Extraterrestrial Noir by Rich Leder

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Any weird things you do when you’re alone?

Not that I’m aware of. I’ve been a writer all of my adult life. So I imagine I’m weird in ways that people who are not writers are not weird. Then again, I imagine those people are weird in ways I’m not. We’re all weird in the end. Hey, you know what? That’s why every character in my books is at least a little weird. Epiphany anyone?

What is your favorite quote and why?

I don’t have a favorite quote, per se. I’d have to go with everything Vonnegut has written. And everything Robbins has written. And everything Roth has written. And everything Palahniuk has written. And plenty of things Elmore has written. And tons of the things that Stephen and Richard and Carl and Christopher have written … shall I, must I go on?

Who is your favorite author and why?

All those guys I just mentioned. Plus, add John Irving to that list. And Donald Westlake. And John D. MacDonald and more than that too.

What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

Tough question. I would say “authenticity” is critical. In the sense that if the writer isn’t all honestly in on his/her characters and action and world, then how in the heck can the reader get engaged. I would say “clarity” is critical. Unless the point of the moment or character or plot or subplot or line of dialogue or whatever is to be opaque, then what in the world can be gained by confusing the reader? And I would say “confidence” is critical. If the writer doesn’t believe in their own sentence structure, their own ability to tell a tale, then that, what should we call it, that weakness will permeate the story. So, yeah, authenticity, clarity, and confidence. I’ll go with those elements for now.

Where did you get the idea for this book?

No idea, truly. Maybe I was looking for a way to satirize the suburbs. Maybe I was looking for an alien I had never seen depicted before. Somehow I landed on a molecule manipulating psychopath antagonist with a thing for film noir and tequila. From there it was a half-step to a 12-year-old, uber-genius protagonist.

A PSYCHO-CRIMINAL EXTRATERRESTRIAL ON A SUBURBAN CUL-DE-SAC

A FAMILY ON THE BRINK OF ALL-ENCOMPASSING INSOLVENCY

A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD UBER-GENIUS DAUGHTER IN THE LINE OF FIRE

CAN SHE SAVE THE FAMILY, NOT TO MENTION THE PLANET?

An extraterrestrial crashes into a suburban cul-de-sac Colonial, absorbs every binary bit of information ever chronicled in all of human history, rearranges its molecules and presents itself as a couple of late and legendary film noir superstars, then immediately displays an appetite for debauchery, depravity, decadence, and destruction, seducing the family into its psychopathic criminal orbit with irresistible Hollywood panache, alluring sexual charisma, and inconceivable intergalactic powers.…all in the name of saving the family from their emotional, marital, and financial ruin.

But uber-genius-daughter Mike Devine figures out fast that the extraterrestrial’s principal plan is to employ its unfathomable interplanetary muscle and implode the planet. Which leaves the fate of her family, not to mention the world, in her twelve-year-old hands.

Read an Excerpt

“Forget the meteor,” Peter said. “Where’s the hole?”

“There it is,” Lazlo said. But he was pointing at the ceiling, at the same size and shaped hole that ran in a line at a forty-five-degree angle through the house. The cul-de-sac husbands all looked up at the hole, through the dining room, the master bedroom, and the attic to the sky. Only Maggie followed the path down to its conclusion.

“What in the world is that?” she said.

And then the room went silent, as if all the air had been sucked out of the house through the succession of small rectangular holes.

Connie and Maggie had decided on white oak floors when they’d finished the basement, and then covered them with colorful Karastan rugs. Lying on a deep-red-and-brown rug, five feet in front of the giant flat-screen television, surrounded by debris from the various ceilings and floors that followed it down as it smashed through the house, was a silver box.

It was, like the holes it created, the size and shape of a Frye cowboy boot box, but smoother along the edges. Perfectly smooth, in fact. It wasn’t particularly polished, more matte finish than shiny, and was completely unmarked. There was simply no evidence whatsoever that it had burned through the atmosphere and smashed through a suburban Colonial at a million miles an hour.

“It’s like somebody bought a pair of boots and left the box on the floor,” Bill said.

“Doesn’t look like it came crashing down,” Peter agreed.

“Looks like it came in for a landing,” Maggie said.

About the Author:

Rich Leder has been a working writer for more than three decades. His credits include eight novels for Laugh Riot Press and 19 produced movies—television films for CBS, Lifetime, and Hallmark and feature films for Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Longridge Productions, and Left Bank Films.

He’s been the lead singer in a Detroit rock band, a restaurateur, a Little League coach, an indie film director, a literacy tutor, a magazine editor, a screenwriting coach, a wedding consultant (it’s true), a PTA board member, a HOA president, a commercial real estate agent, and a visiting artist for the UNCW Film Studies Department, all of which, it turns out, was grist for the mill.

WEBSITE: https://www.richleder.com
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBLKSK2W
BOOKSHOP.ORG https://bookshop.org/p/books/extraterrestrial-noir-rich-leder/22774708

Toil and Trouble by Jennifer Patricia O'Keeffe, Lynn Hubbard, Cindy Lewis Smith, James Ryan, Julian Christian, and Jae El Foster

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The authors will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The brew is hot and bubbling over with romance and terror in this twistedly beautiful anthology that welcomes the darkness of horror and the temptation of love's veiled promises. Six remarkable tales from six incredible authors fill this book of dark shadows and ancient whispers.

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble - by Jennifer Patricia O'Keeffe: Enchanted pastries and spell-brewed coffee make Esmerelda's sugar-dusted counter the city's most coveted haunt—until a dangerously charming newcomer slips into her shop, immune to her magic and unraveling her carefully guarded world. As his witch-hunter heritage threatens to burn her legacy to ash, Esmerelda finds herself torn between the threat of revenge from the witch hunter's ancestors and the intoxicating truth of the connection that they share.

Silverwood - by Lynn Hubbard: A lonely rancher's daughter finds her isolated Wyoming homestead upended when an amber-eyed stranger ignites a mud-splattered passion that defies reason—until his supernatural secret and the vengeful ranch hands hunting her force her to choose between the man who saves her and the monster who might destroy her. Torn between fierce protectors and forbidden desire, she must trust the very darkness that could shatter her world to survive the wild frontier's deadliest threats.

Ivy, Lichens and Wallflowers - by James Ryan: Marketing executive Hilda finds solace from her stifling corporate life and overbearing past in the quiet companionship of Miriam, a mysterious 19th-century marble statue in a city micro-park, only to discover their connection transcends stone when Miriam begins answering her handwritten notes through cryptic poetry left in return. As their forbidden connection deepens into an intoxicating dream-bound romance, Hilda uncovers Miriam's supernatural secret: she's a cursed thaumaturge sustained by stolen life force, forcing Hilda to confront whether love can survive the devastating cost of keeping her alive.

A Mirror to Die For - by Cindy Lewis Smith: A desperate woman finds solace in an antique mirror that whisks her nightly to 1880s Arizona, where a charming outlaw named Johnny Ringo fulfills every fantasy—until her jealous fiancé shatters the glass and vanishes, leaving her trapped in an asylum screaming that he is the real monster, a man who shouldn't exist: Dr. John Henry Holliday, the gambler who killed Ringo a century ago. Now, with "MPR" carved into her cell walls and time itself unraveling, she'll stop at nothing to prove her sanity by proving time travel is real—even if it means unleashing the very darkness that destroyed her.

Flight 1031: Cosmic Turbulence - by Julian Christian: Diplomatic courier Sarah Martinez boards Flight 1031 expecting routine turbulence, not a Halloween dimensional rift that strands her at Germania International Airport—where the Greater German Reich has ruled since 1943 and perfected technology to harvest souls from parallel realities through consciousness-scanning machinery that pulses with seventeen-beat rhythms. Now trapped in a terminal that breathes like a living organism, Sarah must navigate a world where every passenger hides a secret and her resistance could either save her timeline or doom infinite versions of humanity to eternal enslavement in a Reich that spans all dimensions.

Dream a Little Dream - by Jae El Foster: After a near-death car crash rewires her brain, Sarah's nightmares bleed into reality: sugar on the counter forms glyphs, bats appear out of nowhere in broad daylight, and her own hands betray her—while the velvet-eyed stranger from her dreams appears in her waking hours, his urgency growing as Halloween's veil thins. Now, with her reality twisting into something surreal and an ancient language hijacking her voice, she must confront a dark truth: her soul isn't hers to keep, and the man who saved her in death is the very entity hunting her in life.

Read an Excerpt from ‘Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble’ by Jennifer Patricia O’Keeffe

She drew a slow breath, the scent of ozone clinging to her skin. From the oak block, she took a pewter ladle and a vial stoppered with black cork. Dipped the ladle into the cauldron. Poured the sludge—thick as clotting blood—into the vial. Corked it tight. A flick of her wrist, and the vial vanished—reappearing nestled in her handbag across the room.

"If the spell doesn’t work," she murmured to the empty cabin, her voice steady as a surgeon’s hand, "then I’ll make him drink its nectar. That… so much worse than death." She peeled off the battle gown, slid into soft blue jeans, and pulled a cream sweater over her head, the wool catching static against her skin. Then, stepped into sensible loafers.

Now ready for her date with the witch hunter, Esmerelda smoothed the cream sweater over her ribs, the wool soft as a lover’s whisper against her skin. She inhaled slowly, counting the creaks of the cabin’s old bones—the groan of floorboards, the sigh of wind through pine boughs—to steady her pulse. But the quiet shattered with three sharp raps against the stone fireplace. Not wood. Stone. Flames erupted in a violent bloom, leaping toward the ceiling like grasping hands, their light bleaching the bone-lamps to ghostly white.

She knew this sound. This fire. Three raps meant the veil had torn. Not a knock at the door—but through it. From below. The hearth’s warmth turned to furnace heat, searing her cheeks even from ten paces. Ash swirled in the air, thick as funeral incense. She did not move. Did not breathe. Only watched as the flames coiled inward, collapsing into a frame of blackened stone—a doorway where none had been.

Before her very eyes, the stone frame solidified, its edges sharp as broken tombstones. A door of living fire filled the archway, its surface rippling like molten glass. It swung inward with a groan that had no source—no hinges, no wood, only the slow creak of reality bending. The room plunged into near-darkness as the flames dimmed, revealing not the cabin’s back wall but an abyss of swirling black fog. From that void, a shape drifted forth—a shade no taller than a child, its form shifting like smoke caught in moonlight.

It moved without sound, gliding over the floorboards until it hovered inches from Esmerelda. No eyes. No mouth. Only a deeper darkness within the dark. She felt its chill before it touched her—a cold that seeped through wool and skin, freezing the marrow of her bones. Then it surged forward, pouring into her like ink into water. Her breath hitched as shadow filled her lungs, her veins, her very thoughts. She stood rigid, a vessel for the dead.

Through this melding of shadow and body, the message took root. Not words. Knowledge. A truth that bloomed in her skull like a black rose: her spell had not bound Keith’s will—it had bound his heart. The Latin she’d woven—"Venator, venator, locum tuum nosce"—was no hunter’s snare. It was a lover’s noose. Every syllable had knotted their fates tighter than graveyard vines. Love spells ended in madness. In blood. In souls devoured by the one they clung to.

Her knees buckled. She caught herself on the oak block, knuckles white against the ancient wood. Impossible. The Book had listed it under "Protection and Manipulation." Not love. Never love. She clawed at the shade within her, pouring her thoughts into the void: It was meant to trap him! To make him confess! But the shade was a courier, not a confidant. It carried no replies. Only the warning, sharp as a scalpel: You have tethered his heart to yours. Now it beats for you. And hearts that beat for witches… always stop.

As the shade withdrew, it took no gentleness with her. It ripped free like a hook from flesh, leaving her hollowed and gasping. Esmerelda crumpled to the floor, her vision swimming as the cabin’s rafters tilted. She watched, dazed, as the shade drifted backward through the stone doorway, the fire-door sighing shut behind it. The hearth collapsed inward—a final puff of ash, the scent of brimstone thick as a funeral shroud. Then silence. Only the lingering sting of sulfur in her throat.

Buy the Book

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FS7DXSXX
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1849875
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toil-and-trouble-jae-el-foster/1148244179
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Scenes from a Song by Susan Sloate

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Susan Sloate will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I’m a multi-genre author (which basically means I couldn’t make up my mind), so I tend to write whatever genre my story idea demands. Right now I’m in the middle of three different middle-grade book series—one for boys, two for girls—one is fantasy, the other two are mystery—but I wanted to write those stories, and the story dictated the genre. I’ve written nonfiction (biographies, histories) and lots of fiction (girls’ series fiction, boys’ series fiction, love stories, historical/alternative fiction, and more). It just depends on the story.

What research is required?

Mostly I research the historical stuff, and with my novel FORWARD TO CAMELOT (about the JFK assassination, co-authored with Kevin Finn), it got really heavy, but in the process we found several wonderful true historical bits that no one else writing about JFK had ever used, so we used them. All these years after we published it, I still have most of that research in my head; it comes in handy when I do a podcast interview on a JFK-related channel! I also did a lot of research for my biography of Amelia Earhart, visited the Oklahoma City archives of the 99’s, the women’s flying group she founded, and worked with people at the National Archives on information about her last flight. That was wonderful.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

Jimmy is the nominal hero of SCENES FROM A SONG, since he’s the guy who writes the song in the title. I’ve realized since finishing it that the real ‘hero’ of the novel is the song itself, but since you asked…

What Jimmy taught me in the writing is how powerful music can be, especially in troubling times of your life. It’s amazing, the power of a song to lift your spirits and give you hope, and because he himself experiences this, it helped me to get on board with it, too.

The story was inspired by a YouTube clip of Paul McCartney performing “Please Please Me” to close one of his concerts, and when I watched it, people were crying in the audience. I hadn’t realized a single song could have that kind of power, but it made a real impression on me.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

Yes, I collect notebooks—the prettiest ones I can find—and then I tend to not use them, because they’re too pretty, in some way, for my writing projects (this on top of also having a great writing software I use all the time to take notes). Eventually I break down and open one up and then feel glad I started it, but when it comes to the next one, I shy away again.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I thought I was a plotter, but at times like during Nanowrimo, I’m more of a pantser.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

Two huge oak bookcases—8 feet high, 8 feet across—filled with books. I had them made years ago and will never live anywhere without them.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

I’m adapting an old novel into a musical! This is the most exciting and scary thing I’ve ever done—script and lyrics—and I have great hopes for it. We’ll see what happens!

Do you have a question for our readers?

What kinds of books are YOU looking to read next? I may have something in my stack of unfinished projects that would suit you perfectly!

On Halloween Eve, 1961, in his dingy Bronx walkup apartment, seventeen-year-old Jimmy Welton hears the opening notes of a song in his head. Jimmy’s still mourning his firefighter father, who taught him to play the guitar but recently died in a house fire, leaving his family destitute. Jimmy takes this song, about all he misses from his life now, to the New York amusement park where he works after school. There, he meets Mark Morgan, a rebellious teen with his own band, who eventually invites Jimmy to join them. And the rest is rock'n roll history...

Their band, The GooseBumps, become a worldwide phenomenon, and the songs they write and sing together become the backbone of rock musical history. And the song Jimmy first heard on Halloween, "Wrapped in Gauze", becomes the song that not only comforts him in that terrible time but also comforts others: Victoria, recently divorced and dealing with an out-of-nowhere family tragedy; Carolyn, whose final flippant words to someone in pain can't be taken back; and Jack, battling back from unimaginable loss with the help of his cheeky therapist and a song he thinks he hates.

SCENES FROM A SONG is the story of a song that makes us smile, that breaks our hearts, that stays with us forever, and the very special band that started it all.

Read an Excerpt

Jimmy hesitated for a moment, then took a good slug and felt it burn down into his stomach. Only then would he trust him-self to strum the first chords of “Bawk Bawk”. He’d written it in a sardonic mood one day, when he heard Debby playing “The Twist” on her record player and wanted to make fun of it. It had never occurred to him he’d end up playing it for a bunch of guys in a seedy bar after midnight.

Jimmy took a deep breath and launched into the song, speaking as well as singing it. After he’d written it, he’d realized he could even dance it a little, too, and he made gestures as well:

Imitating a chicken, clicking his heels together, clapping his hands. His father had told him he was a natural showman, so he gave it his all.

When he began to ham it up in the dance part, the boys be-gan to laugh, and they laughed right through to the end. Jimmy finished with the high whistle he’d learned the previous summer, and a final click of his heels before bowing to them.

Mark, Kellen and Hammy applauded enthusiastically, and Mick, who’d come back to see if they wanted another round, said to him, “Terrific, fella. Funniest thing I’ve seen since ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’. You a comic?”

“Are you kidding? He’s a musician!” Mark roared. “A great musician! And ‘Bawk Bawk’s a number-one hit if ever I heard one!”

He jumped onto the floor and imitated Jimmy, clicking his heels together, arms flailing like a chicken, and making the ‘bawk bawk’ sound. In a minute, Hammy and Kellen were following him.

“Play it again, Jimmy!” Mark shouted. “So we can dance it this time!”

About the Author:

SUSAN SLOATE is the author or co-author of more than 25 published books. This includes 3 editions of Forward to Camelot, a time-travel thriller about the JFK assassination that became a #6 Amazon bestseller, was honored in 3 literary competitions and was optioned by a Hollywood company for film production. She also wrote the autobiographical Broadway novel Stealing Fire, which became a #2 Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release, and Realizing You (with Ron Doades), for which she invented a new genre: the self-help novel.

Susan has also written young-adult fiction and non-fiction, including the children’s biography Ray Charles: Find Another Way, which won the silver medal in the 2007 Children’s Moonbeam Awards. Mysteries Unwrapped: The Secrets of Alcatraz led to her 2009 appearance on the TV series MysteryQuest for The History Channel. She has also been a sportswriter and a screenwriter, edited the popular Kyle & Corey young-adult book series, man-aged two political campaigns and founded an author’s festival to promote student literacy in her hometown outside Charleston, SC. She has appeared in multiple volumes of WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA, WHO’S WHO IN ENTERTAINMENT and WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICAN WOMEN.

Website: https://susansloate.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanSloateAuthor
X.com: http://www.twitter.com/Susan_Sloate
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susan_sloate/

The book will be $0.99 during the tour: https://amzn.to/3JGG198

What It's Like to be Me by Elizabeth Ann O'Handley

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Elizabeth Ann O'Handley will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Well, one thing is for certain: everyone will feel something different after reading What It's Like to Be Me!

Why you ask? It is simply because every single one of us is completely unique; that is what makes us who we are.

The young girl in this book helps us understand that the journey of self-identification is not always easy. In some cases, maybe we just have not given it much thought. I mean, how often do we check in with ourselves? At times we are more focused on what others may think about us, while we are truly unaware of what we even think about ourselves.

With reflection, it is sometimes necessary, and useful, to see ourselves objectively.

The young girl in What It's Like to Be Me has to look within to find herself. Personal growth will usually assist us in accepting the reality of who we really are. As life changes and we grow through experience, it is up to us to be the best versions of ourselves.

Living your truth is a personal suggestion for making things a little easier when embarking on the journey of knowing exactly who you are. Every experience will change us, maybe a little, or maybe a lot. Who you are going to be in this world starts with you!

I wish you all a wonderful journey!
Truth, love, and respect always,
Elizabeth Ann O'Handley

Read an Excerpt

Preface

The world we live in can be unpredictable. Life will challenge us and give us reasons to question many things. Life may make us feel uncertain of a decision … make us feel uncertain of ourselves.

Let us help one another affirm our purpose so we can live in a world where we feel more in tune with ourselves.

Life is so beautiful, precious, and filled with meaning. Let us start by finding ourselves and then watch that beauty grow.

May we all find what we are looking for.

About the Author: What It's Like to Be Me is Elizabeth Ann O'Handley's second book. It was inspired by a visit to her hometown of Glace Bay, in the province of Nova Scotia.

Elizabeth graduated from Cape Breton University with a B.A. in 2005, and received a diploma in Acupuncture from the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners & Acupuncturists of British Columbia in 2011.

In realization of many things, Elizabeth is forever grateful for the love she continues to receive from her family and friends. She reflects on her experiences with a humble heart, and is very emotional about being true to oneself.

Elizabeth is convinced that storytelling can be an effective tool in helping anyone find their path.

Elizabeth is committed to creating positive content, in hopes that it will have an impact on all readers of her work.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/47332435.Elizabeth_Ann_O_Handley
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/What-Its-Like-Be-Me-ebook/dp/B0FBX92WG4/ref=sr_1_1wuat

Look Over Your Shoulder by Sharon Overend

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sharon Overend will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

A haunting, lyrical exploration of family, silence and the secrets we inherit.

Years of avoidance and blame have left the McLaughlin clan fractured and ill-equipped to face the critical illness of one of their own. When long buried memories of a neighborhood child’s death while in their care resurface the family truly begin to unravel.

Told in alternating voices, Look Over Your Shoulder, reveals how secrets ripple through generations, and how healing begins when someone finally dares to speak the truth.

Read an Excerpt

ANNE

I slipped away. In slow motion, I raised one foot after the other, one step at a time, upstairs. My limbs now disconnected from my body, my head bobbing in a black fog, I drifted across the hall and toward my bedroom. I lay on top of the covers but dragged a throw over my hip.

The buzz of distant conversations crawled into the room, and my window shook each time the front door opened or closed. Knuckles rapped, an empty hanger slapped against the door panel, the buzz amplified, feet shuffled forward, a presence lingered, a hand touched my arm, a voice whispered.

“Mom.”

I said nothing until her feet shuffled back toward the door.

“I’m sorry,” I sighed into the pillow seconds before the hanger again rattled, and the hum of voices roared back into the room. I wasn’t sure whether I’d wanted her to hear me or not.

“For what?” She had heard.

“For resenting you.”

The weighty creak of floorboards, a car engine idling, a woman’s laughter, a child’s shriek, a toilet flush.

“You’re tired,” Marilyn said, now close enough to touch me. “Sleep.”

“You scare me,” I said, still telling the pillow, not her. “Your strength and your capacity for forgiveness are things I’ve never experienced before. But I have to know. Have you ever forgotten?” Shame had stalked me my whole life, a shadow dancing across my peripheral vision, now fully in view.

“We’ll talk in the morning.” She lifted the fringed edge of the blanket, pulled it over my shoulder, and tucked it beneath my chin. A blue spark of static electricity sprang between her fingers and my face.

About the Author:

SHARON OVEREND, is an award-winning author whose fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry has appeared in the Canadian, American and British literary journals and anthologies including Antigonish Review, Avalon, Descant, Grain, Matter of Time, Spirit of the Hills, Surfacing, Wild Words, Word Weaver, UK’s Dream Catcher, CafeLit, The Best of CafeLit and A Coup of Owls.

Sharon and her husband live on a 156- rural acre property in Ontario, Canada where she has found inspiration for many of her projects.

Website: http://www.sharonoverend.blog
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sharonoverend
Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/sharonoverend3971
Bluesky: http://www.Sharonoverend77.bsky.social

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/LOOK-OVER-SHOULDER-Sharon-Overend-ebook/dp/B0FR2P6SWY/ref=sr_1_1

The Nameless Land by M. Laszlo

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. M. Laszlo will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

This metaphysical novel, like its predecessor, Anastasia’s Midnight Song, is a mix of stream of consciousness narration and imaginary happenings. Mystical and mysterious, The Nameless Land follows the misadventures of Rupert Lux and Anastasia T Grace.

Rupert, a young New Zealander working as a night clerk in a hotel in Sinai, is beset by a daemon that inhabits his eye. His delusion is much the same as Anastasia’s was when she was tormented by the Arctic fox and the diadem spider in the earlier book.

Anastasia, now blind, travels to Sinai at the behest of a Spiritualist Society to seek hidden treasure by dowsing. She longs to find someone she can heal and love. Perhaps Rupert is the one she can save and thereby save herself.

But Rupert is plagued by females who seem to blend into one another and appear and disappear at will. Traumatised by childhood abuse, he worries that he is not worthy of love. He races headlong through many strange encounters, while Anastasia maintains a calmer stance, though troubled by what she is being coerced into doing. She has been urged to find lost Egyptian treasure and, though reluctant, manages to do so. A sense of menace attends the discovery.

Both protagonists are troubled by wild imaginings and beset by odd visions, smells, sounds, and touches as the pair descend into hallucinatory madness. This is a fast-paced metaphysical adventure, the events hiding many layers of emotional turmoil and insanity. The reader is whisked through a dreamlike landscape, disoriented, and made to experience a kind of madness themselves.

Read the Review

Like its predecessor, Anastasia's Midnight Song (you can see our review here, The Nameless Land is a multi-layered books. Although reading the first book might give you more insight in Anastasia herself, this book can certainly be read as a standalone. The storyline itself, although still dreamlike, is a bit more straightforward than the first book.

It is a book that seeks to understand the condition of loneliness and desires, of the effects past abuses continue to torment a person. Anastasia longs to be free of the bondage she finds herself in because of the power she obtains, but finds herself always in bondage to one group or another. Rupert, who has known of Anastasia for a long time and longs to be with her, finds himself pulled in many different directions because of the daemon that torments him.

Both characters have their own madness to contend with as well as each others. Not a cheerful book, but one that is worth reading and rereading to glean all it has to offer. 4 stars.

Read an Excerpt

Rupert awoke to the sound of panting coming from outside. For a moment, he wondered if the party in question might be an excited dog. A strong gust rippled through the rooftop, and the heavy breathing grew louder—as if the creature had dared to draw near. Sure enough, a swift, elongated silhouette passed by the sick tent’s east wall. And the visitor boasted a cone-shaped horn. I’ll be damned, Rupert thought. He wondered if the entity might be some mythical beast. When he sat up, he checked to see if anyone else were awake. No, I’m the only one. He rubbed his right eye for a while before creeping outside—where the wild nighttime breeze played through his nightshirt.

At last, he dragged himself around the corner: the mysterious presence proved to be a jackal. He focused on the anomalous horn itself and made the sign of the cross. It’s a miracle. What a beauty, too, the extraordinary beast: it had a pelt that shone a creamy gold streaked with magnolia white. Awestruck, Rupert bowed to the godlike animal. ‘Hello.’

The jackal twitched its long, pointed ears. As if enthralled, the creature shook and shivered. Had it detected the presence within Rupert’s eyeball? Before long, the jackal retreated down the moonlit path before pausing to shoot him a backward glance.

He twitched his moustache. ‘You wish to show me something? Or maybe you wish to teach me the laws of the jungle. Or maybe you wish to bring me to a proper field hospital, eh?’

The jackal emitted a lonesome howl, soon answered by a distant chorus of howls. When the others grew quiet, the jackal panted anew and guided Rupert far beyond the sick-tent grounds.

About the Author:

M. Laszlo is the pseudonym of a reclusive author living in Bath, Ohio. According to rumor, he based the pen name on the name of the Paul Henreid character in Casablanca, Victor Laszlo.

M. Laszlo has lived and worked all over the world, and he has kept exhaustive journals and idea books corresponding to each location and post.

It is said that the maniacal habit began in childhood during summer vacations—when his family began renting out Robert Lowell’s family home in Castine, Maine. Rumor has it he still possesses those childhood diaries and plans to release a trilogy set in the Pine Tree State.

The habit continued into the 1980s when he lived in London, England (the summer of 1985.) The idea books and journals from that summer inspired his first work The Phantom Glare of Day published by the hybrid Spark Press in 2022.

The habit continued into the 1990s when he lived in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem and worked as a night clerk in a Palestinian youth hostel. In recent years, he revisited that very journal/idea book and based Anastasia’s Midnight Song and The Nameless Land on the characters, topics, and themes contained within the writings.

At the end of the decade, M. Laszlo attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York and earned an M.F.A degree in poetry. During his time in New York, he kept the idea books and journals that formed the basis of his second release, On the Threshold, published by the acclaimed Australian hybrid now known as Alkira. That house released Anastasia’s Midnight Song on 17 January 2025. The Nameless Land serves as a stand-alone sequel and releases on 5 December 2025.

M. Laszlo has lived and worked in New York City, East Jerusalem, and several other cities around the world. While living in the Middle East, he worked for Harvard University’s Semitic Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio and an M.F.A. in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.

Fabricated by Nicole Givens Kurtz

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nicole Givens Kurtz will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

NGK: The television series that jumpstarted my fascination with science fiction was the original Star Trek. I also began reading mysteries in tenth grade, starting with Lawrence Sanders and Sue Grafton. The two genres, science fiction and mystery meld together in my mind.

What research is required?

NGK: For Fabricated, I researched the advancement in technology and AI particularly. Cybil’s world is pretty well established as there are three other novels in the series, a spin-off trilogy and a collection of short stories. I researched how bodies decompose, tattooing and African scarification.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

NGK: One thing I learned from Cybil is to follow your instincts. As women, we are often told to ignore our feelings or our instincts and depend on what we can see, what is factual, or proven. Cybil does this too, but she also listens to her instinct and hunches, because those are derived from experience. In her line of work, a p.i., experience is sometimes better.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

NGK: I’m not sure it’s quirky, but I write longhand for all of my stories. Several of my writing friends find this to be ridiculous in the age of Scrivener and Word and other software writing apps. I spend a lot of my day job time on screen, so when I write, I don’t want to look at another screen. Plus, when I write by hand, it forces my brain to slow down and not race ahead. I’ve been writing for over 25 years, professionally, and at this point, it’s now habit.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

NGK: I’m a pantser! I write in pieces and parts and then, when I feel I might have the right collection to meld into a story, I put them together, pantsing through the gaps to fill in the story and link them together. It’s absolute madness, but it challenges my creative mind to find something that can fit those gaps and make it make sense! As I mentioned before, I’ve been doing this for so long now, it’s a habit.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

NGK: To my right is my bag of Salt and Vinegar potato chips, my mouse, my mousepad- that reads “Not Today Heifer”, and my work laptop. Somehow, these things encapsulate my personality. LOL!

Anything new coming up from you? What?

NGK: New this week is my latest cyberpunk noir novel titled, Fabricated: A Cybil Lewis SF Mystery. It’s set in the futuristic territory of The District, the former District of Columbia. It’s a whodunit staring a PI that subverts the lonely, cigarette-smoking male stereotype we see so often in noir types of films.

Do you have a question for our readers?

NGK: I would love to know how many readers think they may take a chance and read Fabricated?

Cybil Lewis, a private inspector in futuristic D.C., now The District, begrudgingly works with the Territory Alliance agents to track down an escaped violator, Nico Mars. Almost immediately, Cybil is tossed into the District's gritty underbelly of political ambition, drugs, and betrayal. This case will take her and Jane deep into the reaches of The District's notorious Sector 12, where life is cheap and currency is king. When her investigation leads back to those responsible for protecting citizens, Cybil discovers she's in danger. She's reminded once again that everything can be fabricated.

Read an Excerpt

If it’s one thing I’ve learned in my nearly forty years is this—trust your gut.

If I had, things would’ve gone much more smoothly.

Who am I?

I’m Cybil Lewis. Private Inspector licensed in The District Territory. July felt like an oven left on high. The sun’s rays rebounded off the pavement, fiberglass, and metal, back into people’s faces. An energy nightmare, certain neighborhoods suffered frequent electrical and computer grid breakdowns, leaving thousands stranded without air conditioning, automatic doors, and other necessities. Bots stopped working. Generators and recyclable batteries helped. Still the more tech-rich you were, the greater the potential for damage.

Venture outside at your own risk. Summer snatched victims into its greedy hands and swallowed them whole. Each year an ever-increasing number of people died because they became trapped in their residences without cool air when the grid responsible for controlling the electric crashed or when the generators melted.

Which was why I was leaning over the air conditioning unit when the doors to my office yawned open. In walked two women, one whom I recognized the moment her sleek, dark blonde hair crossed the threshold. I got up to meet them before they came too far into my lobby. Midwest Territory Alliance Agent Lynn stopped. Despite wearing make-up, pockmarks spoiled her attempt at flawless. Cold blue eyes stared out. She grinned, calculated, and cool.

We had a complicated history due to a shared case not too long ago. She tried to get me shot, killed, and sent to the cradle for violations I didn’t commit. The entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

You can imagine my joy at seeing her again.

About the Author:

Nicole Givens Kurtz has been called “a genre polymath who does crime, horror, and Science Fiction and Fantasy (Book Riot).” They’ve named her as one of the 6 Black SFF Indie Writers You Should be Reading, 30 Must-Read SFF Books by Black Authors, and The Best of the West: 8 Alternative History Westerns (Sisters of the Wild Sage). She’s a two-time Atomacon Palmetto Scribe Award winner. With over 20 years in publishing, She’s written for Pseudopod, Apex, Fiyah, White Wolf, The Realm, Baen, Subsume, and MV Media. Nicole has over 50 published short stories, including her story, “The Way Home,” in Marvel®’s Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson anthology from Titan Books. Nicole is the author of the Cybil Lewis and Death Violations cybernoir series as well as the Kingdom of Aves fantasy mystery series. She has conducted workshops for Writer’s Digest Online, Clarion West online, SAGA, and is the owner of Mocha Memoirs Press. She’s the editor for the groundbreaking SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire and co-editor of Blackened Roots: An Anthology of the Undead anthology. Nicole is professional level member of SFWA and HWA. You can find her at www.nicolegivenskurtz.net.

Instagram - @mochamemoirspress TikTok-@mochamemoirspress BlueSky-@ nicolegkurtz.bsky.social Facebook facebook.com/nicolegkurtz Buy Nicole a coffee at Ko-fi/nicolegkurtz

Playing Rough by Beth Pellino-Dudzic

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This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Beth Pellino-Dudzic will be awarding one set of the three books in the series - Playing Hard, Playing High and Playing Rough (international giveaway). Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Love. Lies. And the Road to Redemption.

After five months in rehab, Trevor McNaughton is finally sober—and ready to rebuild his life with Gina, the woman who never stopped believing in him. A road trip is meant to be their fresh start, but their plans are quickly derailed when their former publicist, Paul Ryan, emerges with explosive claims: an affair with Gina, dark secrets about their band Perfection, and vicious speculation about their marriage.

As the couple races to contain the fallout, the pressure mounts. Trevor must protect his fragile sobriety while defending the truth. Gina, fierce and unshakable, refuses to let their love be hijacked by lies. All the while, Gina’s cousin and bandmate Rio begs them to return home and help shape the next album—while wannabe rock star Brian Mayfield looms as another potential threat to the narrow threshold they already straddle.

With careers and reputations on the line, Trevor and Gina must confront the ghosts of their past and the chaos of their present. Can love outlast betrayal, and can anything silence a man set on destruction?

Read an Excerpt

Trevor and Gina McNaughton weathered the storm in their marriage. Their life was back on track. Gina understood Trevor’s desire to get away, recognizing that he was still frail after months of intensive rehab. She would follow his lead. His stay at Turquoise Skye brought up deep emotions that Trevor buried after his mother died. Whatever lay ahead, Gina was determined to help Trevor with his demons.

Rio let himself into the McNaughtons’ Montecito house. Gina and Trevor were on their outside deck taking in the view of the Pacific Ocean. Rio knew he was intruding on a quiet moment. Rio said, “Hey, how are you, family? I have been trying to give you two space, I know you need your alone time. We miss you at the studio. We have been listening to the music we have in the vault. Trev, your guitar work is killer. I was wondering if you two would be interested in coming down and just listening to the music? No recording, no rewriting, getting reacquainted with music we already wrote. What do you think, Trevor, Gina? Any attention you could give to Perfection?”

Gina looked at Trevor, she wanted him to voice his opinion first. Trevor stared into space, then looked at Rio, “Rio, I got the message you want to get Perfection moving. I actually agree, music needs to be worked on. Gina and I could give you a few hours a day. I won’t promise anything more. I still have some rough edges, bro. Adjusting being back home with my wife. Gina, what are you thinking, babe?”

About the Author: Beth Pellino-Dudzic was born in the Bronx and grew up in Westchester County, New York. She earned a BA in Business Administration and worked at IBM. She has three adult daughters and a new Granddaughter. She currently lives in Alabama with her husband and their miniature dachshund, Truffle. Although The Perfection Saga is fictional, many of the stories hark back to Beth’s time in the Rock ‘n’ Roll world. Beth’s favorite pastime is football, everything football. She also is an excellent cook and baker.

Website: https://perfectionsaga.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558439816678
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bpellinodudzic/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bethandperfection1

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0FP9H6LQQ

Accidental Paradise by Eric Grandy

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eric Grandy will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre?

Fiction allows for what I call “reality based creativity”. I take real events from what I’ve experienced or heard or what others have shared with me and weave a “fictional reality” that, hopefully, readers can relate to.

What research (or world-building – for fantasy/paranormal/Sci-fi) is required?

I don’t write sci-fi or paranormal or fantasy. I do research when I want to get important facts straight. For instance, my next novel involves a main character who travels to Lagos, Nigeria. My neighbor is from there and he and I sat and talked several times about life, culture, the people and his personal experiences growing up there. I write fiction but it is always fact based.

Name one thing you learned from your heroine.

Through LaVern Whitaker, I have relearned the value of always doing what’s right. It may not seem like the right, or easiest thing to do at the time, but in the long run, it’s always the right thing. After she received an unexpected scholarship to a prestigious performing arts school, her father shared this cogent advice. “Always do the right thing, LaVern. You never know who’s watching that can make your bumpy road smooth.” That’s one of those reality based lessons I’ve tried to live by.

Do you have any odd or interesting quirks, habits or superstitions?

One unexpected aspect of writing is that I listen and observe all the time. I don’t eavesdrop, but I listen to nearby conversations and I watch others' mannerisms. You pick up a lot of character traits that way. A coworker once mentioned that he was “earhustling”. I had never heard the word before so he explained what it meant. I knew I would use it somewhere in my novel. And I did. And, I carry around something to write on because I don’t trust my memory when the time comes to recall what I saw or heard.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

You could call me a hybrid. Most of the time I jot down the major plot points in a chapter. But sometimes I write myself into a corner and have to figure my way out. I was more than halfway through my novel when I realized I didn’t have a villain. I had to revisit my story to find a suitable character, then weave his presence into the mostly completed manuscript.

Look to your right. What’s sitting there?

I’m looking through my dining room window onto my front porch, a favorite place where I often sit and read and listen to the birds. Beyond that is my wife’s beautiful garden. Most of the colorful, summer blooms are gone now but the greenery is soothing. I need to give the lawn one final cut though.

Anything new coming from you? What?

I’m working on my second novel. I don’t have a title yet. That’s always the last decision I make. It’s about a private detective who reluctantly takes on a local drug dealer as a mentor. The dealer agrees only because he wants to avoid probation. Their relationship is tumultuous with lots of shouting, cursing and some physicality. A trip to Lagos, Nigeria is an epiphany for the dealer which causes him to re-examine his life.

Do you have a question for our readers?

Yes. I always want to know what readers like and don't like about my novel.

Natural talent, hard work, and a childhood friend help LaVern Whitaker find her calling as an actress. When her life becomes overwhelming, they discover a small town where her true identity can remain unknown and she can stay out of the spotlight. The more she visits her secret getaway, the more deeply she feels connected to the history, the lifestyle, and the people. Could this place be her home away from home, or become the home she has dreamed of? Or will sinister forces rip it all away?

Read an Excerpt

Oh, this is our second time here and we love Louiston.”

LaVern removed her shades and looked down at the little girl.

“Oh, pardon me. This is my daughter Brittany. Brittany, this is Miss James.”

“Hello Miss James. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Brittany. You look so cute in your bathing suit and crocs.”

“Thank you.”

There was an awkward moment of silence before Brittany spoke up.

“Daddy, can we get my ice cream cone?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said a slightly chagrined LaVern, “don’t let me interfere. I just wanted to say hello.”

“That’s alright Miss James. No need to apologize.” Wilson looked down at his restless daughter. “I think I should be on my way though. It was a pleasure meeting both of you again.”

“Likewise.”

From underneath the umbrella came a final salutation. “It was nice meeting you again too.”

Wilson and Brittany resumed their journey to the ice cream stand. LaVern returned to her shaded chair and replaced her sunglasses. She turned and looked at Shaundra.

“See, that didn’t hurt, did it? I removed my shades and he still didn’t recognize me.”

“Like I said before,” reminded Shaundra, “nobody would expect to find a movie star in a place like this.”

That’s exactly why LaVern, again, reserved her space a year in advance. Louiston was part of them now. As indispensable and as life-giving as a pulse. And Mary Scales was a member of their family.

About the Author: Eric Grandy was born and raised in Baltimore City and graduated from City College. After he graduated from Essex Community College, he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and played six years for that team. He went on to a variety of jobs: photographer, lab manager, driver for DHL and warehouse manager. After retirement, he decided to devote himself to writing, producing several short stories and Accidental Paradise, his debut novel.

Grandy still lives in Baltimore with his wife Rhonda and his daughter Marti.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Paradise-Eric-Grandy/dp/B0FKPYYH8S

Dogged Determination by Chris Redding

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Chris Redding will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

A vegetarian veterinarian needs cash for a no-kill shelter, which is her life’s passion. But her efforts to fundraiser have been stymied, because she doesn’t know anyone rich.

The heir to a hot dog fortune must give away money before he gains his inheritance. Having been raised with a silver spoon in his mouth, he doesn’t know anyone needy enough.

Sounds like a match made in Heaven, but when a stray mutt brings them together, will they recognize what the other can provide?

Read an Exclusive Excerpt

No one had taken Daria’s picture.

No one would discover who Dad was or where he currently resided. She could relax a little, and she let her shoulders down. At the table adorned with a centerpiece that was tall enough to block her view, she eyed everyone else’s actions before she picked up her utensils. She’d been at many balls and fundraisers. Sadly, the information about what fork to use or when never stuck in her mind.

She had other talents than picking the correct utensil. One of which was separating rich men from their money for a good cause, of course, which was her animals.

“What do you do?” one of those rich men at the table asked her. He had a close-trimmed beard and tiny spectacles.

Now was her chance. The first question was always about your profession. “I’m a veterinarian.”

“She also runs an amazing animal shelter,” Samuel added.

Odd of him to be supportive.

The man cleared his throat. “Animal shelter?”

“A no-kill shelter,” she began.

After each sentence, the man leaned closer.

He was hooked. She figured he’d be good for at least a few hundred. She would be a few more dollars closer to her goal of buying the property next to her office to build a bigger shelter.

The shoe-catcher sauntered by with a woman on his arm. He glanced her way. He sported a mustache and slicked back hair.

Daria almost stumbled in her spiel.

He smiled.

About the Author: Chris Redding has been writing romance and suspense for more than 2 decades. She’d written more than 60 novels and novellas over her career as a ghostwriter.

Website: http://www.chrisreddingauthor.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chrisreddingauthor
Twitter: http://www.pinterest.com/chrisredding/
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Dogged-Determination-Chris-Redding-ebook/dp/B0F9XCM9YX/ref=sr_1_3

The Goodbyes by Helen Gillespie

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Helen Gillespie will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I don’t have an answer to this question. The story needed to be told, so I told it. The genre is where it landed.

What research is required?

I needed to research or confirm the technology available in 1992, when the story I told took place. Also, I needed to refresh my memory about the Webster and Greene County, Missouri area. Specifically, I couldn’t remember if I44 had been completed at the time. And, one thing I had totally forgotten about was that the speed limit in the area, including Interstate 44, was 55 miles per hour.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

If there’s hesitation about doing something, sometimes it is the universe saying, “Don’t do it.” If a person decides to do something anyway and it remains a little creepy, definitely don’t do it. Also, our parents hold secrets too, secrets so painful, they can’t be shared until it’s almost too late.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

I often dream up and develop scenes and dialogue while taking a shower or doing other human things. If I recall what I've dreamed up, developed, or refined while doing my human things, I let the information flow through my fingers and onto the computer keyboard. After I run out of words, I go back to the start and fine-tune what I’ve written.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I am more of a pantser. However, as I develop my sequel, I’m trying to be more of a planner, especially when it comes to a timeline. It’s crucial so that my sequel makes sense.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

A whiteboard with various reminders sits directly to my right. Above it, I have a collage of memorabilia from my Army service.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

Oh yes! Aside from the gobbledygook I write just to be silly or warm up my brain, I hope to publish a sequel to The Goodbyes. It will contain more emotional scenes and expose more secrets from the core set of characters I introduced in The Goodbyes.

Do you have a question for our readers?

I want to know what the greatest lessons readers learned between the ages of 18 and 25.

Struggling with becoming an adult in a small mid-western town, Dianne must confront family secrets, deception, and discovery during her last year of college. As she cares for her ailing mother, her world begins to unravel and she is challenged to navigate through lies, friendships, love...and murder.

Meeting the wrong person makes it possible for her to recognize the right ones and to find the strength she needs to survive. Realizing that she is responsible for her own destiny, she learns that to say hello to a new life, she must first say goodbye.

Read an Except

Although hesitant, Dianne prepared for her date with more apprehension than she had earlier when she prepared for her first day in the classroom. Weirdly, she hoped she would be stood up.

“Sorry I’m late. The ladies at work needed me to stop by and help them,” Michael told Dianne when she answered the door.

“Hi, Michael. Please, come in. Do people ever call you Mike?”

“Naw, ever since the second grade there was this other Michael, and everyone called him Mike and me Michael. It kinda stuck.”

“Makes sense. I’m almost about ready. I’m going to finish putting these towels away, and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Your momma okay?”

“Yes, she’s in the room sleeping. Thank you for asking.”

Dianne was surprised to hear Michael ask about her mother and not instantly jump into something about himself.

“See, I’m not as bad as you thought this morning.” Michael stared at Dianne as though he expected appreciation for his politeness.

“I hope not,” Dianne said, smiling while placing the last of the towels in a nearby closet.

“Dianne, you leaving?”

“Yes, Mom. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“No, I was getting up and heard Michael come in. Ken should be over in about an hour, and he’s bringing me something to eat.”

Dianne disappeared briefly from Michael’s sight into her mother’s room to kiss her goodbye.

“You going to be okay, Mom?”

“Yeah, my boyfriend’s coming over and bringing dessert,” Katrina said, smiling and forcing her eyes open.

About the Author: Throughout grammar school and college, Helen Gillespie loved developing story sketches or full stories but kept them hidden within herself. That creative spark proved valuable in unexpected places, first on assignment as a musician in the US Army, and after leaving the Army, when she earned a degree in elementary education. After reentering the Army in 1981, she put pen to paper, or rather, “fingers to an Olivetti.” She officially learned the art of journalism to serve the Army, but it quickly became a personal passion. Interviewing fellow soldiers, exploring their jobs and personalities, and publishing useful information for the military community formed the basis of her skill and enjoyment. Those years of thought, training, education, and experience laid the foundation for crafting her first novel, The Goodbyes.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565442142189
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hgillespie/
Website: https://www.helengillespiewrites.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hgillespe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.gillespie/

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My Husband Almost Killed Me by Linda Beason

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Linda Beason will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

"If you ever leave me, I will kill the kids then I will kill you." "I can't help but think of other women who may be facing similar situations, even now in a time and generation when these events can easily be exposed as much as they could be hidden. I wish I could reach each one of them, look into their eyes and tell them: you don't have to live like this. Life can be better; you can choose a different path. It's not easy, trust me, I know that more than most people do, BUT IT'S WORTH IT." This book is an autobiography about a woman raised on a large farm who learned to drive a large tractor at the age of seven, then spent many years plowing, planting and harvesting crops and taking care of the farm animals. After three years in the Marine Corps, she married her college sweetheart who became a drunk and abused her for seven horrible years before he almost killed her then disappeared. After she recovered she and her three kids fled to Florida to hide so he wouldn't find them and finish the job.

Read an Excerpt

A few weeks ago, after one of Phil’s drunken rages, I decided that the kids and I would start camping out in the cornfield surrounding the house to avoid getting in his way. The plan was simple: we’d head out about an hour before he typically staggered home and stay hidden and out of sight until we were sure he had returned and passed out in bed. After that, we would crawl back into the house, get tucked in, and wake up the following day when Phil would have recovered from his stupor, and we could go back to being a regular family until we had to do it all over again at night. This way, we could avoid the brunt of his tirades and tantrums, and, most importantly, I could retain some semblance of peace, normalcy, and quiet for myself and my kids.

So far, it had been working.

As far as the kids were concerned, any chance to camp out in the fields was a fun opportunity they couldn’t miss. They were now used to the earthy, starchy, grassy smell, the sound of crickets chirping, and the occasional rustle of small rabbits nearby scurrying through the underbrush. Bailey and Ryan usually wore themselves out singing nursery rhymes and playing with their toys under the tent. Then, using a dim flashlight, I read bedtime stories to them while cradling Brooke and rocking her to sleep. When they were all fast asleep, I would keep watch, waiting for Phil to arrive and timing our return to the house.

The plan was working, but tonight, Brooke’s feeble cries threatened to disrupt it. She had initially fallen asleep in my arms, but for some reason, her eyes opened back up moments later, and since then, she’d been crying and refused to go back to sleep. I tried to cradle her even more, hoping the cry would let up, but it only grew louder. I wasn’t worried about a neighbor hearing us and calling the cops to report a lost, crying baby in the fields; the house closest to our field was a good half-mile away. I was more worried about Bailey’s and Ryan’s sleep being interrupted and the possibility of Phil’s sudden return.

About the Author: Born and raised on an Indiana farm, Linda Beason was steeped in the rhythms of rural life and nurtured by the enduring love of a close-knit family.

From an early age, she embraced responsibility and excelled throughout her school years. As an alumna of Purdue University— where she earned degrees in both agriculture and accounting—Linda distinguished herself academically and professionally, later working for several corporate companies, most notably the Green Giant Company, and serving honorably in the Marine Corps.

Yet despite a childhood filled with warmth and promise, Linda's adult life took a harrowing turn when she entered a marriage that would test the very limits of her strength. For nearly a decade, she endured domestic abuse at the hands of a dangerous man whose fury was fueled by alcohol and an insatiable need for control. That turbulent period sent her racing through a whirlwind of experiences that would forever alter her path. Even in the darkest moments, however, Linda clung to her faith in God and the quiet confidence of a Midwesterner.

Linda passed away in 2024 while writing this book. Through these pages, she hoped to inspire women to overcome the challenges of toxic relationships and the hardships of motherhood, reminding them that even the deepest wounds can heal and that the promise of a brighter tomorrow is always within reach.

Buy Link: https://amazon.com/dp/1779626460
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/56955280.Linda_Beason a Rafflecopter giveaway

God's Coded Language Is All About Transparency by Janette C. Andrejowich

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Janette C. Andrejowich will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

For people seeking to understand the spiritual world and the deep things of God, decoding God's language, expressed in imagery, numbers, colours, parables, parallels, stories, and foreshadows, is the essential elusive key that lights up the path of understanding the spiritual view of God. Nothing is hidden. It is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (I Corinthians 2:9). But this scripture only applies to those who want to see a charcoal sketch of their calling. People who receive the free gift of God's Holy Spirit have embraced the unique Spirit, and the world in the scriptures comes alive in dazzling colour because the elusive key is found and applied.

The Apostle Paul added, "these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God" (I Corinthians 2:10).

Every aspect of God's creation on earth is a revelation of the great Creator God for those with the Spirit-opened eyes to see, ears to hear, and a willing heart of flesh. The amazing discovery of God's coded language is all about transparency, unveiling His plan for mankind and His holy, royal, ruling family in the making.

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THE TREES, VINES and FLOWERS

“Open your doors, O LEBANON, that the fire may devour your cedars! Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the glorious trees have been destroyed; Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has come down” (Zechariah 11:2).

What was at one time so glorious, so impenetrable and great is being destroyed. Where is the Lebanon referred to in Zechariah? Who are the cedars, the cypress, the oaks, and the glorious trees?

Scriptures reveal God’s use of imagery. The fallen cedar trees described in Zechariah 11 are the once-great and highly honoured heavenly rulers in God’s government and holy court. They have turned against Him; they are rebels. Many are already overthrown and imprisoned in Sheol. The remaining rebels will come to an end on the Day of God’s wrath. God has a plan for mankind. He will fill the positions once held by the “glorious trees” with new members—transformed righteous mortals.

Satan has his puppets busy at work: hiding truth, distorting history, and keeping mankind ignorant of their calling. The thoughts of carnal mankind demand sight before belief. God is asking for faith. The unseen world is closed to mankind at this time. Satan uses this barrier to keep people from questioning God’s wonderful and miraculous creation all around them. Battles have been fought and tensions in heaven are on-going. Mankind is ignorant of the vast dominions controlled by fallen sons of God in heaven, yet to be overthrown. They cannot fathom the hatred these heavenly rebels have towards mortals on earth, especially those who will be awarded their most-high offices. Regardless, in time, it will all be revealed.

“See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled; the tall ones will be brought low. He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One” (Isaiah 10:33-34).

About the Author:

Jeremiah said, "If I say, 'I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,' His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail" (Jeremiah 20:9). I have this same experience, which has led me to create a resource centre (https://sharingsharpens.ca) to share all of my studies, and now my books. God's Coded Language Is All About Transparency is my first published book, which came together from many of my studies. It is like a collection, all fitting perfectly together. It is not my last book. Many are already written, soon to be placed on the shelf to accompany this one.

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