Category Archives: Book Tour
VBT – ALL BOY
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Mia Kerick will award a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Seventeen-year-old Callie Canter knows all about screwing up—and being screwed over. After her so-called boyfriend publicly humiliated her senior year, taking a fifth year of high school at Beaufort Hills Academy is her second chance to leave behind a painful past. But her need for social acceptance follows, and going along with the in-crowd is the difference between survival and becoming a target. Staying off the radar is top priority. So, falling for an outsider is the last thing on Callie’s “to-do” list. Too bad her heart didn’t get the memo.
With his strict, religious upbringing and former identity far away in Florida, Jayden Morrissey can finally be true to himself at Beaufort Hills Academy. But life as a trans man means keeping secrets, and keeping secrets means not getting too close to anyone. If he can just get through his fifth year unnoticed, maybe a future living as the person he was born to be is possible. Yet love is love, and when you fall hard enough, intentions crumble, plans detour, and secrets are revealed.
From multi-award-winning author Mia Kerick, comes a powerful, timely, and life-changing novel, which follows two teenagers nursing broken hearts and seeking acceptance, and who together realize running away isn’t always the answer.
Read an Excerpt:
Jayden
“You said that your old boyfriend didn’t treat you well. I’m curious about what happened with him.”
Callie’s lips tighten. Even on guard, she’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Her face is what I’d call exotic—her eyes are wide, her cheekbones high, and her lips full. And the shade of her skin is even fairer than mine. I wonder about her ethnicity, but don’t ask. If I ask too many questions, it will open the door for her to ask questions of me. She leans back on her hands so she can better size me up. Her reply is cautious. “In the second half of senior year, things with us went downhill, but, to be real, they’d never been perfect.”
“How long did you go out with him?”
“Three years—well, just over.”
“What happened to screw things up?”
“Don’t you think the past should stay where it belongs?” She measures each word.
“Yeah… unless the event scars you. Because that stuff doesn’t just go away.”
She sighs. “Ryan did not appreciate that I was a plus-size girl. It was a huge deal that I wasn’t skinny.”
I swallow hard, having seen this issue from both sides.
“My body was always a problem for him… You could call it my fatal flaw.”
“Did he actually tell you that he didn’t like the way you looked?”
“Hell, yeah… like, ten times a day.” Callie smiles, but it isn’t out of happiness. It’s a bitter smile. “The size of my backside was almost a deal-breaker for him. He told me that he liked ‘the waif look.’”
“The waif look? What’s that?”
“Kind of skinny and underdeveloped—like many runway models. The emaciated opposite of gargantuan me.”
“That’s just wrong, Callie.”
“But he said my pretty face made up for my wide ass.” She flops back on the bed. “You must be wondering how desperate I was for attention to stick around for three-plus years, just to get that kind of treatment. I used to wonder about it, too.”
“And then?”
“Then I figured out the reason I stayed put: I believed what Ryan was saying. That a fat girl really has no options.” She covers her face with her hands and adds, “For some reason, his acceptance of me mattered so frigging much.”
“You dumped him, I hope.”
“I did, sort of.”
“Ryan didn’t deserve a girl like you, someone so smart and pretty and sweet.”
Callie laughs. “No one ever calls me sweet.”
“Well, I just did.”
About the Author:
Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—one a recent graduate of law school, another a professional dancer, a third studying at Mia’s alma mater, Boston College, and the baby finally off to college. (Yes, the nest is empty.) She publishes LGBTQ fiction and romance when not editing National Honor Society essays, offering opinions on college and law school applications, helping to create dance bios, and reviewing English papers. Her husband of twenty-five years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about this, as it is a sensitive subject.
Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of young people who are challenged by the circumstances of their lives and relationships. She has a great affinity for the tortured hero in literature, and as a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with tales of tortured heroes and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. Now she publishes her work—it’s an alternate way to stash her stories.
Her books have been featured in Kirkus Reviews magazine. They have won a 2019 IPPY GOLD award for Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction, Rainbow Awards for Best Transgender Contemporary Romance and Best YA Lesbian Fiction, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, an Indie Fab Award, a First Place Royal Dragonfly Award for Cultural Diversity, a First Place Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly Award for YA Fiction, and a category finalist for the Eric Hoffer award, a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards for Young Adult Fiction and more.
Mia Kerick is a social liberal and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of human rights. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology. Contact Mia at miakerick@gmail.com or visit at http://www.miakerickya.com to see what is going on in Mia’s world.
Mia Kerick will award a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.
Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jgi4-fIFgo
VBT – ON LOVING
On Loving
by Lili Naghdi
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GENRE: Romance
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BLURB:
In 1972, Dr. Rose Hemmings has just finished her general surgery residency when a haunted stranger is shot in front of her in a New York City bar, and their lives become forever intertwined. And when, having been given the blessing of her adoptive father on his deathbed, Rose travels to prerevolutionary Iran to discover the past her American family kept secret from her, she finds a true Pandora’s box. It is a world both foreign and familiar, in which her primary place is as the heiress to a great tribe. In Iran, Rose will find family she never dreamed of, her own people, and a man who loves her as passionately as he does the rare black roses of his garden. She will return to the United States carrying a new secret and torn between two men: the one she loves helplessly, and the one who loves her unconditionally.
Woven throughout with Persian poetry ancient and modern, On Loving is the story of one woman’s lifetime of love and loss, of societal change in a nomadic people, and of overcoming personal challenges, including mental and physical health, to find true contentment. Above all, it is a story of love: its physiology, psychology and philosophy; the many forms it takes; its myths and truths; its challenges, its joys and its gifts.
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EXCERPT
It was a beautiful late spring afternoon in Paris, and I decided to stroll down the streets of this lovely city as much as I could, to calm my nerves after that emotional talk.
Walking at a slow pace, through the charming cobbled passages and tree-lined avenues of the mesmerizing City of Love, I easily found my way to the Café de la Rotonde, my favorite café to spend time in whenever I’m in Paris. I love being in bustling Montparnasse, where Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso and many others took their coffee breaks many years ago. Sitting there, I always feel that I can hear their voices or even smell in the air the tobacco they smoked. Being a huge fan of literature and art since childhood, being in that environment for even a few minutes often led me to think how it might feel to create a masterwork or to write something as captivating as they once did.
I was about to sip my coffee when a young woman sitting at the table close to mine suddenly left in a rush, forgetting her newspaper and cellphone.
“Excusez-moi, madame?” I took the newspaper and phone and followed her, hoping to catch up before she completely disappeared in the crowd, but it was too late.
Back at my seat and handed the phone to the waiter while glancing at the newspaper’s front page:
Des millions de la Reine Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari iront à la charité
“Queen Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari’s millions go to charity”
I quickly asked the waiter to let me keep the paper.
I sat on my chair, staring at the title again. I felt as if I had stumbled on a familiar face, as if I knew her intimately. I touched her photo: her beautiful eyes, her lovely smile. Everything about her was unique, even thirteen years after her death in Paris in 2001.
Then, shaking inside, I read the report.
Princess Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari, born in the city of Isfahan in 1932 to an Iranian father from the well-known Bakhtiari family and his German wife, had died childless back in 2001. But now a court in Germany had ruled that because her brother, who lived there, had died before settlement was finished, her entire $6 million estate should be divided among the three charities she’d chosen — the Red Cross, a group that worked for animal protection and a disabled rights group. The article talked about her time as queen, her beauty, her stunning emerald eyes and how she’d be known as the “Princess with the sad eyes” after the last king of Iran, Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, divorced her in 1958 for not producing an heir. Yet much of her wealth had come from jewellery he had gifted her; he loved her deeply.
Wait a second!
I quickly wiped the tears that ran down my face, trying to stay calm. But it wasn’t the deceased former queen I was mourning. It was my own past, surging up from beneath the dust that had covered it for years, that made me so emotional. The former queen’s distinctive name and her story reminded me painfully of the love I had shared in my heart for many years, the love that had changed my destiny in so many ways.
Drenched in cold sweat, I rested my forehead on the newspaper, feeling the hard table beneath it.
Life is so mystifying. After all these years … The gracious Queen Soraya … my distant relative! We shared genes, ancestors … I know … I know well the very place she was born in, I’ve been there — Isfahan, the ancient city of Isfahan, City of Roses … city of my own beautiful black roses!
I felt like I was choking and struggled to breathe. I needed fresh air. I put money on the table and rushed out of the café.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Lili Naghdi is an Iranian Canadian physician who was born and raised in Tehran. She continued her education and research after moving to Canada with her husband and daughter in 1996. Today she practices family medicine in Vaughan, Ontario, with particular interests in women’s and mental health. Being a family physician gives her the privilege of connecting with patients and participating in their care with a deeper understanding of the physical, emotional and social adversities they face. Interacting with people of many different backgrounds has also provided Dr. Naghdi with the opportunity to grow as a person, a physician and an author.
Growing up in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran, Lili became fascinated by the magical realm of literature, poetry and history. She began collecting prized quotations at the young age of eight. Dr. Naghdi has written poetry and short stories in both Farsi and English, but she eventually followed William Wordsworth’s advice to “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart,” and turned to fiction.
On Loving is her first novel. Inspired by both the ordinary people she has the honor to support and by the great literature of Persia and the world — from Hafez to Forugh Farrokhzad and from John Steinbeck to Margaret Mitchell — Dr. Naghdi passionately agrees with Boris Pasternak, whose Yuri Zhivago is a physician and patriotic poet, when he writes: “Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.”
Website: www.lilinaghdi.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44310723-on-loving?from_search=true
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/lilinaghdiauthor/posts/?ref=page_internal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naghdil/
Amazon author page URL:
https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/profile
Barnes and Noble Author URL:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/books/1130591456?ean=9781999497002
Videos of her book launch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYtdrHiWffk
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/on-loving-lili-naghdi/1130591456
https://www.amazon.com/Loving-Lili-Naghdi-ebook/dp/B07NSJLJLZ
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Lili Naghdi will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
VBT – THE PERFECT LAP
The Perfect Lap
by Sedona Hutton
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GENRE: Contemporary Romance
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BLURB:
His job is to drive fast. Hers is to put the brakes on him. When sparks fly, will love cross the finish line?
AJ Ryan is a publicity nightmare. After a questionable photo surfaces and his biggest sponsor threatens to pull out, the NASCAR champion admits it might be time to hit the brakes. Thankfully, his new no-nonsense image consultant knows just where to start… too bad she revs his engine so loudly he can barely think straight.
Ella Fisher’s career is a welcome distraction from her poor taste in men. Fresh off another easily avoidable heartbreak, rehabbing AJ’s career is just the diversion she needs. But when the pulse-pounding client actually listens to her advice, Ella wonders if there’s more to the man behind the hot mess.
When Ella is granted guardianship of three boisterous children under the misconception that she and AJ are a couple, AJ surprises her by going along with the charade. Before long they find themselves in a make-shift family that feels more real than pretend.
As their professional relationship takes a hard turn for the personal, a single overheard conversation could make it all go up in flames. Will Ella and AJ’s romance hit the wall, or will love take the checkered flag?
The Perfect Lap is the second standalone novel in the Racing Hearts of Serenity romance series. If you like bad boys with a heart of gold, strong women, and love stories with a new age twist, then you’ll adore Sedona Hutton’s fun, sexy tale.
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EXCERPT
“I bet you have a beautiful smile,” he drawled, then lowered his mouth to hers.
She should have pulled away—she didn’t know this man from Adam. But everything inside her protested. After gazing into each other’s eyes, she felt like she knew him intimately.
His lips were warm and tingly, his kiss pure perfection…and he drew back way too quickly. He blinked those deep blue eyes and gave her a lazy grin. “I knew it.” He rubbed the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. “Beautiful.”
That’s when she realized she was smiling.
He rose, and she gave him a quick once over, taking in the sexy stubble on his face, the taut muscles of his chest, his lean physique. As good old-fashioned lust rolled through her like a quick-moving thunderstorm, she silently bemoaned her situation. This was a hell of a time to have a newly implemented man-ban.
“Keep smiling.” Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he winked at her. “It suits you,” he added in that low, sexy drawl. Then he sauntered off.
Her breath caught as she spun around to gape at him. He’d just kissed her and now he was leaving? She contemplated calling him back, then reconsidered. She had other fish to fry.
Even so, she couldn’t stop herself from tracking his every move as he swaggered toward the party, his backside looking every bit as fine as the rest of him. Pressing a hand to her chest, she let out a slow exhale. Even though she was one-hundred percent committed to her man-ban, she could admit—at least to herself—that the sexy, charming stranger had intrigued her.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links
Author Sedona Hutton finds inspiration in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, where she lives with her husband and curly-coated retriever. In addition to writing, she’s a Reiki Master and a certified Chopra Center Meditation instructor. She enjoys reading, yoga, gardening, and experiencing the great outdoors on boats, motorcycles, and Jeeps. Sedona pens a “Peace, Love, & Joy” blog on her website. Visit her at http://www.SedonaHutton.com, Twitter @SedonaHutton, Facebook @SedonaHuttonAuthor, and Instagram @SedonaHutton.
Sedona’s debut novel, Cloud Whispers, was a Finalist in the 2018 Readers’ Favorite Contest, an Official Selection in the 2018 Summer eBook Awards for New Apple Literary, and Shortlisted for the Books Go Social Best Book of 2018.
Links:
Website: https://www.sedonahutton.com/
Blog: https://www.sedonahutton.com/blog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SedonaHutton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SedonaHuttonAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sedonahutton/
Amazon page: www.amazon.com/author/sedonahutton
Goodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17837575.Sedona_Hutton
Short link to Goodreads Author page: https://bit.ly/2GxDDQ7
Book purchase links:
Amazon Purchase Link for Cloud Whispers: https://goo.gl/N9aC38
Amazon Purchase Link for Nora’s Promise: https://tinyurl.com/y7vqz3t9
Amazon Purchase Link for The Perfect Lap: https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Lap-Racing-Serenity-Romance-ebook/dp/B07R92KSFX
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3057
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INTERVIEW – Sedona Hutton
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Coconut or banana. I also like Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey and Chubby Hubby, in part because the names amuse me!
Which mythological creature are you most like?
That’s a tough question for a mere mortal! I strive to be like Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace.
First book you remember making an indelible impression on you.
Judy Blume’s, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I loved this young adult novel with its open and honest discussions on topics near and dear to all pre-teenage girls, like periods, body changes, and boys. Blume’s coming of age story showed me that I could find empathy, excitement, and new worlds through the written page.
How do you develop your plot and characters?
I start with developing my characters. If I complete deep characterization for my main characters, the rest of the process flows from that. I’m a combination plotter and pantser. I like to have a general outline of where I’m headed, but when I sit down to write, I’m open to all possibilities. What I end up writing is almost always different from what I initially outlined.
Describe your writing space.
I have a separate space dedicated to my writing. My writing room has a large desk with plenty of open space to stimulate creativity, walls covered with inspirational pictures and quotes, and a gorgeous mountain view.
VBT – THE BLACK HAND
The Black Hand
by Jonathan Dunne
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GENRE: Crime/Mystery
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BLURB:
In the aftermath of Ireland’s most deadly gang war, Dublin’s ruling family has scattered to the wind.
Into the void steps a criminal genius known only as The Black Hand. His organisation’s powerful grip is ruthless, bloody and barbaric.
With Europe’s biggest crime in play, The Devil needs a distraction. And The Black Hand needs Jacob Boylan to return to Irish shores. He will stop at nothing to provoke Dublin’s most lethal criminal out of hiding.
But has the wily genius misstepped? As all eyes are on Jacob, the Dublin exile carefully plans a gangland wipeout, for he is nobody’s pawn.
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EXCERPT
The Glock was steady in his grasp as he rested it gently under the security guard’s chin. Unloaded, the Glock weighed 660 grams, however this wasn’t empty. A trickle of sweat rolled down the man’s brow as Jacob spoke calmly.
‘Think of your loved ones. It’s only money. It’s replaceable. Take a deep breath and calm yourself.’
The guard’s eyes were wide with fear. His breathing was shallow. He began to urinate down his left leg.
Jacob watched the last bag of cash disappear into the vehicle. ‘Turn around and face the wall,’ he ordered. The guard obeyed without question. Jacob calmly sat in the back seat as they drove away.
The escape route had been planned. The surveillance was disabled. Nobody spoke as they drove. There was no speeding. The getaway was planned and smooth.
Jacob removed the balaclava and ran a hand through his sandy-blond hair. The two passengers in the front seat were giddy with excitement, but they concealed it well; Jacob had no time for juvenile behaviour. Only the passage of time would offer a definite escape, and even then, he wasn’t sure.
For twenty minutes, they drove in silence. The abandoned industrial estate was rare for London, otherwise it was perfect. They stepped from the vehicle, removed their overalls, and placed the weapons on the backseat. They were clean, but Jacob didn’t care; they were to be destroyed. A canister of petrol was removed from the trunk, with a small detonator attached. Jacob flicked the switch and didn’t look back as the car exploded.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links
Jonathan Dunne is a native of Dublin’s north inner city. The Black Hand is his second novel in the crime genre. The Takeover – his first crime novel went on to wide acclaim and regularly featured in Amazon’s bestseller lists.
He is also an avid MMA journalist who has penned articles for some of Ireland’s biggest publications. He holds a Degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology and is a strong advocate of lifelong learning and education. After returning to complete his leaving certificate as an adult in Jonathan has went on to have four novels published.
Social Media Links:
https://www.facebook.com/dublinauthor/
https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Dunne/e/B00BEFKHVC%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
http://jonathanwdunne.wordpress.com/
The book is on sale for $0.99.
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Jonathan Dunne will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Enter to win a $20 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Johnathon, thanks for being my guest. Tell us about you as a person.
In these interviews you always try to hold a part of yourself private. But I’ll tell you a story…since you asked. My background is fairly well known at this stage, so I try to avoid the obvious clichés. A person once told me that my back story is a selling point; I should have ignored that advice.
My background may have given me content, but it won’t produce talent. Grit does not emanate from illiteracy and my past owes nothing to my future. I’m an average person with above average productivity. I’ve learned that heartache can offer you gold, provided you put that gold to use. Even in suffering there are lessons. It is hard, especially for men, to face our inner demons and publicly unmask them.
So, in essence, I’m essentially the same as everyone else, I’m truthful about it…I hope that makes my bio a little different😊
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
I’m drawn to broken people. They have depth, colour and insights that teach us invaluable lessons. The easy answer would be, to spend that time with someone I like, so I’d like to do a full 360-degree turn. Donald Trump would be my choice.
We’d be at polar opposites of the political spectrum yet he is fascinating. He enraged me at first, until I realised he is running on pure emotion. The people who voted for him were clearly in contempt of the political system and I’d deeply love to know where they found the common ground with him – of all people. For all his flaws (and there are many) he is an outlier like no other.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
At its heart, it’s a mystery. The Black Hand is a good old fashioned whodunnit.
My protagonist is Jacob Boylan and he’s a broken gangster who has lost his daughter during a gang feud. He has settled abroad with a master plan to escape the life of crime. Into the mix steps two billionaire financiers who have drawn the attention of Ireland’s biggest crime boss, the Black Hand. The plan is a heist worth hundreds of millions and Jacob is the distraction to keep the police busy.
The Black Hand runs into an adversary every bit his equal and we have the mother of all wars played out on the streets of Dublin. The book is fast, the action is loud and the suspense is deep. So, enjoy!
What is your writing process?
Morning time is a must for me. I’ll write on public transport, at home, in a café, before the gym…anywhere as long as it’s early. My inner hard drive is wiped every night and fresh every morning.
Tell us about your main character:
Jacob Boylan is a broken vessel. He is utterly shattered subsequent to the death of his young daughter. After a period of adjustment, Jacob rises from the gutters of London to salvage the semblance of a life. When the Black Hand provokes him from hiding, by targeting his family, Jacob resists. The provocation becomes terrifying and It is only when the choices are systematically taken from him, does he return.
Jacob has two terrifying traits: one, he is a master tactician, two, he is prepared to die. What follows is an immovable object in front of an unstoppable force.
What are you working on next?
The Florist is my next project. It is the first time I have written in the first person. My protagonist is a moving character with sorrow, treachery and gangsters dogging his life. It is also the study of a man with no choice but to embrace the darkest parts of himself. Ultimately, it’s the examination of a rise to power and the events that conspired to make this happen.
What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?
Become adept with social media. Build up following on Instagram, Twitter etc. Talk to younger people about social media, they are amazing when it comes to the digital age we live in. Use agencies that run promotions. Talk to your publisher and listen to their advice. Remember it’s a business and you have to hustle. What’s the point in having talent if nobody knows about it? You’re in the space – get seen.
What is your favorite book on your shelf right now?
John Connolly’s Every Dead Thing. Wonderful writer. The story is macabre as it is beautiful. It’s also signed by John, so that’s a bonus.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
Yes, writing😊
You are given the choice of one super power. What super power would you have and why?
Invisibility. Definitely. And it would have to be a seasonal superpower, Ireland in the winter is too cold. But wait…I’d have to have invisible clothes…Oh maybe invisibility is a bad idea. You see how bad I am with a superpower! Probably best to offer it to someone else😊
List 5 things on your bucket list:
- Dance
- Love
- Laugh
- Cry
- Dance again…with a smile.
Where can readers find you on the web?
https://www.facebook.com/dublinauthor/
https://www.instagram.com/jonathandunneauthor/
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Hand-Jonathan-Dunne-ebook/dp/B07CCZW6N5
Any final thoughts?
Please, please, please if you like an author’s work, review it online…social media…anywhere. We live and die by word of mouth.
VBT – The American Crusade
The American Crusade
by Mark Spivak
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GENRE: Political Thriller
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BLURB:
A power-hungry vice president, a bad batch of shady intelligence, and a sinister plot to destroy Western civilization.
Just another day in America.
On May 1, 2001, a group of radical Islamic terrorists crash a Boeing 737 jet airliner into the Mall of America—and Vice President Robert Hornsby knows his moment is coming.
The attack kills three thousand American citizens and throws an entire nation into a panic, but all Hornsby sees is an opportunity, a chance to imprint his fanatical values on the soul of the country he loves and become the most powerful vice president in American history.
With the aid of his affable but ineffectual president; the reluctant, conscience-stricken secretary of defense; and a preening, foppish faith leader with more than a few skeletons in his closet; Hornsby declares war on terror—and anyone who stands in his way. But as media scrutiny of the administration’s actions overseas intensifies, Hornby’s one-man campaign against evil begins to unravel—with striking parallels to the thirteenth century’s doomed Fourth Crusade—and sends the nation spiraling toward another deadly tragedy.
The American Crusade paints a grim and often cynical picture of America’s recent past, reflecting the attitudes, politics, and fears that shaped our nation in the new millennium. By sampling the contemporaneous French text on the Fourth Crusade, On the Conquest of Constantinople, author Mark Spivak reminds us of that ever-vital adage: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Fans of The Castle by Jack Pinter, The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, House of Cards by Michael Dobbs, The Whistler by John Grisham, and the Aaron Sorkin–penned TV drama The West Wing will love this book.
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EXCERPT
Sitting in the White House Situation Room that day, Vice President Hornsby thought he was witnessing the perfect storm. All those years we thought it would end with a nuclear launch from the Soviets, he thought bitterly. Now I have to watch a bunch of jokers in turbans destroy
the world.
FBI Director Edward Gambelli entered the room and approached the head of the table.
“Most of the planes are out of the sky, sir. The airspace is almost secure.”
“What do you mean, almost? For shit’s sake.” The Vice President gesture toward the electronic map on the wall, where aircraft were represented by red dots. “That’s a lot of dots, Eddie.”
“They’re mostly private planes, sir. Joyriders out for a spin. We’re contacting the ones that have radar. The fighters will intercept the others and escort them down.”
“What about the other plane?”
“It’s still heading for Washington, sir. Just passed Wilmington.”
“How long before it gets into rural airspace?”
“Five minutes, sir. Ten at the most.”
“What’s happening on board?”
“We’ve received radio and cell phone communications. The passengers are still fighting. They’ve overcome two of the hijackers, and they’re trying to get into the cockpit.”
Hornsby glanced to his right, to the chair occupied by his protégé, CIA Director Admiral Mike McCardle. McCardle nodded.
“When it gets over unoccupied land, I want you to shoot it down.”
“Sir?”
“Eddie, we have the tapes, correct?”
“Yes, but—”
“These people are dead already. None of them can fly the plane. It’s the least we can do to bring comfort to their loved ones. The public will eat it up. The passengers will be heroes.”
“But”
“Eddie, that’s an order. Shoot it down once it gets over unoccupied land. I’ve got your back.”
“Yes, sir.”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
In the realm of non-fiction, award-winning author Mark Spivak focuses on wine, spirits, food, restaurants and culinary travel. His first book, Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History, was published by Lyons Press in 2012. He followed this with Moonshine Nation (Lyons Press, 2014), hailed as the definitive book on illegal corn whiskey in America. From 1994-1999 he was the wine writer for the Palm Beach Post, and was honored for excellence in wine criticism “in a graceful and approachable style.” Since 2001 he has been the Wine & Spirits Editor for the Palm Beach Media Group, and contributes to a number of national magazines. He is also the holder of the Certificate and Advanced Diplomas from the Court of Master Sommeliers.
Mark’s first novel, Friend of the Devil, was published by Black Opal Books in May 2016. Set in Palm Beach in 1990, it tells the story of America’s most famous chef, who has sold his soul to the Devil for fame and fortune.
Mark also has an endless fascination with the American political system and is an avid follower of Washington politics. His second novel, The American Crusade (a gripping political thriller set during the invasion of Iraq, which dips into the shadowy world of government conspiracy and political sabotage), will be released by TCK Publishing on April 4. He is currently at work on Impeachment, the sequel to The American Crusade.
Pre-order The American Crusade on Amazon:
https://geni.us/americancrusade
Visit Mark’s website at http://www.markspivakbooks.com, and sign up for his free newsletter and political blog: www.markspivakbooks.com/free
Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/American-Crusade-Political-Thriller/dp/1631610708/
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Mark Spivak will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Enter to win a $25 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Q & A With …
Tell us about you as a person.
I was definitely a bad boy in my youth, but my life now is pretty boring: many people think that being a writer is exciting, but the reality is sitting in front of a computer screen all day. I don’t know if this is unusual, but I love animals, and increasingly prefer them to people.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
Since you don’t specify if the person is alive or dead, I’d have to say Mark Twain. I think one day with him would provide enough amusement, insight and wisdom for the rest of my life.
What’s the story behind your latest book?
The American Crusade is a political thriller set during the invasion of Iraq, with flashbacks to the Fourth Crusade (1200-1202). I was reading about the Crusades some years back, and I was struck by the parallel: the Iraq invasion was the instant replay of the Fourth Crusade, down to some very small details. The novel is a meditation on the follies of history, with the steamy underbelly of Washington politics thrown in for good measure.
What is your writing process?
I’m up very early, about 4 or 4:30am, which is when most of the productive work gets done. I still do a lot of journalism, so the emails and phone calls start around 10am. I work intermittently throughout the day, but I find I do my best with fewer distractions.
Tell us about your main character:
Most of the novel is told through the eyes of Robert Barton Hornsby, the vice president and former CIA director. He’s the puppet master, and the spy who refused to come in from the cold.
If your book was to be turned into a movie, who would play the lead role and why.
That’s a tough question, but I think Robert Duval might be able to do it: he definitely has the gravitas. An even better choice would be Anthony Hopkins, who could infuse the role with an underlying, simmering touch of evil.
What are you working on next?
I’m finishing up the sequel to The American Crusade, tentatively titled Impeachment.
What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?
It’s a long, slow, gradual and grueling process for most people (if you can get on Oprah, this doesn’t apply). I mentor beginning writers through a Meetup group, and they freak out when I tell them that writing the book is the easy part. I think the single best piece of advice for anyone would be to focus on Amazon. That’s where the majority of books are sold now, at least in electronic form. It’s hard to avoid social media, and I indulge in it myself, but you need to understand that it’s a waste of time unless you have a huge promotional budget.
What is your favorite book on your shelf right now?
I just finished reading The Culture Code, by Daniel Coyle. It’s a fascinating study of what successful cultures have in common; he focuses on organizations as diverse as Johnson & Johnson and the Navy Seals. Hint: brutal honesty has something to do with it.
Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?
My extraordinary talent is the ordinary attribute of perseverance. It’s nice to think that the most talented writers are the ones who succeed, but very often it’s the ones who simply refuse to give up. I suspect this is true in most other fields as well.
You are given the choice of one super power. What super power would you have and why?
Here’s where we get into cliché. If I could get away with it without striking a deal with Satan, I’d like to live forever. No, I wouldn’t get bored. Yes, I’d have to outlive some people I loved, but that’s already happened. Yes, I’d know the answers to many of life’s fundamental questions and no one would listen to me, but most of them aren’t listening now. I’d just like to stick around without taking my chances on reincarnation.
List 5 things on your bucket list:
At the moment, they’re all travel-related (even though I’ve traveled pretty widely):
- Asia (first japan, but also Hong Kong and Singapore)
- Vancouver, British Columbia
- Nova Scotia
- Iceland
- I’d love to go back to Australia
Where can readers find you on the web?
Any final thoughts?
Thanks for having me today and listening to my ramblings (assuming people got this far). I hope you enjoy The American Crusade. Does history repeat itself, or are we constantly repeating it? You make the call.
Book Signing – E. Matheson
E. Matheson – author of The Adventures Of Riley & Elfy series, will be having his first book signing on Saturday June 22nd, 2019.
Only at Books On The Hill
Hill Road, Clevedon, North Somerset BS21 7PL.
E. Matheson will also be at Clevedon School Fair, St Nicholas Chantry on June 29th from 2.45PM to 3.30PM.
VBT – Piper Robbin and the American Oz Maker
Piper Robbin and the American Oz Maker
by Warwick Gleeson
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GENRE: Fantasy (Epic)
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BLURB:
WORLD WAR OZ from coast to coast.
An adult fantasy that takes one of America’s favorite tales and transforms it into a dark and epic landscape few can escape much less understand. Imagine Potter meets Avengers in Emerald city and you’re getting close.
After a homicidal alien from Orion arrives on Earth intent on annihilating human life, the 21st century’s greatest sorcerers create a network of seven Oz-like city worlds designed to harbor the human race in a newly formed utopia while also protecting it from the alien entity. But the alien is far more magically powerful than anyone suspected. Piper Robbin, ancient daughter of the Earth’s greatest sorcerer inventor, Edison Godfellow, must sacrifice all to defeat the implacable force that calls itself “The Witch Queen of Oz,” and quickly, before Earth becomes only a cold cinder floating among the stars.
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EXCERPT
THE FORGOTTEN CHILD IN PIPER ROBBIN, for the first time that day in the coffee shop, understood the meaning of true panic. Crushing a stone to powder or throwing a javelin half a mile wouldn’t fix anything (and neither would anyone in New York care) like in the old days of Ulysses. Muttering spells that made deserts bloom or oceans boil meant less than cooking a burger on the grill. Mortality for all, even the gods and greatest sorcerers, might be just around the corner. People think just because you’re a great magical being of some kind you have it made. Nothing could be more wrong. Your hopes and dreams are often spit on, your happiness ruined, your friends killed, and you lose sleep at night, worrying about shit just like everyone else. And besides obligations you really don’t want, you face mega-dangerous freaks way too often because you’re expected to, you know, cause you’re the official bad ass superwoman. By the gods! Really? You crawl in pain and heave up your insides for starters, die in lots of ways, and after all that trouble, sometimes you don’t come back.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Warwick Gleeson is a dedicated writer of screenplays, short stories, novels, and poetry. He has lived in both LA and NYC and worked many different jobs in his life, everything from roofer to waiter to small business owner to government analyst. He was the major writer, creator, and senior story editor for another project published by Del Sol Press called “War of the World Makers” that debuted in 2017. The novel has since won four national novel awards (two first place and two place) for SFF. Warwick is a big fan of great SFF television writing, like the kind you find in Emerald City, Gotham, The Expanse, and Umbrella Academy. He now lives in Tuscon, AZ, with a fat lazy cat and his most wonderful wife who is also a writer.
https://www.amazon.com/Warwick-Gleeson/e/B07QJ8L9BF/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19036873.Warwick_Gleeson
The book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3052
Book Blast – Murder by Munchausen
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions.
A police procedural sci fi thriller ripped from future headlines!
After Jake shoots and kills a murder suspect who turns out to be the son of a powerful city councilman, he finds himself demoted to the Artificial Crimes Unit, tracking down androids hacked and programmed to be hit men.
When his case of an “extra-judicial” divorce settlement takes a nasty turn with DNA from a hundred-year-old murder in Boston and a signature that harkens back to the very first serial killer ever in London, Jake finds himself tangled up in the brutal slayings of prostitutes being investigated by his former Robbery/Homicide partner, Maddie–who is now his lover.
But a madman, The Baron, is just getting started with his AI recreations of Jack the Ripper’s brutal crimes. And Maddie and Jake are teamed up again to stop the carnage as the Baron’s army of human replicants imitate history’s most notorious serial killers.
“It might not make sense, but the beloved Media tags it ‘Murder by Munchausen.’ For a price, there are hackers out there who will reprogram a synthoid to do your dirty work. The bad news: no fingerprints or DNA left at the crime scene. The good news—at least for us—is that they’re like missiles: once they hit their target, they’re usually as harmless as empty brass. The trick is to get them before they melt down their core OS data, so you can get the unit into forensics for analysis and, hopefully, an arrest.” [excerpt from Murder by Munchausen]
Artificial Intelligence? Fuhgeddaboudit!
Artificial Evil has a name…Munchausen.
Read an Excerpt
From The Invisible Mind (#3)
It sat on a bench outside the dormitory of nursing students, waiting with its kind’s infinite patience. Originally acquired and programmed for landscaping at the Cleveland Clinic, the synthoid was one of a brigade of units which had been hacked and Munchausened, then returned to their menial daily services to mankind to await the Baron’s call.
There was no adrenalin surge behind the extremely life-like facade of humanity when that call came. Data packets, sent scatter-shot through the Atlas Grid, coalesced at the location outside the Cole Eye Institute, where it methodically trimmed and shaped the immaculate shrubbery around the building. To avoid Q’s metadata sniffing algorithms from detecting a download spike in the grid, the information came in digital sprinkles over the course of its human handler’s work shift, slowly building a malevolent intent to be executed that night. In the middle of the afternoon, it left the topiary unfinished to melt into the hospital shift change and disappeared.
Personality modules were a Gen-3 feature upgrade, which is why the earlier models were initially preferred. Swapping out a few IC chips and uploading hacked firmware was a relatively easy way to turn a quick buck with an automated contract killing. But evil innovates, too, and the same features that made synthoids even more human-like in their behavior also helped create robotic assassins which could better camouflage their malicious intents and evade the reach of the Artificial Crimes Unit by melting into and moving undetected through the humanity that surrounded them. For the Baron, it allowed for a greater measure of artistic expression in programming the synthoid’s behavior to not only recreate infamous crimes of the past, but to mimic the behavior of their perpetrators, which intensified the thrill of watching the video feed through the eyes of Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy or, this particular evening, Richard Speck. Jake wasn’t the only history buff and it amused Jamal that London police had photographed the eyes of Jack the Ripper’s victims, hoping to capture the last thing they ever saw: their killer’s face. If only Scotland Yard could have imagined the future.
The Gen-3 personality modules also supported the ANSI Adaptive Artificial Intelligence Protocol #9 to enhance the artificial human experience of real men and women who interacted with synthoids. The constant writing and rewriting of code in the personality/experience loop formed unique individual synthoid consciousnesses, which manufacturers uploaded to their servers for product improvement teams to study. In Munchausened units, that feed was hijacked and routed to another portal in the Darknet to build a collective id of evil.
At eleven PM, it rose from the bench and entered the dormitory. The bodies of nine women would be found the next day, having been strangled and stabbed to death. Unlike 1966, no eyewitness was left alive, though the phrase “Born to Raise Hell” was written on the wall in blood.
About the Author:
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.
Website: https://www.mtbass.net
Blog: https://www.owl-works.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/owlworks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Owlworks
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/mtbass
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5270962.M_T_Bass
Murder by Munchausen Trilogy Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Munchausen-Trilogy-Future-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07QDGHYZ6
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/murder-by-munchausen-trilogy-books-1-3/id1458934052?mt=11
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1131145794?ean=2940156040681
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/murder-by-munchausen-trilogy
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/932579
THE AUTHOR WILL BE GIVING AWAY: $25 Amazon/BN GC
