Category Archives: BOOKS

by | November 25, 2019 · 5:00 am

The Lyme Regis Murders Blitz

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Crime Thriller
Date Published: 1st December 2019
Publisher: HappyLondonPress
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Can innocence ever be an incentive to murder?
A quiet seaside town is thrown into turmoil. Tammy Pierre, London based private investigator, accompanied by her sometime lover, Israeli art dealer and martial-arts coach, Dov Jordan, has just been brought close to tears by police photographs shown to her by an hysterical Eleanor Goldcrest, at the home of three innocent toddlers whose brutally murdered bodies have been found on the beach at Lyme Regis.
Wealthy financier, Eric Goldcrest, alarmed that his partner of three years, together with the local police has him nailed as guilty of murdering the children, now retains Tammy to prove his innocence and find the real culprit. But has his involvement in all this been misinterpreted?
In this investigation, with no apparant motive or forensic evidence, Tammy’s skills will be tested to the limit. In a twist that muddies the waters, Eric Goldcrest, laments that he’s simply never made it clear to Tammy about his position in the family and his relationship with the children, all of which have been assumed by the investigation.
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About the Author

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A contract killer changed my life
The encounter inspired me to become a Crime Thriller writer.
He was a contract killer, and he was in my car!
I’d been lost, looking for West Thurrock in Essex, and asked a little old man in a shabby coat, on the opposite side of the road, the way. He offered to show me if I gave him a lift, and whilst I make it a rule never to give lifts to anyone I don’t know, I reasoned, he could hardly be a contract killer, could he. Could he? Of course not.
As we drove he casually informed me that he’d, ‘Done it for the Kray’s, mate.’ That would have been the notorious East London gangsters he was referring to, known to kill, or have killed, without conscience.
Once I’d dropped him off and recovered my composure, I realised I was looking at fodder for a short story. What then followed was a raft of short stories, including, ‘I am a Gigolo,’ something I told my wife when I first met her, and which almost ended our relationship before it had begun. That title is now the heading for a book of short stories.
Jokingly, over lunch, I told a fellow professional I’d once been a contract killer, and devised a story. He believed every word, and left me at some pains to disabuse him. That title, I am a Contract Killer, now heads a further collection of short stories.
Writer of scary short stories and full-length novels like The Lyme Regis Murders.
It’s been an fascinating journey… I hope you’ll want to share with me.
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by | November 24, 2019 · 5:00 am

Mirrors Tour

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Science Fiction/Science Fiction Thriller/Science Fiction Mystery
Date Published: 8/1/2019
Publisher: Chandra Press
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If you enjoy reality bending sci-fi like Inception, The Matrix, and Waking Life, you’ll love Mirrors!
All Sarah wants is to find her father. All Sam wants is a sense of purpose amidst her seemingly perfect life. What they find is much more than either of them bargained for.
Sarah has been searching for her missing father for the past four years. Sam has a seemingly perfect life, but something is missing. A set of strange circumstances and the onset of confusing visions sets them searching for answers. Individually they discover the answers the other needs: a secret formula, the answers to the disappearance of Sarah’s father, and a shadowy organization that seems to hold the key.
As the visions increase in intensity and frequency, and the women struggle to keep a grip on reality, they embark on a journey to understand what it all means. The connection that exists between them has larger implications than they can imagine, and they are not the only ones who know about it. They must work together, with a newly forged team of friends to evade capture and protect a mind-bending formula from getting into the wrong hands.
Sarah and Sam must become connected, truly connected, and discover their true purpose as the lives they once knew unravel before them.  With everything they cherish on the line, can Sarah and Sam solve the mystery of their connection before time runs out?
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Excerpt

Moments later, the lights went out and they were standing in total darkness.

Sarah felt her head begin to swim, pulling her mind away from reality, until she slowly found herself back, face to face, with the nightmare of the caves. 

The barn owls emerged from the blackness, swooping down over her as she lay helpless and rigid on the floor. Her body was one giant, pulsating heart. She was letting go and could not tell where the owls were coming from, whether from her mind, out of the cave of Lizard’s Foot, or out of the dark corners of the basement. 

She felt the gentle tug of sanity leaving her body with each exhale and floating through the air before her. She was well beyond the point of caring. In fact, she felt like embracing it. Beyond the syncopated rhythm of blood pumping and wings beating, she could hear Lucas’s voice calling her name softly, as if through the wall of another room.

  “Sarah… Sarah! What are you doing?”

Lucas’s voice grew louder and started to pull Sarah out of her hallucination-fueled daydream. She was now realizing that this was in fact a daydream. She had not experienced any visions for a while now, as she had not taken any Balixa in over a week.

“Sarah, please get up. I know you’re scared, but we’ll find a way out of here. I promise.”

Lucas’s voice was delicate and filled with promises, sweet sounding to Sarah’s ears; a pleasant addition to Sarah’s daydream, nothing more. She did not want to leave, though she could now feel her head resting in his lap, his hand gently stroking her hair, pulling her further and further out of the vision. 

And then she felt something, much more uncomfortable: the pain in her chest, the familiar aching that had driven her here, looking for her father. Now all she wanted was to escape, to not feel the pain that had persisted all these years. She closed her eyes and began to drift off again.

“Sarah, no,” Lucas pleaded, now an irritating reminder of the outside world she was growing to hate. “Sarah please, I need you. Don’t check out again.”

About the Author

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Sonya Deulina Williams was born in Moscow, Russia in 1989. She immigrated to the United States, specifically to Greensboro, North Carolina, with her family in 1994 with refugee status, to flee anti-semitism. This journey would become a major influence over her later years.
As an only child, Sonya was prone to day dreaming and loved drawing. Both of her parents are artists/painters. In high school and college, Sonya developed an interest in psychology and specifically how art and psychology could merge to bring insight and healing. So, she majored in Creative Writing and Psychology, and went on to intern/work in a variety of settings facilitating mental health and expressive arts interventions for refugee children and folks with various mental health issues. She later went on to get her Masters in Social Work.
Sonya loves incorporating expressive arts into her therapy work and psychological elements into her writing. She especially enjoys when fiction and reality blur, so that the reader finds themselves asking, “Could this be possible?” Naturally, Sonya gravitated to scifi and began writing her first novel “Mirrors” in 2015.
Currently, Sonya lives in Jamestown, North Carolina with her husband Greg and their three parrots. She enjoys binge watching scifi/psychological thrillers, going to the beach, acrylic painting, blasting her music, and spending time with her loved ones.
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by | · 5:00 am

The Prophets and the Executioner Tour

The Prophets and the Executioner tour

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Book One, The Awakening
Supernatural Thriller
Date Published April 2019
Publisher: Page Publishing
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With war ravaging their planets and destroying their once-peaceful existence, they fled their homes in search of a new beginning.
Arriving on earth over ten thousand years ago, they brought with them the secret science of immortality, the wisdom of once living in perfect harmony, and the knowledge needed to recreate a utopia like the one they had just destroyed. What they didn’t expect was to arrive on a planet that was far direr than the one they had just left and that it would be thousands of years before earth would be ready for the knowledge they brought with them, if ever at all.
In 2011, Steven Di Carlo, unknowingly living his ninth existence as an executioner, was about to be awakened to his purpose on earth by remembering his many past lives. Along with his prophets Michael and Samuel, they would continue their enormous task of protecting the Book of Wisdom known as the KHoKeM, the very science of an everlasting life. Rumors of its existence had some referring to the KHoKeM as the Holy Grail while others searched in vain for the ever-elusive fountain of youth. December 12, 2012, feared as the day of the apocalypse, was in fact be the date targeted for the retrieval of the KHoKeM. September 9, 2019, would be the day its secrets are to be revealed to the human race. Will the people of earth be ready for this knowledge? Will the prophets and the executioner decide that humanity is still too barbaric and choose to leave the science hidden for another thousand years, or will the path and all its wisdom forever be destroyed by the evil inside us all? The journey begins with book 1 of this new trilogy by Frank Franco.
Keep an eye for Book Two in December 2019
 
The Prophets and The Executioner “The Darkness”
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EXCERPT

BEFORE THEIR ARRIVAL on Earth and before the destruction of their worlds, their lives could only be described as extraordinary. They were many civilizations all living and thriving in a system of planets that were connected by peace, harmony, and common respect, but mostly, they were connected by singular thought. For millions of years, these different cultures, as diverse as they were, prospered from the sharing of knowledge and resources and from mutual understanding. Specific laws were not needed as crime was nonexistent. There were no borders as freedom of travel was encouraged and the allegiance to one another was cultivated. 

It was an exhilarating existence filled with the delights of adventure and camaraderie, a life that was virtually everlasting. An entity could only cease to exist if it itself so chose. Death by accident or age meant a rebirth of a new life with all the excitement of a once-again youthful existence, and with time, the full knowledge of its previous lives would return, therefore maintaining the wisdom learned throughout its past adventures. 

This knowledge was the key to the harmony of the different cultures, but unfortunately, that knowledge became the catalyst for their demise. In this time before the collapse of their beliefs and customs, the seeds of greed began to take root; with each rebirth, past possessions became more coveted, desire for immediate standing became more urgent, greed had invaded their minds, and disrespect for one another had destroyed their harmony.

About the Author

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Frank Franco is a 63-year-old proud father of two wonderful children; the grandfather of five amazing grand children aged 2 to 11 and has been married to his wife Lina, for the past 42 years.

Born in Amato, Italy in 1955, he immigrated to Vancouver Canada at the age of 4 and has lived there ever since.
Although Frank is not an accomplished writer, I would definitely call him an accomplished story teller. He began writing The Prophets and the Executioner in 2008, mostly writing on Saturday mornings and while on vacations. Writing a novel was a bucket list item he always dreamed of completing and after numerous re-writes, and the story taking control of the writer, one novel turned in to three and thus a trilogy was created and the adventures of Steven DiCarlo (The Executioner) and Samuel Stewart (his Prophet) took him on quite an amazing ride.
This trilogy, The Prophets and the Executioner is lightly based on the author’s beliefs and personal experiences of something existing beyond this world. A somewhat mystical connection guiding us through life and then welcoming us home when we die. Although purely fiction, The Prophets and the Executioner explores why we are here, where we came from and what comes next.
With no formal education as a writer, the intention was to complete the novel, print a few copies and hand them out to family and friends and cross that one off the bucket list. But coming from a newspaper background and having writers and editors as friends, he was encouraged by them to pursue publishing his story. Now that book one and two are complete and book three has been started, he thought, why not!
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by | November 22, 2019 · 11:08 am

The Devil & Dayna Dalton Blitz

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Book 9: A Bulwark Anthology
Paranormal Romance
Date Published: September 30, 2019
Publisher: Chelshire, Inc.
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Reporter Dayna Dalton’s reputation has been ruined since birth. The daughter of wild child, Becky Dalton, is expected to follow her mother’s footsteps; never given a chance to prove she’s different. Dayna’s been in love with Clay Finnes since she was a teenager. Her unrequited love for Sheriff Finnes leaves her empty.  He’s happily married and unavailable. Instead, Dayna finds herself stuck in the revolving door of bad relationships. But this is Bulwark, Georgia, a town where strange things are always happening.  Dayna is doomed to this loveless life until she can find someone who will appreciate the depth of her character. Can she overcome her fears and look beyond her own perceptions to accept a greater love?
*Contains Sexual Content*
Other Books in the Bulwark Anthology
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The Knowing
A Bulwark Anthology, Book One
The Illusion
A Bulwark Anthology, Book 2
The Craving
A Bulwark Anthology, Book 3
The Window
A Bulwark Anthology, Book 4
The Missing Branch
A Bulwark Anthology, Book 5
The Body
A Bulwark Anthology, Book 6
The Battle of Bulwark
A Bulwark Anthology, Book 7
The Darkness
A Bulwark Anthology, Book 8
Bulwark cover
Paranormal Thriller
Publisher: Chelshire, Inc.
Published: January 2018
Clay Finnes is the sheriff of a small town in Georgia called Bulwark. Recently separated from his wife, all he can think about is what went wrong, and will Jenna ever come back to him. He’s troubled by a bothersome reporter trying to build a story from what he thinks is a normal day in his life. Clay has to admit that the fantastical stories, told by an accident victim as well as unusual sightings of wolves, things are getting a bit strange. A visit to the ominous Gingerbread House makes him realize that his life as he knows it will never be the same.
About the Author

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Brit Lunden is a prolific author who’s written over 50 books in assorted genres under different pen names. Bulwark was her first effort in adult fiction and was chosen by several of her fellow authors as the basis for a new series, A Bulwark Anthology.  Using her characters, they are creating new denizens in spin-off stories to this bizarre town. Brit Lunden lives on Long Island in a house full of helpful ghosts.
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by | November 21, 2019 · 6:00 pm

Needs Work Blitz

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Fiction
Published: October 2019
Publisher: Paragraph Line Books
Once upon a time in Cleveland… Phil Derleth, a former Army “combat cartoonist,” comes home to Cleveland, Ohio after a messy divorce. Phil is brain-damaged from a war wound and there are holes in his memory. His father Larry, a stone mason living on disability, takes him in. Soon enough, Phil finds himself embroiled in all sorts of trouble, including dodging the Ohio Department of Transportation, blood-stealing tramps, the ghost of his dead mother and stray dogs who are more than they appear to be. One stray in particular will show Phil the way back to a life that he may have forgotten.
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 Excerpt

 

I was let go.
That was months after my wife threw me out, taking our daughter with her. I was twenty-seven and starting all over again with life. I moved in with my father. Moved back to Ohio, a place that I thought I’d left in the rearview mirror. Instead, it was in my cracked and hazy windshield.
My car, a ten-year-old Ford Mustang, broke down in my father’s driveway never to recover. It had thrown a rod.
I got out of the car. The parking brake popped. The car slowly rolled into the street. A small fire crackled under the hood. In few minutes, dark black smoke poured out from the undercarriage and a red glow simmered within the passenger compartment. For a moment, I saw a shadow behind the wheel, a remnant of my former self, the one who was so confident that he would never again grace the state of Ohio. A small explosion. Another small explosion. They sounded less like explosions than someone manually popping a paper lunch sack. The driver’s side front wheel fell off and the car tilted over. The Mustang emblem clinked onto the pavement. A car, and then another car, drove past as if this sort of thing happened all the time. Nothing to get excited about.
“My clothes are in there,” I said aloud. “My employee of the month certificate. My Army uniforms. My crazy pills.”
My father emerged from the tiny house I’d grown up in, leaning forward on an aluminum walker, a wry grin on his mossy face. There was a reason why he’d never grown a beard while my mother was alive. The beard was patchy in so many ways. The coloration was wrong. The growth was uneven. There were too many things wrong with his beard to list.
The look he sent my way told me that he hadn’t yet forgiven me for not coming around while my mother was dying. I came to the funeral. Wasn’t that enough?
The police arrived. They pulled their cruiser up to the curb. A decal on the side of the car read, POLICE INTERCEPTOR. An older fat patrolman strolled up to me. He stood alongside me in silence and we watched my car burn for a while. Finally, he said, “That yours?” His name tag said, SMITH.
“Yes,” I said. “I have no money.”
“Who does?” He patted me on the shoulder solicitously.
The flames licked the air. It was sensuous.
“This is my son.” My father was beside us, opposite the cop.
“Total loss,” the friendly, gray-haired patrolman said. He rubbed his belly like there was a cat underneath his shirt.
His partner, a youngish woman, her hair pinched into a severe bun at the nape of her neck, stood near the car in the street, waving other cars past. When the street was clear, she pulled out her ticket pad and wrote me up.
My state of Illinois vanity plate fell off the back. It read, “E4MAFIA.” It was a joke that wasn’t funny now that I was out of the Army. I’d been out of the Army for years. I was in the Army for four years, most of it spent in a Navy hospital in Illinois, recovering from my war wounds. The Navy corpsmen would wheel us all up to the roof of the hospital at times, I remembered. We’d sit up there, high above the base, staring at Lake Michigan. It was calming. The hospital specialized in traumatic brain injuries. It was why we were all there. We were learning to speak again. To feed ourselves. To walk. To read and write. The Navy’s corpsmen school was there, so the student corpsmen would come by to gawk at us, or help us out with basic things. Eating. Finding our way back to our ward.
About the Author

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John L. Sheppard, a graduate of the MFA@FLA creative writing program at the University of Florida, is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. He lives in Illinois.
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