Blog Archives
VBT – Daughter of the Sun
Title: Daughter of the Sun (Cult of the Cat series, Book 1)
Author: Zoe Kalo
Genre: YA contemporary / Egyptian mythological fantasy/paranormal
Word count: 93,000 words / 330 pages
DOWNLOAD FREE at www.ZoeKalo.com
Mystery, adventure, a hint of romance, and the delicious sweep of magic…
16-year-old Trinity leads a quiet life until fate takes her to the Island of Cats.
As Trinity tries to solve the mystery of an ancient papyrus, she’s pulled into a vortex of bloody sacrifices, evil curses, and a prophecy that points to a horrifying destiny.
The author is giving away the first book in the series for FREE to readers who sign up for her mailing list on her website at www.ZoeKalo.com
PRAISE….
“This was an amazing story!” –Hot Off the Shelves
“Wow- this book was a stunning, magnificent adventure!” –The Recipe Fairy
“If you are looking for a Young Adult Fantasy book that is different from the norm, then look no further. Daughter of the Sun is full of Egyptian mythology, with layer upon layer of mystery just waiting to be uncovered.” – Archaeolibrarian
ABOUT ZOE
Storyteller at heart…
A certified bookworm and ailurophile, Zoe Kalo has always been obsessed with books and reading. The pleasure of writing and sharing her fantasy worlds has remained. Today, Zoe passes her stories to you with lots of mystery, adventure, a hint of romance, and the delicious sweep of magic.
Currently, she balances writing with spending time with her family, taking care of her clowder of cats, and searching for the perfect bottle of pinot noir.
Connect with Zoe Kalo on the web: www.ZoeKalo.com / Facebook / Twitter
Release Blitz – The Mage Heir
About the Book
Traitor: that’s what Tatsu is now. On the run from both Runon and Chayd, Tatsu and Yudai’s only hope for survival is to disappear into the wilds. However, when the siphon’s deadly curse returns, they have no choice but to travel into the desert kingdom of Joesar in search of a cure.
Battling the unforgiving elements of the sands, Tatsu starts to realize that the path towards destroying the siphon may claim Yudai’s life. Time is running out as Nota’s fury—and the siphon’s hunger—begin to spiral wildly beyond their control.
As their options slowly fall away, the only thing Tatsu and Yudai can count on is each other.
Author Bio
Kathryn didn’t major in creative writing, but never stopped believing. She survives on books, strong coffee, craft beer, puppies, and the Oxford comma. She currently lives in Japan with her husband and teaches high school English to shape the next generation of young minds. She also comma splices like it’s going out of style.
Links
The Mage Heir on Amazon
Book One (The Life Siphon) on Amazon
Book Excerpt
Tatsu didn’t mind sleeping under the leaves, but Yudai’s agitation seemed to grow as the sky darkened. He paced back and forth between two ancient tree trunks with his hands clasped behind his back, over and over, until the stars came out.
“You’re going to have to sleep eventually,” Tatsu pointed out, voice mild, once the moon was high overhead. It earned him a growl in reply. “Please just sit down.”
“This clearing will be dead by morning,” Yudai snapped. When he turned to retrace his steps again, Tatsu could see the twist of his fingers clenched together in tight fists.
“You can’t do anything about it, so there’s no point in blaming yourself. It’s probably just making the whole thing worse.”
The look Yudai threw him was dubious at best, but evidently, the possibility was difficult to ignore. Yudai eventually settled himself down between two patches of yellow-green weeds, and he ran his finger over his lip a few times before his eyes flickered up towards Tatsu. “Distract me.”
“You could ask nicely,” Tatsu said.
One corner of Yudai’s mouth quirked upward. “I could,” he agreed, and said nothing more.
“Did you know that my mother had other children?”
Yudai blinked and sat back, face slackening. “Good distraction.”
Giveaway
Giveaway for 5 eBook copies of “The Mage Heir” to celebrate the release day.
VBT – Sanctuary
About the Book
Title: Sanctuary
Author: Makayla Love
Genre: Steampunk / Post-Apocalyptic
Shiloh isn’t adjusting well to her new life in Ironbridge. Life isn’t how she always imagined it would be, and every day is harder than the last. Things only get worse when a small family on their way to a settlement called “Sanctuary” shows up on Shiloh’s doorstep looking for an escort the rest of the way. But Sanctuary isn’t all its supposed to be.
When they find themselves trapped, every second becomes a fight for survival. Can they find a way out before one of them falls to a mad tyrant? Or will their little group be broken up forever?
Author Bio
Makayla Love is an aspiring Harley Quinn-esque super villain who has decided to spend her time between nefarious schemes by writing paranormal novels in her lair somewhere in the general Kansas area. She enjoys sit-coms and doesn’t have enough shelf space for her ever multiplying collection of books.
Links
Instagram: @agirl_unwritten
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makaylaloveauthor/
Blog: https://makaylaloveauthor.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @AGirl_Unwritten
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00IR7QD40
Book Excerpts
Excerpt #1:
Late afternoon set in and I decided to put forth every ounce of energy and strength still in my body and sit up.
With that much accomplished, I made my next goal getting up onto my feet.
Doing good so far. I ought to try going somewhere . . . doing something. But what? The laundry needed done but it was far too much effort to fill the wash basin and scrub what few precious pieces of clothes we had. I could do an inventory on our supplies—which would be an easy enough job. I just had to count. Okay, I could do that.
I ended up being rather proud of myself when I finished the task. At least I did something.
Momentum is something best not lost. So while I still had it in me to keep moving even when I didn’t want to I found one of my embroidery projects. I took it out onto the porch after turning the gramophone radio on. By then the air was stifling and I had soaked in sweat since noon. After Garth was home for a while—
(If he comes home at all.)
–when he decides to go back out again—
(Again? He might not come back this time.)
—I could ask him to look for an electric fan for me. It would be nice to set it up in the house and try to cool it down some. But for now there was no reason to sit inside. If I wanted to feel better, I had to create the conditions for it. I had to put forth the effort to stop being like this if I wanted to—
(You’re never going to feel better)
—change my attitude. I needed to relax, to find—
(There’s only one way to make it stop. There’s only one way to end the pain for good.)
–peace.
I had to create a sense of normalcy. Before Rilei and I came out here most of my days were filled with needlework and music and books. I had plenty of books but my needlework had been neglected. A lady can’t be expected to keep up her skills with a needle and thread if she doesn’t practice.
Excerpt #2:
My eyelids fluttered open to a room bathed in the glittering white light of day. Though how late in the day I couldn’t say. It was too bright and hot to be early morning but I didn’t know why I would be allowed to sleep in the way I was. Regardless, I rolled over onto my side and didn’t try to hurry myself to wake up. Why? I already slept much longer than need be. Might as well take my time about it.
Plus the heat kept me too sleepy and stupid to have much of a reaction to anything. Which might’ve been why when I saw Garth hovering outside my window, adorned in one of his shirts with the sleeves cut off so that his well-sculpted arms showed in all their muscular glory, I didn’t think much of it.
How peculiar . . . I thought as I watched him reach his arm up and down. Up and down. Up and down. How does he do that? I think I would want to learn that. It might come in handy someday, to just lift your feet off the ground and fly—
But people can’t fly. Not without the aid of a dirigible or airplane wings or turbine engines.
Everything came at me all at once, and did so with such force that I threw myself out of my bed and at the window.
“Garth! What are you doing?”
He didn’t look at me. “I’m—” He drifted his gaze over to me and whatever he intended to say died in his throat. A shade of bright pink lit up his face as his eyes grew wide and his lips pressed into a thin line. I watched his eyes, which moved from mine to something down . . . lower.
I followed his gaze. When I saw what he was looking at I made an odd sort of sound between a gasp and a scream. In my heat-induced stupidity and the shock of seeing him outside my second-story bedroom window I’d forgotten that I made a habit of sleeping in my bra and panties. I tried to cover my indecency up with my arms but to no avail. At last I drew the curtains shut and hurried to put on something.
Once dressed in my black t-shirt and blue denim shorts, I ran downstairs and out the front door. Garth stood near a long ladder with a gray soaked paintbrush in one hand and a matching paint can in the other.
VBT – Massage & Murder
Teasers
“Don’t make me arrest you, Autumn.” His voice low and almost growling.
I scoff. “For what?”
“The list is growing, but right now you’re the last person to see the victim alive. You’re our primary suspect. You have means, motive and opportunity.”
He’s really making a case against me. The room is spinning or am I spinning? I can’t tell. This can’t be happening. I feel sick. Sure, I hate April…hated her. Envisioned killing her multiple times, but I would never do it. I’m not a killer. I’m a healer. Surely, Travis knows that. Then again maybe he doesn’t.
Everyone in town has a motive to kill April, but who actually did? It’s the million-dollar question, one I have to prove before Travis decides to pin the murder on me.
About the Book
Title: Massage & Murder
Author: Jenn Cowan
Genre: Cozy Mystery
I’m a Licensed Massage Therapist.
A professional.
A healer.
Not a killer.
When a client ends up dead on my massage table, I become the number one suspect.
I have Means.
Motive.
Opportunity.
But I didn’t kill her.
The clock is ticking, someone is stalking me, I have to find out who before I end up in jail or worse…dead.
Author Bio
Jenn Cowan is the author of several genres and pen names under Jenna Richert and J.R. Cowan. When she’s not writing you can find her in her massage office working on clients, cooking up a storm in her kitchen, singing and dancing with her hubby at a concert, cheering on the sidelines for her kiddos or cozied up by the fire reading a novel. She loves a good mystery and a happily ever after.
Links
Facebook
Twitter: @JRCowan1
Instagram: jrcowan1 (Jenn Cowan)
Release Blitz – Night of the Victorian Dead
About the Book
A Pride & Prejudice & Zombies for lit lovers!
Mr. Edward Dorchester invites several families of his acquaintance to a ball at his country estate, the night the Harvest moon rises fell and tainted. While those within are consumed by their hopes and schemes, tenants are going missing and arriving guests savagely attacked.
A gothic horror tale of classic zombies meets manners, with an ensemble, upstairs-downstairs cast of Vic. Lit inspired characters.
The knowing modern reader can follow unsuspecting characters down the road to the inevitable.
Author Bio
Amber Michele Cook writes stories of deep, meaningful fun. A devotee of Georgian to Edwardian period pieces, she adores Speculative Lit: Victorian literature-inspired works with a supernatural or paranormal element.
Partly raised in Germany, she went to an international school for high-school, majored in linguistics, loves literature and period pieces. She’s also a photography/graphic arts artist of color and wonder living in the great Northwest.
In addition to leading improv writing tables, she’s the Director of National Novel Editing Month and a Facilitator for the People’s Ink writing community.
Website: www.nightofthevictoriandead.com
Links
Giveaway
We’re hosting a giveaway for a Victorian brooch and signed copy of the book. All you need to enter is your email address!
Cover Reveal – My Freshman Year of Fabulous
Series: School Dayz
Genre: YA
Format: eBook
When Avery Thornton needs to escape a first day of school disaster, she ducks into an equipment room to hide and meets someone else who’s also having a really bad day. Eli Fields just got demoted to third string on the football team, a sport he doesn’t even really want to play. On the hunt for a dance partner before her competition season begins, Avery discovers Eli’s secret, non-football life outside of school. She thinks he could be the dance partner she’s dreamed about. But Eli wants no part of dancing with Avery. When someone else steps in as Avery’s partner for competitions, she and Eli begin practicing steps “just for fun.”
But, is that really all that Eli wants? And although Avery has found a perfect partner, she’s learning that perfection doesn’t necessarily equal happiness.
Author Bio
Jennifer DiGiovanni is a freelance writer and YA author of the School Dayz series. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading, working on home design projects, or trying to meet the daily goals on her Fitbit. She also likes to try new sports and activities, from archery to ballroom dancing, with varying degrees of success.
Twitter: @JenniferDiGiov2
Website: http://www.jenniferdigiovanni.com/
Swoon Romance
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VBT – From Compton to Congress
About the Book
Title: From Compton to Congress: His Grace for my Race
Author: Walter Tucker III
Genre: Nonfiction Memoir
From Compton to Congress reveals shocking criminal charges, based on an FBI Sting, that send Congressman Walter R. Tucker III reeling, and changes his life forever. Against the great odds of overcoming the tough streets of Compton, young Tucker fulfills his goals of becoming valedictorian of Compton High School, graduate of USC with honors, graduate of Georgetown Law School, passing the California State Bar, and filling his father’s vacant seat as Mayor of Compton—all by age 33. During his meteoric rise in the political arena, at age 35 he becomes the youngest African-American from California to be elected to a U.S. congressional seat. However, the U.S. Attorney’s federal indictment against him shocks the nation. Tucker’s choice to fight the charges against him thrusts him into a criminal trial that tests the condition of his human spirit and provokes us to reflect on every man’s plight versus every man’s fight.
Author Bio
Walter R. Tucker, III is a native of Compton, California. He graduated Valedictorian of Compton High School in 1974. After graduating from high school, Walter studied Politics at Princeton University for two years. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from U.S.C. in 1978, and his Juris Doctor from Georgetown Law School in 1981, Walter worked as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney, established his own law firm, served as Mayor of Compton, and was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1993 – all by age 35. Walter R. Tucker, III is still the youngest African American to ever to be elected to the U.S. Congress from the State of California. In 2003, Walter became a pastor of a church in Chicago. In 2012, Walter and his wife, Robin Tucker, returned to Los Angeles and founded Truth and Love Christian Church, located in Carson, California. The church currently has over 300 members and 40 ministries in operation. Walter and Robin have been happily married for 30 years. They are the proud parents of Walter, IV, and Autumn and have one son-in-law, Spencer Rodney Sr., and one wonderful grandchild, Spencer Rodney, Jr. Walter enjoys morning walks on the beach and candlelight dinners with Robin.
Links
Website: https://www.fromcomptontocongress.net/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17304450.Walter_R_Tucker_III
VBT – The Truth About White Supremacy Sexism and Mind Control in America
About the Book
Title: The Truth About White Supremacy Sexism and Mind Control in America
Author: A.L. Bryant
Genre: Religion, Spirituality & New Age
Take a journey through America to unearth the truths behind white supremacy and sexism in society. Delve into the deepest and most fascinating secrets behind racism and sexism—the secrets they do not want you to know and may not realize.
Examine the origins and progression of racism, sexism, relationships in America, and the science and psychology behind what is real and what is an illusion. Discover how mind control is the weapon of choice to keep certain groups in power and others in the dark and oppressed. This book gives different perspectives from the physical to the metaphysical.
Finally, we explore astonishing revelations about why we are here, who we are, and how to heal and evolve to a higher spiritual level. Explore the mind-blowing revelations and proven facts that will challenge the way you think about people, life, and the universe.
Though this book focuses on America, its breathtaking discoveries can be applied everywhere, and with anyone around the world.
Author Bio
A. L. Bryant is a former journalist, with articles published in the San Diego Independent newspaper and on popular blog sites. In 2003, Bryant won a literary award for a children’s story.
Approaching every piece from the human perspective, Bryant has always sought to uncover, not just the facts, but the real issues behind the story. During this discovery process, and through personal interactions spanning over 25 years, Bryant is exposing tangible evidence about why some things occur in society.
iTunes: The Truth About White Supremacy, Sexism, And Mind Control in America by A. L. Bryant on iBooks
Book Excerpt
EXCERPT 1
Anthropology and the Invention of Race as a Social Construct.
As mentioned, there was no classification of race until the 18th century. After that, it was created to distinguish different groups socially. Race developed as a social construct. So, what is a social construct? According to anthropologists, there are no group of genes that make us belong to the African American, Caucasian, Asian, Indian, or any other race. The American Anthropological Association says that there is greater variation within “racial” groups than between them. The term race was created for cultural and classification purposes.
Race as a social construct originated in anthropology, with W.E.B. DuBois, the founder of the NAACP, and Theodosius Dobzhansky, an evolutionary biologist in the early 1930s-1970s. They concluded that, along with growing anthropology findings at the time, race is not a valid scientific category for biology. It was socially constructed, meaning that it was an invention, made up by society and paraded as the truth.
Anthropology studies many characteristics of humans, both past and present. It is a comparative study of all cultures throughout history and draws from many other social and biological sciences, such as archaeology and biology. If you ask most anthropology students about race, they will tell you that race is not real; it is a social construct.
In populations throughout history, there has been a great deal of overlapping of genes and their physical expressions. Whenever different groups have come into contact, they have interbred. Dobzhansky stated that genetic variation is much more common within species, and with genetic intermingling. It is impossible to distinctly draw a line that separates one classification of race from the other. Most anthropologists have concluded that there is just one type of race — the human race. All humans belong to a single species—Homo sapiens. In other words, the term race was created by….
