Book News
Jay S. Willis' WAR OF THE SPHERE (Arcanitium Press, December 20, 2021)
The lines have been drawn. The battle for the realm has begun. Can this young woman become the leader who can stop the spread of evil?
Dashira Eisenheart never planned to head a rebellion. But when three millennia of magic suppression end to unleash devastating forces upon the world, she launches into a fight for her people. And every day the war over the Sphere-Blessed continues to rage, the closer her homeland edges toward utter annihilation.
Struggling to control her own abilities and teaming up with the all-powerful Three, Dashira hunts for magical artifacts to swing the conflict in their favor. But a dangerous trek reveals shocking secrets about the nature of reality that could tear apart the very fabric of time.
Can this rebel warrior save the future before the present is ground to dust?
War of the Sphere is the thrilling conclusion to the groundbreaking The Sphere Saga epic fantasy series. If you like deep worlds, intricate characters, and vivid depictions of all-out combat, then you’ll love Jay S. Willis’s mind-altering story.
Jay S. Willis' DAWN OF THE SPHERE (Arcanitium Press, November 19, 2021)
Thousands of years ago, magic ruled their land. When the mightiest among them rise up, will they bring peace… or rain down destruction.
Axamar Sulvastra discovered his powers on the day his brother died. Instead of saving a life, his accidental outburst robbed him of something truly precious. And now he fears the Red Rage pumping through his veins could either free the world or send it to its doom.
Working hard to control his abilities at the Academy of Arcane Studies, Axamar quickly bonds with two other gifted and potent mages. But as jealousies erupt and unchecked power festers, their irreparable discord could cost them everything when a devastating plague threatens to ravage the planet.
Can Axamar unite The Three to repair the realm before all life is obliterated?
Set three millennia before the events of book one, Dawn of the Sphere is the second book in the immersive The Sphere Saga epic fantasy series. If you like complex interpersonal intrigue, powerful backstories, and blockbuster battles, you’ll love Jay S. Willis’s mind-blowing origin story.
Jay S. Willis' DREAM OF THE SPHERE (Arcanitium Press, October 25, 2021)
Three thousand years of tradition torn asunder. When the truth comes out, will a hero emerge to pick up the pieces?
Dashira Eisenheart takes ultimate comfort in her community. So she’s thrilled when her brother ascends to the coveted order chosen to protect the world from safely sealed-away, millennia-old, dangerous magic. But her faith in her beloved parents’ loyalty cracks after she spies her mother sneaking about town to meet with the enemy.
Striving to stay focused on her own academic studies, Dashira becomes caught in family tensions that soon reach a boiling point. And as her father’s Brotherhood and her mother’s rebel group head toward a cataclysmic clash, the young seeker finds herself trapped by conflicting choices.
Will she face her fears and accept her role in a grand destiny?
Dream of the Sphere is the intricate first entry in the expansive The Sphere Saga epic fantasy series. If you like gargantuan conflicts, jaw-dropping twists, and deep explorations of humanity’s beliefs, you’ll love Jay S. Willis’s hard-hitting tale.
Jay S. Willis' BLOOD IS THICKER THAN MAGIC (Independent, May 17, 2021)
An ancient family feud. Strange magic. Can one uncertain boy heal an eldritch rift?
Thirteen-year-old Daniel Waldera is struggling with life's changes. Realizing he has feelings for his best friend is hard enough, and the idea of confessing them to her is even more terrifying. But when he's attacked by an evil spirit and turns a flashlight into a lightsaber to vanquish it, the young teen faces a whole new level of confusion.
Discovering he's heir to powers from both his grandfather and his dad, Daniel finds himself caught in the middle of a long-running family rivalry. And with his best friend afraid of his growing abilities, fulfilling a prophecy is the last thing he wants.
Can Daniel defeat his own fears in time to become the master of magic he was born to be?
Blood is Thicker than Magic is the page-turning first book in The Arcana Chronicles teen urban fantasy series. If you like everyday heroes, unexpected destiny, and coming-of-age adventures, then you'll love Jay S. Willis's riveting tale.
Allison S. Bass' DESTINY AT DAWN (April 2020)
A young librarian sets out on an adventure that will change her future and solve the mystery of her past.
After convincing Prince Alexander to propose to Cinderella, Felicity is certain she’s managed to protect the fate of Valencia, a kingdom controlled by fairy tales. Now that she’s completed her task, she can finally begin the next chapter of her life and dismiss any lingering romantic feelings she might have for a certain charming prince. However, despite her best attempts, she soon realizes that matters of the heart are not so easily forgotten. The stakes are raised even higher when someone close to her is kidnapped, sparking the start of a dangerous game that could risk all she holds dear. Once again, she’s hurtled toward an adventure she never expected. This time, the fairy tale takes her into a forest full of fairies, up a beanstalk with giants, and down a path to find her own destiny.
Paul Dalzell's HE MIGHT BE STILL ON MARS (April 2020)
He Might Be Still On Mars is a thriller set in the latter years of the 26th Century. Mankind has spread out into the rocky planets of the Solar System and the rocky moons of the Gas Giants such as Jupiter and Saturn. Despite light speed and near light speed travel, the number of people emigrating to these new worlds is in the doldrums.
This lack of enthusiasm is driven primarily by the savagery of raids by pirate chief, Wilson Black. Powerful politician and scientist, Stella Ling, sends Owen Bone and his Synthetic partner Sandi Shaw on a manhunt for an absconded husband, Freddie Ling. This is camouflage for a plan to eliminate Wilson Black. Owen and Sandi are subject to terrifying injuries and stresses that test what it means to be human and Synth. In overcoming these challenges, they find help in the most unlikely places, leading to a showdown with Black in the frozen remote taiga forest of Siberia.
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Say whaaaaaaaaat?! https://t.co/dp7xMNbMf2
— 𝕁𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕞𝕪 𝔻𝕖ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕪 (@DeCoursey) August 16, 2020
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So excited to announce I've signed with @RhetoricAskew to publish my novel, Complex Solutions. Thanks to CP's @KDD_writes, @CyndeRoute, @jenns_books, @SanWrites & our awesome critique group, editor @OnlyCassandra. Couldn't have gotten here without you.😆 👍— susan dalessandro (@Writerdale27) November 20, 2018
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Matt Ward's CYNETIC WOLF (Myrmani Press March 22, 2020)
"a dystopian thrill ride that ratchets up the action with each page and begs the question - who can claim humanity?" -Jacqui Castle, best selling author of The Seclusion
Life sucked until cyborgs murdered his sister. Then things got worse: superhuman hit squads, cybernetic powers, secrets better left unsaid.
Raek’s your average sixteen-year-old wolfish: claws, keen eyes, a nose for trouble… There’s just one thing: he’s got built-in blasters and is a threat to the immortal world government. That’s why the Resistance wants him, and why the cyborgs want him dead.
With only the advice of a mysterious professor and the help of a fragmented half-human Resistance, Raek must navigate crushing betrayal, self-doubt, and a limitless enemy whose evil knows no bounds.
The fate of mankind may rest in his hands.
Cynetic Wolf is the first in the Wolfish YA sci-fi dystopian series that features bloody immortality, post-apocalyptic progress, and gene editing that splinters the very fabric of society. If you like dark technothrillers, fast-paced adventure, and surprising sci-fi, are a fan of Divergent, Red Rising, or the Hunger Games, or love classics like the Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World and Ender’s Game, you’ll love this speculative fiction thriller.
Michael Ripplinger's Tomorrow's Shepherd (Indeendant, December, 2018)
All technology on planet Verde broke two centuries ago, but Fritz Reinhardt has the power of hyper-intuition. He figured out how to fix it, and now he dreams of a worldwide restoration making daily life easier all over the world. It was a big deal for quiet and socially awkward Fritz to make his dream public, but the benefits of repairing pre-Blackout antique relics are too enormous to ignore: more education, better communication, and longer life expectancy. But it could be over sooner than he thinks. Some see his dream as a nightmare, and these critics have a powerful ally in Lady Verde. The spirit of the planet remembers the environmental damage chipware did to her in the past, and she demands an end to the restoration. She's even willing to resurrect the worst chipware the planet has ever seen, the giant Steelterrors, to prove her point. How can Fritz build a better tomorrow if the planet itself fights against him?
Allison S Bass's Magic by Midnight ( Independent, Nov 8, 2018)
Felicity, a young librarian, is certain her only adventures will come in the form of the books she reads. When her uncle reveals that the palace librarians have the secret gift of interpreting fairy tales, stories that control the fate of the kingdom, she is thrust into a new world of magic. Between rescuing Cinderella, charming a prince, and battling an evil force trying to sabotage the fairy tale, Felicity realizes orchestrating a happily ever after ending is going to take all of her wits.
However, it’s her heart that is put to the real test. She finds herself having to choose between her own happy ending or protecting the fairy tale she’s been tasked with completing. After the clock strikes midnight, Felicity discovers her world will change forever and some fates are stronger than magic.
The world is in the midst of the 2nd Cold War, and WWIII appears imminent. To prevent this tragedy, a scientist named Valeriy Volodymyr, and the organization he works for, Para Dias, spawn humanity's greatest achievement, and mistake. The first real supermen are born, and with them the promise of a new better world. However, these newly evolved beings have a very different view of a better world than humanity.
*Partial edit only
Sean Little's After Everyone Died (Lulu, May 13, 2016)
The Flu-that's what everyone called it-culled the primate population of the planet. It struck hard and fast, wiping out the whole of the population. For reasons he can't understand, Twist is left alive to face the apocalypse alone. Well, not entirely alone-his neighbor's gassy Labrador, Rowdy, tags along for the ride.
Twist and Rowdy are forced to face the new post-apocalypse world together, holing up in the local library and scavenging supplies to outlast a long, cold Wisconsin winter. Twist has to adapt to the emptiness and isolation of an empty world and come to terms with the fact that he might be the only person left alive in the entire world.
In a world where boredom and loneliness are the greatest threat, Twist must survive, keeping the hope that others might be alive, as well.
Michael Ripplinger's Yesterday's Demons (The Verdant Revival Book 1) (Michael Ripplinger, April 12, 2016)
When he was a boy, Siv McCaig came face-to-face with a monster. After a childhood lived in fear, he encountered it again.
Siv just wants to work his trade as a blacksmith, play cards at the saloon, and watch the stars. But he'll never be at peace without answers. What was the monster that burned down his house? Where did it come from? And will it ever come back again?
His search becomes a battle for his planet's survival. Only two things might keep all of Verde from falling to the horrors of Siv's nightmares, but they've been lost for two hundred years: technology and magic.
Blake Gardner's Inhuman Emergence: Innocence (DigiStyle, Imprint of Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc. September 2, 2015)
Somewhere in America there was a quaint little town called Jamestown. It was normal enough for a while, then something happened. Owen was an average teenage boy before he took the pill; the one which gave him psychic powers he had never imagined. With the government investigating his every move, he finds himself in a world beyond belief.
Aden Ng's 139: IN EVENING (May 2015)
Timothy Kleve is a seemingly ordinary 17 year old still reeling back from the death of his mother. When a deadly phenomenon that causes people to die from their dreams called the Vashmir Pandemic throws society into chaos, Tim is forced to fight for his life and the lives of his loved ones.
When a controversially addictive drug, Somnidin, starts to run out, he finds himself dragged further into a world where fear is power, desperately trying to protect his best friends, Clay and Stella Barber, from death.
The world ending. The death toll rising. Hunted by dream monsters, criminals, law enforcements, and civilians alike, the outcast trio must find a way to stop the pandemic, or risk a sleep that lasts an eternity.
Sigal Ehrlich's RETRACE (November 2014)
Nia Martins believes a fresh start will help her leave her traumatic past behind. Moving to a different country, she seeks to shake off her demons by doing the one thing that sets her free from her destructive thoughts – teaching dance. But change doesn't come easy, and all Nia really wants is to take the next breath without the perpetual suffocation that follows.
Reeves Mitchell has looked death in the eyes so many times it’s become habitual. That is, until his best friend's life was on the line. When the one thing he feared the most turns into reality, all he can do is pick up the pieces of his loss. As Reeves tries to live with the constant thought of “what if” gnawing at the back of his mind, he persistently and steadily builds a thick wall around himself.
Their solitary lives are all they have—until fate brings them together. Nia and Reeves’ new friendship helps make life, shadowed by the ghosts of their past, more bearable. But as their relationship deepens and new, suppressed feelings emerge between them, are they willing to retrace their steps back to where wounded hearts can be broken once more?
Kendra Highley's UNSTRUNG (October 2014)
Lexa Pate, seventeen-year-old thief extraordinaire, has burned a bridge or two in her life. You don’t make a career out of stealing other people’s property without making enemies.
When a risky job goes from bad to worse, Lexa and her adopted family find themselves on Precipice Corporation’s hit list because they’ve accidentally stolen the wrong thing—plans for a new model of genetically-engineered super humans. Now every bounty hunter, cop on the take, and snitch in the city is after them.
Lexa’s world crumbles around her as she fights to keep her family safe even as someone strolls out of her forgotten past. Quinn says he knows who Lexa really is, but can she trust a stranger she met while robbing his boss?
More importantly, does she really want to know what Quinn has to tell her?
Based on the fairy tale Pinocchio, UNSTRUNG takes you into a near future world where the lines between fake and real are blurred, all that’s pristine isn’t always innocent, and being a criminal isn’t always wrong.
Kendra Highley's MATT ARCHER: REDEMPTION (Matt Archer #5)
(July 2014)
“There’s more to me than you know…”
When Matt Archer’s sister, Mamie, said those words to him three years ago, he had no idea how prophetic they were, or what this would mean for his family.
Now, he knows. And it changes everything, bringing the war right to Matt’s doorstep.
In the epic conclusion to the Matt Archer series, the endgame is near. Betrayed by an enemy, the wielders have been called off the hunt by their own government, despite increasing reports of paranormal activity—and deaths—worldwide. Matt is forced to sit on the sidelines, knowing that proving monsters exist means revealing who—and what—he is. Soon the world will know his name…which will only make his job harder.
Matt’s only hope resides with a man he barely knows—his father. If Erik Archer can put together the final puzzle before the monsters do, maybe they’ll have a chance. Maybe.
Mystery, tragedy and the power of family combine as Matt races to win the war and save the people he loves. There’s just one thing he’s afraid of…
It might already be too late.
Available now on Amazon and Smashwords. Other retailers to follow.
Sybil Bartel's NO APOLOGIES, June 2014 from Carina!
Never apologize
Hard-edged rocker Graham Allen has it all. He's flush with cash from playing bass in a band by night and restoring classic cars by day. And there are plenty of women willing to share his bed for a night, complication-free. Perfect, because if there's anything he learned from his past, it was to never get attached—to anything. So when bartender Carly Sullivan flashes her innocent smile, Graham isn't prepared for what happens next.
Never fall in love.
Two rules, that's all Graham has—never apologize and never fall in love. He knows Carly is everything he should avoid. Cheerful and sweet, she has "relationship" written all over her. But Graham can't stay away from her probing questions and concerned blue eyes.
When Graham discovers Carly is hiding a crushing secret, he's prepared to risk it all. Until in one single moment, everything changes and Graham's past threatens to collide with his future. His life is crumbling down around him, and soon no apology in the world can save him.
He should've known to walk away.
Sandra Sookoo's TO BED OR TO WED
New Independence Books (March 16, 2014)
When an impromptu kiss captures the imagination, either a spark will ignite or family interference will snuff the match.
Charlotte Darrington adores being adored by the men in her circle. She’s in London at the request of her mother, and though her parent wants her to find an eligible gentleman and start a family, Charlotte delays. In her heart of hearts, she wants a man who can hold his own and won’t be cowed.
Nathan Brigham, Marquess of Ravenhurst, is annoyed with the interfering redhead leading his nephew into the evergreen maze. When he would have delivered a dressing down, she stops his words with a kiss. No matter that he finds her attractive and a welcome distraction from his darkly brooding life, he refuses to succumb to Charlotte’s charms. Above everything, he won’t become the savage man his father was.
Once they return to London from a house party at his country estate, the two can’t avoid each other. Stolen kisses and heated glances in shadowy halls as well as a questionable visit to White’s draw them closer. He can’t forget the demons from his past while her persistence to hear a declaration begs the question: to bed or to wed?
'What if everything came down
to a single test? If your life was defined at seventeen, could you handle it?
Could you accept your fate leaving the ones you love, or would you risk it all
and stay?'
One test stands between
Vanessa and Central. One chance to make the leap across the walls to a better
life. At seventeen, Central considers Vanessa an adult. Her labor role,
marriage, and housing divisions will be dictated by her performance on the
leap.
Dedication and unfaltering
friendship has bonded Vanessa to Garrett as they fight for their chance to leap
into Central. But what happens when love overtakes reason? When defiance in the
name of love creates an unintentional fracture in their nation.
Without warning Vanessa is at
the mercy of the nation that’s supposed to protect her. Exiled and abandoned
she must fight but she find’s she’s not alone. With her heart divided she seeks
her revenge, but will her stand be enough?
eBook: Amazon Apple iBookstore Barnes&Noble Lulu
Paperback:
Amazon and Createspace
Hardcover:
Lulu
Kendra Highley's Matt Archer: Bloodlines (Matt Archer #4)
(January 2014)
When seventeen-year-old Matt Archer set out on his last mission in the Australian Outback, he thought it would be like every other hunt.
Not even close.
After only two days on the ground, his best friend is possessed, a long-lost family member has returned and hidden truths have come to the surface. Add in a coven of witches bent on bringing about the end of the world and, well, this trip has started to suck. Badly.
As his power and strength continue to grow, so does Matt’s concern that he’s becoming more and more like the creatures he’s been charged to hunt: a monster.
Faced with some of his biggest challenges to date, Matt has to decide what he needs to protect most—his family, his team…or himself.
Sigal Ehrlich's INNER CORE (Stark #2) (January 2014)
When Hayley makes a resolution to take back the control over her life, and declare their relationship R.I.P, it’s all good in theory…
That is until Daniel decides to prove her wrong and get her back.
Together, Hayley and Daniel seem to have it all. But can love ever be enough when two strong personalities collide and while reality takes the lead?
Faced with more obstacles than she could have ever bargain for when it comes to Daniel, struggling to keep her own identity while sharing a life with her man. Buds of doubt start rooting in Hayley’s confidence, making her rethink her decision.
And just when it seems that they might make it together after all, life happens. Bringing a threat that neither Hayley nor Daniel could ever anticipate, a threat that could break them apart forever . . .
Sandra Sookoo's MARRIAGE MINDED LORD
New Independence Books (January 13, 2014)
When an outrageous meeting leads to inappropriate desire, will family honor and duty destroy a chance for true love?
Felix Alan Darrington, Earl of Swandon has been summoned to London by his mother. Though he has obligations to Parliament, his meddling parent has reminded him it’s time to do his duty, marry and provide her with grandchildren. But Felix refuses to wed under dictate. He’ll choose the woman and the time, and if he’s lucky he’ll marry for love.
Clarice Delacroix is a lady’s companion. Though she’s an illegitimate daughter of a duke, her mother was a French opera singer which puts Clarice firmly between worlds. Possessed of a quick temper and a penchant for making pastries, she longs for adventure, romance and acceptance, but she refuses to be anyone’s mistress. Her mother’s life is not for her.
As Felix schemes to spend more time with Clarice and find out why the Frenchwoman intrigues him, the titled lady who wishes to be his countess conspires to keep them apart. Felix quickly finds that balancing relationships between family and love is not as easy as first thought, or as black and white. Someone in his circle isn’t telling the truth, and the repercussions could prove deadly to Clarice’s future.
James Matlack Raney's JIM MORGAN AND THE PIRATES OF THE BLACK SKULL
(December 7, 2013, Dreamfarer Press)
Over a year has passed since Jim Morgan outwitted the King of Thieves and escaped from London with his friends, Lacey and the Brothers Ratt. Now, at long last, Jim is ready to return home to Morgan Manor.
But a dark vision haunts Jim’s dreams – a Crimson Storm with the face of a black skull. Soon, Jim is thrust into a deadly race against his father’s old enemies, Count Cromier and his son, Bartholomew. This time, he will face terrors beyond his imagination – pirate battles, hidden islands, sorcerers, and sea monsters.
New foes and magic forces will tempt and test Jim. For there are terrible secrets he has yet to learn, secrets about his father, the Treasure of the Ocean, and his own incredible destiny…
Sigal Ehrlich's LAYERS (Stark #1) (Oct 2013)
According to Hayley, love is a subject of ridicule: a myth created by hopeless romantics.
When Hayley makes a resolution to declare her loose lifestyle era R.I.P, it’s all good in theory…
That is until she meets Daniel Stark, a well-respected, mid-thirties business man who is known for his short temper, lack of steady relationships as well as his strict preserve of his private life.
Opinionated, sharp tongued Hayley accidently steps into his office leaving Daniel resolved to put Hayley in her place and have her in his bed. Both Hayley and Daniel can’t avoid the immediate instigation of the attraction between them.
In a unanimously agreed upon verdict by Hayley and her two best friends, Ian the gay self-absorbed, aspiring model and Natasha the witty, borderline neurotic soul mate, Daniel Stark is to be Hayley’s pure physical attraction, emotions aside era closure.
Will it indeed be a closure, or a beginning to something neither Hayley nor Daniel ever bargained for…
(Matt Archer, Book 3)
When Matt Archer was fourteen, he was chosen—by a magic, spirit-inhabited knife—to hunt monsters with a special paranormal division of the Army. When he was fifteen, he was thrown into a global war the rest of the world didn’t know existed.
Now Matt’s sixteen and the war has cost him more than he ever thought it would. He’s also learned that the knife-spirits have an agenda he doesn’t totally agree with. The only problem? The spirits have the upper hand, and they plan to control the fight—and Matt.
Then things get worse: the next lunar eclipse cycle is starting, a prominent physicist has gone missing, and Matt’s best friend is thinking about quitting the team. If he loses Will—after everyone else he’s lost—Matt’s not sure how he’ll fight alone.
As the source of his nightmares starts to creep out of the shadows, Matt knows he’ll need all the help he can get…because being alone could prove deadly.
eBook available from these retailers:
** Paperback available from Amazon and Createspace **
(June 4, 2013, Carina UK)
After-life just got a lot more complicated.
Maggie is a Soul Collector. It’s her job to transport souls from the Living Realm to the After – but during a mission to find a stolen soul, she ends up stuck in a teen mean girl’s body.
Trapped, Maggie’s soul is catapulted into Ally’s life – and the human world she hasn’t experienced for one hundred years. But, as a descendant of the most powerful beings in the After, Maggie must rescue Ally before the girl’s soul dies…
To survive, Maggie must uncover devastating secrets – because with one soul taken by a terrifying enemy, Maggie’s could be next!
(May 15, 2013 from Crescent Moon Press)
Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead -- just like the prom queen did.
While the town goes beehive over the news, Leigh bikes to the local cemetery and buries some of her mom’s things in her grave to keep her there. When the hot and mysterious caretaker warns her not to give gifts to the dead, Leigh cranks up her punk music and keeps digging.
She should have listened.
Two dead sorceresses evicted the prom queen from her grave to bury someone who offered certain gifts. Bury them alive, that is, then resurrect them to create a trio of undead powerful enough to free the darkest sorceress ever from her prison inside the earth.
With help from the caretaker and the dead prom queen, Leigh must find out what’s so special about the gifts she gave, and why the sorceresses are stalking her and her little sister. If she doesn’t, she’ll either lose another loved one or have to give the ultimate gift to the dead – herself.
Steena Holmes' FINDING EMMA
Lake Union Publishing (February 26, 2013)
A mother’s near-obsessive devotion to her missing daughter threatens to destroy more than one family.
Megan is the harried but happy stay-at-home mother of three little girls living in a small town. Her life implodes when her youngest daughter, Emma, disappears on her third birthday.
Two years later, Megan is preparing to commemorate Emma’s birthday and the anniversary of her kidnapping, compelled to keep her name alive in the minds of her community and her family. Her commitment to Emma, however, borderlines on obsession as she follows the families of little girls who look like the daughter she lost.
Her obsession with finding Emma has distanced Megan from both friends and family. Her two older daughters are resentful of her relentless and fruitless search for their sister, and her husband pleads with her to accept that Emma is gone so that the family can move on with their lives.
Meanwhile, in the same small town, Jack is beginning to question his wife’s secrecy about their adored granddaughter, Emmie. As Dottie slips into dementia and becomes increasingly protective over Emmie, he can’t help but wonder if there could be a dark secret that Dottie is keeping from him.
Jack and Megan’s worlds finally intersect at the town carnival, when Megan snaps a photograph of a little girl on her grandfather’s shoulders.
James Matlack Raney's JIM MORGAN AND THE KING OF THIEVES
(Sept 2012)
Young Jim Morgan loves everything about his life: ignoring his old tutor’s lessons, flaunting his new clothes, terrorizing his servants, and perfecting the fine art of snobbery. But the night his father returns from a mysterious sea voyage with the secret to a vast pirate treasure, Jim's world is thrown upside down.
Now Jim must escape the clutches of his father’s wicked enemies, decipher the magic of a gypsy witch, hide from a shadowy pirate and his talking raven, and outwit the King of Thieves and his army of pickpockets.
If he is to survive, Jim must learn to trust new allies and discover the power and magic of true friendship. And through it all he may, just possibly, uncover a hero hidden within him, and live an adventure beyond his wildest dreams
L.S. Murphy's REAPER (J. Taylor Publishing January 2013)
There's no way sixteen year old Quincy Amarante will become the fifth grim reaper. None. Not over her shiny blue Mustang. Her Jimmy Choos. Or her dead body. She’s supposed to enjoy her sophomore year, not learn about some freaky future Destiny says she has no choice but to fulfill.
It doesn’t take long for Quincy to realize the only way out of the game is to play along especially since Death can find her anyway, anywhere, anytime. And does. Like when she’s reassuring her friends she wants nothing to do with former best friend Ben Moorland, who’s returned from god-knows-where, and fails. Miserably. Instead of maintaining her coveted popularity status, Quincy’s goes down like the Titanic. Maybe … just maybe ... that’s okay.
It seems, perhaps, becoming a grim reaper isn’t just about the dead but more about a much needed shift in Quincy’s priorities—from who she thinks she wants to be to who she really is.
Dec 19, 2012
When Matt Archer was fourteen, he discovered monsters are real. As if that wasn’t enough to go on for a few deca
des, Matt also found out that he’d been chosen to hunt those monsters–with a sentient, supernatural knife. Now fifteen, Matt has spent the last year working with a clandestine military unit, trying to rid the world of monsters, demons and other vicious creatures, all while keeping it a secret from nearly everyone he knows back home in Billings.
Including his mom.
Add in a new girlfriend, family secrets, sibling drama and enough homework to sink an aircraft carrier, and Matt’s life has become more complicated than he ever imagined. Worse, the knife has developed some very definite opinions about Matt’s personal life and it interferes in his business whenever it wants. More and more, Matt’s coming to realize that sharing brain-space with a spirit kind of sucks.
When stories of decimated towns and hordes of zombies start pouring into the Pentagon from Afghanistan, Matt knows he’ll be called up soon. Between the new mission and the knife’s increasing control over his mind, Matt wonders if he’ll survive long enough to take his driver’s exam.
eBook available from these retailers:
Paperback available from Amazon and Createspace
Ripley Patton's GHOST HAND, November 2012
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Black has a rare birth defect known as Psyche Sans Soma, or PSS. Instead of a right hand made of flesh and blood, she was born with a hand made of ethereal energy.
How does Olivia handle being the girl with the ghost hand? Well, she's a little bit morbid and a whole lot snarky.
Her mother thinks her obsession with death, black clothing, and the local cemetery is a bid for attention. But when Marcus, the new guy in Olivia's calculus class, stares at her like she's a freak, Olivia doesn't like it. And when her hand goes rogue, doing things she never imagined possible, Olivia finds herself running for her life with Marcus from a group of men bent on taking the power of her hand for their own nefarious purposes.
*GHOST HAND was a semifinalist for The Kindle Book Review 2013 Best Indie Book Awards in the Young Adult category and a 2013 Nominee for the Cybil Awards in the Young Adult Speculative Fiction category.
Fourteen-year-old Matt Archer spends his days studying Algebra, hanging out with his best friend and crushing on the Goddess of Greenhill High, Ella Mitchell. To be honest, he thinks his life is pretty lame until he discovers something terrifying on a weekend camping trip at the local state park.
Monsters are real. And living in his backyard. But that's not the half of it. After Matt is forced to kill a strange creature to save his uncle, he finds out that the weird knife he took from his uncle’s bag has a secret, one that will change Matt’s life. The knife was designed with one purpose: to hunt monsters. And it’s chosen Matt as its wielder.
Now Matt’s part of a world he didn’t know existed, working with a covert military unit dedicated to eliminating walking nightmares. Faced with a prophecy about a looming dark war, Matt soon realizes his upcoming Algebra test is the least of his worries. His new double life leaves Matt wondering which is tougher: hunting monsters or asking Ella Mitchell for a date?
Branli Caidryn's Phoenix Splinter (Project Horizon) (Battle King Press, July 30, 2012)
Nineteen-year-old Keith Groenewald is an escaped experiment from Area Fifty-One. Harbored by a secret society, Veluz, Keith develops his telekinetic abilities, making him a key weapon for their covert missions. While working as part of an elite mercenary force, Keith is unsettled by rumors that Veluz may have orchestrated the experimentation that gave him his powers. With each passing mission he learns his purpose goes far beyond that of a corporate pawn or mercenary-for-hire. His creation and his purpose are other worldly, not just alien, but something bigger.
R.B. Wood's THE PRODIGAL'S FOOLE (RB Wood, 2012)
A man can run from his past ... but not his future. Symon Bryson lives in self-imposed exile until Monsignor DuBarry goes missing and not even the most adept of the magic practitioners can determine the reason for the abduction. The clues lie buried in the past amidst epic battles and horrific losses but reliving that failed mission uncovers fresh challenges and fearsome threats that reunite his old team. Symon must deal with his own hidden demons and confront the menace that threatens the delicate balance of power. When the darkest of all evils lures Symon into springing a long-planned trap, an unsuspecting world will confront the unthinkable.
When all that stands between Heaven and Hell is magic, more than faith will be tested.
Miranda Kenneally's CATCHING JORDAN, Sourcebooks Fire, December 2011
What girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn’t just surrounded by hot guys, though—she leads them as the captain and quarterback on her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that’s just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there’s a new guy in town who threatens her starring position on the team…and has her suddenly wishing to be seen as more than just a teammate.
Andy Brokaw's PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND CURLING ROCKS, Hedgie Press, December 2011
Darcy Bennet lives to be on the ice. When the other little girls were watching the Olympics and dreaming of figure-skating, she was dreaming of representing her country not with skates but with a broom.
At seventeen, Darcy still has Olympic dreams, but she has more immediate concerns. Like getting her team to Regionals, making sure she's accepted by the local college, and convincing her best-friend and team skip not to go to a university on the other side of the continent. Oh! And, possibly most important of all, resisting the urge to kill Lucas Fitzwilliam. 'Cause he may be really annoying, but Darcy's pretty sure they don't have curling in prison.
Spencer Quinn was the only witness. He was left behind. He didn't know why the creature took his twin brother and not him. When they came to investigate, there were no signs of forced entry, no clues and nobody believed Spencer's bizarre account of it.
To avoid the frenzy of media attention Spencer's mother moves them to a small town to live with his grandmother. A new life and a new school beckon and Spencer soon makes friends with his neighbour, Frankie. But Spencer is plagued with the memory of his brother's abduction. He's desperate to connect with his depressed mother, he's burdened with an ancient family legacy Spencer believes is an illness, and a stranger who seems to have all the answers.Follow Spencer and Frankie into a fantastical, parallel world unlike their own. Where betrayal is second n ature and the creatures shatter bones with their screams. Spencer embarks on an emotional journey to unravel the mysteries surrounding Oliver's disappearance and the legacy that threatens his own life!
Nathan Carriker's A SILVER RING, Karcher Prince, July 26 2011
If the Army had just let Wes Hutchinson be a pilot, maybe things would have been different. He’d have married his English lover, Melody. They might have had a boy who’d learn to fly someday. After the war, Wes may have even been able to get his dad to sanction his sister Eileen’s love for town miscreant Frank Lawton. Their grandkids could be kissing cousins. He saw it all so clearly in those last few seconds, when he was the only one left aboard his crew’s stricken bomber: his purpose, his destiny, his family fulfilling it somehow—without him.
Forty years later, war orphan Justin Prator and his son Paul share a love and talent for flying they can’t explain, until Justin is reclaimed by his birth mother. A kindly old English woman, Melody presents them with their passions’ lost icon, A Silver Ring, as Paul marries an oddly familiar firebrand, Christina Lawton—and unwittingly pulls a smoldering tinder box from the emotional rubble of World War Two.
Jasmine Denton's SOUL OF THE SEA (Curse of the Sea Book 1) kNight Romance Publishing, June 15, 2011
Hidden beneath the clashing waves of the ocean’s surface lies a secret civilization of lost souls—humans who’ve committed suicide by water and are cursed to prey on the living.
Seventeen-year-old Mykaela finds Dylan wounded on the beach. Although his reasons for being town are suspicious, she is captivated by his kind spirit and faded Irish brogue. As the bodies of young women wash ashore, Mykaela’s brother, a police officer, scrambles to find the killer. When he endangers his life by becoming entangled with a manipulative vixen, Mykaela turns to Dylan for the truth behind her brother’s obsession and the killings, only to discover that Dylan is hiding more than she ever dreamed. Mykaela must face the monsters beneath the ocean’s surface or risk losing her brother and the man she loves.
John & Sidney Muhlestein's SUN THE STARFARER (PublishAmerica, January 2011)
For more than 500 years the LKE Gold Star has traveled on its way to take the human race to a new planet. With efficient precision, the crew manages the ship and lives to produce the next generation of Starfarers. The monotonous routine has never bothered Sun, a shy and awkward teenager, but her role as just another member of the crew is about to change. When she receives a message from the future, the fate of the ship, its mission, and the lives of everyone aboard, hinges on what she does, who she tells, and where she decides to go. At the ragged edge of space, with the fate of her world resting on her shoulders, she must learn to trust her friends, decode the distorted history they've been taught, and build an army of children to battle the threat from within their own crew.
Eisley Jacobs' BORN TO BE A DRAGON (middle grade) July 29th, 2011
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup…
This is what Lord Edric wants you to believe. He will do anything in his power to see that humans never come in contact with dragons again. However, he doesn't plan for Meia, the foster child who dreams of dragons, believing they are real. Or Deglan, the ten-year-old dragon who bears the ancient mark that threatens everything Lord Edric has worked for.
Join these two unlikely friends as they discover the truth behind a legend so extraordinary it will alter each of their lives… forever.
