Tuesday, September 29, 2020

THE ANCESTOR by Lee Matthew Goldberg




THE ANCESTOR
Lee Matthew Goldberg
Thriller / Mystery

A man wakes up in present-day Alaskan wilderness with no idea who he is, nothing on him save an empty journal with the date 1898 and a mirror. He sees another man hunting nearby, astounded that they look exactly alike. After following this other man home, he witnesses a wife and child that brings forth a rush of memories of his own wife and child, except he’s certain they do not exist in modern times—but from his life in the late 1800s. After recalling his name is Wyatt, he worms his way into his doppelganger Travis Barlow’s life. Memories become unearthed the more time he spends, making him believe that he’d been frozen after coming to Alaska during the Gold Rush and that Travis is his great-great grandson. Wyatt is certain gold still exists in the area and finding it with Travis will ingratiate himself to the family, especially with Travis’s wife Callie, once Wyatt falls in love. This turns into a dangerous obsession affecting the Barlows and everyone in their small town, since Wyatt can’t be tamed until he also discovers the meaning of why he was able to be preserved on ice for over a century.

A meditation on love lost and unfulfilled dreams, The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner in present day Alaska and a historical adventure about the perilous Gold Rush expeditions where prospectors left behind their lives for the promise of hope and a better future. The question remains whether it was all worth the sacrifice….

Praise for THE ANCESTOR:

“Lee Matthew Goldberg is an animal—there is no other way to say it. His prose is heavyweight ambitious, as visceral as a sweaty-toothed dog at your throat. He evokes Robert Louis Stevenson as much as he does a modern thriller novelist. And I’ll be honest: I expected a crime novel, but I got a spell-binding epic, an epistolary revelation, a tale as rich as a paying gold mine. The Ancestor is more than a novel. It’s an ode to the rich tradition of adventure storytelling…seasoned with ample spice of love and violence and greed.” —Matt Phillips, author of Countdown and Know Me from Smoke

“In The Ancestor, Lee Matthew Goldberg masterfully weaves together a story involving family and violence set against the backdrop of an unforgiving Alaska of both past and present.” —Andrew Davie, author of Pavement and Ouroboros

“From the icy opening battle of man vs. wolf, you feel yourself in the hands of a master storyteller and that feeling never lets up.” —SJ Rozan, bestselling author of Paper Son

“This thrilling novel is rich in descriptions of the vast, snowy, and deadly wilderness of Alaska; it ably captures the type of person who chases gold.” —Foreword Reviews

“A story that blends the familiar and the supernatural in a manner that calls Stephen King’s work to mind. That said, Goldberg’s book possesses a flavor all its own—a distinctive mélange of the sincere and the strange.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Beautifully written, and capturing the unforgiving grit of Gold Rush Alaska, Lee Matthew Goldberg’s The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner with an ache in its heart. I’m a huge fan.” —Roz Nay, author of Hurry Home and Our Little Secret

“A suspenseful historical thriller.” —Indie Reader

“One of the year’s best thrillers. Blake Crouch fans will love Goldberg’s Alaskan opus.” —BestThrillers


Amazon → https://amzn.to/31Oays9


_____________________

 


1

       One eye open, the other frozen shut. He knows what an eye is, but that other “I” remains a mystery. Mind scooped out and left in ice. Words are hunted, slowly return. Blue sky, that’s what he sees. The sun twinkling like a diamond. Tundra, there’s another recalled word. Packed snow on all sides as if the world succumbed to white. The air a powerful whistle. A breeze blows, not a friend but a penance. It passes right through and chills to the core, this enemy wind. Limbs atrophied, no idea when they last moved. Boil of a sun thaws and prickles. Tiny spiders swinging from leg hairs, biting into flesh. He cries out but there is no sound. For it feels like he hasn’t spoken in centuries.
            Back of throat tastes of metal. Blood trapped in phlegm. A cough sends a splatter of red against the stark land, a streak in the form of a smile. When was the last time he ate? His stomach growls in agony, a good sign. Organs working, or at least attempting to work. His one eye scans to the left and the right, no sign of anyone, not even an animal. No chance for a savior or sustenance.
            He gums his jaw, the first inkling of movement. Aware of his scraggily beard coated in frost. Crystals spiral from his chin, collect in his lap. Now he sees his hands, luckily in gloves except they are a thin brown leather, rather useless. Bones crack as he maneuvers to remove the gloves. Fingers tremble once hit with fresh air and numbness subsides. Massages his legs, gets the blood flowing, an injection of life. The spiders accelerate and then relent, toes wiggle, and he sits up. Around his neck rests a notebook and a fountain pen, the tip crusted in flakes. He feels an object in a front pocket and pulls out a silver compact mirror, the back embroidered with floral patterns, ladylike. This is not my mirror, he decides, but then has a more important realization. Who am I? With trembling hands, he brings the mirror up to his face for a glance.
            The reflection of a stranger. All beard save for some features that emerge. A bulbous but authoritative nose, green eye flecked with gold, a mane of dark hair cascading to his shoulders. Handsome in a grizzled way. Shades of a bear in the roundness of his cheeks and a wolf in his stare.
            “I am…,” his lips try to say, but there is no answer. Often one can wake from a dream and the dream seems real for a moment, but a sense of self never vanishes. Whoever he was has been long gone, unlikely to return anytime soon. At least while he remains freezing in the wilderness.
            I must make it out of here.
            It’s relieving that he thinks of himself as an “I”. Whoever he is, he is someone. A mother birthed and fed him from her breast. A father taught him.…taught him what exactly? Survival skills? How to hunt? If he had a father worth his while, he’d know how to do this.
            And then, a caterwauling from the depths of his soul, a fawn-in-distress call that plants a trap for curious predators. He knows this sound well, meaning he’s lured prey before. His daddy schooled him like a good man should.      
            The waiting game. Another call erupts, a coyote’s howl this time. He can recognize the difference. Then it comes to him that he needs to know what to do should an animal appear. He pats down his pockets, no weapon but his fists. And then, the clinking of sharp nails against the ice sheet. A majestic wolf, eyes like the sky, shimmering coat the color of clouds. Its charcoal nose twitches; the blood he hacked up in plain sight. He and the wolf lock into a dueling stare, neither wanting to be the first to flinch. A vision of death with baring teeth, or the start of his new life if victorious. The wolf doesn’t give him a chance to contemplate, lunging with a mouth full of saliva. He catches it in a brutal embrace and becomes knocked off his heels, slamming his back against the hard ground. They skitter down a slick snowcap, snapping at one another like angry lovers. The wolf is relentless, a worthy opponent, a test of wills. He gets the beast in a headlock, trying to crack its neck, but the wolf is too slippery. Breath fumes from other kills circle into his nostrils—this wolf has never lost a battle before. Blood splashes, no clue which of them has been wounded. They spin in the snow like a tornado. He makes a fist, jams it in the wolf’s mouth. Teeth marks scrape against his knuckles as he rams his fist farther down the wolf’s throat. The wolf heaves, chokes, attempting to chew off his hand but its strategy is futile. It has only come across other animals, never a human mind that can think steps ahead.
            Now he attempts a headlock again with his left arm, squeezing off circulation. The wolf lets out a whimper that reverberates through his wrist. They lock into a dueling stare again, except this time he does not see the many kills of the wolf through its gaze. He visualizes its sadness, its inevitable end. And then, the sound of a heavy branch snapping, the wolf’s neck broken, his blood-soaked fist removed from the back of its throat. Its dead tongue lolling out of its mouth against the icy bed. He pets its beautiful coat, this formidable foe, now a present wrapped with a bow. Delectable to quench his all-consuming hunger.
He needs the clearest block of ice he can find. Using the wolf’s teeth to carve a fine translucent round piece, he creates a magnifying glass. He rubs the dirt away and keeps rubbing until enough moisture flecks off. There’s a bed of whittled grass at the slope he and wolf ended up in, and he holds the ice over the dry grass, propping it against two logs until a brilliant rainbow prism shoots through and ignites a fire. He rips off all the breakable branches he can locate to stoke the flames. While it continues to spread, he procures a rock to blunt out the wolf’s teeth, then uses them for the painstaking task of skinning the fur. He does it carefully so a semblance of a coat remains, which he dips into a nearby brook to wash away any lingering blood and sinew. The sun has mostly dipped behind the mountains and he wears the wolf’s coat to mask the chill, then roasts its carcass over the roaring fire, breaking off legs and gnawing while the true flesh still cooks.
            The meat is a godsend to his empty stomach and also an immediate poison that his body rejects by throwing up. But he sucks on some ice and the queasiness diminishes. By the time it’s fully cooked, darkness reigns and he feels more like a shell than anyone has before. Except with each chew, this lessens and soon he becomes human again. But the loneliness isn’t as easy to fight off. There are souls that feel lonely, he assumes, but at least they have themselves for company. They can rely on memories to help them through cold nights. He searches his mind for a wisp of the past, any nugget, wading through a never-ending sea. The horizon seemingly attainable, but with every stroke just as far away. He’d cry but the tears are frozen in his ducts, and his one eye still sealed shut.
            When enough of the wolf has been eaten so his belly distends like a newly pregnant woman, he feeds the fire with more broken limbs and curls up to its warmth, his only confident in this harsh wilderness, possibly his only companion forever—a lifetime of attempting to be caressed by flames and nothing more. He wraps himself tightly in the wolf’s fur, hoping that when he wakes again he’ll know who he is. The nightmare vanished along with the sun rising like a bride’s pretty little hand on his grizzled cheek.


_____________________



_____________________

 

Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of the novels THE DESIRE CARD, THE MENTOR, and SLOW DOWN. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar. The second book in the Desire Card series, PREY NO MORE, is forthcoming, along with his Alaskan Gold Rush novel THE ANCESTOR. He is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Fringe, dedicated to publishing fiction that’s outside-of-the-box. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press, Monologging and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City. Follow him at leematthewgoldberg.com

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: http://www.leematthewgoldberg.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LeeMatthewG
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leemgol
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53472461-the-ancestor




http://www.pumpupyourbook.com
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Tuesday, September 22, 2020

TROPICAL DOUBTS by David Myles Robinson



TROPICAL DOUBTS
David Myles Robinson
Legal Thriller

When Honolulu’s flamboyant and quirky attorney, Pancho McMartin, agrees to step out of his normal role as a criminal defense lawyer, he thinks it will be a challenging but welcome change from his daily dose of criminal clients. His old friend and father-figure, Manny Delacruz, has beseeched Pancho to handle a medical malpractice claim against the physicians who botched what should have been a routine surgery, but which resulted in Manny’s beloved wife being in a permanent vegetative state. The case looks good, the damages enormous, but when Manny is arrested for the murder of one of the doctors, Pancho finds himself back in his old role. If Manny is convicted, it means he won’t be able to be at his wife’s bedside to hold her hand, caress her face, and read his poems to her. He will have lost his reason to live. The pressure on Pancho is enormous. While he and his team try to make sense out of one of the most sinister and complicated murder schemes he’s ever seen, the medical malpractice case chugs forward, in jeopardy of being worthless should Manny be convicted.

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/2WJQSnx

 Barnes & Noble → https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tropical-doubts-david-myles-robinson/1128284518?ean=9781948749015

 

Other Books by David Myles Robinson:







CHAPTER 1

 P ancho McMartin watched as his client, newly convicted of murder, was escorted to the side door of the courtroom by two men in brown jumpsuits with “Sheriff” stenciled across the back. The client, a large Samoan in his early twenties, had a shaved head. Except for his face, every square inch of visible flesh was tattooed.
With shackles on his wrists and ankles, he shuffled to the door and then stopped and glanced over his shoulder at Pancho. He’d sat through the trial with a look of absolute disdain, even menace, and now Pancho almost laughed out loud at the expression on the man’s face—fear. Pancho gave him a small nod, which he hoped would convey some sense of encouragement. Not that there was much to encourage. The Samoan would spend the rest of his life in prison unless Pancho could win an appeal of little or no merit.
 His client disappeared through the door, and Pancho was alone in the courtroom. He shivered as the room, now empty, returned to its usual freezing temperature. He leaned his elbows on the counsel table and put his head in his hands. This was his third trial loss in a row, the second this year—a record for him. Pancho knew his client was guilty and hadn’t wanted to take the case. But the client’s family in Samoa and Oceanside, California, had collected the $250,000 fee Pancho charged for a murder case. Even then he might have turned the case down, but Pancho’s private investigator and best friend, Drew Tulafono, had asked him to take it on.
“The guy’s family in Oceanside goes to church with my mother,” Drew had said. “And they’re using all their powers of persuasion to get her to get me to get you to take the case.”
“Don’t they know he’s guilty as hell?” Pancho asked.
Drew nodded. “Pretty much, although they’re hoping he’ll get off with self-defense. But the main thing here is that Samoan families, mine included, are tight-knit and supportive of each other. If someone’s in trouble, the family’s sacred duty is to come to their aid in whatever way possible.”
 So Pancho had taken the client on and had presented a decent case for self-defense. In the end, however, Pancho figured the jury just couldn’t get past the way his client looked, which was like a gangbanger who would just as soon kill you as step out of your way.
Pancho sighed heavily and ran his hand through his long brown hair. Three in a row. He wondered if he was losing his touch. He felt tired and depressed. It had been a bad six months. Just before he’d taken on this loser of a case, his longtime girlfriend, Paula Mizono, a financial adviser, had tearfully told him she was accepting a position in Hong Kong. She loved him, she said, but she was in the prime of her work life and this opportunity, at triple her current salary, was too hard to pass up. “Besides,” she said, almost as an afterthought, “even though I knew what I was getting into when we hooked up, the fact of the matter is we hardly see each other. I’m off to work at three in the morning because of the time change to New York, and I’m ready to hit the sack by the time you get home.”
Pancho had lost his first wife to the long hours of his law practice and had vowed not to lose Paula. It was her job that caused the split, he told himself. But the pain of the loss and the loneliness of his empty bed hurt just the same.
The door to the judge’s chambers opened and Lew, the bailiff, poked his head into the courtroom. “You all pau in here, Mr. McMartin? I need to lock up.”
Pancho nodded and stood. “Yes, Lew, I’m done. Put a fork in me.”
“For what it’s worth,” Lew said, walking into the courtroom and pulling his keys out of his pocket, “I thought you did a great job on a dead loser of a case.”
Pancho gave a wan smile. “Thanks.” He loosened his tie, picked up his briefcase, and walked out of courtroom into the real world.














David Myles Robinson was a trial attorney in Honolulu, HI for 38 years before retiring to the mountains of New Mexico, where he lives with his wife, a former Honolulu trial judge. In the days of yore, before becoming a lawyer, he was a freelance journalist and a staff reporter for a minority newspaper in Pasadena, CA. He is an award-winning author of six novels, three of which are Pancho McMartin legal thrillers set in Honolulu.

Having traveled to all seven continents, he has also published a travel memoir entitled CONGA LINE ON THE AMAZON, which includes two Solas Traveler’s Tales award winners.
He says he includes his middle name, Myles, in his authorial appellation because there are far too many other David Robinson’s running around.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: davidmylesrobinson.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DNRobinsonWrite
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidMylesRobinson/



http://www.pumpupyourbook.com
 
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Monday, September 21, 2020

Interview with Douglas Wellman Co-Author SURVIVING HIROSHIMA


Douglas Wellman
was a television producer-director for 35 years, as well as dean of the film school at the University of Southern California. He currently lives in Southern Utah with his wife, Deborah, where he works as a chaplain at a local hospital when he isn’t busy writing books.

For more information on Doug and the books he has written, visit his website at http://www.douglaswellmanauthor.com.

 


Thank you for this interview!  I’d like to know more about you as a person first.  What do you do when you’re not writing?

I was a television producer director in Hollywood for many years, so I’ve always been interested in TV and films, but these days I spend much more time reading history books. I also earned a degree in theology, so my retirement job is working a few days a week as a hospital chaplain. My hobby is motorsports, particularly sports cars, but my wife took my motorcycle away from me.

When did you start writing?

From the time I began school I was a voracious reader. My parents encouraged that and provided all the books I wanted. In the World War Two housing boom, we lived at the fringe of suburbia for a while, and a trip to the library was a big deal, but my parents and my bicycle always got me there. My fascination with books translated into a very early desire to be a writer. When I was fifteen years old, my parents gave me a portable typewriter to get started. At my first college I was the editor of the literary magazine and wrote bad comedy. But I didn’t stop. I think that’s the key to being successful at anything.

As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?

When I was young, I was always intimidated staring at the blank piece of paper. Then I became intimidated staring at the blank screen. The pivotal point for me as a writer was when I learned not to wait for inspiration, or to be obsessed with writing a good first draft. The important thing is feeling free to just go ahead and write, good or bad, and fix it later.

If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?

In my television career I travelled to a lot of different places, which I enjoyed. Right now, I live in southern Utah were I’m quite happy. My office looks out over a mountain, the skies are usually sunny, and I have no desire to be anywhere but here.

If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?

Whenever I have extra time I read. I’ve always been an obsessive book buyer, and I have a stack of books I’m working my way through. I have a backlog of unread books in my Kindle. There are also books that I love to reread. Basically, if I’m not doing anything else, I read.

Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?

I have a few notes for comedic novel set in Las Vegas that I would like to write; however, I also have two nonfiction books that I would like to get to. I’ve been offered archive material that belonged to it Polish Jewish woman who survived four concentration camps during World War II. Much as I would like to do a novel, that one will probably come first.


 

Back to your present book, “Surviving Hiroshima, a Young Woman’s Story.” How did you publish it?

I wrote my first book, “Boxes, the Secret Life of Howard Hughes,” from information provided by Major General Mark Musick. Writelife Publishing, which was under different ownership at the time, heard about the book and approached Mark, so we went with them. By the time I wrote the second edition of “Boxes,” Writelife had been sold to its current owner. I have an excellent relationship with publisher, Terri Leidich, as well as the editorial staff, so I would have stayed with Writelife under any circumstances; however, Terri was actually pivotal in my writing “Surviving Hiroshima, a Young Woman’s Story.” Anthony Drago, whose mother, Kaleria, is the center of the story, approached Writelife looking for both an author and a publisher. Terri was immediately fascinated by the story, and knowing my interest in history, particularly in World War II, she had me on the phone about ten minutes after she got the pitch. Ten minutes after that I was on the phone with Anthony. This turned out to be a wonderful combination for all involved.

In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?

I have been to many locations in the United States and England that were sites of World War II activity, but “Surviving Hiroshima, a Young Woman’s Story,” was written primarily from the diaries of Kaleria. The family were Russian nobility, and barely escaped being killed by the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War by escaping to Japan. After the atomic bombing, Kaleria was interviewed at length by the United States Army Air Force and we used the transcripts of those interviews. In both cases, we quote Kaleria’s words verbatim, giving the book a first-person feel. This story has remained untold for seventy-five years, so it is very much a fresh look at the first use of an atomic weapon on a city. Prior to her death, Kaleria was invited to a remembrance ceremony in Hiroshima, accompanied by Anthony. On that trip Kaleria was reunited with surviving friends of her youth. In an emotional moment, a woman she did not know approached her to tell her that she was one of the bomb victims that Kaleria pulled from burning wreckage. Anthony provided a great deal of information he learned from other survivors as well as his own observations of the city.

Why was writing “Surviving Hiroshima, a Young Woman’s Story” so important to you?

This book is nonfiction, but I have to say that from a storytelling perspective I couldn’t possibly make anything up that’s as fascinating as this real-life experience. There are many twists and turns, and I would have to say that Anthony’s family lived a series of miracles that allowed them to survive the most horrifying military event of the twentieth century. I immediately accepted the offer to write this book because I saw it not just an exciting and fascinating personal story, but an important historical work. I’m very proud to have been associated with this project.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?

There is an old saying, “If you want to get something done, find a busy person to do it.” That’s the way my life has worked. People see the body of work I have created in television and print, and bring me their stories to write. I’m currently writing the story of a woman Christian missionary I met and her harrowing experiences in Burma.

Any final words?

I love writing, but once upon a time it was a love-hate relationship. I feared the blank page. I feared I wasn’t good enough. One day I lost the fear. Now the love-hate relationship is only love.

 



From Russian nobility, the Palchikoffs barely escaped death at the hands of Bolshevik revolutionaries until Kaleria’s father, a White Russian officer, hijacked a ship to take them to safety in Hiroshima. Safety was short lived. Her father, a talented musician, established a new life for the family, but the outbreak of World War II created a cloud of suspicion that led to his imprisonment and years of deprivation for his family.

Then, on August 6, 1945, 22-year-old Kaleria was doing pre-breakfast chores when a blinding flash lit the sky over Hiroshima, Japan. A moment later, everything went black as the house collapsed on her and her family. Their world, and everyone else’s changed as the first atomic bomb was detonated over a city.

After the bombing, trapped in the center of previously unimagined devastation, Kaleria summoned her strength to come to the aid of bomb victims, treating the never-before seen effects of radiation. Fluent in English, Kaleria was soon recruited to work with General Douglas MacArthur’s occupation forces.

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Amazon → https://amzn.to/2DHTSue

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Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Interview with Tenisha Collins, Author of THE SEX DARE: A MARRIED COUPLES' 21 DAY GUIDE TO GREAT SEX

Tenisha N. Collins is an author, accountant, editor & proofreader, speaker, entrepreneur and marriage coach. She recently published two devotionals, focusing on parenting & marriage, which can be found on Amazon, Apple Books, Kindle, Thriftbooks, Walmart, Kobo and other online platforms.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business, she holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting.

When Tenisha’s not preparing corporate and individual income taxes at the firm where she works part-time, she is balancing her mom life with her wife and entrepreneur life.

Founder of Strong Marriage, a Facebook Christian support group designed to give its members the tools necessary to obtain & maintain a strong marriage, Tenisha is passionate about families functioning as God purposed. Tenisha lives in Thousand Oaks, California (USA) with her husband of 27 years, their four children and grandson.

Visit her website, TenishaCollins.Com, to learn more or to join her community.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: http://www.TenishaCollins.Com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TenishaCollins4
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.Com/AuthorTenishaCollins




Title: THE SEX DARE: A MARRIED COUPLES’ 21 DAY GUIDE TO GREAT SEX
Author: Tenisha Collins
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 82
Genre: Christian Nonfiction

  Sex is great and feels real, real good! Societal trends advocate doing whatever feels good, including having sexual intercourse with someone you are not married to. The limelight shining on sex isn’t a good one. It’s almost impossible to find positive models of sex while married, in any medium, today. Television sitcoms, movies, magazines, romance novels, gossip radio, and talk shows all highlight marriages consumed with infidelity, trust issues, dehumanizing sex or a lack of sexual intimacy. Most mediums imply that singles are the ones having the best sex of their lives and, if they do marry, great sex ends after the honeymoon. But the truth is, God has reserved great sex for a husband and his own wife — period! This guide removes all the defective propaganda surrounding sex so that a husband and wife BOTH enjoy sex without any issues. In just 21 days, married couples could be having the best, bed-breaking, intoxicatingly addictive sex with one another. Go ahead and read it…I dare you!

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Amazon → https://bit.ly/SEXDARE

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I am an accountant, editor/proofreader and marriage coach as well as an author, mother, grandmother and Girl Scout troop leader. I keep busy with my businesses and try to carve out time to relax at the beach with my family.

When did you start writing?

I started writing around 2005 and made it one of my professions in 2017.

Pivotal Point in your writing life?

When I completed my first book, I asked my children to write the foreword. My heart was touched hearing how proud they were of my accomplishment and how excited they were to see my book in the hands of my readers, bringing value to their lives. I’d say that that day was a pivotal point in my writing life.

If you could go anywhere…where and why?

If I were able to travel anywhere in the world to write my next book, I’d choose the Maldives. The Maldives are romantic, beautiful and secluded; the perfect ingredients to write a book on sex! No matter what the topic, ocean waves, beautiful sunsets and tranquility are great writing motivators.

If you had 4 hours of extra time, what would you do?

I would spend an hour writing, an hour laying in my husband’s arms relaxing and spend the remaining two hours with my kids on the beach! On other days, I would use all four hours to write or be alone with my husband; it just depends on my deadlines, responsibilities and the mood of the day.

Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?

I’d consider setting a story in climates I don’t necessarily want to live in; Alaska, for example. I think it would be cool to use my imagination not only for the plot but for everything including the location and characters attire.

Back to your present book, The Sex Dare: A Married Couples’ 21 Day Guide to Great Sex, how did you publish it?

I chose to self-publish my book with the help of Amazon KDP.

In writing your book, did you go anywhere to research?

I had no need to travel anywhere for research. All my research comes from actual counseling and coaching sessions from my virtual marriage support group, my 27 years of marriage and the Bible.

Why was writing, The Sex Dare: A Married Couples’ 21 Day Guide to Great Sex, so important to you?
It was vital that I write The Sex Dare for all the wives who felt like they had no right to enjoy sex, were too tired to have sex and who thought of sex as a weapon or chore. I wrote it to help husbands understand that their behavior affects their wives’ sex drive, and that past hurts, ineffective communication and busted finances negatively affect sexual performance. I wrote it to assist couples in creating an atmosphere conducive to creating and maintaining intimacy thereby increasing the frequency and enjoyment of sex. In essence, I wrote it to completely alter their perception of sex altogether.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?

I get my best ideas for books while commuting to work or sitting at my desk. I think ideas come to me then because I am still and have a big block of time to think.

Any final words?

I am passionate about strong, successful marriages. It is my goal to get this book into the hands of every married couple as well as those who want to be married. It is my heartfelt hope that my books help every couple resolve any problems experienced in the bedroom and free them to enjoy more intoxicatingly great sex more frequently. I’d love for the audience to join my virtual marriage support group on Facebook and visit my website, TenishaCollins.Com, for more information.

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MAGNOLIA by James S. Kelly




MAGNOLIA
James S. Kelly
Historical Fiction/Civil War Love Story

Two young men grow up in the south, become great friends and love the same woman. One moves north as the civil war nears and becomes Administrative Asst to Abraham Lincoln The one who remained in the south vacates his office of US Senator to become the south’s chief spy. Both men are pitted against each other during the war. As the war ends, they try to renew their friendship but will the presence of the one they both love be an impediment.

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As soon as the seven southern states seceded from the union, their sons and relatives in the Union Army and Navy resigned their commissions and became the elite officers of the Confederacy. They were euphoric; they threw parties and prided themselves on their great fortune. They didn’t’[t stop there; they became aggressive. The state of South Carolina, one of the first to secede, claimed that Forts Moultrie and Sumter in the Charleston Harbor belonged to the Confederacy; therefore, the Union Soldiers in the fort must vacate. General PGT Beauregard, the former Superintendent of Cadets at West Point, who immediately switched sides,  was in charge of that state’s militia, but was taking his orders from Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, the interim Capitol of the Confederacy. Whether Jefferson Davis’ request to Lincoln to turn over the forts was rejected because it lacked merit or Lincoln took too long to respond, is mute in the long run.

            The firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 began a war that had no reason to happen. It was as though a disagreement between father and son had escalated way beyond what either wanted. At some point, each realized that they had gone beyond the normal barrier of good behavior and tried to step back and assess their actions. The father made every effort to try to explain to his son why his actions were unacceptable, but a sense of freedom to do as he wished, made that view almost impossible for the son to accept. He and his friends were caught up in a wave of excitement, which escalated into a cause. The normal civility between father and son was met with obstinacy and imprudence. Consequently, neither could see how to rectify a situation that continued to fester and finally got out of control. There seemed to be no common ground, no mediation and no chance for reconciliation. Just like a family, a nation was splitting apart.

            So too, did the distance between two childhood friends from Charleston, South Carolina, widen even though in the early stages, they tried to maintain a sense of decorum and respect, ignoring all outside influences. But it was not to be. The tension had grown from anxiety to acceptance, on both sides; their views were incompatible.

            On that fateful day, James Stephen Harris and his wife Claire were sitting at the dining room table in their rented Georgetown Residence in Washington DC. The lights on the black wrought iron lamps on their porch illuminated their entrance steps and their beautiful white slump stone exterior.. They were hosting four of their closest friends to celebrate Claire’s thirtieth birthday. Her mother and step-father planned to attend, but the situation was such that they wanted to see what would happen next before they crossed the Atlantic to be with the one they raised.

            James had spent the busiest two weeks of his life getting acclimated to his new position as Special Advisor to the newly elected President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. All six friends looked solemn; the neighborhood outside was quiet; it was as though an honored member of their family had died. No one spoke of the situation; no one wanted to. They talked of trivial things until ten that evening and then the guests left.

            Several hundred miles to the south in their home outside Charleston, South Carolina, John William Beauregard, with his wife Louisa and their two children were celebrating the same occasion with champagne at their magnificent plantation, called Magnolia. He’d resigned from the US Senate, as soon as the State of South Carolina seceded from the union. Interim President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, with an endorsement from John’s cousin, General PGT Beauregard, asked him to lead the Confederate Signal Corp. He was that new nation’s chief spy.

             They were embarking on an adventure and everyone was excited. John looked over at his wife and said, “We won’t be told what to do or how to run our lives anymore by some Union Bureaucrat in Washington.”

            “Be careful what you wish for, John.” She responded.

            “I just don’t understand the provocation. Why start something that can’t be reversed. The forts weren’t being supplied, so why not wait. The defenders would eventually have no recourse but to leave. Firing on the forts seemed to force the issue.” James Beauregard, their son, who was scheduled to attend West Point in the fall asked.

            “I wouldn’t have done it that way, but the die is cast. I believe many in our new administration wanted to make the break as sharp and as quick as possible, so there’d be no recourse.” His father responded

            Over the next four years, the two childhood friends, James Harris and John Beauregard, would be rivals, as antagonistic and would use every conscious moment during that period to assist their side in this ridiculous loss of life, property and dignity..














James S. (Jim) Kelly is a retired United States Air Force Colonel with over 100 combat missions in Vietnam. Prior to his retirement, Jim was Program Director for a Communication’s Program in Iran, working directly under the Shah. Jim and his wife, Patricia own and operate High Meadow’s Horse Ranch outside Solvang, California. All of his novels use Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley as a setting. Over the past 15 years, Jim and his wife have been active in a charity supporting our troops in forward operating locations, in hostile territory, overseas.

To contact Jim, email him at jkelly2020@outlook.com.

Website: www.kellywritings.com

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Monday, September 7, 2020

SEED OF TAMARIS BOOK BLAST & Book Giveaway!




SEED OF TAMARIS
Penni Louise
Fantasy

In a treacherous world, is it safe to be powerful?

A Brother with a tainted past. A Lord seeking a legacy for his daughters. A Queen in exhile from her ancestral home. For decades, the Lords and Ladies in the land of Tamaris have known peace among their Houses, unlike the Outlanders who face death everyday outside the kingdom’s borders. But when the King, consumed by power, turns against the beloved Queen, she is forced into hiding, and plots brew among the Houses. The threads of peace begin to unravel. From a Lord’s daughters facing the subordinations of womanhood, to the outcast who flees to The Coven of Sacred Sisters for redemption, to the boy in the mines who prefers darkness and worms to the Lightlands, the lives of the people of Tamaris are unknowingly tied to their Queen’s fate. Only the Witch knows to what end their loyalty leads them. They must navigate political ambitions, social expectations, the complexities of relationship, and traitor’s plots to survive in the midst of the building war. But many will forget that the worst peril often comes from those closest to home. SEED OF TAMARIS is an epic fantasy brimming with magik, desire, and wickedness. It is Book One of the Archipelago Series, and Penni Louise’s debut novel.

Amazon → https://amzn.to/30JffUJ

 Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/30JH1Az

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Having tired Timber out in the surf, throwing the stick till her arm hurt, the two weary friends rested on a smooth rock, basking in the afternoon sun.
 “I suppose they’ll be looking for us to get dressed and into the carriage,” Solar
sighed to Timber.
In the distance, the fishing boats were beginning to come into view on the
horizon, gulls circling and diving behind them, returning to their home harbor before the
night fell. She had asked Cook once why the boats did not stay out overnight. They seemed as big as castles, and as sturdy. Cook had shaken her head.
“They used to, little one, but not anymore. It’s dangerous to be so…exposed at
night nowadays. That’s why we tuck away in houses at night; there’s no good to be found out in the open in the dark.”
Cook refused to say why but Solar knew she had to be right.
Solar thought of her sister, always ill, and indoors. She felt badly for her, never
getting any fresh air or sunshine. She shook off the thought of stuffy rooms and stuffy carriages and stretched her legs, examining them in the sunlight.
“Look, Timber, I am getting fur like you!”
How splendid, she thought, reclining in the warm sun, and drifted off to sleep.
Sometime later, Solar woke with a pain in her back, disoriented. She was
immediately overwhelmed by the gloom; it seemed to be trying to suffocate her in shadow. She could hear and feel that the tide was coming in; the water was now splashing against the rocks, the spray hitting her feet and legs.
How long have I been asleep? She peered into the dusk and saw the stars starting to emerge overhead. A long time, then.
Something was missing. The spell of the stars suddenly broken, she realized
Timber was not beside her.
“TIMBER!” she called.
She thought she heard an answering woof but couldn’t be sure over the crashing
sound of the waves.
She stood gingerly, twisting to release her muscles, and called again, “Timber!”
She was certain she heard something this time, and slowly, feeling her way, began to climb the rocks.
She called again when she reached the top but instead of the woof she was hoping for, she heard men’s voices, coming from the direction of home. A Border Patrol! If she revealed herself, she would end up in incredible trouble and worse, the men certainly would not come back to search for Timber. He could be hurt, and was surely lost.
What would make him run away without waking me?
Maybe the fear of the dark was a real concern. More scared than ever, she worried herself with thoughts of Timber being injured, stolen, or devoured by an unknown beast.
The voices were coming closer.
Despite the threat of being truly lost, or being eaten herself, Solar ran away from the voices and into the darkness to find her beloved dog.

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As an eager reader from an early age, much of Penni’s life was shaped by Bilbo’s exclamation that “he was going on an adventure!” Originally from Australia, Penni is now an avid storyteller and traveler (both physical and astral), currently located in Denver, Colorado. With a deep love of all things mystical, she also explores the energetic realm through her clairvoyance and channeling abilities.


Website: http://www.pennilouise.com

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GIVEAWAY!

Penni Louise is giving away 2  Kindle copies and 1 paperback copy of SEED OF TAMARIS!

Terms & Conditions:
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • Three winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive either a Kindle or paperback copy
  • This giveaway ends midnight September 30.
  • Winner will be contacted via email on October 1.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!





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