​About the Book

Title: The Great Connection: Worlds in Waiting
Author: Garry Abbott
Genre: Science Fiction
Following an unfortunate incident involving a delivery drone, a fishing net, and a very tall tree; Raif Masters finds himself forced by his overprotective alpha parents to spend his last school holiday exploring extraterrestrial worlds in ‘The Great Connection’: a real-time simulation of the observable universe, rendered into virtual reality home entertainment.
But Raif, a “child of three”, is not alone. Terry, bound to the service of the Masters family, is looking forward to a very early retirement after one last summer looking after his young charge.
Together they meet Cinder, a fellow simunaught who is seeking a crew to share a secret discovery from the other side of the galaxy that could change the life of the Masters, and the future of the Earth, forever.
But are some discoveries best left unconnected?

Author Bio

Garry Abbott is a science fiction author from Staffordshire in the UK where he lives with his wife and two cats.
Garry has published the short story collection ‘The Dimension Scales and Other Stories’, and his first full length space opera novel: ‘The Great Connection: Worlds in Waiting’. He is currently working on his third title, a sci-fi comedy, working title: ‘Transported’.

As well as writing science fiction, Garry has regularly contributed topical comedy sketches for the BBC and produced scripts for community arts productions and performances.

Garry’s influences include Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Philip Pullman, George R. R. Martin and Dennis Potter.

Links

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Author links:
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Q. Please tell us about yourself.
 
A. Born in North Carolina, raised in Virginia, I have strong roots in the Appalachian mountain region, and have lived in West Virginia and Tennessee. I’m proud of that heritage dating back to mostly European settlers in the late 1600s in the United States, and even further in North America with my Native American ancestry, which brings a rich diversity to the mix. As a former newspaper, radio, and television journalist, I also worked in Ohio and Kentucky covering stories. Now in the communications consulting business, I live with my husband, the self-styled Agent Provocateur, JonRe Pell, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. As connoisseurs of well-told stories, rock ‘n’ roll music, impressionist art, golf, tennis, oysters, and fun people, we stay active. When chillin’ we stream a lot of movies and television shows, eat a bit of fresh-popped popcorn, and read a wide range of books, newspapers, and magazines, everything from the latest investigative and political intrigue shows and spy stories, to recorded late night comedy, dystopian adventures, and historical and alternative fiction. The lovable JonRe inspired some of the hotter scenes in Dystortions: 100 Hues of Purple, which is warmer and more colorful than any shades of grey.
 
Q. Tell us about your book. 
 
A. Dystortions: 100 Hues of Purple is a tale of mystery, murder, and love in a parallel universe, with a bit of humor. The protagonist, Addy O’Malibul, is a former journalist who is convicted of murder and imprisoned on a planet called Malaprop, strikingly similar to Earth, but with a few twists and many Dystortions in translations of data transmissions from a planet known as Hearth. Glitched up radio communications are bombarding Malaprop – a world where fearful national security analysts, politicians, and P.R. flacks re-write history and distort facts to recreate their reality in Hearth’s image. The Dystortions in those radio communications sometimes appear to twist words backwards and create opposite meanings, but maybe also reveal underlying truths. There’s just enough good science and wacked-out myth-busting to make the story hauntingly credible – and enough saucy romance to keep things hot.
 
Q. What inspired you to write Dystortions: 100 Hues of Purple? 
 
A. Just before Christmas on December 23, 2002, it was the anniversary of my late mother’s death. My husband had open heart surgery that turned out to be more harrowing than expected, I was recovering from a miscarriage, my business was a shambles due to the recession, and I was deeply in debt, making mortgage payments for my townhouse with credit cards. I was distracting myself from my troubles by watching late-night comedy and listening to the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour during the commercials. After Paul McCartney’s “Your Mother Should Know,” which always makes me think of my mother, comes John Lennon’s “I am the Walrus,” with its trippy otherworldly swirl of crazy lyrics and juxtapositions. Then, back to late-night comedy, came a joke about a politician speaking in amusing malapropisms. I thought, wonder what it would be like to be someone else, in a different world where malapropisms rained, er, reigned, on a planet named Malaprop? So, with a few mal-appropriate thoughts in mind, I decided to escape down that rabbit hole, feverishly writing all the way. I hint at, but wildly exaggerate the situation and those feelings in Chapter 24, entitled “December 23, 2502,” but delve deeper into the rock ‘n’ roll music angle in my next novel in the series, Dystortions: Purple Haze. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll mystery in a parallel universe.
 
Q. How much time per week do you spend writing/editing your work?
 
A. Probably at least 30 hours. During the work week, my day job involves quite a bit of writing and editing, and then I play with social media during my 50-minute train commute each way to and from work. Sometimes I’ll spend an hour or so writing in the evenings. Most of my personal writing happens on weekends and holidays, about four hours each day, sometimes more if I’m on a deadline or particularly engrossed in a subject.
 
Q. What are you working on at the moment?
 
A.  Currently I’m reviewing and finalizing the manuscripts for my next two novels, Dystortions: Purple Haze (a rock ‘n’ roll mystery in a parallel universe) and Dystortions: Purple Reigns (the mystery of celebrity in a parallel universe). I’m hoping to get them out in the next year or so. Once I complete those projects I’ll turn back to working on a fourth in the series, Dystortions: The Spy Who Wooed Me, as well as outlines for two more: Dystortions: The Tweet Bounced ‘Round the Universe, and Dystortions: Game of Bones. Then I may move on to something else – or just keep going with possible morphs of Dystortions. With recent and ongoing news of space missions to observe Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, asteroids, and other celestial bodies, the discoveries of water and other elements that could support life, and the increasing attention to commercial space travel and complications posed by space junk, the Dystortions series continues to feed my curiosities. I get such a kick out of writing these stories and feel passionately about the subject matter – the vagaries of language, the value of history, the nature and intensity of hot and hurtful relationships, and how personal freedoms are constrained or set free.

About the Book

Title: Dystortions: 100 Hues of Purple
Author: Lisa Pell
Genre: Scifi / Mystery
Dystortions: 100 Hues of Purple is a tale of mystery, murder, and love in a parallel universe, with a bit of humor. Addy O’Malibul is a former journalist who is convicted of murder and imprisoned on a planet called Malaprop, strikingly similar to Earth, but with a few twists and many Dystortions in translations of data transmissions from a planet known as Hearth. Glitched up radio communications are bombarding Malaprop – a world where fearful national security analysts, politicians, and P.R. flacks re-write history and distort facts to recreate their reality in Hearth’s image. The Dystortions in those radio communications sometimes appear to twist words backwards and create opposite meanings, but maybe also reveal underlying truths.
There’s just enough good science and wacked-out myth-busting to make the story hauntingly credible – and enough saucy romance to keep things hot. It’s much warmer and more colorful than any shades of grey.

Author Bio

ABOUT LISA PELL: An award-winning former newspaper, radio, and television journalist, Pell has spent most of her career in the communications business. Her critically acclaimed first novel, Who’s Your Daddy, Baby? (Aberdeen Bay, 2012), was selected for a Virginia Federation of Press Women award. Born in North Carolina, Pell was raised in Virginia, is a graduate of George Mason University, and attended Harvard Business School. She has strong roots in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia, and has lived in Tennessee and West Virginia, where she covered news stories in Kentucky and southern Ohio. Connoisseurs of well-told stories, rock ‘n’ roll music, impressionist art, golf, tennis, oysters, and fun people, Pell and her husband, the self-styled Agent Provocateur, JonRe Pell, live in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.
​
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Facebook: Facebook
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisapell
Website: http://www.lisapell.com

About the Book

Title: The Whizbang Machine
Author: Danielle A. Vann
Genre: YA
After years of running from his tragic past, Jack Yale books a flight home. With him is a typewriter that is intended to be a gift for his granddaughter, Elizabeth. The minute Elizabeth’s fingers cradle the large black and cream keys the machine responses: popping, sizzling, and roaring to life with a Whiz-Whiz-BANG!
Elizabeth quickly discovers the typewriter has powers beyond anything she has ever seen. The more she types, the more the machine spells out guarded secrets. Each secret leads them deeper into a haunted past. Each secret must be revealed in order to set history straight and remove a curse that has been on their family for centuries.
To solve the mystery, Elizabeth Yale, alongside Jack, will have to crack the code of the Whizbang Machine. What they find challenges their most basic assumptions of their family, the history of the typewriter, and even Elizabeth’s father’s death. The ultimate goal is to remove the curse.
The question is: will Jack and Elizabeth be able to carry out their mission?

Author Bio

Danielle A. Vann lives to write. When she was small, she spent endless days writing and crafting wild characters out of thin air. As Danielle grew, that love for writing sparked a career in journalism. She began her career as a scriptwriter and then moved into a flourishing career as a news reporter, food reporter, and morning/evening news anchor. That career earned her an Associate Press Award.
After becoming a mother, she was inspired to write children’s books for her three adorable children. While she holds children fiction especially close to her heart, she also loves to write books for all ages. These genres include Young-Adult Fiction, Adult Fiction, Young Reader Fiction, and Non-Fiction.
When she isn’t writing you can find her doing “mom” things, digging in her organic vegetable gardens, running, finding her Zen in yoga, or playing chef in the kitchen. She currently lives in Mansfield, Texas.
Danielle is also the author of Gracie Lou and The Bad Dream Eater, November 2016 release The Whizbang Machine, and September 2016 release The Very Tall Tale of Ranger, the Great Pyrenees, and his Adorable Friend, Miss Keys, and October 2016 release Building Faith Through A Carpenter’s Hands. To learn more, visit www.authordanielleavann.com.

Links

Website: http://authordanielleavann.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorDanielleA.Vann/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorDanielleV
Book Trailer

Please tell us about yourself.

My name is K.D. Friedrich and I write paranormal and contemporary romance. Paranormal Romance is one of my favorite genres to write. It allows me to immerse myself in a world with no limits. Anything can happen and to our delight...it usually does.
 
Please tell us about your book.

Passion of a Witch is a story about Summer Leery, a witch expected to enter into an arranged marriage with a very powerful man. Kian Lancaster is a human forced to work for his father's ruthless company. Both are faced with a bleak future when they meet. Determined to resist the male at all costs, Summer ignores her growing desire. Not only is he human and ignorant to her kinds existence, but he's a distraction she can't afford. Is Summer strong enough to resist Kian's charm? Or will she risk it all to taste the power of love? Find out in book 1 of this new paranormal romance series.
 
What inspired you to write Passion of a Witch?

I've wanted to write a series with supernatural beings, since my addiction for paranormal romance began years ago. It's my favorite genre to read.
 
How much time per week do you spend writing / editing your work?

I spend about 25 hours a week working on my manuscripts. If I'm lucky and I have off from the day job, I can spend twice that writing or editing.
 
What are you working on at the moment?
​
I'm currently working on Heart of a Wolf Book 2 in A Wicked Series. I just hit 42,000 words and I'm ahead of schedule on it. I really like the direction the characters are leading me and the surprises the story keeps offering.
​

About the Book

Title: Passion of a Witch
Author: K.D. Friedrich
Genre: Paranormal Romance
In a few weeks, Summer Leery will be mated. For most witches, it’s a time to celebrate, but Summer isn’t smiling. Her upcoming union is one of convenience, not love, contracted between her family and one of the most powerful families in the coven. As always, Summer’s loyalty remains with her kin and the traditions she’s expected to follow. No matter how much she detests her future husband. With her parents off to secure her nuptials, Summer is eager to enjoy her last moments of freedom.
Kian Lancaster’s relationship with his father is volatile. So finding himself at the bastard’s mercy is the last place Kian wants to be. Unfortunately, he has no choice. His mother is suffering from an unknown illness and needs constant care. Care that costs money. Money Kian doesn’t have. With little options, he lets his father pay his mother’s mounting medical bills, knowing the offer comes with a heavy price. Kian must work for his father’s ruthless company. Looking to forget his bleak future, he plans a nostalgic night of liquor and fun in the local woods. Unaware his destiny lurks in the shadows of towering pine.
Summer is shocked to find a human trespassing on her family’s land. More surprising is that the Goddess to all witches demands Summer welcome the cursed intruder. Summer has no time to waste playing host to a foolish human. No matter how handsome. With her wedding weeks away, Kian’s a temptation she can’t afford to entertain. But when her deity makes a decree to bring the male into the supernatural world… what’s a witch to do?
Kian’s about to find out. For the first time in his life, a woman didn’t fall to her knees to please him. Summer’s apathy shackled his lust and refused to let go. Kian knows he should stay away from Summer, but when it comes to this woman, he can’t get enough.
Their attraction is instant, their desire intense. Two hearts forced together by the will of a Goddess. Is Summer strong enough to resist Kian’s charm? Or will she risk it all to taste the power of love?

Author Bio

K. D. Friedrich is a writer of Contemporary and Paranormal Romance. A lifelong New Yorker, an overprotective mother (her daughter’s words), and an obsessed reader of everything romance. Most days, you can find her hard at work, creating intricate worlds and compelling characters, hot alpha heroes being her favorite. Her novel, Soul Tie Seduction, placed second in the 2013 Golden Palm contest for Paranormal Romance and was a finalist in the 2016 Golden Quill for Paranormal Romance.
 
Links

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​Book Excerpt

When the cheering subsided, Amy held her sword over her head.
“Do you see that?” she shouted as she jabbed the sword at the half-moon. “Do you see what is in the sky above us? That is an illusion, for the moon has not been severed in two. The moon is not missing half its face. The moon is as it’s always been. It is we who cannot see it as it truly is. That is the illusion. That is what La Arañota wants you to believe is real. She wants you to believe the false moon indicates this world is shrinking. She wants you to believe this world is past redemption. But she is the Queen of Lies! Just as she lied to La Reina by saying that nothing could be done to stop her from destroying the world, she is lying to you now.”
Amy jabbed the sword at the moon again. The crowd was eerily silent.

About the Books

Lizard Queen Volume 1

300 years ago, in a nameless world, a prophecy passed unfulfilled. A secret society that formed to prevent its occurrence believed it was their doing, while the secret society created to ensure that the prophecy came to pass wasn’t certain it had been stopped at all. Eventually, the prophecy of Lacáruna, a female from another realm and the only being who can read the Lizard Queen’s language, fell into legend.  What no one realizes, however, is that Amy Darlidale is just a tad late.

THIS SHRINKING WORLD
Taking a break from a stressful workweek, Amy, a recently divorced CEO, goes out for a morning jog and crosses paths with an orange lizard. Suddenly, she finds herself under a starless sky confronted by oddly marked and strangely colored people who claim she’s there to rescue the world from evil’s grasp and expand it once again. But not everyone wants that to happen so there’s a price on her head. This is far from the relaxing weekend Amy had intended.

FROM THE ASHES
Along with the young companions who found her, Licha and Jandro, Amy has accompanied the swaggering Colonel Dack Sangcertigre—a member of the Trotéjo, the secret society sworn to protect her—to his home nation in search of a plan to fulfill the Promise of a New Morphósis. As the body count rises and she is confronted with raving rulers, military machinations, and crafty clergy, she quickly realizes there must be much more at stake than merely finding the prophecy.
​
A SPECTACULAR LIE
The sense of order in this mysterious world continues to collapse. Fires rage, clans are being slaughtered and townsfolk massacred, and leaders have proclaimed a great evil has returned. As Amy searches for clues within the first mythic journals of this world’s origins, she’s begun seeing visions and receiving messages from forces unknown. While she’s trying to understand the extent of her power others have become aware of it as well. Soon a new group with its own mysterious agenda believes Amy may have another fated purpose and only she can save herself from their terrifying trap.

Lizard Queen Volume 2

300 years ago, in a nameless world, a prophecy passed unfulfilled. A secret society that formed to prevent its occurrence believed it was their doing, while the secret society created to ensure that the prophecy came to pass wasn’t certain it had been stopped at all. Eventually, the prophecy of Lacáruna, a female from another realm and the only being who can read the Lizard Queen’s language, fell into legend.  What no one realizes, however, is that Amy Darlidale is just a tad late.

YOU ARE THE DREAM
It’s becoming increasingly clear that an all-out war is being waged by opposing factions—the Arañalianza, bent on making certain that the prophecy is never brought to pass, and the Trotéjo, sworn to make certain it does. Although Amy has passed tests of wits and endurance far beyond what she thought possible, she struggles for insight into the role she is presumably intended to play in this world. But nothing in her imagination can prepare her for coming face to face with the greatest nemesis of all.

A WEDGE BETWEEN
Jolted by the sacrifices her protectors have had to make, Amy forges ahead while new relationships surface and new truths are revealed. As it becomes less clear who to trust, the group has no choice but to seek out the help of another Trotéjo comrade in order to find the remaining Extiguos. Amy understands that achieving her goal to fulfill the Promise of a New Morphósis is going to be more difficult—because now it seems she’s not the only one of the Most Wanted List.
​
FURIOUS ANGELS
Forced to rely on her own instincts, along with the limited knowledge she’s gained of this world in her quest, Amy must find a way to acquire the remaining three Extiguos to piece together the prophecy and reunite her team of protectors. Despite feeling constrained in her ability to combat otherworldly forces she cannot comprehend, she must now overcome a foe that poses an unimaginably sinister threat. But before she can push forward toward her destiny she must first reclaim what she left behind.

Lizard Queen Volume 3

300 years ago, in a nameless world, a prophecy passed unfulfilled. A secret society that formed to prevent its occurrence believed it was their doing, while the secret society created to ensure that the prophecy came to pass wasn’t certain it had been stopped at all. Eventually, the prophecy of Lacáruna, a female from another realm and the only being who can read the Lizard Queen’s language, fell into legend.  What no one realizes, however, is that Amy Darlidale is just a tad late.

TIME GOES ROUND
With all of the Extiguos now in their possession, Amy and her friends feel they are close to discovering the truth, but hope they aren’t running out of time. They become aware that both opposing factions behind the Lacáruna prophesy are convening while the militaries of the surrounding nations converge. Aided by a powerful new weapon, Amy’s protectors feel more empowered to overcome any remaining obstacles. But everyone has changed and each must struggle to accept the truth of their evolving principles. Despite the set backs and the struggles Amy, however, grows more confident that they are on the right path because she’s found a way to see her surroundings in a new light.

WE ARE THE WAKING
Although she’s unable to finish reading the final Extiguo to determine her role in bringing about the New Morphósis, Amy Darlidale quickly learns that Runakopolis puts her and her friends on the threshold of another major discovery. A new mystery seems to hold clues to the origins of the Trotéjo and the Arañalianza. Beginning to sense that the ideologies at conflict have been preserved not only by clergy and government but also by culture, Amy is drawn into an enigmatic society of scholars. At first, pages missing from library books and a new theory about the first Morphósis don’t seem to be connected to the Lacáruna prophecy, but the lines of military, church, and academia continue to intersect and familiar faces and adversaries reemerge. Rumors of war are spreading quickly, and whispers that La Arañota will soon rise again are amplifying. This world seems on the verge of shrinking much faster than anyone anticipated.

ROOT OF THE RULE
The surrounding nations are gathering for a war against Pliada, the Trotéjo and the Arañalianza are assembling before the mountain upon which La Reina’s castle sits, and stakes have never been higher. The quest to learn how Amy Darlidale must bring about the New Morphósis has brought her full circle and the truth about her destiny as Lacáruna finally seems within reach. But much blood continues to be shed as all sides race toward the inevitable conclusion of the journey. Amy must summon forces from deep within if she is to save this world—or is it too late?

Author Bio

H.L. Cherryholmes, author of The Lizard Queen Series, Come Back for Me, and A Slight Touch was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico but has spent most of his adult life in Southern California. He has a BFA from University of New Mexico and a Master’s degree in Playwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles. Currently, he lives in Los Angeles and Palm Springs with his husband, Ron Cogan.

Links

Website: http://www.thelizardqueen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HLCherryholmesBooks
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BLNA80