Blogger Book Fair Guest - Caitlyn Nicholas

Welcome to the final day of the Blogger Book Fair. I hope you have enjoyed the fair as much as I have. I have met some new friends and picked up a few good books. The Reader's Choice contest is still going and my short story collection, The Wisdom of Ages, is in the Anthology Category. My mysteries, Open Season and One Small Victory are in the Mystery Category and my romance, Play It Again, Sam, is in the Romance Category. (Votes are certainly welcome. [Smile])

As promised all week,  I will give away advance copies of my mystery, Stalking Season to three lucky winners, or an e-book of your choice. All you have to do to win is comment on the blog this week and I will draw names on Monday. Originally, I was going to draw winners and notify them today, but I am having company for the weekend. My daughter and her children are coming and I have not seen them in too long, so you will understand why I will not be online much this weekend. Don't forget to leave a contact e-mail so I can let you know if you won.

My final guest is Caitlyn Nicholas, and I am over at her blog today answering some fun questions she posed for an interview. Caitlyn began writing only eight years ago. Exhausted, pregnant and coping with a demanding toddler, she decided the time was right to embark on a writing  career. To her family's eternal surprise she is now the author of five novels and a short story. Her debut novel - and the first manuscript she had ever written - Running Scared, was published in 2007. This was followed by Secret Intentions in 2009, The Danger Game in 2012 and, Drive Me To Distraction, also in 2012.  Her next novel, Pursuit, will be out in August 2013.
 I hope you have enjoyed the fair and taken advantage of the many giveaways. For the final day of the fair, I thought we could have an ice cream sundae. Enjoy, and don't forget to comment to win a book. 

Here is a brief description of Pursuit:

Legendary hacker, Dimity Pond, is on the run from the law. 

Her landlord’s sold her home, her money has disappeared along with her two-timing husband, a cyber-terrorist named Nemesis is forcing her to wreak havoc with a nasty virus and she's developing a vile migraine.

Six years ago, Nemesis framed Dimity for the collapse of one of Europe's biggest banks. The money was never found, and the bank's failure caused untold damage to its customers. She's been living under

the radar ever since. The only way she can clear her name and live a normal life is to uncover Nemesis's identity, but he's always one step ahead.

Since Lord Richard Summerhayes left the Special Forces he's built the best disaster-recovery network in the world, known as The Bunker. Banks, militaries, airports and other major systems around the world rely on him as the last unshakeable digital fortress in the face of disaster. Richard has been keeping an eye on his neighbor who has a dubious hacking past. He doesn't like hackers, and when someone nukes his network with an intriguing new virus he knows exactly who to blame. But when he confronts her, he gets a whole lot more than he bargained for.

When Nemesis commits an unthinkable act of terrorism, the last hope is an encrypted file that only Dimity can crack. Will Nemesis manipulate Dimity into helping him wipe out the world's biggest financial center? Or can Richard and Dimity take Nemesis down once and for all?

Excerpt:
  

"Oh Sarah Easton ——” A cold digital voice mocked her. “It’s about to begin. Send the virus.”

Cold horror washed over Dimity. She jabbed the phone’s off button and dropped it on the table.

A noise, the rough grate of wood on metal, startled her. Numbers curled across her mind as a migraine inched closer.

“It’s the stove.” She spoke out loud, to break the quiet.

Beau – the labrador – cozy and content at the base of the wood-burning stove, continued to sleep as if he’d spent the morning chasing rabbits.

Which he hadn’t.

Unless bacon was involved, Beau never ran.

The silence of the house closed back around her.

She scooped up the phone, hesitating, waiting, and hoping the suffocating dread would dissipate. It didn’t. Then she hooked the handset back into its base, flicked open the dishwasher and unloaded the dirty cups and glasses she’d stacked there in a rare burst of domesticity that morning.

Someone hammered on the front door. A thick white mug, with the faded words Nerd Girl on it, slipped from her fingers, bounced off the side of the dishwasher door and shattered into a thousand pieces on the floor.

Jake? It couldn’t be him. He had a key and was in the south of France. But no one ever came to visit, she made sure of it.

The person hammered again.

“Shit,” she muttered. “This stupid life.”

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You can find the author at her Website    Blog   on Twitter   Facebook    Google+    

Buy Links:   Amazon   Amazon UK    iTunes    Momentum 

Blogger Book Fair - M Pepper Langlinais

Welcome to the fourth day of the Blogger Book Fair, organized by the amazing Kayla Curry. This has been a great week so far, and I've already found several books that I've added to a list of those to buy. What about you?

Before we move on to my guest today, I want to remind you that the  Reader's Choice contest is still open, and my short story collection, The Wisdom of Ages, is in the Anthology Category. My mysteries, Open Season and One Small Victory are in the Mystery Category and my romance, Play It Again, Sam, is in the Romance Category. (Votes are certainly welcome. [Smile])

  At the end of the week, I will give away advance copies of my mystery, Stalking Season to three lucky winners, or an e-book of your choice. All you have to do to win is comment on the blog this week, and I will draw names - probably on Monday as I will have company this weekend. Please leave a contact e-mail.
Today I am guesting at two blogs - imagine that! Pepper and I have swapped appearances today, so I am on her Pepperwords site, and I am also over at Jeff Horton's A Novel Perspective.  

Today my guest for the Blogger Book Fair  is M Pepper Langlinais. Best known for her Sherlock Holmes stories, she is also the author of "St. Peter in Chains" and "The K-Pro." She is a active playwright, and her short play "Warm Bodies" has been produced at two separate festivals and will soon be published by the Northwest Playwrights Alliance in their annual anthology. The following is an excerpt from her novel The K-Pro. This morning we will have tea and crumpets. It just seems like that kind of day. Enjoy.

Across the wide green at the side of the house was a garden, in full bloom in early June. Andra and David walked toward it in silence, side by side, though Andra noticed David was careful not to walk near enough to even accidentally brush or touch her. The closer they came to the colorful jumble of plants, the stronger the smell of them became, the breeze off the ocean below only managing to blow around the hot air and heavy perfume of flowers.

“It’s just a bay,” David said, unprompted, just for something to say. “An inlet, really.”

Andra nodded as if this were an interesting and important fact.

“You see how the land gives way . . .” David gestured to the far side of the garden, which was bordered by a short wall of piled stones. It didn’t look to Andra like it would stop anyone from falling; on the contrary, Andra thought someone might be just as likely to trip on it and go flying out into the open air.
As if reading the direction of her thoughts, David said, “It’s not that long a way down.”

There had been no path on the lawn, and there wasn’t one in the garden, either, only grass between the flowerbeds, though the landscapers had left plenty of space. Andra guessed four people could walk shoulder to shoulder between the plantings. Or, in their case, it was just enough room for her and David to maintain a comfortable distance from one another. Now they meandered past hot pink somethings (Andra was terrible at gardening, though she could identify roses and tulips pretty definitely), and yellow other things, and some whites and purples, steadily making their way toward the wall.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” Andra quoted.

“What?” asked David, sounding yet again as if he’d only just arrived from somewhere else. Andra wondered where he went when inside his mind.

“Robert Frost,” she said. “The poet?” When David only continued to stare blankly, Andra added, “You probably don’t have to learn him over here.”

“We’ve got plenty of our own,” said David as he picked his way through some yellows that lined the wall, presumably planted there to keep people away from it, though David’s long legs allowed him to get over them with relative ease. He took a seat on the uneven pile, and Andra blanched as one of the flat, smooth stones shifted beneath him.

“What’s wrong?” David asked.

“That’s not . . . really very safe, is it?”

David glanced over his shoulder. “It’s fine. It doesn’t drop straight to the water, you see? Kind of like a ha-ha. But without the cows.”

Andra didn’t know what a ha-ha was, or what cows had to do with anything, nor could she see what David meant from where she stood, and she didn’t want to. Something panicky fluttered in her chest. “The stones are loose,” she pointed out. “They’re just piled, not, you know, stuck together or anything.”

David cocked his bright eyes at her, and in that moment Andra saw just why they were the subject of so much Internet fan-girl chatter. The brilliant sunlight only served to make them clearer, so that they rivaled the sky for color. All at once Andra felt like she were falling forward and found herself thankful she wasn’t anywhere near the open drop. Reflexively, she dug the heels of her sandals into the grass as if to ground herself, and David’s eyes traveled away from Andra’s face to her feet, restoring her to rational thinking.

“You should sit,” said David, “if your feet are bothering you.”

“They’re not . . .” Andra began, but there was no good way to explain what had just happened.

“Anyway, you shouldn’t be sitting there. Look, you’re stepping all over the whatever-they-ares.”

“Am I?” David leaned a little forward to look past his own knees while simultaneously lifting his feet, and the rocks beneath him teetered.

A fresh wellspring of panic bubbled inside Andra. “Please,” she said, no longer caring that she sounded whiny and childish.

“Narcissi,” David mused.

Stung by what she thought was an insult, Andra retorted, “Fine, go ahead and fall if you’re going to be that way about it.”

David lifted his head—too quickly, as it turned out, the momentum of his movement causing the rocks he was perched on to finally give way. They slipped out from under him like a deck of cards fanning and sliding, and David fell backward, head and shoulders first in an ungraceful somersault.
------------------------------------------

The K-Pro Website (first chapter available for free)

Buy Link  (available for Kindle and in paperback)

M Pepper Langlinais Website 

On Twitter: @sh8kspeare

Blogger Book Fair - Two for the Price of One

This is the third day of the Blogger Book Fair, and I hope you have enjoyed meeting some new authors as they shared bits and pieces of their books. The Reader's Choice contest is still open, and my short story collection, The Wisdom of Ages,  is in the Anthology Category. My mysteries, Open Season and One Small Victory are in the Mystery Category and my romance, Play It Again, Sam, is in the Romance Category. (Votes are certainly welcome. [Smile])

  At the end of the week, I will give away advance copies of my mystery, Stalking Season to three lucky winners, or an e-book of your choice. All you have to do to win is comment on the blog this week and I will draw names on Friday. Please leave a contact e-mail.
Today, because it is mid-week and I am a bit stressed, I thought we would have chocolate as our treat. Help yourself.

Before I signed up for the Blogger Book Fair, I scheduled Jarod Kintz to be my usual Wednesday's Guest, we will have a visit from two authors today. First up is my Blogger Book Fair guest Jerry Hatchett with an excerpt from his thriller, Pawnbroker.  Jerry grew up in the creatively fertile Mississippi Delta. Now a transplanted Texan, he writes from the Houston area. He's a lifelong geek, an expert in digital forensics, and is crazy about storytelling in all its forms. He also cooks the best ribeyes on the planet and is an avid fan of Ole Miss football in particular and SEC football in general.

A rusty chain hung across the spot where the abandoned road entered the woods. A stencil-painted tin sign, drooping from the chain on baling wire, issued a Day-Glo warning to the curious: PRIVATE LAND. TRESPASSERS PROSECUTED. RICHARD BALLARD, SHERIFF, PONTOCOLA COUNTY. Three miles into the woods, atop a shallow ridge, an old building still stood. Once fresh and gleaming, its weathered shell had long ago turned the lifeless gray of decaying lumber. Such was its condition when Ray Earl Higgins and Rocky Shackleford first beheld it in the beam of an Eveready flashlight on a hot August night, thirty minutes shy of midnight.

Rocky and Ray Earl had killed more deer over the past twenty years than anybody in Pontocola County, maybe even the whole state. (It helped that they weren’t hindered by things like seasons, rules, or limits.) Rocky knew they were on posted land, but if they got caught hunting deer three months before season opens, at night, a trespassing charge would be the least of their worries. Besides, the deeper they went, the less likely they’d meet up with a game warden. Or some candy-ass animal rights freak who might run whining and blabbing. Finally, all those fine considerations aside, Rocky just didn’t give a happy damn. He’d go where the hell he pleased.

As for Ray Earl, well, he went where Rocky went. That’s the way it was in the second grade, and that’s the way it was on this fine evening. If Ray Earl were diagnosed by modern standards, he would probably have been deemed autistic, with a savant-like ability to mentally record and catalog detail. Instead, at age four he was diagnosed by Dr. Hurston Westerfield—a portly gentleman who hung his shingle just after World War II—after much careful evaluation, as “a V-8 hitting on four cylinders, maybe five on a good day.” Ray Earl was well liked in town, or at least well tolerated.

They had never hunted these woods, and to be accurate, the quest for venison was not what drew them in tonight. It was the stench. It rode in on a hot southern breeze, a reek so strong it made Rocky gag. Rocky, who had disemboweled countless deer as he dressed them out. Rocky, the A-shift foreman at Montello’s open-surface sewage treatment plant. He had to find the source of such an impossible stink.

Great teaser for the book. I am adding this one to my wish list.

Next up is Jarod with some tips for writers. Last Sunday I reviewed his book, The Mandrake Hotel and Resort  and here is his guest post.

How do I become be a better writer? That is the question every aspiring author asks themselves. 

Writing is inventing, and in a sense an author plays God, because as God created the heavens and the earth, the author creates worlds that exist in books.

So to be a better writer, you must be a better creator—you must be more creative than both the old you, and your past, present, and future competition, which thanks to the open availability of self-publishing, is pretty much everyone in the world.

Writing isn’t about IQ, which is rigid and convergent. Writing is about divergence, and as Malcolm Outliers, a great little test to measure your creative intelligence is called the Brick and Blanket Test.

Gladwell talked about in his book

It’s as simple to understand as it is hard to execute. Quickly put, you must come up with as many uses as you can for two common items: a brick and a blanket. What does this have to do with writing? Well, the more creative you are, the better your writing will be. You must be intellectually flexible, like a cerebral gymnast, not rigid and brittle like glass.

How creative are you? Why don’t you find out by seeing how many different uses you can come up with for a brick and a blanket. 

After you are done playing, honestly assess yourself. If your answers were stodgy and stiff, maybe you need to open yourself up a bit and let loose.

In closing, Jarod says, “My story is just beginning. I plan on failing my way to success. I have been rejected by literary agents, publishers, MFA programs, and all sorts of women. But still I keep writing. Share yourself with the world. If there is one thing I like to impress upon people, it’s that you can do it, even if you can’t. Just keep can’ting until eventually you can. And you can quote me on that.”

Blogger Book Fair Guest Jeff Horton

Welcome to the second day of the Blogger Book Fair, organized by the amazing Kayla Curry. This is going to be a fun week of authors sharing bits and pieces of their books, sharing some virtual goodies, and giving away some great prizes. There is also a Reader's Choice contest going and my short story collection, The Wisdom of Ages,  is in the Anthology Category. My mysteries, Open Season and One Small Victory are in the Mystery Category and my romance, Play It Again, Sam, is in the Romance Category. (Votes are certainly welcome. [Smile])

  At the end of the week, I will give away advance copies of my mystery, Stalking Season to three lucky winners, or an e-book of your choice. All you have to do to win is comment on the blog this week and I will draw names on Friday. Please leave a contact e-mail.

Today my guest for the Blogger Book Fair is Jeff Horton. He was born in North Dakota, the youngest son of a career Air Force Master sergeant, where he spent the first four years of his life before moving to North Carolina. A somewhat voracious reader growing up, he read everything from comic books to The Bible, including stories by many popular authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Jeff Horton's novel, The Great Collapse, a story about the coming of the pulse and the end of civilization, was published in 2010. He is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network. He is sharing a bit of information about his latest book, Cybersp@ce.

In honor of his sci-fi novel, I thought we could travel with him to the Space Bar which takes us to the Portal for Sci-Fi and Fantasy on Facebook. Pull up a stool and join us.

CYBERSP@CE-The novel is a sci-fi espionage story, with ingredients of international intrigue, artificial intelligence, action, suspense, and romance. Set mostly in the Nevada desert, Cybersp@ce includes cyber warfare between nation states, the fantastic virtual world of an alien computer, and the hunt for one of the world's greatest spies.

From inside their home located outside the small town of Corona, New Mexico in 1947, a young boy and his parents, while watching a freak lightning storm, hear a loud crash, after young Henry Summers witnesses what he thinks is an alien spacecraft falling from the sky.

Many years later, Nick Reynolds is appointed as the head of a Cyber Command task-force established to deal with the increasing cyber warfare threat from China. Soon after, a new, disturbing type of cyber attack emerges, just as Nick learns that a massive Chinese cyber attack against the United States infrastructure might be imminent. When the evidence suggests that the threat is real and that the attack will kill millions of people, Nick discovers that his team will not have enough time or the technical resources to stop the incredibly advanced attack when it comes.

Nick soon learns of another top-secret project, however, one which might offer a way to stop the attack and spare the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

Dr. Henry Summers works on that top-secret project with his scientist daughter, Kate, inside Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada. Working with Nick after years of trying to reverse-engineer an alien spacecraft, the team has a breakthrough when they discover how to interface with an alien ship's computer, by using a cybernetic helmet, which they use to enter a fantastic, virtual world. Together they work to save humanity from a horrific nuclear war, paving the way for a fantastic and exciting future for humanity.

Cybersp@ce is the first novel in the Cybersp@ce Trilogy

Find Cybersp@ce on Goodreads

Find Cybersp@ce on Amazon

Cybersp@ce on YouTube

Author Contact Information:

Website:                       www.hortonlibrary.com

Facebook Page:            https://www.facebook.com/Author.Jeff.Horton

Twitter:                        http://twitter.com/#!/Jeff_Horton

Goodreads Page:          http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4478744.Jeff_W_Horton

Amazon Author Page:   http://tinyurl.com/8tapc5x

Blog                             http:// http://anovelsperspective.blogspot.com/

Shelfari:                        http://www.shelfari.com/jeffhorton

Librarything:                 http://www.librarything.com/author/hortonjeffw

AuthorsDen:                 http://www.authorsden.com/jeffwhorton

Pinterest Page:               https://pinterest.com/authorjhorton/

Google+:                      https://plus.google.com/111088200879432148676/posts

Blogger Book Fair Guest - Barbara Billig

Books - Prizes - Parties

Today is the first day of the Blogger Book Fair, organized by the amazing Kayla Curry. This is going to be a fun week of authors sharing bits and pieces of their books, sharing some virtual goodies, and giving away some great prizes. There is also a Reader's Choice contest going and my short story collection, The Wisdom of Ages,  is in the Anthology Category. My mysteries, Open Season and One Small Victory are in the Mystery Category and my romance, Play It Again, Sam, is in the Romance Category. Votes are certainly welcome. (smile)

I will have a guest every day this week, and first off I am pleased to have Barbara Griffin Billig at my party. Here is a link to her blog, Readers and Writers where she is hosting a number of authors.

I thought it would be good to share a glass or two of bubbly with Barbara and our visitors today to celebrate the beginning of the Fair. At the end of the week, I will give away advance copies of my mystery, Stalking Season to three lucky winners, or an e-book of your choice. All you have to do to win is comment on the blog this week and I will draw names on Friday. Please leave a contact e-mail.  Enjoy...

Barbara would like to tell you a bit about THE NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE, a  novel of survival (3rd edition)



A new novel for everyone – written for your entertainment & to raise nuclear awareness.

The Nuclear Catastrophe is set in Southern California and deals with characters caught in a disaster that they thought could never happen. Ben, head of Whitewater Nuclear Power Plant and his pregnant wife Sara live in San Mirado, near the ocean. One fateful day the unexpected happens.....Ben and Sara, the plant workers, the people living in San Mirado and those in adjacent cities all have to make decisions as to what to do, where to go. Their choices have both good and bad consequences.

This fictional story brings home the reality of what would, or could, happen. History has shown us time after time that......what can go wrong....will go wrong. What would you do? Your answers may be different after reading this novel. Read how these characters faced difficult choices - and decide what you would have done - or will do.

This book is available at Amazon.com as an ebook (Kindle version) or in paperback. Kindle books can be downloaded to the Kindle or to a PC or Tablet, Notebook, or Smartphone. Visit Amazon.com to download a free Kindle app that allows this book to be read on any of those other electronic devices. 

This novel is meant to entertain and to educate. Very little has been written on this subject that is not a deep non-fiction book. And now that we have experienced the nuclear disasters of Fukushima and Chernobyl we know how dangerous these power plants can be. As of 2011 there were 442 nuclear power plants operating or under construction in the world. The United States has 104. Whether it is a terrorist dirty bomb or a nuclear melt down - we should know what is happening and be prepared. I hope you will take the time to read this fictional story. Fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of the e-book in 2013 is being donated to a charity to support the forgotten victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

What some of the readers have said:

"I enjoyed this book because it could happen. I think anyone living in a state with a nuclear reactor exists should read this."

"A frightening tale of survival. You never really think about the events that take place after you have been stripped of normal day to day resources. No police, hospitals, you are your own 911 and now have to protect yourself against the world."

"A worthy read! This is a book whose vivid, thought-provoking images have stayed with me even months after reading it! It helped me to better understand the potential repercussions of a nuclear disaster."

Barbara Griffin Billig "Thank You For Your Interest!"

Visit the author at her Web Page     On Pinterest    Facebook     

Follow on twitter: @Barbarabillig

Available for Kindle 

Read an excerpt    

The book is also available as The Disquiet Suvivors of The Nuclear Catastrophe in Paperback

Drama Camp Winding Down

Again, just a short post as this is the last day of drama camp at the Winnsboro Center for the Arts. It has been an intense two weeks, but the kids have put together a terrific show. As they brainstormed and came up with ideas for scenes, it reminded me of those shows I used to put on in my basement when I was a kid.

I grew up in the Midwest where most homes had basements, and we even had an old coal bin. All kids of skullduggery could take place in there. I remember hanging curtains and making that a dungeon where the the evil queen put the beautiful young girl who wanted to marry the prince, but she was not from a royal family. Sort of a play on Cinderella. 

This isn't my coal bin, but a pretty close facsimile for those who have never seen one.

This recent experience with the drama camp has one again made me realize how important this kind of creative play is. Modern education is too often focused on standardized testing, and opportunities for students to strengthen thinking and reasoning skills are fewer and fewer.

During the camp our students had to figure out for themselves how to arrange the set, what props would work, how the lighting works, and costumes. It was exciting to watch them go through items in our theatre department and come up with creative ideas. Then they had to figure out how to make those ideas into reality.

Now here is a joke from the comic, in case you have missed my Friday Feature. This one is from

Mother Goose and Grimm:

Superman and Batman are at a bar together. Superman points to Batman and asks, "What happened to your utility belt?"

Batman responds, "I forgot to pay my utility bill."

I know, that one is more of a groaner, but I couldn't resist. Have a great weekend, and join me next week for special guests. The Blogger Book Fair is happening all week and I will have guests every day. We will have lots of virtual goodies for refreshments, and the authors participating in the Fair have some great giveaways. Hope you can make it.

Blogger Book Fair and Drama Camp

This is not going to be my usual Friday blog. For a lot of reasons. Number one is the Youth Drama Camp that has consumed my time all week, but it has been so much fun. Here is a picture of some of the kids practicing one of the songs for the musical written by the talented George Gagliardi, a Dallas singer/songwriter. It has been so exciting to see the creativity just flourish in these campers. They have helped write the music, the script, design the set, find costumes, and so much more.

The other reason, is we are having more company. We love having our kids come out to Grandma's Ranch, and it is always a good excuse for me to unconnect a bit, which I will do this weekend.

I also wanted to announce a fun event coming up in cyberspace on July 22 - the Blogger Book Fair. Apparently this event has taken place before, but this is the first year I heard about it, so I decided to sign up. Of course, I forgot that July was probably the worst month to try to add a lot of extra things to do as it is already a crazy-busy month. But I did sign up, so I will be having guests on my blog the week of July 22 thru the 26, and I will be somewhere in cyberspace on their blogs that week.

There are a lot of authors participating in this event and it is going to be great fun. Lots of great give-aways, too.

I wanted to put this badge on the sidebar of this blog, but Blogger changed some things again, and I can't seem to get the layout function to work so I can work on the sidebar. If anyone has any tips on what I need to do, I welcome them.