Tag Archives: blitz

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 22, 2018 · 5:00 am

Monster Mash Countdown Blitz – Day 7

Catina worked her way through college as a TV reporter and a dating game show host. She’s a sucker for Young Adult romance stories (both real and make-believe). She has a panache for match-making and loves that many of her “set-ups” have resulted in marriages.

After spending most of her adult life in Las Vegas, Catina traded in tumbleweeds for earthquakes and now lives with her husband and four children near San Diego, California. If she’s not home, chances are you can find her at the beach, Disneyland or In-N-Out Burger.

Angela Larkin writes clean teen romance and is a big fan of kissing (in life and in books). She’s been a gold miner, a pool cleaner, a mannequin dresser, and a teacher. She’s lived a true romance: meeting her husband in a case of mistaken identity. They recently moved with their four children from the sparkling city of Las Vegas to the shade of the North Carolina Pines. Chances are, she’s reading past bedtime.

~ Website ~
~ Instagram ~ Facebook ~

~ Catina Facebook ~ Angela Facebook ~

True love doesn’t always mean a happy ending. Presley and Landon finally have a chance at a real relationship when they travel back in time, but their leap backward to two months before his accident has altered reality: Landon has no memory of Presley.

Hurt and lonely, Presley is still determined to save his life, even as Landon’s death-date looms. He’s alive for now, but nothing is like it was . . . Before.

~ Universal Amazon Link ~

Top Ten List:

Catina:

Top 10 Fun Facts/Favorite Things

1. Worked as a dating gameshow host to pay the bills in college

2. My maiden name is Cecchini (pronoucned Check-eenie) and I grew up on Chickadee Street. So, Catina Cecchini on Chickadee Street. Try saying that 10 times!

3. I was secretly in love with my husband for an entire college semester before he even knew I was alive.

4. I grew up in Beyond’s setting. If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be the Lake Tahoe area.

5. I love helping other families who, like me, have a child with autism. I’m currently working on developing new services for people with autism in Southern CA.

6. I love Thai Food

7. Just tried Sushi for the first time a week ago and after all these years of avoidance, discovered I love it too!

8. Seriously nearly lost consciousness when I learned BEYOND was #1 in four Amazon categories shortly after its release

9. Wore sequins for the first time to the Whitney gala this May where Beyond was a finalist in two categories

10. Actually, I wore sequins in High School too as a member of the dance team! 🙂

10 Fun Facts about Angela Larkin (the girl in the white top)

1. I’ve worked five summers in a gold mine.

2. I used to dress mannequins at GAP.

3. I learned how to drive stick in an alfalfa field.

4. I have a favorite direction: west.

5. After my first kiss in fifth grade, I went straight home and tried to draw a representation in my journal of how it felt.

6. I used to choreograph roller skating routines in my garage to the soundtrack of The Little Mermaid. I took it VERY seriously.

7. I have no idea how much ice cream it would take to make me feel gross. I’ve never reached that point as hard as I’ve tried.

8. I met my husband in a true case of mistaken identity.

9. I want to learn Hula and perform it somewhere.

10. Weiner dogs are cuter than all the dogs. And I want one.

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 20, 2018 · 5:00 am

Sorcerers’ Dynasty – Blitz

Sorcerers' Dynasty banner

Sci-fi, Fantasy, Thriller

Publisher: Starborn Publishing

Published: October 2017

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What would you give up for immortality?

More seductive than sex. More addictive than any drug. More precious than gold. And one man is willing to sacrifice it all to get it!

Beyond the arctic wall of ice lies a new and unknown world. The CEO of the world’s most powerful corporation – Theodore von Buren – plans to sacrifice the known world and everything in it to gain immortality in paradise.

The world is filled with lies and liars and America’s most controversial alternative media journalist Dan Sheraton wants to find out why.

Strange things have been seen out in the deserts of New Mexico, and when an even stranger phone call leads him on a dangerous adventure to a mysterious destination, Sheraton discovers earth shattering epiphanies.

When an insidious plot hatched by a shadowy global corporation threatens the survival of mankind the most unlikely hero emerges. But is the savior man, machine, god or devil?

Other Books By Stephen Perkins

Twilight’s Last Glory

Publisher: Star Born Publishing LLC

Published: August 2018

It is more than just a game. A global spectacle of triumph and anguish. A grand pageant of violence and drama. In the future, America’s game has become the world’s favorite pastime, and she is not just the WFFL’s latest superstar…but the future of humanity!

In a world secretly ruled by an organized crime pyramid with strange and mystical powers known as the Octagonal, and while a legend who harbors a dark secret strives for one last short at glory in the twilight of his career, crime lord Gigi Salerno is the sinister hand casting the ultimate fate of victory or defeat.

And, he will utilize any means necessary to ensure the Octagonal remains in control of the world’s most popular game!

But when a brilliant team doctor envisions future WFFL rosters filled out with AI, Salerno’s masters secretly decide he’s expendable.

Now threatened by the intrepid ambitions of a young sports columnist determined to expose the Octagonal, and faced with the covert maneuvering of a once trustworthy lieutenant and the conflicted loyalties of an unscrupulous general manager, Salerno is confronted with a dilemma: he may have to befriend one of his enemies to vanquish his double crossing masters.

Will he survive long enough to capture what he secretly desires most – the reluctant affections of a beautiful woman?

Amazon

About the Author

In just his first year as an independent author, Massachusetts native Stephen Perkins thrilling, entertaining, thought provoking and epic science fiction/fantasy thrillers have gained a loyal and rabid audience. While enjoying the books be sure to visit the author’s blog, Newsspellcom.org for an original perspective on the news of the day surely not to be discovered anywhere else. Or, stop by for a visit on Twitter @ Twitter.com@RAGEOFWORDS

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 18, 2018 · 5:00 am

The Ugly Priest – Blitz

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Contemporary Fiction

Date Published: June 2018

Publisher: AuthorHouse

The Ugly Priest is a telling story of a priest’s missteps with the women who haunt his life, and his struggle to repair his soul and restore his vocation. It is a story of deceit, vulnerability and the loss of commitment. It displays the devastation of human frailty and reveals weaknesses that even a priest can’t escape.

If Father George Bernard had only known early on that the job of being a priest pounds the hell out of a man, his life choices might have been different. That pounding hit him countless times over his twenty years as a priest inflicting considerable damage on his soul and resulting in some bad choices. Jennifer was one, Helen another. He succumbs to the vulnerability every priest battles throughout his lifetime. The temptations of the flesh have a power his vocation is hard pressed to withstand.

The Ugly Priest reveals a vocation in shambles, deteriorated not only because of Father Bernard’s moral lapses but also because of his life’s lack of substance and value. His duties at Immaculate Conception Parish on the West Side of Chicago are tedious and distressing. The sin, dying, dishonesty and infidelity of his parishioners drains him. Deepening his distress is his life at a rundown, disintegrating parish with an outdated liturgy and a pastor who is a rude, spiteful and offensive old man. Father Bernard’s attempt to save himself from his cheerless, desolate life leads him down a dangerous path. Can he salvage his failing vocation and repair his troubled soul? Will he find the strength to restore the spiritual meaning and substance that once guided him as a priest?

photo The Ugly Priest print stacked_zpszhyi3xic.jpg

Excerpt

That was twenty-two years ago, the last time he had seen Jennifer, but certainly not the last time she had entered his mind. But now there she was, her face so vividly displayed, her gentle voice, her seductive sense of humor, all of it summoned by a simple yet consuming scent. He didn’t notice it at first, but once it came to him, it was overwhelming.

It began with the pungent odor of burnt tobacco radiating from the driver and flooding the interior of the taxi. Suspended from the rearview mirror, a bag of potpourri made a futile effort at masking the smell. Father George Bernard considered opening the window, but the typical brisk Chicago wind thwarted his wish for fresh air. The temperature was a bit chilly as well, an unusual occurrence for late September in the city. The taxi passed Midway Airport and the rectory of Immaculate Conception Church, his destination, was not much farther.

He could tolerate the smell for a couple of minutes. He inhaled deeply once and then immediately again, trying to decide which scent dominated – the foul odor of tobacco or the sweet smell of…. What was the odor wafting from that bag dangling from the mirror? It was one he knew, something from the past. His past before the priesthood? Before the seminary? Before every part of life became bland, colorless, unremarkable, never leaving an impression on anyone? He drew another deep breath. Yes, that was it. Hyacinths. The now recognized smell filled his nostrils; the image it reconstructed, many times buried and as many times resurrected, took shape, waiting only for the right moment, like the right bouquet, to reemerge.

Jennifer Roland. It was the cologne Jennifer wore. Hyacinths, the scent that overwhelmed him over thirty years ago under that viaduct and ten years later kissing again in front of the A & P when he was visiting his parents before their move to Arizona.

He never forgot. Twenty years a priest and he still remembered countless times; each time those wonderful and bizarre days of his adolescence arose and the thought veered to the viaduct; when from somewhere, or maybe someone who passed or just in his imagination, the smell of hyacinths wafted near him; when his vocation faltered and thoughts surfaced of that second kiss. He raised his face toward the ceiling of the cab and exhaled a noise from his throat that disturbed him. He recognized it; that imperceptible puff of air rising from his chest. That regular sound of embarrassment and shame his body crafted whenever thoughts of Jennifer surfaced. A deep inhale and a rapid exhale. His head shook slightly. Staring out the taxi window at the passing homes, his breath built a vapor on the glass with each heavy exhale. The waft of hyacinths continued to fill his nostrils. Jennifer Roland.

The taxi swerved to avoid something on the road as it sped through an intersection. His head bumped slightly against the window and with the minor jolt he smiled again at the recollection of Jennifer.

Hyacinths.

Again Jennifer forced the realization that he still had a weakness for that sweet-smelling scent. Images of her advanced to memories, and memories of Jennifer Roland made him perspire and shake. Glancing at his reflection in the taxi window he pressed his lips together and closed his eyes.

Jennifer Roland.

The kisses. They were dreadfully amazing. Delightful.

About the Author

A former South Side Chicago boy and seminary student, Stickann’s Catholic upbringing sparked the need to write novels that illustrate the impact religion has on people. His two previous books – Glory Be To the Father, the Son… (2001), and Hobbledehoy Boy (2013) show how a strict religious upbringing can stunt the social growth of a person, particularly young boys. The Ugly Priest looks at the other side of the religious spectrum, the priest, and the religious implications of a weak vocation and unsettled soul.

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 17, 2018 · 5:00 am

Max Dedge – Blitz

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Book One of The BreakThrough

Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Date Published: July 29, 2018

The time of the uniborg was foretold on a distant planet.

So, what does it have to do Max Dedge, loose wheel and occasional detective?

This is just the start of the galactic event known as The BreakThrough, an event that could erase human existence, an event that could spell doom for planet Earth and possibly for history itself. It’s also an event that Max Dedge is blissfully unaware of at the moment.

And that’s a good thing. Because Max Dedge is about to find himself shot at on an alien world, fried by magic in Mexico, investigating corporate underhandedness in New Jersey, following leads on a vanished Rabbi in France, and being chased by certain death from one world to another and in between. At his side, the wizard Jracilla who has trained all her life for this day, thief and nemesis Arturo Delgado who is forever up to no good, and Sylvester… a very special phone.

Max Dedge in The Time of The Uniborg combines a unique fantasy experience with a mystery that binds two worlds and beyond, setting the stage for the epic adventure of The BreakThrough. The BreakThrough is set against a dynamically changing universe filled with characters who will helm their own titles.

Max Dedge in The Time of The Uniborg is just the first step into a universe of magic and time travel, rogues and wizards, space jalopies and portals to other worlds, taking you to the precipice of what you thought science fiction and fantasy could be and then throwing you over the side.

Excerpt

Later, Max lay in the dark, in the most comfortable bed in the shittiest little motel that still had two rooms in Las Cruces. The motel sat on a lot with an abandoned Carl’s Jr. and a burned-out gas station, but none of that had mattered. Max had been falling asleep at the wheel and knew he’d never make it as far as El Paso. After a large dinner of chili verde, beans, rice, and enough chips and salsa to choke a mariachi band, Max had wanted nothing more than to stop and sleep. Thanks to Sylvester, he did.

Max rested peacefully, digesting his huge dinner, waking only when the alarm on his Velocity 3200 rang loudly. He turned it off, wishing for a snooze button (but he had disabled that feature after hitting it about a hundred too many times). He looked around the darkened room and asked, “What the hell time is it?”

Sylvester replied, “My apologies, sir. The time is 4:17am.”

Max thought for a moment. “I didn’t set the alarm for 4:17am, Sylvester.”

“No, sir,” Sylvester replied. “You did, however, ask me to notify you should I find any connection between Chambéry and your current case.”

Max knew that Sylvester would have been working on that problem around the clock. With Sylvester’s processing speed, that was like putting an army of college interns onto a case of beer. Telling Sylvester to let him know when he found something, without specifying when that was appropriate, was Max’s fault.

Max sank back into the soft, sinking mattress and sighed. “Okay, Sylvester. What did you find?”

“There is some historical evidence, sir, that the Tretonians may be distantly related to the people of Chambéry,” Sylvester told him.

And Max’s eyes opened in the dark. He’d been hoping for a connection to the bombs in San Francisco, to the gun in Leodinym, to the clock in Pentress, but…“Sylvester? What the hell are you talking about?”

Sylvester replied with an understanding, “The story is rather complicated, sir. If you would prefer, I can tell you in the morning.”

Max wouldn’t hear of it. “You’re not going to tell me you found Tretonians in France and not explain it,” he growled.

Sylvester hesitated. “That isn’t exactly what I was reporting, sir.”

Max practically jumped from the bed. “Just tell me the story!”

About the Author

Author and occasional philosopher and monologist, Ken La Salle’s passion is intense humor, meaningful drama, and finding answers to the questions that define our lives. Ken La Salle grew up in Santa Ana, California and has remained in the surrounding area his entire life. He was raised with strong, blue collar roots, which have given his writing a progressive and environmentalist view. You can find a growing number of his books and performances available online. Find out more about Ken on his website at www.kenlasalle.com.

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | October 15, 2018 · 11:56 am

The Secluded Village Murders – Blitz

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Cozy Mystery

Date Published: September 2018

Publisher: BQB Publishing

From a small secluded village in Connecticut to the English Countryside, readers are taken on a roller coaster of events and quirky characters as amateur sleuth Emily Ryder tries to solve a murder that everyone thinks was an accident.

For tour guide Emily Ryder, the turning point came on that fateful early morning when her beloved mentor met an untimely death. It’s labeled as an accident and Trooper Dave Roberts is more interested in Emily than in any suspicions around Chris Cooper’s death. For Emily, if Chris hadn’t been the Village Planner and the only man standing in the way of the development of an apartment and entertainment complex in their quaint village of Lydfield, Connecticut, she might have believed it was an accident, but too many pieces didn’t fit.

As Emily heads across the pond for a scheduled tour of Lydfield’s sister village, Lydfield-in-the-Moor . . . she discovers that the murderer may be closer than she thought.

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Excerpt

Picking up speed, she passed the rows of Victorian houses with their pilastered front porches and attached shutters in homage to last century’s Colonial Revival. She’d grown up here, always lived here except for college and her transatlantic jaunts. But at this moment, her village might as well be a scattering of old photos.

Before she knew it, the rain was beating down harder, her wiper blades barely able to keep up. Among the nagging questions flitting through her mind was how could Miranda Shaw have suddenly gotten wind of her leaking roof? Or did somebody just put her up to it, to get Chris rushing pell- mell in the rain so he would . . .

Emily eased her foot off the pedal, barely able to see through the downpour. She switched the wipers on high and kept her eyes on the road, intent on avoiding an accident.

Minutes later, she pulled into Miranda Shaw’s place at a slow but steady crawl. As she reached the circular drive, straining her eyes through the thwacking blades, she peered up two stories above the stone archway.

There she caught sight of the familiar gangly figure climbing higher toward the peak of an eight-sided turret. At a point where the grayish-blue slate, copper flashing, and a mullioned window merged, the figure suddenly became a shuddering blur.

Emily honked her horn, blasting as loud as she could. But it was too late. The figure flopped over and slid down the turret, glanced off the aluminum ladder and toppled like a broken doll.

About the Author

Shelly Frome is a member of Mystery Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, a former professional actor, a writer of crime novels and books on theater and film. He is also a features writer for Gannett Media. His fiction includes Sun Dance for Andy Horn, Lilac Moon, Twilight of the Drifter, Tinseltown Riff, and Murder Run. Among his works of non-fiction are The Actors Studio and texts on the art and craft of screenwriting and writing for the stage. Moon Games is his latest foray into the world of crime and the amateur sleuth. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

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