Winter Blogfest: Garth Pettersen

December 24, 2024 By 2 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of The Swan’s Road (book #1 in the Atheling Chronicles). 

 

Christmas in the Eleventh Century by Garth Pettersen 

I have been wondering about Christmas in the early part of the 11th century when my characters in The Atheling Chronicles lived. I finally found some information. Here is a quick summary. 

In the early 11th century, the good folk of Engla-lond were either Anglo-Saxons (Germanic) or Danes. Both groups had originally been pagan, believing in a whole pantheon of delightful gods and goddesses.

In 597 c.e. Pope Gregory the Great sent missionaries to Engla-lond with the PR strategy of continuity, i.e. keep as much the same as it was. Yule was a pagan festival (not connected with the Winter Solstice) with an association with fertility⸺it may have involved some ceremonial copulation.  

The Church had decided (in the 4th century) that December 25 would be celebrated as the birth day of the Christ Child, so they turned the Yule fertility festival into a Christian feast day. In Anglo-Saxon the word was “Cristesmæsse.“ Easter was the more important festival for the Church, but around Christmas, the English would take part in fasts, vigils, prayers, and the giving of alms both to monasteries and to the common people, for the full twelve days before Christmas. The copulation part was dropped. 

So there we have the beginning of celebrating the birth of Christ and the origin of gift-giving. The last tradition added during the Anglo-Saxon period was the holiday (holy-day) part. One of Alfred the Great’s laws (there were a lot of “Greats” in those days⸺we’ve forgotten all the “Not So Greats” such as Sven the Slackard) stated no one should work during the Twelve Days of Christmas.” This gave the hardworking folk of Engla-lond a much-needed rest and a reason to celebrate. So there you have it.  

Gesælige Cristesmæsse! 

 

In 1030 C.E., Cnute, king of England, Denmark, and Norway, sends Harald, his middle son, to the Kingdom of Dublin to meet with his Norse-Irish allies. Harald’s mission is to coordinate an invasion of the northern Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd, to replace King Rhydderch who is growing too powerful on England’s borders. Harald is reluctant to be involved in affairs of state, but agrees to go, even though his beloved wife, Selia, is unwell. Harald tells Selia he will not have to take part in the fighting.

Harald becomes involved in a conflict with Dublin’s neighbor, and to appease the king of Dublin, he commits to leading their combined forces in the attack on Wales. The plan is to replace King Rhydderch with Iago, the weaker King of Anglesey. The more Harald learns of these monarchs, the more his allegiance leans toward the man he has been sent to kill. 

Will Harald unseat a strong and just ruler to carry out his father/king’s commands, or will he tread a more righteous road, which will destroy the life he and Selia have built in England?

 

Garth Pettersen is an award-winning Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC, where he and his wife board horses. Pettersen has a BA in History from the University of Victoria and is a retired teacher. His short stories have appeared in anthologies and in journals such as Blank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary ‘Zine. Garth Pettersen’s historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles, is published by Tirgearr Publishing and is available through most online outlets. The latest book in the series, The Sea’s Edge, received a first-place Incipere Award.

 

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What Kind of Writer am I? by Frank S Joseph – Guest Blog and Giveaway

November 12, 2024 By 6 Comments

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

What Kind of Writer Am I?

Assignment: What kind of writer am I?

Answer: I’m a Pantser.

You ask: What the heck is a Pantser?

I respond: The opposite of a Plotter.

But not a mere Pantser. What I really am is a Reformed Pantser. Allow me to explain.

Hang around novelists for any length of time and you’ll hear the terms Plotter and Pantser.

A Plotter is one who Figures Everything Out Ahead of Time: Writes notes, draws decision trees, festoons walls with charts and graphs — timelines, connections, &c. &c.

That sure ain’t me. As one given to ADHD, I can’t sit still long enough to plot much of anything, let alone build turreted mind-castles for the stories I think up.

That makes me a Pantser: One who writes by the seat of his pants.

But I’m also one who gets stuck in the Dread Middle.

The Dread Middle is where Pantsing lets me down. The more I write, the worse it gets.

Desperate during one of those Dread Middle jams, I called on a sympathetic fellow writer named Linda to rescue me.

We sat down on Linda’s airy screened porch and began to mind-dump. Before I knew it, I was Plotting. Hooray!

Not sophisticated plotting. More like figuring out what comes between now and the end of the chapter. But it was enough; it got me unstuck. When next I sat down to write, I knew where I was going. The chapter poured out.

I took a lesson from this: When stuck in the Dread Middle, sit down with a friend and dialogue things out. Keep going until light glimmers at the end of the tunnel.

There’s a saying among writers that I treasure. It goes something like this:

Writing a novel is like driving across the country at night with only your headlights to guide you. You can’t see beyond the end of the beams … but you know you’ll get there eventually.

A perfect summation of Pantser, Reformed Variety.

It’s 1965, summer in Chicago, and it’s hot. Pinkie looks white but is being ‘raised Black’ by shiftless Jolene — who’s in it for Pinkie’s child support check and nothing more. But how did Jolene come to be raising Pinkie anyway? Join this daughter of the city’s meanest streets as she sets out on a quest to find the White woman who gave her birth, braving the inner-city riots of the turbulent ‘60s to discover who she really is. An IndieReader Best Book; finalist for Chicago Writers Assn. Book of the Year and First Prize, CWA novel contest; 5 Stars from Reedsy Reviews, Readers’ Favorite and Midwest Book Review.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Ever since I’m little I be wondering who my momma is.

It ain’t Jolene. Jolene’s been raising me but I ain’t her blood. Reminds me of it every chance she gets. Picked me out of a trash pile one day, that’s what Jolene says. Like a maggot out of a garbage can.

If I’m trash I say, why you done it? Just teasing she says, you be worth real money, check for $102.80 on the first of every month. Calls it her Pinkie check. …

Jolene just laughs when I ask about my real momma. One day I be finding her though. See does Jolene laugh when that day comes.

Jolene don’t treat Bettina no better than me even though Bettina be blood and flesh to her. Bettina asks who her poppa was but Jolene pretends she don’t hear. Poor little thing, Bettina, bumping into things like she does. Jolene says Bettina was born with a caul, that’s why she so clumsy. I know better though. Bettina can’t help it. Something wrong inside her head. She plenty smart all right, just something inside there don’t work how it’s supposed to, like a doorbell is busted or a toaster don’t pop.

All Jolene cares about is the money though, $102.80 a month for me and $94.73 for Bettina. And Bettina’ll be worth more soon Jolene says, worth as much as you gal, $102.80 a month when she turns nine. Then in September when you turn twelve, you’ll be worth $106.35, and Jolene grins.

About the Author: Frank S Joseph’s “Chicago Trilogy” novels — TO LOVE MERCY, TO WALK HUMBLY and TO DO JUSTICE — tell a story of lives forever changed by racial turmoil that marked and marred Chicago at mid century, a great city going up in flames.

Frank lived it. He came of age in the ’40s and ’50s as a sheltered White boy in comfortable South Side neighborhoods undergoing racial turnover and “white flight.” And in his 20s, as an Associated Press correspondent, he covered the ’60s riots that wracked Chicago’s inner city as well as the ’67 Detroit riot, where 37 died, and the notorious ’68 Democratic National Convention street disorders.

Frank left Chicago in 1969, landed at The Washington Post during Watergate, and went on to a career as an award-winning journalist, publisher and direct marketer. His Chicago Trilogy novels all have won award after award, most recently TO DO JUSTICE winning the Chicago Writers Assn. novel contest and being named an IndieReader Best Book

TO DO JUSTICE, Trilogy Book III, is out from Key Literary. TO LOVE MERCY, Trilogy Book I, and TO WALK HUMBLY, Trilogy Book II, are forthcoming from Key Literary. TO LOVE MERCY was previously published in 2006 by Mid Atlantic Highlands.

Frank and his wife Carol Jason, an artist and sculptor, live in Chevy Chase MD. They are the parents of Sam and Shawn.

An IndieReader Best Book
First Prize, Chicago Writers Assn. Novel Contest
Finalist, Chicago Writers Assn. Book of the Year
A Readers’ Favorite® Five Star Selection
Five Stars — Reedsy Reviews
Midwest Book Review – 5 Stars

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Georgia’s Folly by Deborah Chase – Spotlight and Giveaway

November 10, 2024 By 6 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $50 Visa card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

For fans of “Antiques Roadshow” and “American Pickers” – this is the one for you!

Beginning at a cluttered flea market and ending at a glittering art auction, Georgia’s Follytells the compelling story that blends past and present and the search for a valuable and illusive antique. Chloe Bishop grew up in foster care. She loves shopping at flea markets, picking up family heirlooms like old pottery or vintage furniture to fill in for the family and home she never had. As Chloe walks through the Brooklyn Flea Market, she stumbles upon the diary of Miss Georgia Potter, a young woman who had lived in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War. The yellowed pages reveal the impact of the war on daily life and spotlights the role of women including Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton and Louisa May Alcott. Like Chloe, Georgia Potter was a passionate collector and her diary lists her collection of valuable antiques—including the Holy Grail of 18th century furniture—a Chippendale settee. Well versed in antiques, Chloe is aware that There are only five known examples and a sixth settee would be worth more than $4 million.

Chloe immediately contacts Ben Thompson, the man who sold her the diary. Ben is a picker who drives his RV across America, searching for collectibles to sell to dealers. He is estranged from his wealthy, prominent family who cringe at his chosen career. Ben agrees to take her along to search for the valuable and iconic settee. As Ben and Chloe head to Gettysburg, they are unaware that Gregor Petrov, a shady antiques dealer and Harrison Kent, a respected but unscrupulous art expert are trailing them.

The search for the settee takes Chloe and Ben on fast paced journey from the Gettysburg battlefields to the 18th century street of artisans in Philadelphia to a historic mansion on the banks of the Hudson River. Traveling together in the small RV, Ben and Chloe draw closer. In the confines of the RV, embroiled in an unimaginable quest, Chloe confides that she is also in search for the father she never knew while Ben struggles to explain his complicated family to a woman who never had one.

In a thrilling ending, the rare Chippendale settee is not Chloe’s only valuable discovery.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Chole Bishop felt her pulse quicken as she walked to the jumbled tables at the Brooklyn Flea market. Under the soaring arches of the massive bridge, the piles of pottery, jewelry and tacks of vintage clothing sparkled with the promise of discovery. Every time she walked into a thrift shop or flea market, she remembered stories of the discovery of a long-lost Picasso or a rhinestone ring turned out to be a flawless diamond. But she really wasn’t treasure hunting—she just loved finding what she called “pieces of history.”

She never knew what she was going to find, but she knew it when she saw it. And there it was, as if it had been patiently waiting for her. Next to a vintage tin sign for motor oil and under a cracked ironstone pitcher, she could see the trim edges of a ladies lap desk. Chloe smiled to herself. I have always wanted ne and here it is under the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge. She walked over to the table, gently removed the pitcher and placed it on the table.

The lap desk was clearly not a family heirloom. It was a very basic lap desk with a faded, stained finish. She opened the lap desk and smiled to see the worn well-worn, blue felt padding. The top and bottom offlaps were intact- a great sign for a well-used laptop more than 150 years old. Two small partitions on the bottom were stained from the ink bottles they once held. The bottom section was empty except for two vintage ladies hair pins but the top lid was jammed. A lady often kept personal letters there and Chloe was instantly curious. What secret romances could the lap desk hold?

About the Author: I grew up in a family filled with art and antiques. On the high end, my uncle, William Lincer, lead violist at the New York Philharmonic, was an art lover whose collection was sold at Sotheby’s. On the low end, her father, writer Allen Chase took me to flea markets and estate sales. He sparked a lifelong fascination with tales of lost treasures that ranged from plundered Egyptian tombs to trainloads of art stolen by the Nazis. It was this love of history and antiques that inspired my first novel, Georgia’s Folly

I was a founding editor of the Berkeley Wellness Newsletter and the author of 12 books including The Medically Based No-Nonsense Beauty Book (Alfred Knopf), Extend Your Life Diet (Pocket Books), Fruit Acids for Fabulous Skin (St Martin’s Press), Every Bride is Beautiful ( Morrow), and with her husband Dr Neil Schachter co-author of Life and Breath (Doubleday) and The Good Doctor’s Guide to Colds and Flu (Harper). The books have been a selection of the Book of the Month Club and my articles have appeared in Ladies Home Journal, Self, Glamour, Redbook, Family Circle, Parents and Good Housekeeping.

I am a graduate of Bronx High School of Science and a winner of the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. A graduate of New York University I earned a degree with a dual major in journalism and history.

A native New Yorker, I like to spend my weekends at an upstate home where a big kitchen and an endless supply of estate sales indulge my dual passions for cooking and collecting.

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Flamingo Cafe by Jackie Kang – Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway

October 24, 2024 By 4 Comments

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

A storm is brewing off the coast of Florida, but chaos has already made landfall for four women of Palm Beach society. Abigail, a self-appointed Cuban princess and queen of the WAGs, suddenly finds herself penniless and on the streets. Claudia, a Greek entrepreneur and CEO of a prestigious international clothing line, is entering her golden years only to realize secrets can weigh you down. Cassy, a barista and owner of the Flamingo Cafe, is doing her best to recover from a tragic past. Meanwhile her best friend, Bri, also harbors a secret: a romantic tet-a-tet with Cassy’s brother Nick. Each woman has played her part in a society obsessed with appearances and secrecy for years. So, when Hurricane Odette blows through town, exposing those secrets, it’s no surprise their lives collide like a clap of thunder. Only one thing is certain: if they don’t work together, Mother Nature will teach them the hardest lessons of their lives.

Enjoy an Exclusive Excerpt

What a morning. I can’t believe it is already past noon, and I haven’t heard from one single person. I’m exhausted from cleaning the broken glass and picking up the mess that greeted me this morning.

I step back until I rest my head on the palm-frond- decorated wallpaper behind me and let out a slow breath. The lip of the hot pink wains-coating that covers the lower third of the wall presses into my hips, and I adjust my shoulders to relieve the pinch on my backside. Settling into my empty surroundings, I count to three and try to remember what my therapist taught me about dealing with a crisis. Not that I’m experiencing a crisis. Or maybe I am. I don’t know. I’m so exhausted from this morning that I can’t think straight.

I rack my brain and try to remember the requirements for calling an event a crisis. Destruction. A quick glance at the front door, where the sun is illuminating the duct tape holding the cardboard in place over the broken window, confirms what I already know. Yes, there is definitely destruction. And although I’ve done a decent job over the last few hours of cleaning, the thoughts of the white bookcase lying in a heap across the wood-planked floor, the overturned gold stools with the pink tufted cushions smashed and lying on their sides, and the palm frond wallpaper devoid of its racks and now riddled with nail holes are all images of destruction that are now burned into my memory for a lifetime.

I mentally check the first box as I recall another requirement. Being in immediate danger.

Well, there is cash missing from the register, but thanks to the nightly deposit I make, it’s not a large sum of money. Thank God no one was here when it was taken. Instinctively, I reach down and rub at the goose bumps on my arm. I don’t even have to look down to know they are there. The mere idea of violence in the café has my stomach roiling. I suck in a lungful of air and remind myself that Zoe and I weren’t present when the actual break-in happened and that the perpetrator is now long gone. Which means I am not, in fact, in any immediate danger, and this particular situation doesn’t qualify as a crisis.

About the Author

When not spending her time creating make-believe people and places, Jackie Kang lives in Kirkland, WA with her very real family of 1 husband, 2 dogs, and 3 children. In her past life, Jackie has held jobs as a personal trainer, a spa manager, a dental assistant, and an office manager, but her true love is writing and sharing a well-crafted story. Jackie is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

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Falling from the Nest by Bobbie Candas – Spotlight and Giveaway

October 10, 2024 By 6 Comments

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

Spring 1946–Following four years of war on the heels of the decade-long Great Depression, Americans are finally feeling a sense of hope that begins sweeping the nation…

Jo-Jo Anderson feels that optimism too. Slipping the reins of her Iowa farming town, Jo leaves to make her mark on the entertainment scene in Manhattan. Audiences are clamoring for new musicals on Broadway, nightclubs are flourishing, and NYC is the beating heart of the radio networks. After arriving, Jo-Jo quickly realizes that thousands of would-be stars are following her same ambitions, making opportunities scarce, but her luck begins to turn when she hears about Talent Jackpot.

Her twin, Sarah, finds success with her studies as a scholarship student at the University of Iowa. But Sarah is adrift socially, finding it difficult to forge friendships. Her perfectly planned life is upended when her hometown boyfriend announces he’s suddenly joined the navy. Sarah’s top grades draw the attention of a crusty biology professor and after accepting his offer of a lab position, her rigid lifestyle gets a lot more complicated.

This novel tells a story of unexpected change. The twins make their way through multiple challenges with humor, ambition, and heartbreak but remain tied together by the bonds of sisterhood, winding their way through the seedier backdoors of the entertainment business, and into college dorm life and love nest apartments.

With the historical backdrop of the post WW2 era, Falling From The Nest, reads as a stand-alone story but also serves as a sequel to author Bobbie Candas’ previous novel, The Lost and Found of Green Tree.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The last of the audition line moved forward and I was suddenly thrust up on the stage of the Imperial Theater. There were three lines of ten on stage, filled with nervous male and female hopefuls auditioning for chorus line spots for a new Irving Berlin musical, Annie Get Your Gun. I could smell my fear as it branched out within me in tingling connections from my frozen face down to my feet. Feet that now felt like dead weights attached to heeled dance shoes whose soles were glued to the floor. I’d arrived late and was in the last group of an open-call audition and purposely nudged myself into the center of the middle line, hoping for a hiding spot. But hiding is hard when you’re a leggy, five-foot-nine, pale blonde female in a string of short, muscular dancers. Kinda like a spotted giraffe among the lions.

After lining up, our executioner and choreographer took about sixty seconds to show us a dozen linking steps to an opening dance sequence. His arrogant face, slim body, and searching eyes leaned back appraising the lines. “OK, boys and girls, this one’s simple. Think you got it?” Everyone around me anxiously nodded yes.

No, I wanted to shout. Repeat please!

The orchestra in the pit began cranking out a tune, as the choreographer yelled out…”And a one, and a two–knee up, kick left, circle back, hop, hop, knee up, kick right…” Then he motioned for the music to stop.

An exasperated expression covered his face. “Ladies and gentlemen, these are the basics, the easy connections. Let’s start again on three. And a one, and a two–knee up, kick left, circle back, hop, hop…” He stuck his arm out, motioning again for the music to stop.

“Alright, first cuts.” His long arm and dismissive finger pointed to the guilty dancers. “Tall blonde, center middle row, thank you. You…guy on the end, first row, that will be all. Back row, green sweater, left side, you may leave.”

He sighed deeply, clapped his hands, and said. “Let’s go again, cue music…repeat.”

About the Author: I’m a Texas girl: grew up in San Antonio, went to school at UT in Austin where I earned my degree in journalism, and settled in Dallas where I raised a husband, two kids and a few cats. My husband, Mehmet, and the cats will probably disagree on who raised who, but I’m a sucker for a robust discussion.

For years I was involved in retail management, but in 2014 I refocused on my writing, taking deep dives into the lives of my characters. When you can pry my fingers off the keyboard, I enjoy entertaining, sharing food and drink with friends and family. I enjoy shopping, usually on the hunt for apparel, with a special weakness for shoes, and will frequently jump at the opportunity of an unexpected trip to a far-away place.

And I always make time for reading. I keep a stack of novels ready and waiting on my night stand, with a few tapping their toe in my Kindle. I bounce around genres, and I’m always ready for a good recommendation.

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Choice by Dora Farkas – Spotlight and Giveaway

October 8, 2024 By 3 Comments

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

Val is a young Mexican-American quantum physicist and single mother struggling with an anxiety disorder and financial challenges. Her world is turned upside down when her ex-husband files for full custody of their three-year-old daughter to take her across the country where he was offered a job. The story unfolds as she decides either to stay put in Boston and meet job related deadlines or go on a holiday and visit her parents in Mexico.

Encouraged by her father, Val flies to Mexico with Maya, her service dog, and Daisy, her daughter, and she discovers a world of magic that will change her outlook on life forever. She also reconnects with her childhood friend, Mercedes, who gives her a glimmer of hope. Things, however, are not what they seem to be. As all areas of her life begin to fall apart, Val must explore the power of her intuition and make different choices to change the course of her and her daughter’s futures.

Enjoy an Excerpt

While growing up, Mom and I had a special tradition: every Friday afternoon, she showed me how to cook and bake her family’s recipes, some of them as old as 400 years. As soon as I could stand, she pulled up a stool for me, and I watched her prepare dishes from her native town in Oaxaca, Mexico, which had been passed down from mother to daughter for many generations.

Although she had to create a new home when she and Dad moved from Oaxaca to a suburb of Boston before I was born, she made sure that I would be well-prepared to pass on our family’s recipes to my children. My memories from elementary school are filled with rolling churros in cinnamon sugar, measuring out ingredients for our family’s secret mole recipe, and taking turns with Mom mixing sweet corn dough for tamales.

When I was in middle school, she stood right next to me as I simmered the sweetened milk for capirotada, the bread pudding my family ate every Easter, and nodded in approval as the deep aroma of cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, and cloves filled the air. The older I became, the more Mom expected from me in the kitchen, but there was one thing that never changed throughout the years: whenever we cooked and baked together, time stood still.

About the Author: Although Dora was born in Budapest, Hungary, she lived in Mexico for five years during her early childhood. Her connection to the Mexican language, history, and cooking inspired the cultural setting for her debut novel, “Choice.”

After getting her doctorate from MIT, she published her first book, “The Smart Way to Your Ph.D.” which paved the way for a six-figure consulting business while she was a stay-at-home mom with two daughters. She has given workshops about writing at MIT, Tufts, Boston University, the University of Connecticut, Ohio State University, the Scripps Research Institute, the University of Calgary, and the University of British Columbia.

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Playing Army by Nancy Stroer – Interview and Giveaway

September 5, 2024 By 16 Comments

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

What would we find under your bed?

I have drawers under my bed and mostly they contain writing stuff – notebooks, boxes of notes (I keep a box for each novel I’m working on), my laptop, and stationery/office supplies. It’s for ease of access so I can just reach down, grab what I need, and get to work!

What was the scariest moment of your life?

There have been a couple of times when my kids were in danger that still scare me when I think of them. When my oldest was six and we had just moved to England, the bus driver bringing her home after her FIRST day of school let her off ALONE at the WRONG bus stop. Luckily another mother was there to pick up her child and realized immediately what had happened. She took my daughter home and called the school, so my daughter was never actually alone in a brand-new city. But the memory still sends my heart racing. I still want to hurt somebody when I think about what could have happened.

Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?

I can’t write and have music in the background. I do always create playlists from the time period the stories are set as part of the research process, and also in an effort to immerse myself in as much of a similar sensory experience as possible. I want to teach a spin class to the 1995 sound track for Playing Army! It was a good year for music! There will have to be Alanis Morisette, of course.

What is something you’d like to accomplish in your writing career next year?

Well, I’m planning to complete a solid second draft of the novel that follows this one, and to start getting feedback from my Army Girl alpha readers. I’m also very much looking forward to teaching workshops to other female members of the military community who want to write about their experiences. I’ve done a couple already in the promotion of Playing Army and they’ve been joyful hours, well spent! I’m also planning to speak to some book discussion groups. I’ve been in book groups for literal decades, and think it adds such a cool dimension to the reading experience when you can talk to the author about how a story came about.

How long did it take you to write this book?

Yikes – I started Playing Army more than twenty years ago! But it was trunked for a long, long time before I came back to it. So I’ve probably been writing, rewriting, and tinkering with it for five or so years? I’m a slow, persistent writer. I hope that pays off in the reading of it.

It’s 1995 and the Army units of Fort Stewart, Georgia are gearing up to deploy to Bosnia, but Lieutenant Minerva Mills has no intention of going to war-torn eastern Europe. Her father disappeared in Vietnam and, desperate for some kind of connection to him, she’s determined to go on a long-promised tour to Asia. But the Colonel will only release her on two conditions—that she reform the rag-tag Headquarters Company so they’re ready for the peacekeeping mission, and that she get her weight within Army regs, whichever comes second. Min only has one summer to kick everyone’s butts into shape but the harder she plays Army, the more the soldiers—and her body—rebel. If she can’t even get the other women on her side, much less lose those eight lousy pounds, she’ll never have another chance to stand where her father once stood in Vietnam, feeling what he felt. The Colonel may sweep her along to Bosnia or throw her out of the Army altogether. Can you fake it until you make it? Min is about to find out.

Enjoy an Excerpt

I sucked in my gut and forced the top button of my BDU trousers through the hole. Pounds never melted off me like they did in the diet pill commercials. As I wrestled with my body’s ill-fitting container the latrine door opened and two pairs of boots tromped in. Specialist Pettit’s voice floated over the sound of running water. “Not to be mean or anything, but female commanders are the worst. And Lieutenant Mills is the absolute worst. I worked for her for two years in Personnel and she ragged on me the whole time.”

Whoa, shit. Enemy inside the wire. I stopped breathing altogether and leaned so close to the stall door my eyes crossed.

“Hey, now.” That was Lieutenant Logan, my replacement at my old job. Female soldiers carved their hierarchies along different lines, never straight down the military ranks, and new alliances were being tested. Would Logan stick up for me, officer to officer? “It’s a short-term thing. She won’t be here long.” Instead of reproach, Logan’s voice was edged with mirth. “The colonel needs a body in that chair until a real commander comes in, and now that I’m here, Lieutenant Mills is over strength. She’s the body.”

My face grew hot. Real commander? Body? I clamped my lips shut against the urge to burst out of the stall, roaring. I imagined inhaling the entire room then blowing them away with the release of my torso, all tightly packed plastic explosives and buckshot. These two, Logan especially, had no freaking clue.

About the Author: Nancy Stroer grew up in a very big family in a very small house in Athens, Georgia and served in the beer-soaked trenches of post-Cold War Germany. She holds degrees from Cornell and Boston University, and her work has appeared in the Stars and Stripes, Soldiers magazine, Hallaren Lit Mag, Wrath-Bearing Tree, and Things We Carry Still, an anthology of military writing from Middle West Press.

She’s a teacher and a trainer, and an adjunct faculty member of the Ellyn Satter Institute, a 503(c) not-for-profit that helps individuals and families develop a more joyful relationship to food and their bodies. Playing Army is her first novel.

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The Mark of the Salamander by Justin Newland – Spotlight and Giveaway

September 4, 2024 By 3 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a signed, physical copy of the book to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Nelan Michaels is a young Flemish man fleeing religious persecution in the Spanish Netherlands. Settling in Mortlake outside London, he studies under Queen Elizabeth’s court astrologer, conjuring a bright future – until he’s wrongly accused of murder.

Forced into the life of a fugitive, Nelan hides in London, before he is dramatically pressed into the crew of the Golden Hind.

Thrust into a strange new world on board Francis Drake’s vessel, Nelan sails the seas on a voyage to discover discovery itself. Encountering mutiny, ancient tribes and hordes of treasure, Nelan must explore and master his own mystical powers – including the Mark of the Salamander, the mysterious spirit of fire.

THE MARK OF THE SALAMANDER is the first in The Island of Angels series: a two-book saga that tells the epic story and secret history of England’s coming of age during the Elizabethan era.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The weather was dry but bitterly cold as they walked down St Martin’s Lane to the Strand. Eleanor wanted to go home, but Nelan took her gently by the hand and led her towards the top of White Hall.

“Here, come this way,” he said. “Let me show you something.” The stone cross was ahead; the one he’d seen a few days before.

Needle-like, the frost made it shimmer in the winter sun. Together they watched the other couples leave the church. As they passed the cross, each one paused for a moment’s silent remembrance. The men pressed their caps to their hearts. The women bowed their heads. Some shed a solitary tear. Others walked on, lost in thought.

“This is poignant,” Eleanor said. “What’s so special about this cross?”

“Edward I accompanied his wife of many years when she died near Lincoln,” Nelan said. “The King brought her body back to London on a bier. At each of the twelve stops along the way, he erected a memorial to her: a cross; a charing cross.”

“I didn’t know that,” Eleanor said, holding back a tear. “And these ordinary folk, they show her such deep respect. On a freezing day, it warms the cockles of your heart.”

“People behaved the same the other day when I came here. I wanted to share this special place, and what it means, with you.”

“What was the name of his Queen?”

Nelan looked her softly in the eye and whispered, “Eleanor.” “Oh, but that’s… my name,” she said, choking on the emotion. “It’s also called Eleanor’s Cross.”

“Nelan, you brought me here… you thought of me. That’s kind. Thank you. It’s a wonderful story of a love that lasts beyond death and into the afterlife.”

The moist sparkle in her eyes warmed him inside.

“I wonder,” she mused, pressing his hand into hers, “is the fire of love between a man and a woman immortal?”

“Perhaps one day we’ll find out,” he murmured.

About the Author: JUSTIN NEWLAND’s novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical adventure to supernatural thriller and magical realism.

Undeterred by the award of a Doctorate in Mathematics from Imperial College, London, he conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (ISBN 9781789014860, Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies.

His second book is a historical thriller, The Old Dragon’s Head (ISBN 9781789015829, Matador, 2018), and is set in Ming Dynasty China in the shadows of the Great Wall.

The Coronation (ISBN 9781838591885, Matador, 2019) is an historical adventure and speculates on the genesis of the most important event in the modern world – the Industrial Revolution.

The Abdication (ISBN 9781800463950, Matador, 2021) is a mystery thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.

His latest is The Mark of the Salamander (ISBN 9781915853271, Book Guild, 2023) and is the first in a two-book series, The Island of Angels. Set in the Elizabethan era, it tells the epic tale of England’s coming of age.

The second in the series, The Midnight of Eights (ISBN 9781835740 330, Book Guild, 2024), charts of the uncanny coincidences that culminated in the repulse of the Spanish Armada and is due for publication in October.

Author, speaker and broadcaster, Justin gives talks to historical associations and libraries, appears on LitFest panels, and enjoys giving radio interviews.

He lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.

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The Husband Chair by Nick Bannister – Spotlight and Giveaway

August 26, 2024 By 2 Comments

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

Our hero: Bone tired. Lost. Desolate. A man pushed to the outer limits of his very being. His struggle: Satisfy the need to rest whilst still supporting his beloved in her hour of need.

While his wife negotiates a seemingly endless list of fashion stores in her quest for perfection, her loving husband must stave off the weariness that visits each partner in a shopping spree with their significant other.

Fighting hunger, rising frustration and the mental fatigue associated with tracking credit card usage, will he ever find peace? And honestly, can he just go and sit down for a minute…

Enjoy an Excerpt

Awake! Sun is shining, it’s Saturday morning.
I sit up in bed with some stretching and yawning.
My beautiful wife, the love of my life,
Looks terribly grim and it signals a warning…

I ask her, “My darling, what troubles you so?”
She goes on to tell me her tale of woe.
“I’ve booked a girls’ dinner but I’ve nothing to wear!”
And now I must prepare for what she will declare.

About the Author:

Nick Bannister: Nick & Terry are long-time friends & first-time author/illustrators. Each has their own vast experience with husband chairs, as both are happily married.

Both reside in Brisbane, Australia.

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LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: The Swan’s Road by Garth Pettersen

August 21, 2024 By Leave a Comment

Thanks for joining us on our 17th anniversary scavenger hunt! There are two ways to enter to win and it’s easy to play– first read the blurb below, then answer the question on the first Rafflecopter. You might win a $100 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC (along with other prizes). Follow and visit authors’ social media pages on the second Rafflecopter and you’re entered to win another $100 Amazon/BN GC (along with other prizes)!

In the eleventh century, Cnute, the Viking king of Engla-lond and Scandinavia, sails to Rome with his son, Harald, and his shield brothers. Thrown off course by a storm, they follow the route up the Rhine.

When Harald hangs back to assist Selia, a beautiful Frisian woman, his path turns perilous. New found enemies, retainers of Robert the Devil, Duke of Normandy, pursue them. Harald, Selia, and their companions fail to rendezvous with King Cnute, and are forced to travel cross-country on horseback.

If Duke Robert’s plan to assassinate Cnute succeeds, an invasion of Engla-lond will follow. Can Harald and Selia reach Rome in time to warn the King?

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Buy the book at Tirgearr Publishing.

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