Frailties Of The Bond

Gang! Super excited to share this fantastic new release from our blogging/writing sister-at-arms, Angela Brown.

AB is legit, and so is this cover:

The dirty on Frailties...

NEO – Network of Extraordinaires and Otherworldlies:

Those who answer the call from NEO play their part in maintaining balance in our ever-changing times. With power-hungry malcontents, jealous gods, and even those with misguided good intentions, the fate of our world has oft been held in the hands of unsung heroes such as those that are members of NEO.

But before NEO, these heroes and heroines had lives, loves, issues and interests that didn’t involve saving mankind.

In Frailties of the Bond, it only takes one bite to change a life…

After a hiking trip gone wrong, sixteen-year-old Luca should have been dead. Since then, he’s drifted from one school day to the next, annoyed by the looks of suspicion. When a vampire attack claimed his mother and forced his first shift into animal form, Luca set out for Texas, vengeance bound, only to discover so much more when Aimee crossed his path.

Flesh-born of vampire parents sixteen years ago, Aimee shouldn’t exist. Magic, though, made dreams come true for an undead couple desperate for a child all their own. But this magic came with a price, a cost Aimee discovered after one forbidden bite.

An Excerpt:

“That’s not the way to really drink, beautiful.” He pulled down his collar, tilted his neck and exposed his jugular to me. The vein throbbed to the steady beat of his heart. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Bloodlust slapped me like a cornered beast. Ignored for far too long.

I sprang at Trevor, my bared lips a hair’s breadth from his neck, the pulse teasing and inviting. My lips trembled. They grazed his smooth skin. The very idea of sucking his blood sent fire coursing from my core, splintering throughout my body. My fangs drew forth.

I closed my eyes, resisting long enough to stutter out a squeaky breath.

“Do it,” he rasped.

I sank in my fangs. Hot blood splashed against the roof of my mouth and soaked my tongue. Like the B-shop anty pouches, I sucked it down my throat like melted chocolate. I suctioned my lips to keep every delicious drop within the circle surrounding my puncture marks.

Quivers wracked my body. I dropped my Bloody Joey and held to Trevor for dear life.

He gasped, then started moaning. But not from pain. No. Something else was going on with Trevor. My heartbeat quickened and I felt…ALIVE. Complete bliss crested like a crescendo where his heart and mine beat as one. This was the wonderful thing my parents kept from me my whole life. For one heartbeat, I despised my parents for keeping me from experiencing such a high. When I opened my eyes, the moment crashed.

Where you can find Frailties:

Buy links: Amazon US, Kobo,B&N

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17406766-frailties-of-the-bond

Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6476148.Angela_Brown

Angela Brown in the Pursuit of Publishness blog: http://publishness.blogspot.com/

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Angela-Brown/e/B009JJEX60

Partners in ParanormYA (with Gwen Gardner): http://partnersinparanormya.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/neostateofmind

PIP Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Partners-in-ParanormYA/462052430493091

The dirty on AB...

Born and raised in Little Rock, AR, Angela now calls Central Texas home.

Reading and writing have been lifelong passions. It was around the time she gave birth to her forever-love, nicknamed Chipmunk, that she really took writing seriously. After all, how could she teach her child to follow her dreams if she hadn't tried herself?

As a YA fantasy/sci-fi reader and author, she favors the magical, mysterious, the darker side of life...even harbors a secret fright for things that go bump in the night.

NEVERLOVE is a special project spawned from a blog-challenge-turned-blog-opera, the Abby and Basil affair. It is the first in the Shadow Jumpers series.

FRAILTIES OF THE BOND is the first in a series of novellas and short stories introducing heroes and heroines of the secret organization, NEO – Network of Extraordinaires and Otherwordlies.

Congrats AB! Have a feeling this one is going to be huge!

If you leave a comment on this post to wish Angela luck, I'll enter you for a chance to win a free eCopy of Frailties.

Also, want to wish everyone a happy Easter and a great weekend, too. :)

~EJW~

My A-Z Plans & New(s) Adult

Winner! Winner!

Congrats to Melissa Maygrove on winning last week's giveaway for a free eCopy of Julie Flanders' Polar Night! Julie will be in touch, and I hope you enjoy. :)

My A to Z Plan... or Lack Thereof

Hey gang! April is nigh, and that means the A to Z blogfest is getting ready to explode our inboxes and web readers. It's a great bit of fun, but an extremely nuts time for those who participate.

I've decided to abstain this year as I'm very busy preparing my third Moonsongs book for launch (coming very soon!), prepping my home and family to relocate across the country in June, and adapting to some exciting new blog/writing opportunities. (More on that below...)

So what's my A-Z plan, then? To support you all, of course! Almost every blogger I follow is doing A-Z, so I'm going to spend my time commenting on and sharing your posts. As a result, this blog will be pretty quiet in April.

But you'll probably still be able to find me around the blog world...

New(s) Adult

If you've been following this blog very long, it's no secret that I'm a fan of New Adult literature. I love the idea of creating stories specifically for the 18 to 20-something crowd. It's a time in life when folks are truly just figuring out adulthood. They're actively conquering life and, sometimes, life is conquering them.

Being that age often means struggling to find a career or an identity in the professional world. It can also mean a lot of exploration in relationships with a freedom and responsibility not experienced in the teenage years.

In short, it's a dynamic life stage. A stage that was very meaningful to me personally, and one I think deserves some real attention from both readers and storytellers alike.

I truly believe it's not a category of literature that simply should exist, it's a category that demands to exist. (And does now!) That passion is what led me into the New Adult community online.

How I got into NA

Just under a year ago I was totally floored to find this blog of New Adult writers and enthusiast called NA Alley Blog. At the time, I had no idea there was a name for the kinds of stories I mentioned above. I just knew I was writing them, and that I wanted to read more like them.

After visiting with NAAB, an idea was hatched to start a weekly New Adult chat on Twitter. So I did.

I honestly figured it would just be me and those enthusiastic ladies from NA Alley doing all of the chatting at these things. People in publishing circles were still very uneasy with the concept of New Adult, it seemed, and considering I'd just heard of the term myself, I couldn't imagine there'd be much interest.

I was very, very wrong.

The chat was an instant hit, and thanks to the support/knowledge of the folks at NA Alley, it became a real resource for the NA community. We had authors of all kinds, readers of all kinds, editors, etc. stopping in to chat with us on a regular basis. Word of mouth spread, and within weeks we were regularly trending on the BIG Twitter lists.

Amazing!

I'm proud to say that the chat is still going strong (we'll celebrate our first birthday in July), and has grown into quite a 'thing'. I still host most Thursday nights, but have been able to tap into a network of professionals who are eager to share their expertise with New Adult writers. So you never know who'll be around!

Meanwhile, New Adult has also become quite a thing. Publishers are eagerly looking for it, big time media is starting to investigate it, and readers are snapping it up.

And I truly think it only goes up from here.

My next role in the NA movement is...

That's why I was so thrilled to apply to be, and subsequently be accepted (last week!) as an official contributor to NA Alley Blog. These are the folks who got me into NA, the people I turned to for NA answers, and now I get to be a part of that for others.

As part of NA Alley Blog I'll have a special opportunity to share my--hopefully--unique voice with a diversity of writing and reading communities. I'll do my best to bring energy, fun, and encouragement as well.

I'll be blogging about NA centric things over there on a regular basis, as well as taking part in the various activities and initiatives on that front. I'll be sharing that stuff with you all, of course, but this blog will still be my own--for better or worse. :)

I'll be busy, and it may take me a while to figure out how to mange three blogs/endeavors (I'm still running the NA Lit Chat blog). But I hope you'll stick around to see where this latest adventure takes me. Who knows, maybe you'll even join me on the NA front?

A Special Thank You

I want to publicly thank Alex Cavanaugh and P.K. Hrezo for endorsing my application. If you know them (how could you not), you know they're special people in our writing community. They're great ambassadors for what we all do and aspire to do as writers online. They operate with a class, thoughtfulness, and spirit of community that is hard to find in my 'real life' relationships, much less from people I've never met face-to-face.

It's the spirit of people like P.K. and Alex I hope I bring to the NA community, so they were naturally the first people I approached to write me notes of recommendation for the NAAB position.

Just as naturally, I suppose, they said yes. :) In the end, they are more than role models, they are people I'm proud to call friends. And I hope they would consider me the same.

~EJW~

Where's The Science Fiction?

Where’s the Science Fiction?

by Ellie Garratt

Thank you for hosting me, EJ. Today is the last day of my Passing Time Blog Tour. Where did the time go?

I guess most people looking at my Blog, Goodreads, Facebook or Google+ accounts will be used to seeing my spacewoman avatar. Although I write both science fiction and horror, I’ve always been crazy about science fiction. Star Trek. Battlestar Galactica. NASA. Space Camp. Dr. Who. The list goes on. I love anything to do with space or the unknown. So I’m sure some people have looked at my dark fiction story collection, Passing Time, and wondered what happened to the science fiction stories.

Well they are coming…in time. Taking Time is a collection of previously published and unpublished sci-fi stories, launching July 1st this year. It’s not a collection of alien abduction or time travel tales–it’s so much more. Here’s a teaser from one of the stories, Schrodinger’s Gamble:

“Take a seat, Charles. There are a few things we need to discuss,” the female says with an exasperated tone to her voice.

I stay standing.

Ignoring my failure to sit, she continues. “The thing is safety–your safety. We couldn’t possibly leave you out there to be savaged by The Fleet. Have you any idea of the tactics those friendly-faced terraformers would use to get your ticket? The deceit they would employ to pass themselves off as you? No. And we won’t even start talking about the dictators on Gemini I and II. So for your safety–for everyone’s safety–the draw is pre-determined.”

“Pre-determined?”

“You don’t think we leave it to chance do you? Let a random person or group of people win a planet. Considerable research and thought goes into deciding who is the best candidate for the job. Of course there have been mistakes–the first planet and the isolationists–but on the whole I think we got it right.”

“Job?”

“You don’t get it for nothing, young man,” the taller male answers. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “But I haven’t got it for nothing. I’ve spent the last seventeen years living on only half my food and water rations. I’d hardly call that nothing.”

I hope my teaser as wetted your appetite. I shall be doing a cover reveal in early June, so watch this space for further details.

EJ Note: Ellie is also the author of the recently released, Passing Time. I've just started reading, but can already highly recommend it to fans of horror and short fiction. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to enter the tour giveaway! Here are the details:

Nine dark fiction stories that may just give you nightmares.

A man lives to regret Passing Time. A father will do anything to save his son in Expiration Date. An author finds out her worst nightmare is back in The Devil’s Song. A woman gets more than the claim fee when she takes out vampire insurance in Luna Black.

In Dining in Hell, the Death Valley Diner becomes the wrong place to stop.

A serial killer wants to add another file to his collection in The Vegas Screamer. In Eating Mr. Bone, an undertaker could meet an unfortunate end. A con man meets his first ghost in Land of the Free. And will truth finally be set free in The Letter?

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Goodreads
Facebook

About The Author

A life-long addiction to reading science fiction and horror, meant writing was the logical outlet for Ellie Garratt’s passions. She is a reader, writer, blogger, Trekkie, and would happily die to be an extra in The Walking Dead. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and online. Passing Time is her first eBook collection and contains nine previously published stories. Her science fiction collection Taking Time will be published later in the year.

Website
Amazon
Facebook
Goodreads
Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Character Closeups: The Cast of Polar Night, Pt. 3

Hey gang! Today is the final installment of this week's Polar Night (by Julie Flanders) character closeups. We get our first villain (or is he?) today, so it should be fun.

Remember to leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a free digital copy of Polar Night. (NOTE: Only 1 entry per post will be counted for the drawing, so you can have your name put in up to three times if you comment on each one.) We'll draw the winner over the weekend and announce here on the blog next week.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by this week to check out the closeups and cheer Julie on. :)

~EJW~

The Cast of Polar Night, Pt. 3

1. Character Name: Aleksei Nechayev

2. Physical description: I don’t mean to sound conceited, but I’m extremely attractive. I’m very tall and very well-built, and I have blond hair and dark blue eyes that many women have told me are to die for.

3. Hero or villain: Most people would say I’m a villain, although I don’t really see it that way. I’m just doing what I need to get by and find some happiness in life.

4. Where do you live? I live in Coldfoot, Alaska in an old state asylum that I’ve converted into a tourist attraction/haunted house. Coldfoot is only about 240 miles south of the Arctic Ocean, and our population in the 2010 census was 10. I like my privacy, so that suits me just fine, especially during the winter months when the tourist attraction part of my home closes for the season.

5. What is my problem? I’d like to find a beautiful woman to spend my winter with. My biggest obstacle is a Fairbanks detective who seems to think he knows something about me, and keeps turning up at my home and violating my privacy.

6. Do I have a secret? I do. I’m much older than people think I am, and I like keeping my age a secret. If people knew the truth, they’d ask too many questions.

7. What is the most honorable or good thing I’ve ever done? I fought for my country in the war and nearly died for my efforts.

8. Do I believe in self-sacrifice for the greater good? Absolutely not. After my experience in the war, I know that whole idea is absurd. I really don’t believe in self-sacrifice at all. What’s the point? I believe in looking out for myself and getting what I want out of life.

Read more about Aleksei's schemings in Polar Night!

When Detective Danny Fitzpatrick leaves his hometown of Chicago and moves to Fairbanks, Alaska he wants nothing more than to escape the violence and heartbreak that left his life in pieces. Numbed by alcohol and the frozen temperatures of an Alaskan winter, Danny is content with a dead-end job investigating Fairbanks' cold cases. That all changes when a pretty blond woman goes missing on the winter solstice, and Danny stumbles upon some surprising connections between her disappearance and that of another Fairbanks woman three years earlier. Forced out of his lethargy, Danny sets out to both find the missing woman and solve his own cold case.

The investigation points Danny towards Aleksei Nechayev, the handsome and charming proprietor of an old asylum turned haunted tourist attraction in the Arctic town of Coldfoot. As he tries to find a link between Nechayev and his case, Danny's instinct tells him that Nechayev is much more than what he seems.

Danny has no idea that Nechayev is hiding a secret that is much more horrifying than anything he could ever have imagined. As his obsession with finding the missing women grows, Danny finds his own life in danger. And when the truth is finally revealed, the world as he knows it will never be the same.

Purchase Polar Night Here

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords

About The Author

Julie Flanders is a librarian and a freelance writer who has written for both online and print publications. She is an avid animal lover and shares her home in Cincinnati, Ohio with her dog and cat. Her debut novel Polar Night, a suspense thriller with a supernatural twist, is now available from Ink Smith Publishing at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Find Julie online at her blog, and on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

Character Closeups: The Cast of Polar Night, Pt. 2

**UPDATE - Just received some very exciting personal news on the New Adult lit front! You can check it HERE (but come back and read Julie's closeup! :) I'll be blogging about it in more detail soon.**

Hey gang! Today is the second installment of this week's Polar Night (by Julie Flanders) character closeups. It's a story full of mystery and intrigue, with some cool supernatural twists. You can learn all about it below...

Remember to leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a free digital copy of Polar Night. (NOTE: Only 1 entry per post will be counted for the drawing, so you can have your name put in up to three times if you comment on each one.) We'll draw the winner over the weekend and announce here on the blog next week.

Hope you can stop back by tomorrow for the final installment, as we get a look at our first 'bad guy' of the book. :)

~EJW~

The Cast of Polar Night, Pt. 2

1. Character Name: Amanda Fiske

2. Physical description: I’m tall and slender, with long blond hair and blue eyes. People have told me I look like I’m Scandinavian, which makes sense since my father’s family is Norwegian.

3. Hero or villain: Hero. I’ve tried to help out on some cases of missing women, but the police never want to listen to me.

4. Where do you live? I live in an apartment in Fairbanks, Alaska. I’m a librarian at the public library there. My apartment is cozy and I love to cook.

5. What is your biggest problem? I can’t get people to believe me when I try to tell them I can help find the missing women. They all think I’m crazy.

6. When were you most afraid? Ten years ago when I was nearly abducted in my hometown of Sitka. I barely got away from a man who tried to kidnap me.

7. What three words would you use to describe your personality? Open-minded, compassionate, and reserved.

8. What three words would others use to describe you? Crazy, anxious, and delusional.

Read more about Amanda in Polar Night!

Purchase Polar Night Here

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords

About The Author

Character Closeups: The Cast of Polar Night, Pt. 1

Hey gang! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I'm bringing you another round of character closeups, where we get to know three characters, on three different days, from one book or series.

This week's closeup will introduce us to the characters of Polar Night by Julie Flanders. It's a story full of mystery and intrigue, with some cool supernatural twists. You can learn all about it below...

Also, as a special treat, Julie is offering up one free eCopy of the book.

Just leave a comment on any of this week's Polar Night closeup posts (there'll be three of them), and you'll be entered for a chance to win. (NOTE: Only 1 entry per post will be counted in the drawing--so you can have up to three entries.) We'll draw the winner's name this weekend and announce on the blog next week.

Good luck! And I hope you enjoy. :)

The Cast of Polar Night, Pt. 1

1. Character Name: Danny Fitzpatrick

2. Physical description: I’m tall and thin, with thick brown hair that is always coming unkempt no matter how many times I comb it. I have a long nose and brown eyes to match my hair. I’m lanky and have always been told I’m too thin.

3. Hero or villain: A reluctant hero, and could be considered an anti-hero

4. Where do you live? I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and work for the Fairbanks Police Department. I live in a building with four apartments but I haven’t bothered to get to know my neighbors. They’re quiet and keep to themselves, which works for me. My apartment really needs a paint job and could use some new furniture, but I’m rarely there except to sleep anyway so I can’t be bothered to decorate.

5. My problem or biggest obstacle: I’m trying to find a woman who has gone missing while I think there is a chance she’s still alive. I know who abducted her, but I don’t have any evidence to prove it. I just know I’m right.

6. What is my most memorable moment? The death of my wife. This was before I moved to Fairbanks, when she and I lived in my hometown of Chicago.

7. Have I ever been in love? Yes, I was in love with my wife Caroline. Describe what happened: She was murdered right in front of me.

8. What do you think of love? You can probably guess based on my previous answer, but I’m not big on love. It didn’t work out too well for me.

9. What are my goals? To find this missing woman while she’s still alive, and to solve the mystery of another woman who went missing a few years ago. And to drink enough alcohol to get through the day.

Read more about Danny's investigation in Polar Night!

Purchase Polar Night Here

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords

About The Author

Boom Goes The MPAX

A Grand New Age of Boom or Dust?

Boomtown Craze, Book 3 in the Backworlds series is here!

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendants to survive in a harsh universe.

To secure his future, Craze must propel his world into a more prosperous era. Only days away from the grand opening of his new and improved tavern, he is confronted by a loony Backworlder intent on mucking up his plans. Gaunt and trembling, she claims her spaceship is possessed. She also has a connection to the underworld that shakes loose the dark past of one of Craze’s closest friends. It all threatens to end Craze’s prosperity before it begins.

Meanwhile off world, Captain Talos works desperately to outwit the mercenary Jixes and lure them away from his and Craze’s budding prospects. The mind-control weapon Talos uses against them is wearing thin, and his next move may be his last.

Will Craze and Talos’s efforts bring about a grand new age of boom or damn them to forever struggle in the dust?

Available in ebook at:
AmazonUS / AmazonUK / B&N / Smashwords

Other Outlets can be found at http://mpaxauthor.com

It will also be available in paperback from Amazon shortly.

MPAX

M. Pax is a Browncoat and SG fan, she’s also slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. In the summers she docents as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory where the other astronomers now believe she has the most extensive collection of moon photos in existence. No fear, there will be more next summer. She lives in stunning Central Oregon with the Husband Unit and two lovely, spoiled cats.

Website / Blog ~ Twitter ~ FB ~ Goodreads

You can also find M. Pax on LinkedIN, Pinterest, YouTube, and Wattpad

From March 4 to March 22, folks can enter to win the following:

1 set of signed Backworlds paperbacks, including The Backworlds, Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge, and Boomtown Craze. Will only ship to US residents.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One of five free ebooks. All countries eligible. Enter the rafflecopter for a chance.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Building An Effective Author Website by Carrie Butler

Hey gang! Very excited to share the expertise of our fellow author-at-arms, Carrie Butler, with you today. Carrie isn't only a scribbler and marketing goddess, she's a rocking graphic designer and dark practitioner of HTML-omancy, too. (Okay, it isn't REALLY dark... more grayish. :)

Anyway, Carrie is going to give us some tips for not mucking up our websites. Take it away, CB!

10 Things to Consider When Making an Author Website

Thank you for having me over, EJ! I'm so excited to talk about author websites.

I decided to make mine right before I started querying, because I wanted a centralized, easy to find web prescience. If you're thinking about making a website, here are ten things to consider:

1. Which category do you write in? (Adult, NA, YA, MG, etc.)
Why I ask: If you write adult, you probably shouldn't make a website in bold, primary colors.

2. Which genre do you write in? (Romance, thriller, science fiction, etc.)
Why I ask: Someone who writes romance would probably opt for "softer" graphics than someone who writes science fiction.

3. Do you write in multiple categories/genres?
Why I ask: If they can't be thematically blended, you might decide to take a more neutral approach.

4. Who is your audience?
Why I ask: Like writing, you should try to appeal to your target market. Think demographics here.

5. When you go to other author sites, what are the things you want to find as a reader?
Why I ask: Those are the things you should implement, i.e. bio, books, press pack, contact, etc.

6. How can you convey your personality, while still keeping things professional?
Why I ask: You're building a brand. You'll want to keep common colors and themes across all of your sites, i.e. blog, Facebook cover photo, Twitter background, etc.

7. Where will you get your domain?
Why I ask: This one requires a little research.

I obtained my domain (www.carrieabutler.com) through GoDaddy.com and sprung for the privacy service. (Read up on ICANN and WHOIS.) It amounts to less than twenty bucks a year, and I consider it a career investment.

Side note: This was the only money I spent on my website.

8. Which host will you use?
Why I ask: Again, you'll need to do a little research.

I use Weebly, and I love it. Not only do they have a free option, but it's highly customizable. If you're willing to put in the time and effort, you can create something truly original.

9. What will you put on your website?
Why I ask: It's best to plan this out ahead of time, especially if you're trying to save money.

The images you see on my website are Creative Commons, public domain, or of my own creation. The content is mostly what I had strewn across the Internet prior to this, i.e. social media links, my biography, information about my book, etc.

10. How often will you update your website?
Why I ask: It's something to think about, especially if you include time-sensitive material.

I update my website at least once a week, but I'm very hands-on. You may choose to only update yours once a month or whenever something needs to changed. The key here is consistency.

And there you have it! If you have any questions, I'll be in and out today. Thank you for stopping by. :)

About Carrie:

Carrie daydreamed her way through college—until they thrust a marketing degree into her hands, slapped a summa cum laude seal on the corner, and booted her out into a less-than-stellar job market. Instead of panicking at the prospect of unemployment, she used her Midwestern logic to steer into the skid and point her life in the direction she really wanted to go: writing out those daydreams.

Links

Thanks a heap, CB! By the way, Carrie has an awesome new book out. It's called Strength, and there's a highly shirtless man on the cover. I blogged about it not long ago. Feel free to ogle the cover before clicking the link below for more details. :)

Click here for the skinny on Strength!

About Carrie:

Links

FEED ME