Member Login

Lost your password?

Registration is closed

Sorry, you are not allowed to register by yourself on this site!

Archive for the ‘June 2011’ Category

« Older Entries

Guest Post with Harry Nicholson: Tom Fleck

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

Today, I want to welcome Harry Nicholson and his novel, TOM FLECK. In this guest post, Harry talks about the unique inspiration behind his historical adventure.

 

About the Author:

Whitby (UK) writer, Harry Nicholson, published his first novel in January 2011.

 

After careers as a merchant navy radio officer and in television studios, Harry retired to concentrate on art, poetry and teaching meditation.

 

He was born in Hartlepool where his family have fished since the 16th century and it is in that century that his novel, Tom Fleck, is based.

 

Harry’s piece on how and why the novel was written:

 

‘Tom Fleck’.

 

The story of an unknown man.

 

Do we ever wonder about our distant forefathers and mothers, those who lived before our great-grandparents, and even before their great-grandparents? What can we know of them? Beyond even our parent’s parents there is sadly just white fog – for most of us.

 

We can penetrate the fog a little. Family history research has never been more popular. Folk beaver away through the mass of data now on the internet. But what does it yield? Seldom more than the bare bones of names and the dates of baptisms, marriages and burials, and those only if you are lucky and persistent. Personality is not found; we don’t see tears or hear cries of joy, there are no flushed cheeks and beating hearts. No whisperings in the night time.

 

A few scraps of bone we might find here and there, as we search back through time – but then we reach a solid wall. That barrier is the darkness before the start of parish registers (in England, 1566). This is the end of the search for our ancestors – unless they were aristocrats or notorious rebels.

 

I’ve trodden this way, back to a mysterious ancestor: Lancelot Horsley (probably a fisherman). In 1573, he buried his first wife and two infants, then remarried and had two healthy sons. That is all I’ll ever know of him; his beginnings are on the far side of that barrier, so there is not a single mark on parchment to show that his parents ever existed.

 

But what if I write a story? A story about the life and times of people perhaps two generations before Lancelot? I can research how the ordinary folk of his district lived, how they spoke, what they believed to be true, and how events beyond their control swept them along. Why not? So I went for it!

 

One rare name stepped forward from the Hartlepool records and caught my attention – a little family called Fleck. I imagined their great-grandfather as a Thomas Fleck, a humble farm labourer. He would be a young man in a formative year. 1513 was the year of the Battle of Flodden, a conflict that gave rise to the haunting Scottish lament: “The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away”. Fine – so how could I contrive a situation where the humble Tom Fleck would have to leave his kindred and re-discover himself in the midst of international struggles beyond his comprehension?

 

First, I built his world from scraps of social history and old maps, give him personality and a family, give him troubles and yearnings, give him turning points, cross-roads, loves and enemies – and hard choices. All this in order to try to understand how some of our ancestors might have walked the land.

 

It is done. A whole generation has come alive. They walk and run through the pages and I love them all – even the villains.

 

 

An introduction:

 

‘Sharp as quivering hares are the Flecks. We’ve eyes and ears for things other folk miss.’


Much later, in the aftermath of Flodden, a young man finally understands his father’s words.

 

The year: 1513. The place: North-East England.

 

Tom Fleck, a downtrodden farm worker but gifted archer, yearns to escape his masters. He unearths two objects that could be keys to freedom: a torque of ancient gold and a Tudor seal ring. He cannot know how these finds will determine his future.

 

Rachel Coronel craves an end to her Jewish wanderings. When the torque comes to rest around the neck of this mysterious woman, an odyssey begins which draws Tom Fleck into borderlands of belief and race.

 

Here are Tudor kings and their nobles – their documented lives are rich material for writers – but now they play a minor part. This is the story of Tom Fleck, a penniless farm labourer, who shares his dwelling with cattle. He is fictional only because he leaves no record – his people live before the keeping of parish registers, so they make no marks on parchment and are lost to history.

 

We find his rare surname in the register of St. Hilda’s church at Hartlepool:

 

Baptisms 1596, September 19th : Christofer, ye child of Willm. Fleck.

 

Perhaps William heard tales of how his great grandfather, Thomas, loved a strange woman and stood with the army on the terrible battlefield of Flodden. This story brings him to life.

 

The novel is in paperback and Kindle. For more details, and to read Chapter 1, please call at my blog: http://1513fusion.wordpress.com/1513-a-novel/



Angel — thank you for the gracious invitation to write here.

My best wishes to all of you, and thanks for reading.

Harry Nicholson

 

Reminder:


1. For your chance to win a copy of Bloodletter, visit http://clfornax.com/?p=244.

 

2. The Blog Hop that launches Bloodletter and Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch starts July 1st. Enter for a chance to win one of over 50 books from eight amazing authors! The fun starts this Friday!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Author Interviews and Success Stories, June 2011 | 5 Comments »

Author Interview: Jason Kristopher

Monday, June 27th, 2011

I want to welcome Jason Kristopher and his zombie-apocalypse novel, THE DYING LIGHT: END. To learn more about this indie author, his inspiration, and the next book in the trilogy, read on!

 

 

 

 

The Dying Light: End


“I didn’t see Rebecca die the second time.”

 

The United States military hides a secret: the completely real existence of
eat-your-brains, one-bite-and-you’re-dead zombies. The Army has known they
exist for over a hundred years, and has been quietly and expertly keeping
the secret.

 

Until now.

 

His hometown destroyed, with everyone he has ever known dead and gone, the
sole survivor of the massacre at Fall Creek joins a secret military group to
combat the single greatest threat our world has ever faced. Unfortunately,
his help may come too late. Even as victories over the walkers mount, the
seeds of our ultimate doom are sown from within, and at the last, only a
brave few may survive to carry on.

 

Onto the interview!

 

Tell me a bit about yourself.

I’m a native Texan, though I did spend almost half my life in Northern Colorado and consider that to be home. I love movies, food, wine and baseball. I can put on a Scottish accent good enough to fool a real Scotsman. I am a total dog-person, and have fostered several for rescue organizations here in Houston. I’m a fanatic for anything Italian or Hawaiian. I love to travel, and hope to get to Antarctica for research one day. Oh, and I’m a total über-geek; seriously, totally, geeky. Can you name all seven characters from LotR to wear the one ring? Yeah. That geeky.

 

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I’ve always written stories and ideas, as far back as I can remember. Though I would say I first started formalizing them in some sort of organized fashion in the seventh grade. My first “real” story was about an alien wolf and the human boy who found him, and the viewpoint switched back and forth between them. Very esoteric sort of storytelling for a 13-year old. That said, I didn’t consider myself a ‘real’ writer until I’d actually finished my book. Everything up to that point was just practice.

 

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Oh, too many to list. I read voraciously, in all genres except western (although I did manage Lonesome Dove, barely). If I had to name a few, I would say that Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, Terry Brooks, Isaac Asimov and Robert Jordan were the ones that had the biggest impact on the mechanics of my writing and story structure. And King’s book On Writing… well, I’ve read it cover-to-cover so many times it’s falling apart. I don’t write in the same way he does, but his insight was invaluable to me finishing this first book.

 

Why did you choose this genre and the title of your book?

It was sort of a toss-up, really. I have over 150 ideas for books – I’ve got a list, really – in nearly every genre, and it was pure luck that this was the one I started putting serious effort into first. It could’ve been any of them. As to the title, I was literally laying in bed one night struggling with renaming the book yet again – I always hate the titles of my work – and it just sort of popped into my head. It sounded better than the one I had, and was very poetic, obviously, and that was that.

 

What inspired you to write your book?

My regular 8-5 job. Seriously. It’s not a bad job, but I have all these ideas for stories I want to tell, and I know deep down that’s what I should be doing. So I just decided that it was time to stop lollygagging and just do it, already. I’m the only one that can change that. And I have to. Because – as Peter Gibbons said – “Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.”

 

What books have influenced your life most?

I mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: On Writing by Stephen King, as well as The Dark Tower. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. And I fell in love with sci-fi after reading the Foundation series by Asimov. Lord of the Rings, because I saw that truly epic fantasy (in the sense of LONG stories) could be stupendously popular. And it may sound silly to say this, but my book is on that list, too – because it forced me to internalize that this was possible, that I was good at it, and that doing something I love as my ‘job’ is within my grasp.

 

Where do you get your ideas for your books?

I know most writers hate this question, and I know why. Because the truly great authors get their ideas from everywhere and everything. It’s not one thing or method – it can be anything at any time. For me personally, most of mine tend to come in dreams, which is why I keep my notebook by the bed. But it can strike at random, too. Just the other day I had the idea for a series of mysteries that came to me because I was listening to the 40’s station on satellite radio. Anywhere and everywhere.

 

What was your favourite chapter to write and why?

That’s a hard one. I liked almost all of them equally, but for different reasons at different times. Picking just one is difficult, but I’m going to have to go with Chapter 23. Without giving you spoilers, I liked it because it was the hardest to write. The characters are put to the ultimate test of themselves as people, and we see what they’re really made of, how human they really are. No one’s perfect, and in that chapter we see just how evil and just how redemptive people can be. It was at one and the same time the hardest and the easiest, because I knew what had to happen, but I had to go someplace dark within myself to get there. Read it, and you’ll see what I mean. At least, I think you will.

 

Why do you feel you had to tell this story?

For the same reason I have to tell any of my stories: I can’t not tell them. It’s like putting Mentos™ in a Coke™ bottle – the pressure has to vent somehow. And if I didn’t write, I’m quite certain I’d go crazy. Especially because I know now that this is what I was meant to do… and how do you consciously not follow your dreams when they’re so close? It’s not in me to do that, so here we are.

 

Is there a second book in the works?

Definitely. End is the first book in a trilogy, to be followed by The Dying of the Light: Interval and The Dying of the Light: Beginning. I also have a host of ideas for short stories set in this ‘world’, and I’ll likely be releasing those in between the full-length novels, with all of them collected in a fourth ‘companion book’ at the end of the series. Then it’ll be off to start on my thirty-book fantasy epic… which I’m both looking forward to and dreading, because it’s so huge.

 

Bonus question. I had this one at a panel recently, and I it was my favorite question so far: Why do you think zombie movies, books and TV shows are so popular?

In a word: People. Zombie stories – in whatever form – aren’t about the zombie. A zombie is, for lack of a better term, a biological robot. You can only talk about them for so long in the third person without people getting bored. The best zombie stories aren’t about the zombies, they’re about the people, and how they react to both the zombies and other living folks around them. It’s that dynamic of “oh crap, zombies are real, now what?” that makes these stories so fascinating. We see ourselves reflected – for good or evil – in these characters and how they react to the situation. And nothing is more interesting to people than a mirror they don’t consciously realize is there.

 

Where to buy:
Paperback:  Amazon https://www.createspace.com/3593873
 Kindle:   Amazon http://amzn.to/kplB67
Nook:    Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/lTE0oa

 

 

Contact Info:
About.me – http://www.about.me/JasonKristopher
 Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/JasonKristopher
 Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/Author.JasonKristopher
 Website – http://www.greygeckopress.com
 Email – jason@greygeckopress.com

 

Winners of Nicole Ross’ Fornax Rising:

1. aobibliophile

2. dcrittenden1983

Congratulations, Nicole will be contacting you shortly with the coupon code.

To win a copy of Bloodletter, head over to her blog now! http://clfornax.com/?p=244

 

 

 

Reminder of Upcoming Blog Hop & Giveaway:

 

The international blog hop starts this Friday, July 1st. To launch my thriller, Bloodletter, and my YA fantasy, Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch, I have teamed up with seven authors.

 

It all starts July 1st and runs for 30 days. We will be giving away well over 50 books (ebooks and paperbacks) so there are lots of chances to win!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Author Interviews and Success Stories, June 2011 | 1 Comment »

Author Interview: Mark McKenna

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

It’s a pleasure to have Mark McKenna here today to talk about his book, THE WORD GANG. His work work has appeared in The Poetry Warrior, Rose & Thorn Journal and three of his stories were featured in Ancient Paths Literary Magazine in January, 2011. One of these, The Aubade, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for 2012.

 

 

Book Blurb:

Kalisha Jackson is a girl with a stomach-churning secret – she cut school for a year and never got caught!

 

A new year begins. Kalisha decides to go back to school. While waiting for the bus she sees an old man struggling with a cart full of groceries. She stops to help and meets Albrecht Spinoza, a man who can speak seventeen languages, but who’s had no one to talk to since the death of his beloved wife, Rosa.

 

Kalisha is late the first day setting off a conflict with her teacher, Jack Ralston. She’s been stuck in something called “Project Restart,” a strange new program in which the penalty for not doing well is a special classroom in Juvenile Hall. Mr. Spinoza gives Kalisha a copy of a Compact Oxford Dictionary. But the more “big” words Kalisha learns, the less everyone understands her and the madder Jack Ralston seems to get. Which to Kalisha and her new friends sounds like fun – and a great way to destroy Project Restart!

 

That is, if they don’t get “trammeled,” “proscribed,” or “incarcerated,” first.

 

General Author Information:

Mark McKenna learned to read before he learned to walk; he literally fell into it. Now he’s a writer living in Nanuet, New York. His work has appeared in The Poetry Warrior, Rose & Thorn Journal and three of his stories were featured in Ancient Paths Literary Magazine in January, 2011. One of these, The Aubade, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for 2012. Mark’s novel, The Word Gang, was published by Precipitation Press in December, 2010. The Word Gang is the story of three kids in school who start using big words to be disruptive. To read a few chapters, or for more information, please visit: The Word Gang. Thank you.

 

Onto the questions!

 

Tell me a bit about yourself.

I’ve spent my life in the arts.  For many years I called myself a musician. I played folk guitar and classical piano. (Still do) I went to music school and intended to compose, but when I was finally ready I found I had nothing to say! When I started writing words, I couldn’t stop.

 

I’ve practiced tai chi for almost 30 years. I like yoga too, and the older I get, the more I find these to be a necessity.

 

For a livelihood I worked as a caregiver, taking care of elderly people in their homes. It was a great source of joy to me, to be able to help people, and a great source of stories, too.

 

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

“Writer” happened when I got a story stuck in my head and had to write it to GET IT OUT.  That was later in my life.

 

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Isaac Singer. Sigrid Undset. Mark Twain. (I know — that’s three. I could add fifteen more.)

 

Why did you choose this genre and the title of your book?

Actually I didn’t choose it, it chose me. The title was a gift from my unconscious, along with the general arc of the story. I woke up one morning with the story stuck in my head. Basically, I wasn’t a writer, and it took me 17 years to get it out, done, and published. Did I mention I’m a stubborn Taurus? If you go to The Word Gang and look under “How I Wrote” you’ll find the whole story.

 

What inspired you to write your book?

This is a multiple choice answer.

a. The mysterious force of inspiration

b. The grace of God and the love of language

c. An innate ability to see life as story

d. I needed the money

 

(Ha, to that last one.)

 

What books have influenced your life most?
“Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson. As a boy I loved that book. It was a perfectly balance of adventure and thriller. It even had an ambiguous antagonist, the famous Long John Silver. We’re all looking for treasure. It could be a chest filled with jewels and pieces of eight. It could be a signed, first edition Hemmingway (with the dust jacket) in great condition, in a thrift store, for a dollar. It could be peace. Peace in our lives. Peace in our country. They’re all treasures.

 

Where do you get your ideas for your books?

 

It starts with an idea. For my science fiction book I thought of having the human race’s first contact with an alien species be a genetically engineered space miner. JonAnderson28 believes he’s a human being, but to the technologically evolved humans he’s only an expendable drone. So humanity’s First Contact representative is a being they don’t consider ‘human’. The book is called “The Borzoi Suite.” I’m preparing to put it online for free. Just have to do more editing. Always more editing.

 

What was your favourite chapter to write and why?

I liked the climactic PTA meeting at the end of “The Word Gang.” It thought it came out pretty well.

 

Why do you feel you had to tell this story?

 

I’ve always loved words and always been somewhat mystified by them. Big or small, they represent things, but they are NOT the things they represent. Yet we have such a sense of power when we have the right word. Sometimes the power is real. Sometimes it’s illusory. This paradox, this borderline, has always fascinated me.

 

Is there a second book in the works?

Yes, I’m 20k words into a sequel. It’s called “The Word Gang Rides Again” and it’s a murder mystery featuring the same characters — a murder mystery solved by good vocabulary.

 

Bonus: Add a question of your choice.

I would like to ask my readers to take a walk. When you see a thing, stop your mind before it attaches a name to whatever you are perceiving. If you see a red car, don’t think ‘red’; don’t think ‘car’. Just take it in with your eyes wide open. Try to stay in that state for four or five seconds at a time. I’m interested in pre-literate mind states. I think you’ll experience things more deeply without the words. (But the words are inevitable.)

Then go have a pizza.

 

Book Sale’s Locations:

Please visit The Word Gang website. I put all the buy-links on the home page to entice and captivate the discerning shopper. It’s available in all formats, including cuneiform.

Book Information:

Publisher: Precipitation Press

Title: The Word Gang

Genre: Young Adult

Author: Mark McKenna

ISBN: 9780983105534

E-book ISBN: 9780983105565

Websites: http://www.thewordgang.com

http://www.precipitationpress.com

 

Thanks Mark for joining us!

 

Giveaway Reminder:

Sunday is the last day to enter the giveaway for Nicole Ross’ FORNAX RISING. Please visit http://www.angelhaze.com/2011/06/20/nicole-ross-interview/ for your chance to win!

 

July 1st is the official launch of Bloodletter and Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch. Stay tuned for the blog hop.

 

30 days. Eight authors. Over 50 books to win.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Author Interviews and Success Stories, June 2011 | No Comments »

Upcoming Book Launch: Bloodletter and Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

It’s been crazy, and I do mean CRAZY lately. Here why:

 

July 1st

Marks the Official Launch of

Bloodletter and Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch!



To launch the books, I put together a Blog Tour and Giveaway with seven authors. There will be well over 50 books to giveaway (mostly ebooks but a few are offering their books in paperback as well.) It’s going to be a lot of fun!

 

Here is a sneak peek of the participating authors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tour begins July 1st and runs for 30 days. Stay tuned!

 

What else is new?

I’ve been playing around with my site a bit, adding a link for a newsletter and, most recently, Google Friend Connect. Please click on it to follow my updates.

While War of the Witch is in the hands of the editor, I’m uploading Bloodletter to CreateSpace. I hope to have both my books available in paperback by the end of Summer. I am also working on the book trailers.

 

Fornax Rising Giveaway Reminder:

There is still time to win a copy of Nicole Ross’ Fornax Rising. To enter, please click on the link below. The deadline to enter is Sunday June 26 at 12pm EST.

http://www.angelhaze.com/2011/06/20/nicole-ross-interview/

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in June 2011 | 1 Comment »

Nicole Ross: Author Interview and Giveaway

Monday, June 20th, 2011

It’s a pleasure to have Nicole Ross here today to talk about her book, FORNAX RISING. For a chance to learn more about this indie author, her writing process, inspiration and win a copy of her book, read on!

About the author.

I was born in Germany and moved to Australia with my parents when I was ten years old. I’ve always loved playing with language: I’m a professional translator, an avid reader, and have been on the creative and academic sides of the writing fence. My first novel, *Fornax Rising*, which is a Steampunk coming-of-age story was released as an e-book on Amazon and Smashwords on 6 June 2011, with the paperback to come by the end of the month.

 

Life in the early twentieth century isn’t easy for women, especially if that woman is an outspoken, intelligent, headstrong, augmented amputee with prosthetic technology that is the envy of armies. Enter Cassandra Leigh Fornax.

Daughter of the shipping magnate John Fornax, Cassandra has had a harder life than most young people of her social standing. After a tragic childhood accident leaves her an amputee, Cassandra’s uncle and engineer, Philip Fornax, builds her a revolutionary prosthesis which replaces the hand she lost. As Cassandra begins to make her own decisions about her future, she finds that her domineering father intends her to live a radically different life. She emancipates herself loudly and publicly at her eighteenth birthday party, scandalising her parents and putting paid to her father’s scheme. When Philip receives an offer to work in an airship factory in Germany, Cassandra follows him so she can put some distance between herself and her father. As the threat of war looms over Europe, the German army has the talented engineer’s most advanced creation firmly in its sights. Cassandra had hoped to leave her troubles behind when she left Britain, but finds they have just begun.

 

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I started to consider myself a writer sometime in 2010, after I’d noticed
that I was working on *Fornax Rising* pretty consistently. I didn’t want
to start thinking of myself as a writer unless I had something to show for
it.

 

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

If I could have any writer, living or dead, I’d choose Erich Maria
Remarque. He had such an honest, heart-breakingly beautiful writing style.

 

Why did you choose this genre and the title of your book?

I chose Steampunk because it fit my protagonist, Cassandra. She’s an amputee with a prosthesis whose technology is ahead of the time period in which
the story is set. So that’s the steam side; Cassandra is a rebellious, tenacious person so that fills the punk quota nicely. I see punks as people who go against the grain, and she definitely does.

 

What inspired you to write your book?

Initially, imagining Cassandra was an exercise. As I kept thinking about
her, what makes her tick and who her family is, more of the story started
to take shape, so I started to write it down. I wasn’t expecting to produce
an entire novel – initially, I was aiming for a short story or novella at
best.

 

What books have influenced your life most?

Richard Dawkins gets a lot of the credit here – no, I’m not going to say
that *The God Delusion* influenced my life. I was already an atheist when
that book was published. I love Dawkins’ popular science books for opening
the door to science appreciation for me – *The Blind Watchmaker* and
*Climbing Mount Improbable* which are both about complex systems evolution are
stand-out titles. Richard Dawkins fostered the interest which is taking me
back to school next month to start the preparation course for my science
degree.

The fiction book which influenced me most is *Momo* by Michael Ende. I
watched the start of the movie as a child, but found the grey men too
scary and left the room. In that novel, a little girl called Momo has to stop
the villains (the grey men) who are stealing time from humans. The story is
about taking the time to appreciate your life and loved ones instead of
running around like a headless chicken.

 

Where do you get your ideas for your books?

*Fornax Rising* was largely written off-the-cuff. I didn’t put in a whole
lot of forward planning, aside from deciding on major events in the story.
For the rest, I just sat at my computer and typed, and let the moment
surprise me.

 

What was your favourite chapter to write and why?

I hadn’t really thought about this before, but my favourite chapter would
have to be the one where Cassandra’s parents drop the bombshell and
publicly reveal that they’ve chosen a husband for her. What they didn’t expect was
for Cassandra to let them know, just as publicly, what she thought about
that. When her parents try to force her into the marriage, she makes a bid
for freedom, which ultimately succeeds. I’ve always respected tenacity,
and wasn’t about to have my protagonist jump because someone told her to.

 

Why do you feel you had to tell this story?

I had a lot of fun writing *Fornax Rising* and published it because I
wanted to share it with others. I think it has positive messages: “don’t allow
others to dictate how you should live your life”; and “if your biological
family is less than ideal, the friends you make along the way become your
true family.”

 

Is there a second book in the works?

Yes, there is! I’m currently working on a sequel whose working title is
*The Fall of Melnax*. Originally, I wanted to add the events which will take
place in this story to *Fornax Rising*, but I didn’t want to have the
story drag on, so I made a reasonably clean cut, and saved a few “what happened
to…?” surprises for the sequel.

 

Question of Nicole’s Choice: I’ll go with the question from *Office Space*: what would you do if you had $1 million?

I’ll probably sound a bit like Samir (from the movie) when I say this, but
I’d pay off my mortgage, invest a chunk, and go on a world trip with my
husband. We already have plans to visit Japan and Russia, but travelling
is addictive, so more funds are always welcome!

Giveaway:

Nicole will be giving away two copies of Fornax Rising (ebooks). To enter, answer this poll in the comment section below.

Reading is:

a) An adventure

b) An escape from reality

c) My ultimate addiction

Two winners will be chosen on Sunday June 26 at 12pm EST. Winners will be posted on the site and contacted by email.  Winners will be given the coupon code for the book and will have one week from the date of contact to claim their prize. Good luck!

Nicole Ross
Author of *Fornax Rising*

Website: http://www.clfornax.com
Twitter http://twitter.com/clfornax
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/clfornax

Find *Fornax Rising* on:

Amazon

Smashwords

XinXii

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Author Interviews and Success Stories, June 2011 | 6 Comments »

Bloodletter is Now Available at Amazon and Smashwords!

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

After nearly a decade of writing and rewriting, Bloodletter is now available at Amazon and Smashwords for $0.99. Okay, when I say I decade, I mean I started it when I was nineteen (whoops, age drop). To be fair, I’ve written four books in between.

I’m glad I didn’t try to publish it when I was done the first few drafts. Back then, it was fifty thousand words and still needed a lot of work. A self-publishing company contacted me to see when the book would be done. After telling them it would be about a month, I got off the phone jumping and screaming. But, I was iffy about self-publishing it. They accepted any book and didn’t edit it. As much as I wanted to get my book out there, I didn’t want to publish it until it was ready and I definitely didn’t want it published without it being professionally edited. I never did call them back.

Many revisions later, I let my cousin read it to get her opinion on it. Before she read it, she told me, “If I don’t have it back in two weeks, I didn’t like it.” There was no sugar-coating this. She wasn’t going to hold anything back if she thought the book sucked. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. A few others read it. I asked them for details–what they liked and what they didn’t like. Before the book is published, telling me “It’s good” doesn’t help me. I’m glad they liked it but I wanted to know their thoughts on the characters, the pacing, and the overall plot regardless of whether they thought it would hurt my feelings.

So what happened with my cousin? She was done in two days.

That was years ago and, since then, Bloodletter has been given a major overhaul and has been professionally edited twice. (The first time I used Michael Garrett, the second time was Scott Alexander Jones. I recommend them both.)

Bloodletter is now available at Amazon and Smashwords. It will be available in print in the next month or so. The next book in the series will be released in the next few months, maybe earlier, we’ll see.

Bloodletter Synopsis:

Thou shalt not kill.

A contradictory message written in blood at the scene of a young woman’s murder. Within days, another body surfaces with a similar calling card and, to Detective Ramon Faust and Criminalist Kelly Garret, it’s clear a deadly game is underfoot.

As the rash of horrific crimes continue, a phone call unearths a shocking revelation: Nakeita isn’t the first city the elusive killer has left his mark. The Bloodletter, as dubbed by the media, has played his deadly game before.

Delving deep into the most terrifying case of Kelly’s career, threatening phone calls and flashbacks of a forgotten near-death experience challenge her sanity and the lives of everyone she loves.

Check it out. If you enjoyed it, please be kind enough to recommend it to others and leave a review.

Upcoming Giveaway:

On July 1 2011, I will be hosting a giveaway to launch Bloodletter and Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch. As part of my authors promoting authors, I have teamed up with five other authors. Not only will I be giving away copies of my books but theirs as well which means more chances to win and more prizes! Details to come . . .

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in June 2011 | No Comments »

Bloodletter Teaser

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Bloodletter is now available on Amazon and Smashwords!

Amazon: Click here to download for $0.99.

Smashwords: Click here to download for $0.99.

Bloodletter

by Angel Haze

Thou shalt not kill.

A contradictory message written in blood at the scene of a young woman’s murder. Within days, another body surfaces with a similar calling card and, to Detective Ramon Faust and Criminalist Kelly Garret, it’s clear a deadly game is underfoot.

As the rash of horrific crimes continue, a phone call unearths a shocking revelation: Nakeita isn’t the first city the elusive killer has left his mark. The Bloodletter, as dubbed by the media, has played his deadly game before.

Delving deep into the most terrifying case of Kelly’s career, threatening phone calls and flashbacks of a forgotten near-death experience challenge her sanity and the lives of everyone she loves.

Here’s a teaser!

 

Chapter 1

 

“Twenty-one-year-old white female named Lily Cooper, found in Edmond Park, raped and murdered,” Detective Ramon Faust explained as he spread the crime scene photographs across the table in front of the three criminalists. “A guy named Joe Woodview found the body. He was jogging in Edmond Park around seven on Friday morning. She was hidden in a wooded area in the southeast corner. Been dead for a day and a half.”

One of the criminalists, Kelly Garret, lifted a photograph of the victim, slightly unnerved by their shared resemblance despite her being nearly ten years the victim’s senior. Beyond their similarly long, wavy, dark hair, deep brown eyes, plump lips and shapely figures, Lily had a tattoo of a lily on her hip. She had been in her second year of Nursing at the University of Nakeita. She was young, beautiful, and full of potential, but her twenty-first birthday was the last that she would see.

“She was shot point blank in her right temple with a .38 caliber revolver,” Detective Faust said. “If the killer shot from behind, this likely means he’s right-handed. But, if he shot from the side, it’s anyone’s guess. There are bruises around her wrists and around her pubic region, skin under her nails, and a few broken nails. She wasn’t going down without a fight.”

Another criminalist, Nina Brandt, leaned back in her chair, twirling a pen between her fingers. Her blonde hair was pulled in a loose ponytail, her expression hardened by growing up with three brothers and fifteen years on the job. “Good for her,” she said.

“We found a few short black hairs and some long brown hairs. Her blood alcohol content was 0.17,” said Faust.

Kelly sighed. “With her small stature and that much to drink, she didn’t stand a chance.” She glanced at Chad Evans, her best friend since childhood, surprised he hadn’t put in his two cents. His head remained down as he scribbled information into his notebook.

She shuffled through the photos. In one of them, the victim was lying supine on the grass in a pink cotton tank top and a white knee-length shirt, both stained with blood. Her skirt was pulled up, revealing her ripped panties. The small pink purse to her left was closed. Forty-five dollars in cash remained in her wallet.

“As of yet,” said Detective Faust. “We don’t know where she was that night or who she was with.”

“It was her birthday. I doubt she was out drinking alone,” said Nina, pulling the pen out of her mouth.

“No one has come forward and her parents haven’t a clue.”

“Boyfriend?”

“No.”

“What about girlfriends?” Kelly interjected.

Faust shook his head. “I have yet to find out. I’m not sure what kind of relationship the victim had with her parents. It seems to me, they were often left in the dark.”

Kelly’s eyes narrowed. “They don’t know any of her friends?”

“Her mother said she never brought them home. No one ever called the house. She provided me with a small list, but none of them, with their busy schedules, had seen her in a few weeks.”

Chad looked up from his notebook. “What about a cell phone?”

“I’m working on that.” Faust said.

Kelly tapped her fingers on the table. “Maybe she met someone, either at a bar or as she was walking down the street. Someone who wanted to take her home. Maybe she resisted. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe he wasn’t taking no for an answer.” She stared down at the ripped panties, wondering what type of woman the victim had been. Had she been interested in having sex with the man who had done this to her? Had she been interested but then changed her mind? Or had someone flat-out attacked her?

“Until we figure out something with her cell phone or someone steps forward—” Faust began.

“Why didn’t anyone report her missing until yesterday?” Kelly interrupted, tapping on one of the photos of the victim’s lifeless body.

Faust turned to her. “She was scheduled to attend an out-of-town conference on Thursday. She lived alone in an apartment. Her mother last spoke to her on Wednesday morning to wish her a happy birthday, but no one expected her home until Friday evening.”

Nina rolled her eyes. “Well, this just keeps getting better and better.”

 

Chapter 2

 

 

“Won’t it be wonderful?” Iesha asked, gazing into the man’s deep brown eyes. “It’ll be just as I’ve always imagined it. Oh, how happy we’ll be! The two of us raising a family.”

He shifted in his chair, avoiding her eyes. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Their eyes met momentarily, but he shied away from her. “What is it?” She squeezed his hand, but he pulled away. “Adam?”

“I can’t do this,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“What?” she asked, unsure of whether she had heard him correctly? “What do you mean?”

“I can’t do this,” Adam repeated. “Not anymore. I can’t leave her. I love her too much.”

Iesha’s eyes swelled with tears. “But . . . I love you.” She waited for him to tell her that he loved her too, but he remained silent, staring down at his hands.

“You love me, don’t you?”

“I . . . I . . .” His voice trailed off.

Tears streamed down her face. He wouldn’t even look at her. “You love me. I know you do.”

He stood and turned away from her. She ran to his side, grabbing his wrist. “Please, don’t do this!” she cried. “We were meant to be together! Tell me you love me!”

“I love her.”

“No!” she screamed. “I know you love me. You don’t love her!”

“I’m getting married soon. I can’t keep fooling around. I don’t want to hurt her. I just can’t.”

“What about me?” yelled Iesha, tugging at his shirt. “What about what I want?”

His eyes narrowed. “You just don’t get it. There is no you. There is no us. This was all just a big mistake.”

A mistake? Their love, a mistake? A sham? She scowled. How could he do this to her? How could he play her like this?

“But, you can’t marry her!”

“Goodbye, Iesha.” He turned his back to her.

She followed him to the staircase, searching desperately for any kind of solution. Thirty more seconds and he’d be out the door. Out of her life. She couldn’t let that happen.

She pulled on his wrist. “Don’t leave me.” She sobbed. “I feel like a broken record. What do I need to say to make you stay? Please! I’ll die without you!”

He whipped around, his eyes burning with anger. “That’s enough, Iesha! I’ve bloody well had it with you. It’s over. Get it? Don’t call me. Don’t write. Don’t email. It’s over. I don’t love you. You hear me? I don’t love you.”

That was when she pushed him.

It wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did. He wasn’t supposed to fall. Her outstretched hand couldn’t save him in time. He tumbled down the basement stairs and the sound of his neck snapping would never be erased from her mind. The terror in his eyes as he fell would forever haunt her.

 

 

A cool wind rippled through Iesha’s nylon jacket as she began to walk down the narrow dirt path. It was dark now. She figured it was probably around nine o’clock. She shouldn’t be thinking of what happened. Not in the dark.

An owl cried mournfully in the distance.

She looked around, pulling her jacket tight. A sense of uneasiness crept up, and she wondered if she was alone. Someone could be watching her from within the shadows. Some dark man could be monitoring her every move, plotting and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Someone could be hidden behind one of the trees looming over her like souls reaching from the depths of Hell. She felt like Little Red Riding Hood being pursued from some silent, invisible wolf.

Suddenly, a dark object moved ahead of her.

Iesha felt her heart jump as a pair of glowing eyes and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth dripping with saliva flashed before her. She shuddered, attempting to block out the horrible images. Her imagination was only making things worse.

Nervously biting her lower lip, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There’s nothing there. It’s just your imagination, she told herself. From this, she drew little comfort. She knew she had seen something, but she didn’t intend to stay long enough to find out.

Just then, a dark outline of a man appeared less than twenty feet away, an object in his hand gleaming in the moonlight.

She gasped, surprised her suspicions had been correct. The man was just ahead of her and coming closer.

Iesha found herself surprisingly frozen in her steps, despite her mental efforts to run. She was shaking uncontrollably and her heart was pounding like a rabid animal, trying to force its way out of a cage.

Iesha could hear him laughing hysterically like he knew she was trapped. He could sense her fear and he was laughing. Or was that her imagination?

There was nothing fake about this, though. This was real. He was real.

Run. She had to run.

But her body was stiff, and her mind was racing. Desperately, she searched for an escape route, but found nothing, only a dark forest. He was closing in on her and her time was running out. There was nowhere to go. No one would be able to hear her screams. She was trapped.

Closer now, she could see his face. His long dark hair hung heavily over his forehead. His dark eyes bored into her as if he was locking his victim and drawing her in. She wanted to look away, to look past him, but she couldn’t let him see her fear.

She looked down, unable to meet his gaze. Go away! Stop staring at me! Against her wishes, she gritted her teeth and managed to look up at him. He was grinning at her with sadistic eyes that sent chills up her spine.

“Aren’t you a tasty treat,” he said, rolling his tongue along his lower lip as he stared at her breasts.

Iesha shuddered. You don’t want me! I’m fat! How can you even look at me?

The man stared down at her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t look away. Once their eyes had locked, it was like she had turned to stone. Her breathing was shaky and loud, and she wondered if he could hear it.

He chuckled at her vulnerability, stumbling backwards. The man was drunk.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked as he offered her the bottle he’d been holding.

A bottle. It was only a bottle.

A weight lifted, but she was still not at ease. She was well-aware of his intensions. “N-no thanks,” she stammered.

His pocket. There could be a knife in his pocket. And what if he had a gun?

“I ain’t gonna hurt you, sweetheart. You don’t want a drink, that’s fine with me. Whatever you want.”

Iesha froze as he stumbled past her, flinching as his jacket brushed her side. His eyes narrowed as he caught her expression. He shook his head, muttering something incoherent about women.

She was ten feet away from him when the man began to yell. “H-hey!”

Iesha cringed and bit her lip. She hadn’t been discreet enough. Maintaining a quick pace, she refused to give into the temptation to run. She didn’t want to set him off.

“Hey!” he yelled again, this time a little louder.

She felt her leg break into a sprint. Soon she wasn’t far from home. She had to make it home where it was safe!

“You stupid bitch! I wasn’t going to hurt you!” His heavy footsteps ran close behind her.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t dare look back. Iesha couldn’t bear to look at that face again, but it didn’t matter. The face would be there every time she closed her eyes, taunting her. She would never be able to block it out.

She was breathing heavily, almost wheezing, but she couldn’t stop.

Suddenly, her foot caught in the root of a tree, and her arms instinctively shot out in front of her as she took in a mouthful of dirt. She found herself alone, vulnerable as she lay in the dirt as she looked back for him. Even though she couldn’t see him, there was no way to be sure that he was gone. He could still be out there, watching and waiting.

Back on her feet, she ran as fast as she could. Bombarded with cramps, she clutched her side, but her body didn’t allow her to slow down.

She was panting as she reached the house, her mouth dry, her throat burning. Her shaky hand fumbled with the keys in her coat pocket as she ran up the porch steps, past the two jack-o-lanterns.

Only when she reached the door did she dare look behind her. The man was still nowhere to be seen.

Next door, over at her neighbor’s mansion, the downstairs lights were on and music was blaring. The man must have come from there. Her neighbor, Dr. Willmar, threw wild parties regularly.

She quickly stepped into her house and closed the door. Her hands were still shaking as she engaged all three locks.

Chills ran up her spine as she felt another presence. Flipping the switch, her body stiffened as she listened.

Nothing.

Hollow breathing broke the silence. It was close, too close.

Her body was shaking uncontrollably. She whipped around and gasped as she stood face to face with the Grim Reaper.

 

To download the rest, visit Amazon here or my Smashwords page here.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in June 2011 | 2 Comments »

Interview with an Author: Sheron McCartha

Monday, June 13th, 2011

It’s a pleasure to have Sheron Wood McCartha here today to talk about her book, CAUGHT IN TIME. For a chance to learn more about this indie science fiction author, her writing process, inspiration and an except of her book, read on!

Caught In Time by Sheron Wood McCartha is available at Amazon www.Amazon.com/dp/B00452V8GY

or paperback at Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple ibookstore, Lulu, and CreateSpace

Book website: www.AlysianUniverse.com

Blog: www.scifibookreview.com

Twitter: Sheronwriting

 

Story Description:

 

Rowyna Grae always thought she was human until the day that Arwoyn Telluria reveals that she was created in his test lab using parts of his DNA, most specifically his gene for time traveling– since he was dying and the last of the time travelers. He confides that she had come to him as a young boy telling him that she was from the far future on a critical mission to save their world of Alysia. But things go awry. Arwoyn dies, the new regime wants to turn her into a stealth assassin and Richard Steele, the new Timelab assistant sends her back in time to the wrong place and loses her. She lands with dangerously packed bags that contain a gun, an alien crystal and a book. She finds herself a thousand years into the past at the king’s hunting lodge with an agenda to kill the king who started a mutant strain of Talents. But, before a day has passed, she manages to kill six men defending herself against robbers, rapists and, of course, falls in love with the man she is meant to assassinate. She creates havoc as she changes the past and reorders Richard’s world up the timestream. The Medieval past isn’t so charming when there is no running water, no central heat, betrayal and intrigue at the royal court and war on the horizon. What’s a replicant, who doesn’t even know if she’s human, to do?

Read and find out.

 

Bio: I am a Northwest writer who loves science fiction. I have been writing a long while in between jobs of high school teacher, banker, stockbroker, artist, and art gallery manager. I am married with a lovely daughter and great husband. Over that span of time I have put together several manuscripts that I am now editing and getting ready to publish.

 

1. What will readers like about your books?

My readers will like the fun of the read. There is no deep message, no critical information that will change your life or show you how to lose weight, or make more money. It is like a bar of good chocolate that you savor, but lasts longer. It costs less than a cup of coffee, but has the same stimulating effect. The reader is plunged into a world of the past with a heroine who struggles to survive and deal with a self-absorbed king that she finds herself falling in love with against all better judgment. The dialog is fun and the action continuous. As she meets new situations and reacts, she changes the past and that changes the future where poor Richard Steele has to deal with the consequences…and most often they are not the pleasant kind. He is thrown into various different timelines because of her actions. He finds himself on the whip end of events and he becomes desperate to get her back…that is if he can locate her and the time machine is still working, and she wants to come back.

 

2. Why did you self publish?

 

As I wrote, occasionally I would submit. First, however, I attended many conferences and workshops. The publishing industry seemed to have so many secret rules and exact procedures that it made my head swim. There were strict formulas to adhere to while they kept saying that they wanted the material to be “fresh”. I submitted to TOR, the top publisher of science fiction and then Simon and Schuster. I was told I needed an agent, preferably one in New York. I knew no one. It was easier to get a doctor. And I didn’t take rejection well, especially via form letters. I knew some of the best writers had been rejected many times…I knew that in my brain, but emotionally it was still hard to submit again and then again. But I did. I submitted a synopsis and first three chapters to Baen Books…and waited…and waited. I wrote them eight months later saying that I was going to submit elsewhere and they wrote that they wanted to see the whole manuscript. They were interested. I took a month to put a bright polish on it and sent it out…and waited. I got discouraged, but I still kept writing and rewriting my other books. My beta readers loved the stories and encouraged me to get published. I told them, “Easy for you to say.” They had no idea.  A year later I was at a writer’s conference and I mentioned how angry I was that I hadn’t heard a word– not even a cold cruel form rejection from Baen. My fellow writer turned to me and said, “Didn’t you hear that Jim Baen died?” Well, no I hadn’t heard and wasn’t that a poor excuse for not responding.

 

So when Amazon said they would publish my book at no charge and I could put it up and sell it on Amazon without any deaths involved, I jumped at the chance…and became an Indie author. No agent needed.

 

3. What is your writing process?

 

I get my best inspiration around 3:00 a.m. Yes, a.m. It is hard to find pen and paper, or now, my iPad at that hour. I also get great ideas in the shower when it is also hard to use the iPad. No waterproof model yet. And the hair dryer seems to blow away all the really great ideas. My second book, A Dangerous Talent for Time was called Riddlequest for a long time because it has a fun worldwide search for pieces of a riddle in it. Then Google came along and I discovered that someone else had already used the title. Sometimes technology makes me cry. So for a long time it was the X titled book and then one day it just came to me and I liked the title. I don’t remember the time or location…or whether I was wet or dry.

 

While I was waiting for word from a publisher, or was just too discouraged to hunt for an agent or resubmit, I’d say that I was done with my guys. I had better things to occupy my busy life than writing about time traveling, world saving, smart talking characters that seemed to decide what they were going to do in my books regardless of my wishes. So I’d be done with them, BUT, they would sneak into my head while I was trying to get to sleep and suggest that it would be fun to have Hieronymous’ mother be a time traveling clone. Okay we did that book. Then, when Arwoyn was developing his clone experiments, his first two attempts were male clones. Whatever happened to them? What if one didn’t know that he was a clone or that he could time travel, but others knew? And tried to kill him? Yipes! I really wanted to get my beauty rest, but these questions kept me awake. So I wrote his book. Done. Then an alien probe crash lands on Alysia and we are worried about what we’re going to do about it? Next book guys. How about build a space ship and check it out? Now we’re at three, or is it four?

 

Then I found out that I liked to get even, and I would put my characters in impossible situations and see how they could wriggle out. How about their two moons colliding? How about an alien invasion, but not what you would expect. Meeting aliens in space? What would they look like? What would they do? How about…

 

Then the world changed and Jeff Bezos created Amazon and the Kindle. Steve Jobs shifted a paradigm with the Ipad and we are still scrambling to see what the new future is going to look like for books and reading

 

4. What inspired you?

Science fiction has been one of my passions for a long time thanks to my father’s influence. There were times my mother would go hunting for him and find him hiding out in the bathroom avidly reading some science fiction book as if it were a forbidden treat. I now understand this behavior, especially since we were four kids at home. Sometimes I read in out–of-the-way places too, feeling as if I am partaking in some guilty pleasure.

 

Gun Magic: Excerpt from Caught in Time

“Come here,” said Gratch. He took her face roughly into his hands and began to kiss her sloppily while making strange grunting noises. At the same time, his hand reached to grope inside her blouse. She pushed back at Gratch.

“Stop that,” she said angrily jerking back. “What are you doing?”

“I said you were to do as I tell you!” he answered grabbing her hair and yanking her head back. “Be still.” Her eyes went wide. They filled with understanding.

Then Gratch started tugging at her blouse again. Suddenly she kneed him sharply in the groin and the palm of her hand came up under his chin jarring his head back with a snap. He grunted in surprise and dropped her hair, as she spun away from him almost dancing. A breast bobbed, tantalizingly ready to spill out of the flimsy blouse.

She responded indignantly, “I said to leave me alone.” Gratch looked at her in complete surprise and then growing anger.

The men lurched forward, but Gratch waved them back. He wavered in front of her. Staring angrily at her, he fumbled for something in his jacket. A knife flashed into his hand. “You’ve asked for it now. I warned you sweetling.”

An intake of breath could be heard from the men.

Arvast thought he heard her mumble words that sounded like, “Do it now.” But that couldn’t be right. Was she encouraging this butcher? She appeared to be breathing heavily. Did the violence excite her? He stared in astonished confusion.

“You will pay for that,” Gratch growled as he moved jerkily towards her, a sword in one hand and a knife in the other. She stepped further back and then Arvast heard a loud noise and her hand jumped. He saw a startled look cross Gratch’s face and then he saw him grab at his stomach. Curiously, Gratch sat down on the ground as the knife dangled from his hand and then fell to the ground. He held onto the sword. The men didn’t seem to know what was happening either. One started towards her, and Arvast heard the sound again as that robber collapsed. Blood spread out from one of his dirty shirt buttons. The rest of the men stood frozen in disbelief.

Staring at her, a look of shock etched Gratch’s face. She moved in towards him muttering a few words, as she lifted her skirt and kicked savagely at his face. He slumped backwards and lay still. The sword slipped from his fingers. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Then, someone yelled and she whirled and a flash of light and sharp sound erupted from her hand again. Nearby, another robber slumped to the ground.

With all eyes on her, Arvast saw his opportunity and moved into action. He turned to his captor, who stood stupidly staring around him, jerked loose and slugged him in the face. Caught off guard, the thief went down. Arvast bent over and grabbed the unconscious man’s knife from his hand. Then one of the bandits began to run for the horses while a remaining robber focused on Rowyna. He moved towards her, his eyes never leaving the sight of her hand. He grinned and waved his sword in front of her face. She growled, pointed at him and the noise sounded again. The man gasped, clutched his chest and then collapsed.

Magic! Sorcery!

Arvast kicked the outlaw’s head for good measure and grabbed his sword back from the now dead Gratch. He turned to the two retreating bandits and raced after them. One made it to their horses, and leaping into the saddle, he wildly kicked it into a gallop.

“She’s a witch. She’s used ‘er magic,” he heard him scream as he rode away.

“Wait for me, Thad!” shouted the other running robber.

Arvast’s arms ached as blood flowed back into them, and his wound opened further, but his fear and anger soon blotted out the pain. His feet were a little wobbly, but in a blinding rage, he put on a burst of speed and caught up to the running man who stumbled as he looked back over his shoulder. With the sword out in front of him, in one diving motion, Arvast lunged at the fleeing robber. The robber screamed as a slash tore across his back. He whipped around to face Arvast. They both came to a halt. He raised his sword and Arvast brought his up to meet it.

Clang!

The robber backed up, staggering. A moment of hesitation and then Arvast lunged towards him and plunged the sword into his chest. The man sagged to the ground his eyes glazing over.

Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Arvast turned to see if any more were left alive. He grabbed the newly stabbed robber’s sword, which had fallen to the ground leaving his in the dying man’s chest. He found the outlaw he had slugged crawling away on his hands and knees. He swiftly moved up behind him and plunged the sword into his back, grunting with the effort. He felt it slide into the back rib bones. The man fell face down causing the sword to jut up like a flagpole. Red rage blanked Arvast’s mind. How dare they try to kill him, his mind screamed.

I am the king!

Life tasted hot and sweet. He suddenly felt terribly alive. He put his foot on the convulsing back and with a mighty jerk pulled the sword out. The man screamed. Then Arvast swung around listening and looking. All was still, but for a few dying moans. He shook with emotion. Anger, fear, relief, all crashed against each other inside his head. He turned to a shocked Rowyna who stood staring at the carnage around them.

“What did you do?” he shouted at her.

She stood as if she couldn’t hear him. He walked up to her and shook her shoulders roughly. The adrenaline began to recede and he took a deep breath. “Tell me who you are, then, that you have such magic.”

“It’s not magic. It’s just a simple pistol. I had it hidden in my pocket.”

“What’s that?” Her words bewildered him.

“A pistol. It said in the histories that you had them. This is modeled after a primitive, antique that was of a lightweight simple design and contained multi chambered fire points. I read about it. It was wrapped in my bag. They gave it to me for protection, so it must be all right. Lots of noblemen must carry them.”

“No they don’t.”

She looked at him horror beginning to show in her eyes. “The king’s soldiers had tons of these in the battle with Thandran Cadwell when the Diechwrathe tried to attack them at Vandore. You’ve heard of that battle. It’s in all the histories. They were used there, weren’t they?”

“We are not at war with the Diechwrathe, yet,” he said coldly. “Although I am sure that will come sooner than any wish. There has been no battle at Vandore and I know nothing about anything called a pistol. Who are you? Where do you come from that you carry unknown weapons and talk about things that have not yet happened?”

She looked startled and frightened. “What is the date? Tell me!”

“Why do you ask? Answer me now. Are you a sorceress?”

“No!” she said emphatically. “Here. Try it yourself. It’s just a pistol. An ancient weapon. Oh dear, tell me you know what I’m talking about. Take it!”

“What should I do with it?”

“Shoot it. Squeeze the trigger. That little… Oh here, I’ll show you. I’m almost out of ammunition anyway. I’ll have to reload soon. It’s rather primitive. Hold it like this.”

She gave it to him and showed him how to grip the strange metal object. He pointed at a distant tree, squeezed and an explosion sounded as the object recoiled in his hand. His ears hurt and his hand was sore from the jerk of the weapon. A piece of branch from a nearby tall tree fell to the ground. A squirrel chattered loudly and ran up to a higher branch complaining. He dropped the weapon and jumped back looking at it. She bent over and picked it up. She looked at him searchingly.

“You can’t be afraid of this. You act like you have never seen one before.”

“I haven’t.” He took the strange weapon from her hand and turned it over. “I must take this to Tygel immediately. Do you have any more magical things?”

“This isn’t magic. Why any one of your soldiers could handle one of these as easily as I just did. Obviously the king hasn’t explained military weapons to you. I need to reload. Give it to me.”

“No!” He strode past her to the clearing in the trees where he feared he would find his men. He saw that they had been sitting relaxed, enjoying their picnic and had paid dearly with their lives for the lapse. Arvast stared at the blood and bodies of his men who had served him loyally for as long as he could remember and bitterly regretted his thoughtless ways. No more! Because of his idiocy, they were now dead. He would send soldiers from Tygel to bring them home for a proper burial. Turning to the horses and carriage, he untied the reins as Rowyna followed after him. He heard her gasp when she saw the dead men and all the blood. She clutched her stomach and began to breathe with huge gulping sounds.

Before she could talk, cry, scream or do any more magic, he pushed her into the carriage to get her away from the awful scene and to get them home. Then he climbed onto the driver’s seat, leaving all else behind, and lashed the horses into a frenzied pace. Vaguely he heard her shouting something at him from within the carriage. He gave a quick look back to check on her once or twice, but nearly drove off the road doing so. The lurching coach tossed back and forth so much on the rutted road that soon the only thing he heard was an occasional whimper. He couldn’t have stopped the almost runaway coach even if he had wanted to. Finally, he heard no more. The trees blurred past his sight and occasionally branches slapped the side of the coach. He looked like a madman bouncing on the edge of the driver’s seat, splashed in blood, whip whirling in the air and all the while shouting hoarsely at the horses to go faster. He had to get them to Tygel before he passed out from the pain. He held onto consciousness and the reins with all the strength he had left.

As he drove toward Tygel, he thought of what had happened. Seven dangerous attackers, skilled in murder, killed in moments by a mere slip of a girl because she held this magical weapon. Any soldier could wield it! And it killed before a sword could get anywhere near it! Think what his army of soldiers could do. This was the key he had been looking for. Now he could even start that blasted war Thandran wanted, and win! After he had enough of these weapons made, he could defeat both the Diechwrathe and Islian. He laughed like a lunatic all the way to Tygel. Gradually, he went beyond all the pain, and then eventually slipped past sanity.

Sheron, thanks again for the interview. Here’s the link to her book, Caught in Time: www.Amazon.com/dp/B00452V8GY

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Author Interviews and Success Stories, June 2011 | No Comments »

Interview with James Oh

Saturday, June 11th, 2011

I recently did an interview with James Oh for Bloodletter and Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR -ANGEL HAZE

Angel is a Canadian author who spent her teens watching CSI, studying forensics and reading mysteries. She lives with her brilliant husband who co-authors her fantasy novels. Follow her on Twitter @AngelHaze7 or her website at www.angelhaze.com

ANGEL HAZE is the author of the books below.

The release date of Bloodletter and Legacies of Talimura: War of the Witch is set for the end of June 2011.

Q&A portion:

James: When did you begin to write?

Angel: I was about seven or eight, writing about a little girl who ran away from home. (I was an avid reader of The Boxcar Children Series by Gertrude Chandler Warner.) It wasn’t until I was fourteen when I thought of writing as more than a hobby.


James : What made you choose this genre and the title of your book?

Angel: I have a life-long passion for thrillers. My greatest influences are Tess Gerritsen and Dean Koontz. The title of Bloodletter was chosen when I was about nineteen. I wanted the name of the killer, as dubbed by the media, to be  catchy and chilling with underlying meaning.

Originally, War of the Witch was going to be called Legacy. My husband and I knew we had to change the title as the book progressed and ideas of prequels and sequels started building up. The title of Legacy did not allow for the possibility of other books so we ran through a list of world names and came up with Talimura. Then we had to think of which legacy this book centered on–Debonair, the beautiful, malevolent witch or the Falchion, the legendary sword used to defeat her?


James: Where do you get the inspiration for your stories?

Angel: My passion for forensics, delving into the criminal mind and true crime stories inspires most of my thriller novels.

War of the Witch was actually my husband’s idea. Bringing his idea to life has been one of the most exciting adventures. With fantasy, there is limitless freedom to create the world you want. Whereas I gather my inspiration from World of Warcraft and Chinese history, my husband attributes his inspiration to drinking and pacing the back deck. :)


To read more of this interview, click here.

 

I’m working on a few interviews with other authors. The first interview should be posted early next week.

Right now, I’m going a bit crazy. The deadline is creeping up . . .

Bloodletter will be released in less than two weeks!

I’ll post a teaser sometime next week. I was thinking about uploading the first few chapters to BitTorrent but that site just bogged down my computer with junk and added things like toolbars even though I specifically clicked on the box not to do that. Scrap that idea. Instead, I’ll be posting the teaser to my blog.

 

Side Note:

GO CANUCKS GO!

 

 

One more win!

 

 

Sorry, had to add that in. I want the cup to stay in Canada. :)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in June 2011 | No Comments »

« Older Entries

theme designed by Tim Sainburg