Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Unholy Cause by P.L. Blair





Unholy Cause
Portals
Book 5
P.L. Blair


Genre: Urban Fantasy/Police Procedural/
Light Romance

Publisher: Studio See Publishing LLC

Date of Publication: Sept. 30, 2017

ASIN: B0763FMV4S

Number of pages: 220
Word Count: 78,670

Cover Artist: Ron and Sarah Richter

Book Description:

Corpus Christi, Texas, police detective Tevis McLeod, an elf, must make an impossible choice: aid the evil Queen of the Unseelie Court in a quest that will allow her to become ruler over two worlds … or watch Kat Morales, his Human partner, and lifemate, die.


Excerpt:
            Kat Morales felt a tingle of nerves between her shoulders as she and her partner entered Miguelito's. Something watched them – not some one, not anyone in the knot of uniformed police and civilians gathered at the doors into the restaurant's kitchen. What burned at the nape of Kat's neck, and turned the greenblack amulet around her neck into ice so cold it almost burned, came from some … thing. A creature, definitely not Human. Kat stopped a couple of steps past the entrance, scanning her surroundings. Miguelito's had gone lavish in Christmas decorations: arrangements of poinsettias on every Spanish-tiled table in sight, bright-colored pinatas around the bar at the far end of the room, a six-pointed star of Magic-enhanced light strands hanging from the ceiling in the room's center, with more light strands radiating outward toward the walls in a simulation of starlight.
            And overriding everything, the decorations, murals on the walls – everything –
            That sensation prickling at the nape of Kat's neck, that feeling of being watched by something dark and malevolent.
            “Invisible,” Tevis murmured, his gaze meeting hers.
            Not her imagination then. He felt it too.
            He nodded, as though in response to her thoughts. A couple of inches taller than Kat's own five-feet-six, hair a pale gold in color, eyes the most incredible shade of blue Kat had ever seen, Tevis Mac Leod at first glance could pass for a late-twenty-something Human. But then you noticed the ears, pointed as those of a fox, that identified him as an Elf – an Aalfar. One of those beings that Humans had long dismissed as “fairy tales” and fantasy until more than four years ago when Portals had opened between the world of Humans and … the Other Side … the world ruled by Magic and inhabited by all of humankind's ancient fantasies and worst nightmares …
            Tevis had been Kat's partner on the Corpus Christi Police Department's detective squad for nearly a year now, and more recently – her lifemate. Although they were keeping that part secret for a while yet. The CCPD officially frowned on its officers … “fraternizing.” A corner of Kat's mouth twitched a smile that quickly disappeared as she re-focused her attention on the business at hand. All the restaurant's tables were empty, all but one. She moved toward it, Tevis close at her side.
            The two men standing beside the table straightened at the detectives' approach. The third man, the one slumped over his unfinished lunch, was beyond any kind of movement.
            “Morales.” Corpus Christi Police Captain James Harley nodded to her, then to her partner. “Mac Leod.” He pronounced Tevis' name “Leed” instead of the way Tevis himself said it: “Lee-ud.” The other – living – Human at the table, Nueces County's Deputy Coroner Roger Branson, gave Kat and her partner a curt nod. Kat had fewer dealings with Branson than with his boss, Paul Herrera. But Paul was on vacation this week.
            Kat would've bet her next paycheck that Roger was wishing his and Paul's positions were reversed.



About the Author:

A native of Tyler, Texas, Pat Blair lived for a few years on the Texas coast, in the Rockport and Corpus Christi area, before moving to Sheridan, Wyoming, since 1986. Writing as P.L. Blair, she finished her first book in her Portals series – Shadow Path – in 2008 while still employed as a reporter at The Sheridan Press newspaper. After taking a short semi-retirement, she resumed working as a reporter for Sheridan Media, a company that boasts nine radio stations and a website, sheridanmedia.com, in 2013. Blair's writing career was briefly disrupted by a – fortunately small – heart attack in January 2016, but with medications and a change in diet, she's recovered and back on track. She shares her life with three dogs – a basset hound, dachshund/cocker mix and a “Jack Russell terror” – and a cat. All are rescues.
         




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Monday, March 26, 2018

Jinxed by Thommy Hutson






Jinxed
Jinxed Trilogy
Book One
Thommy Hutson



Genre: YA Horror/Thriller



Publisher: Vesuvian Books

Date of Publication: 3.13.2018

ISBN: 978-1944109127
ASIN: B076ZJX9G1

Number of pages: 243
Word Count: 66k

Cover Artist: Sam Shearon

Tagline: High school can be a real killer

Book Description:

Break a mirror
Walk under a ladder
Step on a crack

Innocent childhood superstitions…

But someone at the Trask Academy of Performing Arts is taking things one deadly step further when the campus is rocked with the deaths of some of its star students.

Layna Curtis, a talented, popular senior, soon realizes that the seemingly random, accidental deaths of her friends aren't random—or accidents—at all. Someone has taken the childhood games too far, using the idea of superstitions to dispose of their classmates. As Layna tries to convince people of her theory, she uncovers the terrifying notion that each escalating, gruesome murder leads closer to its final victim: her.

Will Layna's opening night also be her final bow?


Amazon     BN     Kobo     Apple     Books2Read       Amazon Print


         Excerpt 3


Max sat on a stone alumni bench that had a sight line through a group of trees to the front gate. He had been irritable. With himself. With Layna. Or more specifically, Layna and Dillon.
He watched Daniel make his way along the gate. It looked to Max like he was mumbling. And he looked on edge. Max supposed that was to be expected. Weren’t they all on edge? Taking care of minor student issues was a far cry from a student killing herself. And this wasn’t just any student, he reminded himself. This was Sydney Miller. He fought back the urge to stand up and ask how much Daniel was making for being a glorified babysitter, and then, whatever the number, to say it wasn’t enough.
Instead Max sat quietly. He wasn’t trying to hide from Daniel, but he didn’t do anything to make himself known, either. He just watched as Daniel moved to the massive front gates of the campus and handled the nightly ritual called Gate Lock. With everything going on, Max felt, for maybe just the first time, that they were in something more akin to a low-security prison than an elite prep school. The food was certainly not much better, at least from what he saw on MSNBC’s Lock Up. And he was stuck with people he didn’t always like.
Daniel opened the electronic security box to the left of the entrance, and Max watched as the wrought iron monstrosity closed, bringing together two letters that signified the school’s name. T for Trask and A for Academy. When they clanked together Max thought what all the young men thought, Trapped again in T and A.
As Daniel walked away, still grumbling about whatever it he was grumbling about, Max eyed him conspiratorially, wondering what those thoughts might be. Then his own mind turned back to Layna. And tits and ass.
He and Layna hadn’t gone too far. Max knew Layna was a good girl. He chided himself when he wondered how good a girl she was when she was dating Dillon. He shook off the thought. Not much seemed to happen between them and, in fact, Max remembered hearing the swirling rumor Dillon might even be gay.
“Are you done being mad at me?” Layna’s voice said.
The surprise arrival made Max jump, even as she rested a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t turn around. He was also glad Layna was not a mind reader.
“Watching Gate Lock isn’t quite the sunset, but being closed off seems kind of fitting right now, don’t you think?” He still wasn’t looking at her as he felt her arm drape around his shoulder.
Layna sat down next to him. “Listen, Dillon and I—”
“Dillon and you, what?” Max asked, staring forward. He wanted to stay angry. Stoic. Something.
“I’m with you. Only you,” she said.
Max felt a tickle of loose threads on his hand from a bracelet Layna wore, something Nancy had given her. She tried to interlock her fingers into his, but he didn’t budge. Then he budged a little. “Why won’t he just go away?”
“Because we’re still friends,” Layna answered sweetly, honestly. “And where exactly do you want him to go?”
Max finally turned to her, his head moving in a way that suggested she would not want him to answer that question.
“There’s friends, and then there’s you and Dillon. He finds a way to be near you. All the time.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Am I?” Max knew he was right. He could see Layna thinking on that. He also knew that while she didn’t put things into any kind of Dillon-Layna proximity coefficient formula or anything, she had to see it.
“Layn, everyone notices,” he continued. “That’s why they always get nervous when El Strange-o turns up.”
Layna pulled her hand back from his and crossed her arms. A small smile grew on her face as she turned to him.
“Wait a minute. They, or you?” she asked. “Um, are you jealous?”
Max grinned. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? But, sorry, I am so not jealous.”
“Then prove it and hold my hand, would you?” she said more than asked.
Max obliged, taking her hand into his. The touch instantly put him at ease. He pulled her close to him and gave her a kiss.
They stood up together and started toward the dorms in silence, their arms swinging in unison with every step.
“And, by the way, he’s quiet, not strange,” Layna said.
Max laughed. “Wow, you made it a full, what, five seconds. Was that defense just bubbling up inside you?”
“No. I don’t know. Maybe a little,” Layna admitted. “But if it makes you feel better, I’ll be staying the night with you. Not him.”
This stopped Max dead. For the smallest of moments, his maleness hoped his good girl was about to go bad. “Really?” he asked in a way that oozed romantic potential.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. I just don’t wanna be alone,” Layna said. “We are stranded together on an island, after all.”
“Oh, so now you’re stranded with me?” Max wondered friskily.
Layna nuzzled her head onto his shoulder. “Yes, definitely. But it’s good. And tonight I want it to be just us.”
Max felt a slight pressure building. Hormones pulsing. “Sounds dangerous.”
“Easy, cowboy.”
Max stopped and turned her to him. Gently, he placed a hand under her chin. She smiled sweetly, which gave way to the deep kiss that followed. Max felt her give in as she wrapped her arms around him.
He looked down at her, kissed her forehead, and then focused intently on Layna. On the moment. He was completely unaware that somebody, far closer to them than he could even imagine, was watching.


About the Author:

Thommy Hutson is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, and author who is considered the foremost authority on A Nightmare on Elm Street. A graduate of UCLA, Thommy also wrote and produced critically acclaimed genre projects such as Scream: The Inside Story, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, More Brains! A Return of the Living Dead, His Name was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th, and Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th.

Thommy was born and raised in New York but now resides in Southern California with his husband and their cat.





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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Awakened by D.C. Gambel






Awakened
The Horsemen Chronicles
Book One
D.C. Gambel



Genre: Urban Fantasy



Date of Publication: March 16, 2018


ISBN: 1981137491
ASIN: B079FRN2WQ

Number of pages: 391
Word Count: 96k

Tagline: My vulnerability, that’s kept me secluded from the world, is now the one thing that can save it.

Book Description:

Evie has lived most of her life as a recluse, terrified that she might hurt someone. On her twenty-first birthday she meets Derek who informs her there’s a reason behind her gifts.

As someone that had to spend her entire life avoiding human contact, learning the truth about her origins as one of the Four Horsemen was a hard pill to swallow. Especially once she realizes that her fellow Horsemen are the only people she’d ever met that can withstand her touch.

The struggle to overcome her seclusion becomes very real when Evie discovers an attraction has sprung up between herself and one of her fellow Horsemen. Nothing good can come from pursuing the allure, especially when she knows that it not only would jeopardize her team, but her heart as well.



Excerpt:

“Break it down for us, Cam.”
“I met my informant last night,” he said, leaning between the opening of the front seats. I angled myself to face him so I could hear him better. “He claims that Axel Reese, pack alpha of Summery, was contacted by Asmodeus.”
There was a swirl of profanities, but I was clueless to why. So I asked.
“Asmodeus is one of the seven princes of hell. He’s also the prince of lust. Apparently they were rumored to have met the night the succubus attacked the fraternity party,” Cam went on to explain.
“I’m sure that was no coincidence,” Tyler muttered. “I thought the succubi broke off from Asmodeus decades ago when he started demanding that they worship him as a god.”
“They did, but with the seals being broken the demons of lust are returning to their master in hopes he can protect them from the apocalypse. They don’t even realize that he’ll use them a cannon fodder to save his ass. If Axel really did meet with Asmodeus we need to be prepared for a shift in the packs loyalty.”
“Why not just go to Asmodeus first?” Derek asked keeping his eyes forward.
“Axel would be a lot easier to handle then walking in to Phoenix.”
“Phoenix?” I asked.
“It’s a demon club,” Tyler answered. “We don’t get the warmest reception. Asmodeus owns it.”
“Stole it is more like it,” Derek chimed in. He glanced at me. Seeing the quizzical look he elaborated. “It used to be a safe haven for the powers of good. Demons attacked it as a distraction for whoever is breaking the seals. The club has been in demon hands for almost three decades after two centuries of it being in the hands of good. Only positive thing is the demons can’t put up their wards to keep us out.”
“They’ve tried,” Tyler announced.
“Yes they have,” Cam agreed. All three men chuckled and I felt like I was being left out of the joke.
“Hair of the dog?” I asked when we pulled up outside the dive bar. “I thought you were joking.”
Cam chuckled. “They’re not the most creative bunch.” His hand found the small of my back as we headed to the door. I could feel its warmth seeping though the fabric of my shirt almost like it was melting it away until his skin touched mine. I shook my head subtly clearing those thoughts. “You stay near one of us and we’ll make sure no one touches you. What skin is exposed no one should be touching anyways unless they’re looking for trouble.” The other two nodded in agreement.



About the Author:


D.C. Gambel is a mother, army wife, and a hopeless romantic. Romance has always been her genre of choice whether it’s contemporary, historical, paranormal, or even pushing towards erotica in both reading and writing. When she first decided to try her hand at writing, romance was the obvious choice. Getting lost in a different world, living unimaginable lives is something she strives for, even if it’s just a temporary enjoyment.







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Wednesday, March 14, 2018

The October Men by David Impey



The October Men
David Impey

Genre: Suspense, Mystery, Conspiracy Thriller

Publisher: Big Bear

Publication date: 20 March 2018

ISBN: 9781912145799

Pages: 339

Book Description:

Otto Parsons, a brilliant Oxford physicist, is missing. His early experiments on zero gravity machines have produced unimaginable results. His professor, Dan Sibley, has to secure funding for their work or close the project down.

A wealthy organisation has made him an offer to secure the project’s future. Only now, it seems his backers may have an altogether more sinister agenda. Wheels are in motion that cannot be stopped.

What is it that connects their work with the assassination of JFK, the Roswell Incident, the Wall Street Crash and a mysterious cache of priceless art?

And who are the shadowy partners of the October Foundation? The answers will threaten the safety of everyone on the planet.


Amazon     Amazon UK


About the Author:

This is the first full-length novel by David Impey. He originally graduated in Chemistry and, afterwards, worked in high-tech industry either on the marketing/commercial side or in advertising.

David has helped write campaigns with a heavy emphasis on demystifying supposedly obscure areas of science that affect everybody on a day-to-day basis and has won several awards for his work.

His first published work was an April Fool’s article in a yachting magazine and, since then, David has been a frequent columnist, contributor to industry journals and online blogs, as well as setting up some and editing others. He also developed a TV series about health called “The Dose”.

When he’s not writing, David is a composer, producer, and keyboardist. He has worked as a musician for 20 years principally as a composer of soundtrack music for corporate clients ranging from sherry to paint to insurance and cruise lines.

Some of his music has been used extensively by TV companies across Europe including the UK and the Netherlands. David lives near Oxford with his wife and insane dog.





Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Shopgirl’s Prophecy by Anna Abner



Shopgirl’s Prophecy
Beasts of Vegas

Book One

Anna Abner



Genre: paranormal romance

Publisher: Mild Red Books

Date of Publication: 2016

ISBN: 978-0-9914031-5-8
ASIN: B01GR9HXLQ

Number of pages: 300
Word Count: 80K

Cover Artist: Anna Abner

Tagline: Powerful witches, tortured vampires, and sexy shifters fight the evil horde on the Vegas Strip.

Book Description:

Ali Rusenko has dangerous secrets she can never reveal. When her father dies suddenly, the shy British shopgirl discovers he has even more secrets than she does. In search of the truth in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ali is attacked by the horde and stranded in the desert. If it weren’t for sexy vampire hunter Connor Beckett and his sidekick Roz Carrera, she’d be vampire food.

Connor and Roz rescue Ali, but a string of vampires chase her across the Nevada desert as if she's vampire catnip. Unfortunately, Connor knows exactly how they feel. The beautiful stray sets his blood to boiling. But if Connor's going to have a real chance to defeat the horde leader, Oleksander the Destroyer, he can’t allow Ali leave the country without discovering the one secret she refuses to reveal.



Excerpt Chapter One

“Get down,” Roz hissed, yanking on Connor’s black jacket. A spotlight swept over their heads, and he tasted dry earth as he flattened onto the sand.
“That was too close,” Roz complained.
They skittered like cockroaches across the ground, avoiding a parked Humvee, and staying out of the guards’ eye line. The things they couldn’t avoid at the secret army facility in The-Middle-of-Nowhere, Nevada were surveillance cameras on every wall and post. Hence, the need for speed and an electro-magnetic pulse device the size of a suitcase strapped to Connor’s back. If they were caught breaking into Oleksander the Destroyer’s cell, they’d never see daylight again. Sort of the way Oleksander had been in the dark of an army prison for the past twenty years.
Connor Beckett hadn’t known six months ago—a lackluster engineering student at the University of Chicago—that the Seer Ilvane would write down his name and forever link him with the end of the human race.
Connor from Cleveland will release the Destroyer and bring about the apocalypse.
There wasn’t any way to fix the prophecy and save the world except to kill the vampire lord.
“Push the button,” Connor said, nodding at the EMP. Thank the fates for Anton and Natasha, their very generous benefactors from New Zealand and their high-tech toys.
“Pushing the button.” Roz activated the device, and every electric light on the base, hopefully the cameras and security doors too, blinked off. “Now,” she ordered. “Move.”
Nimble on the balls of his feet, Connor ran for building 2A, which he knew from poring over satellite photos of the installation, was where the army kept the vampires. He hunched over the card reader controlling the prison’s heavy-duty outer door, sweat rolling down the back of his neck. “Please,” he breathed. A single second delay while they stood like a couple of sore thumbs at the gateway to a vampire’s cell on a secret military base could ruin everything.
He hoped for the best and yanked. The immense door swung open on soundless hinges.

“I was only fifty percent sure the EMP was going to work,” Roz admitted as she followed him inside and sealed the door.


About the Author:

Anna Abner lived in a haunted house for three years and grew up talking to imaginary friends. In her professional life, she has been a Realtor, a childcare provider, and a teacher. Now, she writes edge-of-your-seat paranormal romances and blogs from her home in sunny southern California about ghosts and magic.

You can connect with her online at www.AnnaAbner.com

Twitter: @AnnaAbner





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Friday, March 9, 2018

Witch Creek by Laura Bickle





Witch Creek
The Wildlands Series
Book Two
Laura Bickle

Genre: Dark Fantasy 

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Date of Publication: Feb. 27, 2018

ISBN: 978-0062567314
ASIN: B071VBHPW7

Number of pages: 384
Word Count: 88,160

Book Description:

In the backcountry of Yellowstone, evil moves below the surface . . .

Following Nine of Stars comes the next chapter in Laura Bickle's critically acclaimed Wildlands series.

As the daughter of an alchemist, Petra Dee has battled supernatural horrors and experienced astonishing wonders. But there’s no magic on earth that can defeat her recent cancer diagnosis, or help find her missing husband, Gabriel. Still, she would bet all her remaining days that the answer to his disappearance lies in the dark subterranean world beneath the Rutherford Ranch on the outskirts of Temperance, Wyoming.

Gabe is being held prisoner by the sheriff and heir to the ranch, Owen Rutherford. Owen is determined to harness the power of the Tree of Life—and he needs Gabe to reveal its magic. Secretly, the sheriff has also made a pact to free a creature of the underground, a flesh-devouring mermaid. Muirenn has vowed to exact vengeance on Gabe, who helped imprison her, but first . . . she's hungry. Once freed, she will swim into Yellowstone—to feed.

With her coyote sidekick Sig, Petra must descend into the underworld to rescue Gabe before it's too late . . . for both of them.

HarperVoyager       Amazon      Kindle      

 BN     Books a Million      Indiebound


Excerpt:

Peering through the cattails, she saw a man with a fishing pole, standing on an outcropping. He seemed alone, caught in a bit of reverie, gazing at his line skipping along the surface of the water.
She dipped below the surface of the water, toward the shiver of the fishing line. With green-spotted fingers, she lifted the struggling fish from the hook. The line jerked away.
The man swore.
Muirenn lifted her head above the water.
“Holy shit.” The man stumbled backward. “I didn’t realize you were swimming there . . . I . . .”
His expression changed from embarrassment to curiosity as he looked at her. The pupils of his eyes dilated. “Who . . . are you?”
Muirenn gripped the fish close to her chest, giving a small smile.
The fisherman crouched on the rock, setting his pole beside him. “Wow. You’re uh . . . green? Is that real?”
Muirenn cocked her head and slipped forward a bit in the water. The edge of her tail skimmed above the surface.
“Is that like . . . one of those tails that the girls have at that park in Florida? For a movie or something?” His suntanned brow wrinkled. “No. That’s real,” he decided. “You, um . . . want the fish? You can have it.”
She was within arm’s length of him. She released the squirming fish into the water.
“You wanted to let it go? Look, I . . .”
The man talked too much. She swam closer, tentatively.
The fisherman looked at her, at her dappled skin and the dark rust hair spreading into the water. She wouldn’t ordinarily have been so bold. The weight off her tail was going to her head. She let him take in the black of her eyes, the gills on her throat. He gazed in wonder, and his fingers twitched to a small square piece of plastic on top of his tackle box.
“Can I take your picture? What . . . are you?”
A smile played across her lips, and she spoke to him in a silvery voice. “I’m the Mermaid.”
“Wow. I . . . wow. I’m, uh, Norm. Do I, like, make a wish or something?”
“You can, if you want. I’ll listen.”
She reached up with delicate fingers to touch him. Her fingers brushed the pockets of his fishing vest, playing with wonder over the bits and baubles there meant to lure the attention of fish. The man forgot about his camera and stared, transfixed.
Muirenn reached up for his collar . . .
. . . and dragged him down into the water.
He splashed and flailed. She brought him down—down to the bottom of the creek. It wasn’t so far, but it was far enough for a land dweller. He couldn’t fight her for long. He thrashed until his lungs grew heavy with creek water. He convulsed as the lack of oxygen reached his heart and filtered up to his brain. And then he stopped.
Muirenn grinned, showing row upon row of shark-like teeth. She ripped off his arm and began to chew. It had been so long since she’d had anything but the errant fish that wandered into her realm . . . this was a meal worth waiting for.
The creek ran red.

Red as the idle red-and-white bobber drifting on the surface of the water.

About the Author:

Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology – Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, also writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams.

Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016.


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