Head on over to Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord for a great weekly recap. Be sure to watch some of the videos she shared this week. My favorite is the one with the baby elephants! 🙂 And then pass this one along. Your social media friends will love it. Thanks, and thanks as always to Sally for such a great and inspiring blog! 🙂 ❤
Featured On the Reef ~ C. S. Boyack @Virgilante
Check out Sarah Brentyn’s Friday Feature, On the Reef, today featuring Serang by C. S. Boyack. I enjoyed reading Sarah’s take on this one, and I think you will, too. And don’t forget to pass it along, if you can. Thanks! And thanks To Sarah, as well! 🙂 ❤
On the Reef is a series featuring fabulous indie authors from around the blogosphere and beyond. Titles, covers, and blurbs that catch my eye, new releases, great reads… Basically, authors I’d like to highlight and works I’d like to share with my fellow book-loving word nerds. Happy Reading!
New Release
Serang by C. S. Boyack 
Monastic life is all about duty, service, and harmony. For Serang, a young girl abandoned at the temple by her mother after the death of her father, that life becomes all she knows. The monks give her purpose, and become her new family.
When political upheaval brings chaos throughout the land, Serang again loses everything and everyone she loves. Alone, she struggles to survive. She convinces a wandering monk to take her under his wing and complete her training. Thus begin her adventures through strange lands and her trials to become a confident, capable, independent…
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Week In Review
Check out Joan Hall’s Week in Review today. It’s full of super links to some articles I can’t wait to read, and graced by one of her superb photos. This one is extra stunning! You’ll be glad you stopped by, and I know you’ll enjoy sharing this post with all your social media friends. Thanks! And thanks, Joan, for such a great selection of useful and interesting links. 🙂 ❤
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#Sorry – No #FirstLineFriday This Week
I hate to do this to you folks who enjoy this quiz as much as I do, but things went to a very HOT place in a hand-basket this week. I had a lovely Book Release party last Saturday (which I plan to share more about as soon as I can), but I’ve been digging my way out from under ever since. A whole lot of things happened all at once here, and I’m still trying to catch up. So, blame it totally on me, as there are, of course, many, many more wonderful first lines out there. I just didn’t get one scheduled this week.
I promise to do my best to have this feature up and running again by next Friday, if Life will just cooperate even a little. In the meantime, I will share some great Weekly Update posts with you later today, so you can be sure you haven’t missed anything great on some of my favorite blogs.
Thanks for your understanding! And I hope all of you have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend! 🙂 ❤
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#GuestAuthor Teri Polen on Her #NewBook Subject A36
Happy Thor’s Day, everybody! I’m pleased to announce we have a guest blogger today on The Write Stuff, and I know you’ll all help me welcome author Teri Polen. Teri’s going to share a bit about her soon-to-be-released book, Subject A36, and I know you’ll be intrigued, and will want to let all your friends on social media know about this one. Thanks!
I love her skin tone.
What I wouldn’t give to have hair that color.
I always wanted blue eyes the color of the ocean.
Most of us have coveted physical attributes possessed by others and have made similar statements. It’s rare to come across someone who wouldn’t change something about their physical appearance if given the opportunity. But what if there was a way?
Genetic engineering is the direct manipulation of an organism’s genes using biotechnology. Most of us know our food is genetically modified. One source I found estimated that more than 75% of processed foods in supermarkets contain genetically engineered ingredients. That’s kind of scary to think about.
But what about people? Gene-editing trials involving terminally ill adults are ongoing. In 2015, doctors received permission to use an experimental form of gene therapy on a one-year-old girl using genetically engineered immune cells from a donor after all conventional treatments failed. Within a month, the cells had killed off all the cancerous cells in her bone marrow. What a miracle!
In 2019, a Chinese scientist revealed he’d secretly altered the genes of twin girl embryos in an attempt to make them resistant to their father’s HIV infection. This sent the scientific community into an uproar, the scientist’s experiments were declared illegal, and he was sentenced to prison for three years.
Ironically, this scientist’s illegal actions came to light more than a year after I’d started writing my new book, Subject A36 (The Colony Series #1) releasing February 13th, 2020. Reading about that scientist gave me goosebumps. Most countries have laws against certain types of gene editing, but in the world of Subject A36, there are none. Genetic engineering to obtain desirable physical attributes or characteristics is commonplace for wealthy citizens of The Colony. And a potential death sentence for people who live outside those walls.
Subject A36 is a sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian novel—but the actions of the Chinese scientist make me wonder if something similar to this scenario will really be sci-fi in the not too distant future. Do you have goosebumps now?
BLURB:
If genetic engineering could guarantee you and your family perfect health and unparalleled beauty, would you pay top dollar for it? Would you kill for it?
Residents of the Colony would. And do.
Only the Insurgents can stop them.
Seventeen-year-old Asher Solomon is a premier operative with the Insurgents. He and his team have rescued countless hostages, saving them from painful deaths in Colony labs as desirable genetic traits are stripped from their bodies.
He’s also suffered more losses than anyone should have to.
Then Asher gets intel that might give his people the upper hand. The Colony is searching for Subject A36. If the Insurgents determine the subject’s identity first, they might be able to turn the tide of the war.
Asher and his team embark on their riskiest mission ever, and the stakes have never been higher. But even if he survives the physical dangers, the devastating secrets he uncovers might destroy him.
Pre-Order Subject A36 HERE
Author Teri Polen
Teri Polen reads and watches horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and anything Marvel-related are likely to cause fangirl delirium. She lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband, sons, and black cat. Her first novel, Sarah, a YA horror/thriller, was a horror finalist in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Visit her online at www.teripolen.com
Contact Links:
Website: https://teripolen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeriPolenAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPolen6
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16114393.Teri_Polen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tpolen6/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/teripolen/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/teri-polen
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Wednesday Weirdness: The Ghosts of Time, Part 1
A must-read post over at Mae Clair’s blog today! Time, clocks, mysterious happenings, and possible ghosts all wrapped up in one great post. Check it and and pass it along, if you can, thanks! And thanks, Mae, for giving me a shiver or too and some great ideas for writing about “timely” events! 🙂 Super post!
We’ve often heard the expression “time stopped.” But can it really? As much as I love time travel speculating about traversing centuries, time flows in a single direction–forward. Despite cold facts and scientific data, generations of writers, philosophers, artists and musicians remain bewitched by the abstract elements of time.
Consider me one. In the past, I’ve done several blog posts about what I call “betwixt moments,” but I’ve never shared where my fascination with time originated. I can easily trace it back to my father who had a passion for antiques, especially old clocks. I grew up in a house filled with them. I have memories of a large white captain’s clock, several squat mantle clocks, and a pointed steeple clock that would have been at home in a Sherlock Holmes novel. But the star of my dad’s collection was a grandfather’s clock he found at a garage sale. Built…
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Dark Running
Check out this post by P. H. Solomon on Story Empire today. Talk about a fantastic idea for a scary scene in your next book! You’ll love this one, and I’m sure you’ll remember to share it far and wide, too. Thanks, and thanks to P. H. for giving me some great ideas! Super post! 🙂
Good morning Story Empire readers. P. H. Solomon here with you today sharing about a recent experience, running in the dark. With the short days at this time of year, I usually end up running in the dark or just after. On one of these recent runs, I observed the things about my surroundings in the darkness that set off my imagination.
Don’t get me wrong, I was not running completely in the dark. I wore a headlamp that’s rather bright and there were a few lights to see by on the semi-desolate road on which I ran. Normally, I choose to run in a nearby subdivision where there’s more light on my running route. But this particular evening, I chose to run my regular daytime route on a little used side road that can be very dark in some places. Along the way, it struck me how many houses…
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#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – Through the Nethergate by Roberta Eaton Cheadle
This afternoon, please help me welcome Roberta Eaton Cheadle (or Robbie, as many of us know her) to The Write Stuff. She’s sharing a great review of her YA Paranormal book, Through the Nethergate, and I know you’ll love the sound of this one. Please remember to share far and wide, if possible. We’ll do the same for you when it’s your turn. 🙂 Thanks!
REVIEW:
Jacqui Murray
5.0 out of 5 stars Ghosts, violent death, and one girl’s efforts to make things right
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2019
In Roberta Cheadle’s YA paranormal thriller, Through the Nethergate, Margaret moves into the Inn owned by her grandfather after the untimely death of her parents. There, she quickly finds that she has the ability to communicate with the ghosts that are rumored to inhabit the old building. They are a varied group, all of whom met violent unjust deaths that left them…
“…trapped in the Overworld between the White Light of eternal salvation and the Nethergate of eternal damnation.””
They are kept in this eternal existence against their will and beg Margaret to help them. Reluctantly, Margaret agrees which starts her war with the ethereal red-eyed vicious dog who doesn’t want to release his slaves.
As the story unfolds, Cheadle shares the well-researched stories of how each of these ghosts died, putting us into a time when life was not precious, where people starved or froze and no one care. I was horrified, engaged, and ultimately rooting for Margaret’s success, despite the high toll it took on herself and her grandfather. Recommended for readers of YA who enjoy the macabre and heroines who fight injustice.
BLURB:
Margaret, a girl born with second sight, has the unique ability to bring ghosts trapped between Heaven and Hell back to life. When her parents die suddenly, she goes to live with her beloved grandfather, but the cellar of her grandfather’s ancient inn is haunted by an evil spirit of its own. In the town of Bungay, a black dog wanders the streets, enslaving the ghosts of those who have died unnatural deaths. When Margaret arrives, these phantoms congregate at the inn, hoping she can free them from the clutches of Hugh Bigod, the 12th century ghost who has drawn them away from Heaven’s White Light in his canine guise. With the help of her grandfather and the spirits she has befriended, Margaret sets out to defeat Hugh Bigod, only to discover he wants to use her for his own ends – to take over Hell itself.
Buy Through the Nethergate HERE
Author Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Robbie, short for Roberta, is an author with six published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children aged 2 to 9 years old (co-authored with her son, Michael Cheadle), one published middle grade book in the Silly Willy series and one published preteen/young adult fictionalised biography about her mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II called While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with her mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton). All of Robbie’s children’s book are written under Robbie Cheadle and are published by TSL Publications.
Robbie has recently branched into adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differential her children’s books from her adult writing, these will be published under Roberta Eaton Cheadle. Robbie has two short stories in the horror/supernatural genre included in Dark Visions, a collection of 34 short stories by 27 different authors and edited by award winning author, Dan Alatorre. These short stories are published under Robbie Cheadle.
Robbie has also recently published a poetry collection, Open a new door, together with fellow South African poet, Kim Blades.
Follow Roberta Eaton Cheadle
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#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – Life’s Rich Tapestry: Woven in Words by Sally Cronin
Today, it is my pleasure to welcome someone we all know and love, the very generous and talented Sally Cronin. Sally is sharing a super review of her newest book, Life’s Rich Tapestry: Woven in Words. I know you’ll enjoy this one and will share it far and wide. Take it away, Sally!
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Thank you so much for this opportunity, Marcia and much appreciated.
REVIEW:
DGKaye 5.0 out of 5 stars A smorgasbord of words and inspiration
Sally Cronin certainly is a master at weaving with words. No matter how many or few, her words will paint a complete story and leave us with a satisfactory optimism or a tug at our heartstrings.
In this author’s newest release of tales to inspire, we’ll find a smorgasbord of forms of writing from various forms of poetry – Haiku, Etherees and Cinquain poetry to condensed micro fiction, where stories are wrapped up complete despite a minimal word count, to short stories on speculative fiction. A wonderful mixed bag of tales covering topics such as: random thoughts, seasons, aging, nature, holidays, fairies, romance, pets, to the human condition and life lessons.
My favorite Flash Fiction story – The Witch’s Handbook Spell #356 – Removal of Inhibitions for ‘The Devilish Mojito’, and her heartwarming short stories like The Ugly Mutt that will keep you engaged as evil doers try to do harm, kept me cheering for Brian. One story in particular had me glued from beginning to end – Great Aunt Georgina. This story begins with a little girl and her family visiting her Grandma. The little girl looked forward to those visits where Grandma would pull out the old photo albums and introduce her to family of the past era. In later years, after Gran is gone the girl now in her twenties learns a never told family secret, discovered by looking through old letters sent to her Gran Elizabeth by her sister Georgina. From the letters we learn about betrayal, grief, karma, and reckoning (no spoilers), and ultimately, forgiveness.
The last half of the book is focused on these short stories. Among them, I also enjoyed the story about Onions that ended a marriage, a magical tale – A Moment of Alignment – about love, loss and a chance to meet up with a lost loved one when the sun and the moon align, and The Enhancement Project- a sci-fi short where Cronin manages to zing in her ‘known for’ sentimental ending.
Sally Cronin has the knack for bringing in emotions to her stories no matter the genre. She wraps up the book beautifully with a fashionable tribute to ‘The Duchess’, a tribute to Cronin’s mother.
A wonderful book with something to satisfy all genre readers. I highly recommend.
BLURB:
Life’s Rich Tapestry is a collection of verse, micro fiction and short stories that explore many aspects of our human nature and the wonders of the natural world. Reflections on our earliest beginnings and what is yet to come, with characters as diverse as a French speaking elephant and a cyborg warrior.
Finding the right number of syllables for a Haiku, Tanka, Etheree or Cinquain focuses the mind; as does 99 word micro fiction, bringing a different level of intensity to storytelling. You will find stories about the past, the present and the future told in 17 syllables to 2,000 words, all celebrating life.
This book is also recognition of the value to a writer, of being part of a generous and inspiring blogging community, where writing challenges encourage us to explore new styles and genres.
Buy Life’s Rich Tapestry HERE:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Author Sally Cronin
I have been a storyteller most of my life (my mother called them fibs!). Poetry, song lyrics and short stories were left behind when work and life intruded, but that all changed in 1996.
My first book Size Matters was a health and weight loss book based on my own experiences of losing 70kilo. I have written another twelve books since then on health and also fiction including three collections of short stories. My latest collection is Life’s Rich Tapestry : Woven in Words.. verse, micro fiction and short stories.
I am an indie author and proud to be one. My greatest pleasure comes from those readers who enjoy my take on health, characters and twisted endings… and of course come back for more.
As a writer I know how important it is to have help in marketing books.. as important as my own promotion is, I believe it is important to support others. I offer a number of FREE promotional opportunities on my blog and linked to my social media. If you are an author who would like to be promoted to a new audience of dedicated readers, please contact me via my blog. All it will cost you is a few minutes of your time. Look forward to hearing from you.
You can connect to me on the following sites.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
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Cover Reveal for Grinders by C. S. Boyack
I’m happy to welcome C. S. Boyack here today with a cover reveal of his newest work, Grinders. Craig has some interesting info to share on the book, as well. This intriguing set up will surely inspire you guys to share this post far and wide! Thanks! Now, take it away, Craig!
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I’m here to reveal my newest cover and talk a bit about Grinders. This time, I’m tackling a cyberpunk world. It’s one of those worlds where the Internet and being connected too much controls our lives.
One of the things I like about science fiction is the ability to project current events into the future. I call this, “Poking things with a stick.”
I poked a lot of things in this book, but most of them are in passing. Some of them show up in advertisements, which are invasive in this world. Others might just be a news blurb. There are times when I dive a bit deeper, and not everything is negative. Here is a small list of things that show up in the story:
- Global warming
- Plastic pollution
- Helicopter moms
- Cyber shut-ins
- The energy crisis
- New ways for package thieves to operate
- Police who can’t carry guns until they are five-year veterans
- Homeowner associations
There are a lot more, and most of them are pretty subtle. Cyberpunk is not known for deep plots, but I wanted one anyway.
Grinders is set about a hundred years in the future, in San Francisco. The main characters are cops assigned to the Grinder Squad. This is the duty nobody wants, and you almost have to screw up to get this assignment.
Grinders exist today, but I ramped them up for this story. These are people who surgically modify themselves, or each other, in basement surgeries, beauty salons, and tattoo parlors. Real world examples are those who implant chips under their skin to allow themselves to unlock doors or start cars without a key. There has even been one who injected dye into his eyeballs in an attempt to see in the dark. In that example, it actually worked but the results were temporary.
My story involves the downside of these modifications, why they’re illegal, and most of them are a bit more extreme than the real world versions. For example, you’ll meet Brandi, who has moth-like antennae implanted into her forehead. They aren’t just cute, they allow her to taste virtually everything. She’s almost like a bloodhound, only using the sense of taste.
Grinder Squad rarely ever does anything, but the new girl on the squad, Jimi, wants to bust a grind shop in the worst way. She feels like it could be her ticket off this crap detail and on to better duty.
One of my silly goals was to release the book in time for Chinese New Year. I’m not going to make it. I still need to finish my final pass, send it to the formatter, and get my promotional posters. It’s going to need a blurb, too.
I targeted this date because in the story, it’s the Year of the Rat. An important part of the story takes place at San Francisco’s annual parade. There are even a couple of rats in the story that play a pivotal role. Aside from that, I was born in the Year of the Rat.
Readers won’t actually care about my silly target date, and it’s more important to give everything the final polish. What I did get in time was cover art. So Gong Hei Fot Choi, everyone, and enjoy the cover. The story will be available before you know it, and I’ll announce that on my blog.
You Can Reach C. S. Boyack at the Links Below
The Write Stuff 