The Story Behind Serpent Rising by Victor Acquista

My fiction writing is in part driven by a desire to explore some underlying theme or social issue. The plot and characters are the means chosen to explore the theme and or issues.

In the case of Serpent Rising, I had been dwelling on the fact that people have a difficult time distinguishing between what is true and what is false. One of the outcomes of this difficulty is that people are vulnerable to being manipulated by lies and falsehood. This vulnerability has clearly been used and exploited throughout human history and has allowed misinformation and propaganda to be utilized to suit the agendas of powerful groups and individuals.

I was developing this theme well before the notion of “fake news” became so much a part of our cultural conversation. The more I thought about this and researched it, the more convinced I became that I needed to tell a story to account for this fundamental difficulty—why are we unable to distinguish fact from fiction, truth from falsehood? The expression, “The truth shall set you free,” took on added significance as I asked myself, free from what? Freedom from ignorance, freedom from manipulation by those who seek to withhold the truth or to peddle falsehood seemed the obvious answer.

As the seeds of a story began to germinate, I envisioned a grand and deliberate conspiracy. Since I am a big fan of The Da Vinci Code and realize how a blend of fact and fiction can be woven into an intriguing conspiracy story, this provided me with a basic structure. There were plenty of examples to draw from history to construct a great battle between the polarities of truth and falsehood, light and darkness that extended back to the dawn of civilization. This became the great War of the Two Serpents. The champions for the forces of light became factions of Lightbringers, warriors for truth, suppressed and beaten by the powers of darkness who sought control over the masses.

The plot then needed a champion to represent the Lightbringers. I like flawed characters and I wanted the main character to be female. Part of this has to do with historical suppression of the divine feminine. As a result, my protagonist is a seriously flawed twenty-one-year-old heroine.

As the wheels spun in the creative part of my brain, the character of Serena Mendez, flawed by PTSD, traumatized by a failed initiation into a secret order of Lightbringers was born. She needed to discover who she really was, to meet her full potential, and to embrace her destiny. This required a process of discovery and transformation which fit right into the narrative structure of the hero’s journey (in this case, the heroine’s journey).

I constructed her character as a member of the Candelaria sect of Lightbringers or Luminarians. Candelarias carry the flame of truth to dispel the darkness. In the novel, this sect was long thought to have been extinguished, by the enemies of truth. This set up the suspense as she is pursued by dark forces while trying to complete her training. I am intrigued by myth and mysticism so I made sure to incorporate these into the story. What started as an idea became a two-book series called The Saga of Venom and Flame.

BOOK BLURB:

Serena Mendez is haunted and she is hunted...

... Haunted by trauma—terrified and scarred as a young child, when a secret initiation into an ancient order of Lightbringers went horribly wrong. Unaware of the power latent in her blood, she is haunted by a life out of sync with her true identity. At twenty-one, she is abrasive, jobless, in debt, and addicted to sedatives. Haunted by her past, she knows nothing of her destiny.

... Hunted by an enemy—ruthless and powerful, a Brotherhood that has been pitted against the Luminarian Sects for thousands of years. An ancient struggle continues—The War of the Two Serpents—a saga extending back to the dawn of civilization, to the time of the second breaking, when the elite sought dominion over the masses. Those serving truth and light opposed these dark forces. In return they were persecuted, burned as witches, suppressed and nearly defeated by the powers of darkness.

But the flame was not extinguished.

An old Navajo dream-walker had a plan to open the seven chakras mystically binding Serena’s power. To fulfill her true destiny, to unleash the latent power within her blood, Serena journeys to six continents where she uncovers the truth of who she is, and what she must do.

A warrior stirs, a Lightbringer. She is Serena Mendez. She is awakening. She is a Candelaria…

Serpent Rising is a story of unfulfilled destiny, discovery, transformation, and courage to embrace the truth.

PRAISE

  “Author Victor Acquista has opened a pandora’s box of adventure in his new breath-taking thriller, Serpent Rising. I was swept away from the first page in this wonder-filled, mystical, and compelling novel. Cleverly plotted with a female protagonist, Serena Mendez, that is truly original in ancestry, yet very 21^st century-real, with personal problems that she manages to set aside to pursue the very truth of her being. We join her in this a non-stop rush that mixes equal parts of  history, myth, and lore that I didn’t want to ever end! I’m already looking forward to more of Serena again and again. Acquista is the obvious heir apparent to the globe-trotting, can’t-be-put-down-novels such as The DaVinci Code and The House Of Secrets. Move over Dan Brown and Brad Meltzer, you have deserving company at your table with Serpent Rising!”

-- Patrick Kendrick, award-winning author of American Ripper: The Enigma Of America’s Serial Killer Cop.

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 Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/3k1RqOK

BHC Press → https://www.bhcpress.com/Books_Acquista_Serpent_Rising.html

About the Author

Victor Acquista has become an international author and speaker following his careers as a primary-care physician and medical executive. He is known for "Writing to Raise Consciousness." His multi-genre works include fiction and nonfiction and often incorporate social messaging to engage readers in thought-provoking themes.

He is a member of the Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, the Florida Writers Association, Writers Co-op, and is a Knight of the Sci-Fi Roundtable.

When not pondering the big questions in life and what’s for dinner, he enjoys gardening and cooking. He lives with his wife and dog in Ave Maria, Florida.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: https://victoracquista.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VictorAcquista

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

The Story Behind They Call Me Gomer by JC Miller

 In 2017 I self-published my first set of books. It was a trilogy titled I Am Rahab: A Novel. In the series, the main character had a precocious little sister named Elizabeth Gomer Williams, nicknamed Go-Go. Go-Go's character was quiet until the final chapters when she surfaced and did the unthinkable-- betraying her sister's trust. Gomer turned out to be a

nemesis. But every villain has a story, too. 

I take unsung biblical characters in all of my books, bring them into modern-day relationships and pit them against age-old problems. Go-Go was no heroine. She made life difficult for the heroes of the stories. However, in the embodiment of Gomer, we find a portrait of humanity-- stubborn in our ways, disobedient to God-- gluttonous wanders. Gomer was unfaithful, while God is the faithful lover of our souls. When we throw God's love away, He continues to redeem us. 

I wanted to take this love story between God and humankind and create a modern tale of lust, greed, and redemption. My interpretation is another self-published novel titled; They Call Me Gomer…, a deeply woven, emotionally heart-tugging take on the Book of Hosea. By examining rape culture, drug addiction, family secrets, and the vulnerabilities of a young Black girl in pursuit of fun, fortune, and fame, this contemporary tale highlights the downfalls of us all. I have always loved this story, and I hope my spin on it is well received.

About the Author

JC Miller lives in the scenic Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with her husband, children, and floppy-eared Bassador pup.

Raised by a single-mother in the Bronx, JC pulls from early experiences to showcase the soul of the ghetto through faith-based novels. She also dedicates much of her time uplifting women via her blog and creating content with partner MR Spain, through their publishing company, Jess, Mo’ Books LLC.

On her days off, you can find JC whipping up her famous Red Velvet Cake and listening to songs from her impressive vinyl record collection.

About the Book

“Dear Diary, On September 3, 1982, two things happened that I’ll never forget: I acquired an older sister, and I fell in real love. But tell me, what does an eight-year-old know about love?”

For nearly a decade, Hosea Felix and Gomer Williams were inseparable. She loved him from the moment she laid eyes on him. Their friendship was iron-clad until temptation rocked Gomer to her core. Somewhere along the way, she fell for another guy and traded young love for instant pleasure. Not only is Jeri Cole fine—he is a bonafide gangsta, unattainable, and off-limits. Jeri was all Gomer could think about, and the only thing she thought she wanted. Despite her big sister already laying claim to him, not much could stop Gomer from clawing at the possibility of love and diva status. Getting with Jeri felt right…but at what cost?

Gomer never backed down. She is the original bad girl—ratchet, bougie, and insatiable. Feel like you wanna dislike her? Well, get in line.

They Call me Gomer… JC Miller’s sophomore spin-off novel enthralls readers with a deeply woven, emotionally heart-tugging take on the Book of Hosea. By examining rape culture, drug addiction, family secrets, and the vulnerabilities of young Black girls in pursuit of fortune and fame, this contemporary tale gives those in search of a good dra-mance all the feelings!

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Amazon → https://amzn.to/3ejGgTE

The Story Behind The Color of Together by Milton Brasher-Cunningham

 When my father died in the summer of 2013, I experienced grief in a way I had never known. I understood, experientially, what I had only known from a distance as I walked with others through the loss of their parents. My first impulse was to call

those friends whose fathers had died before mine and say, “I’m sorry. I had no idea this is how it felt. I meant well; I just had no idea.”

I began looking for words to describe what I was feeling. I read voraciously any account I could find of someone’s journey with grief. I didn’t need them to articulate stages—I had learned those in pastoral care classes—neither did I need a plan on how to get through the grief. Somehow, that didn’t make sense. I somehow knew grief wasn't something I was going to get through. As one fatherless friend said, grief is something we learn to move around in. What I needed were stories. Personal accounts. I needed voices to sing the ancient melody I could feel aching in my heart. Though what I was feeling was new to me, the books I read and the conversations I had made me realized none of it was new. I could see I was walking a well-traveled road. The realization was both comforting and disquieting. On the one hand, I was not alone; on the other, I was not unique. If I was going to give voice to my experience, I didn't want to come across as Christopher Columbus, claiming to discover a land that was already populated. I was not discovering anything. I was exploring: seeing what I had not seen.

I don’t remember how long it was after Dad died that I had a conversation with a friend and was trying to articulate what was I was feeling and learning. “The biggest thing I’ve realized,” I said, “is that grief is a primary color. It’s not something other than life. It is a core element.” I had begun to see that I had known grief most all of my life because I had known loss and change on a consistent basis; what I had not known was what it felt like for my father to die, and with him all those things done and undone that were a part of what it meant to be family.

“That means grief is not black,” my friend replied. “Primary colors are red, blue, and yellow.”

His words sent me on a journey researching not only color as a metaphor, but also other ways to talk about our shared experiences of life and loss. The book ended up with four main metaphors—color, music, punctuation, and food—all of which are things that matter to me.

About the Book

The Color of Together begins with the primary colors of life–grief, grace, and gratitude–and enlarges the palette to talk about the work of art that is our life together in these days. The idea for the book began with understanding that grief is not something we get over or work through, but something we learn to move around in–something that colors our lives. Grace is the other given. Gratitude is the response to both that offers the possibility of both healing and hope.

PRAISE

“Locating ourselves in the adventure of life requires reliable tools for exploration. Milton Brasher-Cunningham gives us finely-tuned metaphorical gyroscopes to navigate our way with God, others and even ourselves. The Color of Together will help us find our place again and again along the way.”  ~ Rev. Dr. George A. Mason, President, Faith Commons, Dallas, Texas.

“In his beautiful new book, Milton Brasher-Cunningham shares arresting thoughts on grief, grace, and gratitude. He claims that we are all shaped by our sorrows and generously tells his own stories of loss. All the while, he leads us toward hope. The Color of Together is both poetic and instructive, relatable and deeply philosophical. It awakened my heart to read this book; I hope it will do the same for you.” –Jennifer Grant, author of A Little Blue Bottle

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 Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/3jZ8OD6

About the Author

Milton Brasher-Cunningham was born in Texas, grew up in Africa, and has spent the last thirty years in New England and North Carolina. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and has worked as a high school English teacher, a professional chef, a trainer for Apple, and is now an editor. He is the author of three books, Keeping the Feast: Metaphors for the Meal, This Must Be the Place: Reflections on Home, and his latest, The Color of Together.

He loves the Boston Red Sox, his mini schnauzers, handmade music, and feeding people. He lives in Guilford, Connecticut, with Ginger, his wife, and their three Schnauzers. He writes regularly at donteatalone.com.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: https://www.torchflamebooks.com/milton-brasher-cunningham

Blog: www.donteatalone.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/miltybc

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/milton.brashercunningham

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5863259.Milton_Brasher_Cunningham

 

The Story Behind Around the World in (More Than) 80 Days by Larry Alex Taunton

A battle rages for the heart and soul of America. For one group, the idea of “American Exceptionalism” is dead. Some never tire of lecturing us about how out-of-step America is with the rest of the world and how she needs to get with it. Worse, America, they say, is bad for the world. Her freedom and prosperity are merely historical accidents.

Of course, this narrative presupposes there are better places in the world to live. Are there? Were Alec Baldwin to leave the country permanently as he once promised, where would he go?

As a writer who travels all over the world, I see a lot: extremes of wealth and poverty; brutal regimes and those that seem impotent to maintain a rule of law; persecuted minorities and monocultures; feted

miserable masses and the happy poor—all of this and more.

As the debate over America broke forth into our streets with the defeat of Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the inauguration of Republican Donald Trump in 2016, it occurred to me that most Americans have never been abroad. Indeed, 64 percent have never been to another country. So, when The New York Times declares as they did in 2019 headline, “Please Stop Telling Me America Is Great,” how is one to judge the truth of such a statement?

My book Around the World in (More Than) 80 Days: Discovering What Makes America Great and Why We Must Fight to Save It was my answer to this problem. Don’t have a passport? Can’t get time off? Lack the resources to travel around the world? I’ll do it for you! My book takes the reader on a virtual global expedition, of sorts, touring them through those countries with which America is most often compared and not just a few others.

I take you to some 26 countries to see how America stacks up and to explore the question of national greatness: Is it an accident of history or do nations determine their own fate?  Is it all about national wealth and healthcare?  Is religion a positive or a negative factor? Along the way, he experiences many adventures and offers us greater perspective on the ultimate question:

Is America truly great when measured against the rest of the world or do we join the lynch mob gathering at the feet of the Statue of Liberty and punish her for her sins?

About the Book

The belief in “American Exceptionalism” is under attack, declares Larry Alex Taunton, an award-winning author, columnist, and cultural commentator. “A battle rages for the heart and soul of America.”

For Taunton, the question comes down to: Is there a better place to live than America?

To explore the idea of “national greatness,” Taunton went on a global odyssey, visiting some 26 countries. He records his discoveries in his new book, AROUND THE WORLD IN (MORE THAN) 80 DAYS: DISCOVERING WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT AND WHY WE MUST FIGHT TO SAVE IT.

If all of this sounds like a slog over some serious philosophic and political terrain, it is, but Taunton’s wry humor leavens the loaf.

In a chapter on Sweden, for example, the author hears, on a boat tour of Stockholm, a litany of Swedish accomplishments from his guides: “America? We discovered that. Skype? We invented it. The flat screen? You’re welcome. IKEA? You guessed it.”

Taunton’s mix of socio-political observations and cheeky wit in AROUND THE WORLD IN (MORE THAN) 80 DAYS opens the book up to a large and diverse group of readers.

The online publication The Federalist says of Taunton’s work: “The social elites want evangelicals to be as dumb as they suspect they are. But when a person comes along who proves that tale false, which Taunton clearly does…they simply don’t know what to do.”

In advance praise for AROUND THE WORLD IN (MORE THAN) 80 DAYS, Paul Reid, co-author with William Manchester, of THE LAST LION: WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL: DEFENDER OF THE REALM, 1940-1965 observes:

Larry Taunton—historian, columnist, and a man of abiding Christian faith—traveled (often at great risk to himself) to twenty-six nations in order to hold a mirror up to the United States of America and ask: Is America Good and is America Great? Mark Twain did much the same more than a century ago. Twain’s and Taunton’s conclusions are identical: There is no place—literally No Place—like home. “Around the World in (More Than) 80 Days is fabulous.”  It’s going on my shelf next to “The Innocents Abroad.”

AROUND THE WORLD IN (MORE THAN) 80 DAYS is a book for all seasons.

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Amazon → https://amzn.to/2GCuGGY

 Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/33Fs4Ri

Simon and Schuster → https://bit.ly/3nu9UtG

About the Author

Larry Alex Taunton is an American author, columnist, and cultural commentator. A frequent television and radio guest, he has appeared on CNN, CNN International, Fox News, Al Jazeera America, and BBC. You can find his columns on issues of faith and culture in The Atlantic, USA Today, CNN.com, and The Blaze. Taunton has been quoted by Rush Limbaugh, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, TIME, Vanity Fair, and NPR, among others. He is the author of "The Grace Effect" and "The Faith of Christopher Hitchens."

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

 

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

The Story Behind The Shade Under the Mango Tree by Evy Journey

 Do you have trouble throwing stuff? I do—those no longer of current importance but that meant something to me in the past. These are what I found in a couple of garaged boxes I

opened one weekend.

Mostly, they were loose sheets of paper, a few of them wide, printed, holey-edged computer paper used on mainframe computers. On them were hurried scribblings of certain things that happened, and how I reacted to them. Things that made me angry, sad  or unusually happy. There was also a tiny notebook half-filled with my musings about life, lyrics of a couple of songs, and a few passages from poetry—all written or collected when I was a teen-ager.

A few weeks later, seeking inspiration for a new novel, I thought: Why not an epistolary novel?

What is an epistolary novel? If you’re a Jane Austen fan and have read Lady Susan, you’d be familiar with it. It’s a narrative device seldom used nowadays. In the past, it consisted of letters, as in Lady Susan, written in Ms. Austen’s juvenile years. Now it can use journals or—in our tech-driven society—emails or text messages.

A more recent epistolary novel is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, published in 2008. I read it as part of my research into this literary form while writing The Shade Under the Mango Tree. I also watched the 2018 film (on Netflix) that was based, not too faithfully, on the book.

Some snippets from the nearly-forgotten writings in my garage found their way into my novel. For instance, the heroine’s Grandma didn’t wear perfume but tucked fragrant flowers into her bun. My grandmother did that. The heroine, in her teenage years, wondered why she was here on earth. I obsessed about existential questions when I was seventeen. The poetry quoted in the book were directly lifted from the collection in the little notebook.

Those scribbles from my past were often cathartic. I didn’t realize this benefit until a few years ago when I wrote a blog post about how writing can heal you. I used to evaluate mental health programs and was aware of writing therapy. But until I did that blog post, I didn’t realize how cathartic those scribbles had been for me, as well.

The healing potential of writing is a theme woven into  my novel. From the heroine’s journal started when she was fifteen to the memoir she intends to work on to help make sense of what she went through.

About the Author

 

Evy Journey, SPR (Self Publishing Review) Independent Woman Author awardee, is a writer, a wannabe artist, and a flâneuse who, wishes she lives in Paris where people have perfected the art of aimless roaming. Armed with a Ph.D., she used to research and help develop mental health programs.

She’s a writer because beautiful prose seduces her and existential angst continues to plague her despite such preoccupations having gone out of fashion. She takes occasional refuge by invoking the spirit of Jane Austen to spin tales of love, loss, and finding one’s way—stories into which she weaves mystery or intrigue.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

About the Book

After two heartbreaking losses, Luna wants adventure. Something and somewhere very different from the affluent, sheltered home in California and Hawaii where she grew up. An adventure in which she can also make some difference. She ends up in place where she gets more than she bargained for.

Lucien, a worldly, well-traveled young architect, finds a stranger’s journal at a café. He has qualms and pangs of guilt about reading it. But they don’t stop him. His decision to go on reading changes his life.

Months later, they meet at a bookstore where Luna works and which Lucien frequents. Fascinated by his stories and his adventurous spirit, Luna volunteers for the Peace Corps. Assigned to Cambodia, she lives with a family whose parents are survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide forty years earlier. What she goes through in a rural rice-growing village defies anything she could have imagined. Will she leave this world unscathed?

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Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFMR9SG

The Story Behind Suviving Hiroshima: A Young Woman's Story by Anthony Drago

On January 29,1950, I was born in Camden New Jersey. Due to both my parents working I spent a lot of my time at my grandparent’s home and attached neighborhood Italian grocery store. Growing up, my mother Kay Drago (Kaleria Palchikoff), told me various stories about her life. At the time, I didn’t really understand the impact it would have on me.

In my teens, I remember my mother telling me about how important family, education, music and the remembrance of history was. She would impress upon me that Russian and Japanese cultures were necessary for me to learn. Especially, my family’s involvement in that history.
 

Through the years, I learned a great deal from my mother. How her family fled the Russian Revolution and their final escape to Hiroshima, Japan. I learned about her life in Japan as a child and her love for music and school athletics. She excelled in both. She also never forgot about telling me about the importance of Christian faith and to always rely in God.

I realized quickly that having faith in God was extremely important to my mother. My mother’s life in Japan was full of joy while growing up early in life but that suddenly changed when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. Like all wars, the civilian’s lives are tragically altered. Theirs was a constant fear of bombings and threats of arrest. This was due to my family being stateless and not being Japanese. And then, on August 6, 1945 the Atom Bomb was used on Hiroshima. My mother was 1.5 miles from the epicenter, when over 70,000 Japanese were instantly killed. She and her family survived but what now.

All these detailed experiences I keep in a special place in my heart for many years. I had my mother write her experiences down and I asked many questions about her experience. Between starting a new life with my wife Kathy, raising three children a a law enforcement career, I hardly had time to think about my mom’s experiences.
 

There were many times that I would dream of possibly writing a book or at least looking into the possibility. Many times, I would tell friends and colleagues the story of survival in Japan and people would just stare at me in awe saying it’s unbelievable.

Retiring from the police department after thirty years of service, I started to think about making my book a reality. After many dead-ends and people saying it can’t be done, I was introduced to author/historian Douglas Wellman. Doug was intrigued with my story and we both set our sights in completing this amazing work. After thirty years, I finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel.

Surviving Hiroshima A Young Women’s Story is a story that I needed to tell and the world needs to finally hear after 75 years.

Enjoy the book!

About the Book

From Russian nobility, the Palchikoffs barely escaped death at the hands of Bolshevik revolutionaries until Kaleria’s father, a White Russian officer, hijacked a ship to take them to safety in Hiroshima. Safety was short lived. Her father, a talented musician, established a new life for the family, but the outbreak of World War II created a cloud of suspicion that led to his imprisonment and years of deprivation for his family.

Then, on August 6, 1945, 22-year-old Kaleria was doing pre-breakfast chores when a blinding flash lit the sky over Hiroshima, Japan. A moment later, everything went black as the house collapsed on her and her family. Their world, and everyone else’s changed as the first atomic bomb was detonated over a city.

After the bombing, trapped in the center of previously unimagined devastation, Kaleria summoned her strength to come to the aid of bomb victims, treating the never-before seen effects of radiation. Fluent in English, Kaleria was soon recruited to work with General Douglas MacArthur’s occupation forces.

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Amazon → https://amzn.to/2DHTSue

About the Author

Anthony “Tony” Drago was born in Camden, New Jersey and spent much of his early childhood at his paternal grandparents Italian grocery store. From a young age, his mother, Kaleria Palchikoff Drago, would tell him the captivating story of her journey from Russia to Japan and then to the United States. It created Tony’s foundation for his love of history—especially his family’s history—bringing him to write this book.

After retiring in 2006, Tony doubled down on his passions—flying his airplane, restoring his classic car, and traveling the world with his wife, Kathy. Tony and Kathy have been married for forty-five years. They have three adult children and enjoy spending their days on the beach in their hometown of Carmel, California with their eight grandchildren and dogs, Tug and Maggie. For more information about Kaleria and the book, visit http://www.survivinghiroshima.com.

 

 

The Story Behind Baby Bear's Spaghetti Misadventures by Linda Karimo

 When I was a little girl, I was fascinated with all the children’s stories; Dr.Seuss, Mother Goose, Charlotte’s Web, Pippi Longstocking, and lots more. But one in particular really stood out among them all: Goldilocks and The Three Bears. Later as an adult, Goldilocks was my nickname because of my blond tresses.

Recently I decided to write stories for young children, which was the age that I first heard the Goldilocks story. The character Baby Bear would appeal to a young child. He is non-threatening, and maybe he could help parents instill some life skills to their children. Mama Bear is a kind mother to Baby Bear while being stern when it calls for and nurturing when Baby Bear most needs it. In the Spaghetti Misadventure book, Baby Bear doesn’t listen to Mama Bear when she explains why a playtime activity is forbidden. He does it anyway. The consequences could put both of them in danger.

Writing a children’s picture book is quite different from composing a novel in that you are limited to a thousand precious words that tell the story. It must engage the parent who hold the purse strings. Simultaneously, the colorful full-page illustration makes the child laugh or, in some cases, worry about the character.

The book will be published on Amazon on September 12, 2020. I would never have gotten this far without a few mentors that I hired to help build my brand, set up promotions, and all the formatting and file chores that needed to be completed. Also, I took care of hiring our illustrator, having looked at numerous submissions. We were fortunate to find a really super gentleman from England, and he really came through for us.

Now, here’s a must! You need to have your book cover professionally designed if you want readers to take you seriously on Amazon. They can tell if you just threw anything up there hoping it will stick.

Bottom Line: It takes a lot of time and energy to learn all the facets involved in bringing a children’s book to the land of Amazon. I am convinced that to be truly successful, you can’t do it alone. Even with help, there is so much that can go wrong.

About the Book

Meet Mama Bear and her sweet little bear child, Baby Bear.

Sometimes he doesn’t do what Mama Bear says, sound familiar?

This one particular day when Mama Bear was cooking spaghetti and meatballs, Baby

Bear bounced his ball against the cave wall.

Baby Bear knew it was on the forbidden list.

He did it anyway.

Mama Bear gave him the look.

He did it again.

Find out what happened to Mama Bear’s spaghetti dinner and naughty Baby Bear.

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Amazon → https://amzn.to/3nQtP6s

 

About the Author

Back in the Stone Age, well maybe not that far back…

When Linda Karimo was very young, she learned to read at the knee of her Irish immigrant grandmother. Nannie, as she was known to the family, was just learning English herself.

They read all the classic children’s stories together. There was one in particular that became the inspiration for Linda’s current series of children’s books.

Moving forward, Linda was always a ravenous reader. She would often read all the books by a given author and then go onto yet another great fiction author. Espionage, legal, medical, suspense, and some “who done it” were her game.

Her day job as a Copywriter paid the bills while she dreamed of writing an extraordinary series of children’s books.

So, what childhood story prompted Linda to write a series about those characters?

It was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Linda’s nickname was always Goldilocks.

She transports her readers into the world of bears whose lives are not much different than humans, just bear style.

She has a conversational style of writing and wants her readers to feel a part of the action taking place, not just looking through the window watching it all going by.

A Lifetime full of love and compassion!

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: www.lindakarimo.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/KarimoLinda

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Linda-Karimo-Author-

106429491161549/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-odubayo-thompson-56743445/

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The Story Behind Selling Christmas by Angelina Goode

 The idea for Selling Christmas came about one year when I was sitting around the Thanksgiving table with my family. We were talking about the holiday tour of homes that a local charity puts on every year, and how much work must go into the decorating. It is a lavish event with fancy houses decked out in tasteful arrangements of red, green, and gold. There are enormous, meticulously decorated Christmas

trees at every turn. Everything looks absolutely perfect.
 

As a writer, I am constantly thinking about how to twist situations into something a little more exciting. Something a book character would love (or hate) to find themselves in. That’s when it came to me. What if someone that had no interest in decorating for Christmas somehow ended up in charge of
decorating an entire tour of homes? Of course, there needs to be a love interest. Who would make it all more complicated than a handsome client that loves to decorate and is looking for his dream home? From there, the story took off.
 

It was then, at that table, that I announced to my family that I was going to write a Christmas novel. And have it done by that very Christmas. My husband cocked an eyebrow at me. My oldest daughter giggled, and the youngest smashed potatoes into the tablecloth. My dad nodded hesitantly, and my mom
enthused something along the lines of, “I’m sure you can do it.” Their reactions weren’t unjustified. It had taken me a few years to write my first novel, after all. But I was determined.
 

As I sat in my childhood home it occurred to me that the ideal setting would be small-town Oregon. My grandparents had owned a farm in Oregon that we visited every year growing up. My uncles had planted Christmas trees to farm and I recalled gingerly stepping around the saplings as we ventured about the property. What a perfect place to set a Christmas story!
 

I was atingle with the idea. I had always wanted to write a Christmas novel, and now I finally had the makings of one. It took every muscle in my body to keep me from frantically scribbling my ideas down on the nearest napkin.
 

Needless to say, I was not the most attentive dinner guest that evening. I confess that I did not finish the novel by Christmas. But I did finish by Valentine’s Day, and that was close enough for me.

That dinner was Thanksgiving of 2018. And that first draft was just the beginning. There was still the revising, the editing, and getting it to my beta readers. Then the second round of revising and editing. Then hiring an editor and having a book cover made. It is a long journey from that first seed of
inspiration to a final published book. And I am so excited to share this bit of Christmas spirit with the world.

About the Book

Helping people find their dream house has always come natural to Caroline. She’s able to set the stage perfectly so her clients can imagine spending the holidays in their new home, even though she doesn’t decorate her own. When her boss assigns her to oversee the company’s first Christmas Tour of Homes, Caroline thinks she may be in over her head.

Luke has always made sure his daughter, Ella, had all that she needed for Christmas, including a home bursting at the seams with tinsel and holly. Even if it meant working extra shifts patrolling the town. So when a house of their own is at the top of Ella’s Christmas list, he can’t help but set out to find one.

As Christmas fate brings Caroline and Luke together, they just might be exactly what the other needs to make it through the holidays. Until Luke unknowingly stumbles across Caroline’s past. A past that keeps Caroline from looking to a future with Luke.

Can Caroline and Luke find their way to happily ever after? Or is the only thing keeping them from finding it, each other?

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About the Author

Angelina Goode began writing as a teenager. Though her first works were poems about love-struck teenagers, she grew her craft while earning her degree in Journalism and Creative Writing. A former grade school teacher that loved teaching children to write, she enjoys finding creative ways to present everyday events. Now she primarily writes light-hearted contemporary women’s fiction. Angelina loves to travel and weave places she’s visited into her novels. She lives in Los Angeles where she enjoys people-watching and year-round sun.

Website: www.angelinagoode.com

Twitter: @angelina_goode

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Angelina-Goode-842383929165206

 

The Story Behind A Perfect Storm by Mike Martin

 A Perfect Storm has many threads that take the reader from one end of North America to the other. It starts in Las Vegas and ends up in Grand Bank, Newfoundland at the easternmost tip of Canada where

most of the story takes place. It was inspired by real life events, like the meth crisis that is seeping across rural and urban areas all over the continent and the rise of gangs to facilitate the damage that is inflicted in communities, large and small. They are innocently abetted by ordinary citizens who turn a blind eye to the wrongdoing around them and allow the criminals to operate with impunity against the meagre resources of law enforcement officials.

This sets up a perfect storm that rages through families and across cities and towns and it is up to Sgt. Windflower and his fellow officers to bring calm and security back to Grand Bank. Along the way there is also good food, good friends and ordinary people doing great things for themselves and their communities. Come visit Grand Bank for a hefty helping of Maritime hospitality and some excellent police work.

A Perfect Storm is the ninth book in the award-winning Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, but it, like all the other books in the series, can be read as a stand-alone story. The books have been nominated for many awards and Darkest Before the Dawn, Book 7 in the series, won the Bony Blithe Mystery Award as the best light mystery in 2019.

About the Book

Sgt. Windflower is back, untangling another swirling mystery, this one bringing the meth crisis and biker gangs to the quiet Newfoundland town of Grand Bank, feeling the sting of their deadly tentacles reaching all the way from Las Vegas.  He’s working with his familiar crew of RCMP characters – but wait, are some of the faces changing? New challenges for Jones, an unknown side of Smithson reveals itself, and what ever happened to Tizzard?  In the midst of putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Windflower and his beloved Sheila also find themselves navigating sorrows and surprises on the family front.

Come back to Grand Bank for more fun, food and cool, clean, Canadian crime fiction with Sgt. Windflower Mysteries.

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Amazon → https://amzn.to/36sHEBz

About the Author 

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand. He is the author of Change the Things You Can: Dealing with Difficult People and has written a number of short stories that have been published in various publications across North America.

The Walker on the Cape was his first full fiction book and the premiere of the Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series. Other books in the series include The Body on the T, Beneath the Surface, A Twist of Fortune, and A Long Ways from Home, followed by A Tangled Web, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award as the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn, which won the 2018 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. Fire, Fog and Water was the eighth in the series. He has also published Christmas in Newfoundland: Memories and Mysteries, a Sgt. Windflower Book of Christmas past and present.

He is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writing Guild and Ottawa Independent Writers.

A Perfect Storm is the latest book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series.

SOCIAL LINKS:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mike54martin

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

The Story Behind Becoming American: A Political Memoir by Cary D. Lowe

My memoir Becoming American grew out of a trip I took with my daughter to explore the places of our family’s origin in Eastern Europe, including searching for a hidden cemetery near Prague where my paternal great-grandparents were buried. On our return, I wrote a stand-alone story about our adventures

for the rest of our extended family. That led me to write more stories about my life growing up in Europe in the years following World War II, with parents who were Holocaust survivors. After writing a half dozen such stories, I visualized making them the heart of a book, describing not only my youth in Europe during an interesting and volatile time, but also my family’s immigration to the United States and my professional and political careers here. That first story became the opening chapter and portions of subsequent chapters of my memoir. And the book evolved into a chronicle of my experience in becoming American.

Writing this book took several years. I have published dozens of essays in major newspapers, as well as articles in professional magazines, but this was a much larger and much more personal undertaking. I required that time to recall experiences from decades ago, perform research to fill in the gaps, and turn all of that into a manuscript.

With the help of a professional writers’ group, I edited and rewrote every chapter repeatedly, each time remembering additional details. Ultimately, I was able to tell what I hoped would be an inspiring tale built around such events as Army Counterintelligence agents gathered at my family’s home in Austria; a tense encounter with Russian soldiers during the post-war occupation; seeing Jim Crow racism in the South during a childhood visit to the United States; becoming an American citizen in my teens; having my citizenship challenged by American border guards; fearing for my new country upon witnessing the Watts riots during a visit to California; serving as an officer in the US Navy; rising to leadership positions in organizations shaping important government policies; and advancing the American dream as a real estate lawyer helping develop entire new communities.

As I wrote, I recognized a more significant purpose for the book than simply telling a good story. At a time when issues of immigration and American identity are foremost in national political discussion, I wanted my book to provide an inspiring tale of how much an immigrant can contribute to America’s culture, politics, and economy, all while retaining ties to one’s family roots.

I hoped, of course, that this story would resonate with agents and publishers. I quickly learned that, no matter how fascinating the subject matter or how good the writing, it is extremely difficult to interest major publishers in a memoir written by someone other than a known celebrity. Fortunately, I quickly found an independent publisher interested in my story. Then, shortly after the book’s release, it won the 2020 Discovery Award for best political writing from an indie publisher. Now, I’m on to writing about other first-person experiences. And it all started with a search for a cemetery.

About the Author

Cary Lowe is the author of the award-winning book Becoming American: A Political Memoir. He has published over fifty essays on political and civic issues in major newspapers, as well as professional reports and articles in professional journals.

Mr. Lowe is a retired California land use lawyer with 45 years of experience representing public agencies, developers, Indian tribes, and non-profit organizations. He holds a law degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He taught courses in law and urban planning at USC, UCLA, and UC San Diego, and he writes and lectures on land use and environmental issues. In addition to his legal experience, Mr. Lowe is a credentialed mediator affiliated with the Land Use & Environmental Mediation Group of the National Conflict Resolution Center.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website:  https://carylowewriter.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/carylowewriter/?modal=admin_todo_tour

About the Book 

Becoming American is the inspiring story of the author’s transformation from a child of Holocaust survivors in post-war Europe to an American lawyer, academic, and activist associated with such famed political leaders as Robert Kennedy, George McGovern, Jerry Brown, and Tom Hayden.

Searching for his great-grandparents’ graves in a hidden cemetery outside Prague makes him recall his experiences of becoming American: listening to Army Counterintelligence agents gathered at his family home in Austria; a tense encounter with Russian soldiers during the post-war occupation; seeing Jim Crow racism in the South during his first visit to the United States; becoming an American citizen in his teens; having his citizenship challenged by border guards; fearing for his new country upon witnessing the Watts riots in Los Angeles; advancing the American dream as a real estate lawyer, helping develop entire new communities; and rising to leadership positions in organizations shaping government policies around some of the most important issues of our time.

Becoming American won the 2020 Discovery Award for best political writing from an independent publisher. It features a foreword by bestselling author Edith Eger.

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The Story Behind Misleading A Duke by A.S. Fenichel

I write books set in Regency England. The time leads one to believe you will find ladies of leisure and little spine on the page. It was a time when women were considered property and had few rights. In my

books the women are never mousy or weak. I prefer my heroines to have a feminist bent. You might think those kinds of women didn’t exist in 1812, but you’d be surprised by how many remarkable women there were in Georgian times. There were artist, scientist and geniuses who wore skirts. My ladies are fictional, but they show how to be an upstanding part of the Haute Ton while still holding their personal standards very high.

When I first thought of the Wallflowers of West Lane, it grew from my desire to show the kind of friendships women share. Many Historical Romances highlight the friendships of men. It seems natural to have these men have close friendships because they went to school together from a young age and developed strong bonds.

In the Wallflowers of West Lane series, the four ladies have been sent away to a Swiss finishing school as a result of willful behavior. They are fifteen at the time they leave England and do not return for three years. Because Poppy, Faith, Mercy and Aurora needed and liked each other from the beginning, they formed the kind of bond between women that is unbreakable.

Upon their return to England the first of their band of loyal friends is married to a man who treats her very badly. While none of that marriage is on the page, it shows how earnestly the women care for each other. When the abusive husband dies under notorious circumstances, the “Wallflowers” make a pact to protect each other from disreputable or cruel men.

There is nothing these four won’t do for one another. 

About the Book

Finishing school failed to turn them into proper society ladies. Now these four friends vow to remain single until they find suitors worthy of their love and devotion…

Betrothed to a man she has barely met, Lady Faith Landon calls upon her three best friends—the self-proclaimed Wallflowers of West Lane—to help uncover the secrets of her mysterious fiancé. Her suspicions are aroused when she learns that he has recently returned from France. Is he a traitor to his country? The truth is quite the opposite. Nicholas Ellsworth, Duke of Breckenridge, is a secret agent for the English Crown who has just completed a risky mission to infiltrate Napoleon’s spy network.

After his adventures, Nicholas craves the peace and quiet of the country and settling into domestic bliss with his bride. Until he discovers Faith’s deceptive investigation. How can he wed a woman who doesn’t trust him? But a powerful spark has ignited between Nicholas and Faith that could bring about a change of heart. Faith seizes her second chance to prove to Nicholas that they are a true love match but his past catches up with them when three French spies come to exact revenge. Surviving rather than wooing has become the order of the day.

Praise for Misleading A Duke

Fenichel’s high-octane second Wallflowers of West Lane Regency romance (after The Earl Not Taken) follows a reluctantly betrothed couple as dire circumstances help them to see past their bad first impression. Lady Faith Landon earns the ire of her fiancé, Nicholas Ellsworth, the Duke of Breckenridge and a spy for the English government, when she and her friends snoop into his past. Faith hopes to explain that she was anxious and trying to learn more about him before their wedding day, but she needs the help of Nick’s friend and fellow spy Geb Arafa to convince him to hear her out. Geb requests Nick meet him at his hunting lodge, Parvus Castle, to discuss an urgent matter that Nick assumes to be of national importance. But when Nick arrives, he finds Faith waiting to plead her case. Her explanation is interrupted when French spies invade Parvus, take both captive, and torture Nick for information about the movement of English troops. Imprisoned together, Nick and Faith form an unshakable bond as Faith tends to Nick’s wounds and Nick witnesses her kindness and unflinching bravery. Fenichel juxtaposes the mannered world of Regency aristocracy with the gritty, life-or-death situation of Nick and Faith’s captivity to excellent effect. This immersive, fast-paced novel will have readers on the edges of their seats.

–Publishers Weekly

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About the Author 

A.S. Fenichel gave up a successful career in New York City to follow her husband to Texas and pursue her lifelong dream of being a professional writer. She’s never looked back.

A.S. adores writing stories filled with love, passion, desire, magic and maybe a little mayhem tossed in for good measure. Books have always been her perfect escape and she still relishes diving into one and staying up all night to finish a good story.

Multi-published in historical, paranormal, erotic and contemporary romance, A.S. is the author of the several series, including Forever Brides, Everton Domestic Society, Wallflowers of West Lane and more. Strong, empowered heroines from Regency London to modern-day New Orleans are what really excites A.S., and that’s what you’ll find in all her books.

A Jersey Girl at heart, she now makes her home in Southern Missouri with her real-life hero, her wonderful husband. When not reading or writing, she enjoys cooking, travel, history, puttering in her garden and spoiling her fussy cat.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: http://asfenichel.com

Blog: http://asfenichel.com/blog

Twitter: http://twitter.com/asfenichel

Facebook: Http://facebook.com/asfenichel