, my!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
The conference room was small—smaller, at least by “Big Firm” standards, than the huge public conference room up front used to intimidate clients, adversaries, witnesses, and opposing counsel by swallowing them up whole like Jonahs lost in the belly of a legal whale. Tucked away in a back corner among the partner offices, it was extremely well appointed, though darkly so, in oak furniture and paneling. The quiet confines served as a war room of sorts, a place where grand strategies and hair-brained schemes were incubated, hatched and sometimes celebrated, sometimes autopsied. He knew because Griffith Crowe was sometimes part of them.
There were no windows, which was fine with him. He didn’t need to be seen, and, besides, he was just there to get paid and be quickly on his way. Even in the dim, indirect lighting, he found a shadow where he sat and sipped coffee from a massive, dark mug with Stein, Baylor & Stein gilded on the side, patiently waiting for Lance Baylor to come back with his check.
Lance was a master of entering and exiting rooms. So, when he burst into the room like a starlight artillery shell, wearing his white phosphorous rain-maker smile, followed by two junior associates and a young, very attractive Asian waitress pushing a serving cart with no doubt a sumptuous lunch, he knew his escape would be neither clean nor quick.
“Miss me?” teased Lance, baring his canines. “I couldn’t send you back to…to…where was it you were you off to, Griff?”
“Home.”
“Right, send you home hungry after a job well done. Pull up a chair, and we’ll feast before you depart.”
Lance naturally took the head of the table with Griff to his right. The two junior associates, veritable bookends with their young, already balding pates, red ties, pin-striped suits, expanding waistlines, and leather portfolios, sat on the opposite side of the table.
They all politely smiled at one another as the waitress set their places and served what turned out to be Beef Wellington. After pouring drinks—Cabernet for Lance, iced teas for the empty bookends and black coffee for Griff—she quietly left them and closed the door.
Like an orchestra conductor, with cutlery for a baton, Lance silently cued the quartet to begin eating.
Lance smiled broadly and looked to his right. “Good. No?”
“Excellent. My compliments to Cookie.”
“You know, our friend here was busy freeing Iraq before there actually was an Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Lance said, turning to the two associate attorneys, who frowned at the apparent contradiction. As if to explain, he continued, “Special Forces, of course. What was it you did there in the desert?”
Griff watched Lance watch himself surgically cut his Wellington.
“Nothing really so special,” Griff said, turning his attention to his own lunch plate.
“I suspect much the same sort of things as you may have done here to get your name on the marquee. You know, all’s fair in love and war.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
What, if any, music do you write to? (If you don’t explain). Do you have a playlist for Article 15?
I worked mainly in verse when I finally got serious about scribbling things down back at the Ohio Wesleyan English Department. And, since you are working the rhythms and sounds of the language to create unmelodized songs, it’s difficult to listen to music while you are trying to make it. By necessity, then, writing was a quiet meditation for me.
So, I don’t have a specific playlist for Article 15, although I do reference Griff listening to Brad Paisley at excessive sound pressure levels as he races a convertible Mustang through the Carson National Forest on his way to Helena’s home in the New Mexico mountains.
The reason I worked mainly in verse back then was to improve my song writing skills, as I entertained notions of Rock ‘n’ Roll stardom. And between there and here I did release an album of originals called Operation Thuderclap.
Also along the way, I created the very first novel ever with a sound track. If Alfred Hitchcock and the Rolling Stones spawned a bastard child of a story, it would be Crossroads. And if you’re going to have a story whose characters are musicians…well…then…it should have music. Right?
So I structured the story in twelve parts—like a twelve bar blues—and each part opens with a song whose lyrics are relevant to the characters and the plot line. There are also fourteen other songs embedded along the way to help tell the story.
Most of the music publishers monetized the lyrics videos I created, while for a few of the others I used the official YouTube videos links in the manuscript, which you can click on to listen to as you read. Consequently, Crossroads can only exist as an eBook.
These were some of the very best tunes I grew up with, wearing out the grooves on vinyl over and over and over again.
Now they’re all on my iPhone and at some point on every long road trip they serenade me down the highway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.
Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3) and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.
