Blog Archives
Release Blitz – Highway to Hell
About the Book
Title: Highway to Hell
Author: Lydia Anne Stevens
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Death. Reapers. Atonement.
Catriona Clarke is a mercenary demon leading a gang of reapers and working with Lucifer to atone for her sins. The Hellcats’ mission is to collect the marked souls of the damned and bring them to Hell once they perish. When Catriona returns from collecting a soul, she discovers the rival gang of demons, the Hellhounds, have marked her ex-boyfriend.
Conflicted about going to reap Zeke’s soul, she reluctantly goes to collect. In a whirlwind of chaos, Catriona discovers that the son of Satan, Damien, has mistakenly marked the innocent and pure soul of Zeke’s twin brother, Lowell. Her gut instinct tells her to stand up against Lucifer and the demons of Hell, but in doing so, she will lose everything she’s worked hard for.
Is her ex-boyfriend’s brother worth the trouble?
Readers of Patricia Briggs, Darynda Jones, and Kevin Hearne will devour this Hellishly fantastic series.
Author Bio
Lydia Stevens is a full-time author and freelance writer having written over 75 novels for clients – with two series having become Amazon Bestsellers. She is an active member of the Maine Romance Writers Association, The Horror Writers of Maine, The Fantasy Writers of Maine, The Maine Women Authors, The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, Sigma Alpha Pi’s, National Society of Leadership and Success, and Sigma Tau Delta’s, International English Honor Society. Lydia graduated from the University of Southern New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and English on May 12th, of 2018 and she graduated with a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and English on May 11th, 2019.
She’s the author of a paranormal/humor trilogy, The Ginger Davenport Escapades and is contracted with a second trilogy, The Fire Series with LM Vintage Publishers. The first book, Phoenix Fire, is slated to be released in 2019. Lydia currently works as an internist in the second semester within a literary agency and plans to pursue future endeavors within this line of work, as well as a PhD in Creative Writing. Her creative writing research proposal is under review at Lancaster University in Lancaster, England.
Lydia lives in Maine where she enjoys living life with an active eight-year-old and a black cat, Sirius Black, who is equally competitive for her attention. In her spare time, Lydia loves knitting, reading, coaching soccer, completing fantasy-themed jigsaw puzzles for inspiration, traveling and having a laugh with her best friends.
Links
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VBT ~ Julian Fox: The Dream Guardian
About the Book
Title: Julian Fox: The Dream Guardian
Author: E.J. Miranda
Genre: YA Fantasy
It is said that dreams are just that: only dreams. But believe me, this is not always true. Some dreams are as real as the dreamer.
Thanks to their dreams, dreamers can receive the special visit of eternal wisdom that has inspired the creativity of great inventors, scientists, musicians, and even writers throughout the ages.
This creative wisdom is not always the type that appears to the eager conscience. Sometimes, a Defiler, a destroyer of dreams, is the one who tries to appear before the dreamer. These creatures were once humans, but they allowed their pain and desire for revenge to take over and seek the same miserable fate for the one who dreams.
You must not fear — Dream Guardians, also known as Kelsdrant, will always protect the one who dreams, even with their own life. They are people of flesh and bone, just like you and me, or at least they are on Earth.
The following story is dedicated to the fun, extravagant, and enlightening life of Julian Fox, the Dream Guardian.
Be prepared, dear reader. It is time to dream, laugh, reflect, and even maybe cry.
Welcome to the Land of the Wise Dreams.
Author Bio
E.J. Miranda is an avid reader, an enthusiastic traveler, and a passionate author. Her great sense of humor and love for nature have granted her a rebellious writing style: her approach describes the adventures of life, but in such a way that each reader can have an individual take on the matter. Her inspiration comes from her curiosity about other countries’ cultures and peculiarities. A few countries in particular which spark her curiosity are Colombia, Italy, Costa Rica, England, Belgium, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. Her favorite places to visit are historical sites and museums, locations that allow her to explore important and even overlooked details. She currently lives with her husband in Colombia, but frequently travels to Houston to visit her daughter and son. E.J. Miranda has a degree in tax accounting, but she prefers interacting with people to calculating their taxes. To learn more about her life and work, visit www.ejmiranda.com.
Links
Release Blitz – Anathema
About the Book
Title: Anathema
Author: Yoshiyuki Ly
Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance
Prepared to die for her country, Solaire Copeland is drafted to the Drakengard knighthood at twenty-two years old, and vows to stop running away from the one she loves. Guarding over her dark secrets in shame, she nevertheless takes a leap of faith and entrusts herself to her intelligent equal in Stella Azrith, an alluring, measured, and methodical young woman of magic. Solaire elevates her love for Stella in romantic showmanship and subservience, even as the two of them struggle to understand one another through their temperamental differences. Anathema is a historical fantasy romance that tells the tale of Solaire and Stella’s courtly relationship in their youth, as they grow into their characters—Archangel Vespair and Mistress Fury—from The Scorpion’s Empress, Venus and Lysander, and Black Waltz as a prequel to the existing trilogy.
Desperate to keep Solaire at home, Stella conspires to prevent her from getting sent off to fight in an unjust war for their country, the Monomyth of Astora. In her scheming at the highest levels of government, she forms an unstable alliance with Fey Murasaki, the wicked and wily ambassador from Astora’s closest foreign ally. Stella and Fey’s influence across the land slithers in the darkness while Solaire’s knightly powers shine to alarming levels in the light, causing them to become targets—for both good and ill—of the nation’s most powerful leaders. Through intensifying mortal perils, Solaire’s love for Stella deepens to maddening levels, restrained only by her distinct sense that her free will erodes more each time she kneels in fulfilling servitude.
Independent streaks contradict religiosity in service of loving a woman with a will so strong—Solaire bears both the light and the dark of enlightened empathy and burning hatred, with her secrets fueling her rise as the strongest knight of an age.
Author Bio
Yoshiyuki Ly was born in San Diego, CA. Her pen name represents her multiracial heritage and a unique, diverse outlook that reflects in her work. She is a writer and a gamer, primarily inspired by thought-provoking, well-written video games such as the Shin Megami Tensei, Dark Souls, NieR, and Drakengard franchises.
Buy the book: http://mybook.to/anathema
Website: http://yoshiyuki-ly.livejournal.com/
Links to previous publications:
mybook.to/blackwaltz
mybook.to/venusandlysander
mybook.to/thescorpionsempress
VBT – Crystal and Flint
About the Book
Title: Crystal and Flint
Author: Holly Ash
Genre: Science Fiction
It’s been 300 years since humans arrived on Neophia and the planet’s intelligent species have yet to agree on how much influence humans and their advanced technology should have on the planet. With the threat of war hanging in the air, Lieutenant Commander Crystal Wolf races to finish construction of the mega submarine, Journey, in order to calm political tensions on Neophia and cement her already stellar military career.
Lieutenant Desiree Flint never dreamed she would leave Earth to serve on Neophia, but with the end of her military career in sight she doesn’t see a way around it. Determined to rebuild her reputation on Neophia, no matter the cost, she sets her sights on dethroning Commander Wolf in order to prove her own superiority.
When Journey is attacked by someone from Crystal’s past, the two women must find a way to work together to save the ship, liberate an underwater colony from an oppressive government, and prevent a war.
Author Bio
Holly Ash is the author of the underwater science fiction series The Journey Missions. She has worked for the last ten years as an Environmental Engineer after receiving degrees in Environmental Science and English Literature from Central Michigan University. Holly lives in the metro Detroit area with her husband and two tiny people who constantly want her to do things for them.
Holly is also a member of The Cabin in the Woods Association of writers which works to help indie authors get their books seen.
facebook.com/hollyashwriter
hollyashwriter.com
Twitter: @hollyash85
Links
https://www.facebook.com/hollyashwriter/
Release Blitz – Vincent Van Gogh: The Ambiguity of Insanity
About the Book
Title: Vincent Van Gogh: The Ambiguity of Insanity
Author: Giuseppe Cafiero
An abrasive itinerary of the presence of women, the landscape and obsession. Such are the internal paradigms that went through the compelling life of the Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh.
Not flesh and blood women, but the woman as a guide: Mrs. Jones, the woman as a mother; Kee Vos; Christine Hoornik of Siena; Margot Begemann. The Portrait-women such as Augustine Roulin and Madame Ginoux. And then the backgrounds, endless, unforgettable in this genius’s works: Isleworth, Amsterdam, le Borinage, Arles, St. Remy, Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent van Gogh spent his life trying to capture the colors, the atmosphere, the light.
The pain of finitude and his obsession with achieving redemption through art, with intimate and stormy religiosity, with brotherly love, with the French noon sun and, in short, with death. A hard-working and unwavering life where art interacted, in a painful gesture, with the iron will of a hand that never lost its way.
The life of a beloved and devoted man, silenced by the anguish and despair of creation, who could only find peacefulness when he found his own death.
Vincent Van Gogh: the Ambiguity of Insanity is a fictionalized biography and gripping novel of the life of the Nineteenth-Century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The author, Giuseppe Cafiero, draws a psychological portrait of the Post-Impressionist painter through the women that marked his life and the cities in which he lived.
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Demonised by Dad: Three Ways van Gogh’s Life was Influenced by his God-Fearing Father
Vincent van Gogh’s troubled relationship with his pastor father influenced the painter’s work and melancholic outlook, writes the acclaimed Italian author and historian, Giuseppe Cafiero.
By Giuseppe Cafiero
Vincent van Gogh’s pious father, Theodorus, had a profound effect on his art and relationships. Here are three ways that van Gogh’s God-fearing father, Theodorus van Gogh, a pastor at the Dutch Reformed Church in Holland, influenced his son’s life.
- A Pious Youth
Van Gogh was raised in a small village called Zundert in the Netherlands. Thanks to his father’s religious zeal, the painter’s early life was constrained by the Church. While his childhood in the poor, medieval village was said to be pleasant, van Gogh did in my view yearn for bigger, brighter and better things. He craved culture and the freedom to do what he wanted without societal, disciplinary and religious restrictions and his over-zealous father’s unrealistic expectations.
- His Stillborn Brother
It is widely believed that van Gogh knew that in his father’s eyes, he was a disappointment and failure. Theodorus expected much of him as the oldest son, but Vincent never quite measured up; he had failed to follow in his father’s clergyman footsteps and had instead pursued his dream of becoming a painter. It is my view that Vincent lived under a constant pressure of living up to his father’s expectations and of ‘replacing’ his father’s first-born son, also named Vincent, who died at birth one year to the day before Vincent’s own birth.
- Escaping God’s Wrath
In the years 1877 to 1880, van Gogh himself turned to religion. He became a fanatic and was obsessively devoted to the Bible and to its teachings. But his attempt at religious life was unsuccessful and sent the artist into a period of depression and spiritual crisis. This is reflected in his artwork at the time and also in the increasingly tense relationship with his father, who as above had always dreamed of Vincent following him into the Clergy.
Vincent Van Gogh: the Ambiguity of Insanity by Giuseppe Cafiero is out now as an audiobook on Amazon, Audible.com and iTunes
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VBT – The Monster of Selkirk Book 1: The Duality of Nature
About the Book
Title: The Monster of Selkirk Book 1: The Duality of Nature
Author: C.E. Clayton
Genre: Fantasy
Monsters come in many forms, and not everyone knows a monster when they see one. After three hundred years of monstrous, feral elves plaguing the island nation of Selkirk, everyone believes they know what a monster is. Humans have learned to live with their savage neighbors, enacting a Clearing every four years to push the elves back from their borders. The system has worked for centuries, until after one such purge, a babe was found in the forest.
As Tallis grows, she discovers she isn’t like everyone else. There is something a little different that makes people leery in her presence, and she only ever makes a handful of friends. But when the elves gather their forces and emerge from the forests literally hissing Tallis’s name like a battle mantra, making friends is the least of her troubles. Tallis and her companions find themselves on an unwilling journey to not only clear her name, but to stop the elves from ravaging her homeland.
Author Bio
C. E. Clayton was born and raised in the greater Los Angeles area, where she attended the University of Southern California (Fight On!) for both her Bachelors and Masters, and then worked in the advertising industry for several years on accounts ranging from fast food, to cars, and video games (her personal favorite). After going the traditional career route and becoming restless, she went back to her first love—writing—and hasn’t stopped. She is now the author of “The Monster of Selkirk” series and her horror short stories have appeared in anthologies across the country. When she’s not writing you can find her treating her fur-babies like humans, constantly drinking tea, and trying to convince her husband to go to more concerts. And reading. She does read quite a bit.
More about C.E. Clayton, including her blog, book reviews, social media presence, and newsletter, can be found on her website: https://www.ceclayton.com/
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/c-e-clayton
Links
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34736540-the-duality-of-nature
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B06XSTY6PL
Website: https://www.ceclayton.com/
The Monster of Selkirk Books series available now!
Excerpt
Tallis’s mind was racing as they went. There was something much bigger than anything they had anticipated at work here. She just didn’t know what it was. She was holding so many pieces of the puzzle and yet none of them fit together to make a whole picture, and yet, she was somehow in the center of it all.
As she walked beside her cousin, weapons at the ready, she whispered, “Why haven’t we come across more elves?”
Donovan gave her a strange look. “What? The ones we have come across haven’t been enough for you?”
“But that’s just it,” Tallis added quickly. “We’ve really only encountered the one and a score of deranged animals. Everyone says that the forests are crawling with elves when you get this far in, and yet we’ve seen blessed few. Doesn’t this seem, I don’t know, just a little bit odd to you?”
Donovan was silent for a long while. Tallis could not tell if he found her questions annoying because they were silly, or because they genuinely caused him pause.
Just as Tallis gave up that her cousin would ever respond to her, he said, “Ever since Aunt Lana died I have said that the elves were changing in their behavior. For whatever reason, they were going back to old camp sites and deciding to fight to the death rather than flee like they used to. For three years I’ve had to listen to my commanding officers and even my fellow knights tell me I was delusional, and I would be stripped of my position if I kept harping on about being vigilant against a threat they couldn’t see. Even you seemed reluctant to believe me when I said that danger was approaching. But now you see it, the elves are seeping across Selkirk like a wave that cannot be stopped until it has washed its corruption over everything we hold dear. I don’t find this behavior odd Tallis, I find it expected.”
VBT – The Raygin War
About the Book
Title: The Raygin War
Author: Larry Gerovac
Genre: Science-Fiction
The Raygin War is a futuristic sci-fi story about an alien race that evolved from Carrion beetles. 25 years after first contact the aliens return with a fleet to invade human space. To stop the invasion the military puts all its hope into a single person. He’s an old school soldier who started his career as a ground pounder in the Sniper Corps. Mac has been involved in about every conflict the military has participated in. His skill as a sniper earned him the respect of every soldier who ever worked with him. He is a self taught killer. On the battlefield he has no equal. Whether it was killing the opponent in hand-to-hand combat, killing them with a weapon, or just plain old out maneuvering them Mac was the best the military had ever seen. When the Raygin war starts Mac is forced into a leadership role he wanted nothing to do with. Will Mac’s experience and talent be enough to neutralize the alien invasion? All is not what it seems. Read the Raygin War to see if the human race will survive and remain free.
Author Bio
Larry Gerovac was born in the shadows of the steel mills, oil refineries, and railroadyards of the Midwestern United States. He is a Navy Veteran and a first generation American. He writes in the genre of Science, Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror.
Links
Author web site: http://www.larrysgerovac.com/
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/LarryGerovac
Author Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/larrygerovac/boards/
Book Excerpt
All but the old mystic exited the medical facility. She turned and went back to the princess. Mahpee followed her. The ancient woman made motions in the air with her hands as she spoke in a voice so low he couldn’t make out any of the words. She turned so quick to face him his body jerked in a startled reflex.
She was inches from his face and staring at him with her blind eye. When Nahimana spoke, he could smell the spices on her breath. “See. Her wound already heals.”
He looked at the scar. She is right, its no longer red and irritated. It could be a coincidence.
“Even with what you have seen, grandson of Uzumati, you still doubt?
Can the hag read my mind?
The witch grinned as if she read his thoughts. “I have glimpsed into your future. Do you want to know what waits?” She cackled at him.
He felt his heart raced. He could feel the sweat oozing out of his palms. I don’t believe all this nonsense, but – if I don’t believe why am I nervous?
Not waiting for an answer Nahimana squinted at him. He swore she touched his soul with her stare. “In time, you will betray your daughter, and leave her heart broken. You, Chief Mahpee, will become the rider of the storm. Your fate is sealed.” The old mystic turned and walked out before he could ask a single question.
What the hell did she mean? He had never betrayed anyone in his life. He would rather choose death than to betray anyone, let alone his daughter. The hag spoke nonsense. I will become the rider of the storm? Mumbo jumbo. She wouldn’t even stay to answer questions. I never want to see her again.
Hopes of keeping a lid on his daughter’s unusual birth lasted less time than it took to get back to Nokomis. Word spread throughout the Nation his tiny daughter was the warrior born princess from the old prophesies. Later in the evening the Tellers showed up at the War Council. They warned of impending doom and gave Mahpee everything he requested. For better or worse, it looked like they would be a major part of his life.
The People’s Nation broadcast pictures of the aliens and vids of the attack. A few videos from the fight were also shown in all their gruesomeness. The old war drums beat across Nokomis to let the People’s Nation know they were at war.
VBT – Inside the Chinese Wine Industry
About the Book
Title: Inside the Chinese Wine Industry
Author: Loren Mayshark
Genre: Nonfiction
The wine business is one of the world’s most fascinating industries and China is considered the rising star. A hidden secret, the Chinese wine industry continues to grow at an amazing pace and is projected to soon enter the top five producing nations, supplanting long established countries such as Australia. Inside the Chinese Wine Industry: The Past, Present, and Future of Wine in China takes you through the growing Chinese wine scene.
Wine has had a meteoric rise in China over the past two decades. The nation is projected to become the second most valuable market for wine in the world by 2020. One recent study concluded that 96% of young Chinese adults consider wine their alcoholic drink of choice. Not only does Inside the Chinese Wine Industry explore current expansion and business models, it journeys back to the past to see where it all began.
There are more than seven hundred wineries in China today. Although it’s bit of an oversimplification, the vast majority of the wineries fit into one of two categories: the larger established producers who churn out mostly plonk to meet the growing demand for inexpensive wine and the newer wineries that try to cater to the tastes of the wealthy Chinese with money to spend on luxury goods like fine wine. In the words of wine guru Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible, “The cheap wines from the very large producers have mostly verged on dismal.” However, this should not be considered a blanket statement regarding every wine from large producers. Also, she has positive reflections regarding the level of wine produced by “cutting-edge wineries” which she finds “far better.” How good are they? MacNeil asserts: “Some of these wines are so good they could easily pass for a California or Bordeaux wine in a blind tasting.”
Author Bio
Loren Mayshark studied Chinese art, religion, philosophy, and history while earning a B.A. in history from Manhattanville College in New York. After graduation, he attended The Gotham Writers Workshop and the prestigious New York Writers Workshop. He has written about the Chinese wine industry for The Jovial Journey and Sublime China.
After college, he supported his itinerant lifestyle by working dozens of jobs, including golf caddy, travel writer, construction worker, fireworks salesman, substitute teacher, and vineyard laborer. Predominantly his jobs have been in the restaurant industry. He cut his teeth as a server, maître d’, and bartender at San Francisco’s historic Fisherman’s Grotto #9, the original restaurant on the Fisherman’s Wharf. While working with a colorful crew of primarily Mexican and Chinese co-workers.
He spent much of his young adult life exploring the wine industry from Sonoma Valley to the North Fork of Long Island, immersing himself in vineyards and learning valuable lessons. He has traveled extensively in South America, Europe, and Asia. He presently splits his time between Western New York and Sweden.
His first book, Death: An Exploration, won the 2016 Beverly Hills Book Award in the category of Death and Dying and was a finalist for book of the year in the 2016 Foreword INDIES Awards in the category of Grief/Grieving (Adult Nonfiction). Inside the Chinese Wine Industry is his third book.
For more information visit his website: lorenmayshark.com.
Keep up with him on Twitter: @LorenMayshark
Links
Twitter: https://bit.ly/2JgrXQy
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2OLTEGE
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2PlLUuF
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2PoUKHW and http://bit.ly/LMaysharkFB
Author Website Bookpage: http://bit.ly/LmaysharkWB
Book Excerpt
CHAPTER I:
Introduction
Few things signal civilization and sophistication more than enjoying a fine wine with an excellent meal. It may be asserted that China is the world’s oldest continuous civilization. One of the features of its culture is that Chinese cuisine serves up superb meals. Until recently, however, fine wines have been absent there, at least wine made from the noble grape.
In many ways, we live in a golden age for wine. The wine world has many exciting new wrinkles from fancy new mobile applications to devices that allow us to extract a glass of wine from a bottle and then return it to the cellar to rest for a couple of years without changing the character of the wine. With all the current trends and innovations, it is the best time to enjoy wine. This is certainly a special age, in the words of renowned wine critic Jancis Robinson: “The irony is that just as the difference in price between the best and worst wines is greater than it has ever been, the difference in quality is narrower than ever before.”1 Perhaps one of the most pervasive reasons for this truism, which Robinson so eloquently captured, is the globalization of the wine industry. One cannot fully understand the global wine industry of today without developing a deeper understanding of its largest and fastest growing player: China.
Though starting relatively late historically with grape wine production and consumption, China has been catching up quickly. China’s role in the global wine industry continues to grow at an astonishing pace. Wine consumption in China doubled between 2008 and 2013 when China became the fifth largest consumer of wine in the world. At the end of 2013, China became the world’s largest market for red wine, and China is projected to become the second most valuable market for wine in the world by 2020 (behind the U.S.), which will have a profound impact on various aspects of the global wine industry.2 These are significant statistics for anyone who has a serious interest in the global wine industry.
To feed the rapidly rising consumption, the domestic production in China has also increased at an amazing rate. China now has more than seven hundred vineyards, compared to 240 in 1995.3 As of 2018, China is projected to have the second largest area of wine grapes planted in the world and to be the seventh largest producer of wine.4
While wine has deep roots in Western culture, China has a rich history of wine production which dates back to millennia before Christ. However, it must be stressed that this tradition is almost exclusively rice wine. The production and mass consumption of grape wine is a recent phenomenon in China. A 2015 poll found that 96 percent of young adults in China select wine as their favored alcoholic beverage.5 This book examines the development of the Chinese wine industry in a historical context and explains how the Chinese grape wine industry has exploded in the last two decades. We will explore the fascination with European Grapes in China and the explosion of the import and consumption of Vitis vinifera (the most important wine-grape species in the world) in China and the historical precedent for that. We will attempt to answer burning questions such as: What changed to make China wine-crazy? How can a tourist enjoy unique wine experiences in China? Why is mass wine production and consumption a modern phenomenon? Why are there not a lot of Chinese wines exported to the United States and Europe?
1 Quoted in George M. Taber, A Toast to Bargain Wines: How Innovators, Iconoclasts, and Winemaking Revolutionaries Are Changing the Way the World Drinks, 1st Scribner ed (New York: Scribner, 2011), 1.
2 Vinexpo Newsroom, “China Is a Leading Wine Market of the Future,” Vinexpo Newsroom – Wine & Spirits News by Vinexpo (blog), April 4, 2017, https://www.vinexpo-newsroom.com/china-is-a-leading-wine-market-of-the-future/.
3 Suzanne Mustacich, Thirsty Dragon: China’s Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World’s Best Wines, First edition (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2015), 56.
4 “State of the Vitiviniculture World Market” (International Organisation of Wine and Vine (OIV), April 2018), http://www.oiv.int/public/medias/5958/oiv-state-of-the-vitiviniculture-world-market-april-2018.pdf.
5 Can Akalin and Lawrence Lazar, Wine in China: Insights on a Burgeoning Industry in an e/m Commerce Context, 2 edition, Kindle Edition, (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015), Location 89.
