Tag: Guest Post

Welcome to John Nicholl w/ #PsychologicalThriller #book ‘Portraits of the Dead’ @nicholl06 @GoddessFish

On By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Goddess Fish Promotions5 Comments

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Today we have author John Nicholl visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
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* John Nicholl, an ex-police officer, child protection social worker, manager and lecturer, has written three dark psychological suspense thrillers, each of which are Amazon international bestsellers, reaching # 1 in multiple categories in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Australia, Canada and the USA. John is always happy to hear from readers, bloggers or anyone interested in proposing a joint creative project. He can be contacted via his author website.

Today John Nicholl will be talking about where his ideas come from.
* All three of my books draw heavily on my professional experiences as a police officer and child protection social worker, manager and trainer in Cornwall, England, and green and rural West Wales over a twenty year plus period. In a way, given my many professional experiences, I think that dark psychological crime thrillers chose me, rather than me choosing them as I originally thought. At the end of the day, they were the books I had to write. I think that’s the best way of putting it. I think it’s fair to say that I find it much easier to write from real life experience, which isn’t surprising when you think about it, and I greatly admire all those writers who can create amazing fantasy worlds from their own vivid imaginations alone… like the Harry Potter books. J K Rowling is an incredible author who is a great example of what I mean. I really don’t know how she does it all with such undoubted aplomb. I think that’s a real skill. Such a talented woman. I sometimes think it would be interesting and enjoyable to write a different genre of books, but, if I’m honest with myself, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. Never say never, but I somehow doubt it. I think it’s very likely to be more psychological suspense thrillers in the future. I guess that’s not a bad thing in itself. Many successful writers have a chosen genre and style and stick to it. I’ll almost certainly do the same.

A look into…

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~ Blurb ~

* Emma didn’t know how long he hid, silent and unmoving, in the large Victorian wardrobe to the side of her single bed. She didn’t know how long he peered out, salivating and drooling, between the two heavy dark oak doors, and watched, mesmerised, as she slowly drifted into fitful sleep. She didn’t know what time he pushed the doors open and crept towards her in the drab grey darkness of the night.
* Detective Inspector Gravel finds himself floundering when a local nineteen-year-old university student is abducted and imprisoned by a sadistic serial killer, who has already tortured and killed five young women.
* A gripping page-turner of a serial killer thriller packed with suspense. If you like Rachel Abbott, Robert Bryndza and Karin Slaughter, discover John Nicholl’s chilling new thriller today.

~ Excerpt ~

* Chapter 1
* 2:20 A.M. Saturday, 2 May 1998
* Emma didn’t know how long he hid, silent and unmoving, in the large Victorian wardrobe to the side of her single bed. She didn’t know how long he peered, salivating and drooling, between the two heavy dark oak doors and watched, mesmerised, as she slowly drifted into fitful sleep. She didn’t know what time he pushed the doors open and crept towards her in the drab grey darkness of the night. But he did. She knew that he did.
* Emma woke with a start, tense, alert, and opened her bleary eyes, telling herself insistently that the dark silhouette slowly approaching her was the nightmare construct of her subconscious mind. But initial anxiety became blind panic as the inky shadow took on an obvious human form that suddenly gained pace and loomed over her. And then a hand, a large hot clammy hand, pulled the bedclothes over her head, clamped her mouth tight shut and silenced her scream before it materialised.
* A myriad unwelcome thoughts invaded her troubled mind as he pinned her head to the pillow and raised his free arm high above his head, before closing his fingers tightly, forming his hand into a formidable weapon and bringing it crashing down, again and again and again, with all the force he could muster, rendering her unconscious and bleeding.
* She didn’t know how long she remained senseless, or what he did to her while she slept. She didn’t know what time he lifted her from her bed and carried her from her student bedroom, down the creaking wooden staircase and out into the Welsh city street. But he did. She knew that he did.

Buy Portraits of the Dead here…
Amazon

Find John Nicholl here…
Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website

Thank you for joining us here today, John Nicholl! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! John Nicholl will award to one randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card! So be sure to leave a comment AND use this RAFFLECOPTER LINK to enter the drawing. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!

Welcome to Brandon Zenner w/ #Dystopian #book ‘The After War’ @SlapstickII @GoddessFish

On By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Goddess Fish Promotions9 Comments

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Today we have author Brandon Zenner visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
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* Brandon Zenner is an American fiction writer and an Amazon best selling author. His short fiction has been published in both print and online publications, the first being submitted when he was 19 years old. THE EXPERIMENT OF DREAMS, his debut eBook thriller, has reached Amazon’s best seller list many times. His second novel, WHISKEY DEVILS, was released in early 2016. THE AFTER WAR, a dystopian thriller, is available now as a pre-order, at 80% off the final sale price. You can follow the author on his Amazon page, or through his email list on his website. All email subscribers will receive his futuristic short story, HELIX ILLUMINATED, for free as a thank you. His genres of choice are thrillers, crime, dystopian, and science fiction.

Today Brandon Zenner will be talking about the first book that had a big impact on him.
* It’s funny to think about it now, but I have a distant memory from back when I was in grade school, lying down on my parent’s couch and struggling to read a book that I was issued from school. Whatever the title was, I have no recollection. But I have a vivid memory of thinking that at that time, books were never going to be my thing. My dad and sister were voracious readers, as was most everyone else in my family, but I was quite certain that I was never going to enjoy reading at all.
* Flash forward a year or two, not that much time, and I was again issued a book from my teacher called Hatchet. Although I won’t go as far as to say that it was the first book to have a big impact on me, it was the first book that I enjoyed from start to finish, and I even went so far as to read the sequel. I remember the thrilling feeling as the young character survived after being stranded on a beach alone, and even the feeling of hunger when the author described a quail being roasted, the skin browned and sizzling, and juices running from the meat.
* Again, flash forward a few years to when I’m about thirteen, and I have a slight appreciation for reading before I delve into the author who will occupy most of my teenage years: Kurt Vonnegut. It was a friend of mine who urged me to read his books, so I decided to give the author a shot, and borrowed one of his lesser-known novels, SLAPSTICK. It hit me then like a ton of bricks—books, writing, it could be whatever the author wanted it to be. Kurt Vonnegut’s words delved into imaginary and fantastical worlds vastly more complex than my previous school-issued books. I quickly devoured most all of his books. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, CAT’S CRADLE, MOTHER NIGHT, BLUEBEARD, and on and on. The immense world of fiction had been unlocked, and the seed of what would later go on to consume most of my teenage and adult life had been planted: writing fiction of my own.
* So, I can’t say that SLAPSTICK was the best, or even my favorite Kurt Vonnegut novel, but it was the first book that truly opened my eyes to the amazing world of fiction. I think back to both that novel and that period of my life with such fond reverie, and wish I could go back in time to read all of Kurt Vonnegut’s books again, for the very first time.

A look into…

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~ Blurb ~

* Two years have passed since mankind faced extinction. Brain Rhodes and his cousin, Steven, are leaving the protection of their underground bunker for the first time, after a cataclysmic war and unrelenting disease ravaged the earth.
* On the other side of the North American continent, young Simon Kalispell is leaving the safety and seclusion of his cabin deep in the woods, traveling with his aging canine companion, Winston.
* For individual reasons, these men are traveling east, where the fragmented lives of a small number of survivors will soon be decided by the choices of a corrupt few.
* Simon Kalispell and Brian Rhodes are not yet aware, but the strength that resides inside them will soon be tested, and destiny will call for their fates to be forever intertwined.

~ Excerpt ~

* Brian lowered his gun. “It’s okay, Steve. He’s dead.” He looked around. “There’s no one here.”
* Steven lowered his rifle, wiping his palms on his thighs and brushing the sweat from his eyes.
* “I said he’s dead, Steve—”
* “I reckon he’s dead, Brian. I see he’s dead.”
* “Come on now. We’re right at town.”
* They sidestepped the corpse until it was well behind them. If the body was someone they had once known, it was now impossible to determine who that person might have been.
* “That won’t be the last of them,” Brian said. “You better get your head on straight.”
* Steven opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it again.
* They stepped onto the road as the first house emerged from the woods. They walked past it, taking careful notice of the blank windows—as black as the eye sockets of the corpse—and scanned for any sign of movement, like the fluttering of drapes, or the partially covered face of a person peering out from the darkness with a shotgun clenched tight in their hands. Anything.
* But there was no movement.
* “Think anyone’s left?” Steven said, with a crack in his voice.
* Brian shrugged. “I know as much as you do.”
* The yards around the homes, and Pearl Street itself, were spotted with litter and debris of every kind blowing in the gentle breeze. Overgrown tree roots buckled sections of the sidewalk and emerged from cracks in the pavement. They passed the police station bordering the center of town. The cruisers were vacant in the parking lot, and the building was cold and silent.

Buy The After War here…
Amazon The After War will be $0.99 during the tour.

Find Brandon Zenner here…
Facebook | Twitter

Thank you for joining us here today, Brandon Zenner! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! Brandon Zenner will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour! So be sure to leave a comment AND use this RAFFLECOPTER LINK to enter the drawing. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!

Welcome Cate Beauman w/ #RomanticSuspense #series ‘Bodyguards of L.A. County’ @CateBeauman @GoddessFish

On By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Goddess Fish Promotions10 Comments

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Today we have author Cate Beauman visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
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* International bestselling author Cate Beauman is known for her full-length, action-packed romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards of L.A. County. Her novels have been nominated for the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden Quill Award, Writers Touch Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five Star books. In 2015, JUSTICE FOR ABBY was selected as the Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Gold Medalist, while SAVING SOPHIE took the Silver Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015 Readers Crown Award winner for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR SARAH received the silver medal for the 2014 Readers’ Favorite Awards.
* Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently Cate is working on her twelfth full length romantic suspense novel.

Today Cate Beauman will be talking about “Long Story Short: Grow From Rejection.”
* I often hear others in the industry mention their love of the written word or how they knew they wanted to write stories for as long as they can remember. In my case, neither of those statements quite rings true. I hated reading as a young girl. It wasn’t until I was twenty that I had any desire to pick up a book and read for pleasure. I also never knew I wanted to be a storyteller until five short years ago.
* For most of my adult life, I worked with children with moderate to severe special needs. I loved it. Then we moved to a new state and the career I had chosen turned into a nightmare. My new job was awful and I resigned after a month of coming home in tears every day. For about two weeks, I binge ate chocolate and reread my favorite Nora Roberts novels. And then an idea clicked. I decided I was going to be a writer and tell fascinating stories just like my most favorite author.
* My husband came home from work and I shared my new ambition. I think he thought I had lost my mind, but he supported me anyway and has continued to be my biggest champion.
* For weeks I sat at my computer, typing away, having no real idea of what I was doing, but I loved it and how hard could it be, anyway? For a long time, I thought I was a storytelling genius—that one person who could write down their words and would instantly be picked up for a writing contract as soon as I got my work into the right hands. Wrong!
* I finished my first draft and joined an online writing community where I could trade critiques with other writers. I learned so much and realized I had a long way to go to improve my craft. I rewrote my novel twice before I sent it off for professional editing. And the editor emailed me the next day to tell me not to give up my day job and refused my manuscript.
* For a good two weeks I went back to the chocolate and Nora books and was ready to give up, but my champion reminded me that an editor is just a human being with an opinion. Thankfully, I resubmitted my work to a new editor and he got started right away. While my editor helped me clean up my project, I got started on the next story, then the next. Within a year and a half, I had three completed novels on my hands and wavered on what I should do with them.
* After doing much research, I decided I could spend months writing query letters or I could put my work out there on Amazon and the several other vendors available to indie authors and see what was what. This was the right decision for me.
* One nail-biting weekend in October 2012, we made all three books—Morgan’s Hunter, Falling For Sarah, and Hailey’s Truth—live and by weekend’s end, they were climbing Amazon’s ranks and made the bestseller list.
* Now, here I am less than three years later and I’ve begun work on my eleventh novel. I wake up every day thanking my lucky stars that my new job in a new state had been truly wretched, that I had the courage to try something different, and that I have loyal readers that eagerly come back for each new adventure in the Bodyguards of L.A. County series.
* With lots of hard work and a healthy dose of divinity thrown in, I’ve managed to become an international best seller, the runner up and winner of several very cool awards, and the writer of well-rated novels.
* Long story short: never be afraid to learn, go after what you want, grow from rejection, and be thankful every single minute for your tragedies and triumphs.

A look into…

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* Ethan Cooke Security and their bodyguard team return to action in Deceiving Bella – book eleven in Cate Beauman’s Bodyguards of L.A. County series.
* With over 7700 reviews and a 4.4 rating for the entire series, see why the Bodyguards of L.A. County is a multi-award winning series.
* New to the series? No problem! Each book in the “Bodyguards” series is a stand-alone title. Although reading the books in order is preferred, it is not necessary. Each title features brand new primary characters and limited overlapping secondary characters. Don’t hesitate to jump right in!

~ Blurb ~

* Isabella Colby has always yearned for normalcy. Now that she’s settled in LA, she finally has it. Good friends, a pretty home, and her thriving career as the Palisades’ top skincare specialist are a dream come true. Bella is content until she meets her hunky new neighbor, but her attraction to the blue-eyed cutie is the least of her worries when contacting her long-lost father threatens to destroy her happy life.
* Reed McKinley is more than ready to forget the past. His seven-year stint as an NYPD detective nearly got him killed. His wounds have healed and he’s starting over as Ethan Cooke Security’s latest recruit. With sixty-hour workweeks and little time to himself, the last thing on his mind is a relationship. Then he bumps into the gorgeous woman next door.
* Reed and Bella become fast friends. Before long, Reed discovers that Bella is keeping dangerous secrets. Bella may have the answers to decades-old questions he’s been searching for. Reed will risk it all to uncover the truth, but he soon realizes that the deeper he digs, the direr the consequences.

~ Excerpt from Deceiving Bella ~

* Should we get started?” Bella gestured to the kitchen.
* “After you.”
* She walked in front of Reed, hurrying to the table to pull out a chair. “Does this work?”
* “Yeah, it’s fine.” He sat down.
* She immediately draped him with the black cover, wanting to get to his hair while it was still wet. “So, what are we doing here, exactly?”
* “Just a cleanup, especially on my neck.”
* “Sure.” She grabbed the sheers and took her place by his side, sliding her fingers though his short hair and stopped. “Oops.”
* His shoulders tensed. “What?”
* “Just kidding. A little haircutting humor.”
* He tilted his head up, meeting her eyes. “A comedian.”
* She laughed as he smiled. “I haven’t even started cutting yet.” She gave him a bump. “Try to relax. I promise you’re in good hands.”
* “Chop away.”
* “Thanks.” She combed her fingers through his hair once more, using small snips to freshen up his look. Silent seconds ticked by as she breathed in the masculine scent that was Reed. He didn’t seem to wear cologne or use any fancy shampoos, but he smelled good just the same. “So, how was your day?”
* “Not too shabby.”
* She worked her way around his head, finding his cut a breeze to clean up. He easily could have gone another week without any problems. “What did you do?”
* “Worked a little. Boxed.”
* “Fascinating.”
* “I could make up something about stopping a bank robbery in progress or rescuing a cat from a tree.”
* She smiled. “The truth is fine, thanks.”
* “What about you?”
* “It was pretty much a normal day at the office—a second-session tattoo removal, a microdermabrasion, two stretch mark reductions, the usual stuff.”
* “What’s the tattoo of? The one you’re taking off?”
* “A woman’s name. Genevieve. The relationship didn’t work out.”
* He winced. “Ouch.”
* “Triple ouch. Tattoo removal is not a pain-free procedure, nor is it cheap—and he went pretty ornate with Genevieve. Hopefully next time he’ll pick a woman with a shorter name or abstain from getting himself tatted up altogether.”
* He laughed.
* She grinned, loving that sound. Did he have any idea how gorgeous he was when he smiled like that? She picked up the clippers off the table and let her knees rest against his as she leaned in and gently lifted his chin, evening out his sideburns. She swallowed, feeling his breath on her skin and his eyes studying her face. Licking her lips, she met his gaze. “You better hope I get this part right, or you’ll have to tilt your head for the next four days.”
* He sent her another one of his pulse-pounding smiles. “You’ll have to help me decide if I should lean more to the left or right.”
* Oh, this cutie had the potential to be trouble. Her eyes darted to his mouth mere inches from hers as his five o’clock shadow tormented her sensitized fingers. She took a step back and a steadying breath. It was a good thing they were just friends—currently the only relationship status she was interested in.
* Did you enjoy the excerpt? You can read the first chapter on my website, www.catebeauman.com, or you can finish the whole book with the links below!

Buy the books here…
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

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Find Cate Beauman here…
Amazon Author Page | BookBub | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter | Website
Do you like to win free stuff? Sign up for Cate’s Newsletter to be notified of monthly giveaway offers and new release information. For a limited time: new subscribers will receive a free copy of Morgan’s Hunter and Falling for Sarah, books one and two in the Bodyguards of L.A. County series!

Thank you for joining us here today, Cate Beauman! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! Cate Beauman will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour! So be sure to leave a comment AND use this RAFFLECOPTER LINK to enter the drawing. Also, visit the other tour stops for a greater chance of winning!