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Unexpected Altars Teaser

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Christian Devotional, Inspirational Personal Testimonies

Date Published: 11-15-2025

Publisher: Acorn Book Services

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Everyday moments become sacred altars where God meets you.

 

Do you sometimes wish you could hear from God? Do you feel like you are
too insignificant for Him to care about your daily battles with loneliness,
grief, change, and doubts?

 

God talks to each of us – from the young husband and father who
accidentally torched his home, to the claustrophobic pastor making her way
through a historic tunnel in Israel, to the mystery author having a close call
with a stink bug.

 

 

God can speak to us through that soft voice inside your head; or the
perfect words for your circumstance uttered on Sunday morning; or He can come
to you in a powerful revelation.

 

 

Turn your doubts into divine encounters. Discover how God is speaking to
you today through these 101 inspirational faith stories. These stories will
transform your doubts into powerful encounters with God’s grace, guiding
you to find Him in unexpected places.

 

 

UNEXPECTED ALTARS is a collection of stories of faith from real people,
just like you, who have experienced God’s grace and presence in their
lives. Their authors pray that this Christian devotional will inspire your
daily spiritual life. Each story is a powerful reminder that God meets us
right where we are—building altars of worship in the ordinary and the
extraordinary. Perfect for daily devotion, small group discussion, or personal
encouragement.

 

Start your journey to find God in the unexpected! Order UNEXPECTED
ALTARS today!
 
Excerpt
Achieving Success
“The Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken.”
Psalms 16:8
I will probably never forget that evening over fourteen years ago. I sat on the edge of the bed in our bedroom having been released from my job of over twenty years. I was hurt and dejected for sure. But my wife entered the room and sat next to me. I figured she would be filled with anxiety and question how we were going to move forward as far as finances and family. She simply sat next to me, looked at me, and said the most unlikely thing. She said, “I’m glad this happened. I’m so happy and relieved.” I was shocked. I now was the one wanting to ask questions. First, “Are you crazy? Did you hear what I said? I’m no longer employed.” But she did hear me clearly and was genuine in her words to me.
I was both blindsided and blind. My family had been longing for me to make them a greater priority in my life. I thought that the dedication to my career and long hours away from them was my proof to them that they were just such a priority. But I was very wrong.
My wife said something to me that evening that I truly had to pause and reflect upon in order to believe. She said, “I’m glad this happened. Now we can make career decisions that allow you to spend more time with us as a family”. I explained to her that while that was a very kind and gracious thing to say, it did not provide the financial security or means to provide for our family.
She disagreed. She stated that I had spoken often about beginning a small business at some point. To her, it was no question; that time was now. We talked hours that evening about our family, our goals, and…..our faith in God. My wife reminded me that God is with us every step of our journey.
As I write this today, our small business turns thirteen years old, as our daughters turn eighteen and sixteen respectively. In addition, God added more blessings. My brother in law and best friend are both owners of this business as well. A crossroads decision based on faith, hope, love, and trust in God was made that night, thirteen years ago.
The world measures “success” in dollar signs and material wealth. I believe that God’s measure for us is far from that. We are called to serve, not be served. We are called to fellowship, worship, and spend time with those we love. God promises to provide what we “need” in our lives, not what we “want”. The irony in all of this is that when He opens our eyes to His guidance, we find that what we needed is truly what we wanted all along… Him…. Immanuel, God with us.
Father, your provision for us is amazing. It doesn’t always come in the form we expect, but it is enough. We thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Brian Greenfield

UNEXPECTED ALTARS: MEETING GOD IN EVERYDAY MOMENTS is an anthology
written by multiple authors, edited by JoAnne Alexander, and published by
Lauren Carr for Oakland Community Church, a non-denominational church located
in Charles Town, West Virginia.

All royalties from this devotional book will be donated to the building fund
for Oakland Community Church’s new building. Oakland’s goal is to design a
biophilic building that takes advantage of the beauty of our Jefferson County
location.

 

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Beltane Blitz

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Fantasy (various sub-genres)

Publication Date: March 31, 2025

 

 

 

The maypole has been adorned with ribbons and blossoms, the bonfire has
been lit, and the music is calling you to dance the night away. Join 25
AuthorTubers as they explore the stories of Beltane in the second AuthorTube
Anthology.

The magic of SPRING is in full bloom.

 

Including works by:

Rose Adam, Rachel D. Adams, Aisling Black, Sarah C. Brody, Michael Dawn
Brooks, Brandy Bullock, Cassandra Byrnes, Jodee Jean Daniels, S.C.
Dickinson, Robert Dorris, C.L. Hart, Katy Manz, Nil
, J. Noble, Jenna O’Malley, Kay Parquet, Melissa Power, Alice Reads, Megan
Ryan, E.L. Summers, Kyle Thomas, Nicole Ford Thomas, M.M. Ward, Christina
Whisler, Sam Wicker

 

 

The Beltane Laundress

 

Contemporary Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Small Town

 

Ernst Veselá is so mired in memories of his lost wife and daughter
that he strolls onto a dark, rain-slick county road without looking. He is
nearly run down by Annie Ainsworth, a young woman driving erratically in her
hurry to escape her abusive relationship with her child’s
father.

Ernst and his son Jozef offer shelter to Annie and her daughter Lizzie.
Will the magic of Beltane spark healing in these four broken-hearted
souls?

 

 

Excerpt

The Beltane Laundress

by C. L. Hart

 

The rain pounded down on a father and son walking through the tiny town of
Honeycomb Grove, Colorado.

“It will be a good Mayday celebration this year, Pop,” said the
lanky teenage boy. Tufts of gamboge-golden hair stuck out from his dark
orchid baseball cap.

The boy’s similarly built father had graying oxide-red hair and wore
a faded red baseball cap. The weary expression on his face and the look of
hopelessness in sad eyes the color of a John Deere tractor matched glum
words spoken with a thick German accent.

“I don’t want to dim the light in those hopeful hazel eyes. I
wish I still saw life with the eyes of a tiger conquering his jungle, but
today, I view the world through the eyes of an undertaker.”

The teenager was horrified to see a car barrel out of the fog as his father
started across the county road.

“Pop, look out!”

The pair lost their balance on the slippery grass as the son pulled his
father out of the path of the speeding vehicle. The battered cherry-red
mini-SUV that pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned Honey Wash
Laundromat had seen better days. A young woman no older than eighteen
stepped out, regarding the pair with eyes like blue marbles peering from
behind a curtain of unkempt mouse-brown hair haphazardly pulled back into a
ponytail.

About the Author

C. L. Hart, the owner and sole employee of Naughty Netherworld Press and
Ornery Owl Ventures, is spoken of in hushed tones. She is an editor who
writes or a writer who edits. She is also described as The Mad Scribe of the
Northeastern Colorado Plains, The Terrible Old Woman, and The Author That
Should Not Be. She is a member of ACES Editing Society, the Denver Horror
Collective, First Coast Romance Writers, the H. P. Lovecraft Historical
Society, Passionate Ink (writing as Lil DeVille), Regency Romance Writers,
and Rocky Mountain Romance Writers.

Ms. Hart shares a home in a remote rural town of 134 souls with her adult
son and three cats. Her sense of fashion is best described as Early
Twenty-First Century Unmade Bed. This disabled former nurse can usually be
found arguing with herself about subplots or rehabilitating eldritch
horrors.

When not penning sanity-destroying works of dystopian fiction, Lovecraftian
fantasy, or old-school horror with the occasional sweet romance thrown in to
upset the cosmic apple cart, Ms. Hart enjoys creating baked goods she hopes
will be considered palatable by someone besides eldritch horrors.

Follow C. L. Hart

Need a professional alpha or beta reader or editor?

 

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Beautiful Darkness 3 Teaser

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Horror, various subgenres

Publication Date: October 30, 2024

Publisher: Dragon Soul Press

 

 

Ghosts, demons, and more monsters.

In a world where so many dark things go bump in the night, terror awaits
around every corner as these authors take horror stories to the next level.
Discover ghosts, demons, and your worst nightmares. Read at your own
risk.

Featuring twenty-nine stories by Joshua Williams, Stephen A. Roddewig,
Joseph Hirsch, Max Blood, Paul Lonardo, Matt Spencer, S.J. Walker, Kelly
Barker, Gregory Scott Matics, Gaetan Battaglia, Fred Phillips, Cassandra
Jones, Barend Nieuwstraten III, Sean E. Britten, Larry Hodges, Donalee
Moulton, Arlo Z. Graves, C.L. Hart, Robb T. White, Kelly Piner, Benjamin
Curt Unsworth, Trixie Nisbet, Jennifer Papillo, Justin Jones, Diana
Parrilla, Jared Thomason, J.M. Bengtsson, Caleb James K., and J.E.
Feldman.

 

Beautiful Darkness 3 paperback

Full Cold Moon

 

Story Genre: Shifters, werewolf

 

Wolf shifter Roza Van Rompaye awakens in a basement filled with Christmas
decorations with a silver manacle around her ankle. Her captor spiked her
drink with silver nitrate, and now he wants her to be his mate and to turn
him. Roza isn’t about to do either. She warns her captor that he will
die if she is still a prisoner when the full cold moon rises.

 

 

Excerpt

 

No matter how I struggled, I couldn’t get free of the chains I was
bound in.

“You’d better hope they hold when the full moon comes out, you
silly shit,” I snarled.

The cadaverous young man with the watery green eyes, blemished face, and
greasy disconnected fuchsia pompadour presented me with a rectangular box
wrapped in metallic celadon paper.

“I don’t want presents from you,” I snapped, turning away.
“If you think holding a woman captive on Christmas Eve is seduction, I
guarantee you’ll die a virgin. Gavril Kuroki, president of GrassHopper Green
Construction and renowned seducer of both men and women, would be horrified
to learn his son was holding his favorite architectural consultant prisoner
in a dungeon that looks like Santa’s elves got hammered and puked all over
the walls while he tries to win her affections with cheesy lingerie. What
the hell is wrong with you, Yair?”

“Roza, please, just look,” Yair insisted. He eagerly unwrapped
the box, revealing a silky puce nightgown. “I’m not trying to
turn you into a sexual object, and I’d never force myself on you. I
know you’re not like those easy women who ride the cock carousel any
chance they get. This negligee is elegant and ladylike, like
you.”

“I’ll never be the fawning captive princess of your
pathetic fantasies.”

“My love, it pains me to keep you prisoner, but until you accept me
as your alpha, I must.”

“Being chained to a concrete wall in a windowless basement stuffed
with Christmas decorations like a holiday goose full of apples and bread
pains me. This plot to make me fall in love with you by forcing a full-blown
English Christmas on me is insane. We’re in Cresval, South Dakota, for
Krampus’ sake, not jolly old London town. I’m the
thirty-five-year-old spawn of a Dutch-American agnostic farmer, not the
demure daughter of flipping Bob Cratchit.”

About the Author

C. L. Hart

C. L. Hart is an editor who writes or a writer who edits. She primarily
writes Lovecraftian fantasy and horror with the occasional sweet romance
thrown in to upset the cosmic apple cart. This is her second year
participating in the annual For the Love of Winter anthology from First
Coast Romance Writers. She is a member of ACES Editing Society, The Denver
Horror Collective, First Coast Romance Writers, The H. P. Lovecraft
Historical Society, Passionate Ink (writing as Lil DeVille), Regency Romance
Writers, and Rocky Mountain Romance Writers.

 

Author Links

 

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Soul Ink Teaser Tuesday

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Poetry

Date to be Published: June 23, 2024

 

 

Poetry; a unique and beautiful way to express feelings and ideas. Weaving
words into perfect poetic prose, these authors remind you of your childhood,
bring comfort from the hardships of life, fiercely spur emotions, and tell
tales of old. All lovers of poetry will find a favorite here!

Featuring poems by Rhiannon Bird, Luke Dylan Ramsey, Ron Perovich, M. Kelly
Peach, John Grey, Michael J. Corrigan, K.J. Watson, Jonathan Reddoch,
Vanessa Bane, Stephen Schwei, Daniel Anaya, Dana Trick, Cara Hartley,
Douglas Allen Gohl, Samuel Samba, Monica Kakkar, Rizwan Akhtar, Emma
Laurent, Ebuka Stephen, and J.E. Feldman.

Soul Ink standing book

Excerpts

 

A Brief Ode to an Unseen Eclipse

Though we were not in the path of totality

Partial eclipse sighting was possibility

Overcast as it was, it was not meant to be.

Clouds thick and heavy

Obscuring the sun.

 

Butterfly

many sing your praise

while your numbers grow smaller

precious butterfly

 

Charcoal

I inflame your fire

giving you warmth you desire

fundamental fuel

 

Dear Author

Dear Author,

Thank you for the submission of your story for our anthology.

Your story has good bones.

For us to consider publishing the piece, you must make it more innovative
by changing the characters to amorphous blobs with no discernible age,
ethnicity, nationality, sex, or size.

Within the confines of ten thousand words, we also insist on more
descriptive descriptions of the futuristic setting while not getting lost in
describing the futuristic setting but rather concentrating on compelling
character development between the amorphous blobs.

Further, we insist upon inclusion of an enemies to lovers trope.

Yours truly,

The Publisher

 

a wintry shower

dusting of snow on the trees

as spring awakens

 

Elm

I sit in my house listening to house music at 6:23 AM.

The skies are gray and the birds have not yet started stirring

In the ugly Siberian elm outside my window.

My father hated these trees with their rough bark and leaves.

He despised their haggard appearance,

Lamenting the downfall of their handsomer cousins, the American elm.

I remember seeing technicians cutting off branches of trees

Spraying them with paint, sometimes felling the whole thing

In order to stop the spread of Dutch elm disease.

I hope my father would be pleased to know

About the efforts made to save the trees he loved

So future generations can appreciate them

As he always did.

Outside my window, an ugly Siberian elm is a dwelling place for beautiful
birds.

 

For my father

31 May 1936 – 28 November 2010

 

Ornery Owl logo

Ornery Owl is a wise old bird who seeks the truth behind the lies. She uses
her observations to heal the wounded soul. In essence, she is the spirit of
an odd little bird whose wings were clipped at a young age. She is at once a
whimsical manifestation of poetic expression and a fierce protector of those
targeted for derision by an angry and unsympathetic world. Depending on how
you perceive her, she can be either a goddamned delight or your worst
nightmare.

 

Follow Ornery Owl (AKA Cara Hartley)

Cara H and Ornery Owl Amazon Author Page

C. L. Hart Newsletter

(C. L. Hart is my fantasy, horror, and sweet romance author pen
name.)

Naughty Netherworld Press Start Page

 

Purchase Today

 

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Pirate Gold Virtual Book Tour

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Action and Adventure, Paranormal Fantasy,  Lovecraftian,
Anthology

Date Published: July 31, 2023

Publisher: Dragon Soul Press

 

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Treasure is within reach.

Nineteen original tales of swashbuckling glory are at your fingertips in
this anthology. From pirates lured into traps, treasure hunting gone wrong,
and epic battles on the open sea. From vengeful ghosts to gruesome mutinies.
Living on the edge comes with high costs.

 

Featuring stories by Paulene Turner, James Romag, Maeve A. Baird, Matthew
Fryer, Isa Ottoni, Bianca Breen, Charles Kyffhausen, Allison Tebo, Douglas
Allen Gohl, Edgar Mahaffey, Jennifer Strassel, Stephen A. Roddewig, Robert
Allen Lupton, K. Anders, Barend Nieuwstraten III, Melody Bowles, and C.L.
Hart.

 

The Quest for Captain Sammy’s Treasure

 

Five centuries ago, Captain Sammy buried his treasure in an unlikely
location before letting the sun burn his body to ash to avoid becoming a
vampire. Now the spectral pirate is back in the Jungle of Kled to reclaim
his treasure, accompanied by two unusual friends.

Rilpu is a young sorceress born as a serpent but transformed into a
humanoid female by a spell. The wizard Zkauba hails from the doomed world of
Yaddith. They are soon joined by an impressive companion: Yadira, the
daughter of Nyarlathotep. However, it is possible that even Nyarlathotep’s
daughter may not be able to defeat the abomination standing in the blighted
clearing under the pedestal where Captain Sammy’s treasure is hidden.

Do the ghostly pirate captain and his friends have a chance of reclaiming
the treasure and continuing their mission to save the Cosmos from
destruction or are they destined to fail?

  

Pirate Gold paperback

EXCERPT

Darkness and ominous silence dominated the Jungle of Kled. Strange towering trees moving in ways that defied explanation cast shadows that shimmered and danced. Each rustle in the darkness represented a potential threat, and every shadow teemed with unseen danger. A network of twisted vines snaked through the underbrush, their thick tendrils blocking any light that might have penetrated the canopy above.

A palpable sense of dread filled the air as strange and terrifying cries echoed from the shadows. The flapping of massive leathery wings could be heard as monstrous creatures ascended into the dark green sky. Insects of enormous size buzzed and crawled across toxic flowers. The feeling of being watched was ever-present, a sense of malice stalking every step.

It was into this scene that three peculiar travelers fell from an ovoid of light the color of key lime pie filling. Despite the bumpy landing, the first of the trio seemed unperturbed. This sturdy, mature gentleman quickly righted himself, doing a jaunty jig in the air, his silver and gold curls bouncing as he moved. A beam of moonlight passed through him, revealing his ether

About the Author

C. L. Hart

C. L. Hart, the owner and sole employee of Naughty Netherworld Press, is
spoken of in hushed tones. She is described as The Mad Scribe of the
Northeastern Colorado Plains, The Terrible Old Woman, and The Author That
Should Not Be.

When not penning sanity-destroying works of dystopian fiction, Lovecraftian
fantasy, or old-school horror with the occasional sweet romance thrown in to
upset the cosmic apple cart, Ms. Hart enjoys creating baked goods she hopes
will be considered palatable.

Ms. Hart shares a home in a remote rural town of 134 souls with her adult
son and three cats. Her sense of fashion is best described as Early
Twenty-First Century Unmade Bed. This disabled former nurse can usually be
found arguing with herself about subplots or rehabilitating eldritch
horrors.

Follow C. L. Hart

C. L. Hart Amazon Author Page

Naughty Netherworld Press Blog

Naughty Netherworld Press Books

Naughty Netherworld Press Substack

Readers Roost Book Blog

Readers Roost Facebook

Readers Roost Twitter

Naughty Netherworld Newsletter

 

Purchase Link

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