Wednesday, March 30, 2016

HOW DO YOU SAY THANK YOU?

All month I've been hosting the winning authors of
IWSG Anthology Parallels: Feliz Was Here

Today it's my turn to talk about Ever-Ton.
If you're interested, the post of how 
I arrived at my story,
 Ever-Ton is located here.
(just click the title)


Today, and before the A to Z takes all our attention,
 I wanted to say thank you to all who've hosted or are planning to host my blog tour. 

Denise C. Covey
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Michael Di Gesu
Robyn Campbell
C. Lee McKenzie
Misha Gericke
Stuart R. West
Michelle Wallace
Nilanjana Bose
Elizabeth Seckman
Patricia Stoltey

Thank you!

And to those not listed but still 
 volunteered their blogs. 
We will connect for future guest posts after the
 A to Z!

Thank you!

And a very special THANK YOU goes out to
Susan Flett Swiderski
Robyn Campbell
&
Deborah Lloyd @ Readers Favorite

for their published reviews. 
(click the links to read them)

Please know, all of you, that I am here for you or any blogger in the process of releasing a book.

Just shoot me an email and we'll work out the details.
yolandarenee@hotmail.com

Your support has meant the world to me!



A single rose can be my garden...

a single friend, my world.

Leo Buscaglia



Love is blind; friendship closes its 

eyes.

Friedrich Nietzsche




How do you say thank you?


Dankie
Shukran
Ta 
Do Jeh
Xie Xie
Dêkuji
Tak
Kiitos
Merci
Danke
Efharisto
Toda
Sukria
Terima Kasih
Grazie
Arigato
Kamsa Hamnida
Takk
Salamat Po
Dziekuje
Obrigado
Spasibo
Gracias
Istutiy
Asante
Tack
Kawp-Kun Krap/Ka'
Tesekkür Ederim

Thank You!


***
The Murder & Obsession Tour Continues
Robyn Campbell invited Steven and Sarah to her site,
but her blog's been hacked. 
She's working to fix that. Until then, if you'd
like to catch up, here's the list of my other appearances.
Need Some Intrigue - Michael Di Gesu 


I've started a THUNDERCLAP 
Please support me!
Gracias!



Tuesday, March 29, 2016

SEISMIC CRIMES


It is truly an honor to help Chrys Fey 
introduce and celebrate her newest release.
A blogger with expert advice for all writers, 
is it really a surprise?

Congratulations Chrys!





Title: Seismic Crimes
Series: Disaster Crimes (Book 2)
Genre: Romantic-suspense
Format: Digital and Print
Length: 282 pages
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Cover Artist: Kim Mendoza

World Wide Release - April 22nd!


BLURB:

An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.

Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.

When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?


AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!


DIGITAL PRE-ORDER LINKS:






Support the Thunderclap Campaign! Click HERE




Monday, March 28, 2016

SCRYING THE PLANE


But Here TODAY!
*****
another winner of the
IWSG Anthology Contest
has agreed to an interview
regarding her winning story

Scrying The Plane
***


Welcome, Tamara, can you explain the title, Scrying the Plane?

Scrying describes the practice of looking into a crystal ball to tell the future. In this story, characters can hook their brains into a device that allows them to experience the internet on what’s called the Virtual Reality Plane. On the VRP, the unconscious users aren’t bound by the natural laws of physics. So there's an urban myth that certain users can bend space, conjure items, and maybe—just maybe—see the future.

Sounds like The Matrix. 

Yep, that movie did inspire me. In fact, before Lily Reynolds enters the VRP, another character quotes the line, “There is no spoon.” 

Give us an example of what your characters do on the VRP.

At a party, Lily sees a pair of inebriated fellows taking turns hopping into a Minecraft trolley to ride tracks that go higher than the real world’s tallest coaster.

Dare I ask why?

It’s a contest. The first one to hurl loses.

Lovely. Yet it sounds like a typical case of bad judgment by teens. Was that deliberate?

Yes. That’s why I chose to write this parallel universe—it was a blast borrowing aspects of our society like teen rebellion and putting a “VRP” spin on them.
Like many kids, Lily feels she’s living a life of constant scrutiny and confinement. In her world, ultimate freedom can only be achieved on the VRP, but it’s restricted to those over 21. So she sneaks out to this party where teens are illegally hooking in. At first it’s an amazing experience, but it turns dark quickly.

How does this tale compare to your other short stories?

I like to take an “everyman” character, give them a life that seems ordinary and relatable, and then sprinkle in something magical, ghostly, or just plain bizarre that the reader never saw coming—tales that would appeal to fans of The Twilight Zone or Stephen King. 




Coming May 3, 2016

Preorder HERE

Scrying the Plane
Tamara Narayan

Tagline: 
A teen experiences thrills and chills in a virtual reality internet.

Blurb:
Are you 21 or older? Care to experience the internet through a virtual reality interface? See Twitter birds flock, hop in a Minecraft trolley, or don the “skin” of your favorite celebrity. Come, sit. Drink your Sleep-Ease and lie back. Don’t worry about the scalpel.  Just a few small cuts to access your temple chip and in go the leads. Hardly any bleeding at all! So hook in, hook up, and go wild. What could go wrong?    
Bio:

From doling out popcorn to moviegoers to flinging smelt to penguins, Tamara Narayan's taken the “road less traveled”. Her career path veered off into a land of integrals and other strange things while she taught college level math, but these days she’s cruising the fiction highway. If you enjoyed Scrying the Plane, check out her other stories on www.amazon.com or visit her at www.tamaranarayan.com.





Congratulations Tamara!

How do you formulate your stories?

Is it with an everyman and a twist?


Friday, March 25, 2016

GROUND ZERO

The Murder & Obsession Tour Continues
Today you'll find me at:
But before that there was

Here TODAY!


Author of Ground Zero



1. As a writer of fantasy the IWSG anthology was a perfect fit, did you find the challenge easy?

I’ve got to admit, I had experienced what you could call a light-bulb moment, when I heard about the IWSG anthology. And as fate would have it, I was already working on a story that fitted its alternative history theme at the time. So it was a no-brainer really, adapting that story to the short story format and submitting it as my entry. That said, I’ve spent many hours trying to perfect that story ever since, so I wouldn’t exactly call the challenge “easy.”

 2. Where did the idea for Ground Zero come from?

Several places, but I guess the genesis of the whole thing started after I read Man in the High Castle by Philips K. Dick. This was the first time I was captivated by an alternative version of reality where a key moment in history had played out quite differently from the version we are presently stuck in. My other sources of inspiration include the graphic-novel, Watchmen, as well as two of my favorite video game series, Fallout and Half-Life.

 3. What is it about an altered universe that you appreciate?

Just the possibility. Traditional science fiction has us looking forward, at a future that is more often than not different from our present society. Alternative history on the other hand has us looking backwards. It explores the possibility of how changes in the past would have affected society today. And therein lies its appeal, its attempt at answering the question, “What if…?”

 4. Please tell us about your epic fantasy series, Guardians & The Lost Paradise.


Guardians & The Lost Paradise is a 6-part series that was published over the course of 6 months in 2012. The books themselves took the better part of 6 years to write. The project was inspired by my love for fantasy, even though it also explores some real-life themes, like the loss of a loved one and how that can affect ones outlook on the world. The first book in the series is available for free on Amazon USAmazon UKBarnes & NobleKobo, and WattPad.





Tagline:


     The ruins of New York City might not be as deserted as they seem.

Blurb:

 Thirty years after a nuclear bomb devastates much of the Eastern United States, the survivors are still struggling to deal with the aftermath. Elijah is one of them, a man simply doing his part in the effort to rebuild from what's left. He is also a man on a mission, one that has been fueling what others might see as a morbid obsession with corpses. But he is secretly on a search for answers, a search that has taken him to Ground Zero, the very heart of the irradiated wasteland known as the Red Zone


Michael Abayomi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He fell in love with the art of storytelling after reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. His books include Neuro, The Morning Star, and the epic fantasy series, Guardians & The Lost Paradise.






Thank you, Michael!
Ground Zero is very though provoking especially since I live in Ground Zero.



Wednesday, March 23, 2016

STRIKE by STUART WEST

The Murder & Obsession Blog Tour
is happening now
please swing by and say hello
Stuart R West - Couples Counseling

I've also visited


Today it's all about fun!
But surprise or maybe not . . .
Stuart West has also just released a new book





One of the most prolific writers I've ever met, Stuart, has released 
12 or is it 13 books since 2013. 
Is that a record?


Mr. Prolific couldn't be here today, but he sent his
favorite serial killer
Leon Garber.

The protagonist or is that antagonist of his Killers Incorporated Series.

Truly, if your MC (main character) is a serial killer is he known as both the protagonist and antagonist? Hmm . . .

We'll research that later. Now onto to our interview with Leon.
I mean, dare I keep the man waiting?

As an introduction, here's what Stuart says about his top killer in Strike 

Leon Garber’s an accountant and occasional assassin. But he’s one of the good guys. See, Leon’s only interested in taking out abusers. He’s not the only serial killer on a mission, though. His past employer Like Minded Individuals, Inc. (LMI for short), employs quite a few. Mostly, Leon was a model employee. Or at least, he was until that little falling-out he had with them last year. Now he’s got a target on his back. He’s seriously out-numbered, but even worse, LMI has hired Leon’s former associate, Cody Spangler, to track him down. Unfortunately for Leon, someone else from Leon’s past, someone he never wanted to see again, has other ideas for Leon’s welfare. 


Welcome to Defending the Pen, Leon. Why don't you tell the readers a little about you?

Thank you for having me, but I think you've just done that. I'm a man on a mission, and as they say on TV, I have some baggage.

Yes, well, true. I guess we all have a little baggage. Please make yourself comfortable. If you prefer I can close the curtains. (The man seems more interested in the street out front.)

No, please, I need to stay alert. Thank you. (He sits on the edge of a chair)

Leon, you're the first serial killer I've invited here. How and why do you kill your victims?

Wait. Um, who told you about me? And this is...not going to be published, correct? And it will be confidential, I assume. Well, first of all, "serial killer" is such a nasty term. I tend to think of my occupation as pest control. All of my "projects" are abusive, horrible monsters. I'm making the world a safer, kinder place. And even though they don't deserved it, I'm very humane in my product disposal.
 
Yes, very humane. You seem to be able to disappear or recreate yourself on a frequent basis. Did Like-Minded Individuals, Inc. teach you these skills or is this something you pursued and mastered on your own?

I suppose you could say LMI, Inc. was indirectly responsible for this skill set since I've never had to use it before, really, until they came after me. We used to have such a beneficially rewarding relationship; LMI supplied me with a list of abusive projects, false papers, identities and cover jobs. They also offered clean-up crews (although I prefer to clean up after my own projects, not afraid to dirty my hands by good, honest work), and many other perks. All for a hefty price tag, of course. It was very nice. For a while. Until they broke their contract and turned on me.

They have thrown a monkey wrench into the works, but you seem to stay ahead them. Tell us about your lifestyle. It doesn't seem conducive to a relationship, would you like to change that and if so what type of woman would catch your eye and keep your attention?

Of course I would, Yolanda! But...I'm not sure if I could maintain an honest relationship with a woman. After all honesty is the basis for all solid relationships. So I've heard. Alas, my after-hours occupation doesn't exactly lend itself to pillow talk. Having said that...recently I met a beautiful, smart, wonderful woman who's also disenchanted with LMI. The problem? She's somewhat of a "black widow" killer sort. Not sure if I could ever relax. Again...no one but you's going to see this, right?
 
That's why I asked. I notice in Strike that you'd met someone interesting. Will that blossom?

 We'll just have to see how our adventures play out in the final and third memoir, King of Killers.


Is there anything you can tell us about King of Killers?

Um, no. Sorry, Yolanda, it hasn't played out yet. But I imagine things are going to get even uglier.

Well, then we'll end on a positive note. Is there something that you wish to achieve in your lifetime?

Yes, the total destruction of Like-Minded Individuals, it's board members, its corporate holdings and financial empire. Once I achieve that perhaps impossible feat. Then I'll retire. From...um taking on projects. Or I'm going to go down trying. LMI's betrayal--lying to me about my projects being abusers when it was just to further their political and economic goals--is unforgiveable. They're perhaps the worst abusers in the world.
 
A worthy goal and one I hope you achieve. Nevertheless, what does the future hold once you've achieved that goal?

Yolanda, I'm not sure I HAVE a future beyond today. One day at a time. Thanks so much for keeping this all confidential. I truly appreciate it. It's not often I get to unburden myself to someone. Being a "Like-Minded Individual" is very stressful.

I can understand why. You're a serial killer, a vigilante, a hero with baggage. Truly, that's not a burden I could carry. 

Thank you, Leon, for sharing your story with us.

I wave as he drives away, thankful that he's driving away. Then I rush to the phone to call the Real Estate agent. What was I thinking inviting a serial killer into my home! 




Meet Mr. Prolific the creator of Killers Incorporated, I mean meet Stuart R West, the author of the Killers Incorporated books.

I live in Kansas. It's a curse and a blessing. It's a curse because...well, it's Kansas. But it's great because Kansas is creepy. Lots of cool and strange things happen here in the midwest. I'll be writing about them in both young adult and adult thrillers.


I'm married to a professor of pharmacy (who greatly appreciates that I now prepare dinner for her) and have a 20 year old daughter, who hasn't yet decided what to do with her life. But that's okay...it took me 25 years or longer.

Check out my blog at: http://stuartrwest.blogspot.com/





What do you think about serial killers turned hero?
Would you allow one of them in your living room?
Have you read any of Stuart West's books?

~~ Amazon ~~ Blog ~~ 




Monday, March 21, 2016

A TO Z - MURDER & OBSESSION




IS MY a TO z THEME!

I'm taking places, characters, scenes, and other interesting items about my book and I give a brief explanation with a very short snippet from the book. 
Enjoy!




        Light and love seem a fleeting moment in the frozen north of Alaska. Despite his personal experiences with evil, Detective Steven Quaid is determined to hold on to that light amidst the darkness. Accused of murdering his fiancée, Detective Quaid flees incarceration to track down the culprit. He might survive the wilderness, and a savage bear attack, but another man's insidious obsession could finally prove more powerful than this dedicated detective.