Well, here I am about a month before the launch of THE XERCES FACTOR. I’ve been through the drill before but never get used to the ‘hurry-up-and-wait’ madness.

I’ve dutifully implemented the action items from my project management spreadsheet; they seem to come in bunches…a day or two of frenetic activity and then days of waiting until the next bunch comes along.

And there’s the frustration of waiting for someone else to do something…but no one’s fault. It’s the nature of the process. Oh how I would like to have the cover art and ISBN number now; I could update websites, put together promos and get ahead of the game.

And, how nice it would be to have the proof for line editing a little early. Although I’ve tried to mentally ‘put the book to bed’, ideas keep popping into my mind…not major revisions, but little things to make the book better. I dare not open the manuscript file and tinker…a sure path to disaster.

But, nooooooo…the process proceeds at its glacial pace, not designed with the author’s mental health in mind…perhaps the opposite?!

With this tirade complete I check the calendar. Less than a month till launch. It will come, but through a quirk of physics the passage of time slows.

By the way, an excerpt from THE XERCES FACTOR is found at  http://www.rodneypagebooks.com/#!the-characters-speak/csv5

Britbear’s Book Reviews is thrilled to feature fellow Black Rose Writing author, Mary Ellen Bramwell in today’s author interview.

When Brea Cass, a young mother, is awakened in the night by the news that her loving husband, Paul, has been shot during a robbery, she is stunned.  Arriving at the hospital to discover he has died shakes her whole world.  When she finally emerges from the fog of her life, it dawns on her that something is amiss in the way her husband died.  What was really going on?

As Brea searches for answers, she discovers things she never knew, things she’s not sure she wants to know.  Delving into the mysteries that surround her brings several questions to the forefront of Brea’s thoughts.  Can I move forward despite heartache?  Am I loved?  Is someone who has made mistakes redeemable?

To read the interview, please go to http://eliseabram.com/britbear/?p=270.

Are you an author or blogger who would you like to be featured in an author spotlight with a guest post, author interview, excerpt and/or cover reveal, contact me at britbear@eliseabram.com

    I almost hate telling people that I'm a writer because almost every single one of them immediately asks the same stupid question: "Where do you get your ideas from?"

    If you meet a chef do you ask him/her, "How did you decide what kind of food you like to cook?" Do you ask the major league baseball player, "How did you figure out how to catch that third-inning fly ball?" Would you ask someone, "Why did you decide to fall in love with that woman?"

    You don't open a web page or tap your smart phone to find a list of people you will love or food that you want to cook or stories that you want to write. We all encounter large numbers of people and events and some resonate with us and some don't. Who knows why?

    Every time I'm about to start a new book I have to ask myself what story I want to tell. For me, the answer is always based on the emotional situation I want to explore – revenge, redemption, betrayal, perseverance, whatever. In order to get my level of energy up I need to find the emotional core to the story I'm going to write.

    I liked the idea of a decent, courageous lawman willing to do whatever it took, no matter the personal cost, to bring a gang of ruthless killers to justice and that idea became Shooting Crows At Dawn.

    I liked the idea of child mistakenly thought dead rescued through the innate decency of an ordinary person and returned safe to her family and from that idea arose The Concrete Kiss.

    I liked the idea of a technically smart but socially clueless young cop being mentored by a skilled detective in the hope that someday the kid could himself become a great member of the Murder Police and from that notion came Death Never Sleeps.

    I first need to find some emotional situation that excites me and then construct a story around that idea. Every writer is different. Lots of crime novelists like writing what I call "puzzle stories," books with complicated plots and clues. There is a crime. There are lots of suspects. The killer may or may not even be on the suspect list. The detective follows the threads until, eventually, he or she finds the culprit.

    I could write a book like that but I won't write a book like that because there's no excitement, no emotion, in it for me. For me, it's just work. I may as well be digging a ditch. There are plenty of writers who love writing puzzle books, who enjoy figuring out the clues and the plot twists. Good for them. I enjoy reading books like that. I just don't enjoy writing them so I immediately cross all kinds of pure puzzle stories off my list.

    Getting back to the "where your ideas come from" question, it's not so much how you think up a story. It's more about looking at that list of story ideas and then deciding which one you think you will enjoy writing versus all those other stories you could think of that would be drudgery to write.

    Where do those story ideas come from? The same place that a chef gets the dinner menu and the artist gets the subject for his/her painting. They all come from the individual's imagination. If you don't have any imagination then you aren't going to be much of a fiction writer, painter, chef, musician, etc.

    Maybe people who ask the question don't have much of an imagination. Maybe it's like someone who can't add 11 + 19 in their head asking the accountant how he knows that the answer is 30. He just does. That's how his brain works. But here's the crucial thing: the real trick is not coming up with the correct total. It's figuring out which numbers to add together in the first place.

    –David Grace

Big trouble and light hearted investigations…

A beautiful stage show star, come whore house madam, is suddenly foully murdered, despite her apparent gangster protection.  A disgruntled Japanese business tycoon hires a hit man to assassinate Australia’s Prime Minister.  An unbeatable game show contestant takes a recreational bungee-jump, only to have her rope break in what her friend thinks is dubious circumstances.  Enter the low-life world of Paddy Pest, sometimes Private Investigator and sometimes secret agent for Australia’s spy bureau ASIO.  Pest is based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, though is very frequently an international traveler.  He is a master of dubious disguises, and often manages to solve the case despite his shortcomings.  Here is a world where virtually everybody has a rancorous underbelly, and where murder is a common life event, but where good will eventually win out (even if by fluke).  These humorous short stories will beguile you, entertain you and make you chuckle.  Gerry Burke’s Pest On The Run: More Humorous Short Stories From The Paddy Pest Chronicles (iUniverse, c2012) is ideal for the lover of crime and murder mystery tales, but will also suit busy people looking for a witty amusement to fill a free hour or two.

Paddy is a frequent visitor of both upper class and lower class hotel bars, and these tales have the ethos of a pub yarn: unlikely events, boisterous pride, and male machoism lubricated to dubious heights.  The style is very chatty, with Pest narrating his stories as if he is talking to an interested acquaintance.  There are asides to the reader.  When pertinent, Paddy occasionally reminisces about his past, including his childhood.  With a flair for drama he sometimes skips over the more mundane details to get to the action and juicy bits.  These stories certainly deal with the darker side of life, and a few times death is narrated, but the great majority of these plots take place after the brutality is over.  This book is about solving crime, not depicting crime and is overwhelmingly light hearted.  Paddy is certainly a ladies man and the ticklish subject of sex is often alluded to, though not specifically depicted.  In tune with the ‘pub ethos’, Paddy’s descriptions of women can be quite humorously crude, without actually being offensive, except perhaps to the conservative.  There are several laugh out loud moments and every story will leave the reader smiling.  Most stories have moments of high drama, though here the unlikeliness of the action is taken tongue in cheek.  Occasionally Burke includes good phrasing that lifts the text.  We read for example the atmospheric and slightly philosophic sentence: “Often, when you visit a country with a different culture, it is difficult to break through the veneer of reserve that camouflages a human spirit that is primed to explode” (Burke, p. 25).  More of this care in writing would make the book even better.  There is occasional foul language, but this is completely in tune with the macho low-life spirit of the book and will not offend most readers.  This is a book by an Australian author and there is quite a sprinkling of colloquialisms and cultural references which may be unfamiliar to international readers.  Some are explained in the text, which erases any difficulty, but some are not.  These are, however, in no way essential to the text and will at the most cause a moment of wondering before the reader passes on.

In his collective stories Burke presents us with an interesting portrait of “Patrick Pesticide aka Paddy Pest” (Burke, p. v).  Paddy is of Irish heritage, though primarily Australian in outlook.  Burke thus combines both Irish luck and silliness, with the Australian macho male.  He is a gambler and bets on race horses, and has quite an eye for the women.  Paddy is of dubious background.  He says of himself “I would not say I was straight or bent – somewhere in the middle” (Burke, p. 4).  On the down side Paddy can be quite sexist, seeing women in many ways as bodies first.  Full of pride Pest sees himself as a “master of disguise” (Burke, p. 37), though others are not nearly as convinced.  While Paddy is in training in New Guinea one character comments on his being “dressed in a ridiculous head-hunter’s outfit” (Burke, p. 188).  By creating this mix of good and bad Burke has created an endearing, eccentric character that we can like because he gives us a slightly spicy escape from our ‘ordinary’ lives.  Paddy reminds us of the rough, tough boy at high school who everybody admired, but who never really did anything seriously wrong.  He is a ‘lad’ and the reader is charmed.  Paddy of course comes in a great tradition of incompetent Private Investigators / Spies.   We think of Austin Powers, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, Agent Maxwell Smart and even Inspector Gadget.  Burke, however, has given us his own particular spin on the pattern, and we do not feel that we are reading a complete copy.

A few other characters pop up more than once.  There is Stormy Weathers, the totally competent ASIO agent, who has a cover job as barmaid at Sam’s Fly by Night Club.  There is Justin O’Keefe, the slacker police Inspector with an attitude.  Mostly these secondary characters are at a minimum.  Burke does, though, give them personality traits that flesh them out a bit.  Stormy, for example, is a jealous lover.  Occasionally Burke gives us a potted history of a character, giving us a summary of their eccentricities and adventures.  Murder victim Frankie Hogan, for example, is a memorable woman with true spirit.  Burke describes her in three pages giving the story depth and poignancy.  Burke is quite skilled at this kind of detail and his writing would benefit by including more of it.

As we have noted Pest himself can be quite sexist.  At one point for example he outrageously poses the equation that large breasts equals many friends (Burke, p. 200).  Much of the humor, however, arises from the fact that many women are in actuality much more competent than him.  As Pest himself says: “There had been two attempts on my life and, once more, I had been saved by a woman” (Burke, p. 77).  These stories are indeed filled with dynamic, no-nonsense women you would think twice about crossing.  There is a dangerous female assassin, successful business women, and several able female secret agents.  Frankie Hogan takes no sexual nonsense from men, has “personality” (Burke, p. 3), and is a success in all her career ventures.  Not to err too much on one side Burke has included one nasty, negatively-portrayed, female villain (Burke, p. 118).  On the whole this book will pass Feminist standards, though some may not take the humor.

Shifting to male roles and Gender Studies it should be noted that these stories are in some ways very much in the ethos of the 1950’s though they are set in contemporary times.  This is the world of the tough guy, the gangster, the merry bachelor.  Men should not really have soft feelings.  Hyman Finkelstein, a low-life criminal, doesn’t even like people looking at him (Burke, p. 151) let alone be able to have a mature relationship.  Fear is a sign that a guy must be a “nancy boy” (Burke, p. 230).  Paddy, on the other hand, is able to hug an old, male friend (Burke, p. 17).  Women are very much a sexual adjunct to the male ego.  Paddy does have a kind of steady relationship with Stormy, but even that is very much a breakable, uncommitted relationship.  This whole ‘retro’ male image is, however, held up to debunking humor.  This male world is on shaky ground.  The great male image repeatedly is out shone by women and needs females to save it.

As with the issue of women and Feminism, Paddy Pest, and those he meets, can be quite homophobic.  Paddy, for example, refers to gays by a disparaging name (Burke, p. 244), as does Hyman Finkelstein (Burke, p, 151).  Finkelstein is particularly negative about gays. The actual representations of LGBTIQ people, however, on the whole are not that negative about that aspect of their lives.  LGBTIQ people are primarily represented by two stories.  First there is The Candidate which spotlights Lindsay Dove and his life-partner Jay Sniggle.  Lindsay is a U.S. presidential candidate and Jay is an IT consultant.  Then there is Who Was That Masked Man? highlighting the ‘butch-fem’ caterer Cate Edwards.  Cate is a villain, but the story is not negative about her being a lesbian.  This second story indeed has Ellen DeGeneres making fun of Paddy’s cloddish ignorance of the LGBTIQ community.  Ellen is mentioned (as an LGBTIQ person) in another story (Burke, p. 84), as is k.d. Lang (Burke, p. 154).  Gay Mardi Grass are mentioned twice.  A number of times women are suspected to be lesbian (not in a negative way) and a ‘drag-queen’ secret agent is depicted canoodling with an unwitting male politican (Burke, p. 138-139).  On another occasion Paddy comes upon a not so pretty ‘drag-queen’ (Burke, p. 21), but this is the only negative description, and of course not all transvestites are necessarily beautiful.  Once again the issue should not offend interested parties as long as the humor is taken into account.

The often ignored Indigenous and Racial Minorities also feature.  Lindsay Dove is “black” (Burke, p. 79) as well as being gay.  In A Long Time Gone Australia’s Jewish minority is highlighted in the character of Hyman Finkelstein.  Hymie is a gangster villain, but Burke goes out of his way to point out that he is not being anti-Jewish (Burke, p. 158-159).  Louey is a successful “Polynesian” bar owner on Norfolk Island (Burke, p. 121).  In The Goodbye Wave, though, the head of Fiji is referred to as a “baboon” (Burke, p. 129).  This is a rather racist description, even for humorous purposes.  Overall this is a very multicultural book, with Chinese, Japanese, Philipino, Hong Kong, Russian, Balkan and Greeks mentioned with stories being set in many different countries.  We get a true sense of the world, rather than a monosyllabic, white Anglo-Saxon perspective.

The aged feature in a very minor way in these tales.  There is one uncomplimentary portrayal (Burke, p. 176) and one positive description of an older (though not necessarily aged) woman (Burke, p. 195).  Burke could lift his game a little here, as the world is not full of only those under 55 years, even though some agencies such as advertising would have us believe this.

From the Capitalism verses Socialism perspective wealth in these stories is certainly suspect.  These tales show only a very slim difference between corrupt businessmen and rich gangsters.  Politicians and even judges don’t exactly receive compliments.  The lower classes are not lauded, but they are not seriously criticized.  The Little people’ more often than not help Paddy.  The middle class is to a degree absent, but this is not so surprising as they are not likely to have the funds to hire a Private Investigator and are too ‘clean’ to have information on gangsters.

From the broader outlook of society in general, the Catholic Church is foot-noted as being anti-gay (Burke, p. 82 & 154) and rather a kill-joy for the more spirited members of the world (Burke, 149).  The Police are depicted as being often incompetent and corrupt.  These two institutions of society, perhaps in tune with Socialism, could be improved.

Before departing from these various social issues it should be stressed that these stories rely very much on outrageous statements and circumstances for humor.  The book is full of politically incorrect text, but we are meant to take everything tongue in cheek.  If we read these tales too critically we will be deeply offended, but Burke wants us, on the one hand to ‘lighten up’, and on the other hand to look a bit deeper.  If this is kept in mind the book can very much be enjoyed.

From a Postmodern perspective it can be noted that there are no hard edge binary oppositions in Pest On The Run.  There are definite ‘bad’ guys, but good and bad blur.  As has been noted, Paddy himself is shady.  We like him precisely because he is a ‘wag’.  In Murder Before Lunch Pest even works for a crime boss.  This blurring of categories makes for a more realistic and interesting read.  It adds ‘spice’ and avoids boring oversimplification.

Many stories have a mythological quality, and indeed these elements can be what attract us most to an author’s work.  For Paddy Pest we need only to turn to the Joker Card in the modern playing card pack.  As court jester, the Joker is dressed in a funny costume, and Pest similarly assumes dubious disguises.  The Joker’s cap has pretentious baubles and he holds a wand topped with a manikin of himself.   Pest is none to retiring in describing his own talents as a spy and lover.  Yet the Joker possesses almost magical powers that no other card has, and in its presence many a losing hand can be transformed into a winning hand.  Pest does solve the case, even if by sheer luck.  Of course, most of all, the Joker tells silly stories and jokes, and that is the overwhelming ethos of Burke’s book.

Gerry Burke has written a very entertaining book for the not so serious at heart.  He manages to take a look at a wide variety of social issues, such as Feminism, while at the same time making us laugh.  The dark world of crime is depicted, occasionally with the brutality described, but good always wins out and we are mostly entertained by a light hand.  Most stories are around 20 pages long, and are ideal reading if you are short of time.  Pest On The Run was a pleasure to read and I am happy to rate it as 4.5 out of 5 stars.

http://goo.gl/pfzodA   Pest On The Run (Book ed.)

http://goo.gl/PJDHzw Pest On The Run (Kindle ed.)

http://goo.gl/rxzUnD   Gerry Burke’s Facebook Author Page

http://goo.gl/QisYTm   Gerry Burke’s Web Site

Gerry Burke

Mystical, Magical or Reality? New Caitlin Diggs reviewed!

When I began writing Caitlin Diggs's fourth novel, 9 Incarnate, I was fascinated with the idea of gods and aliens. Many who are familiar with Ancient Aliens are aware of the theories which propose aliens were mistaken by primitive cultures to be gods. Could this be the case with ancient Egypt? It would seem some kind of divine intervention or magic was cultivated to bring about one of the wonders of the world, the pyramids.

Could these magestic structures be the work of sole humans without the aid of precision capable tool making to not only cut the blocks perfectly but lift what appears to have been blocks of stone weighing megatons into place?

The answer may be contained in the pages of 9 INCARNATE when Agent Caitlin Diggs explores the mystery of the ancient world via the arrival of the Ennead, a group of gods claiming to be the ancient divine nine of Egypt. Well, except of course for Isis, who appears to have been residing within Caitlin due to a strange incident with a crystal.

The Wiccan FBI Agent Briana McFadden and fringe scientist Claude Brahms often spar in this book, each arguing for magic and science. McFadden believes nature was manipulated by the gods whereas Brahms believes the manipulation is only possible because of physics. In other words, blocks of stone didn't float into place by magical spells but because someone manipulated gravity via vibration.

I hope you'll come along for this crazy ride into Earth's past, present and probable future in 9 INCARNATE. See the first review below.

5 stars A very original fun read January 8, 2014 By Sheri A. Wilkinson

'Very original story line, I loved it! Caitlin Diggs is a preternatural investigator. She is investigating a murder and hears a voice in her head. She finds that she is one with the Goddess Isis. With the help of her friend Briana they set out to solve the crime and the mystery the Egyptian pyramids hold.

A fun read. I loved the blend of Egyptian Gods/Goddesses with the mortal world. Also the mystery and the originality of the story line. Caitlin was very likable, the situation she was put in, and the way she handled it was fascinating to watch unfold. A well written story I find all will enjoy.'

http://www.amazon.com/9-Incarnate-Gary-Starta-ebook/dp/B00HMZRU4A/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389052608&sr=1-1&keywords=9+Incarnate

Merle Temple's novel, A Ghostly Shade of Pale, Stirs Interest in Hollywood 

Tupelo, Mississippi, native Merle Temple has written his first novel, A Ghostly Shade of Pale. It has garnered warm reviews from readers and Southern Writer's Magazine calls it "suspense-driven and you will not want to put it down..., his personal experiences make it a compelling read from cover to cover..., memories have their way with him so those raw emotions would surface and be laid bare on page after page of remembrances, in order for his readers to feel what he felt." 

Criminal Minds' Jim Clemente says "Ghostly is a crime story as literature. Merle Temple is a great storyteller, writing to all of your senses. He weaves a story so detailed and complex, yet beautifully sinister, that the reader is immersed in the feeling of absolute reality." 

Producers are looking at Merle's novel for a possible movie or TV series, and Merle signed books for the casts of Criminal Minds and Major Crimes while in Hollywood to meet with producers. He also appeared on Media Mayhem in Beverly Hills. Host Allison Hope Weiner said, "Captures the South, the period in the 1960s...evocative of some of the great Southern writers...a taste and feeling for where you are...intriguing, a lot of layers in this fascinating book..." 

Signings from Tupelo's Gum Tree Bookstore to LifeWay in Hollywood, and Barnes and Noble in Las Vegas to Marlowe's in Memphis have been greeted with long lines of book lovers. The crime-mystery thriller is written as fiction but based on Merle's experiences as a narcotics agent in the first declared "War on Drugs" in the early 1970s.

History files on a bygone era are ripped open and rewritten in games of murder, betrayal, the macabre, and the supernatural in A Ghostly Shade of Pale. 

Michael Parker comes of age as the tranquility of the old South is shattered in the 1970s by civil unrest, the Vietnam War, and a wave of drug abuse that brings the war on drugs to his front door. Fresh out of Ole Miss, he joins the newly formed Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and enters a world he is not prepared for. A chain of events unfolds that lead him to become an unlikely player in a game of international intrigue and a clandestine struggle for the soul of America.

The remote crop-duster airfields of Mississippi become launching pads for soldiers of fortune hired by intelligence agencies to smuggle guns into Central America. They return with drugs to fund black operations and shape what their employers call the "Real America." These intelligence rogues employ Fredrick, a murderous psychopath, to manipulate protests against the war and as a contract assassin who has no remorse. They realize too late that his loyalties are not to them or to the communists he also manipulates as a double agent but to the voices in his head that speak to him incessantly.

An uneasy and complex alliance between these shadowy figures, organized crime bosses, and corrupt politicians form a matrix where Fredrick indulges his madness, slimy Mississippi politicians nurture their deviancy, and snipers ambush Michael and his agents on frozen fields of regret. A deadly game of cat and mouse threatens the life of the woman Michael loses and finds again as she washes down black beauties with champagne in the seamy Memphis nightclubs of the Dixie Mafia.

As he searches for an elusive peace and tries to resist the charms of his troubled lover, the Dixie Mafia tries to kill him, mob lawyers try to bribe him, and the Bureau of Narcotics is infiltrated and compromised. Parker, a modern paladin in search of just causes and dragons to slay, is a cop-philosopher commenting on the world in which he travels as he awakens at twenty-six to find that the whole of his life-his notion of right and wrong and good and evil-was all a lie.

The plan to alter America filters down to and corrupts government at all levels and claims the lives of those who could never know or imagine the origin of their demise. It all comes unraveled in the madness of Fredrick and the conflicted state police agent who unwittingly becomes the fly in the ointment to machinations he cannot begin to grasp until he is forced to fight for his life and the lives of those he loves against enemies seen and unseen. 

A Ghostly Shade of Pale, the first in a trilogy, is available in hardback and eBook (Nook, Kindle, and iTunes) at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble at bn.com, Gum Tree Bookstore in Tupelo, MS., Square Books in Oxford, MS., TurnRow Books in Greenwood, MS., Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, MS., Barnes and Noble in Tupelo, MS and Henderson, Nevada, and LifeWay Books in Tupelo, MS. and Brea, CA.

This article was also submitted (by Judd Miller) and published on all of the sites listed below on the same day (11/14/2013) to generate more views for the book and the author.

http://learnsomethinguseful.com/Merle_Temple%27s_novel,_A_Ghostly_Shade_of_Pale,_Stirs_Interest_in_Hollywood

http://66.228.32.62/wiki/index.php?

http://articles.miclad.com/article.php?id=36083title=Merle_Temple%27s_novel%2C_A_Ghostly_Shade_of_Pale%2C_Stirs_Interest_in_Hollywood

http://articles.toolz.co.in/article.php?id=23797

Want to be the next to take advantage of our news blogging service to 55+ websites to generate more online views? Go to http://bit.ly/18cxRgK to learn more

Want to be in the list of our next 'Book-of-the-Day' authors? Go to http://bit.ly/18UT7lD to learn more.

 Sharon’s life was at its fullest or so it seemed. She had one of the best paying jobs, a high flyer; climbing the career ladder at a pace most people could only imagine. Blessed with toys typical of the fast-paced life, state of the art automobiles, jetting from one city to another on vacation, and been courted by the most eligible bachelor at work. What more can a girl possibly ask for?

 This was Sharon’s life until a sleeping beast from the past rose and dealt her an eternal wound. Would she recover from it?

Left alone by family and friends, she turned to the one who has the answers to the questions of life. A Rough Diamond portrays the frailty of human affections in the face of adversity, Sharon’s emotional battles with God who she held responsible for her woes and the strength that came when she decided to put her faith in an invisible God.

In this story, we will get to see that death is not the end of human existence; it is only a door to eternity.

From this classic piece, we will see how a life can be beautifully remolded and transformed by tragedy; how good can spin out of a tragic event and how the human spirit through faith in God can rise above every conceivable challenge of life.

Emotional, gripping and deeply moving, this is a book that will hold, possess and remain with you forever.

Waking Up Dead is a paranormal mystery novel that follows the quest of a ghost to solve the crime of another murder victim.

LOUISVILLE, KY., Oct. 9, 2013 -- Author Margo Bond Collins is proud to announce the recent release of her novel Waking Up Dead. Waking Up Dead is a paranormal mystery novel that follows the quest of a ghost to solve the crime of another murder victim. The compelling book trailer for Waking Up Dead was revealed today on DGT Book Promotion news. In addition, Margo Bond Collins shared an insightful interview this week on the Reading and Writing Addiction blog about herself and the release of Waking Up Dead. Margo’s interview can be read at www.readinwritin.blogspot.com and the official Waking Up Dead trailer can be viewed on YouTube.

About The Book

When Dallas resident Callie Taylor died young, she expected to go to Heaven, or maybe Hell. Instead, she met her fate early thanks to a creep with a knife and a mommy complex. Now she's witnessed another murder, and she's not about to let this one go. She's determined to help solve it before an innocent man goes to prison. And to answer the biggest question of all: why the hell did she wake up in Alabama?

Praise for Waking Up Dead

Waking Up Dead is “A definite winner! One of the best paranormal mysteries I’ve read! ” – A readers review.

About the Author

Margo Bond Collins lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter and several spoiled cats. She teaches college-level English courses online, though writing fiction is her first love. She enjoys reading urban fantasy and paranormal fiction of any genre and spends most of her free time daydreaming about vampires, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, and other monsters. The paranormal mystery Waking Up Dead is her first novel; her second, Legally Undead, is an urban fantasy due out from World Weaver Press in 2014.

Waking Up Dead is available at Amazon.com. To learn more about Margo Bond Collins and Waking Up Dead, visit www.MargoBondCollins.com.

Affordable book promotion for authors with DGT Book Promotions

Looking for a quick read?  A good but short mystery that you can escape into for a day at the beach or a few afternoons on the hammock or in your favorite recliner?  Either Fake Pastor or Widows Indeed might be just what you’re looking for. 

In Fake Pastor, the first in the Rose Jackson Series, you will meet Rose, a 32 year old single Mom of two children living in North Central Arkansas and temporarily unemployed.  A job opens up, one that she has no training, education or experience for, but it is so intriguing.  They need a pastor at the Church of the Cross.  OK, she wasn't positive that there was a God, but she could certainly be a good pastor, couldn't she?  And, for awhile, it is the perfect job, until three of her parishioners are killed.  Is Rose herself involved?  After all, she is the one who has visions that get two people arrested.  Then, Rose is kidnapped. 

Widows Indeed is also a murder mystery, but takes place in New Hampshire on the Sugar River near Sunapee Lake where I grew up.  (Arkansas is where I ended up.)  In the sleepy little fictional town of Elmsdale, an elderly woman is found with her throat slit - the blood drained from her body into the ground.  She is over seventy, a pillar of the community.  Who would want to kill an elderly widow?  And shortly after, another widow is killed in exactly the same way.  Two detectives from a nearby city head to Elmsdale to help the local police chief, Frank Tolliver, solve the crimes.  Is there a local pervert turned serial killer loose in this seemingly quiet and peaceful New Hampshire town?  Pete one of the detectives thinks so.  In fact he has decided that Garth Baxter, a man with downs syndrome, is the killer.  While Pete blusters ahead to prove his theory, his partner, Judy Wittoski and Frank delve deeper into the killings looking for a connection between the killing of old ladies and that of a young girl, an 18 year old, who was raped and killed several years ago.  She was left in the same place as one of the widows, and the cut to the throat is all but identical.  The girl was Frank's daughter. 

You can see a sample of the books at Book Daily, bit.ly/ZzzmL9 or on my website www.frantouchette.com or to buy a print or eBook go to  amzn.to/VQ84V6 

LOCKDOWN REALITY TV SERIES COMING SOON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhbV0My3NxE&feature=player_embedded

Another one of Glenn Langohr's stunning memoirs--a brave, unflinching account of life in prison~ Prison Killers Book 4

The California Prison System houses a mixture of Mexican cartel members, Mexican mafia, Bloods, Crips, and thousands of other street gangs fighting for control and the author turns this story into a pulp thriller of true crime.

The author of Underdog, Glenn Langohr, takes you on a journey back into prison as he remembers a prison riot days before his release date where he left his friend on the way to Pelican Bay.

The story follows the author years later as he visits his friend in Pelican Bay during a prisoner developed hunger strike against sadistic and cruel guards who get off on their isolation and enjoy adding violence to their torture.

A spotlight on the flaws at how Pelican Bay determines gang validation and solitary confinement.

"With lazer-like precision Glenn Langohr lays bare the festering under-belly of our criminal justice system in a driving, graphic narrative that somehow finds the humanity in this most inhuman setting." Phillip Doran, T.V. Producer and Author

For Glenn Langohr's complete list of books in print, kindle and audio book in the U.S. go here~ http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00571NY5A For the U.K. go here~ http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00571NY5A

Available for interviews and reviews at rollcallthebook@gmail.com http://www.audiobookprisonstories.com

Prison Riot, A True Story of Surviving a Gang War in Prison by Glenn Langohr is Available in Audio Book to Listen to Like a Movie

To listen to an excerpt for free or purchase go here- http://amzn.to/XByCbW

Another one of Glenn Langohr’s stunning memoirs–a brave, unflinching account of life in prison

USA Today's Robin Covington~ evokes the adventure and pace of the big movie thrillers