Note Worthy Releases

May 6, 2012

Find Murder and Fantasy with this weeks Featured Indie's

                                                 Theodore Jenkins

                                                Nocturnity I : An Infinite Beginning

 

 

Description: 

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.





                                                                Micheal Meyer

                                                   Deadly Eyes




 Description:

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’.


Follow Caroline on Twitter @cagorr











April 29, 2012

Featured Indie's Of The Week

Bon Rose


The "Old" Adventures Of 

Hailey and Jared

 

 


Description : 

Hailey and her best friend Jared have gone on several exciting adventures. Originally separate short stories, I have put six of their fun but spooky stories together for this book. Each story has suspenseful adventures that always end with a twist!

Even though Hailey is a girl, you'd have to call her a tomboy as she loves adventures with her best friend Jared and has no problem getting in and out of spooky situations! She, Jared and her beloved bike Blue manage to keep their lives pretty exciting and sometimes they are not sure whether it's ghosts or just their imagination. You'll just have to decide which one it ends up being!


Bio provided by the author.

Born in Iowa, I grew up reading the Nancy Drew Mysteries. As a teen I did a rough draft of a short story but it wasn't until a few years ago that I finally took my time to sit down and re-write it, and then had it published as an e-short story called Old Jacob. I now have several short stories and one book with the first 6 stories which is called The "Old Adventures of Hailey and Jared". These stories were written with my grandchildren in mind and are based on some adventures from my childhood. I did write one story for adults "Dying to Write" as once I start a story it's hard to stop and it occurred to me that I could do a story about it. I have sold a few and of course would love to sell a bunch more but the feeling of accomplishment when I finished a story is satisfying enough.
















Laurie Brown


Stand-up Guy

 


Description:

Stories of sex, drugs and violence are told by a guy who did it all – except rat on his friends. Nostalgic, blunt, touching and brutal, it’s a fast-paced journey into and out of the days and nights of a street level gangster. From jacking the pumps at the local Texaco to disappearing owing the mob money, this is a true story of twenty years on the streets of Brooklyn and Long Island selling drinks, women and drugs along the way.

The story is a fast drive that starts with recruitment by Tommy Toupee and speeds straight into the dark nights and early morning hours of hardcore gangster life. Experience what it was like to break a knee-cap, hustle a chick, hide out in Florida and wash prison laundry while trippin’ on acid. Twenty years on the streets with a guy who could never be made but dedicated himself nonetheless to being the best there was to be whether it was tending bar, selling women or dealing cocaine. Never giving up anybody, taking the heat and doing the time until a taste for coke and the need for money drove him to the edge and he had to disappear. Now all this former tough-guy gangster wants is to be make things right back home. It’s Long Island and Brooklyn at their seediest best compelling you into the alleys and apartments where it all went down. Grab yourself a Petrocelli suit, bolt down a ham steak at the Cadillac Diner and hang on for a quick hit of adventure New York City gangster style.


     Bio provided by the author:

I grew up in Monterey, California, a small beach town, and it never occured to me that one day I might meet and tell the story of a former mob-connected gangster straight off the streets of Brooklyn, New York. But that's exactly what happened.








April 22, 2012

Featured Indies of The Week

Wendy Altshuler

Nadia's Heart, Part One

 

Description :


When an amnesiac girl who thinks she has been born without a heart utters a prayer, she is met by a mysterious stranger from her forgotten past. Together they embark on a journey to recover her removed heart, but enter into battle with an Evil Voice on a rampage to remove the hearts of an entire generation of children. 





                                                                 
                                                                     

                                                                              Bio provided by the Author.

 Wendy Altshuler is an award-winning screenwriter who explores myth in new media.  With a degree in psychology and a Master of Arts from Columbia University, Altshuler documented the work of international choreographers and wrote and produced regional programming for three years. In 2001 she founded Arborgate Media to create projects that inspire, enrich and entertain through the media of film.  Altshuler writes fantasy novels and currently works in the art of stop motion animation. She is represented by a WGA-accredited agent.










David Ware Sr.

A True Thug Willsin

  

Description:  

Welcome to the Pleasure Palace. A place where all of your fetishes can be fulfilled for a price. How much? Just your soul in hell.

A True Thug Willsin is a book that exposes the deceitful ways Satan manipulates through money, drugs and sex, his three most successful, Worldly weapons.

Willsin is the proprietor of a high-priced brothel, called the Pleasure Palace. The Pleasure Palace is a place where one can have all their fetishes fulfilled. But the price is steep. High-ranking City of Detroit officials, including the Mayor, have paid and will continue to do so—one way or another.

Willsin becomes the leader of a drug organization called the Young Hustlers Incorporated. The Young Hustlers take over the City of Detroit’s drugs trade. The City then put together a multi precinct task-force, committed to annihilating every ruthless, murderous member. This is easier said than done, when the leader turns out to be the son of Satan.

You can't win, when you deal in Sin, That is WILLSIN!





 



J.L. McCreedy

Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen

 

Description:

  The average ten-year-old girl seldom travels far from home. She doesn’t worry about being kidnapped by witches or imprisoned in medieval castles where children are ensnared to meet their unspeakable demise. She rarely gives thought to curses, potions and magic. She certainly isn’t concerned about risking life and limb to decipher ancient rites and lost treasures....

But Liberty Frye is about to discover that she is not just your average girl.

When a cryptic note from long-lost relatives arrives, the news it brings flips Libby’s small-town existence upside down. Soon, she finds herself lured to a foreign land where mystery, spells and the dark stuff of fairy tales await. It’s up to Libby to unravel the sinister plot that brought her there in the first place, but in so doing, she’ll uncover a shocking secret that will change her life forever ... if she survives the challenge.


Review : My daughter(15) wanted to read this book after the author sent me a free copy. It's really not my cup of tea, so I loaned her my Kindle and here is what she had to say about it.

Four out of Five Stars -

I loved it, couldn't put it down! I liked the innocence of the main character Libby.It is a very original story, fast paced and exciting. It was funny in some places that made me laugh out loud. The author created a magical and breathtaking world. I would love to see a sequel.