For ten years now, humanity has been at war with the creatures of darkness. The war has changed the world. The day now belongs to humanity and the night belongs to things once thought to exist only in myths and legends... but there is hope. This new enemy has united humanity and an army has stepped forward to protect the light from the darkness. An army of heroes.
Eighteen year old Lily Baxter always knew the Day Soldiers would be a
major part of her life. She had been preparing for it since she was eight.
She was ready to go to war. The one thing she wasn't prepared for was the
day the war came to her.
Part horror, part comedy, part adventure, Day Soldiers will take you on an
exciting ride through a world where monsters are monsters and the only
thing they fall in love with is the taste of human blood.
Brandon Hale is an author from Southwest Virginia who writes a genre he
likes to call "Quriky Horror." His books have classic horror elements, but
focus on fun and adventure more than excessive gore.
A huge fan of movies, one of Brandon's goals as a writer is to write books
that appeal to the modern movie-going audience. His hope is to show them
that books can be just as much of a roller coaster ride as a great film.
Wulfwaru and the Hag Child is the second of a fantasy trilogy set on the Island of the Mighty – an alternative Britain where the Roman invasion failed, and Old Gods still influence events.
It all begins with an untimely death, as things often do in an uncertain world of Gods, monsters and men. Dark forces seek to use the Hag Child’s power to bring about a new age of fire and blood. The fate of the Island of the Mighty hangs in the balance once again, and all the omens are bad.
Sister Wulfwaru of the House of the One Goddess at Escafeld soon finds herself involved in a dangerous game, guided by a Silver Branch anruth who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Gwythyr Cenedr swore a sacred oath to protect her, but can he protect himself?
Bio
Rebecca Siân Pyne lives in rural Ceredigion (where the only traffic jams are sheep) and shares a two hundred year old Mine Captain’s cottage with three dogs and a cat. The countryside and rich folklore traditions of West Wales are a constant inspiration and Wulfwaru and the Hag Child draws on Celtic legend and history.Born in Congleton, Cheshire, she was educated in South Yorkshire, before a BSc in Geological Oceanography at Bangor University (1991-1994) and an MSc in Micropalaeontology (Aberystwyth University, 1994-95). After nine months as a research assistant at the Geologisches Institut, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETHZ, Zürich, Switzerland, R. S. Pyne returnedto the UK to begin a Micropalaeontology PhD at the University of Aberystwyth (1996-99,awarded 2002). After employment as a museum curator and natural history gallery assistant at Sheffield City Museum and a scientific recruitment consultant, she spent two years as a Research Technician at Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences.
She has been writing for ten years and is a member of The Fictioneers, a writer’s organization promoting speculative fiction. Working in the fantasy, horror, historical and science fiction genres, 60 short stories have appeared in print and electronic publications. Credits include:Albedo One, Aurora Wolf, Bards & Sages Quarterly, Dark Dispatches, Lisette’s Tales of the imagination, Medieval Nightmares, A-Z Cities of Death, Lacuna, Neo-opsis, Undead of Winterand others. Stories are in press with Bête Noire and Weird Tales.Wulfwaru and the Hag Child is the second in the Island of the Mighty trilogy. The first The Sword of the Horse Chieftain was published on Amazon Kindle in December 2011. In addition to two novels, R. S. Pyne’s catalogue includes four novelettes and fourteen short stories and story collections. You can visit her Amazon Author page to find more of her works.
Life is good for B.J. He has a great job and a loving wife. But all of a sudden he begins experiencing a series of lifelike nightmares, where he knows intimate details of Munich, a city in which he has never been. He can speak German in his dream, a language he does not know. Everybody thinks he is losing it. Is he going crazy? To save himself, he knows that he has but one option: he must go to Munich to uncover the truth behind his dreams.
Stan Halsey, a professor in Saudi Arabia, sends for his wife to join him, but she suddenly disappears soon after her arrival, along with every trace of her very existence. There is absolutely nothing, not one single detail in any records anywhere, to prove that she is indeed a living person and that her spouse is not crazy for thinking so. Both the American government officials and the Saudi Arabian authorities insist that she does not exist. Stan Halsey, all alone in his quest, must act fast before he is forced out of the country.
What is real, and what is not? Who is really who, and why? The mounting suspense moves from Munich, to London, to Rome, and to the burning sands of Saudi Arabia with a horrifying swiftness.
Bio
I have resided in and have visited many places in the world, all of which have contributed in some way to my own published writing. I have literally traveled throughout the world, on numerous occasions. I have lived in Finland, Germany,Thailand, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Saudi Arabia, where COVERT DREAMS is set.I gained the wanderlust to see the world, to experience other cultures, at an early age,and this desire has never left me. If anything, it has only gained in intensity as I have aged. I try to travel internationally at least once a year. In the interim, I spend lots of time traveling around both my home state of California and other nearby states.I spent my early years in the small town of Lone Pine, California, the home of almost every western movie, in addition to a wide variety of other genres, made in the30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. In fact, Hollywood still films parts of big-time movies there today. My dad, the town’s lifeguard at the time, personally knew John Wayne, Lloyd Bridges, and Lee Marvin, all of whom came to the town’s pool, the Memorial Plunge, at times to cool off after a hectic day of working in the sun. I was even an extra in a movie
filmed there in 1957, MONOLITH MONSTERS, a B-cult favorite even today. I was ten years old at the time. Even though I resided in a small town hours from the big city, I was exposed to the excitement of action and heroes at a formative age, and, thus, my interest in writing novels of suspense such as COVERT DREAMS was born. As a recent retiree from a forty-year career as a professor of writing, I now live in Southern California wine country with my wife, Kitty, and our two other cats.
Follow the adventures of Gaspar, a freelance thief who stubbornly refuses to swear fealty to the Thieves' Guild. Finding himself entangled in a series of mishaps and misfortunes mostly of his own making, and facing looming retribution from every quarter, he finally departs his native city.>Aided by Hubris, a seller of spells who similarly declines to pay his dues to Wizards' Hall, and Marna, a feisty thiefess with a quick tongue and a quicker temper, Gaspar hopes to lie low for a while, but events continue to go awry,leading from one catastrophe to the next in quick succession. Brigands, sells-swords, goblin warlords, scheming mages and even a tricksy wight all seem to have it in for him as he travels across the world of Lindor,blundering from one calamity to the next, and yet somehow always surviving to tell the tale. Told with humour, this is an exciting romp based in a fantasy world where anything can, and usually does, happen!
Author Bio
The back story to 'Gaspar The Thief' may be a little different to many other current e-book releases in that it was actually written in the 1980s, when I was in my twenties. I had previously succeeded in having a few short stories published in arts magazines in the mid to late 1970s, a couple of them commercially. Thereafter, I wrote two full-length novels, Gaspar The Thief being the second one, but never did anything with them, and did not make even one submission to a publisher. Looking back now, I think there were two reasons for this. Firstly, I got married, had three children, and was very busy as a young court lawyer building a career. Secondly, and this was perhaps the main obstacle, I think I was too much of a perfectionist, and was never content that either novel was finished satisfactorily. This all changed when my wife bought me a Kindle recently, and I realised that this offered a new opportunity to share what I had written. Fortunately I had taken steps over the years to preserve the original word-processed files. However, these had been created on an old Amstrad green-screen 8256 (does anyone else remember these?). I had at one point had the files transferred to floppy disks, which had been very difficult, but at least they were now held on floppy disks. I still had to buy an external floppy drive to access these, of course, but I was much relieved to discover that they were still intact. That's when I sat down to read what I had written almost thirty years ago. This meant that I was able to read 'Gaspar The Thief' almost totally afresh. I had actually forgotten large parts of it. And that's when I discovered that it was much better than I had thought when I wrote it. I am still a perfectionist, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the standard of writing. Moreover, I did not think it had dated at all. Nevertheless, I still revised it twice from beginning to end and re-wrote a few parts before publication. Another aspect that some may find interesting is that it was not influenced at all by Sir Terry Prachett's Discworld novels, as I only started to read his books much later, in the 1990s, long after my book was finished. The greatest influence in my writing was probably Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and The Gray ouser stories. Finally, here's a little personal background. I was born and brought up in Dundee, Scotland, but have lived in North East Fife, near St Andrews, for nearly 30 years now. I am married with three children, all of whom have now left home. I was a lawyer for 20 years, but for the last 12 years have owned and run a web design agency in the UK. My interests are Rotary, reading, gardening, music and travel.
Pedro L. Alvarez
Dragon Fire
At nineteen, Delcan wants nothing more than to break the
bonds of what the world expects of him; winning the tournament at the
Flarian Festival and earning a place as a squire is the only way he
knows how. When he discovers his own father's secret past and his role
in the kingdom's history, Delcan's life as a squire suddenly becomes
complicated; when he falls in love with the princess, Aria, it turns
deadly.
Dragon Fire is the story of a
farmer's son and a princess who dreamed of becoming a knight. It is a
coming-of-age tale set in a world where the young have no hope and the
old no longer believe in magic. With compelling characters and vivid
language, it is an action-packed story of romance, hope, sacrifice, and
the most unlikely of heroes.
Author Bio
Pedro L. Alvarez was born in Cuba and immigrated with his parents to the United States at the age of 8. He grew up in West New York, NJ and has been writing short stories since the age of 14.
Pedro has a degree in English and in Journalism from Rutgers University and works for a large transportation and logistics company. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.
Dragon Fire is his first novel.
Dragon Fire Can also be found at the following retailers:
The Little Book of Bitchy of Thoughts is medicine for the Modern Age,
straight from the cauldron of Elizabeth Fairlight. The author serves
up a stinging philtre of pithy observations, acrid humor, and even the
occasional honest aphorism.
Quotes from the book:
If your child says, “Hey, lady,” to get the attention of a salesclerk, you're lower-class. If your child says, “Excuse me, Ma'am,” then you're middle-class, or higher. This is an infallible indicator.
'Washington, D.C. is the third-world capital of a first-world country.'
'Opera is only vaudeville with attitude.'
'I'm always amazed by admonitions to love thy neighbor. Once God wises up to the fact that not everything on this Earth is worth loving, he would become a smarter God. It would be better to say, 'love thy neighbor, if thy neighbor is worthy of it.
Author Bio
Elizabeth Fairlight has not worked on a fishing trawler, as a
bullfighter, or shot big game. She cannot net a purse, play the
spinet, or paint flowers on china, though she has one very remarkable
drawing-room talent, namely, keeping an open ear for the unwary
pourer-outer.
Reviews
A review from LL Book Reviewer Shannon Yarbrough:
Anyone who has enjoyed the wit and sarcasm of such greats as Oscar
Wilde or Groucho Marx will definitely enjoy Elizabeth Fairlight's The
Little Book of Bitchy Thoughts. It takes a certain intellect and, of
course, a smart sense of humor to be able to read it and appreciate it
the way it was intended.
There are numerous quotes divided by such subjects as youth, class,
fools, adulthood, marriage, children, lawyers, arguing, the arts,
places, makeup, science, sports, drugs, and age. Enough to keep your
toasts at parties witty or your email signatures baffling.
Rather than being rude and untactful, almost all of the quotes make
you stop and really think about it, long enough to want to reread it a
few times or even commit it to memory.
My favorite is a longer quote about writing: Writers who do what
they're expected to do-namely get their MFA, then stay in the
university system to teach and produce literary fiction-will always
write timidly. If you're a writer, supporting yourself with odd jobs
is better for you, but not just because you acquire more interesting
source material. It's important because what it indicates about your
personality. Independent writers live and write with greater courage,
and they create greater works of art because of that courage.
Only available on Kindle at the time of this review, Fairlight's
Bitchy Thoughts is worthy of a look if you need some laughs or even
some enlightenment.
Winter has come early, an unusually fierce winter that has nearly
paralyzed the city, courtesy of the Winter Fairy Queen. Her reach has
had consequences far and wide, especially in Other Land where winter's
rage has been the cruelest.
Anne goes back to Other Land armed
with armor made by the gnomes, her hammer and ring and a new weapon
against the Queen, but will it work? The dreaded unlocked doorway
appears right in her own bedroom and trouble immediately finds her when
she embarks on her latest mission! The Queen soon sends word to capture
Anne and bring her to the castle on the Ice Sea, where the Summer Queen
is being held captive. Constant skirmishes and battles assault and
weaken the free folk, making way for Queen Faye's great army from the
north to strike the final blow on all those who oppose her rule. Anne
and her friends must battle winter fairies and trolls and make their way
to the safety of the Whitestone Lodge where Great Grandfather
Whitestone, the other gnome Grandfathers and an army of gnome family
clans have gathered. The gnome Grandfathers have a plan to defeat the
Winter Queen, which involves placing Anne right into her clutches!
Will
Anne's new weapon and the Grandfathers' plan work? Can they stop Queen
Faye before she destroys Queen Titian and births her unending winter?
Bio Provided by the author.
Victoria A. Jeffrey grew up in Portland, Oregon, attended Portland Community College and studied graphic design. She is an author and an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy. She also enjoys reading historical fiction and non-fiction. She has written three collections of poetry and some short stories. She is currently working on the Secret Doorway Tales middle grade fantasy series and will begin working on an adult oriented science fantasy trilogy this summer.
Gwen Perkins
The Universal Mirror
Description:
"Not blood nor bone shall magic touch."
On the island of Cercia, God is dead, killed by his followers and replaced with the study of magic. But the people are suspicious of magicians, believing them the cause of ill fortune. If the magicians aren't kept in check, they might wrestle God from his grave and take the universe for their own keeping. So the universities train magicians in the use of magic, as well as in the restrictions — or Heresies — that bind it. Magicians must not leave their homeland; they must not cast spells on the living—whether to harm or to heal.
Quentin, a young nobleman, and his friend Asahel are both magicians. But they come from very different backgrounds. Quentin belongs to an old bloodline, though his grandfather has whittled away the last of his family's fortune. Asahel, on the other hand, always smells of the sea, his face smudged with dirt. He was decidedly out-of-place at the universities that trained magicians, since most of them came from the upper classes. Everyone but Quentin had tormented Asahel; their curiosity was what bound them together. They both longed to explore magic, rather than cage it.
Now, Quentin longs to heal the woman that he loves, Catharine. Catharine was pitted and scarred from the Plagues which came to Cercia just before she reached womanhood. She wants no part of Quentin because of her self-hatred, disliking it if he so much as looks at her. The husband and wife rarely talk, and what little time they spend together is fraught with tension. But Quentin adores Catharine. If he is to save her from herself, he must be able to use his magic to heal.
Learning to heal will take an act of desperation, an unthinkable rebellion — practicing on the bodies of the dead. It is madness — but Quentin convinces Asahel to go along with his plan. Under cover of darkness, they dig up a grave to work a magic that affects life itself. Afterward, Quentin feels a terrible guilt for involving Asahel, who had defied authority by his friend's side. Both of them are unaware that the search for this lost magic will bring them both to the edge of reason, threatening their very souls. How far are they willing to go for the sake of knowledge? What will they destroy to obtain it?
Bio Provided by the author.
Surrounded by tree and mist, Gwen Perkins has always regarded the deep rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula the one place that she feels most at home. Gwen grew up in small towns across the Pacific Northwest, going to slug races and strawberry festivals when she wasn't scribbling on any scrap of paper she could come by. She boasts the dubious distinction of going to a public school with only eight students, learning Irish sea chanteys from a man who sang with the Clancy Brothers, and catching tadpoles during classes.
Her adult life is generally just about as much fun.
She lives in the City of Destiny (better known as Tacoma, Washington) with her partner, Laura, and their three children, Amaranth, Nynaeve, and Oisin. When she's not writing, she spends her days combing archives and chasing children…all in the name of history! Her hobbies include baking pies (sometimes referred to as others as attempted arson) and lampworking, or creating glass beads. These two things are not related. In between all of this, Gwen has written two novels in the Artifacts of Empire series: The Universal Mirror and The Jealousy Glass. The latter will be released in November 2012.
Rachel Hunter
A Llathalan Annal: Empyreal Fate
Description:
Filled to the brim with forbidden love, an ancient evil, and a nation in disrepair, Empyreal Fate is a tale of riveting bravery and mortal corruption.
The land of Llathala lingers on the brink of war between men and elves, a dark history surrounding each race. Stirred by tensions of the land, a shadow of the past reemerges, taking precedence in reality and consuming the very soul of mans’ mortal weakness. Darrion, the son of a poor laborer, is ensnared in a hostile world, forced to choose between loyalty to his king or the counsel of the elves. Yet Fate has other plans in store, tying his course to Amarya, an elven royalblood of mysterious quality and unsurpassable beauty. But this forbidden connection incites betrayal from members of their own kin, marking them as traitors to the crown. In a land torn asunder, only Fate’s decree can allow such love to coexist with an ancient enmity.
Behold: A Llathalan Annal: Empyreal Fate – Part One.
Bio Provided by the author.
Rachel Hunter has always been fascinated with words and the intricate
way in which they combine. Since a child, she has been an avid writer,
winding vibrant tales and elaborate stanzas on folded bits of paper.
As
the years passed, her love of words never died; her adoration for
reading fared no equal. Always with her nose in a book, Rachel took
fondly to works spanning all genres. Yet it was the compelling grasp of
fantasy and science fiction that wrenched her fascination above all.
In March of 2012, Rachel
published her first short story with Trestle Press, titled, "Perfect
Nothing", which recounted her harrowing relationship with an eating
disorder and was also fueled by her passion for psychology. But her
writing does not end there. While currently pursuing a degree in
psychology and in the medical field at the University of Oklahoma, she
aspires also to illuminate the creative spark of eager readers. In her
desire to incite intrigue, she is simultaneously exploring new worlds
and creating vast empires of her own. "Empyreal Fate" is only the first
in her Llathalan Annal series. Indeed, it is only the beginning.
Rory Ellison, victim of his own misdeeds, wallows in misery. Then a door
opens. Now he's got a new job, a dream assignment to rewrite the
darkest mistake of his past, and a strange new companion in his head.
Wielding powers beyond his comprehension and control, Rory returns to …
…
Faith. She possesses the perfect husband, kids, and home. But when Rory
falls back into her world, old wounds open wide, shattering her ideal
life.
At the center of the mayhem stands Anon, a seemingly
benevolent organization with a sinister past of its own. "Helping you
realize your dreams sooner," the company promises. But what do they
stand to gain? How far will they go to get what they want? And if they
make dreams a reality, what about nightmares?
Only Michelle, a
young girl with a strange gift, can defeat the evil threatening her
family. But she must face fear, work with the ghosts of her enemy's
past, navigate a maze of terror, and make the tough choice to grow up
too soon in a world filled with evil and indifference.
Hold on tight! Anon—a tale of corporate and familial terror—is unlike anything you've ever read.
Reviews:
All I can say is "Thank you!" Once I started, it really hurt
to stop reading, for any reason. If you like gripping, non-stop GO in your
reading material, then Anon is the book for you.
With twists of the
paranormal, supernatural, religion, and a new breed of corporate corruption:
Anon delivers much more than most. This is not a book that will be archived on
my Kindle, Anon has a permanent place on my digital bookshelves.
I'm afraid
if I started in on everything I loved about this book, that I would give too
much away. I want to know what Faith and Michelle do next! And will we, the
hanging readers with baited breath, ever get to know?
If there was a 6 star
rating, I would definitely give it for Anon.
~Jessica A. Weiss, fiction
author and owner of Wicked East Press
I found this novel to be an engaging read, heartbreaking at times, and filled
with emotion and suspense. It is a captivating read and original, and I look
forward to future works which build upon these characters' lives. I have read
Peter's short stories before and always wanted "more." My wish has been
fulfilled in "Anon." -- Eric Guignard
Bio Provided by the author.
Peter Giglio lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he spends all of his time writing and editing. His novels include Anon, The Dark (with Scott Bradley), and Beyond Anon, the forthcoming sequel to Anon. His short fiction can be found in various professional publications, and he is the author of two acclaimed novels, Balance and A Spark in the Darkness. Also
a screenwriter, Peter and longtime friend Scott Bradley have
successfully adapted, under option, Joe R. Lansdale's "The Night They
Missed the Horror Show." They are currently looking for a production
deal for the work, endorsed and praised by Mr. Lansdale.
In 1998 the author survived a horrific mauling by a Kodiak brown bear. This is the story of that event along with additional tales and personal observations about these coastal giants. The book includes a number of graphic photographs taken within minutes of the actual event, along with the authors personal photos of bears and other Alaskan wildlife.
From the book:
Meeting the eyes of a grizzly is an interesting experience because those eyes hold real intelligence and power. The eyes of other common Alaskan animals (such as moose or caribou) reveal little beyond fear or vague curiosity. A ruminant's brain has very little room for much beyond eating, fleeing and mating. Your attention is drawn to other things on such an animal; the antlers perhaps...
A bear is a different proposition altogether. The wide brown eyes of this predator are expressive and calculating and meeting them is to know that you are looking into the mind of a thinking animal. I can't stress that difference enough, though it's difficult to articulate this to people who haven't had the experience. When meeting a grizzly at close range you generally find yourself waiting for the animal to make a decision - to leave, hopefully. Your eyes will lock with those of the bear and there will be some sort of visceral communication taking place. You can watch the play of emotion and calculation cross the animals face while he evaluates you and tries to decide what your presence means and what he should do about it.
...
...Perhaps the yelling attracted her to my face because she now grabbed my skull, her upper canines sinking into my right eye socket and cheek respectively, while her lower jaw enveloped the back of my head. The sensation was incredible, as if my head was in a powerful vise. My vision began to narrow and darken while a roaring sound grew deep inside my head. It was like being under water too long, holding your breath and fighting to get back to the surface, everything beginning to get dark. I remember thinking; "This is it, this is how it all ends..." Yet, as this went on I was also pulling and turning my head away with as much force as I could muster until suddenly it (my head) popped free with a grating sound that I could sense internally rather than hear audibly. Her upper canines had ripped loose from my eye socket and face leaving two furrows from the entry points well into my hairline. I was partially scalped, but she hadn't "popped" my head...
....
The Kodiak archipelago is tucked within the long reach of the Alaskan coast like a group of badly behaved children in the arms of a somewhat aloof mother. Thumbing its nose at the latitude of its arctic parent, cheeky Kodiak bathes in the waters of warm southern currents which give the island a temperate maritime climate seemingly more appropriate to locales far to the south.
In the same way that the Gulf Stream warms the British Isles, the Kuroshiro current begins in warmer latitudes far to the south to move northward along the rim of the Pacific and then east to the Gulf of Alaska to surround Kodiak with a warm wet noose. Above this warm river in the cold northern sea is another warm river of moist low pressure air. These warm sea currents and air masses move north to collide with much colder waters and arctic high pressure air along the Aleutian Islands. This remote island chain marks the boundary between the genteel Pacific and its rowdy and temperamental arctic neighbor, the Bering Sea. The enormous temperature and pressure extremes in this "Birthplace of the Winds" spawn a seemingly endless series of cyclonic low pressure storms which spin to the northeast to lash Kodiak with the rain and fog which envelope it for much of the year. That wet marine climate ends abruptly when it meets the high coastal mountains ringing the Alaska mainland.
Bio Provided by the author.
Keith Rogan is an outdoor enthusiast who first came to Kodiak in 1990 as a paramedic with the US Coast Guard and soon grew to love the natural beauty of this wild and beautiful island. He has been a popular freelance writer for the local newspaper on various outdoor subjects. He enjoys hiking, hunting, fishing and wildlife photography across every corner of Alaska.
His first book was “A Kodiak Bear Mauling” published in January, 2012. That effort was followed up by a companion title in May 2012 “A Photographic Tour of Kodiak” displaying a collection of his wildlife photography.
Amanda Brenner
Tainted Legacy
Description:
Sid Langdon, a newly licensed private investigator who wonders how he is
going to pay his rent, gets his first case—complete with a corpse and a
million dollars in missing jewels. And he is tapped to find the answers
by the very man who may be responsible for both! So who done it? Sid
wades through a sordid quagmire of blackmail, adultery and betrayal to
find the answers—and let the chips fall where they may! It’s Sid’s first
case—it might well be his last!
Bio provided by the author.
Amanda Brenner is a native Midwesterner who has spent her
adult life in the business world. She has traveled extensively
throughout the United States, occasionally venturing into Canada and
Nova Scotia. Her initial interest in writing started at an early age
when westerns were the most popular attractions at the local theater.
It seemed only natural that her first novel, Trail of Vengeance, should
be in the western genre. In the course of plotting and fleshing out
this work she lived at the library, scouring dozens of books for
authentic details of life on the frontier in the 1880s. After finishing
a second western, Shadow of the Rope, she began to explore a new
direction and completed three contemporary mysteries involving a private
investigator she created, the latest being The Mystery of the Nourdon
Blue.
Inge H. Borg
KHAMSIN, The Devil Wind of The Nile
Description:
KHAMSIN, The Devil Wind of The Nile, a historical novel by Inge H. Borg,
is an engrossing saga of forbidden love, intrigue and warfare, played
out in colorful settings along the Nile, from Ineb-hedj (Memphis) to the
Kharga Oasis, during the reign of Aha, Second King of the First Dynasty
of Egypt, ca. 3080 B.C.
The briskly paced action evokes a
violent, tumultuous epoch with attention to detail and cinematic
presentation. The eloquent and lyrical narrative is divided into five
major parts, with forty-three chapters, a poignant prologue, and a
thought-provoking epilogue.
Complex main and subordinate
characters are well fleshed out, ranging from fascinating to likable;
from ambitious to suspicious, to plain unsavory. In the fore is Ramose,
the munificent High Priest of Ptah, mentally exchanging poisoned lances
with the ugly Vizier, Ebu al-Saqqara.
During a forbidden
encounter between King Aha's first Queen Mayet and a nocturnal visitor, a
new life is conceived; but its soul, its eternal Ba, is already old.
And it is destined yet to live through many other storms. Will Aha's
royal heiress, Princess Nefret, become the victim of her fate presaged
by the Oracle of Isis, or can Ramose save her life, if not her royal
heritage? As the dreaded Khamsin rages over the Valley of the Nile,
Ma'at is often breached and it is said that people vanish without a
trace. Yet, for an eternal Ba, the end is but a new beginning.
Meticulous
research of ancient sites and the way of life of those enigmatic
Egyptians lends authenticity to this pre-Pyramid, pre-Pharaoh era of the
Two Lands. Select Egyptian words and the usage of ancient city names
are made comprehensible within context as well as through the appendices
and a glossary.
Reviews:
Move over Jean M. Auel, Author of The Earth's Children series, and make room for a new author on the pre-history scene. Inge H. Borg has emerged with her book "KHAMSIN, The Devil Wind of the Nile", introduced on Amazon.com's Kindle for all the world to read. This novel is meticulously researched, imaginative and purely entertaining, transporting the reader back to the dawn of Egypt long before the pyramids.
Jo Cryder, Author
"Towers, Turrets, Cupolas & Belvederes"
Book #5 of a series of 5
Wonderful First Novel
This is a beautifully written book, set in ancient Egypt before the pyramids and sphinx existed and weaves an entertaining tale which defines the customs, fears and passions of those who lived during this era. The author is well-versed on Egyptian history and provides help for those who aren't with a glossary and appendices to define characters, terms, geographical areas, etc. Egyptian history buffs will love this book.
BevG.
Bio provided by the author.
Born and raised in Austria, Inge H. Borg completed her language studies in London and Paris. Continuing her study of French, she worked at the French Embassy in Moscow during 1963.
In 1964, Ms. Borg was the Executive Assistant to the Secretary General of the Austrian Olympic Committee at the XIXth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck. From there, she was transferred to the Vienna headquarters. Her contract completed, she was hired by an Austrian export company which then sent her to their Chicago office, extracting the promise to remain in the US for at least one year. She never moved back to Europe, but lived subsequently in Boston, New Hampshire, and La Jolla, California, where she became a US citizen in 1982.
Inge has visited many European countries, the Far East, Venezuela and the South Pacific. Always open to new adventure, she joined a 40-foot sailing vessel and spent six months sailing down the Pacific coast of Mexico (with a handsome skipper, of course). Several of her ‘ocean’ poems in “Moments of The Heart” were born while standing watch in a heart-stopping lightening storm. “When you are the only 50-ft metal mast in a vast ocean, you’ve got to think of something other than sinking.”
In 2003, Inge retired to a diversified lake community Arkansas, and there pursued her passion for writing. At long last, she completed her intensively researched epic “Khamsin, The Devil Wind of The Nile,” a historical novel playing out in Ancient Egypt around 3080 B.C.
Her poetry has been published in over twenty anthologies and was chosen for professionally recorded readings.
Her hobbies include world literature, opera, sailing and, of course, devising new plots for a sequel to Khamsin and other future novels.
Murder, mystery and redemption are at the heart of “Gnosis.”
Detective
Jack Dantzler has no clue why he has been summoned to the prison to
meet with the Reverend Eli Whitehouse, a man convicted of committing a
double murder twenty-nine years ago. He is stunned when Eli claims to be
innocent and wants Dantzler to prove it. But Eli only gives Dantzler a
single clue—look at the obituaries in the local paper for a specific
two-week period.
Reluctantly, Dantzler agrees to look into the
case. As he does, two more people are brutally murdered. And although
Dantzler isn’t aware of it, he has become a target for the killer.
Dantzler goes back to Eli and pleads for another clue. All Eli says is,
“think of Jesus’s empty tomb.” It will be this whispered utterance that
unlocks the mystery and reveals the killer’s identity. But this isn’t
just any ordinary killer. This is a man with a dark and bloody past, a
man with connections to the highest levels of organized crime. Dantzler
is now on the trail of an ice-cold assassin, fully aware that one slip
will mean instant death.
Sometimes having too much knowledge can lead to deadly consequences.
Bio provided by the author.
Tom Wallace is the author of four novels, including his latest, Gnosis, which was released in November. It is his third mystery featuring Lexington detective Jack Dantzler. The first two were What Matters Blood and The Devil’s Racket. He also wrote the thriller Heirs of Cain, which came out in 2010.
Tom is the author of five sports-related books, including the highly successful Kentucky Basketball Encyclopedia. He earned his B.A. in journalism in 1982, then became sports editor for the Henderson Gleaner, where he was twice honored by The Kentucky Press Association for writing the best sports story in the state. After leaving the Gleaner, he became editor for Cawood Ledford Productions in Lexington. He is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and The Author’s Guild. Tom, a Vietnam veteran, currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky
J. Naomi Ay
The Boy Who Lit Up The Sky
Description:
After a thousand years of war, the Mishnese and Karupta have made peace by wedding the Mishnese Princess Royal to the Karupta Crown Prince. Their son whose birth was foretold ten centuries ago is destined to rule the entire planet and end the wars forever. But the Princess and the baby have died during childbirth or so it was said. In the meantime, a strange half-breed infant boy is left at an orphanage with a purse full of gold coins. The Boy who Lit up the Sky follows the early years of Senya from the streets of Old Mishnah, to the Palace of Mishnah and from there to Karuptani where he is taught to live off the land and fight for that which is his. Along the way, he finds the human girl who unbeknownst to her, shares his important destiny.
Bio provided by the author.
I’m from the Seattle area and live in the north Olympic Peninsula. I have a wonderful husband, 3 kids and a Pomeranian. For a day job, I work in the Renewable Energy/Recycling sector, bringing new technology for waste remediation to the US and North America. For a night job, I bond with my laptop and write stories. The Two Moons of Rehnor series is a 5 part fantasy series that has elements of light science fiction, lots of fantasy, a healthy dose of romance and a fair amount of paranormal as the main character is, shall we say, weird? It’s follows the life of Senya, a man who was created to be king of the planet Rehnor and the human girl who is the love of his life as well as being a captain in the Allied Spaceforce. Senya is no Prince Charming and it’s definitely not happily ever after. It takes 5 volumes, each around 250 pages to go from here to there. I wrote it originally as one giant novel over the course of the last twenty years and then when I realized it could actually be published, I broke it up into 5 pieces for the kindle market. The entire thing is written in first person narratives by the people around Senya. It’s relatively fast paced because if I started getting bored, I would just switch characters. It also weaves in the lives of the other characters so the reader will really get to know all about them, their different perspectives and their own personal stories. I hope you enjoy!
In this first Book of the Nocturnity Series, we follow Todd Jennings who
bought a soul as a joke. No one is laughing as an ancient evil is
stirred into action. As a result of his purchase, he begins a journey of
self-discovery, supernatural experiences and tests of moral conviction.
Follow along as the forces of darkness try to manipulate the world
around him in an attempt to lead him from the path of light.
Bio provided by the author.
Writing, for me, has gone from hobby to obsession in just under three years. The ability to convey the stories from mind to page, and finally to a reader is one of the most rewarding endeavors that I have ever been involved in. Listening to a reader tell me of how they were moved to emotional responses by reading my manuscripts is one of the best compliments I can receive. If I can make you think, or feel, while suspending your ability to disbelieve in the material, I am doing my job.
I endeavor to craft multi-layered pieces of fiction that will continue opening your eyes to new facets each time you read the story. Blank pages, for me, are like a fresh canvas that compels a painter to create a world of their own making. Creativity becomes my paint and imagination, my brush. As I flesh out characters, they seem to begin taking breaths and whispering into my ears. These insistent co-inhabitants, of my subconscious, seem to work to augment my ability to craft an immersive story.
I am presently writing the third book of the Nocturnity series. Concurrently, there are a few sets of short stories destined for magazine publication that are in the works. I hope to be smiling back at you from the cover of one of the best books you have ever read in the near future.
A HAUNTING CARIBBEAN MYSTERY
James Cuffy, better known as Cuff, is living in paradise with his girlfriend, on the small Caribbean island of St. Croix, where the sky is as blue as Cuff's eyes, the ocean as pretty as Rosie's cheeks, where the gentle lapping of the waves is a lullaby, and the swaying of the palm trees is a dance. The sandy beaches are as white as sugar, and the horizon is a world away. St. Croix indeed is paradise, the perfect place for living, laughing, and loving.
But the sandy beaches and the turquoise sea can provide no cover from the deadly eyes of the unknown stalker pursuing Cuff. Murder leads to murder as he attempts to untangle the terrible web in which he has suddenly become entangled.
The twists and turns are relentless, the roads of the fast action leading in all directions, but time is running out, and Cuff, his faithful Rosie at his side, knows it.
Excerpt:
These were not naked eyes, for the distance between these eyes and the beach bar at Cathy’s Fancy was too great for the naked eye to discern who was who. No, these eyes had planned meticulously. The eyes were glued to a pair of terribly expensive and unbelievably powerful Swarovski Optik binoculars. The balcony on which they now worked, taking in the scene before them, was the perfect place to see but not be seen. The powerful binoculars saw to that.
The distance, the palm trees, and the rays of the sun all helped. The position had been hand picked, after careful consideration. Every angle had been considered, and, one by one, they had all been discarded for one reason or another until this very spot, the perfect place to observe while not being observed, had been selected.
Yes, the eyes had seen it all. The eyes had seen precisely what they had hoped to see. They were like a master puppeteer. They planned, controlled, and observed, but from a safe distance. They did not miss a trick.
The eyes. The deadly eyes of St. Croix.
Bio provided by the author.
I have resided in and have visited many places in the world, all of which have contributed in some way to my own published writing. I have literally traveled throughout the world, on numerous occasions. I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, on the island of St. Croix, where DEADLY EYES is set. I gained the wanderlust to see the world, to experience other cultures, at an early age, and this desire has never left me. If anything, it has only gained in intensity as I have aged. I try to travel internationally at least once a year. In the interim, I spend lots of time traveling around both my home state of California and other nearby states.
I spent my early years in the small town of Lone Pine, California, the home of almost every western movie, in addition to a wide variety of other genres, made in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. In fact, Hollywood still films parts of big-time movies there today. My dad, the town’s lifeguard at the time, personally knew John Wayne, Lloyd Bridges, and Lee Marvin, all of whom came to the town’s pool, the Memorial Plunge, at times to cool off after a hectic day of working in the sun. I was even an extra in a movie filmed there in 1957, MONOLITH MONSTERS, a B-cult favorite even today. I was ten years old at the time. Even though I resided in a small town hours from the big city, I was exposed to the excitement of action and heroes at a formative age, and, thus, my interest in writing novels of suspense such as DEADLY EYES was born.
As a recent retiree from a forty-year career as a professor of writing, I now live in Southern California wine country with my wife, Kitty, and our two other cats.
Caroline Chokr
DAUGHTER OF HARTHDEEN
Description:
In days gone by, when the world was a darker, more sinister place,
sorcery flourished in the land, permeating every aspect of existence.
But that era has passed, and the citizens of Farner live rational lives
unhindered by the absurd thrust of spells and magicians. Apart from
deep, esoteric secrets that are woven into the fabric of reality -
mysteries that simply are, and will always be - only the abokyl, the priesthood possessed of enhanced intuitive powers, survive as a reminder of earlier times.
However, an ancient prediction is about to be fulfilled, and the
beautiful land of Farner is endangered by the resurgence of magic. The Ly-Blumindon Stone,
a mysterious relic, is required to combat the threat, but its very
existence is concealed, and details of its workings are obscure.
Daughter of Harthdeen - Book One
Dahlyn, the shepherd's daughter, is revealed in the scriptures as the wysberrion, the
person charged with saving the land. She is lured away from
her unadventurous life on Wonderdown Moor to fulfil her destiny, but the
ancient texts are fragmented and misleading, and fail to mention the
elusive artefact which will help her achieve her goal. On her long
journey, she finds a deep and enduring love which alters her perception
of herself and her capabilities. But Dahlyn's virtue is ambiguous;
ostensibly perfect, as her role requires, she is hiding a wicked secret
of her own...
Bio provided by the author.
Caroline Chokr lives in Hampshire, in southern England. She
has been married for many, many years and has four grown-up children who have
more or less left home. The author has tried her hand at various jobs, from
working in a door factory, to supermarket checkout operator, to the financial
sector in the City of London; for several years she ran a greasy spoon type café
in a small town. Now thankfully retired, she has the time to take up writing again.
She has always enjoyed making up stories and had one
previous attempt at writing a novel. It was a massive endeavour, consisting of
a cast of thousands, each minor character taking on a life out of all
proportion to their importance to the action. Eventually, the beast had to be
restrained. Every ball-point-smudged, crinkled page of it was confined to
plastic bags and removed to the shed, where it lurks to this day, just waiting
for some fool to liberate it.
‘The Ly-Blumindon
Stone’ was started about seventeen years ago, and has gone through many
revisions and periods of abandonment during the intervening years. However, the
basic story has not changed from its first inception: if some of the paths
taken have deviated from the original plan, the destination was never in doubt.
Its themes concern the triumph of goodness over evil and the power of love, but
also the necessity of compromise and the acceptance of one’s own fallibility. It
is presented as a trilogy. The first in the series is ‘Daughter of Harthdeen’;
the second is ‘Haydin’s Queen’; and the last, which will be available on 29 May
2012, is ‘The Fragrant Azulliana Flower’.
The Universal Mirror
A Llathalan Annal: Empyreal Fate
Anon 
In 1998 the author survived a horrific mauling by a Kodiak brown bear. This is the story of that event along with additional tales and personal observations about these coastal giants. The book includes a number of graphic photographs taken within minutes of the actual event, along with the authors personal photos of bears and other Alaskan wildlife.
KHAMSIN, The Devil Wind of The Nile, a historical novel by Inge H. Borg,
is an engrossing saga of forbidden love, intrigue and warfare, played
out in colorful settings along the Nile, from Ineb-hedj (Memphis) to the
Kharga Oasis, during the reign of Aha, Second King of the First Dynasty
of Egypt, ca. 3080 B.C.
