The Story Behind The Mirror by P.K. Eden

 

 

The Story Behind The Mirror

By P.K. Eden

When I was a child (a long time ago in a state far away), fairy tales fascinated me. Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty. All those wonderful takes of Princesses and magic things in a extraordinary world of fairies and magic and evil things. I could listen to the stories at bed time over and over and never get tired of them.

As I got older and started to use my imagination to write fiction, first romance like rom-com, historical romance, and the like, I found my mind drifting to those wonderful objects in the fairy tales I loved so much. Snow White’s Mirror, Rapunzel’s Tears, a Spinning Wheels that could turn straw into gold. Imagine if they were real. I found what could be a niche for a story like that in the urban fantasy genre.

I put my imagination into overdrive, bought a book called Tales of the Brothers Grimm, which by the way are very grim and gloomy, often downright scary. Nothing like the modern-day adaptations we love today. Still, I was determined to bring my vision to print.

So the what ifs  began. Most authors know that’s how our storylines start. What if the magical objects in the fairy tales were real? What if the Brothers Grimm wrote their tales to shield that fact from humanity so they wouldn’t be used or exploited? What if the Brothers Grimm formed a secret group to protect the objects? What if a faction of this noble group, called the Primogen Sentinels, went rogue and wanted to use the objects for personal gain? 

Enter the direct descendants of the Brother Grimm, Siene and her brother Reed, a Sentinel from each of the seven continents, Lucian Davalos, the leader of Taltos, the rogue faction, and his mercenaries, a PhD whose research could just ruin Taltoian  plans by counteracting the effect of Snow White’s poison apple, sprinkle in an adventure that spans three continents, a touch of a love story, and an unexpected conclusion, and there you have it. The what ifs turned into a plot for The Mirror. 

If you’d like to know how this all turns out, I invite you to become a Primogen Sentinel and follow Siene and Reed Dower – the European protectors, Dr. Ben Michaels – PhD and scientist, Thumbelina who would rather be called Lina, Lucian Davelos – leader of Taltos, a host of Watches, Seekers, Cleaners and their antagonistic counterparts, as they race for the artifacts across North America, Europe and Africa; one group to save the objects from discovery, the other to use them for personal gain.

If you do, please let me know if you enjoyed the story. 

Thanks for letting me join you today

Kathryn Quick  (1/2 P.K. Eden) – the other half – Patt Mihailoff - is busy plotting Book Two in this series. If you are concerned about climate change and love Native American characters, you might want to check back and see what we are planning for 2025/2026.

 

 

 

 

Title: The Mirror

Author: P.K. Eden

Publication Date: October 14, 2024

Pages: 390

Genre: Urban Fantasy

What if you found out the artifacts from the fairy tales you loved as a child were real and one of them just predicted your death? That’s the dilemma Scientist Ben Michaels faces when Siene Dower, descendant of the Brothers Grimm, tells him that Snow White’s Magic Mirror sent her to stop him from getting into the cab that crashed and burst into flame right before his eyes at the intersection at Penn Station, New York City. Does practical Dr. Michaels dismiss everything he knows about reality and science and follow the curious and beautiful woman who just saved his life?

The Mirror is available at Amazon.

 

P.K. Eden is the alter ego of multi-published and award winning authors Patt Milhailff and Kathye Quick whose debut novel FIREBRAND was lauded as comparable to the Harry Potter series, garnered 5-Star reviews, and won numerous  Reviewer’s Choice Awards.

Born long, long ago in a place not so far away, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, Kathryn Quick has been writing since the Sisters in St. Casmir’s Grammar School gave her the ruled yellow paper and a number two pencil.  She writes contemporary and career romances, romantic comedies, historical romances as well as urban fantasy. 

Kathye has twenty fiction books in print with various publishing houses and one non-fiction compilation of her town’s history at the behest of the Manville Library Bord.  She was honored to have been named an Amazon top 100 Romance Author for Ineligible Bachelor published by Montlake Romance. Other works include a three book  Grandmother’s Rings Series – Amethyst, Sapphire and Citrine, a rom-com series that follows three siblings as they use their Grandmother’s Rings given to them by their mother to find their soulmates. 

Because she has been fascinated by King Arthur and his knights for almost forever, her series Beyond Camelot, Brother Knights, is her vision of how the majestic kingdom may have survived after Arthur. Two books are written in this series with the third and final still in concept.

She is a founding member of Liberty State Fiction Writers and has been a part of Romance Writers of America and New Jersey Romance Writers.

She is married to her real-life hero, Donald, and has three grown sons, each having romantic adventures of their own. Her two grandkids, Savannah and Dax, happily cut into her writing time but she still manages to get a few pages done each day.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ www.Kathrynquick.com  

Twitter ➜ https://x.com/KQuickAuthor

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/KathrynQuickBooks/

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/kathrynquickauthor/

Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217228581-the-mirror

***

Thanks to novelist and editor, Dr. Nathasha Brooks-Harris who invited Patt Milhailff to write for several TRUE CONFESSION lines of magazines where she learned tight and entertaining writing and resulted in the publication of more than two hundred short stories and articles.

One of Patt’s most gratifying experiences was when she moderated a standing room only workshop at the African American Romance Slam Jam in 2004 and has since enjoyed speaking engagements at libraries, book clubs and other forums. 

She was awarded 2009 Author of the year and 2010 Mentor of the year by Romance writers of America, New York City Chapter, a terrific organization that helped her to obtain valuable lessons and insight while on her writing journey. 

Patt is also featured in A Dream Deferred, A Joy Achieved, a non-fiction novella by Charise Nesbit a co-producer at Tyler Perry Studios, about foster care, as well as being included in two of Times Bestselling Author Zane’s anthologies. 

Patt is one half of the writing duo P.K. Eden along with Kathye Quick, authors of Firebrand,  that received a five star Affaire de Couer Reviewer’s Choice Award. 

She is also a member of Liberty States Fiction Writers the home of a magnitude of talented writers and fellow authors and is the author of nine novels.  

Patt was raised, and educated in New York City, residing in  New Jersey, and has since relocated to Delaware.

Social Networks for P.K. Eden:

Follow on Twitter: https://x.com/PKEdenAuthor 

Follow on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/P.K.EdenAuthor

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p.k.edenauthor/

 

The Story Behind A Heart's Journey to Forgiveness by Terese Luikens

 

 

 

The Story Behind A Heart's Journey to Forgiveness

By Terese Luikens

I was thirteen when my father ended his life by suicide. Back in the 1970s, suicide was not a topic families openly talked about and for that reason, my mother’s explanation to me about my father’s death went like this;

“Your father is dead.”

“How?”

“His heart just stopped.”

Her explanation for his death left me with a load of suspicion and finding out the truth became paramount to me. As the sixth of seven kids, I knew from experience that the older siblings always knew more than me. But, if I asked an older sister for the truth, I knew she would tell me. Indeed she did, yet her honesty left me reeling in confusion. 

Even though my siblings and I shared the same tragedy, we did not share our grief. We didn’t know how to comfort each other, let alone talk about a topic no one else wanted to talk about. 

None of the adults in our lives came to our aid. No one showed or told us that it was okay to be sad, that confusion was normal and that we might even feel angry.  In essence, we were left to ourselves to sort through our emotions and find our own way to survive. 

After I married and became a mom it seemed like the right time to begin understanding the grief I’d never understood, to face what I’d only tried to ignore and to put some order to the chaos in my mind. 

As a result, I began journaling and talking with a few trusted friends. Over the years, I began to understand some of the events that led to my father’s death by suicide, my mother’s silence and my inability to grieve.  

Finally, I gained enough courage to join a writer’s group and began sharing my story in small bits and pieces. With their encouragement, I finally wrote the whole story and with their help polished it and sent if off to Redemption Press. 

Redemption Press is a publishing company that offers independent publishing services with the project management style of a traditional publisher.

 

 

 

Title: A Heart's Journey to Forgiveness

Author: Terese Luikens

Publication Date: November 3, 2022

Pages: 282

Genre: Memoir

For Terese Luikens, a picture-perfect childhood it was not. Frequent cross country moves, an emotionally absent mother and an alcoholic father who ends his life by suicide when Terese is just thirteen years old. 

The sixth of seven children, Terese grew up in an unstable and chaotic household–invisible to her mom yet cherished by her father. 

This heartfelt memoir documents the chain reaction of a tumultuous family history. From her stormy childhood to the far-reaching effects of her father’s suicide, Terese shares her inspiring journey to escape the shame of her past, find healing and live, learn to trust, and discover faith in a real and personal God.  

A Heart’s Journey to Forgiveness is available at Amazon.

 

 

Terese Luikens has been married for forty-four years to the same man, although she is on her third wedding ring, having lost one and worn out another. She lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, enjoys being mother to three grown sons and grandmother to her much-loved grandchildren. She is the author of A Heart’s Journey to Forgiveness, a Memoir of her inspiring journey of emotional healing from her father’s suicide. She facilitates retreats and workshops focusing on forgiveness, and publishes her own blog, Why Bother? 

You can visit her website at www.tereseluikens.com.

 

 

 

The Story Behind The Death of the Kremlin Czar by Jorg H. Trauboth

 

 

 

The Story Behind The Death of the Kremlin Czar

By Jorg H. Trauboth

I had a dream. Russian troops were standing in front of Berlin and declaring that Germany was now Russian. We were to surrender and look forward to a life in communism and with the ruble. I woke up and realized that I wasn’t living in 1945, but 80 years later.
Exactly this has happened to Ukraine. For nearly three years, the country has been desperately fighting for its survival. It wants to reclaim its lost territories and peace. Like all of us.

As someone who knows Putin's biography and as a former general staff officer in NATO, I am convinced that there can be no negotiations with the Russian president. And if Ukraine gives up the territories because it runs out of weapons and ammunition, we in Central Europe will be next. Then my bad dream could come true.
“If a solution cannot be found on the battlefield, there must be another way to find one,” I thought.

I am also convinced that reality writes the best stories. You just have to recognize them.
So, I began to develop a plot for my fourth Marc Anderson thriller: 

A group of oligarchs led by Alexei Sokolov wants to overthrow Russian President Ivan in Moscow. Just as Brutus and the senators did with Julius Caesar in Rome on the Ides of March. Modern history shows that it is difficult to overthrow a dictator by force. So, I gave Alexei a tough task, as he only had this one chance. And he is even preparing it with the support of the CIA, and with the knowledge of the US President, who of course knows nothing about it. 

The plan is clever, but Alexei has a problem. He is having an affair with Yulia, the partner of the Russian President. Both are under pressure, as Ivan knows something. 

On the flight to Moscow via Vilnius in Belarus, the plane with Alexei and Yulia on board is hijacked. The Ukrainian hijacker demands that his brother be released from Russian captivity. When the Russian President refuses, the plane begins an odyssey over Europe. The hijacker shoots the crew. The plane is without pilots and is programmed to crash into the Berlin Reichstag. The German government considers shooting down the passenger plane, which is legally forbidden. Crisis management between Berlin, Kyiv, and Washington is under enormous time pressure, as the plane is running out of fuel. The Czar in Moscow is silent. The former elite soldier Marc Anderson and his family are also on board. They are invited to a wedding celebration in Vilnius. Marc's wife, Jelke, pleads with her husband, a hobby pilot, to save them all. He and Alexei go into the cockpit and try to take control of the ailing Boeing 737-300 in the night sky.
Will they manage to fly and to land the plane? And how will the plan to bring down Ivan unfold?

At this point, I have to stop. But you can be sure. The ending is spectacular. By page 180 at the latest, you’ll want to know. Otherwise, you won’t be able to relax. At least, that’s what the readers of the German novel say.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Book Title: The Death of the Kremlin Czar

Author: Jorg H. Trauboth

Publisher: Gedankenkunst-Verlog

Publication Date: August 26, 2024

Pages: 443

Genre: Thriller

Russian President and new Czar Ivan Pavlenko suddenly shows his true colors during the war in Ukraine. He wants the old Soviet Union back. The world is on the brink. The influential oligarch Alexei Sokolov wants to prevent Ivan’s megalomaniacal plans and is planning a fundamental new beginning for Russia. To achieve this, the Russian president must die. How will the US President react to the CIA’s proposal to support the oligarch, who has a romantic relationship with the Russian President’s partner, Yulia? 

The poison attack is perfectly prepared, but the Boeing with the oligarch Alexei Sokolow, his lover and over 100 passengers on board is hijacked by a Ukrainian terrorist and is supposed to crash over Berlin after knocking out the crew by shooting. Former elite soldier Marc Anderson is on board with his family and takes over with Alexei. The two flight amateurs try to get control. Will the landing and the assassination succeed or will the Kremlin Czar strike back brutally after realizing the role of Yulia?

The Death of the Kremlin Czar is available at Amazon (U.S. edition) and Amazon (German edition).

 

Jörg H. Trauboth, born in 1943 near Berlin, logged over two thousand flight hours as a Weapon Systems Officer Instructor in the Luftwaffe, flying PHANTOM F-4F / RF-4E and TORNADO fighter jets, and over 3000 hours in light aircraft. At the age of fifty, he left the service with the rank of Colonel in the General Staff. He received training as a Special Risk Consultant from the English Control Risk Group and served as Managing Director Germany, dealing with extortion and kidnapping cases in South America and Eastern Europe. Shortly thereafter, he founded his own consulting firm, quickly establishing an outstanding international reputation. Trauboth protected his clients with a 24-hour task force during product extortions, product recalls, kidnappings, and image crises. He was the first President of the European Crisis Management Academy in Vienna and President of the American Yankee Association.

He is known as a respected expert in the media on security-related topics. He volunteers as an emergency counselor and is a member of the Crisis Intervention Team (KIT Bonn) of the German Foreign Office. He is a private pilot, married, with two sons and three grandchildren.

In 2002, Trauboth wrote the now out of print standard work “Crisis Management for Company Threats”.

In 2016 the follow-up work was published with Jörg H. Trauboth as editor in collaboration with five authors: “Crisis Management in Companies and Public Institutions”.

Terror expert J. H. Trauboth presented his debut novel in 2015 with the Germany thriller “Three Brothers”. (Available in English). In 2019 “Operation Jerusalem” followed and in 2020 “Omega”. The trilogy is about the former elite soldier Marc Anderson and his team. With these three self-contained thrillers, Trauboth is rated by many readers as the “German Tom Clancy.” The trilogy is available as a printed edition, eBook and audio book.

His first detective novel, “Jakobs Weg” (German), followed in 2021. The highly explosive topic of “sexual abuse of children” is processed sensitively in a scenario on the Way of Saint James and at the end offers contact options for those seeking help.

In 2022, the novella “Bonjour Saint-Ex” was published (German) in which the passionate pilot Jörg H. Trauboth turns the last flight of the legend Antoine de Saint Exupéry into an exciting literary event.

Readers wanted a sequel to the Marc Anderson series. In 2023, ZarenTod – Das Ende der Präsidenten was published, a highly topical political thriller. The Russian president and new tsar, Ivan Pavlenko, suddenly shows his true face during the war in Ukraine. He wants the old Soviet Union back. The world is on the brink. The influential oligarch, Alexei Sokolov, wants to prevent Ivan’s megalomaniac plans and is planning a fundamental new beginning for Russia. To achieve this, the Russian president must be removed. But the plan goes awry. Ex-elite soldier Marc Anderson intervenes. Will Czar Ivan die? What will become of Europe? The book 8/ 2024 in English „The Death of the Kremlin Czar” is the fourth political thriller in the Marc Anderson series.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜  https://trauboth-autor.de/english/

Twitter ➜ https://twitter.com/JorgTrauboth