@OBBookTours - Guest Post- Zoe Brooks - Love of Shadows

Why Blogging Is Important For Me

by Zoe Brooks

When I was younger I was a successful poet. I was one of the bright young things of British poetry, appearing in the seminal anthology Grandchildren of Albion. But then something happened – that something was life.

It’s very difficult to make a living from novels, let alone poetry, so I had to focus to on another way of making a living. My first job was as community theatre manager in London’s Covent Garden, my second was running the UK’s national centre for puppetry. Both were fascinating and demanding jobs and I threw myself into them. At the same time I got married and two years later my son was born. Caught somewhere between my work and my family, my writing suffered and after a while dried up completely. I am sure a lot of women will have experienced something similar.

Virginia Woolf said that every woman writer needs a room of her own. She was not just talking about a physical room but also a psychological one. About a dozen years ago I started visiting the Czech Republic regularly. It was a place where I could get away from the pressure of my work. Then about eight years ago I bought a derelict farmhouse there. One of the reasons for doing so was the hope that I could write there. At first nothing happened, so I decided I would start writing a blog about the Czech Republic. Adventures in the Czech Republic is still going and has won various awards. It was even featured in an exhibition by the Czech Centre in London. My experience with the blog massively increased my confidence and showed me that I could write prose as well as poetry. The act of blogging regularly was also very important. I really do think that if I had not started my Czech blog I probably would not be writing novels now.

Every author is encouraged to have a blog nowadays, but what you do to make your blog stand out among the thousands of others? I actually have two writing blogs. The first is my author’s blog, in which I talk about the inspiration behind my books, share poems, photos and anything else. It’s a bit of fun for people who are interested in me and my books and gives me a way to talk to them. I don’t see it as a way of marketing my writing to people who haven’t heard of me.

My second writing blog on the other hand is about reaching out to new readers. It is a book review blog, focusing on magic realism books. I am told I write magic realist books, because my books are realistic with an element of magic or fantasy. Every week I read and review a different magic realist book and share that experience on my blog. It’s a fascinating project. I have discovered lots of writers and books that I hadn’t heard of and I am learning so much about my craft from studying the works of others. I am now being approached by other magic realist writers asking me to review their books. Of course by having a specialist blog, my readers already have an interest in reading books in my genre, but I am not constantly pushing my books, which would be wrong and counter productive.

In addition, I have a weekly online newspaper pulling together in one place the best articles about fiction books by and for women. As with the magic realism blog, the newspaper works in all sorts of ways for me. It appeals to people who will also like my books, it makes me read widely about what is going on in women’s fiction, and as the newspaper also has a twitter feed, it has introduced me to lots of interesting people in my field.

It used to be that having a writer’s blog was enough. I don’t think this is the case any more. As writers we have to do more and gear our blogs to our markets. Most importantly we have to provide a service to visitors to our blogs, by providing information, reviews, news, or other material that will interest our readers. We miss much of the point of blogging if we only think of it as  a way to market our books, it is a way to learn our craft.

If you are interested by blogs can be visited here:

Adventures in the Czech Republic:  http://czechproperty.blogspot.com

Zoe Brooks, Books and More: http://zoebrooks.blogspot.com

Magic Realism Books: http://www.magic-realism.net

Women’s Fiction News: http://www.womens-fiction.net

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Fantasy / Women’s Fiction  

Rating – R

More details about the book

Connect with Zoe Brooks on Facebook & Twitter

Follow the Tour

6th August – Author Interview at Farm Girl Books

13th August – Book Review at Always JoArt

20th August – Guest post at Nobody Important

27th August – Book Feature at Reviews by Karen

3rd September – Twitter Blast with OB Book Tours 

Love of Truth by CT Oliver Excerpt and a great Giveaway

Title: Love of Truth

Author: CT Oliver

Release date: July 13th 2013

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Group: New Adult /Adult

Event organized by: AToMR Tours

Goodreads - Amazon

For the next eleven days all Amelia Adler wants is a nice relaxing vacation on the beach. All she’ll do is drink pineapple margaritas and read sexy steamy romance novels. She doesn’t want to think about the stress of her daily life nor the fact that she doesn’t know what to do with her life.

Craig Patrice just wants to spend his last spring break catching wave after waves during the day in the Pacific Ocean, and relax as much as he can at night. This is his last break before finishing law school and starting at a firm this upcoming summer. He has no desire for a fling or a girlfriend. All he wants is to buckle down and finish this year off right. That is until he gets a glimpse of his vacationing neighbor, and for the life of him, he can’t look away. Though Craig and Amelia are somewhat reluctant for a relationship, they seem to find comfort in one another and can’t let go of each other. Finding romance on vacation is one thing, but can their relationship withstand the demand of real life and once their past catches up with them will believing in each other’s truth save their future.

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1) Event ‘Giveaway’
The author is hosting a Release Giveaway of (4) $10 Amazon Gift Cards – International. Please use the Rafflecopter code below if you would like to offer this event giveaway.
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2) Sweepstakes ‘Giveaway’
(1) eBook copy of Love of Truth. Gifted from Amazon.

Open international. Value of eBook is $2.99 USD. To enter, just leave your name and email in a comment below. Ends August 2nd.

Excerpt

Sitting back, I try to relax again, but I’m hyped and overly aware of all the sounds around me. Cory comes through the glass sliding doors, and offers me a three finger Macallan then settles down into the lounge chair next to me with a drink of his own. There are some things in this world that you cannot skimp on, and a good scotch is one of them.

“Whoa, whose big ride? Wasn’t there five minutes ago,” Cory states.

“Yeah, seems like we’ll be having a neighbor for a couple of days,” I say nonchalantly.

“Neighbor? As in one?” Cory asks.

“Yeah, she’s a cute lil’ thang,” I drawl, laughing to myself. You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the boy.

“Hmmm, maybe she’ll want to come over later for our get together with the girls from this morning,” Cory grins to himself.

I let out a laugh, dividing my focus between Cory and the house across the drive path.

“You trying to woo them with your cooking?”

“Hey! A lady has to appreciate a man who can grill, right?” Cory asks, taking of a sip of his scotch.

“Yes, a lady would, but those girls…” I raise a questioning eyebrow at my brother.

Cory laughs. “Yeah, okay, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what they have to offer me.”

“Okay, just don’t appreciate them so much that you can’t catch some waves tomorrow.”

My brother and I have two different ideas of this vacation. Cory wants to meet as many girls as he can, I just want to catch as many waves and adrenaline rushes as I can.

“I won’t,” Cory chuckles and leans back in his chair facing the ocean. “Hey! You okay man? You’ve been quiet, and let me tap into what mom would say, umm, ‘reflective’, lately. What’s going on in that head of ours?”

I laugh at my brother’s concern. Cory and our mom have always been close. Cory is a year younger and is a bigger mama’s boy than I am. Whenever we’re looking out for each other, we always worry through our mom’s eyes, so to speak.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just finishing up school is stressful and then next year, you know.”

“Man, you just need a girl!” Cory states. This is not uncommon for him to say. It’s his answer for everything. Bored? Get with a girl. Going to get food? Get it with a girl. Going to buy toilet paper? Get it with a girl. Some part of Cory just doesn’t want to grow up, it seems.

@OBBookTours - Guest Post - Maggie Thom - Tainted Waters

Inside the Mind of an Author

by Maggie Thom

Inside the mind of an author… who dares to go there? It’s mysterious, it’s swarming with ideas, it’s overwhelming, it’s fun, it’s silly, off the wall, out there, dark, wild and wacky, searching, seeking, loving, giving, living in a dream world that is magical, mystical and fun. But it is rarely boring.

I can’t speak for all authors but I can speak for me, my mind is often very busy. Sometimes it is fun and whimsical, I’ll see something or hear something and then play with it. Put it in an impossible situation. For example I can be watching a butterfly flitting around and wonder what would happen if it lived in a land where they were the rulers. What would that look like? What kind of issues would they have in their world? And I keep adding in things and taking away others to see where it would go. Is there an idea there that I can develop into something intriguing, interesting and believable. Sometimes it is weird and whacky. I may wonder what it would be like to go to school with an elephant. And then what if that elephant had fire breathing skills from his trunk. How would he control it? What problems would arise for him?

I love to look at situations and change them, explore what is possible. I think that as a writer I’m always looking to stretch reality, find the absurd, the impossible to see if it is something I can make possible. At other times I am trying to explore human resiliency, how far can people be pushed before they react and how would they react. How would they handle difficult situations? What would they do? And how would they do it? Sometimes I am looking for answers or just plain curious. So, if I wonder what something would be like to do or how would I handle it if it happened in my life, I write a story that will cover that kind of situation.

The ideas are always there, sometimes I am searching for them and at other times they just come to me at the oddest time. I can be doing dishes, driving, hiking in nature, sleeping, watching a show, reading a book, doing almost anything when ideas will come to me. I then play the ‘what if’ and see where I can go with my snippet of my idea.

In fact sometimes when I want the ideas to be flowing they aren’t there. Something I’ve learned though is the more I push, the less they come. So when I’m struggling with where to go with some story, I often walk away and do something unrelated. I leave the story behind and make a conscious effort not to think about it for a while. Then when I do come back to it, I’ll just let my mind play with ideas until I have the flow and then I’ll start grabbing that which I think fits and see where it goes.

Surprisingly enough there are quiet times too. I can shut off my thoughts and just be, so it isn’t noisy and busy all the time.

I think inside the mind of a writer is a pretty cool place to hang out. You just never know what villainous creatures or daring adventures or compelling characters just might show up.

He didn’t commit suicide but who’s going to believe her…

Frustrated at being fired from her latest job and overwhelmed by her consolatory family, Sam decides to move to the family’s cabin at the lake. A place she hasn’t been since her dad committed suicide there twenty years before. Or did he? Snooping is something she’s good at but someone seems to be taking offence to her looking too closely at what has been happening at the lake. What she discovers is shocking. Now she must uncover what’s real and what’s not.

All that she learned growing up, may be false. Keegan, who has recently moved to the area, to finish his latest book is also trying to find out if his grandfather, who’d passed away ten years before, died of natural causes or was murdered? The descendants of the four families who own the land around the lagoon are dying off. Since Sam and Keegan are the only ones questioning the deaths, they find themselves working together to seek the truth.

Are people being murdered? Who would benefit from their deaths? Why would there be barricades and armed guards at the north end of the lake? To stay alive, Sam and Keegan must find the answers and convince others, before more people are killed… including them.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Suspense

Rating – PG13

More details about the book

Connect with Maggie Thom on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.maggiethom.com/

Follow the Tour

3rd August – Book Feature at Need to Stop Reading

10th August – Book Review at Creating Imaginations

@OBBookTours - What inspired me to write the novel, The Tortoise Shell Code, and its non-fiction corollary, Universal Co-opetition? by V Frank Asaro

What inspired me to write the novel, The Tortoise Shell Code, and its non-fiction corollary, Universal Co-opetition?

by V Frank Asaro

When my son, Dean, was in high school thirty years or so ago he shared an assignment with me that involved a very thought provoking concept.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ It related to the question of how people can compete for something, yet at the same time help each other– seemingly against self-interest. But sometimes one will gain the thing they competed for – and reach success – often to the exclusion of the other.  For example, students often cooperatively study together for the final exam, yet compete against one another to be the best on the bell curve.

That set me to thinking about whether there is something – a paradigm fundamental to nature – that enables such melding of cooperation and competition to happen. Perhaps, for example, this paradigm could lead to avoidance of polarization in politics? I thought.

I read and studied and finally came to the conclusion that this fusion of cooperation and competition is in nature itself, and is even a fundamental law of the universe.  It is in music, chemistry, economics, political science, business, snowflakes, everything!

I hired a handful of university graduate students, independently from one another, and gave them assignments to research various fields of thought – such as philosophy, physics, etc. – to find either support for, or invalidation of, my theory.  After a summer of research and course correction meetings, to a person they came back and enthusiastically said, “Validated. “

So during the decade of the 1980’s I wrote up a monstrous treatise on my coined word: co-opetition.  I did this in scraps, usually in the middle of the night, primarily to get into a zone away from the crowding thoughts of whatever trial I was in at the time.  This was how I eventually could get back to sleep.  The finished manuscript I titled Synthesis Between Order and Chaos, and I sent it around to publishers and circulated it among many others.  Generally, they were intrigued, but in those days they wouldn’t invest in my book unless I went on a speaking tour and commercialized the idea.  I was no Carl Sagan, nor did I have the time from my busy law practice to become so engaged.

The word co-opetition, obviously a contraction of “cooperation” and “competition,” has since been used by others– usually in the field of business theory, but I frankly don’t know where they got it, or whether someone also independently came up with it. It all has the same meaning, however:  a synthesis of the behaviors of cooperating and competing.

But in my view, I expanded the co-opetition idea to apply universally.  Order, I likened to cooperation.  Chaos, I likened to competition. My conclusion: to achieve the highest level of success in any system, a melding of cooperation and competition – in varying proportions – is necessary.  If we recognize that both behaviors to some extent are necessary to any equation for success, we are better able to achieve that success, or to resolve whatever problem may be under consideration.

A very brief example from my books, among many is that: Capitalism has built into it a healthy element of cooperation, i.e. ethics, fair dealing, trust. Such is necessary in order for the competition of free enterprise to work with optimum effectiveness. That was part of Adam Smith’s invisible hand.

In 1989, I sent an outline of the manuscript to best-selling author Spencer Johnson M.D. (Who Moved My Cheese, One Minute Manager), who six months later, called from Hawaii and wrote me a letter, dated February, 9 1990, telling me that I must write and publish the book. Thus, I wrote Universal Co-opetition.  Later, I figured that the best way to get the concepts across was to novelize the theory – a la the genre of Huxley, Orwell, Rand, and Burdick et al.  So I put a story together, calling on what I know – the law and the courts and maritime issues. The Tortoise Shell Code came to life – a saga of high seas crime, ship sinking, romance, courtroom drama, fisticuffs, prison break outs, revolution, sea-going gun battles, all with the spice of co-opetition theory interwoven though the plot.

And that is the inspiration.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Legal Drama

Rating – PG13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with V Frank Asaro on GoodReads & Twitter

Follow the Tour

27th July – Excerpt at Non-Stop Reads

3rd August – Book Feature & Guest Post at Guiltless Reader

10th August -  Author Interview at Top Shelf Books

The Forgotten Ones

It's a celebration of beauty for Laura Howard's critically acclaimed book, The Forgotten Ones. The author is gifting it to you FREE for two days, July 15th & 16th! On top of that she is giving away a $20 GC for participating in the social media blitz all week! Enter the Rafflecopter each day. New content will be available for sharing across the social media fairyland and you can get an addition 3 entries each day for sharing! 

JOIN THE SOCIAL MEDIA BLITZ!

JOIN the EVENT on Facebook & get a chance for a daily giveaway! Or just enter the Rafflecopter and share your heart away! 

"THE FORGOTTEN ONES" by LAURA HOWARD

To get the HTML for this post (minus this of course) with all images embedded to enter the Rafflecopter just CLICK HERE and grab the code! Includes Rafflecopter HTML!

What some reviewers are saying:

"“This book is so amazing! It's one of those that speaks so vividly in your mind that you can't help but get lost in!"

"5 Stars and a fantastically beautiful read. I definitely recommend to all who love fantasy, romance, or are just looking for a book to escape into for a while."

"Enter another type of world you never knew existed but secretly wished it did. I can't wait for book 2! Keep em coming out like pure gold Laura :)"

Author: Laura Howard Genre: NA Paranormal Fantasy Romance

Age Group: New Adult Cover Designer: Stephanie Mooney

The Forgotten Ones

Allison O'Malley just graduated from college. Her life's plan is to get a job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She doesn't have room for friends or even Ethan, who clearly wants more.

When Allison's long-lost father shows up, he claims he can bring her mother back from the dark place her mind has sent her. He reveals legends of a race of people long forgotten, the Tuatha de Danaan, along with the truth about why he abandoned her mother.

Laura Howard

Like many of us, her obsession began with books at the young age of six when she got her first library card. Nancy, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings throughout the years. Her mom was taking to her library nearly everyday so I could get her fix.

Reading took a backseat to diapers and babies when she had her first a little over a decade ago. She was lucky something she always wanted to be, a stay-at-home mom and stayed her focus until a release of a little saga called Twilight 8 years later and her love of fiction was reborn.

After co-authoring some fanfiction (just for fun), something unexpected happened: two fictional characters began inhabiting her thoughts. Soon after, more characters began to make themselves known. There was only one thing to do: Write the story that was in her heart.

Three years, hundreds of hours + several cups of coffee later, she has created a world for her two characters to live, love and discover. It is still a toss up at who loves the world more, her characters or her!

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER a Rafflecopter giveaway

This event is sponsored by the author & The Finishing Fairies. This blog is in no way responsible for the gifting of the prizes. Book links are sponsor links and are from an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the link above.

@OBBookTours - Procrastination by D.A. Serra

Procrastination

by D.A. Serra

It seemed that my pattern of procrastination had an identifiable redundancy.  I decided to actively study the clues and see if it revealed anything useful.  So I took notes and examined my own behavior.  I found that my procrastination took the form of “Oh, let me just get out of the way…” and then a series of things followed: write out the bills, fight the insurance company, finish the laundry, get the dinner shopping done, check in with my mom, my sisters, my dad, unload the dishwasher, make the dog food (yes, I made my dog’s food – don’t ask). And consequently I would end up feeling terrible that I had not spent enough hours writing.  It didn’t make sense – I must write – I wanted to write, and yet.

I’ve written my entire life.  One time a gentleman asked me what was the difference between someone who writes and a writer.  I told him with complete confidence that lots of people write as a tool to make a living, a writer is someone who writes even when there is no reasonable assumption that anyone will ever read it – ever – that’s the difference and that was who I’ve always been.  It was not a lack of drive or desire that led me astray – so why?  Why did I let things get in the way?

When I studied this interruptive behavior I realized that it wasn’t that I was procrastinating to keep from writing at all, it was that I needed a clear mind to write well, and if things were hanging over me I had constant unconscious pressure to eliminate those things before I could settle down intellectually.  So it wasn’t actually that I was avoiding writing, it was that in order to write successfully I needed a clear mental palette or I could not relax.  When I considered this I knew it was true, because the entire time I was doing those other things my anxiety levels rose because I was not writing.  Well, this was unacceptably dysfunctional.  Now that I had identified the issue I needed a solution.  I needed to not only set a schedule for my writing, but also for most other things in my day.  This was an organizational issue not a creative issue.

Firstly, I started cooking on Sundays.  I would stock up at the store and make or prep four meals for the upcoming week.  Once I focused on how to do this it wasn’t as hard as I thought.  I turned on an audiobook, which read to me aloud in the kitchen, and I cooked several meals simultaneously and stored them in the refrigerator.  It took a little foresight and energy but it was doable.  Next, for my regular check-in phone calls, (my family is uncommonly close) I made the decision that all phone calls would take place in the later afternoon after work.  Yes, sometimes there was complaining, bickering, and sibling stuff going on in the background, but it actually taught the kids to be more independent and rely less on me.  I was there and helpful for the big issues, but I was also on-and-off the phone, as a result they would get tired of waiting and try harder to do it themselves so they could be done sooner: a win-win.  The harder organizational change for me was not answering the phone – I feared “what if it were important?”  So I got caller ID and let it ring unless it was the school.

Naturally your issues differ and I do not assume that my solutions will work for you.  What I’m suggesting here for other writers, many of whom work from home and have at least three other jobs, is to take some time to understand why you’re procrastinating, and then, out-think it.  Follow the clues: is it boredom with what you’re writing; is it distractions you can manage; other responsibilities you can rearrange; is it just that you need a clear head to relax into the words.  If you truly are a writer, and I assume you are or you wouldn’t be reading this, once you spend the time to identify the cause of the procrastination you’ll be amazed at how creative you can be to disarm it.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller

Rating – R

More details about the author & the book

Follow the Tour

21st July – Book Review at Bookworm Babblings

28th July – Guest Post, Author Interview & Book Feature at Jade Kerrion‘s blog

4th August – Book Review at A Novel Design

11th August – Book Review at Gentleman Reads

18th August – Book Review at UnEnding TBR Pile

25th August – Book Review at Need to Stop Reading

1st September – Book Review at Author’s Going Places

8th September – Book Review at Love Books

15th September – Book Review at Just My Opinion

22nd September – Book Review at Paws on Books

29th September – Book Review at Me, You & Books

@OBBookTours - 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Anastasia Faith

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Anastasia Faith 

1. I enjoy lists.

2. My name isn’t really Anastasia Faith. If I told you my real name, it would defeat the purpose of the pseudonym, so it’s for me to know.

3. I’m hoping to attend MTSU this fall for journalism, then get a job as a professional blogger or freelance writer, rent an apartment, and go to Nashville State for sign language interpreting.

4. I love Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Red, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

5. I want to adopt—at least ten kids, but no more than twenty—both internationally and locally, including a set of twins (preferably a boy and a girl), and a set of Irish twins. That’s the family in my fantasy anyway. I’ll be happy with any, really.

6. I love Doctor Who, Sherlock, Monk, and Psych.

7. I learned to read when I was four.

8. I take pictures of grammatically incorrect signs.

9. My favorite candy bars are Butterfinger and Reese’s (any kind but the bars or the whipped Reese’s).

10. I’d love to be a screenwriter one day.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Christian YA Fiction

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Anastasia Faith on Facebook & Twitter

@OBBookTours - Guest Post - ME Lorde - Tolomay's World

Chapter Two - (Much, much Later) 

What does it mean to be in love with the world?  I cannot tell a soul.  For it has been long for me, too long.  Not that the passion is dead in me.  It’s alive and well and it screams at me each day from the first sign of sunlight, until I close my eyes to sleep.  This place is more than I would have thought, but the isolation makes it impossible to share things with anyone else.  Today is my birthday and once again I spend it alone.

Three years is too long to be alone on this earth, even with Carmella at my side.

I first saw her after the blast, the one that took the others.  Even then, even while the ground still shook, Carmella sat looking at me as she does now.  It was as if she instinctively knew what it did to them, as if she knew there would be no others aside from me from then on out.  Without a blink or so much as a shiver, she sat frozen on that rock looking at me with those heavy lidded eyes.  That day I cried for hours, longer than I care to recall.  Carmella does not know of self pity.  Pity does not help a creature who’s struggling alone to survive in the wild.

She may be a different breed, but we are friends, two females living together as silent partners, Carmella and I, lizard and gardener.  We rely on each other.  I like to think it that she has the nature of truly caring for me, aside from the insects that I feed her.  Garden crickets are her favorite and are in ample supply on this hillside.  Not those little green ones, mind you, but the big black ones that squirm in her mouth and crackle as she swallows them whole.  They are too big for her, but none the less she gobbles them up even while they cause her to choke.  The lizard will never learn not to bite off more than she can chew, but who can blame her?  Perhaps crickets are her chocolate.  It’s been so long since my taste of chocolate, that I don’t believe something as diminutive as a little choking would prevent me from inhaling a chunk of the sweet brown heaven.  If one were available in this place I’d devour it.

So here I am waiting with Carmella.  Each Tuesday it’s the same routine.  Even in oblivion, consistency rules the planet.  Tarron told us it would be like this.  He said that the waiting would be grueling.  Though he himself had never and could never swim in the light; he was too old, but he was right.  The waiting was hard and you cannot train for that.

I prepared myself for three months before my swim, isolating myself whenever possible from the rest of the group.  I stayed in my room, ate alone, camped for three weeks straight in the wood’s side of the lab’s property.  I did it right, just as Tarron trained me to do.  I thought I was ready enough when the time came to take the step.  I thought I was.  I was wrong.  No one could ever be prepared enough for the waiting because I am never sure that what I wait for will come.  Another day, another glorious day, but without human companionship I look to creatures for comfort.  Though they can be wondrous, there is so much to be missed by the human glance, the words, the smile, the touch.  Yet this is why I did it, wasn’t it?  All of us in Tee-Pod are spirits who love the world and humanity.

Carmella blinked, scampered toward me and then ran onto my hand and up my arm, finally resting on my shoulder.  I rubbed the top of her head.  When the coddling stopped, she leaned in for more.

It was Tuesday afternoon and the sun beamed hot.  ‘Would one come today?’ I wondered.

No one came.  They never did.  It had been one hundred and eighty seven Tuesdays and no one had come.  I plucked her from my shoulder, carried her back down the hill and into the hillhouse and set her onto the floor.  She scratched at the kitchen wall to sharpen her claws as I finished preparing dinner.  I was good at dinners.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Fantasy / Romance

Rating – NC17

More details about the author & the book

 Connect withME Lorde on Facebook & Twitter

Blog http://michaelordeauthor.blogspot.com/

Follow the Tour

19th July – Book Feature & Book Excerpt at Books & More

Beauty Touched the Beast by Skye Warren Giveaway

Title: Beauty Touched the Beast (The Beauty Series)

Author: Skye Warren

Release dates: Nov. 2011 - July 8, 2013 (serial release)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Group: New Adult/Adult

Event organized by: AToMR Tours

Goodreads

Purchase Links:

Amazon:
Beauty Touched the Beast: http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Touched-the-Beast-ebook/dp/ B006Q648F0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1372551913&sr=8-6&keywords=skye+warren

Beneath the Beauty: http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-the-Beauty-ebook/dp/B00CVGFCEK/ ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1372551963&sr=8-5&keywords=skye+warren

Broken Beauty: http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Beauty-ebook/dp/B00DFLFQ5K/ref=sr_1_6? s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1372552010&sr=1-6&keywords=broken+beauty

Beauty Becomes You: Available July 8

Barnes and Noble

Beauty Touched the Beast: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beauty-touched-the-beast-skyewarren/1108072304?ean=2940044473362

Beneath the Beauty: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beneath-the-beauty-skye-warren/ 1115373518?ean=2940016789903

Broken Beauty: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-beauty-skye-warren/1115679643? ean=2940016506968

Beauty Becomes You: Available July 8

Beauty Touched the Beast (Beauty #1):

Erin cleans Mr. Morris’s house twice a week, soaking up every moment with the reclusive exsoldier she secretly loves. Blake Morris knows he’s scarred both inside and out and is no good for the beautiful young woman who cleans his house to pay for college. But when Erin walks in on Blake touching himself and moaning her name, all bets are off.

Beneath the Beauty (Beauty #2):

In the long anticipated sequel to Amazon Erotica Bestseller Beauty Touched the Beast, Erin and Blake explore their new intimacy and encounter old enemies.

When Blake receives an offer to return to his alma mater as associate professor, he knows this is his chance to reenter the world—and to be worthy of the woman he loves. Erin wants this chance for him to heal… even if it means leaving her behind.

Broken Beauty (Beauty #3)

A troubling revelation puts Blake’s newfound career in jeopardy and Erin’s impending graduation at risk. The couple forge ahead, determined that love conquers all. They find a new depth to their respect for one another and new heights for their sensual play, but secrets and shadows lay in wait along the path.

Beauty Becomes You (Beauty #4)

No description available. Soon-to-be released July 8, 2013.

About the Author

Skye Warren writes unapologetic erotica, where pain and sex and love collide. She has been called “a true mistress of dark and twisted erotica” and her books have reached the bestseller lists at Amazon and been a Night Owl Reviews Top Pick.

Website - Twitter - Facebook

Giveaway

(1) eBook set of the Beauty novella series. Open International. Approximate value of eBook set is $4.00 USD. To enter, just comment on this spotlight post with your name, email address, and choice of ebook format (mobi or ePub).

You can like Skye Warren as an extra entry. Just let me know in a separate comment.

FTC Rules

No purchase necessary. Must be 17 years of age and older to enter. Must reside in countries able to receive eBooks gifted from Amazon.com. The approximate retail value of the eBook is $4.00 USD. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Winners will be selected after (fill in the date your giveaway will close), 2013 randomly by Rafflecopter. Entries will be reviewed for accuracy. (Enter your blog name) and AToMR Tours are not liable for purchasing, shipping or emailing the items, winner not receiving the items, or lost items shipped/ emailed. This sweepstakes is sponsored by the author and eBooks will be provided via email by the author. If the items are not claimed via email within 24 hours of receiving notification the item will be forfeited with no winner or an alternate winner may be selected at blog’s discretion with email verification by July 17, 2013. Any taxes associated will be paid by the author unless otherwise stated. (Enter your blog name) has the right to obtain and publicize the winners name and likeness. Void where prohibited by law.

@OBBookTours - Untethered - A Novel Started on My Basement Stairs by Katie Hayoz

Untethered –A Novel Started on My Basement Stairs

by Katie Hayoz

I left my body when I was young.  I don’t remember how old I was – six? seven? – but I’ll never forget the incident.  I was standing at the top of the basement stairs, my hands stretched out to touch the smooth walls on either side of the stairwell.  The door at the bottom was open, the piercing sound of a circular saw blasting out along with the sweet scent of wood shavings.  My dad was down there working on some project, and I was to tell him it was time to eat.

It wasn’t the first step, or even the second.  But three or four steps down, I managed to trip on nothing and my body catapulted  forward.  Without me in it.

I saw myself — eyes wide, mouth open, hands out.  I saw my body fall down the stairs, but I, myself, felt like I was flying.  Like I had taken a dizzying jump that sent me to the ceiling of the stairwell where I watched from above.  It lasted maybe a second .  But the memory has stayed with me since.

Suddenly I was on the basement floor, my palms and forearms and elbows stinging.  I had apparently made enough noise falling that my dad even heard me from behind his saw.

That was my first and only real out-of-body experience.  It was so quick and so strange, I never shared it with anyone.  At least not for another ten years.

As a teenager, I read the book Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan.  In the novel, the main character learns to astral project – to send her soul, her essence, out of her body to travel around and watch things from above.  It fascinated me.  It floored me.  And it tugged at my memory, bringing back the feeling of flying over the basement stairs.  When I told my mom about it she nodded.

“It happened to me once,” she said.  She was making meatloaf, leaning her weight into a shiny, silver bowl of ground beef, ketchup, onions, mustard, and bread crumbs.  She squeezed the mixture through her fingers over and over as she talked.  “When I gave birth to Stephen.  I was floating near the ceiling like a balloon, watching myself, watching the doctors.”  She shook the excess mess off of her hands and looked me in the eye.  “Ever since then, I’m not afraid to die.”

That same week, I went out and bought books on out-of-body experiences, on astral projection.  I devoured them – both intrigued and completely freaked out.   The books documented all sorts of incidents – the good, the bad, and the really bad.  And that’s where my imagination got going.  In my head, a story began.  A story about a girl who wanted nothing more than to be loved by a boy who didn’t care.  A story about a girl who could leave her body and spy on the object of her obsession.  A story about a girl who let the dark side of herself take over, only to find herself in a situation beyond her control.

I wrote the story when I was seventeen.  More than twenty years later, the characters and the idea of astral projected still haunted me.  I turned the story into a novel, and finally gave voice to Sylvie – an anti-heroine who thinks she knows what she wants, but who gets more than she ever bargained for.  That novel is Untethered.   A novel that started from a quick fall down my basement stairs.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – YA Paranormal / Coming of Age

Rating – PG13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Katie Hayoz on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.katiehayoz.com/

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16th July – Orangeberry Book of the Day

17th July – Book Review at Laurie’s Thoughts

@OBBookTours - 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before by Scott Morgan

10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before

by Scott Morgan

I’m not big on Top Ten Lists, but in this case I see an opportunity to tell aspiring authors some realism about living the life. Writers, after all, are dreamers by nature. I don’t actually like to be the bucket of ice water, but I do like getting people past their dreams and into their goals (which, as the cliché says, are goals with deadlines).

1. You need help.

No one goes it alone. To be a successful, working writer, you need people ‒‒ preferably a wealthy spouse who lets you follow your writing dreams without being a jerk about it. Wealthy spouse or not, you also need people to help you figure out how to write, find your voice, market an promote, spread the word, and help you build your base. It takes a ridiculously long time and more patience than most people have, but the more help you get, the more you will succeed.

2. You’re not a writer, you’re a salesman.

Writers today are independent businesspeople. They are entrepreneurs. They must know how to sell, how to promote, how to sell, how to market, how to sell, how to set up events, and, if I haven’t mentioned it, how to sell. It’s exhausting. If you just want to write for your own edification and don’t care about sales, more power to you. But you’re not going to make it (certainly you’re never going to get your story optioned by Hollywood) without being a really good salesman. Whenever you look at a crappy book that becomes a soaring bestseller, know that it’s not the writing that got it there, it’s the salesmanship of the author and his team.

3. Nobody cares.

A better way of saying this is, nobody cares until you make them care. That’s where sales comes in. But believe me ‒‒ nobody’s waiting on you, no matter how good your book is. And if anyone IS waiting on you, you’ve already established yourself fairly well.

4. You spend WAY more time doing everything BUT writing.

Related to the sales thing is the website maintenance and interviews and “hey, could you read my book” requests and countless other things (like Facebook) that get in the way. You will have to make time for writing amid the chaos that is everything else in your life. So the moral here is, want it. Want it very, very badly or it’ll kill you.

5. You’ll want to quit.

Like I said, if you don’t love what you do, it will kill you. If you do love it, it will still try. The more you love it the harder it will try. And some days, when you see no sales, no retweets, no repostings on Facebook, and no general interest in your existence at all, you will wonder why you bother. If you’re normal, you will see a scalding review of your work and it will make you throw a hissy tantrum like a six-year-old. You will look around and think “I have to go to accounting school or something.” Don’t. Accountants aren’t happy either.

6. You’ll make friends.

When you’re building that base of helpers, you will come to realize that you will make actual friends. People will want to come see you. People will be happy to meet you. They will share their lives with you. Embrace them. These people are gold.

7. You’ll make enemies.

Someone will always hate you. The more successful you are the more people will know your name. Some will hate you because you represent something they dislike. Some will hate you because you’re successful. Some won’t hate you but will find it hilarious to say nasty things to you. And everyone else will tell you that you shouldn’t care. I don’t care if you care or not. But I do care that you believe me when I tell you you’ll make enemies.

8. Have a hobby.

Have I given the impression that writing is hard? I didn’t mean to. I meant to give the impression that it’s ludicrously hard and potentially destructive to everything you hold dear. Which is why you need a hobby to help keep your sanity. Paint, cook, play video games, knit, whatever. Just get away from writing every once in a while.

9. Social media is vital and stupid.

You need to be on Twitter and Facebook and a bunch of other sites. And I don’t regret having been on them because I’ve made genuine friends and advanced my career. But Facebook in particular is the worst thing ever. Nothing but crazies, activists, and motivational placards. Still, you need it, so buckle up and ignore the stuff you don’t like.

10. You need a publicist and they’re expensive.

All that marketing you’re doing on Twitter and Facebook? Yeah, you’re marking to the same handful of people who are marketing to you. In essence, everyone in class has baked their own cupcakes and we’re all handing them out to each other. The cure for this is a professional. Someone who knows how to promote and market you. Of course, if most writers could afford publicists, they wouldn’t need to write for money, so don’t forget that the writer’s life is filled with hilarious irony like that.

None of that was meant to scare you. It was just meant to motivate you. Believe me, the sooner you accept the truth about writing, the better positioned you’ll be to make a career of it.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Literature / Fiction Poetry Anthologies

Rating – PG

More details about Ben Ditmars, Scott Morgan, Amber Jerome-Norrgard & the book

Connect with the authors on on Facebook & Facebook & Twitter

Follow the Tour

16th July – Book Feature at Alison DeLuca‘s blog

17th July – Orangeberry Book of the Day

@OBBookTours - RS Guthrie - Ink

A concise, personal read to share with you eight easy-to-implement strategies to make your book better. No gimmicks, no get rich quick schemes, just the lessons learned by a writer, writing personally to you (i.e. not a textbook or a collection of empty words and promises).

INK transcends all levels of authors; no experience, experienced; published, unpublished; confident, scared-witless. It is a particularly noteworthy read to the beginning writer because it focuses on rules we’ve all made early on in our careers and what better time to pick up some learned education from someone else without have to stumble yourself?

Seasoned writers with an open mind will learn a tidbit or two as well. This book is a sharing; a sharing of twenty-plus years of writing workshops, classes, flounders, flubs, successes, and all the information gleaned carved down into a fun, readable, get-to-the-meat, skip-the-potatoes, book you don’t want to miss.

Be the best writer you can. Write the best book you can write. Make yourself and your product crisper, cleaner, more grabbing, more of a page-turner.

We learn from our failures, which hammer future work into gems.

We are in this together, we writers. Share your success with others. That is how this book is written: treating other writers as part of a larger collective where one can help the other to climb the mountain of success.

Put it in INK.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – NonFiction / Writing 

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Connect with RS Guthrie on Facebook

Website http://www.rsguthrie.com/

Website 2 http://robonwriting.com/

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13th July – Guest Post & Book Feature at Guiltless Reading