Alex Taylor

Fast Facts

Author: Dana Burkey
Genre: YA suspense
Books: Locket Full of Secrets

Official Site

Bio

I graduated college in 2009 with a degree in theater and a minor in creative writing. I am currently living in Washington State in a little cabin in the woods with my cat Cato. I work full time at a kids camp, and spend my free time doing community theater and adventuring in nature!

Accomplishments

Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Youngstown State University(minor in creative writing), active member of Northwest Washington Theater Group in Bellingham, WA.

Blurb

After almost 3 years, Olena comes rocketing back into Claire’s life, changing everything for the worse. Picking up the shattered pieces, Claire is not sure who to believe. Is Olena who she says she is, or is she a killer to stay away from. Leaning on her new boyfriend Steven for support, Claire is faced with the choice on who to trust: a friend she barley knows, or a history lesson she barley remembers.

Connect with Dana

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Fast Fact

Author: Elizabeth Davies
Genre: Paranormal romance
Books:

State of Grace from the Resurrection Series
Amazing Grace
Sanctifying Grace
The Spirit Guide
The Medium Path

Official Site

Bio

Elizabeth Davies was born and raised in South Wales more years ago than she cares to remember. She lived in England for nearly two decades but returned to her roots when she felt the mountains of her youth calling to her, and hiking in her beloved Brecon Beacons is now one of the joys in her life. When she is not working as a full time secretary, Elizabeth loves spending time with her family, hates doing necessary chores, and tries to fit in writing whenever she can. She has published several books: the Resurrection trilogy, beginning with “State of Grace”, continuing with “Amazing Grace”, and ending with “Sanctifying Grace”, “The Spirit Guide and most recently – The Medium Path. She is currently working on another paranormal romance set in Wales.
She is also seriously addicted to chocolate.

Blurb

Grace has a terminal brain tumour and will die in the next few months. Roman has an addiction to blood, and could possibly live forever.
Grace is twenty-seven years old. When they meet in the twelfth century Roman is several hundred years old.
And Grace has another problem – she’s from his future and neither of them believe it.

Interview with Elizabeth

1. Tell us a little about yourself. (How did you get started writing? What do you do when you’re not writing?

Like nearly every author I read a lot. I devour books like a child eats sweets. But I didn’t even consider writing until I read Twilight. I enjoyed the series, I wanted my own vampire. So I made one up.

I work full time and have a family, so I fit in writing when I can.

2. Is this your first book? 

State of Grace was my first book, and I have written another four, with two more in the pipeline and more ideas that I can handle. I think I’ll be busy for a while!

3. What genre do you enjoy writing the most and what is this book about?

I’ve only published paranormal romances, but I have plans for novels that are more general women’s fiction.

State of Grace is about a woman with a terminal brain tumour who is unpredictably projected into the past, where she discovers vampires do exist.

4. How did you come up with the title of your book or series?

Grace is the name of the protagonist, and she was in a bit of a state – so it seemed apt.

5. Tell us a little bit about your cover art. Who designed it? Why did you go with that particular image/artwork?

I did the cover – and not particularly well. Having no money to spend on a cover designer, and not being able to source a pre-made that effectively linked the three books, I decided to have a go myself.

6. If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?

That’s a hard one to answer. I actually have no idea.

7. When did you first consider yourself a writer?
   I’m not sure that I do consider myself a writer. I don’t make a living out of it, and I suppose I still think of myself as dabbling. I’m quite shy about it, and most people who know me personally don’t know that I’m an author.

8. What does your writing process look like?
   I start off with a premise, a beginning and an end (and often a title), with no idea how I get from one to the other. I’m definitely a punster. I have tried plotting but the minute I start typing the plot goes out of the window and the characters decide what’s going to happen for themselves. I write early in the morning before I go to work when I’ve got the house to myself, and I sit curled in an armchair with my pjs on and a laptop balanced on my knee – I don’t think I’d know what to do if I had an office…

9. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Doing exactly the same thing but hopefully be better at it. I don’t envisage earning enough to be able to give up my job, so I’ll still be fitting the writing in when I can.

10. What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors??

Keep writing, and don’t spend so much time marketing and promoting that all your energy goes into that and not your writing.

11. Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?

Yes I do, read them, though not as much obsessively as I used to. I will go weeks or even months now without looking at how State of Grace, my first novel, is doing. I do check far more often with my latest book, though.

Less than favourable reviews are heartbreaking, especially when you think they may be unjustified. But as an author you have to let them go and I never respond to a review unless I’ve specifically asked that reader to review my book. Then I thank them for their time regardless of the review they write – it’s only polite, and it’s not their fault if they didn’t like my work.

12. What is the most difficult thing about being an author?

Apart from the bad reviews??

Seriously, I find promoting and marketing to be the hardest and least favourite part of being an author. Sometimes I’m tempted to not do it, and just concentrate on writing, but I know I can’t do that!

13. What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?

The best thing they can do is to leave review, and if they have a blog or are on Twitter, then they can mention it, and help spread the word.

14. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name choosing resources you recommend?

I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking of suitable names for the main characters. But reactions to names are very subjective, and what I might think reflects the essence of a character other people may have a different reaction. I don’t research the meaning, necessarily, though I might look it up later, just out of curiosity. Also many of my characters are people who really lived, and I’m stuck with their names. For instance, in my current manuscript, which features Joan, daughter of King John, there is a woman called Clemence, who is Joan’s mother. Someone did say this is a man’s name – which it is – but that was her real name, so I’m not going to take it away from her.

15. 15 What is your best marketing tip?

I found I’ve had the best response from book recommendation sites, rather than Facebook or Twitter, but there are still many things I haven’t tried yet to generate interest in my work, so marketing is an on-going process.

16. 1What are you working on now? 

Another paranormal romance set in 13^th century Britain. I do love history! It’s about a witch’s familiar, and hopefully isn’t as cutesy as it sounds. I’m aiming to publish in time for Hallowe’en.

17. What can we expect from you in the future?

I’ve got another paranormal romance or two up my sleeve, and I also have a few ideas for general woman’s

Interview with Grace:

You’re an intelligent woman – how come you didn’t realise straight away Roman is a vampire?

Seriously, would you? What’s reasonable in fiction, isn’t so reasonable in real life. If you read an article in a newspaper saying that some guy drinks blood, etc, your first thought would be that this guy is a nutter. Plus I was never into the supernatural stuff. I preferred science fiction, so my first instinct was to blame it on the tumour. Science. Fact. Not made-up stuff.

Yeah, about that. How did you feel when you were diagnosed?

At the time my diagnosis was more unreal than the vampire situation. It still is. I’m twenty-seven, for goodness sake! I can’t possibly be dying. And I feel so well – apart from the headaches.

Have you made any plans – you know, um, for the end?

Yes. No. Sort of. I’m selling the flat in London, tying up all the loose ends. I suppose I should be thankful I’ve got the time to do that, and the time to say goodbye to my family.

How are they dealing with it?

Not well, but I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. Hell – I’m not sure I believe it either! Sometimes Roman is more real to me than my tumour. I don’t want to talk about my family, it upsets me too much.

Okay, I understand. Tell me about Roman. What’s he like? Deep down.

He’s a vampire. That’s what he’s like. He’s not human – not really. Vampires are complex creatures, much more than the media usually gives them credit for. Yes, they are driven by their need for blood, but that’s only the same as the way humans are driven by their need for air and food. They don’t just lie around waiting for their next meal, the same way people don’t. They have lives to live – unimaginable lives.

What did you think when you first saw him?

That I was dreaming. For a long time I thought it was all in my head. I still do, if I’m honest. I know things I shouldn’t know, but I compare this to people waking from comas and being able to speak a foreign language. Things like that happen, right? So perhaps it’s happening to me. That’s a far more believable story than time-travel and vampires.

Well, when you put it like that… 

Of course I’m putting it down to the havoc the tumour is wreaking in my brain. God knows what nerves it’s pressing on, and what electrical impulses it’s disrupting.

I’ve been wanting to ask you – what’s with the naked thing?

Arrrg, I was hoping you wouldn’t bring that up. I have no idea. It must be a subliminal fear of appearing naked in public, or something. It’s really annoying. I’m never naked in any other dreams.

Doesn’t that tell you there might be more to this whole situation? And there’s the fact that if you are injured in the past you bring that injury with you to the present day.

I can’t answer that. Psychosomatic, maybe? Like stigmata? The brain is a complex organ and science knows only a fraction of what it is capable of.

You made some, shall we say, reckless decisions whist at the castle. 

I’m dreaming. It’s not real. How can they be reckless?

You came back injured. I’d call that reckless.

Okay – you dream you’re killing your mother-in-law. Do you honestly believe your dream is going to follow you when you wake up? No, of course you don’t. I didn’t either. I didn’t think anything was REAL. So it didn’t matter what I did when I was dreaming.

Yet the first couple of times you time-travelled you brought back injuries…?

Yes, I did. And I can’t explain them, and I tried to pretend they weren’t there. I was in denial.

It seems you may still be in denial.

Perhaps I am. I think if this was happening to you, you wouldn’t believe it either.

You’re probably right… Do you think it’ll happen again?

Who knows, but I hope so…

Buy the Books

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Connect with Elizabeth

Official Site
Elizabeth’s Blog
Twitter Handle @bethsbooks
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Fast Fact

Author: Jason Greensides
Genre: Contemporary
Books: The Distant Sound of Violence

Official Site

Bio

Jason Greensides has a degree in Video Production and Film Studies and has made several short films, two of which have been broadcast on television – but writing fiction is his real passion.

He”s interested in “outsider” types, those operating on the fringes of society. This inspired him to write his first novel The Distant Sound of Violence. It”s about a group of kids, one in particular, Nathan Dawes, whose philosophical obsessions and criminal connections have all but made him an outcast at school.

Jason is now working on his second novel, another coming-of-age mystery, but on coffee breaks he blogs and tweets about the mysteries of writing and throws in the occasional book review.

Book blurb for The Distant Sound of Violence:

Do we ever escape the decisions we make when we’re fifteen?

Nathan Dawes, the loser from school, an outsider, street philosopher and member of The Grove Runners gang, needs Ryan’s help to get Stephanie to fall for him. When Ryan’s lawnmower is stolen, Nathan sees this as his chance to enlist Ryan in his plan.

Although Ryan knows becoming friends with Nathan could lead to trouble, he reluctantly agrees to help.

Stephanie wants nothing to do with either of them. Besides, she’s more interested in the one guy in the world she really shouldn’t be.

As Nathan continues his pursuit of Stephanie, and Ryan becomes embroiled with The Grove Runners, soon events overtake them all, haunting their lives for years to come.

Part coming-of-age, part mystery story, The Distant Sound of Violence is a heart-breaking tale of bad decisions and love gone wrong. It”s about the choices we make that lead to violence, loss and tragedy.

A Video review by Author D.M Cain for The Distant Sound of Violence

An Amazon Review For The Distant Sound of Violence

A Great, Fast-Paced and Gripping Coming-of-age Tale ★★★★★

 Hooking you from the opening pages with its vivid characters and pacey narrative, this is a gripping tale of coming of age in early 90’s West London.
The story centers on fifteen year old orphan Ryan, an average kid trying to keep his head down until exams, while at the same time keeping his girlfriend and the conservative-minded aunt he lives with happy. His life is thrown off kilter, however, when he is hesitantly drawn into a friendship with Nathan Dawes, a fellow pupil whose oddball mentality, criminal connections and philosophical obsessions have made him a social pariah to anyone but the gang of petty crooks he consorts with.
Narrated by Ryan, with the wisdom of hindsight as he looks back on events spiralling beyond his control, it is easy to see how he becomes so easily pulled into Nathan’s circle; he’s a vibrant character with a hapless, lost charm that is as compelling to the reader as it is to Ryan. Nathan is in love with Stephanie, a girl far outside of his league, and he believes Ryan’s help is the only thing that can help him win her over and attain him the life he dreams of. Nathan’s longing is poignantly described and his earnestness and helplessness in this area resolves Ryan to his cause and us along with him.
The spectre of determinism looms over events as the characters navigate the trials of adolescence and Ryan and Nathan find themselves dealing with a heart-wrenching mystery that will haunt them into a no less turbulent adulthood.
A powerful sense of place and a sharp, nostalgic feel for time pervade the novel, and the supporting cast of characters are richly drawn – Stephanie in particular, who might have been a canvas upon which to project Nathan’s desires, is depicted with a depth and feeling that makes her at times the most relatable character. Her growth and the development of her relationship with Nathan provides another, moving aspect to an engaging, exciting and thought provoking read that I’d strongly recommend.

Excerpt from Chapter Two

I was late for school the next day because I couldn’t get out of bed at the thought of seeing Karen. When I did finally arrive for the first lesson of the day – maths – I was greeted by Nathan’s ridiculous grin. I immediately saw what he was smiling at: the seat next to his was the only one free. I scanned the class, searching for another chair, but they were all taken. So, nodding at Peter, who was still angry with me for missing football practice, and ignoring Karen and the raised eyebrows of Mr Harrington, I slumped into the seat next to Nathan’s.

As soon as Mr Harrington’s sweaty back was turned, I pulled out my note pad, ripped out a sheet of paper and scribbled, what happened after i left?

Nathan activated the red nib of his four-coloured pen and wrote back in capitals (he had this really annoying way of writing all his notes to me in capitals): MISSION ABORTED.

karen dumped me last night because she found out i was with you. she hates you, I wrote, tossing the paper back at him.

But as soon as Nathan began reading the note, I regretted what I’d written. I didn’t think he’d care either way, but his shoulders sagged down, he unhooked his left foot from his right knee and placed it back on the floor, began to rub his fat lower lip with his thumb, then gently folded up the note and stared down into his textbook.

This last act must have been particularly painful for him because he hated maths. The shape of the E Mr Harrington awarded him on every piece of homework reminded him of a rake slowly scrapping off precious cells from his brain; and when you turned the E ninety degrees clockwise, he would tell me, manically flapping his arms about, what did you get? M: M for maths. The “therefore” symbol, that small triangle of dots, was like the laser targeting system the Predator used to hone in on his victims before he skinned them and ripped off their skulls. The square root symbol was like the meat hook from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; the pie sign like the wire speculum used to force Alex”s eyes open as they tortured him in A Clockwork Orange. So to bury his head in his textbook must have meant my note had hurt him.

(Although, I still wonder whether he was less concerned with his role in my break-up with Karen and more the fact of being hated by a girl, any girl, feeding into his insecurities about never having had a girlfriend and his hopeless relationship with the opposite sex in general.)

Shifting my gaze towards the back of Karen’s head, my thoughts pulled back to last night”s devastating phone call, I ripped out a fresh piece of paper from my note pad, began to write a letter asking her for a second chance, then changed my mind and screwed it up.

But the sound of the paper being crumpled cut through the silence of the class, drawing all heads in our direction and all eyes onto Nathan, the pupil everyone thought most likely to have caused the noise.

Mr Harrington strolled over to our table, inserted his hand into Nathan’s closed fist and extracted our note. He uncurled it and read it, his eyes flitting over our written crap. With a disappointed sigh, he finally placed the note back into Nathan’s hand, pointed at the two of us then over to the door.

Nathan closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, not in anger or outrage at some injustice he’d just suffered, but rather at the inevitability of the situation, as if the concept of determinism had finally been proven right.

I sank back into my seat, cringing at the disappointed looks I was getting from Karen and Peter.

“Can’t we just discuss this?” Nathan said.

I stood up.

“Sure,” Mr Harrington said, “come back here at three forty-five and we can discuss it in depth. But for now, could you and Ryan please leave the room.”

Nathan flushed, and for an instant he looked distraught. For the first time ever he actually seemed gutted about getting detention.   “Can’t we do this another day? I was going to get Ryan’s lawnmower back.”

Mr Harrington seemed confused by his remark, as if it were inconceivable that Nathan might have something to do after school that he actually cared about. “Well, you should have thought about that before you started sending notes. Now, go report to Mr Whitehead.” His expression turned sour, daring Nathan to say another word.

For a moment it looked like Nathan was about to speak again. Instead, he stuffed his books into his rucksack and stood up. My legs buckled as we trudged through the desks towards the door, and I was way too embarrassed to look in either Peter or Karen’s direction.

Closing the door behind us, Nathan said, “I”m sorry about you and Karen, but she probably wasn’t right for you anyway.”

“What would you know?” I said a little too loudly, my voice echoing down the deserted corridor.

“Probably not much. But before we go to Whitehead”s office, let me show you something.”

“Uh, no.”

“It won’t take long – we’re just going to the science department.”

“Fuck off,” I replied, quickening my pace. “I’m not getting chucked out of school for your bullshit. Fuck that.” The thought of my aunt squinting at an expulsion letter made me feel sick.

Nathan caught up and walked along with me. His eyes now had a pathetic, pleading look in them, and he was breathless, his hands all jittery. “Just let me show you this one thing,” he went on. “Tonight I’ll get your lawnmower back and you won’t have to hang around with me again.” His eyes widened in hope.

This made me pause; it certainly didn’t sound like he was asking me to join him in the toilets for a crafty fag. Then I remembered where we were going – Whitehead”s office – and that I didn’t really want to go there either. Hearing the fight gone out of my voice, all I could think to say was, “That’s what you said yesterday.”

“Yeah, I know, but this is important, if not the most important thing.”

“OK, but I swear it had better be worth it.”

He didn’t give me the grin I had expected him to, instead, without another word, he took hold of my arm and marched us to the Science labs.

Standing to one side of the classroom door so that we couldn’t be seen, we peeked through the window at the class full of kids, stood over experiments involving petri dishes, Bunsen burners, glass tubes, and pipettes.

“What I am supposed to be looking for?” I said.

“Over by the window near the cupboard, you see…?”

I pushed my face up against the glass and scanned the area he’d referred to.

“Standing next to Taylor,” he continued, trying to catch a peek over my shoulder. “You see her?”

“Yes,” I sighed, “I see her.”

Stephanie Redding was a high-achieving student who”d joined our school at the end of last term. She hadn’t made much of an impression on the boys, as she wasn’t one of the prettiest girls in our year. She was almost too thin for her height, with a chin a little too elongated, so at first glance I couldn’t understand why she got Nathan so excited. But as I continued to look, Nathan’s cinnamon breath hot in my ear, I could see that she had a head of rich dark brown hair, which, in the light from the window, gave it a radiant, velvety sheen, luscious hazel eyes, a pretty nose and clear white skin. But the thing that struck me most was that when she laughed you could see her front teeth were slightly angled inward, an unusual trait which made her look (and I know this makes no sense) exotic, European-looking. French.   I finally turned away from the door, moved out of sight and leaned against the wall.

Nathan didn’t have a chance.

“That,” he said, moving into the position I had just vacated, straightening the thin end of his tie dramatically, “is the girl I’m going to marry.”

Where to buy The Distant Sound of Violence

Amazon (on sale $99 from Wed 19^th-Sun 23^rd August): mybook.to/TDSOV

Greensides’ Website and Social Media Links

Website: jasongreensides.com
Facebook: facebook.com/jasongreensidesauthor
Twitter: twitter.com/jasongreensides
Google Plus: plus.google.com/+JasonGreensides
Pinterest: pinterest.com/jasongreensides
Goodreads: goodreads.com/Jason_greensides
Amazon page: amazon.co.uk/Jason-Greensides

(The Distant Sound of Violence on sale $99 from Wed 19^th – Sun 23^rd August)

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Fast Facts

Author: Diane Young Sussman
Genre: Entrepreneurs and Marketing: Women in Business
Book: Step Up and SHINE: Power and Presence in Action

Official Site

Bio

Diane Young Sussman is a Transformational Life Coach and Energy Healer who has spent her career helping people manage their confidence and stage fright while growing their businesses.  Her passion is to help heal the body/mind and be a strong and loving presence in their speaking and sharing of their work in the world.

Author Accomplishments:

Marketing Coach, Teacher/Trainer at The American Center for the Alexander Technique, Author, Speaker, Movement and Exercise Trainer.

Book blurb

Learn to use your own intuition as the barometer of your business creation and success

Create a  clear vision for your  success that is grounded in your most confident and authentic, soulful purpose

Uncover and release any hidden challenges that may be sabotaging the growth of your business and keeping you “hiding out” instead of sharing the best of who you are with others

Re-energize your soul-inspired enthusiasm for having the life of your deepest heart’s desires while creating a highly profitable, revenue-generating  business

Excerpt

Introduction

“A soul-inspired life is a life that bends toward the whisperings of your inner longing.”

Diane Young Sussman

The time is now.  Are you ready for a mind-shifting experience in which you can touch the very essence of your talents and gifts and find a way to bring them fully into the world through your business? If you are not already living your dream by having daily contact with your ideal clients, sharing your inspired message, and transforming lives, you might need to turn up the volume of your visibility and take some new and bolder actions.  You have to ask yourself whether you are willing and able to take the steps necessary to unfold a business plan that is a perfect fit for who you are. Are you willing to be the CEO of your own enterprise and the spiritual leader who manages the whole package for the vision you want to bring into the world?

If you have been feeling frustrated because you haven’t felt fully seen or appreciated or had the proper attention paid to you for all of the efforts you have made to increase business exposure, it is time to think bigger.

But what if you never felt you had permission to speak your mind or live fully expressed and so have stayed hidden and quiet?  What if you have, until now, only experienced your blocks to abundance and couldn’t clear them?  Wouldn’t you be living at a lower level of your potential?  How would it make you feel to see others moving forward with their visions and dreams, but you felt you didn’t have access to yours?  And how much money would you be leaving on the table to not be involved fully in your life’s passionate work, the work you were meant to do?  If that door were closed to you, would you not feel the loss deeply?

I am here to offer you a little mindset-boosting experience that you can take to re-visualize your healing practice or entrepreneurial business.  I wish you the best possible outcome for your future.  Together we will shine the light on what is not working in your business and find new ways to gain clarity on what you want to accomplish so that you can fully realize your heart-based work, and you can feel the satisfaction of living your life fully and with purpose.

Life is always providing opportunities to face limitations and blocks and to clear them so that you can move swiftly toward the pine path to which you are entitled.  The end result is a huge movement toward your goals and dreams and a life well lived.  You, and only you, can offer the precise recipe of service that your ideal clients desperately need so that they are able to step up to the life they too are meant to live. Therefore, it is not only for you, but also in service to your clients, that we are seeking clarity about your life’s work.

If you couldn’t or didn’t want to step up to your capabilities, some part of your spirit would remain unexpressed.  And, even more importantly, those whom you were meant to serve through your good work would not find you and would therefore not be served.

You are a spiritual leader, a way-shower and guide for others, but if you keep your light hidden and your gifts buried in the sand, nobody will benefit from your teachings.  You are here for a reason.  As you decide to participate fully in the marketplace, you play in the field of your potential.   It is your pine destiny that you will see unfold before you with the precise amount of juice you put into it.  Decades could easily pass before you wake up and listen to your inner calling and step forward into your pine path, taking on all that you are meant to do.  So why not start now?

We live in community with one another to bring forward the best that life allows.  The world is waiting; abundance and growth are available to you at all times.  To not believe that you are a part of the greater good of life is to be blocked from your inheritance, and that requires healing.  As you heal you can release your unnamed fears and doubts and draw on the support that will awaken you to what is best for you and your potential clients.

So are you living “full throttle” toward your dreams, or do you feel somewhat blocked?  Most likely, if you feel blocked, you are bumping up against some attitudes of your personal history where the frayed edges and sharp corners of life have damaged you.  Well, again I say the time is now to make some commitments to change!

My greatest joy is to participate with other conscious entrepreneurs in the magnificent unfolding of our world’s evolution.  I help those who want to get closer to the full expression of their soul’s pine purpose and live from that rich place to bring their leadership out more fully, easily, and abundantly.  No fear, no worry, no confusion or sense of being overwhelmed need be present because all of those lower-level energies will be cleared and no longer competing for mind time.

You can move swiftly toward your dreams and goals and create simple systems to follow that will make your life easier and your business flourish.

The one thing we have available to do the perfect next thing for our businesses is simply to listen to what needs to be expressed.  Business happens one step at a time.  Knowing, and taking action on the right next step, makes all the difference for the outcome.

You are building your dream business from a place of deep inner knowledge and trust.  You are doing your marketing from a place of clarity and faith.  You are looking outside yourself for opportunities that may not even feel like opportunities in the moment, but you are guided by your listening and your intuition.

And here is a secret.  You don’t have to have everything in place before you get out there and start to speak about what it is that you do. In fact, you must start speaking before you think you are ready, because only then do people and circumstances come into view when opportunities are revealed to you as exciting next steps. Your success is measured not by having all of the pieces in place beforehand but by acting on trust and faith that you will be given help because you have the vision.

In a sense, you are connecting with other people through your inner guidance.  Think of it as an aligned knowing.  Your inner guidance reveals what is at your fingertips!  Have courage; there really is no better way or better path than following your intuition to get what you want in life.

Yes, you must clear the resistance, as it inevitably comes up, and listen quietly for which doors to start opening.  Ultimately, we are here to support and assist each other in our spiritual development, and the best way possible to that end is to create from your own voice first, which inspires you and allows you to connect with what is most meaningful for you.

It is my intention to help you activate a deep desire to go after your imaginative vision so that you can take on the activation of your own soul’s gifts.

All of your experiences matter because this is the way you learn and change.  You are guided both by the mistakes you have made, the obstacles along your journey, and all the magic that has shown up for you along the way. There are many synchronicities in life that lead you in the right direction.  If you have to go down a difficult path for a while for your soul to grow and mature, then that is what is up for you.  If you take the easy path through a deep faith in the Universe to have your back, all the better.

I believe we all have the potential to live from a connected center of belonging, one that creates unity instead of separation, where we can strive to serve with more determination and depth and participate in a healed vision of the world.  How we tap into those resources and continually evolve brings sweetness to our lives as well as more clarity and understanding about how life serves us and how we serve life through helping each other to thrive.

There is no need for competition, judgment, or suspicion of others.  We can grow even through the bad things that happen, which may be just as important in our evolution.  We have the option to take on as much responsibility for spiritual growth as we choose.

So my question to you is: Are you living a soul-inspired life? Do you know who you truly are, what you have come here to complete or to begin?  Have you asked for help through whatever form it may come: books, dreams, meditation, spiritual teachers? And do you have the courage and the drive to go further, deeper?

If you are frightened to go through what you perceive as uncomfortable experiences, feel the fear and do it anyway so that you can break through the tough first layer of procrastination and fear and then be prepared to be surprised and delighted. See yourself going for a ride into the places and circumstances that open the curtain and reveal your fortune because they are the next best steps in the unfolding of your life journey.  This is where you get to be the driver and the creator and where full expression is the gift.

You need a strong conviction and a clear sign post or two along the way.  There will be challenges, of that there is no doubt, and part of your mind may be very determined to keep you safe and will do its best to keep you in the familiar and protected regions of your present-day existence.  Your ego is not very interested in intrigue, mystery, or danger, so the choice to act upon your gut feelings about what comes next will have to be much stronger than the quick-fix choices that keep you protected. Those quick-fix choices will keep you invisible and prevent you from being seen, heard, known, and remembered.

This vision often feels hidden and obscured to you, but if you could really touch and awaken it, this could be the true voice of your pine nature calling you forward.

Imagine having the insight and inner resources to be listening to your eternal self, not the ego self that is always fearful and never challenging you.  Imagine quieting the small voice inside that tries to keep you small and protected; instead, feel yourself listening to the voice of your heart that says, “Yes, this is what I want!  This is the way!  Go here!” even if it might seem scary or dangerous or wrong.

What could happen if you were to take action on the opportunities that are right in front of you?  It might cost you an investment in time, money: indeed, sometimes more money than you ever imagined spending.  But it could lead you closer to your goal. And the reward would come back to you one hundredfold.

So, if the opportunity eludes you or, worse still, doesn’t present itself as an opportunity at all, what happens?  You stay just where you are with all of your ideas and imagination faltering because you don’t have a means of expression.  Dreams dashed, the picture fading.

It is said that when you say yes to your dreams and desires, really say yes to them, the Universe will conspire to bring you exactly what you have asked for because you have made the decision to say yes.  If you waver on that decision, the energy of the activation dissipates, effectively saying you actually don’t want what you are saying you want.  It is saying no to the possibility.  Then the desired object acts like a wavering target that cannot be found and therefore cannot present the appropriate resources to you to fulfill your intention.

The very first thing you must do is to connect with what you most desire and choose it, no matter what.  It is not for you to know how things are going to unfold, only that you place your attention and your intention where they can take root.

You soul is whispering to you to grow.  You will inevitably be faced with all of your resistance anyway so just allow yourself to expect road-blocks.  The creative mind looks at these blocks as creative problems to solve.  Do you need more support?  Do you need a personal assistant or a technical wizard to help you?  Do you need more structure, a container to bring the idea to fruition?  Do you need a business coach or personal empowerment coach to help you keep your mindset in a high state of vibration?  Then get one.

Don’t listen to that other voice that tells you that you cannot afford the things you need right now.   Hire these people.  When you do you are saying out loud that you are serious about your dream, you are a professional.  You are also saying to the Universe that you know you can’t be a one-woman show and try to do it all yourself, that you live in community of like-minded people who bring each other forward.  You will find the people to help you if you ask.  You will find the money to pay for them because their job is to help you bring your vision forward.

The cost of not doing this is much greater than the reward for making the decision to receive help.   It is not about “I can’t afford it.” If you go to the rational part of your thinking mind too often, you choke off the parts of your vision that require assistance to flow properly.

You give of yourself, your gifts, and your light, and the money eventually comes back to you in the form of clients and revenue.  You go out and ask for the business, and money is the return.  You get yourself seen, and the people who are meant to work with you will be excited to be in your presence; they know that you are the one who can help them solve their problems.  If you are too scared to put yourself in the limelight because you don’t feel quite ready, they will not know you are available. It is that simple. You have no choice.  You have to get over yourself!  You have to start dancing in the flow.

What if you were a life coach and you really wanted more clients to work with but you didn’t have your own coach because you didn’t believe you had the money to spend on that level of support for your business?

Or what if you were a massage therapist or nutritionist who has not received a session of your own for so long you are forgetting your craft? When you step out in faith and do what you love everything starts to fall in line for you. However, if you hold back and don’t give yourself the same caring treatment you are offering others, this too will be noticed on some level, and your alignment will be somewhat off.

The other downside of this approach is that you will inevitably attract people who themselves have issues with money or what I call a “lack” mentality. People who will expect a lot for a little, try to take advantage of your time and resources, or think they can receive your services free of charge.

The congruence in your energy is connected to your integrity.  It is grounded in your trust and faith in the flow of life, which includes the flow of abundant resources that we all get to enjoy.  As you understand this principle, you will have much more courage to trust that the invisible connections of nature and the Universe are connected to you.

This is an energy-management concept.  So, if you are having trouble attracting the people you want to work with, you might first look into this area and see if you can change your attitude and trust that things will work out for you if you put yourself forward.

However, if you know your value and you are willing to invest highly in your learning and healing, you will attract high-level, high-paying clients who are happy to receive from you, refer you to their friends, and use the wisdom you give to create abundance in their lives.

Another way “lack” mentality shows up in your life is in living small.  Because you have the attitude that you “don’t have the money” to pay for what you need, you attempt to try to do everything yourself and get easily overwhelmed and confused.  Then, the ability to show a clear and consistent brand and presence is obscured, and you won’t have the success you envision for yourself.

You get easily discouraged, and you may start to lose faith in your work.  You might feel like a failure and be on the edge of giving up.  Your inner guidance will always lead you away from that kind of thinking, but you don’t listen.  Your mind says you cannot pay for support but your guidance is whispering to take the leap of faith to get to the next level.

It is so close, yet you are afraid to jump and break through. So what voice are you listening to?  Listening to your inner guidance has to do with generating a higher vibrational output.  Let me explain.  Everything in life holds an energetic vibration.  Think of how a telephone rings or a cell phone vibrates when someone is calling.  The vibration has an amplitude or frequency rate.  When your heart beats quickly it has a high frequency of movement.  Energy vibrates also.  Light is a high vibration, sound a lower one.  When you can adjust your energy frequency, you can hold more light, and this is a good thing.

Begin to notice how you feel physically when you are depressed, angry or resentful, and when you are feeling happy.  Joy and ecstasy hold high frequency, and upsetting thoughts hold a lower frequency. Your thoughts actually affect your biology.  This is why healing modalities such as Energy Work and Reiki have proven success records.  You can actually change your frequency by changing your thoughts, thereby bringing more freedom and ease into your life.  The challenge is to keep listening for your inner guidance and clearing the dense and heavy energies as they inevitably come up in the form of reactive resistance and self-sabotage.  You are teaching yourself to activate a higher level of energy that supports a new level of self-approval and enthusiasm.

There are blocks to abundance that take the form of guilt and shame, of feelings of loss, beliefs transferred from parents and guardians and within the culture itself that keep us from living and behaving in more expansive ways. My observation and experience is that life will constantly bring up negative emotions for us to clear.  This is how the mind works; it gets locked into your history and keeps recreating and embellishing thoughts and stories to support loss.  The soul’s journey is all about giving you experiences in order to clear past attitudes and beliefs so you can evolve and experience a larger and fuller expression of life.

The goal, of course, is full mastery of all that you do.   Why should  other people become masterful and you remain a servant to your fears? If you continue a course of lack and scarcity and not believing in yourself, you will not have the momentum necessary to get out and share your gifts.  Why not live to the fullest possible expression of your potential?  As you meet your pain and suffering consciously and head-on, you have an opportunity to shift your consciousness to that full expression.

It feels like freedom, beauty, and pleasure.  It looks like harmony, music, and dance.  It is you in flow and in full playful expression, a manifestation of your bigger, wiser self.  Its vibration is so full of light that you radiate.  People see you as a beacon of positive energy and feminine presence, and they are drawn to you.  You become magnetic!  People are filled by your energy, and you are setting an example for them to become magnetic themselves.

As you step into your mastery, you begin to see many old ways of being to fall away.  People who kept you down disappear from your life.  Opportunities and synchronicities that never before came your way suddenly appear, and you see your influence grow.  You are living in a higher vibratory field, and what you want is easily available to you because your attention is moving in a more defined and refined way.

You let go of your frustration, confusion, and that which overwhelms you and welcome more simplicity and ease into your life.  You are, in fact, dancing with the natural forces of nature and the Universe to assist you in becoming what you want to be. You will release the old, worn out patterns that no longer serve you but were just what you inherited from family and society.  Why not make a concerted effort to change all that?  You will have so much more available to you. You will be listening to your own drummer, leaning toward the whisperings of your own soul.

Interview

Tell us a bit about your success journey, as it relates to your area of expertise:

• What is your book (or podcast) about?

My book teaches a simple way to connect more deeply with your own inner knowing so that whatever business you are marketing has a connection to meaning and soul. I spend a lot of time speaking about energetic alignment, first with yourself, and then with your ideal client, so that as you create your marketing plan, you are very sure that you are reaching the people you are most able to help, and you are also being very true to your own soul’s calling. Everyone is so different, and unique, but when we start businesses, we are usually trying to fit into someone else’s ideas for how to be successful. My approach is to be very connected to your own soul’s longing first, and lead with that.

• How did you come to write your book?

I was inspired by a talk that a marketing coach gave about the value of writing a book so that you have something tangible to share about your point of view. You can then use it as a jumping board for speaking and offering your coaching. But a book is a very special thing in itself. It is a way to share your truth with your reader, with the hope that they will connect with your message and change their lives accordingly. I am a transformation coach, which to me means, that I am in the business of changing one’s life for more joy, happiness, abundance, and freedom. This opens a great deal of potential for your reader.

• Who is your ideal reader?

My ideal reader is probably someone who has already done a lot of personal development work, has a spiritual approach to life, and is wanting to go deeper, either personally or professionally. She has a lot of self-awareness already, and is open to taking bigger risks to become known in her chosen field. She has a home life, and most likely is married, or at least has children she is caring for. She is also in business for herself, or wants to be. She has connected with a burning desire to do her “dharma”, in other words, to be the vessel for the pine that is truly hers and that only she can do, which fills her with joy and meaning.

• Tell me about your unique approach to building a business, according to this book.

I have 5 Keys to coming into alignment and embodying your soul-connected business. They are all energetic approaches to organization and productivity, which then lead to being more confident and ready to make yourself more visible through public speaking or video, or networking. They all lead to feeling more comfortable, poised, and engaged with your audience and with your messae. They inspire you and encourage you to go out and ask for opportunities to share your work.

The first is to “begin where you are” and take stock of how you came to be where you are now. It is a form of pausing in your life and becoming aware of what decisions and circumstances brought you to the present. In this way you can ask the most important question of all and that is “who am I, what am I doing?” with no excuses or identification or projection. This is actually a very challenging thing to do because we are imprinted from early childhood to comply to others’ stories about life, in order to fit in and feel safe.  Just be in the present moment, and ask yourself what you really, really want in your life. It is always very personal at first. You have to take full responsibility for where you are now, to get to the next place. It is not as difficult as people make it, because what we are really dealing with is all of the fear that comes up when you are about to make a breakthrough and choose a bigger and more visible presence in the world.

The second energy principle is what I call “radical self-care”. We usually feel guilty in taking time for ourselves. Especially women, when there are a lot of responsibilities to carry, and we are taught to think of others instead of ourselves. There are so many negative voices that sabotage our forward motion in creating more leadership, and our ideas of leadership tend to be modeled after male models, because that is all we know. All of this has to be addressed. There will be quite a lot of old baggage to release and clear, and hopefully a new and healthier paradigm in which to move. I call this the feminine leadership path, and it is quite different from the old model of working.  It is actually a healing process that brings you back into yourself first, very grounded and solid, with good boundaries. But of course this also requires that you listen to your own voice, and start to strengthen that voice.

The third principle, is learning and using simple energy practices every day that help you increase your frequency and be the person who can hold the energy for others and be seen as a leader. This also requires you to greet those “gremlins” of self sabotage, distraction, confusion and overwhelm. I talk a great deal about all of this in my book.

I have 5 Key Energy Practices in all, and then the book starts to focus on how to be a powerful and enigmatic public speaker. It is well known that the very best way to build a business it to be more prominent in the public eye, and I help women feel more and more secure in themselves to do just that.

• With all the information you’ve shared with us today, what are the top 3 tips you can offer our listeners that will allow them to take action on what they’ve learned?

The number one thing to focus on when deepening your sense of self and value in the world, is to let those niggling feelings and inspired visions that you carry with you all of the time take a more prominent role in your life. We all have a desire, a passion that may not be clear quite yet, but is there just the same. This is your soul whispering to you to grow, and it will also give you a direction in which to move to begin a new course for your life. We usually push down those thoughts and feelings, and get way-layed on our path because of it; as Henry David Thoreau has said so eloquently: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Don’t let that happen to you. Don’t watch your soul wither on the vine.

My second tip is to start to take some inspired action on those visions. It doesn’t have to be massive, but it does need to be something, ideally something every day. You can always notice how you are feeling about the discomfort and give yourself encouragement, but do it anyway. We live in a field of great possibility, and it is often our own minds that short-circuit and cause us the biggest obstacles. It is as though we don’t have a large enough container to hold the vision, so we pretend it is not important. No. Get the vision out there in the world, even if it is just one step at a time. Later you will have created enough momentum to give it life outside of you. This is the very same activity one must go through in writing a book. At first you have just a little spark that is taking form, and as you go along, that spark grows into an ember and then a fully manifested reality. It is the creative process living inside of you and finding the right expression.

The third tip I will share is to get some help. Don’t try to be a one person show and do everything on your own. A business owner needs to know when they can’t do something, or don’t want to put in the time to learn how, so knows how to allocate resources at the appropriate time so that the momentum for the project is not lost. I have listened to my own intuition about this many times, and even though my ego said I didn’t need the help, I found over and over again that when I looked clearly, there was a time to go outside of my comfort zone and spend the money to get the help I needed. For me, getting a good editor for my book was necessary, and although I did not at first think I would need the extra expense, she was worth every penny I spent! I can think of countless times I had to cross this hurdle, and every time I was rewarded with a new opening, a new opportunity, or more success. And besides, the community is worth so much as well.

• What is the best way for our listeners to reach you? 

I can be reached at www.soulconnectioncoaching.com/bookresources. On this page you will get the opportunity to listen to the Audios I have prepared for my readers from the chapters of the book.. You can also get a link there to buy my book Step Up and SHINE: Power and Presence in Action at a 20% discount! I hope you will think of a friend that could benefit from this material…

Diane Young Sussman, Author of Step Up and SHINE: Power and Presence in Action, available through Amazon.com

Connect with Diane

Soul Connections
Soul Bright Coaching

Please go to my website www.bodymindbalance.net to get tips on how to move with less tension and more ease, and go to www.soulbrightcoaching.com to receive a FREE Audio on Stepping Into Your Brilliance!

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Fast Facts

Author: B.J. Tiernan
Genre: Psychological Fiction/New Age Thought
Book: Standing on A Whale

Official Site

BIO

B.J. Tiernan is a teacher. It’s her calling. She’s been at it since graduating from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education in 1972. Whether it is in the classroom or through her writing, it is what she loves to do. For the past fifteen years, she has been putting her certification in Social Sciences to work teaching World History and Ancient Cultures to sixth graders in Weston, Florida. B.J. Tiernan writes contemporary fiction that causes the reader to think, to ponder, to question. Through the back door of fiction, she addresses questions about living, dying and the age-old task of merging our dark side with the light. One of her biggest joys has been to design and teach a writing course for adults at Community School, where inpiduals can shine a light on their own memories and experiences and organize them into stories.

Accomplishments

Throughout the years, B.J. Tiernan has given numerous seminars, inspirational workshops and classes to promote self-growth and writing skills. She has taught several creative writing classes at Community Schools in Broward County, Florida. One of her student’s short stories was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul–Family Matters. It was a proud moment for Tiernan who dedicates Standing on a Whale to all of the students who have passed through her classes and workshops hungry to learn and write. Tiernan also has a blog, Moments With The Muse, bjtiernanauthor.com  where she shares herself and her ideas with other writers.

Blurb

A suicidal medical doctor wrestles his personal demons as a new patient’s life ropes him into a world of murder and national intrigue and changes the course of his life.

“An engaging mystery…A provocative philosophical exploration that doubles as a crafty thriller.” KIRKUS REVIEW www.amazon.com/…

Book Review: This is from Amazon, Susan “Bold statements and flowing language engaged me from the first page. A novel of insight, delightful personalities, wonderful discourse, and elegant prose. The author has offered us a story that moves along purposefully into intrigue just sinister enough to fully engage the reader, which does not settle into the grisly or gruesome. I found myself lost in some of Hadden’s pronouncements as true insights into the nature of the world we all inhabit. My recommendation is that you read this enjoyable tome, lose yourself in the story, and have as good a time as I did.”

Excerpt

“As I followed her with my wet eyes, I realized that something had shifted in me. No longer did I fear the fragile veil of death. All I feared now was the pain.” B.J. Tiernan–Standing On A Whale

Buy Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Amazon IN | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Connect with B.J. Tiernan

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Website
Author Email
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Fast Facts

Author: Marnie Cate
Genre: YA Fantasy
Book: Remember (Book #1 from Protectors of the Elemental Magic series)

Official Site

Bio

Marnie Cate was born and raised in Montana before adventuring to the warmer states of Arizona and California.  Her love of Dame Judi Dench and dreams of caticorns and rainbows inspired her to chase her dreams. One great sentence came to mind and the world of elemental magic and the humans they lived amongst filled her mind. With Remember, the story has begun.

Accomplishments

Marnie Cate is an active member of indie author groups and loves to help out other authors when she can.

Blurb

“Hiding the truth from you is no longer protecting you. 
Sit and I will tell you what you need to know”

With those words, the secrets of my great grandmother, Genevieve Silver, were unburied and my role as a protector of the elemental magic was revealed.

My name is Marina Addisyn Stone but Mara is what my friends and family call me.  I had always felt that there was something missing and that nothing was permanent. Why would I feel that way?  I was being raised with my little sister by my grandmother that loved and doted on me. Then, there was Cole Sands. Who could forget the blue-eyed boy that had stolen my heart. What more could a girl need?  I always thought I was just being dramatic and that bad things do happen to people but that is part of life.  People die.  People go away. Little did I know that with one secret, my life would change forever and my new world would be surrounded by the world of elemental magic.

 Book Review

Great book with strong descriptive writing.

This is a great story with lots of unexpected twists, focusing on the ties of family and the responsibility that comes with great powers, in this case the power to wield devastating magic. The best part of the book, however is the author’s ability to describe tastes, smells, sounds, sights and feelings so vividly. From the smell and wild berries cooking on the stove to the sight of magic tendrils wrapping around our protagonist, everything is described so clearly that you can easily imagine yourself there in the action. Can’t wait for the next part. – Review by Travis West on April 8, 2015

Read an Excerpt

“Open the chest, love. It is time you learn who we are and what is inside,” Gram gently said and handed me the box. “This box was given to me by my mother. Each of the names on this chest promised to keep the ancient magic safe from those who would misuse it.”

I traced the names with my fingertip. The name Genevieve felt warm and felt like a song. Tracing my grandmother’s name, I felt the same warmth and feeling of peace. When I moved to the next name below Gram’s, I stopped and stared. Eliza was written. This name was not warm like the other two. It felt like ice and made my heart start beating fast.

“Why would her name feel so cold? Does it mean she is dead, Gram?” I whispered.

“Open the chest and you will have answers to your questions,” she persuaded, unable to hide the sadness in her voice.

I carefully opened the box and it glowed with a lavender light that lit up the room. Deep inside the box resting on a satin bed, there was a light blue ring. The robin egg blue stone was surrounded by braided silver that looked as though it was an egg inside its nest. Picking up the ring, I held it in my hand.

Looking back into the chest that held the stone ring, I saw a dark haired woman smiling as she placed a purple ring on her finger. The ring looked like the one I was holding, yet, its stone was different in color. The deep blue to red images moved so quickly that I began to feel dizzy as I watched.

When the next image came, it slowed and I gasped as I recognized the next woman. It was my grandmother. She was a teenager with long brown hair pulled into a delicate braid. The braid had beautiful white flowers laced throughout the twist of her hair. Her soft brown eyes shined as she held a deep blue ring in front of her and said, “I promise to always protect this magic and use it to protect and guide and never use for self-benefit.”

The first woman appeared before me and spoke in strong voice as she looked deeply into my eyes, “Marina Addisyn Stone, do you promise to protect this magic from those who would misuse it? Will you stand strong and protect the magic when the time comes?”

Buy Now

eBook on Amazon
Paperback on Createspace

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Fast Facts

Author: Chris Birdy
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Books: The Girl In Black Pajamas

Official Site

Bio

I am the award winning author of the Pajama series. The Girl in Black Pajamas is the second book in the series.

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, I did a four year stint in the Middle East. When I returned to the States, I settled down in the Boston area and became a true Bostonian by collecting college degrees while raising my family.

For more than twenty years, I did investigative work for Boston law firms. Being an avid mystery fan made me either fearless or foolhardy while working in rough neighborhoods and housing projects. I know how it feels to have a gun stuck to the back of my head…and that was in a courtroom. I know how it feels to have an angry client walk in my office and point a small gun at me saying, “I want my money!” That was when I opened my desk drawer, removed a large gun and drew back the slide while aiming it at him. “Have a seat!” I said.

There is no substitute for experience.

I live outside of Boston with my husband. We also have a place in Palm Beach where we escape to hide from the snow.

Accomplishments

For the past 10 years, I have assisted my daughter in her work with the homeless.   I cook from Friday night through Saturday morning producing the now famous hot bean soup for the Boston homeless.

Blurb

Bogie McGruder and his daughter return to Boston when his company comes under attack.   An employee is shot in the back, and some hacker is trying to compromise their secure network. While Bogie is in Boston, his extended family in Palm Beach becomes enmeshed in a sex scandal that threatens to ruin lives and careers in the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.

Feeling like a wishbone about to snap, Bogie tries to handle problems in both cities while little Isabella continues her quest for someone to teach her the Five-Point-Palm-Exploding-Heart technique as seen in Kill Bill Volume 2.

This tale of murder, revenge and greed takes the reader on a whirlwind trip from Boston to Palm Beach and back.

Read the reviews

Sep 30, 2014 by E. Stenhjem

First of all, get your hands on the first book in the series, THE GIRL IN WHITE PAJAMAS. You will want to begin at the beginning as to not miss a bit of this authors characters, who are rough and ready, endearing, flawed and fabulous, and very realistic.

But, how does one characterize a four year old who is a genius, as well as just a little girl, who at times is more like a 40 year old intellectual with a penchant for raunchy Tarantino movies and “blood spill acrobatics”? The character of “Isabella”, that’s how. She is a perfectly cuddly red haired ball of steel, who we all would love to know, but definitely not have to deal with on a daily basis or be responsible for.

Makes one wonder about the author’s own kids!

If you are a woman reading this book you will, no doubt, form a crush on Bogie…a man who pulls no punches but is a softy…to only a very few. In other words, a real man.

If you are a man reading thus book you will ,no doubt, have wonderful indecent thoughts about Rose. Enjoy them…she’d be okay with that.

The second book, THE GIRL IN BLACK PAJAMAS continues to hold you captive as it speeds along to the wild crescendo that you know is coming….and still you will be shocked at where this author takes you!

So, boys and girls, get the cookies and the chips and lock the bedroom door so that you can be undisturbed as you dwell in the far reaches of Chris Birdy’s sometimes brutal ,always entertaining mind.
C.S

Read an Excerpt

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

BOSTON

A gigantic man lumbered down the street. The strong wind blew his straight platinum hair away from his head, but he was too distracted to notice. At eight-thirty on Sunday morning, Tommie Jurgenson approached a storefront building on Lincoln Street. Businesses in the downtown area were closed as was the one with the blackened windows sporting “R&B Investigations” in gold lettering. Tommie gripped his laptop firmly in his left hand, punching in numbers on a keypad panel with his right. Just as he was about to press the last key, a car pulled up to the curb. Tommie glanced over his shoulder and saw a man wearing a George Bush Halloween mask and a cowboy hat get out of the car. Before Tommie could react, George Bush took a gun from his pocket and shot the big man four times in the back.

Tommie dropped to his knees, then fell face down on the ground.

“You friggin hacker! Now that other shithead will crawl out of his hole,” the gunman muttered.

Tommie lay on the stoop bleeding while the would-be-assassin tried to roll him over. The gunman pushed him, but Tommie’s three hundred and fifty pound bulk wouldn’t budge. When the shooter looked up, he saw the alarm lights blinking. “Damn you! You elephant!” George Bush yelled before he ran back to his car.

*****

SOUTH FLORIDA

Over a thousand miles away, a slim blonde with a three hundred dollar, chopped haircut and large breasts stood next to the green and white sedan with “Sheriff Palm Beach County” emblazoned on the door. Zoe’s wrists were cuffed in front, and her red painted lips curled slightly, showing off her pearly white teeth. She batted her false eyelashes and pleaded, “Oh, Officer, isn’t there something I can do so you won’t arrest me?”

A dark haired man, wearing a blue police uniform, moved his hat at a rakish angle and leered at the blonde while he unzipped his fly.

Hands free, Zoe Ziegler was on her knees as she performed oral sex on the cop. The sucking sounds were accompanied by a close-up shot of the distended penis sporting red lipstick marks all over the shaft. After the policeman ejaculated over her face and chest, Zoe smiled, pretending to enjoy it.

Sarah Thomas, a buxom brunette holding a Canon Vixia HF G10 camcorder, watched the small screen intently then yelled, “That’s a wrap! In the next shot JJ will walk in, then you’ll both do her.” As Sarah bent her head, blood poured from her nose. She placed her index finger across her nostrils and muttered, “Oh, shit!” then put down the camera and dashed away.

Bored, Zoe Ziegler sat on the hood of the cruiser, cleaning cum off her face and chest with Johnson’s baby wipes while the two men set up the next scene. Zoe called out to another blonde sitting in a folding lawn chair. Zoe raised and wiggled two fingers indicating that she wanted a cigarette. Tiffany Gallagher, wearing a school girl’s uniform with a micro mini pleated skirt and no underwear brought over a pack of Marlboro 100’s and a BIC lighter. Tiff’s long blonde hair was braided into two pigtails. The women relaxed and smoked, enjoying the peace and quiet of an early Sunday morning in Palm Beach.

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Fast Facts

Author: H. L. Burke
Genre: Fantasy for all ages including Fantasy romance, epic fantasy, and YA.
Books:

Lands of Ash from the Lands of Ash: Elemental Realms Series
Dragon’s Curse
Beggar Magic
Thaddeus Whiskers and the Dragon

Official Site

Bio

Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.

An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.

Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes that home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are.

She self-published her four part fantasy/romance series “The Scholar and the Dragon,” followed by YA Steampunk Fantasy Beggar Magic, and a children’s chapter book. She is now working on an epic fantasy trilogy.

Accomplishments

I’m always willing to share other author’s promos/work/cover reveals on my social media or blog (though because of my often YA/MG audience, I have to keep my content PG), but I have the organizational skills of a toddler on a sugar high . . . seriously, my seven-year-old has more “tidy up” ability than I do. I’m allergic to day planners, so if you need any thing, hit me up, but don’t expect me to plan anything.

Blurb 

After decades of Elemental Invasions, the once flourishing Kingdom of Forra has been reduced to ruins. A band of survivors pulls together in one last attempt to defend their homes and families as the Elementals make a push to wipe them out completely.

Stoic Militia Captain Karvir and his ardent brother, Ketyl, lead a skeleton force against the Fiery Horde. Everything–their families, their home, their very world–hangs on their success against impossible odds. Meanwhile across the wilderness, young Brode and his pregnant stepmother flee, hoping to find safety near the sea.

As the Elementals pour through the portals, a sacrificial act gives hope for peace, but is it sustainable? Can the human race fight back from the edge of extinction? And could the key to their survival lie in a child?

Read a short excerpt

Ketyl strode the perimeter of the portal scar. Other than full-on raids, there were two reasons the Elementals entered this realm: to scout in preparation for raids and to gather fuel. Since there were no settlements nearby, this couldn’t have been a scouting mission. They must’ve been gathering fuel. Two trails of burned branches and charred grass led away from the scar. If he could see how much they had gathered, he could get an approximate idea of their numbers. The smaller Elementals didn’t need much more than oxygen. The big ones, however, craved wood as a man might red meat.

Smoke wafted through the trees, causing his eyes to water and sting. He replaced the bandanna and nocked an arrow. Gray wisps  surrounded him as he crested the hill.

The blackened, skeletal remains of a forest stretched before him, almost to the top of the next hill. Heat rose off of the trees, but the ground was cold. Only a few hot spots remained. He leaned against the singed pine at the edge of the burnout and heaved a sigh. A large party then. Flares at least, if not an Inferno Lord.

The Fortress needed to be warned. If he could get to the Haven, he could send a message by carrier pigeon. That would give the Fortress leaders time to prepare while Ketyl and his brother, Karvir, mustered the militia.

A twig cracked, and Ketyl froze. The sound came again, from behind him. Whirling about, arrow ready, he squinted through the haze. A hot red glow, like dying coals, flashed low to the ground. A Charred.

The Charred resembled a blackened corpse, its skin great flakes of ash and charcoal. Fire glowed through the cracks in its skin as it crawled along the ground. Its belly scraped the grass like a lizard’s, leaving a scorched trail behind it.

The Charred’s lazy pace was deceptive. In battle they could charge like a ram. One shot could kill it–they were by far the weakest of the Elemental beings–but Ketyl knew better than to underestimate his foe. Unfortunately, for a clear shot, he’d have to leave his cover.

He darted out. The Charred’s head snapped up, its chest and neck elevating, and its eyes, two points of red in a formless face, flared. Ketyl’s arrow sang from the bow, impacting against the Charred’s shoulder, not the instantly fatal headshot he’d intended. Ketyl cursed.

The icestone arrowhead radiated waves of blue light from the wound. The veins touched the Charred’s shoulder, and its arm broke from its body, shattering upon the forest floor. Lurching to its feet, the Charred gave a cry like roaring flames and stampeded towards Ketyl.

The Elemental was on him before he could draw another arrow. He fumbled for his knife as the Charred grabbed at his pant leg. Ketyl kicked out, sending sparks and ash flying from the Charred. The blue veins pulsed up the monster’s neck, towards its head.

He drew his knife, not icestone, just good, sturdy steel, and slashed through the weakened neck. The head rolled away, dissipating like mist. Its body crumbled into ash before him. Managing to calm his nerves, he reclaimed the arrow from the disintegrated Charred. Icestone was too precious to waste.

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Lands of Ash

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Fast Fact

Bio

Writing has always been a passion. Published in his school anthology at an early age, Joe was able to get his first taste of the self publishing idea, having gotten to see firsthand what it took to publish and sell something on your own. Right out of school Joe joined the Marines and while serving his country, wrote the first draft of Amongst The Killing. When Joe got out he began pursuing his writing dream in Denver. He got an agent and they actually got an offer from a publishing company. Alas though they wanted to groom this manuscript toward a movie of the week theme and was looking to change the entire concept. Joe didn’t want to go along with those plans and walked away. Soured from his experience Joe began pursuing a different writing avenue and equally as strong passion: screenplays and filmmaking. While still in Denver Joe began making short films. He would make 3 of his own and though success alluded him in the traditional sense, he found another type of success. The relationships he forged and the avenues he opened up, led him to realize he was not alone in his experiences and thus he decided to build a publishing brand. A company that could help others like him be discovered. It took some time but now Never Mind the Fine Print Publishing LLC is here. Their first effort, Joe’s book he wrote all those many years ago, Amongst The Killing.

Accomplishments

Blurb

There are 2 sides to every story… For as long as he could remember Detective Charles Street wanted to be a police officer, moreover a Detective. He wanted to be knee deep in the action, working the biggest cases, and reaping the biggest rewards. He also didn’t think when his dream job came a calling that it would ever turn into his nightmare.

Review

This LA-based thriller by indie author Joe Compton is as much about the consequences of career choices and the obligations of family, as well as grief, suicidal impulses, a media-obsessed America, fear and redemption.

The story switches (chapter by chapter) between Detective Chuck Street, whose recent assignment to the Robbery-Homicide division of the LAPD is both a fulfilment of his dreams and the indirect cause of his nightmares; and serial killer, Jack Casey, a man who believes society is worthless and pathetic, and so in fits of anger, kills. The alternation of chapters between both detective and killer works on two levels. First, the obvious and forefront cat-and-mouse-chase aspect, which serves as an effective way this book, as a thriller, creates tension. Secondly, this technique allows us to see the obvious differences between the two main characters, but crucially – and surprisingly – their similarities, which deepens the already burgeoning tension and creates thematic complexity. It was this last aspect that really got me hooked.

This uneasy drawing of overlapping motivations between the two men really began a journey in what turned out to be an engrossing character-driven psychological thriller. Indeed it was the emotional states of both characters, but particularly Chuck Street’s grief about the loss of his family, that really left me impressed. Other novels may have brushed over his grief in a few pages, but Compton explores this brilliantly and thoroughly. Chuck’s horrific alcohol-induced visions allows us glimpses into his unravelling psyche, while his quieter moments demonstrate tender feelings of loss, for example, when he reads his wife’s old books. Scenes like this are written with a lightness of touch you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a book of this genre.

An undercurrent of humour also runs throughout the novel, most of which come from the chapters involving Jack Casey. We can’t help but relate to his anger at society, the sheer stupidity of it. In one particular scene, we watch with fascination as he manipulates his own wife into sleeping with him. It’s a funny, guilty pleasure watching him seduce her for his own tawdry needs. And his killings, because they are unplanned, also provide off-beat humour, while, of course, remaining realistic and gruesome.

The book is thoroughly well-researched in terms of police procedure, the relationships between Chuck, his partner and Captain Rose, and the way the different departments interact, particularly the LAPD and the Marshall’s Office.

Amongst The Killing is a book I would recommend for fans of character-driven psychological thrillers. As a pacey, tension-filled page-turner it succeeds; as a portrait of the interior states of two men brought to the edge of who they are, it excels.” – By Jason Greensides, Author of “The Distant Sound of Violence”

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Fast Fact

Bio

Marsha A. Moore loves to write fantasy and paranormal romance. Much of her life feeds the creative flow she uses to weave highly imaginative tales.

Accomplishments

Blurb

Twenty-three-year-old Jancie Sadler was out of the room when her mother died, and her heart still longs for their lost goodbye. Aching to ease her sorrow, Aunt Starla gives Jancie a diary that changes her entire life. In entries from the 1930s, her great grandmother revealed how she coped with her own painful loss by seeking out a witch from nearby Coon Hollow Coven. The witch wore the griever’s moonstone locket, which allowed whoever could unlock its enchantment to talk with the dead.

Reviews

“Witch’s Moonstone Locket is a dark, yet captivating tale of love, loss and the need to heal. When good must stand against evil, who will remain standing? Marsha A. Moore has cast her own brand of magic on this story by creating a world where magic exists, while its practitioners live a lifestyle reminiscent of days gone by. Imagine living in a small town where part of the population still lives in the 1930’s, in their manner of dress and everything in their lives! Clever casting, uniquely drawn characters, subplots spidering out in all directions, only to be tamed and tied up in a neat bow at the end, Witch’s Moonstone Locket is a fascinating twist on myth and magic. Marsha A. Moore lets her words flow, and each scene comes to life, complete with the breezes, the backgrounds and characters that almost make you feel you have fallen into a fairytale remake come to life. This is a hidden gem in more ways than one.” ~Tome Tender

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