Thursday, May 4, 2017

Q&A with Amanda Jones, author of Dark Angel



Now available from New Concepts Publishing is the paranormal romance fantasy Dark Angel, book one of The Fallen Chronicles, by Amanda Jones.



The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her new novel. 



When did you become interested in storytelling?

I’ve always enjoyed writing – I was the weird kid in school that enjoyed essay assignments! Dark Angel is my first full length novel, but I’ve tried my hand at screenplays and short stories (which will remain hidden in the dark recesses of my hard drive!).

What was your first book/story published?

Dark Angel is my first published book – it had a long and winding path, but has finally arrived!

What inspired you to write Dark Angel?

I’ve always enjoyed the idea of good vs. evil and what makes the bad guy bad – so naturally the biggest, baddest fallen angel of all seemed like a good jumping off point. 😀

What character in Dark Angel is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

That’s a really great question…and a tough one to answer! I don’t think I can pinpoint one specific character because there are pieces of me in all of them…I’m bookish like Sergei, and stubborn like Luc. I’ve also searched for who I am like Katya and been the joker like Bataryal. It’s fun when people who know you well read one of your books and come across a line that’s “so you.”😀

What is your favorite part in Dark Angel?

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Spring Reads: Robert B. Parker's Little White Lies


Putnam; 320 pages; $27.00; Amazon
Available today in bookstores from Putnam is Robert B. Parker's Little White Lies written by Ace Atkins, which marks the 45th title in the popular Spenser series. (Well, the 46th if you can't 2009's Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel.)

Created by the late Robert B. Parker, the Spenser novels centers on a Boston private detective named Spenser, who's first name is never mentioned in the books. The first novel in the series, The Godwulf Manuscript, was published in 1973, and quickly became popular with mystery readers. Many sequels followed, as well as a short-lived television series called Spenser: For Hire (1985 - 1988) starring Robert Urish as Spenser. A spin-off television series, A Man Called Hawk, aired for only 13 episodes. Four made-for-TV sequel movies aired during the 1990s. The novels Small Vices, Thin Air, and Walking Shadow were later adapted into made-for-TV movies on A&E starring Joe Mantegna as Spenser.

After Robert B. Parker's death in 2010, journalist/writer Ace Atkins was picked to continue writing the Spenser novels. Little White Lies marks the 6th Spenser novel written by Mr. Atkins. The other Spenser titles written by him are: Lullaby, Wonderland, Cheap Shot, Kickback and Slow Burn.

Spenser's newest case in Little White Lies has him helping Connie Kelly, a woman who gave a three hundred thousand dollars investment to her online boyfriend, Mr. Brooke Welles. Of course right after she gave Welles the money, he broke all ties with her and disappeared without a trace. After confiding with her shrink, Dr. Susan Silverman, Connie contacted Spenser to investigate Welles.

Q&A with Melody Johnson, author of Night Blood Series



Available now from Kensington Publishing/ Lyrical Press is the paranormal romance series Night Blood by Melody Johnson.




The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her series.



When did you become interested in storytelling?

Storytelling has been a lifelong passion, especially when devising something fantastic to spin my way out of trouble—which was never successful—but I considered myself a “real” writer my junior year in high school when I took Creative Writing with Miss Doyle and wrote my first short story. I finished my first, full-length manuscript my senior year in college, and it wasn’t until then that I really considered myself an author.

What was your first book/story published?

The first book I ever published was actually my third full-length novel I’d ever written, and it was The City Beneath, Night Blood #1, in April 2015.

What inspired you to write the Night Blood Series?

I’ve always been a huge fan of the vampire genre, especially the darker classics, like Anne Rice, and her contemporaries, like Laurell K. Hamilton’s early Anita Blake novels. I wanted to bring something fresh to the table, in a world parallel to our own. So many vampire novels are either based on vampires already being “out of the closet” or a secret that the main character agrees to protect. I wanted to create a world in which the main character was desperate to expose their existence; Cassidy’s struggle to protect her loved ones, protect herself and act with honor and truth has been a delicate journey I’ve very much enjoyed weaving.

What character in Eternal Reign is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

Meredith resembles me in many ways: I prefer to separate myself from life in books and behind a computer the way she does behind a camera and with her computer software. We’re both passionate about out work, quick to forgive, and we cherish our friendships. I often feel like life is nothing but running on a hamster wheel; the faster I run, the harder I work, the more tired I become, no matter that I haven’t actually moved. I don’t think vampires are erasing my memory and making me start from scratch, like Meredith, but beside that minor detail, we certainly have a lot in common.

Q&A with JC Braswell, author of The Ghosts of My Lai




Now available from Magothy Publishing is the supernatural thriller The Ghosts of My Lai by JC Braswell.


The author has taken a few minutes out of his busy schedule for a Q&A about his new novel.


When did you become interested in storytelling?

I’ve always been interested in storytelling. Even at a young age I was pretty active in storytelling, especially making up fables for my parents when I tried to get out of trouble.

As far as trying to be professional, I would say about a decade ago. I started with a book titled Autumn of Man. Absolutely loved it. It snowballed from there.

What was your first book/story published?

It was a short story called The Lighthouse on Mermaid Row. The story eventually ended up being the foundation for five more short stories that formed my first novel, The Lighthouse Keeper. Mermaid Row was actually submitted to be part of an anthology for Scarlet Galleon’s Fearful Fathoms, but it wasn’t quite horrific enough. I decided to go ahead and release it.

What inspired you to write The Ghosts of My Lai?

It was after a conversation with a late friend of mine. He was a Vietnam veteran. One day we started talking in the gym. I’m not sure exactly how we got on the subject, but he broached the subject of his time in the service. Something really changed in his demeanor. There was a void there, a loss that only a soldier who has experienced war can understand. I wanted to explore that in writing.

I want to make clear that My Lai is not a book about war. Far from it. It’s about fear, survival, the line between man/animal, and redemption.

What character in The Ghosts of My Lai is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

Monday, May 1, 2017

Review - Robert B. Parker's Revelation


Putnam; 336 pages; $27; Amazon

The western genre in books and movies have become almost extinct in recent years. Department stores, like Walmart, carry very few western titles, which are mostly written by bigger profile authors.

I fell in love with the genre while I was in my early twenties after reading a Matt Braun novel. (I don't recall the title.) Since then, I occasionally read a western or two, and no I'm not referring to romance westerns.

Now available from Putnam is the ninth novel in the Cole/Hitch western series, titled Revelation. The series began with 2005's Appaloosa written by the late author Robert B. Parker. The book was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 2008. Three sequel novels soon followed. After Mr. Parker's death, Robert Knott, who co-wrote the Appaloosa film script, took over writing additional sequels in the series.

Revelation marks the ninth book in the series and the fifth written by Robert Knott. Once again, the series focuses on the territorial marshals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, who are  living in Appaloosa, New Mexico. After Augustus Noble Driggs and a few other convicts escape a stateside penitentiary just across the border from Mexico, Cole and Hitch lead a manhunt to find them. Of course such a mission sounds easy at first for the duo, but they quickly realize that there are more dangers in play here after one of the convicts kidnaps a woman.

As for Driggs, he's on his own mission to retrieve a stolen cache of gold and jewels and to get revenge on the men who betrayed him, but he'll have to outrun and outsmart the ruthless lawmen who are hot on his trail.

Q&A with Melody Steiner, author of Slither



Available now from Dragon Moon Press is the fantasy adventure Slither by author Melody Steiner


The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her novel. 



When did you become interested in storytelling?

Apparently, when I was very young. I have a notebook full of sloppy kid handwriting featuring stories about rainbows. I don’t know why, but I was really fascinated with rainbows as a kid.

What was your first book/story published?

This one, actually.

What inspired you to write Slither?

The book came to me one summer while I was working as a student in a library. I was tasked with pulling old checkout cards out of the backs of the books. I still have a stack of cards with the original story written out on them.

What character in Slither is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

Q&A with S. McPherson, one of the authors of the Spellbound series



Available tomorrow from genreCRAVE is Spellbound: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection.

The collection includes titles from… 

International bestselling author Jade Kerrion 
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Joanne Wadsworth 
International bestselling author Nicole Zoltack 
International bestselling author Rachel E. Carter 
International bestselling author Andrea Pearson 
International bestselling author Alicia Rades 
International bestselling author Sophie Davis 
USA TODAY bestselling author Michael J Ploof 
International bestselling author Megan Crewe 
\International bestselling author C.E. Wilson 
International bestselling author Kelly Carrero 
International bestselling author Jess Haines 
International bestselling author E. Blix 
International bestselling author Alexis Kade 
International bestselling author GP Ching 
International bestselling author Gaja J. Kos & Boris Kos 
International bestselling author Dara Fraser 
International bestselling author Ash Krafton 
International bestselling author Jim Johnson 
NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Tom Shutt 
International bestselling author Emily Martha Sorensen 
International bestselling author S McPherson 


Pre-Order Sale Only .99
Amazon * KoboBN * Apple 

Here's an interview with another of the SPELLBOUND authors…S. McPherson!

When did you become interested in storytelling?

I have been interested in storytelling since the age of 3 if not younger and I started out making up rhymes that didn’t rhyme and telling stories only I found interesting. As I got older, I moved on to writing songs and poems, telling short stories through them and around the age of eight, I developed a love for script writing and stories told through plays and movies. That kept me happy for a good few years and still does, but when I discovered Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton around the age of none or ten, I also fell in love with the stories carved in the pages of a book where the characters and places are made in my imagination, different and delightful for each and every person.

What was your first book/story published?

The first book I published was a children’s story called ‘Shania Streep wanted to Sleep’ about a little girl who goes on a nighttime adventure trying to identify a strange sound that is keeping her awake. It is book one in a ten book series called Wanted, but I have put book 2, ‘Emma Creet wanted a Sweet’ on hold, to pursue my novels.

What inspired you to write At Water’s Edge?

I was watching TV one day, a long, long time ago and I suddenly got a scene in my head: the opening scene. I didn’t know who the girl in my head was or why what was happening was happening but I saw it clearly. I wrote the scene down and then eventually forgot about it. Years later, when browsing through my computer, I came across this opening scene and was hooked. It was like the story had been simmering in my subconscious over the years because suddenly I knew who this girl was and why things were happening and the story evolved from there.

What character in At Water’s Edge is the most like you, and in what ways?

I think the character that is most like me, would be Dezaray. Like her, I experienced the loss of a loved one at age thirteen and know how such a traumatic experience can alter such a young minds perception of life and their place in it. Like her, I believe there is so much more to the world and I am open to it. I also dream of magical realms and wouldn’t mind a Milo (Dezaray’s love interest) of my own.

What is your favorite part in At Water’s Edge?

There are quite a few little scenes that made me smile and gave me goosebumps whilst writing and I truly hope they do the same for my readers. I think my favourite scene… (this is always a tricky one) … would be the scene where Dezaray and Milo are in the woods being chased by an evil warlock because it starts out all heart pounding and terrifying but ends up being really romantic. You’ll understand when you read it, haha!