a look at Beth D. Carter & ‘Untraceable’ @BethDCarter @evernightpub #Interview #Erotic #RomanticSuspense

On September 26, 2019September 24, 2019 By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, PublishersLeave a comment

Today we have author Beth D. Carter visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* I hate washing dishes but I love cooking. I hate washing clothes but I love wearing them. I try to write characters who aren’t cookie cutters, ones who are full of angst but where love redeems them. I push myself to write complicated situations that I have no idea how to resolve, forcing me to think outside the box. I hate people who don’t pick up their dog’s crap in public places and I really hate people who are rude and condescending. I especially hate discrimination in all and every form. The perfect birthday presents are gift certificates to bookstores. And I love to hear from readers. I’m really easy to find on Facebook or Twitter.

A look into…

~ Behind the Book ~

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?
Originally from Missouri, I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. By day I’m a pharmacy tech and by night I try to tap out some words on a page.

What book are you going to tell us about today? Is it part of a series? If so, what’s the order the books should be read in?
My book, Untraceable, is the second book in the World of Danger series. The first is titled Invincible and I have a third planned for 2020.

How’d you/your muse come up with this story?
That’s a funny story. I had originally wrote the beginning of it for a different series, but that never really got off the ground. It was supposed to an A-Team storyline, with four mercenaries kicked out of the Army and now fight for the innocent. Only I never really connected with the characters I had in mind. Luckily, I never got rid of it, and shifted those characters into this series, and this time…it worked!

Describe the hero in five words.
JD Harlan the Second is: focused, hardheaded, secretive, born leader

Describe the heroine in five words.
Mae Sawyer is: bookworm, unexciting, ordinary, very adaptable

Who’s your favorite character in the book & why?
Mae, because she’s me. I hope to many readers she’s very relatable because she has no other special ability than the memory of the books she’s read.

What’s your favorite line in the story?
I have a few favorites in this story. Here’s one section I think is pretty funny:
* “Why don’t you stay here while I-”
* A second later she had latched onto his arm. “No way. Where you go I go.”
* He tried to extract his arm, but she held fast, like a boa constrictor strangling its prey. “Mae. Let me go.”
* “No way, Jose. Haven’t you ever watched horror movies? The girl left behind always dies.”

~ Blurb ~

* Mae Sawyer has a huge crush on her boss, JD Harlan, but he doesn’t even know she exists. She blends into the background of her data entry job, living for glimpses of him walking through the office. Then one night, everything changes. While working late, she’s caught up in a plot to kidnap him…and gets taken as well.
* They wake up in an underground bunker. No electricity. No way to be traced. Alone, they have to rely on each other to stay strong until their captor decides their fate. Danger lurks outside the bunker, waiting for a moment of vengeance.

~ Excerpt ~

* “Everything was well planned,” he muttered, coming to a stop in front of her. She lifted her head to look up at him. “Except it was set up for one person. You were unexpected, which makes me wonder why they took you instead of leaving you behind.”
* “Sympathy, of course,” she said immediately. “Collateral damage. You won’t do anything to escape if it means leaving me behind. Clearly I’m not made for hiking through a proverbial jungle so I’m your weakest link.”
* He looked her over, from head to toe. She wore comfortable business attire complete with sensible, low-heeled pumps. Definitely not made for a quick get-a-way if it came to that. But something earnest in her eyes caught his attention…a spark of fierceness that her drab clothing and persona tried to hide. A little voice in his head told him there was a lot more to Mae Sawyer.
* “I disagree with that,” he said thoughtfully. “You are not the weak link here.”
* She smiled and placed a hand on his arm, staring up at him with those remarkable eyes that managed punch him in his chest. Big. Brown. Absolutely guileless. When had he ever met a woman whose thoughts were reflected in her eyes? Unexpectedly, desire slammed into his gut and he had an urge to lean down and kiss her. He wanted to know if she tasted as sweet as she looked, which boggled his mind. He tended to date women who knew the score. Females who didn’t expect anything more than a good dinner and good sex. Long nights at the office, even longer nights on assignment, and a constant threat of danger hanging over his head tended to be isolating. His lifestyle and work commitments didn’t allow for relationships…or emotions, and he instinctively knew Mae wasn’t the love-em-and-leave-em type of woman.
* So instead of doing want he wanted, which was kissing her until they were both senseless, he took a few steps away from her and took a deep breath to get his hormones under control. He had to force his mind into thinking like a security analyst again.

Buy Untraceable here…
Amazon – US | Evernight Publishing | Smashwords

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

Welcome to Gardner Browning & ‘Karma City’ #SciFi #PostApocalyptic @GoddessFish

On May 29, 2019May 20, 2019 By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Book Tours7 Comments

Today we have author Gardner Browning visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* Gardner Michael Browning is an award-winning author and professional wrestler. In addition to receiving a New Hampshire Literary Award, two of his novels were part of an international English literacy program for middle grade readers. Browning enjoys classic literature, fishing, playing guitar and spending time with his family.

Today Gardner Browning will be talking about the best and worst pieces of writing advice he’s ever received.
* The worst advice that I ever received was when I was a young man and fledgling writer, an English teacher told the class that the most important part of any story is the protagonist (hero). The students spent a lot of time drafting up cool heroes and layering in the “character flaws.” It made me cringe then and it makes me cringe now.
* The most important part of commercially competitive fiction is not the protagonist, but antagonist (villain). The bad guy drives the plot! Without a good bad guy, you can’t have a great good guy! The antagonist is the source of the primary conflict, the troubles in the world and most importantly, he/she is the reason the reader sympathizes with your protagonist. We care about our hero because we become a good villain will make us emotionally attached.
* Good stories are the ones that contain the great evils that give rise to legendary heroes. Simply put, without a well thought out, compelling, and powerful antagonist—one who has his/her own goals and views him/herself as the rightful hero — you don’t have a story at all.
* The best advice I ever received in writing was, “You gotta sex it up, man!”
* That’s right! Though, that doesn’t mean a writer needs to have his characters dive into the sheets every other chapter. Sometimes, there just isn’t time when the heroes are dodging bullets.
* I’m talking about a love tension. In Karma City, the reader finds Jameson and Luna each keeping feelings for one another but unable to come forward and voice them. The stakes rise. The love rises. The tension builds. The reader is turning pages now because he/she is emotionally connected. Finally, there comes a time when they can lock eyes and accept that they have a love that allows them to love themselves.
* So, my advice to any writer, if you want your story to pull the heart strings and get readers emotionally invested, build a love tension that feels organic, natural to your characters, and let it rise with the elevating stakes that drive up the plot.

A look into…

~ Blurb ~

* A microscopic parasite has crippled humanity with night terrors and paralyzing anxiety. In this world of increasing dystopia, hope yet remains in Karma City. But when mercenary drifter, Jameson Shoals, learns that a famous scientist has created a stronger parasite to kill the original, it isn’t until the bodies litter the streets that he realizes the horrifying truth: the new parasite is a killer with a mind of its own, and upon dominating Patient Zero, this killer acquires legs, hands, and eyes. It falls upon Shoals and his partner, a deadly female mercenary, to stop PZ and his mob before they can overcome and supplant humankind.

~ Excerpt ~

* Though the degradation in society perpetuated by the Malady parasite crippled advancements in industry and commerce, coal mining prevailed in the mountains and parts beyond Karma City, producing abundant fuel for steam engines and thermal power plants. As a result, the railroad had become the people’s last lifeline. Two 4-8-4 steam locomotives, antiquated yet reliable engines, wheeled along cardinal tracks transporting people, medicine and goods back and forth from Karma, Rime, Lobos and many other unnamed stops in the endless Void Lands. The masters of these locomotives were the rifle-bearing men and women sworn to a life on the tracks— the cold-hearted, Iron Tribe.

Buy Karma City here…
The book will be on sale for $0.99. Amazon – US

Find Gardner Browning here…
Amazon Author Page | Facebook Page

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

ANNOUNCEMENT! Gardner Browning 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!

Welcome to Ann Crawford w/ ‘Fresh off the Starship’ @ann_crawford1 @GoddessFish #WomensFiction #SciFi #Humor

On May 21, 2019May 6, 2019 By Casey's CornerIn Authors & Books, Book Tours9 Comments

Today we have author Ann Crawford visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* I’m a fun-loving, world-traveling, high-flying, deep-diving, and living-to-the-max author of eight books. When I’m not flying planes, scuba diving, climbing every mountain (on the back of my husband’s motorcycle) or riding the world’s fastest roller coasters, you can find me in my writing nest with a view of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains out the window. I’ve lived all over–from both oceans white with foam, to the prairie, and now to the mountain. Yes, a little backwards, but what the hey.
* My bestselling and award-winning novels go as high and deep as I do—they’re profound yet funny; playful although poignant; heart-opening and heart-lifting; thought-provoking and inspiring; and edgy while universal. I’m also a screenwriter and award-winning filmmaker and humanitarian.

Today Ann Crawford will be talking about the best and worst pieces of writing advice she’s ever received.
* Well, the worst advice is easy: someone once told me to “Grow up!” and get a real, “practical” job, and give up this being-a-writer dream. Ugh! If I was writing books and people were saying, “Have you considered bagging groceries at Safeway instead?” I might consider giving it up. Well, I take that back—I write because I love it and I have to…it’s just who I am and what I do. So even if my books didn’t appeal to anyone else, I’d still write. But I do get great accolades from readers, reviewers, and award-givers, so I’m delighted it’s all working out.
* That unsolicited advice was so crazy awful! And he was a person of influence in my life. If I hadn’t been so driven, come from a highly creative family where such “crazy” pursuits were the norm (although so was keeping the day job until the creative pursuit could pay the way), and been so stubborn by nature, he might have decimated that dream. I wrote him a long letter telling him how wrong he was and to never dash someone’s goals like that. He later said, “Well, I guess you’ll show me.” Check!
* The best advice is also easy: “Keep writing!” Included in that would be “the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair” at a prescheduled, uninterruptible time and preferably behind a closed door…a playlist for each book (actually, that’s mine—no one ever suggested that to me but it works really, really well; the music becomes Pavlovian after a while, automatically dropping me into the world of the book)…and, well, if that’s where the joy is, nothing’s going to stop it.

A look into…

~ Blurb ~

* Love to laugh? You’ll enjoy this feel-good tale.
* A starbeing skyrockets to Earth from the other side of forever with a specific assignment: to help steer humanity away from the collision course it’s on. But we all know how travel can get drastically diverted–instead of landing in Washington, D.C., where she could assist on a grand geopolitical scale, she ends up in…Kansas!
* Wrong place, right time? Join our shero on this whimsical journey as she pursues her purpose as well as discovers the beauty of life and love on Earth.

~ Excerpt ~

* She catches a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror and lets out a gasp of surprise. She looks down at her body and then back at her reflection. She turns to the right, then to the left, then even more to the right, and then even more to the left.
* She gazes at her long limbs and then at the gentle curves and soft swells with interesting shapes, patterns and varying colors. She’d seen the human form during her training, but it’s quite different seeing it in person, literally, as a person.
* This vehicle is amazingly beautiful!
* The morning starlight casts her in a golden glow. She turns and looks over her shoulder to see the back of her in the mirror. Her long, light-brown-colored hair falls down her back like a veil.
* It’s one thing to study human beings. It’s a whole other thing altogether to be encased in this gorgeous piece of Creation.
* She wanders down the hall to the bathroom. She examines the tub and the faucets, remembering coming across such objects in her Googling and Youtubing. She starts filling the tub, adjusting the temperature to something that feels good, and climbs in.
* Holy Heaven!
* Not only is the water pressing against her, head to toe, a sensory pleasure in itself, she also runs her hands over this luscious body thing of hers. Nothing in her eternal life had ever felt like this. “Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

Buy Fresh off the Starship here…
Amazon – US

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

ANNOUNCEMENT! Ann Crawford 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!