Only in September by Cynthia Flowers – Spotlight and Giveaway

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

When Jacqueline follows her trusty Labrador Bailey down a hidden path to the beach, she’s unaware that her vacation plans on a small island off the New England coast has already taken her life in a new direction. Running into an unassuming local beach comber stirs new thoughts, desires, and a self-determination she never knew she possessed. Jacqueline will need to trust her instincts and make the most of what fate has in store if she wants the future that, until now, she has only dared to dream of.

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The ferry was taking its sweet time making its way to Block Island.

Time is the ultimate dictator. Where did I hear that? I couldn’t have just come up with that one on my own.

Jacqueline French grabbed one of the last outside seats on the Block Island Ferry. It had only left Point Judith, RI, ten minutes ago, but for her, it seemed like ten hours ago. This would be her fourth September visiting this tiny tear drop-shaped island nestled between the south coast of Rhode Island and Montauk Point, located at the eastern tip of the south fork of Long Island, New York.

Over the last several years, both Montauk Point and Block Island had become popular and expensive vacation destinations for well-to-do Manhattanites. They came seeking a reprieve from the overly manicured crowds who flocked every summer to the more fashionable vacation locale known collectively as the Hamptons.

She always preferred visiting Block Island this time of year, after many of the Labor Day vacation stragglers dispersed and the kids were back at school. Although there were still a fair number of visitors, the din of racing mopeds was confined mostly to the weekends. Thanks to Michael, who she met on her first trip to Block Island, she came to know virtually every back road and trail on this seven-mile-long by three-mile-wide island. Beyond its beauty, Jacqueline’s deeper connection with the island was its shape. She shed many tears lately over the fate of her marriage and the direction her life had taken.

About the Author: Cynthia Flowers, a recently retired advertising professional, now grant writer, resides with her husband and four-year old Labrador named Eddie, at their “sanctuary” in Upstate New York, Although previously published, this is Cynthia’s first book of fiction. Early on in grade school, Cynthia looked forward to creative writing class and enjoyed reading her stories aloud to her eager classmates.

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Diving into the Beloved by Lark Compton – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Lark Compton will be awarding print copies of the book to ten randomly drawn winners. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Diving Into the Beloved is a mesmerizing collection of poetry that plunges into the realms of love, spirituality, and the soul’s longing. Each poem is a profound reflection of the sacred dance between the lover and the Beloved, capturing the essence of divine connection and human vulnerability. Compton’s words invite readers to explore the depths of their own hearts, making this book not just a literary work but a spiritual experience—an invitation to embrace the love that resides within and around us. With a youthful, modern interpretation of the path to enlightenment, this collection reminds us of the ecstatic poets like Rumi and Hafiz, yet Compton’s voice remains distinctly his own, weaving together concrete details and bold imagery that will leave a lasting impression.

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Beloved, take me back
to that feeling space
in dream time

where I can easily navigate
my yellow submarine

with its pink propeller of love
while laughing at the absurdity
of being a character
in your psychedelic cartoon

Laughing and crying tears of tangerines
floating endlessly
in my submarine of love,
silly, as it swims endlessly in you

I give up, I have no clue
why I continue to exist on your playground

For the moment I will keep crying and laughing
tears of tangerines
until there are enough
for a giant glass of your morning juice

Then, I hope that when you drink it
you will laugh at this cartoon,
put it down

and I can go back to composing poetry
to the tune of

“We all live in Beloved’s submarine
Laughing and crying tangerines of pure love
floating through galaxies and universes
sharing our love fruit with all
in Beloved’s wild cartoon of Love”

About the Author: Lark enjoys being a hermit and staying out of the limelight.

He has been known to accidentally bodysurf with turtles at play.

He leaves them alone and they leave him alone.

Everyone’s happy.

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Love Letters to Me, Myself and Him by Rayan Khamis

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

Have you ever felt like you’ve missed someone you’ve never met? Like your soul is yearning to meet another soul that fate has destined for you to meet? As I tackle the challenges of everyday life I come to realization that there’s a higher power guiding me to my soulmate. These love letters have become my anchor and devotion towards my soulmate though we’ve never locked eyes. Come on a journey of self- discovery, self- reflection, faith, destiny and hope. Unwind to my truth of what love, guidance and faithfulness means to me.

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“When we sleep our souls partially or temporarily leave our bodies. Sleep is a minor form of death, where the body is present, but the soul is elsewhere. Some people underestimate the significance of dreams by completely disregarding them, while others make too much of them and make every decision in their life based on a dream. Both the Quran and Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, highlight that some dreams have symbols and meanings.”

The Prophet, peace be upon him, categorized dreams into three types:

1. A vision or true dream that is from God
2. A false dream which comes from the devil
3. A meaningless everyday dream which could come from one’s lower self or subconscious thoughts

I am someone who goes to sleep every night saying a prayer to protect me from the devil. At least I try, but when I do, I know that I either go to sleep dreaming from my subconscious or I go to sleep getting a dream from Allah. And it’s easy to decipher the two. As a pious Muslim woman, God is trying to tell us something when we get a dream from Him. For the past 5 years I’ve been dreaming, getting visions after praying for this soulmate of mine. Insha’Allah, because I’ve written a whole book about him, there are some parts where I thought I almost found the one, but I was foolishly blind. However, in the end something great came out of it. I’m a grateful person. I’m trying to stay positive through life because in Islam life is just a test, but the thing is we get lost chasing this dunya (life) We get lost chasing this life when it’s not worth anything. It sounds depressing, I know, but it’s the most beautiful religion I’m still living for. Alhamdulillah (praise be to God)

About the Author: Rayan, a talented 27-year-old author, hails from Sudan, North Africa. She moved to Canada at the tender age of four, where she has cultivated a unique voice in the literary world. Though she discovered her passion for writing later in life, it was in 2019 that she first picked up a pen to craft love letters, a genre that has since become her signature.

Known for her wit and quiet demeanor around most people, Rayan’s true personality shines brightly when she is among her loved ones, where her loud and vibrant nature comes to life. Her writing reflects this duality, blending sharp humour with heartfelt emotion to create deeply resonant works that captivate her readers.

Rayan’s journey from Sudan to Canada and her experiences growing up between two cultures provide a rich backdrop for her writing, infusing her love letters with a depth and authenticity that set her apart in the literary scene. As she continues to write and share her stories, Rayan remains a dynamic and compelling voice, one that speaks to the complexities of love, identity, and connection.

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These are Not My Words (I Just Wrote Them) by Donovan Hufnagle – Spotlight and Giveaway

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

Echoing Chuck Palahniuk’s statement. “Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known,” this collection explores identity. These poems drift down rivers of old, using histories private and public and visit people that I love and loathe. Through heroes and villains, music and cartoons, literature and comics, science and wonder, and shadow and light, each poem canals the various channels of self and invention. As in the poem, “Credentials,” “I am a collage of memories and unicorn stickers…[by] those that have witnessed and been witnessed.”

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Refurbished

Susan taught me that poetic energy lies
between the lines, white noise scratching
and clawing between images, ideas,
things…

And like a poem,
the chair was molded by my Tio’s hands,
an antique wooden upholstered desk chair.

My Tio moved from Durango, Mexico
to Forth Worth in 1955.

He became a mason and wood worker.

He bricked the stockyards

He built the signs

He died in 2005.

Now,
matted. Worn. Faded floral design. Wood
scarred like healing flesh.

The arms torn, ratted by the heft of his arms
and the stress of the days. The foam peeks
out.

The brass upholstery tacks rusted. I count
1000 of them. With each,
I mallet a fork-tongue driver under its head.
A tap, tap, tapping until it sinks beneath the tack,
until the tack springs from its place.
I couldn’t help but think of a woodpecker.
A tap, tap, tapping into Post Oak,
a rhythm…each scrap of wood falling to the ground
until a home is formed.
Until each piece of wood like the tacks removed
shelter something new.

I remove the staples, the foam, the fabric,
the upholstery straps
until it’s bones.
I sand and stain
until its bones shine.

I layer and wrap its bones with upholstery straps,
foam, fabric, staples and tacks.
New tacks, Brass medallions
adorning the whole, but holding it
all together—
its bones
its memories,
its energy.

About the Author: Donovan Hufnagle is a husband, a father of three, and a professor of English and Humanities. He moved from Southern California to Prescott, Arizona to Fort Worth, Texas. He has five poetry collections: These Are Not My Words (I Just Wrote Them), Raw Flesh Flash: The Incomplete, Unfinished Documenting Of, The Sunshine Special, Shoebox, and 30 Days of 19. Other recent writings have appeared in Tempered Runes Press, Solum Literary Press, Poetry Box, Beyond Words, Wingless Dreamer, Subprimal Poetry Art, Americana Popular Culture Magazine, Shufpoetry, Kitty Litter Press, Carbon Culture, Amarillo Bay, Borderlands, Tattoo Highway, The New York Quarterly, Rougarou, and others.

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Night of the Hawk by Lauren Martin – Guest Post and Giveaway

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

“Ten things people don’t know about me” I immediately think, “have I told people everything about me now that I put out this book?”

Poetry is so vulnerable and I think mine is certainly direct. That said, my life as a shaman has required very private seeking and ritual. I spent years fairly nomadic seeking spiritual answers. I’ve become habituated to living in two different worlds and one which is very difficult to share. So the process of writing work that expresses my deepest joys, pains and regrets feels very exposed. But I have found it deeply rewarding to meet so many other thoughtful writers and readers who have either been moved by my words or have shared their own convictions. The world is full of people trying to be better and understand themselves. Even if we are told otherwise.

Ifá. Nature. Illness. Love. Loss. Misogyny. Aging. Africa. Our wounded planet. In this sweeping yet intensely personal collection, Lauren Martin tells the untold stories of the marginalized, the abused, the ill, the disabled—the different. Inspired by her life’s experiences, including the isolation she has suffered as a result both of living with chronic illness and having devoted herself to a religion outside the mainstream, these poems explore with raw vulnerability and unflinching honesty what it is to live apart—even as one yearns for connection.

But Night of the Hawk is no lament; it is powerful, reverential, sometimes humorous, often defiant—“Oh heat me and fill me / I rise above lines”—and full of wisdom. Visceral and stirring, the poems in this collection touch on vastly disparate subjects but are ultimately unified in a singular quest: to inspire those who read them toward kindness, compassion, and questioning.

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A SEA OF KISSES

One kiss to
Make me stay
Two to
Start the day
Three and
I’m on my way.

About the Author:

Screenshot

Lauren Martin is a psychotherapist, poet, and a devoted Ìyânífá. Born in Boston and spending many years in New York and Paris, she currently lives in Oakland, California. Lauren studied psychology, photography and poetry at Sarah Lawrence College. She spent years writing without submitting her work due to a long shamanic journey, which led her to both Ifá, and to the writing of several books (including this collection of poems.) The upcoming publication of Night of the Hawk (SheWrites Press, 2024), reflects a deeply personal experience of illness, isolation and true shamanism.

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Sensible Shoes by Cindy Causey – Spotlight and Giveaway


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Cindy Causey 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.

At her fiftieth birthday party, Tess Thomason, a plain-Jane, divorced mother and decidedly unprepared women’s newspaper columnist, is blindsided by her well-meaning family with a stack of gift cards she interprets as meaning she’s fat, frumpy, and wrinkled. Facing a lonely future and failing career, Tess embarks on a journey of self-discovery, taking her readers along for the ride. But her resolve is nearly derailed by a hilarious season of family chaos that includes a surprise pregnancy, rushed wedding, and unexpected houseguests. In the midst of it all, Tess is drawn into a confusing new relationship with a man who is impossibly perfect for her. But if she can keep herself, her family, and her willpower firmly seated on the crazy roller coaster of her life, maybe Tess will find her own self-worth and a new love in the bargain.

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“Tess, Tess, I’m not expecting you to write like Sylvia. I’m not even expecting you to write about fashion. What I have in mind is a column to women, for women, about women. Real women. Like one of those influencers on the Internet. You know…funny, wise, poignant, and… relevant.”

The creeping dread, now fully formed, tossed a grenade into my stomach. She might as well have asked me to write like Shakespeare. “You want me to be funny, wise, poignant, and…relevant? Are you insane?”

Okay, I may have stepped over the line with that last bit, because Ruth’s face twisted a little in the ominous way I had seen so often just before she pounded her fist on the desk. “Just write the damn thing, Tess. I don’t care if you’re funny, wise, poignant, or what was the other thing?”

“Relevant,” I murmured.

“Relevant, for God’s sake. Just do it. I need a column for the women’s page starting next week, and you’re it. Write about what you know. Family. Food. The laundry. You’ve got family. You’ve got laundry. It’ll be a cinch.”

“But—”

“No buts. Just do it. It’ll be good for you. You need to get out of your rut.” She turned her attention to her computer screen.

As if in a trance, I rose from the chair and turned to leave. “Oh, Tess?” she said without looking at me.

“Yes?” Maybe she’s changed her mind; she saw my outfit, and she changed her mind.

“Happy birthday.”

About the Author: Cindy Causey taught herself to type in the 8th grade because she couldn’t write in her diary fast enough in longhand. A degree and career in advertising were the result. A fifteen-year stint as a copy chief at JCPenney Catalog led to the position of Internet Marketing Manager for JCPenney.com.

After 20 years at JCPenney, Cindy retired in December, 2007, and began working full time with her husband Scott in their multi-media production company, Dallas Media Center. They specialized in audio/video production and editing, vintage media transfer to DVD and CD, as well as website design and hosting. Cindy shuttered the company in 2021, three years after Scott passed away.

After her first book, a non-fiction work called Cherish the Gift: a Congregational Guide to Earth Stewardship, was published, Cindy began writing fiction. She found her voice in romance, the stories of the struggles two people endure on the road to happily ever-after. Her debut novel, A Different Drum was published in May 2009 by The Wild Rose Press, followed by A Hot Time in Texas that same year.

In early 2025, her latest novel, Sensible Shoes, a humorous look at a woman struggling with life after 50, was published by The Wild Rose Press. It will be followed in late 2025 by a romantic suspense novel entitled Saving Samantha.

Cindy makes her home in Dallas, Texas. In addition to writing, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her 5 grown children and 4 grandchildren. She would like to see the edges of the entire world from the deck of a cruise ship.

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Beautiful Evil Winter by Kelly K. Lavender – Spotlight and Giveaway

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

Can a novel about an American couple’s quest to adopt a Russian baby be called a Multi-Award-Winning Suspense Thriller? Yes.

“…The book is difficult to put down, enticing you to read a few more chapters before bed. In the end, the book leaves the reader satisfied, but the story never fully leaves your mind.” The US Review of Books

In the late 1990s, a time in Moscow reminiscent of the unforgiving gun-slinging days of the frontier west, mild-mannered Ethan and hot-blooded Sophia board a Russian bound plane. Armed only with a homespun plan, the desperate American couple hopes to to adopt a baby boy.

What can go wrong? Maybe, an innocent ill-fated encounter with the Mafia or maybe, being marked as a target for mob revenge. Perhaps, having to rely on a first-time adoption coordinator to complete the process and shelter them from harm. Honestly, what won’t go wrong?

Crippled by circumstances – confined and monitored in a Moscow apartment, no language skills, no cell phone, no clue, no landline, no gun, no nearby family and a baby to protect, they have to find a way to out. Everything and anything can go wrong. How can they prevail?

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Will it happen this time? The ban announced last night—will it ruin everything? Dad says Russian law takes effect the moment it’s ratified. I’m so worried, Ethan.” I rub my eyes and lean my head back while the American jet engines roar in the background. My head throbs and my hands sweat as we try to begin our thirteen- hour journey. We’ve been sitting on the tarmac for two hours due to a mechanical problem.

Ethan grabs my hand and squeezes it softly, then leans over to plant a kiss on my forehead. I gaze at his face,; bags frame his red eyes. I look out the window to distract myself. It’s a sunny, cold day, the sky clear of clouds and full of promise for flight.

“One step at a time, Sophia. We’re closer than we’ve ever been. Remember that,” he says soothingly. Turning back to him, my body becomes rigid as anger spills over me like hot molten lava.

“You’re thinking the same thing I am! We should be overjoyed at the prospect of meeting our son! This is a time for celebration, a time for effervescent bottles of uncorked champagne! But this do- it-yourself adoption is a nightmare! How much longer can we handle disappointment after disappointment? The closer we think we are…the farther away we are,” I vent.

The conversation with Natasha on the phone last night burns in my brain.

“Adoption very risky in Russia now. The ban make Mafia watch money very close.”

How could she say that on the eve of our trip?

I play back what Natasha said.

“This trip big gamble for you. I work to keep adoption away from Mafia. If I do not, police arrest you for human trafficking or Mafia take you. Better to go to prison. My name not appear anywhere, only yours. Phone will be disconnected. And I never know you.”

About the Author: Kelly’s fascination with fiction began in middle school when she entered a book-reading contest and won. As an ardent fan of the resonating narrative and the cliffhanger, she decided to dedicate herself to becoming a skilled writer. When college professors spotlighted her writing in the classroom, it anchored her interest in becoming a novelist.

After earning a business degree, she continued to pursue her education at UCLA, via the UCLA Writers’ Extension Program, where her work earned praise from an award-winning author. A rickety project trip to Russia, to adopt a baby boy, provided the inspiration for her debut novel, Beautiful Evil Winter.

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SECRET PLANS, VOL. III by Tami Knight – Guest post and Giveaway

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

Why draw cartoons about climbing?
Have you sat around an evening campfire with fellow outdoor enthusiasts after a day of being out in the wilds? Whether you were hiking, climbing, skiing, paddling or something really nutty like strapping a parachute to your back and jumping from a high cliff…what did you talk about?

I’m guessing you told stories! Stories of drama, excitement, hilarity, silliness; stories where you made the summit and stories where you failed spectacularly because, oh, I don’t know, you were chased by a bear, you forgot your ski poles, or you paddled up the wrong lake.

I have paddled up the wrong lake. My friend and I eventually learned why locals gave us really strange looks when we put our canoe into the water and tossed in large mountaineering backpacks with ice-axes strapped to the back.

The stories we told one another nearly always became more and more preposterous as we one-upped one another with ridiculous tales that, by evenings end, were cartoonish in all dimensions.

Now, I loved reading books about climbing however nearly every one was very dramatic and while I learned a ton from them, there was something missing. The funny stuff was missing! I asked around about books with stories like what we told around the campfire. There just weren’t many.

Since I found drawing easier than writing and I always loved comic books and funny magazines like Mad Magazine, of course what else was I to do? I started drawing cartoons about climbing. And I was never able to stop.

It must be said, however, that the first cartoon I drew about climbing wasn’t about climbing. It was the story of a young climber who crashes a motorbike.

Tami Knight started drawing cartoons about climbers when the glaciers were a lot larger. C’mon in and enjoy Knight’s rats and humans as they get up to mountains of mischief! This book may even help you re-work yer primal scream!

And, dang, Jon Krakauer wrote the forward.

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In 1981, Knight started to draw cartoons inspired by the absurdities of climbing. She found a wealth of material simply by observing the fanatical, oddball climbers she hung out with. In her cartoons, they were depicted as rats with long tails, beady eyes, and pointy noses. The rats were usually wearing climbing harnesses and chalk bags, but no clothing. Like Knight’s real-life friends, the rats were dirty, smelly, constantly broke, totally obsessed with climbing, and excessively fond of beer and single malt Scotch whisky. Many of the rats were surprisingly charming.

Knight had found her calling. She saw herself as the climbing tribe’s court jester, keeping inflated egos in check with affectionate ridicule. Her demented cartoons became a hugely popular feature in the most widely-read climbing magazines of the day. For North American climbers, she was our Charles M. Schulz, our Gary Larson, our very own R. Crumb.

Over the decades, Knight published six books of climbing cartoons. In this book, her seventh, almost every cartoon she’s created since 1981 has been collected in a single magnificent volume that provides a grimy window into our peculiar, alarmingly-addictive sport.

About the Author: Tami Knight has been drawing cartoons and illustrations about climbing since 1981. Her work is a regular feature in Alpinist Magazine but has appeared in climbing media all over the world. She was the 2003 recipient of the American Alpine Club literary award. Knight lives in Vancouver, Canada.

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Under the Oak by Peter Hynes – Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway

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

Although his poetry has been published in several anthologies with other poet’s work, it has never been collected in a book of his own. This is the first. Under the Oak collects poems previously shared, and some that will be new to readers. We have tried to include a broad sample, hoping to find something for everyone to enjoy and re-read in the future.

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from UNDER THE OAK

trust

he took your trust
and snapped it like a twig
then threw you and it away
without a backward glance
telling everyone who’d listen
it was you who broke him,
but he was always such a liar
there’s few who would believe him

it was too late
when you finally saw through
the thin tissue of his pretense
the damage was already done,
but at least that knowledge
dried your tears
even as it crystallized
the scattered shards
of your aching heart

About the Author: Peter Hynes is a Canadian. He began writing poetry many years ago, in high school. His poetry has been published in various anthologies and elsewhere since. This is his first book of poems. He was born in southwestern Ontario. He still lives in the province with his wife and their small menagerie.

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Buy Under the Oak: Poems by Peter Hynes (book 1) at Amazon, Amazon CA, Barnes and Noble, BookTopia, Walmart, or iBooks.

Buy The Costume Box: Poems by Peter Hynes (book 2) at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, or Booktopia.

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Borderland by Ross Victory – Spotlight and Giveaway

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.

Borderland is not just a poetry collection—it’s an invitation to explore the most vulnerable corners of the human experience. Award-winning author Ross Victory takes readers on an emotional journey across the intersections of masculinity, race, bisexuality, and grief. In a fearless blend of narrative and free verse, Victory dismantles societal expectations, offering a space where identity can exist fluidly and unapologetically.

Through its evocative imagery and bold storytelling, Borderland tackles life’s most complex themes—love, loss, strength, and defiance. Each poem immerses readers in raw emotion, from tender vulnerability to fierce defiance. This collection is perfect for readers seeking honest, unfiltered reflections on what it means to exist at the crossroads of identity and experience.

With a voice that’s as unique as it is powerful, Ross Victory has created a collection that speaks to anyone searching for connection and understanding. Borderland isn’t just a book—it’s a movement, a conversation, and a space to find yourself reflected in its pages.

Step into the borderland, where identity knows no boundaries.

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Bisexual Villain

An enigma, cloaked in reflective armor,
a man built in isolation,
made of light.

He walks a tightrope:
Each step a liberation,
Every word a defiance.

He is the man who returns the stolen fire, embodying a harmony of contradictions in a world demanding silence.

He is… Conformity’s antichrist; But only when he says his name.

Do they know that, beneath his armor,
there is a man searching for meaning?

Flesh and pulse under mirrored shield,
A Brother, a Son, a Guardian;

He was a Boy with bright eyes,
and he was Loved.

I stand before the jury, unmasked and true.
They are armed with judgments that explode like bombs, their hatred a mask of sincerity.

I wonder, “Am I on trial for spurning stale norms of monosexism, a banquet of bias, an indictment of my very being?”

Faceless facades wear hypocrisy like skin,
Bigotry in their blood. They thirst for dominance.
I see, society lives an illusory script, homes built in narrow alleys of convention, foundations hollow and empty.

We are neighbors, but we are strangers.

“You are the antagonist! You are the villain!” the jury shouts.

“No!” the bisexual villain proclaims.

“We are a legion, a chorus in the midst,
their heart akin to mine.”

“We are canaries whose wings you’ve clipped,
trapped in your rusting cage.
Some have become orphans bereft of connection, adrift in the gap—kin to the fluid.”

“You are an abomination! You are confusion!” they roar.

“Though we may be solitary stars, together we form a galaxy.
In me beats a heart; within you, the silent expanse where once echoed, now, the void of a million corpses.”

I am ink, you are eraser.

I am your projection.

About the Author:Ross Victory, (he/him), is an award-winning author, music artist, and entrepreneur from Los Angeles. Featured in LA Weekly, LA Blade, American Reporter, and Bi.org, Ross rediscovered the healing power of writing after losing his father and brother. A former English teacher, Ross creates immersive narrative experiences. He published “Views from the Cockpit,” a father-son memoir, in 2019, resulting in a portfolio of six original titles and a music catalog of 20 songs. His works explore self-discovery, adventure, bisexuality, and family. In 2023, he released the Pride anthem “Bisexual Daze” and Book 1 of the L.A.-based horror series “Grandpa’s Cabin.” Ross also publishes articles and reflections about grief, biphobia, and elder abuse on Medium.com and recently spoke at their Annual Writer’s Conference. This fall he will release his first poetry collection titled, “Borderland,” exploring the intersection of race, masculinity, and sexuality.

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