Tag Archives: FICTION

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | January 15, 2025 · 5:00 am

Zip Line Virtual Book Tour

Fiction

Date Published: 06-07-2022

Publisher: Atmosphere Press

If Gail knew Uncle Perkins’ stories were true, she wouldn’t have taken her
friends up that mountain.

The plan was simple. Hike, camp, and ride the zipline back down the
mountain. But Uncle Perkins’ stories are true, and the horrors are real. Now
the simple plan is the only plan they have to get off that mountain or
disappear, remaining there forever.

Zipline is an immediately gripping, fast-paced, unique story that will keep
you entertained until the last sentence.

EXCERPT

Gail stood by the door, watching her beloved Uncle Perkins lie there in bed with an oxygen mask on. She glanced around the VA hallway, seeing it busy with activity this Thursday morning before taking a second peek. She pulled away from the door, wrapping her hair into a ponytail and resting over her left shoulder. She glanced again around the door frame, watching him rest before pulling back and taking several deep breaths.

“You okay?” Danny asked, walking up behind her. Grabbing her shoulders, he leaned in beside her, taking a peep for himself before pulling back, giving her a reassuring hug.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, squaring her shoulders and composing herself. “C’mon Gail, let’s get it over with before I chicken out.” He gave a reassuring nudge to her hesitancy. As she entered, her uncle smiled under the oxygen mask.

“I was wondering how long you were going to stand out there,” he whispered. “The training never really goes away.” Gail moved closer to his bedside and kissed his liver-spotted forehead.

“Uncle, how are you today?” She asked, pulling up a seat beside him. He weakly grabbed the remote, hitting the button that angled the bed up. Seeing Danny come in, he shook his head.

“How are you, sir?” Danny asked, moving to stand alongside Gail.

“My body wants to give out, but I won’t let it,” He said with a determined look on his face. “Okay,” the elder smiled, recognizing Gail’s best friend. “Oh no, if you’re back, this can’t be good. It was a bad idea to talk to you about it when my mind wasn’t right,” he snarked at Danny before looking at them with a united front. “What are you two up to?” Gail looked back uneasily towards Danny, who nodded twice, motioning her to tell him.

“Well, Uncle, we’re going,” Gail said. “Time to put those bad dreams your stories have given me over the years to rest.

I know they’re not true and just made-up fables to scare me.”

“I agree, sir,” Danny said. “Though, I must admit those were some doozies of tall tales you told me under heavy sedatives.” He began to laugh but stopped as a male nurse came in the room.

“Excuse me,” the middle-aged nurse said holding a clipboard and wearing sky-blue scrubs, “we’ll be by with your daily medications in a moment.” He stood before the foot of the bed. “Are you feeling any discomfort right now?” Uncle Perkins shook his head. “Okay, just be a moment or two,” he said before exiting the room and disappearing into the busy corridor. Perkins returned his focus on them, first eyeing Danny, then his niece.

“Gail, please reconsider what you’re about to do,” he said, reaching for her hand. She quickly grabbed his shaky hand, placing it by his side.

“No, Uncle,” Gail said, cocking her head to one side. “You told me some whoppers over the years that still make me sleep with the lights on, but no more. Now it’s time to move on. I just graduated from college; I have an HR job lined up, and I start in two weeks.” The elder inhaled deeply before letting out a slight sigh, then he nodded.

“Okay, and go with my blessings, but stay at the bottom by the playground,” he said as he pointed at her with trembling fingers, “it should be safe there.” His hand drifted to his side. “Yeah, you’ll be safe there.” He paused. “Don’t go up that mountain.” he said, shaking his head. “Promise me.” He looked up at them more insistently. “I said promise me.”

Gail and Danny glanced at each other before looking back at the elder and giving a slight nod. “We promise,” they said in unison, with Danny crossing his fingers behind his back.

About the Author

Michael received a creative writing certificate from the University of West
Virginia in the late 90s. He’s been running a successful writer’s group
called For The Love Of Words for almost two decades. When he has time, he
teaches in the local library Story 101 – How to create a story. He has won
in every category over a five-year period in a state-funded wordsmith
competition in Poetry, Essay, Short Story, and One-Act Play.

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A Just Revenge Blitz

Fiction

Date Published: August 26, 2024

Publisher: MindStir Media

Sean Roberts loved farming and his girlfriend. After they broke up she
disappeared into San Francisco’s drug filled hippie environment of the
1960s. Her parents were frantic and no one in their small-town seemed able
to help them find their daughter. They reached out to Sean and he agreed to
search for their lost daughter.

His search forced Sean to assume his nom de plume, George Wescot and enter
a world of extreme wealth and of people who only cared about their own
pleasures and not the pain it caused other people. George uses his skills
learned from hunting, fighting and evasion to penetrate this sadistic
society. Subsequently, he pursued across the United States, India, and
Europe. Finally, Sean stopped running from the Brothers, and started hunting
those people who caused his ex-girlfriend’s and her family’s pain from
injuries she sustained.

About the Author

I have been a writer all my life. I wasn’t very good partly because I’m
dyslexic and partly because of my dyslexia I was a terrible reader. But I
love to write and therefore wrote often. I wrote many stories. One was
published in a magazine. Before the pandemic I started writing my first
novel,”Farm Tough”, and self published it. The book got good
reviews from readers but wasn’t promoted. Shortly thereafter, I started to
write “A Just Revenge” partly about my time at Yuba College, Chico
State College, Los Angeles and finally Europe. I found that I write best
when I write about something I know, about something I’ve done or about
something I feel.

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Untethered Blitz

Growing Up Girl, Book I

Fiction

Date Published: September 10, 2024

In Growing Up Girl: Book One, a young Bernadette Aller floats through her
life – job to job, lover to lover, place to place. She is an untethered
spirit trying to find her way in a world that’s not been too kind.

Now, as she barrels toward her seventies, she wants to tell her story, not
because it’s hers alone, but because it’s a surprisingly common story. It’s
a story much of which happens behind doors that display the word
unspeakable. Bernadette hires Scully Trippe to ghost write, translating
Bernadette’s personal experience into the third person, in what might (or
might not) be a misguided attempt to extend the story’s reach.

The time frame is malleable, with the storytelling moving back and forth
through several stages of Bernadette’s life.

In this first book of the Growing Up Girl trilogy, BernadetteWorld is
populated with Patience, her housekeeper; Maddie, a former lover and now a
ghost; and Lucinda, a time traveler who drops in and out.

It’s a quirky group.

Cover artist is Matt Smith. The image of the five-year-old on the cover is
Matt’s mother whom he never met. In his own words, “Although I have no
memory of her, I treasure the stories of Lynn’s strength, stubbornness, and
ferocious loyalty. My hope is to bring her from the muted mysterious shadows
into the light with love.”

About the Author

Caroline Fairless is a writer and a ceramic sculptor. She is a retreat
facilitator with a focus on the interdependence and connectedness of every
being, visible or not. She served several congregations as an ordained
pastor for twenty-five years, publishing several books during that time. Now
in her retirement, Caroline is writing fiction and learning new art
forms.

Over the past twenty years, Caroline and her partner Jim have been
fortunate to stitch back together three land parcels that once were one. One
of them borders on one of New Hampshire’s many small ponds. The other
two border a marsh that hosts otters, beaver, herons, turtles, geese, ducks,
and an occasional loon passing through.

In the New Hampshire summers, Caroline gardens and walks the dogs she and
Jim have rescued. New Hampshire winters will find her at her computer, still
walking dogs, and camping in front of the wood stove.

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | August 12, 2024 · 5:00 am

BLUE Virtual Book Tour

“Until the Lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the Hunt will
always glorify the Hunter.”

Pamela Edwards McClafferty (Editor)

Fiction

Date Published: May 21, 2024

Publisher: Spellbound Pictures Ltd USA LLC.

BLUE: A Multigenerational Epic of Destiny, Secrets, and Freedom

Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will
always glorify the hunter.

Spanning five generations, four families, two continents, and three
secrets, BLUE is a captivating saga that intertwines the lives of four
extraordinary individuals on an urgent mission for freedom.

Meet the Protagonists:

Nicole Johnson: A beautiful Howard University MBA graduate with a vision to
build her international advertising/marketing company, Fresh, Inc., in her
hometown of Chicago.
Regina Bovine: A stunning artistic marketer and graduate of life’s
challenges, Regina becomes Nicole’s partner in Fresh, Inc., bringing her
unique perspective and talent.
Segun Bada: A brilliant MIT graduate who establishes the headquarters of
his international conglomerate, Quantum Protection Systems (Q.P.S.), in
Gaborone, Botswana.
Sotonye Bada: Segun’s gifted brother and a graduate of the Mayo Medical
School, Sotonye sets up his medical practice in Gaborone, Botswana,
alongside his brother.

Together, their paths converge in an extraordinary saga that takes them
across the globe to Chicago, New Orleans, Botswana, Sudan, Ethiopia,
Huntsville, Nigeria, Kenya, Washington D.C., and Tanzania. As they unravel
the secrets of their ancestors, they discover the reason the ancient oracles
destined them to join forces.

A Race Against Time:

With BLUE, a formidable force of evil, threatening to unleash his deadliest
powers upon the world before the children born to either join or destroy him
reach their thirty-first birthday, Nicole and Regina are drawn back to the
African continent, the birthplace of BLUE.

In a final, epic battle, they join Sotonye and Segun to protect the Freedom
Code, a legacy for their ancestors, their present allies, and the future
generations of their people—and all people. For if one man or woman is
enslaved, so is the world.

BLUE: A Riveting Tale of:

Family: Exploring the intricate bonds and connections between generations
and families across continents.
Love: Showcasing the power of love in its various forms, from familial love
to romantic love.
Destiny: Unraveling the ancient prophecies that foretold the convergence of
four lives on a mission.
Freedom: Fighting for the fundamental right of freedom for all individuals
and the world at large.

Immerse yourself in this multigenerational epic that will keep you turning
pages as you journey alongside Nicole, Regina, Segun, and Sotonye in their
quest for freedom and the preservation of their legacy.

About the Author

Walter Jones, a native Chicagoan, (1952 -) has written his first novel.

“Dreams can come true, but it probably won’t happen as you
first imagined. No one could have told me a novel I started when I was in my
forties would come to fruition in my sixties. Or that I would go from golden
boy to ‘I‘m sorry. You are extremely qualified for the position,
but we are considering other candidates.’ Or that I would face years
of doubt and criticism from relatives and friends.”

The sixth child of Mary Louise Spillman and Russell Donald Jones Jr.,
Walter grew up in two predominately African American communities, Morgan
Park and Chatham. The Spillmans were one of the first African American
families to settle in Chicago; they owned homes and businesses and took care
of their neighborhoods.

By the mid-1960s, the civil rights movement was in full swing. Housing
projects had been built and crime was on the rise. By the time Walter
graduated from Chicago State University (psychology), the peace he had known
in his youth was a memory.

Walter had high hopes that he could make a difference when he began his
career at the Austin Chicago YMCA before becoming the first black executive
at Lawson YMCA Metro Chicago. He ended his YMCA career at the historical
Black Washington Park. Thereafter, he worked at Habitat Boulevard LLC and
then ventured out on his own to found his own construction company.

“Working in public service, I watched my people falling into
materialistic, superficial, and destructive traps. I was surprised and
humbled to find I was no exception. When my construction business failed, I
had to reassess myself and my life. For years I had focused on the image I
wanted my children and others to have of me, not on the man I truly was. I
began to reflect on the people who had profoundly influenced my life.”

BLUE began to take form as Walter wrote about the African American life of
his youth—the beauty, majesty, brilliance, and courage of his people.
He suddenly realized he was rebuilding that which he had lost, a love of
self and humanity. To support his family, he took odd jobs. Ultimately he
joined a security company, where he works to this day.

“As my greatest advocate, my mother read my first draft of BLUE
before her death in 1995 and made me promise to complete it. Little did I
know she was freeing me from BLUE and showing me how long the path can be to
freedom, but I learned, and I am grateful.”

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by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | August 2, 2024 · 5:00 am

The Gariboldi Affair Blitz

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary, mystery & detective, amateur
sleuths

Date Published: June 2024

Crime – Murder – Guilt – Redemption

Colonel Emilio Gariboldi is a complex man. He is also a veteran of the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

An idealist as a young man, he had hoped to emulate his hero Italo Balbo
and hence joined the Italian air force.

A fatal encounter with an enemy intruder while camped with his air force
unit on the heights of an elevated plateau near Axum in the northern parts
of Ethiopia changes his life forever.

The discovery of the body of a young black woman prisoner found in bed next
to him cements his embroilment with a criminal organization involved in
human trafficking.

Almost two decades later, another young black girl is found dead at the
foot of the Terzano Tower in Campobasso.

Are the crimes related?

About the Author

I was born in Montorio nei Frentani, province of Campobasso, in the Molise
region of Italy. My father, Costanzo Nicodemo, emigrated to Canada and
worked in Montreal, Quebec. The rest of the family followed later. My
parents then built their home in the northeast of Montreal where I spent
most of my early years.

I graduated from Loyola College and went on to obtain my Master’s
degree in physics at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. A paper
was published from that work in the Journal of Polymer Science Part A-2:
Polymer Physics.

Afterwards, I traveled throughout Europe and Egypt. Once back in Montreal,
I started a music retail business and later went on to music production. One
international hit came out of that endeavor: ‘Living on Video’
by the Montreal group Trans-X.

I am now retired and living in Nova Scotia with my friend Louise, dogs
Daisy & Boo, & cat Cora.

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Tagged as amateur sleuths, Crime – Murder – Guilt – Redemption, Da Nicodemo, FICTION, Historical Fiction, Literary, Mystery & Detective, The Gariboldi Affair