COVER REVEAL: DEPENDENT by Brenda Corey Dunne

 



When 45-year-old Ellen Michaels loses her husband to a tragic military accident, she is left in a world of gray. For 25 years her life has been dictated by the ubiquitous They—the military establishment that has included her like chattel with John’s worldly goods—his Dependents, Furniture, and Effects. They—who have stolen her hopes, her dreams and her innocence, and now in mere months will take away the roof over her head.

Ellen is left with nothing to hold on to but memories and guilt and an awful secret that has held her in its grip since she was 19. John’s untimely death takes away her anchor, and now, without the military, there is no one to tell her where to go, what to do— no one to dictate who she is.

 

Dependent deals with issues ever-present in today’s service families—early marriage, frequent long absences, the culture of rank, and posttraumatic stress, as well as harassment and abuse of power by higher-ranking officials. It presents a raw and realistic view of life for the lives of the invisible support behind the uniform.

Release date estimated July 29, 2014. Jolly Fish Press


ABOUT BRENDA COREY DUNE:
 

Brenda Corey Dunne grew up in rural New Brunswick, Canada. She originally trained as a physiotherapist and worked several years as a Physiotherapy Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force before meeting the love of her life and taking her release.

She completed her first full length manuscript in 2008 as a bucket-list item and since then she has self-published a work of YA historical fiction (TREASURE IN THE FLAME), and has several other manuscripts in various stages of completion. DEPENDENT, an adult contemporary fiction, will be published by Jolly Fish Press in summer 2014. Brenda is represented by Jennifer Mishler and Frances Black of Literary Counsel.

When not working as a physiotherapist or writing, Brenda can be found juggling taxi-mom duties, working in the garden or strolling through the horse paddock with a coffee in hand. She currently resides on a small hobby farm in Eastern Ontario (Canada) with her husband and their three children, two horses, a dog, a cat, several chickens and the occasional sheep.


CHECK OUT these links to connect with Brenda and follow the events leading to the publication of her gripping novel.

 

Amazon pre-order here: http://amzn.to/1cSvqS0

Her blog: brendacoreydunne.blogspot.ca

Twitter handle: @overdunne : https://twitter.com/overdunne

Follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brendacoreydunneauthor

Goodreads page: http://bit.ly/1dmYKMI

Cover Reveal! CONFESSIONS OF THE VERY FIRST ZOMBIE SLAYER (THAT I KNOW OF) by F.J.R.Tichenell

 

 

COVER REVEAL!

Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) is F.J.R. Titchenell’s debut novel, to be released May 6^th, 2014. It is a Young Adult Horror-Comedy.

About the Novel:

The world is Cassie Fremont’s playground. Her face is on the cover of every newspaper, she has no homework, no curfew, and no credit limit, and she spends her days traveling the country with her friends, including a boy who would flirt with death just to turn her head. Life is just about perfect—except that those newspaper headlines are about her bludgeoning her crush to death with a paintball gun, she has to fight ravenous walking corpses every time she steps outside, and one of her friends is still missing, trapped somewhere in the distant, practically impassable wreckage of Manhattan. 

Still, Cassie’s an optimist. More prone to hysterical laughter than hysterical tears, she’d rather fight a corpse than be one, and she won’t leave a friend stranded when she can simply take her road trip to impossible new places to find her, even if getting there means admitting to that boy that she might just love him, too. Skillfully blending effective horror with unexpected humor, this diary-format novel is a fast-paced and heartwarming read.

MEET F.J.R. Titchenell:

F.J.R. Titchenell is an author of Young Adult Sci-Fi and Horror fiction. She is represented by Jennifer Mishler of Literary Counsel and currently lives in San Gabriel, California with her husband and fellow author, Matt Carter, and their pet king snake, Mica.

The "F" is for Fiona, and on the rare occasions when she can be pried away from her keyboard, her kindle, and the pages of her latest favorite book, Fi can usually be found over-analyzing the inner workings of various TV Sci-Fi universes or testing out some intriguing new recipe, usually chocolate-related.

To learn more about Fiona and this fantastic book--

 

Website: www.fjrtitchenell.weebly.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FjrTitchenell

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FJR_Titchenell

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4384865.F_J_R_Titchenell

Amazon listing: http://amzn.to/1a3uO7N


Be sure to enter the GIVEAWAY!
 

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COVER REVEAL: CITADELS OF FIRE by L.K. Hill

This Historical Fiction novel, the first in the saga, now has a cover that represents a journey of four years! 

See the story here: L.K. Hill publishing journey 

 

In a world where power is paid for in blood, no one ever aspires to more than what they were born to, and danger hides in plain sight, Inga, a maid in the imperial Russian palace, must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth.

Inga’s life in sixteenth century Russia is bleak until a man she crossed paths with as a child returns to the Kremlin. Taras is convinced his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident and has returned to try and discover what really happened, all during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit the throne of Russia. While Taras finds only lies and silence where he seeks truth, Inga struggles with the feelings of oppression that have plagued her for most of her life. Taras gives her the chance to leave her loneliness behind forever, but the cost and future of such a liaison is uncertain and Inga is afraid.

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

Jolly Fish Press Release:

PROVO, UT—Jolly Fish Press (JFP) is proud to announce the successful acquisition of L. K. Hill's stunning historical novel, Citadels of Fire, the first installment in Kremlins, a three-book series depicting the rise and fall of fifteenth-century Russia under the violent rule of Ivan the Terrible.

Following the literary traditions of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth and Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Citadels of Fire chronicles the unexpected turn of events that transpire within the walls of the Kremlin through the eyes of a palace maid as she is unwillingly pulled into the dangerous web of political espionage, royal scandals, rebellion, and savage wars, in her pursuit of love and a better life outside of the palace walls. In Citadels of Fire, Hill captures the grandeur of Russia in her meticulous description of a country that is both breathtaking and desolate, leaving the reader with the appetite for more, yet the fear of what comes next.

Hill has a degree from Weber State University, and has won numerous writing awards, including garnering first place in the 2011 League of Utah Writer Writing Contest. Citadels of Fire is slated for a Spring 2014 release. 

You can find L.K. Hill at:

FACEBOOK
TWITTER
BLOG

COVER REVEAL & Giveaway: NEW SIGHT by Jo Schneider

We are excited to be part of the cover reveal for Jo Schneider's debut novel, NEW SIGHT, to be released April 2014 by Jolly Fish Press.  

What an amazing cover! 

Enjoy the brief synopsis and an excerpt from the novel below 

and put NEW SIGHT on your Spring "TO READ" list.

Addiction equals power, but at what cost?

After succumbing to the sudden and terrifying urge to rip people's eyes out of their sockets, sixteen-year-old Lysandra Blake finds herself tied down in a psych ward, convinced she's crazy. The doctors have no answers, and Lys is ready to give up when the mysterious Jeremiah Mason appears, telling Lys that she's not insane—she's addicted to a rare and deadly drug that she has no recollection of using. Mr. Mason offers to take her to his facility where he can treat her.

Desperate yet suspicious, Lys agrees to go with Mr. Mason to his facility where she meets with a fellow addict, the tall and handsome Kamau. Together they discover that Mr. Mason may not have told them the truth about their condition—they're thrown headfirst into a world of daunting powers that are not only unbelievable, they are dangerous. Very dangerous.

Excerpt:

     The cobblestone driveway looked about a thousand miles below her. Lys slid over and dipped one toe out of the SUV. The tennis shoes she wore hit the ground, and she let the bottom of her foot succumb to gravity. The other foot followed, and as she stood, Lys felt her knees wobble. One hand reached out to use the roof of the vehicle for support, and she took a step. She tried another, but her foot stopped in mid-air, her body distracted by something much more insistent than gravity. The Need.

     Emotions, a week repressed by medication, came bubbling up from the bottom of a cauldron. Anger, fear, hunger—the Need. It swelled in her stomach and ached to make her fingers move. She doubled over, trying to contain it.

     “Lys, what's wrong?” Someone pulled on her arm.

     “Get away!” she pleaded. “Please.” She felt herself start to shake. She fell to her hands and knees and put her head down on the cobblestones, squeezing her eye shut. A voice said her name, but she didn't care.

     She wanted the feeling back. The feeling like after she ripped the frog's eyes out—euphoria. She was a hungry monster, demanding to be fed. The Need gnawed through her mind, screaming at her to do something. To hurt someone.

     On their own accord, Lys' fingers began to twitch. Why did he take the handcuffs off?

     The image of her mom's bandaged face sprung into her mind. All of the times her dad flinched away from her, and all of the looks the doctors gave her paraded through her memory. No, she wouldn't hurt anyone else. Not while she had an ounce of control left in her. She laced her fingers together and squeezed until her arms shook.

     #

     The dark behind her eyelids flared to life, and Lys found herself in another place. She stood in her room, looking at her bed. Everything was exactly as she'd left it, except the blood on the carpet. Someone had cleaned that up. Her MP3 player sat on the dresser, and her school bag lay on the chair.

     Lys tried to look over at the mirror. Her head wouldn't move. She attempted to look up. Nothing happened. What was this? She floated out of her body. Had it taken too long to get here? Was she dead?

     Panic filled her mind, and she wanted to scream. The picture of her room faded, replaced by the dark. 

 

About the Author:

Jo Ann Schneider grew up in Utah and Colorado, and wonders how people who live in flat places can tell where they’re going.  In her sixteenth year, Jo went with her family to Europe.  This spawned a travel bug that will never be satisfied.  One of Jo’s goals is to travel to all seven continents—five down, two to go.

Perhaps the most challenging thing Jo has ever done (besides write novels) was stick with her Shaolin Kempo classes long enough to earn her black belt.  Persistence, not an overabundance of mad skill, is what got her there, and she just keeps going back for more. An intervention may be in order at some point.

Being a geek at heart, Jo has always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy.  She writes both, and hopes to introduce readers into worlds that wow them and characters that they can cheer for.

Jo lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her adorkable husband, Jon, who is very useful for science and computer information as well as getting items off of top shelves. By day she is a mechanical designer of disgustingly expensive hand-crafted steel lights, and by night she is a ninja.  Woosh, woosh.

Author web links:

Blog: http://joannschneider.blogspot.com/

Twitter: twitter.com/JoSchneider_1

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoannSchneiderAuthor?ref=hl

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5894674.Jo_Ann_Schneider

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY!


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BLOG TOUR: Cinderskella by Amie and Bethanie Borst

Today, we welcome to our blog, Amie Borst  and Bethanie Borst, a  mother and daughter writing team whose new novel, CINDERSKELLA, has just hit the bookstores. This unique retelling of a popular fairy tale will be enjoyed by middle-grade readers all the way up to adults.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, finding chuckles and twists that were not only entertaining, but surprising. If read aloud, this novel would be as delightful to the reader as those being read to.  The illustrations by Rachael Caringella fit the voice of the writing perfectly. All in all, a thoroughly delightful book.

How did such an original story become the novel we can now enjoy? That was the question we posed this writing team.

 * * * * * * * * * *

Bethanie came up with the idea for Cinderskella – the tale of a skeleton Cinderella—when she was nine and bored in school. My daughter has never been a “girly-girl” so creating a fairy tale without a princess, and with something darker instead, seemed natural. In fact, while most parents would have worried about their children telling twisted tales of skeletons and corpses, I didn’t question it at all. I grabbed her arm and said, “Let’s write it!”

Although we had the bones (no pun intended) of the story—it had to fit the basic Cinderella tale: girl with wicked step-mother has to do chores in order to go to the ball—we didn’t have a lot else to go on.

So what do you do when you have a great concept but no idea of how to flesh it out? (Pun intended!)

Well, you plot, you develop characters and you find ways to fit them into the framework of your story. And sometimes you just write. The characters will tell you the story as you go.

We knew that the Cinderella in our story (Cindy) would be younger than most versions of the tale, mostly because Bethanie was so young at the time.  We wanted to appeal to her peers.  As we started writing, the voice felt so perfect for the middle-grade audience. I’d received input once from an editor who suggested turning Cinderskella into a Young Adult novel with a much older Cindy. Although it would have been very marketable, it felt so wrong.  The character we’d created was so true to life it would have been forced if we’d changed her age.

The next thing we had to unravel was how Cindy got this curse. In most Cinderella stories it’s the step-mother who is wicked, but we wanted this story to be unconventional, so our idea was to have Cinderella’s mother be the evil one. Of course, it turns out she’s not so wicked after all.  But nothing said we couldn’t deceive the reader a bit!

It wasn’t until I passed the manuscript through my critique group, and they made some fantastic comments, that I realized there was something missing. The skeleton curse had to serve a purpose! In the original version it simply served to show the reader how wicked Cindy’s mom was, but it wasn’t working. Bethanie had suggested that the curse should allow Cindy to visit her mom in the Underworld, but I shot the idea down, thinking it was too convoluted. Turns out she was right, because it was the same suggestion my critique partners had made!  Now I tend to keep my mouth shut and just let her do all the plotting!

Once we had all of those things in place, the novel just seemed to take on a life of its own.  Characters were born, twists were weaved into the tale and Cinderskella became something we could only dream—a published book!

* * * * * * * * * *

Cindy is just a normal eleven and three-quarter year-old. At least until she wakes up one night and finds out she’s dead. Well, she isn't technically dead—she just doesn't have any hair . . . or a nose . . . or skin. Yep—all bones, no body. 

Human by day and skeleton by night, Cindy is definitely cursed. And because her mother recently died, Cindy has no one to turn to except a father who’s now scared of her and an evil stepmother who makes her do the housecleaning with a toothbrush. To make matters worse, the Spring Fling dance is approaching, and Ethan, the cutest boy in sixth grade, doesn’t seem to know Cindy exists. Of course, Cindy doesn’t think letting Ethan find out she’s part skeleton is the best way to introduce herself.

While facing such perils as pickled pig’s feet, a wacky fortune teller, and a few quick trips to the Underworld, Cindy’s determined to break the curse—even for a single night.

You can purchase Cinderskella at:

Amazon http://amzn.to/1b2yDLA

Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/177L6hM

Books-A-Million http://bit.ly/17Kuueo

Add it to your to-read shelf on Goodreads! http://bit.ly/1b4XRal

Now to meet this great writing team! 

Amie Borst is a PAL member of SCBWI. She still believes in unicorns, uses glitter whenever possible and accessorizes in pink. She enjoys eating chocolate while writing and keeps a well-stocked stash hidden away from her family. A native New Yorker she currently resides in Northern Virginia with her husband, three children and a cute dog named Lily. She wishes she had a hot-pink elevator with carnival lights to travel the world. But for now, her minivan will have to do.

Bethanie Borst is a spunky 13-year-old who is an avid archer with Olympic dreams, enjoys the outdoors, loves reading and is quick to make lasting friendships. When she is not writing, she swings on a star.

You can follow Amie and Bethanie on facebook at www.facebook.com/AmieAndBethanieBorst

You can find Amie at her blog www.amieborst.com, twitter, www.twitter.com/AmieBorst and pinterest www.pinterest.com/AmieBorst

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

 

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COVER REVEAL: ELEANOR by Johnny Worthen

 

Here it is!

The Cover for 

ELEANOR by Johnny Worthen

 

“Eleanor is a modest girl, unremarkable but extraordinary, young but old, malleable but fixed. She is scared and confused. She is a liar and a thief. Eleanor is not what she appears to be.”

 

ELEANOR is a young adult/paranormal novel. A stand-alone title, it is also the first of a three book series all to be published by Jolly Fish Press. 

 

Watch for this exciting new book in 2014! All we can furnish now are teasers. The cover is teaser enough, but if you want more, check out Johnny Worthen's sites:

 

Website: www.johnnyworthen.com

Facebook: JohnnyWorthenBooks

Twitter: @JohnnyWorthen  

Blog: Johnny Worthen. Author

P.S. Don't miss visiting the Blog Mansion on Johnny's Blog. But do so at your own peril!

 

THE NEXT READING, THIS ONE BY BECCA WASHBURN

We are going to try another reading.  My daughter-in-law, Becca Washburn, read the prologue in this one.  This is how the book starts.  Click on the link below to go to YouTube for the video.  Enjoy!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWg_q2PAzpw



I am a little conflicted about whether or not to keep doing these readings.  I guess it depends on the feedback I get.  I would like to get back to blogging about random, crazy stuff.  We'll just see how it goes.