VBT – LIFE FOR SALE

Life for Sale
by Linda Nightingale

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GENRE: Science Fiction Romance

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BLURB:

Mayfair Electronics has created life.

But four of their Special Editions—sentient androids indistinguishable from human—have escaped. Rebel, Christian Aguillard and his owner, March, are on the run, but they have a bigger problem than his creator’s plan to destroy him. They’ve discovered that one of the renegades has suffered a dangerous malfunction, threatening them with more than just exposure.

Trapped on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic, March and Christian must stop the insane robot before someone else dies. All the evidence points to March being the killer’s next victim.

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EXCERPT:

“Why are you here? To spout more nonsense?” Spitting mad, Monica reared up in her enemy’s face.

“Not at all.” March’s hand flashed, almost too rapidly for Monica to see, and came down hard below her nose in a Judo-like attack.

Shocked and in pain, she stumbled back, switching modes as she pushed off the bed. “That’s it, whore. You’re a dead woman.”

“I don’t think so,” her rival gritted out, hands braced on her hips, her expression as cold and hard as her mediocre brown eyes. She shook her head. “Look, Monica, I know you’re aware of your actions. I’m going to give you a chance. You must deactivate until we can safely transport you to Dr. Cross for testing. Surely, you know something is wrong.”

“As they say in the films, you and whose army?” She squared her shoulders, preparing to strike without notice. “I didn’t do anything to that bloody dog. I didn’t do anything to you, fool.”

“You didn’t mention Anne.” The other woman seized Monica’s arm. “What did you do to Anne?”

Claws out, Monica lunged. March darted beneath her guard, stabbing at a spot beneath her left earlobe. Monica shoved her back. “Looking for my off switch, fool? It’s well hidden, like where Ms. Goodie Two Shoes wouldn’t even think about going.”

Her insane human rival stood at the locked door, her stance as much as saying to leave Monica would have to get past her. No prob. She stalked toward her rival, murder in her eyes. March didn’t move. When Monica threw a punch at her eye, she moved by the gods.

The American whore lurched back, crossing her arms across her face, anticipating Monica’s next attack. Forearm struck forearm. A human bone should break, but March stood her ground, her limb intact. She recovered too quickly, dealing Monica a hard blow beneath her cheekbone, barely missing her eye, slamming her back against the wall.

“I don’t know what you are, March Morgan,” she sneered. “But it’s not going to save your butt.”

“No, but I am.” Looking like an avenging angel, Christian—in a Houston t-shirt and khaki shorts, his long hair disheveled—had somehow appeared behind March without either of them hearing.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

After 14 years in Texas, Linda returned home to her roots in South Carolina. She has 8 published novels, four of which are available from Audible.com in audio. For many years, she bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses. So, she’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer. Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers’ Magnolia Award for Excellence, the Raven Award in Anthologies, and the SARA Merritt. Sinners’ Opera is a finalist in the 2020 Raven Awards. She loves horses, sports cars, music, reading, writing, and piano—oh, and dressing up and hosting formal dinner parties.

BUY LINKS:
Life for Sale – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08D2Z5XLC
Love For Sale – https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sale-Linda-Nightingale-ebook/dp/B00XCZ6EVY

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LNightingale
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaNightingaleAuthor
Web Site: http://www.lindanightingale.com
Blog: https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Nightingale/e/B005OSOJ0U
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/linda-nightingale
Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Nightingale/e/B005OSOJ0U/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linda.nightingale.52/

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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY

Linda Nightingale 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 hammered silver and black agate necklace with silver chain – a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Author Interview

Tell us about you as a person.

I’m something of a loner, but I do enjoy family and friends. However, both my sons live far away—one in England; the other in Houston. About me: Once upon a time, my husband (now an ex) and I had a horse farm. We bred Andalusian horses. I trained and showed them. They are the most magnificent and spiritual of the breeds, and the most beautiful. You’ve seen them in the movies, the fairytale horses with the long manes and tails, and arched neck, usually white. Oops, I’ve gone off on a tangent. That’s something about me.

I have a weakness for sports cars. My all-time favorite was a Sterling Gray Z3. I have my second Z3 now, exactly like the first one. It’s a 2002, the last year they made the model. I love Zippy Z. He’s sleek, drives like a dream, and is way too much fun. Top down, wind in your hair, cruising at 80, bugs in your face. Another tangent, sorry.

For most of my career, I was a legal assistant. Exciting, huh? Enough of that.

Finally, I love formal clothes. Man in a tux—I swoon. I love those lovely, long dresses and search for formal affairs where I can wear them. I host formal dinner parties and don’t even mind washing the china and crystal the next day.

If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?

That’s a hard one. I wish II had a time machine. In chronological order: Charles II (English King—1660) was witty, charming, and known to be a ladies man. He had many children born on the wrong side of the banket, but never a legitimate heir. Oscar Wilde, the Irish-born writer. He, too, was witty, charming, and I love his writing. I’d like to discuss his life. He spent time in Reading Gaol (There’s a poem by the same name) for sodomy. The third and most certainly not the least, is Edward VIII of England. He seceded the English throne to marry “the woman I love”. Like Harry today, who only gave up being a prince, I can’t imagine why a man would resign a position to which he was born.

What’s the story behind your latest book?

In 2015, when I wrote Love for Sale, I don’t think I knew anything about the humanoid robots that were being developed. My imagination, a what if robots looked exactly like humans and had feelings like ours. That goes for the first book as well as Life for Sale, the second book in the series. The idea for Life for Sale was what if one of them suffered a major malfunction. Life for Sale follows March and Christian, the android, in a desperate race to stop a killer…on cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic.

What is your writing process?

I enjoy listening to music that fits the book. With Sinners’ Opera, I listened to piano because the hero is a concert pianist…and a vampire. With Life for Sale and Love for Sale, I couldn’t find anything that suited androids, but I suppose it could have classical. With my my WIP, a contemporary western, I’ve been listening to country. I like scented candles and wine, but I hold off on the latter. 😊

As to my writing process, I don’t write every day. Wish I did. Lately, because of circumstances that annoy me but are beyond my control, I write when I get a chance. I like to be alone in my house—to go off to the world the characters are creating—and interruptions knock me out of the story. I like to write early in the morning when everyone else is asleep.

Tell us about your main character.

Though the narrative alternates between the heroine’s POV and the hero’s, I consider the android Christian the main character. He’s handsome and charming, intelligent and programmed to love the heroine. But no special module was necessary. He loved her at first sight. You couldn’t spot him on the street as a machine. He’s kind and affectionate but with an independent streak his programming shouldn’t allow. March finds that out after she falls in love with him. Christian is tall, longish blond hair, and blue eyes. My fav, and I’m guilty of making several of my heroes fair rather than the popular tall, dark, and handsome.

If your book was to be turned into a movie, who would play the lead role and why.

Probably Johnny Depp. In The Libertine, he delivers a monologue at the beginning of the film and at the end. I think it is very dynamic. He brings whatever character he portrays to life from Willie Wonka to the second of Earl of Rochester in The Libertine.. Here’s a link to the Earl’s monologue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfTPS-TFQ_c – Warning: It is rated R.

What are you working on next?

My WIP is a contemporary western. I’ve never written a western, and this is a fun project. I’m currently at 43,000 words, and the end of the tunnel is in sight. I do want to write a chapter about a horse race at the local Fourth of July Celebration. In The Wylder Years, horses star as much as my hero and heroine. Ash Colter was born in a small town in the west but raised in England. After his father’s death, he returns to manage the successful Marathon Ranch. He finds it a challenge but not as much so as a sassy tomboy ranch hand who has her own agenda for the herd of quarter horses. Sparks fly.

What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their book?

I wish I knew. I advertise, blog, tweet, and use other social media. I don’t know what works best. With the release of Life for Sale, I now have eight books. I do think a really nice web site helps to spotlight your books.

What is your favorite book on your shelf right now?

White Cliffs of Dover by Alice Duer Miler. The romance is set against World Wars I and II. It’s actually a saga poem. Both the language and the story are beautiful. I’d recommend it highly. The book is a little hard to find. I found it here.

Do you have any special/extraordinary talents?

None. I wish I could play piano. If only I’d learned when my mom sent me to lessons, but I wanted a horse, so I learned to play by the finger numbers. My loss.

You are given the choice of one superpower. What superpower would you have and why?

Telepathy or Teleportation. In a way, they’re both traveling and learning new things. In telepathy, you go into another’s thoughts. Teleportation would save driving in traffic, and I could travel the world and fulfill some of the following from my bucket list.

List 5 things on your bucket list:

1. See my name on a flashing marquee.
2. Own my perfect beach home facing the ocean
3. Own one of the beautiful houses on The Battery in Charleston, SC. They face the Atlantic
4. Visit Norway again.
5. Visit my friend who has a condo on the ocean in Portugal.

Any final thoughts?

I appreciate my readers and love to hear from them at Nitethyme2003@yahoo.com Thank you for hosting me and my characters of your blog today.