C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Horror In June? How about More Excitement from #IWSG?

By

Yes to Horror in June because J. H. Moncrieff is my Featured Follower.

Who is J.H. Moncrieff? Her blog says she “has been obsessed with psychological suspense, mysteries, and true crime for as long as she can remember. She’s endlessly fascinated by what makes people tick and has visited many of the world’s most haunted places.” 

So, are you ready for a few bone-shaking, nail-biting tales? Here you go!

The Girl Who Talks to Ghosts is her latest. Is this a great cover, or what?

 “J.H. Moncrieff is a bold new voice in horror and supernatural suspense.” - Chuck Wendig, New York Times Bestselling Author of Blackbirds

Amazon (universal) . Kobo . Barnes & Noble . iBooks 

City of Ghosts. 

On the day the villagers were forced to flee Hensu, not everyone got out alive.

***** Review
“The characters came to life and I couldn’t stop worrying about them! The writing,characterization, structure-everything that makes a reader keep turning pages-contributed to this outstanding novel. Thanks for an incredible read!”
Amazon (universal) .  Kobo .  Barnes & Noble .  iBooks 

My Email Connect Followers are in for a treat this month with two free book offers from this author. Thanks, J.H.

You can check out her other books as well and connect with the author here.

Twitter . Facebook  .  Website .  Pinterest  

Goodreads Book of the Month is The Secret Garden

Don’t Miss June 7 #IWSG Post. Big News


 Welcome to two new #IWSG Admins.

Pat Hatt, our Twitterer for @The IWSG


Nick Wilford, our man on the Contests Page.

Quote of the Week: “Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places.” 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color: #333333; -webkit-text-stroke: #333333; background-color: #ffffff}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 12.0px; font: 10.0px Verdana; color: #333333; -webkit-text-stroke: #333333; background-color: #ffffff}
span.s1 {font-kerning: none; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #000000}
span.s2 {font-kerning: none}

H. P. Lovecraft

Featured Follower, Cathrina Constantine & Are U Ready For IWSG Wednesday?

By

I took April off from a lot of my usual activities to let my wretched hand/shoulder heal. It’s now much better, and I’m back to typing with all of my fingers! One day I’ll have a Story To Tell about this.

But today I’m featuring another author. Here’s Cathrina Constantine 


Featured Follower for the month of May.
Her newest book has one of those covers that makes you stop, look and want to open it. Here’s my Amazon Review.

Some Stellar Reviews. 

“The gritty realism of the many struggles she deals with makes this book so compelling. Plus, just when you think you might be reading a romance, the author takes a completely surprising turn. This book is more of a coming-of-age story that keeps you guessing until the end!” ~ Stephanie Faris, Best Selling Author.

“From its psychedelic beginning to its sweet, poignant ending I loved this story.” ~ Nana Prah, Best Selling Author.

If you hurry, you can enter to win a copy on her 
Rafflecopter Giveaway 
Speed Interview with Cathrina: Her FAVORITES

  • Song ~ Just about every song gets my heart pumping and my feet tapping, it’s almost impossible to pick just one. For this moment in time, I’ll say, Rolling in the Deep by Adele.
  • Movie ~ Soooo many, so many. I’m a movie fanatic. I think I’ve watched Harry Potter a zillion times.
  • Author ~ I have an ardent desire for dozens of authors. They all helped to light the flame of my imagination and my writing. I’m sorry, I can’t pick just one…
  • Time of Day ~ That’s an easy one, the early morning when the birds are just starting to sing.
  • Book ~ The Bible.
  • Place to think~ Taking a walk in the woods behind my house.
And there are some little tidbits about this author. Want to ask her more about herself? Leave that in your comments.

Thanks Alex

It’s just about time for another #IWSG Wednesday. Are you ready? Clock’s ticking and the first Wednesday of May almost upon us. Here’s your optional question: What is the weirdest/coolest thing you’ve ever had to research for a story? Or you can just go ON and ON about your current insecurity. 🙂

A lot of you have heard that Joylene Butler has a new book out, but that just before launch day she took a tumble and broke some bones. Surgery during a book launch? I don’t think so. Here’s her book. It looks like a super read.

Nook. Kindle



Quotes of the Week: I had to post two today, variety being the spice of life!

“Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants. Dorothy Parker

If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. Audra Foveo

I’m Back with March’s Featured Follower, Bish Denham

By

Did you miss me? I missed you, but I loved my break and how it re-energized me. I hiked, even in the rain! I ate extra cake because it was my birthday-I decided to have a birthday month instead of only one day. More cake that way! I learned how to be an administrator for IWSG. Very interesting and fun to do. And I remembered some more stories I want to share with you. 

And now I’m here with my Featured Follower for March, Bish Denham. Yay, Bish! Great to feature you and your books this month. 

Bish Denham, whose mother’s side of the family has been in the Caribbean for over one hundred years, was raised in the U. S. Virgin Islands. She still has lots of family living there and visits them regularly.

She says, “Growing up in the islands was like living inside a history book. Columbus named them, Sir Francis Drake sailed through the area, and Alexander Hamilton was raised on St. Croix. Pirates plied the waters and hundred of years of slavery left its indelible mark. It was within this atmosphere of magic and wonder that I grew up. My hope is pass some of that magic and wonder on to my readers.”

Amazon
Amazon
Amazon


                                                   

She has published three magical tales.

A Lizard’s Tale: From the moment he hatches, Marvin P. Tinkleberry knows he is destined for greatness. For one, he has a marvelous, well-groomed tail. For another he can puff out his throat pouch in the most spectacular way. Pirates. Explorers. And spooky ghost hunters. REVIEW

The Bowl and the Stone: It’s 1962. Sam and her best friend, Nick, have the whole island of St. John, in the U. S. Virgin Islands, as their playground. They’ve got 240 year-old sugar plantation ruins to explore, beaches to swim, and trails to hike. REVIEW

Anansi and Company: How do you escape a hungry tiger? Why do ram-goats smell? What happens if you get too greedy? In this collection of ten retold Jamaican stories, Anansi the spider tricks, sings, and dances his way into and out of trouble. REVIEW

GIVEAWAY: Bish is generously giving one of her books away (digital format). To request your copy of a book of your choice, just leave a request in the comment and a way we can contact you. 

Quote of the Week: “The wonder of imagination is this: It has the power to light its own fire.” John L. Mason, author

Next Week: Let Me Tell You a Story returns with Oh Shoot! It’s the Tunnel Chute.

Fresh Start and Featured Follower for January

By

Last year I said I wanted to change up my blog to keep me interested in blogging and hopefully to keep my readers interested as well. So here we are in 2017, and while my look is the same, some of my content is different.


Featured Followers in Review


In April 2016, I started this feature on my Email Connect, and nine authors played with me. Here they are again:

Beverly Stowe McClure

Chris Ledbetter
Yvonne Ventresca

If you’re interested in joining my Email Connect,  just sign up. The form’s in the right margin of this blog.

January’s Featured Follower

Welcome Sandra Cox, author of the three book series Mutants. I’m featuring her and book #1, Love Lattes and Mutants, but be sure to check out her other work.

Like most seventeen-year-olds, Piper Dunn wants to blend in with the crowd. Having a blowhole is a definite handicap. A product of a lab-engineered mother with dolphin DNA, Piper spends her school days hiding her brilliant ocean-colored eyes and sea siren voice behind baggy clothing and ugly glasses. When Tyler, the new boy in school, zeroes in on her, ignoring every other girl vying for his attention, no one, including Piper, understands why.

Barnes and Noble

I read this book in an afternoon. It’s fun. It’s light with adventure and some clean teen romance. Who can resist a story about a beautiful girl with a dolphin blowhole?

Connect with Sandra.
Facebook Twitter Blog Google+ Amazon


Let Me Tell You A Story

Over the years I’ve heard or read stories about other people’s lives. I’ve also had a few experiences that have entered into my “Let me tell you about the time” category. Some of these stories have crept into my books. Others are waiting in the wings. Here’s one I remember from a trip to visit relatives in Switzerland.
My Swiss cousin was a great hiker, so we hit it off right away, and I couldn’t wait to follow her up into the mountains that are the backdrop for Bellinzona (my fraternal grandparents’ home). 
We started early while the sun was out and only the hint of snow clouds in the distance. But because we’re hiking nuts, we went farther than than we should, and before we stopped and looked overhead, the snow was already floating down on our heads and shoulders. We’d never make it down before the storm hit. I had visions of freezing right there above my ancestral home, but we had water and some food, so we found a small wooden shelter along the ridge and ducked in for the night. She told me that as a kid she and friends often camped in shelters like these. “The trick to a really comfy, deep sleep,” she told me, “is the ferns.” They’d cut them and put them on the floor. She said none of them stayed awake very long, and they slept late into the mornings on their fern beds. 

We tested her fern beds that night, and they worked! Although it was cold and the ground hard, I don’t remember a better night’s sleep-even after a good hike. It seems ferns give off a dose of hypnotic flavonoids that induce sound sleep. 

When I did some research, ferns are the plants recommended you have in your bedroom. Here’s a quick list other sleep-enabling plants I found online. 

The shelters themselves have an interesting history having to do with WWII, and I’ll tell you about that next week.

Did You Know. . .Plants can suffer from sudden blasts of light and that it can affect their growth? Scientists are working to mitigate those negative effects and boost efficiency of photosynthesis. So what does this mean? People like Professor Niyogi, UC Berkeley, are working toward increased crop production to meet the food needs of future generations. Sci-fi writers, how can you use this little bit of science news in your next book? I’m imagining The Plant That Ate New York.

Quote of the Week: “Only spread a fern-frond over a man’s head and worldly cares are cast out, and freedom and beauty and peace come in.” John Muir

Email Connect Commercial & Double Negative

By

Commercial Announcement-This will not disappear in ten seconds, so don’t fight it.

Email Connect (EC) is not a Newsletter. I have no news.
“So what do you have?”
“Thanks for asking.”
*A Featured Author each month.
*Gifts and Giveaways.
*Short, but hopefully helpful tips for writers and readers and other humans.
Sign up today for your chance to win a digital copy of Gadget Girl by Suzanne Kamata, my Featured Follower in November. I’m reading it now and it’s good!

 

I’ve been so neglectful of my Young Adult books lately, that I thought I’d give one a bit of press. So here’s . . . the Story Behind Double Negative
READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY. IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTANDING THE REST OF THE POST.
BUT NO PRESSURE.
#anT t# re#d #nd #nj#y # g##d st#ry? Wh#T #f y## c##ldn#t do th#t? W##ld y## b# fr#str#t#d? #ngry? S#cr#t#v#?
You could probably figure out the message, but was it easy? Did it take a while to decipher the words, and when you did, did you forget all about meaning because you were picking through it so slowly you forgot where you were going? And what about the NO PRESSURE part? Did you ignore that?

 









Here’s what it said: Want to read and enjoy a good story? What if you couldn’t do that? Would you be frustrated? Angry? Secretive? Maybe act out with anger?

In 2010 I stumbled on an article that said in L.A. County 33% of the residents were illiterate or low-literate. That brought me up short. Wasn’t the inability to read an emerging nation issue? An issue in back-country regions of the U.S.? I guess not!
Bryant Doughtery is definitely Hutch.
Hot and naughty. Lots of potential.

That article was the beginning of Double Negative. Hutch, then Fat Nyla and Maggie slowly evolved into the characters, then came Father Kerry, Moss and Meeker. All destined to play a part in a story about a kid who can’t read well enough to get through high school, but has the heart of a winner. All he needs is a pair of glasses and someone to believe in him.

Evernight Teen

“My life was going, going, gone, and I hadn’t been laid yet. I couldn’t go into the slammer before that happened.” —Hutch McQueen.

Quote of the Week: “Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.” Anonymous

 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #1d2129; -webkit-text-stroke: #1d2129}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #1d2129; -webkit-text-stroke: #1d2129; min-height: 17.0px}
span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Yvonne Ventresca October’s Featured Follower, #InkRipples & Lost Reputation Kickoff!

By

Indiebound | Amazon | B&N | AmazonUK | BAM
You’ll just have to imagine the drum roll, but I’m so excited to welcome my October Featured Follower, Yvonne Ventresca. She’s a special follower because she’s my critique partner and has been since the last century. Doesn’t that sound like a long time? But it’s true. We started writing together sometime in the 90s, but neither of us can remember exactly when. What’s fun is that each of us has mentored the other through our stories. We’ve come to know our characters like our own. If this writing journey has given me anything, it has given me great friends and Yvonne is one of them. Now here’s her next book. You’re going to love it.
My Email Connect peeps are in for a treat. Yvonne is offering an eBook to anyone in the world and the U.S. winner can choose eBook or a signed book. 

Here’s the story in a nutshell: Her father died before she was born, but Ella Benton knows they have a special connection. Now, evidence points to his death in a psychiatric hospital, not a car accident as Mom claimed. When strange, supernatural signs appear, Ella wonders if Dad’s trying to tell her something, or if someone’s playing unsettling tricks. As the unexplained events become sinister, she finds herself terrified about who—or what—might harm her. Then the evidence points to Ella herself. What if, like Dad, she’s suffering a mental breakdown? Ella desperately needs to find answers, no matter how disturbing the truth might be.

Connect with Yvonne
Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads
Yvonne Ventresca’s latest young adult novel, Black Flowers, White Lies was recently published by Sky Pony Press (October, 2016). BuzzFeed included it at the top of their new “must read” books: 23 YA Books That, Without a Doubt, You’ll Want to Read This Fall. Her debut YA novel, Pandemic, won a 2015 Crystal Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for the Atlantic region. 

Now segue into this month’s #InkRipples. At the heart of Yvonne’s book is a character who masks their identity. No one knows who that person really is. And when I found these masks, I thought they would be great at concealment and exciting to see. 

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. We post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. The brains behind this meme are all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate. You can also spread your own ripples by blogging about the topic any day of the month that fits your schedule, just be sure to include links back to Katie, Kai, and Mary.

The artist behind these masks is Melissa Ng, the founder of Lumecluster. This company prints 3D masks like the ones here. I loved what Ms Ng says about masks, “There is so much more to masks than simply for concealment or disguise. In fact, throughout history and cultures around the world, many masks served as protection against evil or as an expression of the human spirit, perseverance, identity or transformation. With this in mind, I wanted to make a mask that defined our times and our increasingly global maker/entrepreneurial tribe. A tribe that believes in making a difference in this world. And a tribe isn’t complete without its mask, right?”

A perfect quote for this week’s post: “It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” Henry David Thoreau

I have a bonus this week!  A new book from an Evernight Teen Pub Sister

Last day to enter $10 Evernight Teen GC Giveaway
LOST REPUTATION
Kimberly Ann Miller
Romance/Contemporary/Suspense/Young
Adult
Evernight Teen Publishing/237 pages
Casey Hayes has a secret—she writes
the conspiracy theory column for her high school newspaper. As the editor, she
thrives on the thrill of uncovering the facts—until she gets tangled up in a
scandal.
When she exposes a teacher’s shameful
secret, threats start, demanding she stop spreading the vicious rumors. Casey
blows it off and keeps on writing. Even sexy Victor Cruz, the hot senior with
the adorable accent who chases after Casey and tries to protect her, fails to
convince her to keep her mouth shut. But things only get worse as she ignores
the warnings, and soon, Casey must decide if exposing the truth is more
important to her than her life.
Buy Links:   Evernight
Teen    Amazon   
ARe    

Excerpt:
I laughed at the memory as I locked
up the newsroom and rushed to my next class. I still had a smile on my face as
I plopped down on my seat in the back row of calculus. Victor Cruz, my secret
crush, entered the room. My pulse reacted to his presence, but, thank God, no
other part of me did that he could see. I didn’t want to be lusting after
anyone this year because I was planning on working hard toward my college goals
and didn’t need the distraction.
The worst thing was, Charli told me
he gave his ex-girlfriend some rash because he cheated on her. I so did
not do the sexually transmitted diseases thing, and I definitely had zerorespect
for cheaters. Not even for a hunk like him, who obviously screwed around and
didn’t care if he got girls sick.
But damn, did this guy make my
insides quiver. He was totally hot. His parents moved to New Jersey
from Spain during middle school when Vic was scrawny and didn’t speak much
English. When senior year started a month ago, no one recognized him because
he’d grown ten inches, gained fifty pounds—of muscle—and must have taken some
classes in style because, damn, the boy knew how to dress to show off his
build.
Loose jeans with a belt, black boots,
and a black, long-sleeved tee only made him sexier. And the way he walked? It
should’ve been a crime. He had a swagger about him that rivaled any of the good
old boys of Hollywood. Watching it made me quiver in places I didn’t know could
quiver.
But it wasn’t just his looks that
held me captive. He had the values of an old-fashioned guy—holding the door
open for girls, helping them with heavy stuff, defending them when guys were
too rough or mean.
If it wasn’t for that wild partying
side of him … sigh.
As he approached his seat, I couldn’t
help but stare at his thighs, mesmerized by the fluid sway they made with each
step.
He caught me staring and raised a
thick black brow. I diverted my eyes and pretended to be very interested in the
junior’s notebook next to me. But I didn’t even know his name. Ugh.
Vic slid into his seat next to me and
winked at the girls that were staring at him.
They always stared at him.
I rolled my eyes. But when I felt his
eyes on me, I shifted in my seat, fighting the funny tingle in my stomach that
came from looking at him.
The other problem was, besides being
a distraction, Vic knew how sexy he’d become. He acted so cocky and confident,
I wanted to smack the grin off his face and remind him that not long ago, he
could have passed for a ten-year-old boy who couldn’t speak English or speak to
girls.
But, whatever. He had a harem now, so
good for him. And shiny black hair, smooth, bronze skin, and deep brown eyes
that … never mind. Didn’t matter anyway.
Kylie sauntered over to him, swaying
her hips so hard, I wondered how they didn’t dislocate. She leaned over his
back and wrapped her arms around his ample shoulders, pressing her boobs into
his back. I’m sure he loved that. “Hey, Vic. Busy this weekend? My parents are
out of town, and we can go riding if you want. I’ll pack us a lunch.” She ran
her fingernails over his chest as she spoke, clearly enjoying the feel of him.
He pulled her fingers off him and
slipped out of her grasp. “Sorry, I’m busy, but thanks for asking.”
She leaned into him again, making
sure to press her boobs into his neck. I rolled my eyes so hard, they almost
didn’t return to face front. That would suck. What would I tell the nurse? I
was looking at my brain instead of in front of me and I needed an eye
adjustment?
“Maybe another time, okay?”
Vic nodded once. “Si.”
I pulled out my phone to check
messages, done with listening to the vixen and her attempts at charming the
hottest guy in school.
“Hey, Casey,” he said in his sexy
Spanish accent. He had this way of dragging out the end of my name, making it
sound like Kay Seee.
It was both unsettling and adorable,
so I just grunted at him. How else could I get anything done with him around?
About the Author:
Kimberly Ann Miller received
Bachelor’s degrees from Georgian Court University and Rutgers University and a
Master’s degree from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New
Jersey.  She is an avid reader and particularly enjoys true crime and
young adult novels.  She grew up in New Jersey and currently resides
in Monmouth County with her husband and cats. When she’s not writing, she loves
to travel to sunny islands where she snorkels by day and stargazes by
night. She always takes her Nook with her.
Website Link: http://kimberlyannmiller.com/
[email protected] 
* * * * *




A Writer’s Ups and Downs and Inspiration

By

Blog. Twitter. Facebook
 Signed Copy of The Namesake for the first U. S. 
Email Connect Follower who raises a hand!

Steve Parlato is my Featured Follower for September and he has a new book on the brink of publication. Here he talks about it and about some of his experiences as a writer. 

Take it away, Steve!

I’ve finished my second book. While this hardly makes me Patterson prolific, I’m sort of impressed. I mean, it took ELEVEN YEARS for my debut, The Namesake, to go from initial scribblings in a college notebook to finished hardcover. By comparison, Book Two, The Precious Dreadful, was crafted with lightning speed: roughly two years start to finish—Start being a literal whisper in my head, sharing details of story at 5:00 AM on July 8, 2013. Finish = a solid revision submitted to my agent at last August’s end.

My newfound speed mostly results from expectations. I labored over my debut in blissful anonymity. No one outside family and friends was eager for me to complete a book. Sure, they cheered me on, but there was no reading public to consider. At least, no reading public keen on a follow-up from Publishers Weekly’s “name to watch.”

Steve and other authors. 
Networking, appearing, signing books. All part of the author’s life.

C. Lee Review 
Barnes and Noble. Amazon. Indiebound

I won’t pretend obscurity was idyllic. There were major disappointments en route to The Namesake’s release: false starts, agent misfires, rejections. And The Precious Dreadful has yet to hit bookshelves—plus I’m suddenly agentless—but with this novel, I’m a known quantity. While that caused sophomore trepidation, it also inspires me. 

If The Namesake was a thrilling leap into the unknown, with The Precious Dreadful, I have a better sense of where I’ll land. Writing TPD has been more purposeful, and I feel uncharacteristically confident. But I promise you, no less thrilled.
Getting to know my new protagonist, a young woman named Teddi Alder, has been a joy. The teen daughter of a trainwreck single mom, Teddi struggles to define herself one hot summer. Her decision to join SUMMERTEENS, a library writing group, leads to unexpected consequences— romantic and dramatic—as she works to solve two mysteries: the whereabouts of a long-lost childhood friend, and the appearance of a ghost-girl who emerges from the park pool late one night. As Teddi juggles mysterious events, and two guys with potential, The Precious Dreadful balances romance and humor with elements of horror and deeply felt emotion. 
Though the book isn’t technically a follow-up to The Namesake, Teddi’s story takes place in the same town as Evan’s, and there are sly references fans of my first novel will recognize. I’m excited to get The Precious Dreadful out there; thanks for the chance to share my news!

Be among the first to read an excerpt from Steve’s new book. Click HERE!

Quote of the Week: “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it.” Muhammad Ali

My September Featured Follower is… And Don’t Miss #InkRipples

By

 Barnes and Noble. Amazon. Indiebound
. . . Steve Parlato, author of The Namesake. I first met Steve in the UncommonYa group and came to appreciate his hard work and generous nature. He always chimed in during discussions, tweeted and re-tweeted author news, and posted regularly on the blog. Then I read his book and was drawn into his story by some seriously good writing and a story that touched my heart. I reviewed it just recently. This an example of a young adult story that can be devoured by a more mature reader and truly appreciated by them. My Review.
BLURB: The Namesake ~ (Adapted from Merit’s dustjacket copy)
For his teenage son, Evan Sr.’s decision to end his life is a deep betrayal. Evan was named for his father, and looks eerily like him, but the suicide proves the father he thought he knew was just a myth. A locked trunk may hold answers, and, thanks to his grandmother, the key is literally in Evan’s hand. Will his quest for answers help Evan find peace, or will he merely follow his father’s path to despair?  
In a voice that resonates with the authenticity of grief, Steven Parlato tells a different coming-of-age story, about a boy thrust into adulthood too soon, through the corridor of shame, disbelief, and finally…compassion. 

Kirkus Reviews: 
Evan Galloway, in his third year at Saint Sebastian’s Catholic High School, is told to “write what you know” for his college-application essays. But it’s what he doesn’t know that is haunting him.
“It’s funny how perfectly life splits into before and after,” Evan says. Before his father killed himself, home life was pretty normal—Now there’s a hole in that life that can’t be filled or explained. Evan takes on a quest…and the story becomes compelling, as answers to questions slowly surface…His digging… “let[s] the dragon out of the cave,” though, as troubling information unfolds about his father… Parlato’s debut novel, many years in the making, is a painstaking dissection of a father’s past and its reverberations in his son’s life.

A memorable, disturbing story, carefully wrought. (Fiction. 14 & up)
Blog. Twitter. Facebook

Steven Parlato, novelist, poet, and illustrator, is Associate Professor of English at Naugatuck Valley Community College, where he serves as advisor to the student newspaper, The Tamarack. Parlato’s played roles ranging from the Scarecrow to Macbeth; his poetry appears in Freshwater, MARGIE, Borderlands, Pirene’s Fountain, and Peregrine. Steven’s YA manuscript won a 2011 CT Shoreline Arts Alliance Tassy Walden Award. Upon The Namesake’s 2013 release, Kirkus called Parlato’s novel “a memorable, disturbing story, carefully wrought.”  

Lee, I’m so honored to be September’s Featured Follower. It’s been a summer of deep personal loss—my dad passed in July after a long cancer battle—and I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump. But the chance to share with your readers is inspiring. And it couldn’t come at a better time: I’m excited to share the news that Brilliance Audio’s new CD version of The Namesake audiobook releases September 6. It’s available for pre-order now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

And stay tuned because Steve has more news about his next book. I’ll be posting all about it next week! The Precious Dreadful! is the title. Can’t wait to find out more.

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. They post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. They’re all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate.

The idea of #InkRipples is to toss a word, idea, image, whatever into the inkwell and see what kind of ripples it makes. They provide the topics and will be blogging about them on the first Monday of the month. You can spread your own ripples by blogging about the topic any day of the month that fits your schedule, just be sure to include links back to Katie, Kai, and Mary.

My favorite banned book is Catch 22. I still have a torn and marked up paperback of my first copy, and I wouldn’t part with it. Every time I run into situations that seem to have no solutions or are totally insane, I hear Heller’s words in my head. 



So here are 3 Quotes for the Week from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22:


“Insanity is contagious.” 
“[They] agreed that it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything.”
“Why are they going to ‘disappear him?'”
“I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t make sense. It isn’t even good grammar.”

Look Who’s the Follower of the Month & Hats Off Corner Welcomes Yolanda Renee

By

Available on Amazon

Today I’m excited to host two writers. One is my first Follower of the Month. She’s been a long-time writer friend and she was the first one to take me up on my offer in March’s Email Connect. Welcome Beverly Stowe McClure. 

If you’re featured I:

  • buy, read, and review your latest book
  • mark your book as AM READING on Goodreads
  • feature you and your book(s) in my monthly EMAIL CONNECT email
  • tweet your book link(s) for 4 Wednesdays, 3 times a day during your month
  • post one facebook post with a link to my review
  • feature you on The Write Game on your month (this month’s an exception since the AtoZ Challenge starts, so I’m posting it a bit early)
  • Pin and feature your latest book cover to my Pinterest Board, Book Covers that Catch my Eye.
Congratulations, Beverly. And thanks for always being so supportive of others who write books.

Hats Off Corner

And my second and very wonderful guest is Yolanda Renee! With her latest book.
Yolanda Renée
Published by Curiosity Quills Press, Murder & Obsession is the third book in the Detective Quaid Series.

Tagline:
Flames burn between a hardboiled cop and a gifted artist but soon extinguish as another man’s obsession ignites into an inferno of desire, driving him to destroy the object of his madness…

Unrequited Love

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines unrequited as “not reciprocated or returned in kind.”

The plot of Murder & Obsession involves unrequited love and the act of killing to acquire and or retain that love. Remember Fatal Attraction?

Have you ever felt that deeply towards another individual that you couldn’t let him or her go? I’ve always been of the mind that if he’s not into me, move on. However, for some folks, it’s not that easy. 

In Murder & Obsession, the antagonist is a man obsessed with a woman he can’t have. Why murder the object of your love? That goes against everything that makes sense for most of us. Yet, the sad truth in this country is that death by a lover or spouse happens daily.

Statistics prove that on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or lovers every day. Although, if you watch Snapped, you know life insurance seems to be a major factor too.

Blurb:
As wedding bells echo like the ring of toasting champagne glasses in the ice carved mountains of Anchorage Alaska, Detective Steven Quaid rehabs his grandfather’s cabin into a honeymoon cottage for his new bride. 

When he returns from a hunting trip, Steven’s faced with five police officers, who “Want to talk.” Plagued by two unsolved murders, the Department is searching for answers.

The conversation comes to a deafening halt as the team finds a bloody crime scene in the bridal suite. 

“Where’s her body?” is a question Steven cannot fathom.  

Steven’s jaw clenches and his heart races. Images of Sarah streak through his mind. 

The silence breaks as an explosion of accusations vibrate through every fiber of his being. 
Steven bolts…

Although running is never the smart thing to do, Steven’s not thinking clearly and his escape into the wilderness of the Brooks Range proves almost fatal. 

This Steven Quaid mystery is both personal and heartbreaking.

Bio: Yolanda Renée
At one time adventure called to me and I answered. I learned to sleep under the midnight sun of Alaska, survive in below zero temperatures, and hike the Mountain Ranges. I’ve traveled from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, and the memories are some of my most valued. The wonders, mysteries and incredible beauty that is Alaska has never left me and thus now influence my writing.

Despite my adventurous spirit, I achieved my educational goals, married, and I have two wonderful sons. Writing is now my focus, my newest adventure!

~~ Pinterest ~~ Amazon ~~
~~ BUY ~~




Quote of the Week: “Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.” Kahlil Gibran