Saturday, May 17, 2014

Blog Tour, The Guardians II: The Revelation

BLOG TOUR- May 18-24th

Author: Jennifer Raygoza
Title: The Guardians II: The Revelation
Series: The Guardians
Genre: Romantic Dark Fantasy
Release Date: 5.20.14
Publishing House: Vamptasy

About me: Jennifer Raygoza lives in Corona, California with her husband and children. She developed a love for writing poetry at the young age of twelve. She did not want to become a writer when she was young. She had dreams of becoming a Marriage Counselor and majored in Psychology when she was older. Although that dream did not work out she still council’s relationship advice to friends and family. In 2013 she published her first book called The Guardians. Originally it was a story written for fun, and out of curiosity was self-published. Little did she know that it would be a hit with vampire lovers. Fans encouraged her to write part two in the series. She was currently working on another project, but pushed it back to write part two in the series to please the fans. The third and final book in The Guardians series is in the works set to come out 9/2014.

Excerpt

Are you aware he’s taken? Are you aware he has a wife and kids? Are you aware you’re standing in his wife’s presence at this very moment?” I sharply narrowed my eyes at her. She cocked her neck back. A quick thought of ripping out her vocal cords popped into my head, but I wanted to give her the benefit of responding first. 

He married you? That’s amusing. I would have thought he could have done better,” she said, sucking through her fangs. Without a second thought I lunged at her. I felt someone grab my waist to hold me back. It was Caleb. He had Luke and Sasha at his side.

Priscilla, what the hell are you doing here?” Caleb asked, still holding me tightly. Sasha stepped a few feet forward as she exchanged looks with Priscilla. I tried to push Caleb’s hands off my body, but I was unsuccessful.

Wow, Caleb. You look good. What are you, like, seventy-five years old already?” Priscilla put the tip of her finger in her mouth. Every word that came off of her lips sounded like pure blonde desperation.

Buy Links- pending!

For More Information Info









Poster Boy for Average; Sommer Marsden

Pretty sure we all know Sommer by now; she's that wonderful lady next door in my e-neighborhood who usually has a glass of wine and some fresh chit-chat... so, have a lawn chair and there's a fluffy girl drink in the blender...

____


This whole pseudo blog tour of mine has basically been about my favorite moments. Not just in my book but in life and in the love story of two people. Here’s another favorite. The moment when all the b.s. begins to fall away. All the worries and the fears get dragged out into the light where they seem so much less terrifying than they seemed before. This is the beginning of that moment…

XOXO
Sommer

Excerpt:

Downstairs, she simply stared at her crazy dog. He was not standing by the back door for the sunroom, which led out to the deck. Nope. He was planted before the front door, wagging his tale and whining.
Which he only did when the person on the other side was someone he knew. Strangers, he barked. Known folks, he sat and whined until she let them in.

“Hello?” she said loud enough—she hoped—to be heard through the front door and the screen. Or had she locked the screen door? She couldn’t remember.

The hair on her arms stood up and her nipples grew tight and hot inside her jersey. She wasn’t sure if she was excited or scared. Maybe both.

A deep sigh. It was audible to her in the total silence of her house. Usually she had music playing or the TV going or even talk radio on. Right now the only sounds were her breathing, the swish-swish-swish of Bruce’s wagging tail on the hardwood floor, the tick of the clock and then, barely audible, “Aubrey?”

She’d known it would be him. She’d known it would be his voice she heard, but it still warmed her as if she were sitting beneath the bright summer sun.

“Yes?”

“Can you open the door?”

She stayed frozen where she was. Her heart pounding. Her body on high alert. “Maybe.”

“Did I wake you?”

She shuffled a step forward, wanting to rush forward and let him in, but afraid of what would happen if she did. Not to her body—she knew what would happen in that respect if she let him in—but inside her. The part of her that was hurt he was keeping her at arm’s length. Whether she understood it or not.

“A little. Mostly Bruce woke me.”

“I came to say I can’t stop thinking about you. Despite my own warnings to you, it’s me who can’t keep my shit together. Or my distance.”

Aubrey moved a bit closer to the door. Her hands were shaking. Her heart pounded. She licked her lips and watched Bruce wag his tail to the point where he nearly tipped himself over.

She unlocked the door, but left the chain on. “I can’t stop thinking of you either,” she whispered.

He reached through the gap, his hand above the security chain, and stroked her cheek. The touch made her shiver. What was keeping her from opening the door and letting him in? Pride?

Possibly.

“You don’t have to let me in. I wanted to say that maybe I’m an asshole.”

That made her laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

His thumb ran slowly along her lower lip and it took everything in Aubrey not to stick her tongue out and lick it.

“I would. I think I’m pushing you away so very hard, Aubrey, because all I really want, to be honest, is to pull you close. You know you’re pretty fucking intense.”

She cocked her head and he took her braid in his hand and tugged gently. She felt the resounding tug between her legs in the wet warmth that was just begging to be filled by Mike.

She took a shuddery breath. “Me, intense?” A bark of laughter slipped out of her. “Are you serious? I’m intense?”

In her mind it kept echoing. All I really want, to be honest, is to pull you close…


Blurb:

Indie photographer and book cover artist Aubrey Singleton is living up to her last name. A long summer at the lake has cured her of her recent breakup, and she’s embracing life as a single woman. What she’s not prepared for is to come back home to find she has a handsome new single neighbor.

Mike Sykes is a roofer—though he’s afraid of heights—a father of two and recently divorced. Oh and one might classify him as smoking hot.

The photographer in Aubrey is smitten, the single woman in her is breathless. She’s ready to make Mike a star—on book covers and, though she’s wary of a broken heart, in her life. He’s not so sure. Mike sees himself as a life complication due to his younger son’s illness, and not hot by a long shot. In fact, he thinks he’s the poster boy for average.

But a “business” trip to Key West, rife with hunky models, sets a backdrop for a shot at true love…

Buy links:

Ellora’s Cave: http://www.ellorascave.com/poster-boy-for-average.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K0J0LLO/

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-posterboyforaverage-1498148-149.html

About the Author:

Professional dirty word writer, gluten free baker, sock addict, fat wiener dog walker, expert procrastinator. Called "one of the top storytellers in the erotic genre" by Violet Blue, Sommer Marsden writes for HarperCollins Mischief, Ellora's Cave, Excessica, Xcite Books and Resplendence Publishing. She's the author of numerous erotic novels including Poster Boy for Average, The Accidental Cougar, Lost in You, and Learning to Drown. Visit http://sommermarsden.blogspot.com


Friday, May 16, 2014

Starblood Trilogy by Carmilla Voiez Blog Tour

Carmilla Voiez is a pioneer in horror writing. Her visceral and violent no-holds-barred descriptions of magic, sex, demons and obsession might remind some readers of Clive Barker's wonderful works of horror and dark fantasy, however her stories are told from a uniquely female perspective. Old tropes of hapless female victims pursued by psychotic male killers are reversed or expelled and the result is disturbing yet at the same time refreshing.

Starblood has been released as a trilogy in three separate books Starblood, Psychonaut and Black Sun previously and these are all still available for Kindle or in paperback. However, on the 16th May 2014 a new volume, beautifully edited and perfected, of all three stories in one huge package will be available on Kindle, bringing Voiez's work to a whole new generation of horror readers.

There will be a release party on Facebook to celebrate the launch. Once the book goes live on Amazon this link will take you to that page. In the meantime it will direct you towards the party event where you can find out more. http://smarturl.it/TheStarbloodTrilogy

Praise for Starblood -

“In a market flooded with badly written supernatural romances passed off as horror, Carmilla Voiez is a prophet of the uncanny. Not since Clive Barker has any author mastered pure, visceral atrocity, and yet her characters maintain an elegance and humanity that turns what could just be a blood sport into a Shakespearean tragedy. Starblood may be the only true female horror novel in existence, and within its pages a reader is forced at knifepoint to see the world through the eyes of the raped, the abused, and the unloved with hateful clarity. She makes us bear witness to the demons we ourselves create. You don't read her books. You survive them.
” Jef Withonef, Houston Press.

Praise for Psychonaut -

"Carmilla Voiez is more of a singer than a writer. She tells her compelling story in a hypnotic, distinctive voice that brings her eerie world vividly to life." Graham Masterton

“Psychonaut is a book of mad impulses, inner vision, sadism, escape and belief. You feel uncomfortable reading it, like Alex strapped to the chair in Clockwork Orange being taught to feel sick at atrocity. Rather than leave us crippled by response, though, Psychonaut bears you through the hurt towards the only paradise we can be assured of...a love past fault.” Jef Withonef, Houston Press.

Praise for Black Sun -

“This is the concluding novel in the Starblood trilogy. Satori has brought Star back to the physical world, and the second novel, Psychonaut, could well have ended on that happy note, but as we know by now, Carmilla Voiez doesn't do clichés. Satori and Star have not returned alone: insidious influences from both the astral plane and the physical world intermingle in a web of deceit and betrayal of Wagnerian complexity. Even that which is not what it seems is not what it seems.

If you are a horror fan, the Starblood Trilogy has everything to recommend it. If you are not, you will enjoy having your comfort zone challenged - I certainly did.” J.R.B.

Author's bio -

Carmilla Voiez is a new voice in the world of horror. While the imagery harks back to the writings of Clive Barker and H P Lovecraft, her voice is uniquely female. Starblood is perhaps the first true female horror story ever written, dealing with both sexual violence and the struggle of a woman trying to make sense of a senseless world.

Carmilla grew up on a varied diet of horror. Her earliest influences as a teenage reader were Graham Masterton, Brian Lumley and Clive Barker mixed with the romance of Hammer Horror and the visceral violence of the first wave of video nasties. Fascinated by the Goth aesthetic and enchanted by threnodies of eighties Goth and post-punk music she evolved into the creature of darkness we find today.

Living in North East Scotland, she finds inspiration in the wildlife, castles and desolate places which surround her. She lives with her two children by the sea.

Her books are both extraordinarily personal and universally challenging. As Jef Withonef of Houston Press once said - "You do not read her books, you survive them."

Signed to Vamptasy Publishing in 2012 three books in the critically acclaimed Starblood Trilogy have been published and she is currently working on a vampire tale. She has also edited and compiled a collection of psychological horror from the best new talent in the world of horror writing "Broken Mirrors, Fractured Minds". Carmilla Voiez is a name to watch.

You can find Carmilla's full bibliography at Amazon – http://smarturl.it/CarmillaOnAmazon
her blog can be found at http://carmillavoiez.wordpress.com
and her Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/Author.Carmilla.Voiez

Excerpt from The Starblood Trilogy - 

The more Satori practises the more he realises that he has gone beyond what Paul can teach. Paul’s books, however - opening them, absorbing their musty pages and archaic language, he can smell power. Energy lifts from each paragraph and crackles in the air around him. He doubts their owner has read even a tenth of them. The secrets they hold: power beyond reckoning. He will learn how to defeat Lilith, he is certain of it. But how long will it take? Will I run out of time? He could spend an entire lifetime in these books and still leave some pages unturned.

The room has settled again. His eyes are ready to focus once more. Instantly, Satori forgets the idea of coffee and returns to the book on his lap. He sits cross-legged on the floor. His eyes pore over the words. A noise behind him makes him jump.

‘Paul, you scared me.’

‘Sorry Satori. I brought you some water and I’ve made lunch. Would you like to eat?’

Satori shakes his head. ‘Your library is amazing, but I can’t find the answers I need. These books just don’t cover battling anything as powerful as Lilith.’

‘Well think about it, Satori. What is Lilith? If it’s a demon then it’s as powerful as Asmodeus or Satan. But the Kabbalists call it a god. I’m not sure we’ll ever find the answer,’ Paul says. ‘You might as well rest for a while. I’m worried you’ll burn out.’

‘There is always an answer. We just need help. Maybe to fight a god you need a god. But who? One of the old pre-Christian ones? Do you really have no ideas?’

‘I have one.’ Paul walks across the room to a black lacquer cabinet. Taking a key from a chain around his neck, he unlocks the door. On a shelf at chest height Satori sees something covered with black linen. Paul beckons him over. Even covered, Satori can feel the object’s power. It frightens him.

‘What is it?’ he whispers.

Paul pulls the material away and Satori faces a clay head. Glyphs are carved across the forehead, cheeks and on either side of the chin. The eye sockets are filled with obsidian and the mouth, opened in an eternal scream, is stuffed with red clay.

Satori lifts his hand towards it.

‘Careful,’ Paul says.

‘What is it?’ Satori asks. ‘It feels … powerful.’

‘It’s a vessel of Balon,’ Paul answers, staring at the head. ‘And if you break the seal, the demons inside it will tear me apart. It’s an oracle of sorts. If I ask it a question it has to tell me the truth.’

‘Ask it about Lilith,’ Satori says.

‘What precisely do you want me to ask?’

‘Can I destroy her?’

Paul lifts the head and sets it on a low table. He pauses then turns it a few degrees anti-clockwise. His movements are gentle and full of reverence. A thread of sweat trickles down his brow as he concentrates. ‘Vessel of Balon, I have fashioned you with my Art. I have given you life. Now answer in truth. If the sorcerer Satori battles Lilith, can he destroy the demon?’

The room is silent. The glyphs on the head glow red. Its obsidian eyes shine as if lit by an internal fire. Satori’s ears strain to hear the answer. Holding his breath, he watches the head. Every hair on his body stands on end. In spite of his fascination and desire for knowledge, his body tells him to run from the room and never return. A trio of cold, powerful voices echo each other. ‘No.’

Monday, May 5, 2014

For Love of the Soldier


Table of Contents

Penelope Pending by Axa Lee
Drifting Toward You by Kathleen Tudor
Duty by Cat Johnson
True North by Annabeth Leong
Home for Supper by Geonn Cannon
For the Love of George by Victoria Blisse
Blame it on the Dog by Andrea Dale
Special Love by Sidney Bristol
Stones by Tahira Iqbal
Lexie’s Arrow by Martha Davis
Jersey Boy by Tina Simmons
Failure to Launch by Lucy Felthouse
The Aid Station, 1916 by Victoria Janssen
Fair Game by Lynn Townsend
Lucky Charm by Lea Griffith
Long Time Coming by Kristina Wright



So... this is a thing. It should be up for pre-order by the end of the month, and out for publication in November.

I really, really like this short story. It's the first lesbian piece I had accepted (it was accepted before Whetting the Appetite got the green light, even tho there are a few lesbian pieces in there...) and I'm really happy to see it come to print.