Jenyfer Matthews

I’m here today to talk about my latest Cerridwen release, Endurance, which was released yesterday, Thanksgiving Day in America.

I’m thankful that it released. My History Patrol series has had a problematic life. The first book, Forgiveness, released last year, and was one of my first books ever released. It’s done very well on the contest circuit despite the fact it’s only available in download and has never been in print. I’ve been pleased.

Anyway, long story short: I lost my editor at CP before the book released. The second book, Endurance, had already been bought, so I was assigned a new editor. We whipped that book into shape and she bought the third book.

Yep. That editor left. I was assigned a new editor to get Endurance, book 2, out the door and to work on Temperance, Book 3.

Edits for Temperance, Book 3 (due out next year), are … a struggle. In the first round I saw more edits than I’ve ever seen — more than on all my 8 books that I have out combined. Usually it takes me a day at the most to do edits. This took me several days — almost 10 days, to be precise. I’m not saying the edits weren’t valid. I think many of them were. But some … I’m not so sure if they were really essential.

So I’ve finished the first round of edits and just got the next round. I haven’t even opened the file yet. I’m not even going to look at the next round until sometime in December. I want to savor the release of Endurance and gird my loins for more angst.

I think this is probably a very good lesson for me. Most of my releases at my other publishers have been relatively easy. I’ve had a few covers I’ve whined about, or maybe I misunderstood my editor on some points. But I’ve never had so many detail-oriented edits as I have for the History Patrol books.

Of course, these are complicated books. “Time travel meets reincarnation” is how I phrase it. For Endurance, my off-handed summary is: ‘Endurance, a first-person paranormal time travel reincarnation romance (try saying that fast a few times). It’s first-person male POV, about a man who’s been stranded in time by an immortality virus and has a career as a paid assassin. The woman he’s assigned to kill is the love of his life, reincarnated in this place and time. Nico almost makes a huge mistake and targets Lucinda, but luckily there’s someone there who knows the truth — a telepathic dog named Cerberus, who intervenes.’

Complicated? Yes. But very, very interesting. I hope it and the other books in the series are worth the work. Only time will tell (time travel, get it?)

Endurance
by
J.L. Wilson

Imagine being torn away from all you know and love. And now imagine being torn away from your place in time.

That’s what happened to Nico Haidess who is trapped, not just in time, but in a reincarnation gone wrong.

He’s a Guide with the History Patrol, sent back from 2190 and now stranded in 21st century America. He’s been reunited with the love of his life, Lucinda Delacroix who has been reincarnated in this place and time. There’s only one problem: he doesn’t recognize her as his lost love and she doesn’t recognize him.

To Lucinda, Nico is just a handsome stranger, a man who seems oddly familiar. And to Nico—a paid assassin—Lucinda is just an assignment, a suspected traitor. He must kill her on Easter morning and make it look like an accident.

Luckily one other creature can help. Cerberus is a telepathic dog on special assignment with the History Patrol, sent to bring these two lovers together. Cerberus has a vested interest in the fate of Nico Haidess and he’ll do whatever it takes to see Nico and Lucinda reunited—even if it means dying and defying God to accomplish his purpose.

But the clock is ticking for all of them and time is starting to run out.

Barbara Goodwin has been writing romance novels for five years. A native Californian, she loves dogs, movies, and reading. Her career as a flight attendant with a major U.S. airline gives her unlimited ideas for her novels. Barbara has published five romance novels, four with Cerridwen Press and one with Whiskey Creek Press. She has also written a young adult novel with her nephew. From Dreams To Reality will be published by Cerridwen Press March 19, 2009.

How the Love Beyond Time Series came to be

As I was staring at the bookshelves looking for Christmas romances one holiday season, I realized that I would love to write one of my own. The next year I went to a June wedding in Sisters, Oregon, a beautiful small town on the East side of the Cascade Mountains, and decided to write a western based on that town which is styled after the old west with boardwalks and old-fashioned store fronts.

I finished the 1890s western, No Time For Christmas, and realized I needed to make it a series. My hero, Joshua Forrester had two sons, and the heroine, Adeline Benjamin had two nieces that she’d raised. I knew then that each son and niece needed their own book and decided to write a five book series. My love for time travel stories made it a must that I write these books where each story would take place in a different time period.

As I wrote the ending for No Time For Christmas, I realized it couldn’t be the first book in the series but must be the third. Then I decided that each book should start and end on the same two days no matter how long the hero and heroine were gone in their respective time periods. I chose time periods that I would love to see and researched the history of those times. That helped me develop the story lines for each book. I plugged in my hero and heroine (which I had already written character profiles for) and the rest is…history!

I thoroughly loved writing and researching these books. Book one, No Future Christmas, takes place in 2110 and deals with a corrupt world order. Book two, No Silent Christmas, is about the silent film era and prohibition in 1925. Book four, No Hope For Christmas takes place in 1940 World War II on a real airplane, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner that flew passengers for only one and a half years before it was commissioned for the war effort. I have a real romance with past airplanes where stewardesses made up bunks and catered to their wealthy passengers. Book five, No Diamonds For Christmas, takes place in 1956 on the Queen Mary and has a handsome diamond thief bent on revenge, a cursed diamond and, of course, the haunted Queen Mary!

Enjoy!
Barbara Goodwin

Love Beyond Time Series

No Future Christmas
Book One

Twenty-first century Police officer Mike Forrester can’t believe his eyes. A woman is standing in a glowing tangerine light in the early morning hours after his shift.

He has to see if the vision is real. His hand closes around her wrist and he’s stunned by the hot, intense desire that rushes through him. The world spins and the last thing Mike remembers is the gentle touch of the woman’s hands on his face as she strokes his mouth.

Twenty-second century scientist Shauna Wentworth doesn’t intend to bring Mike Forrester home to her time. But before she can send him back they find themselves in a race against time to uncover a political secret that will rock the world.

Soon the global military police have them listed as number one on their worldwide most wanted list.
While fighting a corrupt world order Mike and Shauna fall deeply in love. Can their love survive between two different worlds?

No Silent Christmas
Book Two

When Firefighter Scott Forrester picks up his brother’s BlackBerry to invite his father for Christmas dinner he hears a high-pitched whine and a tangerine light surrounds him.

In an instant he disappears from the room.

When the color dissipates Scott is standing on a dirt street. Most of the women are dressed in the same, shapeless style from the 1920s. Amid the Barbie-doll dressed women, one stands out. Her long blonde hair and startling blue eyes cause a hot, wild desire to race through Scott. He has never reacted to a woman so intensely before.

Scott finds he’s in 1925, the era of prohibition and gangsters. Until he can get back to his own time he takes the only job offered to him and becomes reluctant silent screen actor.

Scott’s co-star is stunning socialite Maggie Ingram. When a series of accidents almost kill Maggie, Scott begins to suspect matinee idol Carey Chambers. But why would Chambers want Maggie dead? Also, Scott wonders where Chambers gets his illegal liquor.

This is No Silent Christmas for Scott as he navigates the glitz and the glamour of Hollywood in 1925.

No Time for Christmas
Book Three

After losing his wife to a car accident one Christmas season, Joshua Forrester buries his grief in work as a commercial real estate salesman. Twenty years later, and still alone, Joshua is addicted to everything electronic. As he steps out of his condo one morning he’s shocked to find he’s in 1890. His Blackberry doesn’t work, there’s no electricity, and his hometown of Sisters, Oregon looks like a Hollywood movie set from the wild, wild, west days.

But this is no movie.

Adeline Benjamin, the beautiful town spinster, takes him under her wing when he’s thrown in jail for counterfeiting money dated 1980. Joshua is instantly attracted to Addie. Heat burns through him every time he’s near her, but he gains a powerful enemy because of his attraction. Sheriff Hall claims Addie Benjamin as his own and won’t tolerate this stranger taking away his woman.

As Joshua grows to love Addie he must overcome the sheriff’s anger and distrust, accept that he may be on the longest camping trip of his life and find a way to make a living in a time he never thought he’d see.

No Hope for Christmas
Book Four
Coming December 18!

Modern-day flight Attendant Evie Benjamin wants adventure and she gets it when she time travels to 1940. Her first trip, assigned by Transcontinental and Western Air, is to work the first pressurized commercial airplane ever built—the Boeing 307 Stratoliner.

Only the wealthy and the famous can fly the luxury of the “Stratoliner.”

James Jeffries, III owns a worldwide construction company. He also works for MI5 securing information hoping to get the United States to help the British win the war against Germany.

Evie is stunned by her first meeting with James. His voice flows like honey down her spine, calling to her, touching her deep in her soul. When James requests her for a top-secret mission she is plunged into peril and loses her heart in the process. But the secret mission is compromised and Evie and James have to find out who leaked vital information.

How will Evie and James newfound love survive the ravages of time and war amid a pitch-black, nighttime landing, a devastating car accident and other perilous adventures?

No Diamonds for Christmas
Book Five
Coming February 5, 2009!

Beautiful restaurant owner Mary Benjamin time travels to the Queen Mary, circa 1956. When she arrives on the dark ship a masked man rescues her from nearly sliding overboard. At his tender touch an unexpected rush of desire courses through her, weakening her. But will he hurt her?

Accomplished, British jewel thief Gavin MacAfee will do anything to steal the cursed Resurrection Diamond from the Duke of Pemberton. Yet, everything changes for Gavin when he meets Mary under the brilliant stars on the Queen Mary’s deck. A sudden rush of desire and a powerful need for her consumes him.

Mary doesn’t trust Gavin when she meets him without the mask. He’s too cocky, too sure of himself. Soon she finds she’s falling in love with a masked thief who’s tender and kind, yet obviously up to no good.

Buy these books!

Julia Barrett has been writing prose and poetry most of her life. She originally majored in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa, but parenthood necessitated a regular paycheck and an unexpected career in nursing. The author has lived throughout the Mountain West, but she is proud to admit to being a fourth generation Iowan. Ms. Barrett and her husband currently reside in California with their German Shepherd, three cats, and two birds.

Anytime, Darlin’ is a powerful story of love, loss, and a life-and-death struggle for survival. Despite the harsh reality of the storyline, author Julia Barrett has deftly created a powerful character-driven tale. {…} The characterization is strong and the writing taut as the fast-paced love story carries the reader from the opening paragraph to the final scene. Anytime, Darlin’ is highly recommended to anyone who craves explosive suspense.
Night Owl Romance

What inspired Anytime Darlin’?

I believe we are all connected in some way. Sometimes the connections are casual, sometimes deep and lasting. The two main characters in Anytime Darlin’, Devlin and Jake, experience an instantaneous connection that transcends time and space. Unfortunately, they cannot act upon their feelings for years. They each have their own path to follow. As a writer, I followed their paths along with them. I heard their voices. Devlin and Jake told me their story, I simply recorded it. I didn’t always know what they were going to say before they said it or what they were going to do before they did it. And it was not only Devlin and Jake who constantly surprised me, their friends and even their enemies communicated in exactly the same manner. As a writer, it was a most interesting experience. I believe the spontaneity of their story is evident in every word I wrote. Happy reading!

Anytime Darlin’

by

Julia Barrett

Jake McKenna is one of the first responders when a young runaway is found unconscious. She’s desperately ill and has been beaten and sexually assaulted. Jake saves her life and is determined to protect her from the man who is equally determined to destroy her. Ultimately Jake realizes he must allow her to make her own decisions about her future, though it breaks his heart.

Devlin Barre survived the destruction of everything she held dear then learns she has been given into the care of the very person who stole her life. Her risky escape nearly kills her. One man brings her back, Jake. She loves him, but he has his own path to travel. Devlin refuses to become a burden. Brokenhearted, she leaves to rebuild her life.

Years later Jake and Devlin meet again. Has their connection survived? What of the monster who attempted to destroy Devlin? He’s still waiting for the opportunity to finish what he started.

Excerpt

Jake applied the electrodes to her chest and flipped on the portable EKG machine. After a quick glance at her heart rhythm, he began a systematic head-to-toe assessment as Kyle radioed each finding back to the ER. Jake felt sick as he stripped her and ran his hand over every single bruise and abrasion, checking for broken bones and possible internal injuries, anything they might make worse by moving her carelessly. The girl had been badly beaten. Her back was scraped raw and there were thick purple wheals around both wrists. Her left side was swollen and covered with bruises. From the feel of things, Jake suspected at least a couple of broken ribs. He didn’t find needle marks—her arms and legs were clean. This wasn’t likely to be a drug overdose. Leanne and Lou got the IV started and Jake sighed with relief as fluids began flowing. The EKG showed a normal sinus rhythm but she was tachycardic and the woman was right, she was hot. Her axillary temp was one oh three point four. Her lungs sounded congested. Probably pneumonia. Jake suspected she’d been outdoors for several days and she’d probably been guarding her respirations because of the rib pain, which meant she was a sitting duck for pneumonia.

Mike cleared his throat. “He was wearing waffle-stompers,” he said, “look at the marks on her thigh.”

They stared in silence.

Then Jake broke it. “Let’s move it people.”

Kyle and Lou wheeled in the gurney and the four of them lifted the girl gently. As they laid her down, her eyes flew open. Jake was by her head, looking right at her. He started. Her eyes were unexpected, aquamarine with flecks of gold, wide and slightly almond-shaped and when she slowly lowered her lids, her long lashes cast faint shadows on her pale cheeks. Suddenly her eyes opened again and sought his. Jake was surprised by the intensity in her gaze. He saw confusion mingled with pain and a flat-out panic, the kind of panic one would find in a cornered animal.

Jake felt a hand wrap around his as he pushed the gurney.

“It’s okay, darlin,” he whispered soothingly, “it’s okay. We’ll take care of you. We‘re taking you to the hospital.”

He thought her panic increased for a moment but then she nodded, almost imperceptibly and he could tell she understood him.

“You got a name, sweetheart?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “No.”

“C’mon, everybody’s got a name,” he coaxed, “it’s all right, you can tell me, sweetheart, nobody’s going to hurt you.”

“Dev,” she said after a moment, so softly beneath the mask that he almost missed it. “Devlin.” Her eyes closed.

“Devlin,” Jake repeated, “I‘m Jake and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Suddenly the hand in his went rigid and the rapid respirations turned to gasps.

“Heart rate increasing!” called Leanne. “One sixty a minute!”

“Lou,” Jake spoke with deliberate calm, “give me an ET tube now and get the ambu-bag.”

Jake and Lou worked fast and had the girl intubated before Kyle could even put the vehicle in gear. Mike slammed the ambulance doors shut.

“I’m right behind you,” he called.

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Carolynn Carey has had a lifelong love affair with the written word. She started (and quickly abandoned) her first novel in elementary school. In high school she was editor of the school paper and worked after school for the newspaper published weekly in the rural county in Middle Tennessee where she grew up. Later, in college, she majored in journalism and again worked on the school newspaper. Her career didn’t deviate much from her earliest love: She was an academic editor for many years.

Fiction writing had always been a dream for Carolynn, one that stayed a bit out of reach until she decided to become serious about learning the craft. Joining the Romance Writers of America (RWA®) and then the Smoky Mountain Romance Writers chapter of RWA® provided the encouragement and assistance she needed. In the last few years, she has finaled three times in RWA’s prestigious Golden Heart contest for unpublished writers, and in 2004 she won her own chapter’s Laurie award in the short contemporary unpublished category. Later that year, her winning manuscript sold to Avalon Books and was published as A Summer Sentence in 2005. A sequel, Falling for Dallas, followed in 2006. Since that time, she’s had a traditional Regency, Compromising Situations, published by Cerridwen Press, and her women’s fiction entitled Lily for a Day is available now from Cerridwen Press.

Carolynn lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her husband, who has been of incredible encouragement over the years by always believing in her. They have one daughter, also a lover of the written word, who teaches English in North Carolina.

*****

I’m delighted to be a guest on Jenyfer’s blog today, just one day following Cerridwen Press’s release of my women’s fiction titled Lily for a Day. The title (as well as the cover design) relates to the book’s setting: a daylily farm in Tennessee.

You say you’ve never heard of a daylily farm? Well, one is located about five miles from my house. The owners boast of growing hundreds of varieties of daylilies, and if you were to pay a visit to the farm in the summer during the days that are open to the public, you would see rows and rows of daylilies in bloom in more sizes and colors than you could imagine. And you would understand why I wanted to set a novel on a daylily farm.

Actually, the fictional Darnell Daylily Farm in Lily for a Day is central to the book’s plot, ranging from the office building (that causes the accident which leads to the independent protagonist, Marti, breaking her ankle and becoming more dependent on her adult daughters) to the shed (where the beautiful Glenna works after her ignominious flight from Hollywood).

I hope you’ll want to visit Darnell Daylily Farm and learn for yourself whether Marti gets a second change to bond with her daughters. And while you’re there, you will probably learn a thing or two you didn’t know about daylilies.

Lily for a Day

by

Carolynn Carey

Marti Darnell is convinced she was an inadequate mother to her two daughters, but both have married and moved on with their lives, and Marti is content with her non-eventful existence. She and her husband Harold own and operate Darnell Daylily Farm in Tennessee where their daughters were raised, and Marti still has her friends, including Steve, their employee and neighbor.

Then Harold falls off the roof of their small office building and lands on Marti, breaking her ankle and his own wrist. That same day, Glenna, the oldest daughter and Steve’s former fiancée, calls to say she’s leaving her Hollywood producer husband and moving back home. Marti and Harold’s injuries necessitate more contact with their other daughter, the perpetually disapproving Candie, and her busy physician husband Matt. Add to this mix the charming home health care nurse, who falls for Steve, and then Jake, Glenna’s estranged husband, who comes to Tennessee to try to win his wife back.

A gorgeous movie star follows Jake and then makes a play for Candie’s husband. When Candie leaves Matt and moves back to the daylily farm, Marti realizes they have come full circle. Can she be a wiser mother to her girls this second time around? And will her grown daughters pay any more attention to her advice now that they’ve experienced their own failures?

Chapter Seven

Even a small thorn causes festering.

—Irish proverb

Glenna was on a rare rampage. As soon as the reverberations from the slammed back door died away, I heard the sound of cabinet doors being closed so hard that the glassware behind them rattled. I grabbed my crutches. I didn’t look forward to confronting Glenna, but at the same time, I wasn’t going to sit by and let her destroy my kitchen.

By the time I’d propelled myself halfway through the dining room, the popping of a cork told me that Glenna had found what she’d been looking for. Wine in the middle of the afternoon? What a wonderful idea.

“Pour a glass for me too,” I called to her. “And pull out a kitchen chair for me. I’m coming to join you.”

If Glenna was happy to have my company, she did a good job of hiding it. When I stepped into the kitchen, she stood, wine bottle clutched in her hand, and glared at me. “Did you know that Dad was going to invite my low-down, good-for-nothing, ratfink of a husband to live in the office building within spitting distance of the house?”

I quickly shook my head. “I had no idea, sweetheart. You have my word.”

She held my gaze for at least a half a minute. If I’d been lying to her, I’m sure I would have blinked. As it was, I had to hold my breath and call upon eyelid muscles I’d never known existed in order to keep my eyes innocently open.

Finally she dropped her gaze, sighed, and shook her head. “I can’t believe Dad did this to me. Do you really want a glass of wine?”

“Absolutely. Did you get me a glass?”

“No, but I will.” When Glenna turned back around to fetch my wineglass, I hurriedly blinked a few times to get a little moisture back onto my dry eyeballs. Then I pulled out a chair at the kitchen table. “You don’t mind if I sit with you, do you?”

She sighed again. “No.”

“Good. Once I heard that cork pop, I started craving a glass of wine. Could you step it up a bit?”

Glenna smiled. She also stepped it up a bit. She set my glass on the table, poured it three fourths full of the merlot she’d opened, and then helped herself to a generous measure before dropping into a chair on the far side of the table.

“Cheers. Although I’ll be damned if I know of anything to be cheerful about.” She lifted her glass, then downed half of its contents in three long swallows. “I don’t recall you being a daytime drinker, Mom.”

“Some days call for a glass of wine in the afternoon.” I took a sip of mine. Merlot wasn’t my favorite but it would do. “Can you believe that I didn’t recognize your husband when he came to the front door this afternoon?”

Her eyes widened. “Did he have to tell you who he was?”

“Yep.”

She giggled. “I’ll bet that deflated his ego quite a bit. He likes to think of himself as a household face in this country, and then his own mother-in-law doesn’t even recognize him.”

“He appeared a little shocked, I’ll have to admit.” I took another sip of wine. “He claims he wants you back, you know.”

Want to read more?
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Janice Bennett has the eclectic sort of background often encountered in writers. She has a B.A. degree in anthropology from UC Santa Cruz, another in classical civilizations from UC Irvine, and an M.A. degree in folklore and mythology from UCLA. Over the years, she has worked as a bookkeeper, an archaeologist, and a college instructor in crafts, jewelry making, needlework and novel writing, and has been a frequent presenter of workshops on a variety of writing topics. She also teaches t’ai chi and is a certified hypnotherapist specializing in pain management and a certified past life regression therapist.

To relax, she quilts, knits, crochets and spins the sheddings from her Newfoundland dog. Because of all this yarn-related activity, she has started an organization known as Crochet 4 Cats (patterns can be found under the CONTESTS & FUN tab), dedicated to providing mini afghans for the comfort of the inmates of cat shelters. Her preferred vacation spot is Yosemite National Park, as close to a river as she can get.

To date, she has written nine novellas and twenty-four novels. Many have received 4+ ratings from Romantic Times/Rave Reviews and 4 1/2 and 5 Star ratings from Affaire de Coeur. She has won several awards, including two Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice awards and two Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards, for Time Travels and for Regencies.

Janice lives near the top of a sloping hillside on the outskirts of a tiny rural town, looking out over nothing but trees. With her reside her husband, her son (during college breaks), her computer, and, over the years, an assortment of birds, cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, horses, and any other animal currently in need of a home.

In Black Cats and Boondoggles the action starts from the first page and keeps right on going to the last page. {…} The continuing growth of the characters along with the intricate plots makes this series a true joy to read. Would I recommend Black Cats and Boondoggles? Wholeheartedly YES.
Novelspot

What do you do when life becomes too stressful and everything feels out of control? Let yourself disappear into a fun-filled book, of course, where the chaos is tamed and everything turns out happily in the end. Or, if you’re a writer, you write that book.

That’s how my Events Unlimited series began. The books in it are lighthearted because life can be way too serious. They’re cozy murder mysteries because I love a puzzle, and because unraveling the “who-dunnit” of the story is a fun way to forget one’s own tangled problems in a fictional world where all problems can be solved. The main character, Annike McKinley, is an event-coordinator—and anyone who has ever planned an event knows how unpredictable and challenging that can be. There is something very satisfying and reassuring as Annike manages to create order out of chaos.

The books are set in the very tiny fictional town of Upper River Gulch in the equally fictional Merit County, located on California’s not-so-fictional central coast. This is a town—and county—filled with eccentrics and warm-hearted people…and the occasional murderer—who naturally is brought to justice. The sheriff is far from bungling, and doesn’t believe in the vengeance of the law but in the well-being and security of the people in his charge. He’s also in love with Annike who, as the widow of the former sheriff, is afraid to become involved with a law enforcement officer again.

The first book of the series, COLD TURKEY, is set over a particularly crazy Thanksgiving weekend, when Annike arrives at her aunt’s house a day before she’s expected, finds a body in her aunt’s study and is roped into organizing the town’s holiday events. By the second book, BUNNY HOP, which takes place over a particularly memorable Easter, Annike has launched her new career and is organizing events professionally. In Black Cats and Boondoggles, Annike takes on the town’s Harvest Festival, leading up to a nearly fatal Halloween.

Come join me in the world I created to escape into. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Black Cats and Boondoggles
Book #3 of the Events Unlimited Series
by
Janice Bennett

It’s time for the annual Harvest Fair and Halloween Trick-or-Treating in Upper River Gulch, and the SCOURGEs gather under the banner of Annike McKinley’s company Events Unlimited to plan the most enthusiastic festival Merit County has yet endured. But when Hugh Cartwright, owner of Upper River Gulch’s sole industry, Brandywine Distillery, is found in the town’s tiny park, propped up on bales of straw in a scarecrow costume with his head inside a giant jack-o-lantern, Annike insists a murder was not one of the scheduled events. While Annike and the other SCOURGEs organize pumpkin carving contests, hay rides, a kid’s carnival and a haunted house that takes on a sinister twist, they also turn up suspects in the murder. With the help of two black cats and an adolescent bloodhound named Boondoggle, Merit County’s sheriff Owen Sarkisian wades through a morass of motives and clues and the chaos created by the town’s furiously debated proposed incorporation. Then one of the suspects becomes another victim of oleander poisoning and it becomes a race to find the killer before he–or she–strikes again. Then comes Halloween night when kids and adults alike dress in costume and parade the tiny town’s few streets. Only this time a murderer walks among them.

Read an excerpt

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Cold Turkey , Bunny Hop, and Black Cats and Boondoggles are also available in print!

Many of the talented Cerridwen Press authors also have books with other publishers. This week Jane Beckenham is sharing her recent release No Sex Necessary from Red Rose Publishing.

Author Jane Beckenham found literature at a young age. In books she discovered dreams and hope, stories that inspired in her a love of romance, and travel. Years later, after a blind date, Jane found her own true love and married him eleven months later.

Life has been a series of ‘dreams’ for Jane. Dreaming of learning to walk again after spending years in hospital. Dreaming of raising a family and subsequently flying to Russia to bring home her two adopted daughters. And of course, dreaming of writing.

With her family growing up, life is a round of playing mum’s taxi service, all the while wondering what her hero and heroine are up to behind her back! Writing is Jane’s addiction - and it sure beats housework. You can contact Jane via her web site or email her at neiljane@ihug.co.nz

***Leave a comment for Jane and you’ll have a chance
to win a digital copy of No Sex Necessary for yourself!
Don’t forget to check back on Sunday when Jane will announce the winner!***

No Sex Necessary
by
Jane Beckenham

Wife wanted - no sex necessary is the perfect job for Tara Palmer and for commitment-phobe Cole Charteris. The word marriage isn’t in his vocabulary until he meets Tara, the woman who answers an advertisement to pose as his fiancée. But playing a loving couple when there’s no love, only blackmail, doesn’t make for love everlasting…unless one of the rules of employment changes!

“Ms. Beckenham’s characters are solid and very believable… No Sex Necessary shows us that love can bloom in the most scarred hearts and that even with countless obstacles, love can conquer all.”
Fallen Angels Reviews

Excerpt

She sensed him at first. Bold and assessing. A lion on the prowl.

Swiveling in her chair, Tara searched the vast marble lobby of Charteris Developments for the man responsible for the unrestrained panic channeling through every fiber of her being.

Dark chocolate eyes, deep and mysterious stared blatantly back, the stranger’s interest apparent. One ebony brow arched and the corners of his full mouth curved upwards slightly. It sent a prickling awareness creeping up her spine, when she should be thinking of something else—and definitely not lust! The hunt for the dreaded dollar should be foremost in her mind right now, not eye candy.

The air around her thickened with a scandalous lustful heat. Palpable. So real, she believed she could almost reach out and touch it.

The man picked up his briefcase and her gut clenched into a rigid knot. She swallowed hard. Surely he wasn’t coming her way. Sparks of heat cascaded through her veins and the hairs on the back of her neck tingled. Flustered, she quickly turned away and yanked her jacket across her chest as if to protect herself.

From what…or should that be whom?

The answer was easy. From herself.

She waited. Nothing happened.

Tara should have known better, but heck, what’s a girl to do when she sees the hunk from heaven. She couldn’t help herself. With utmost care and certainly not wanting to arouse his attention, she glanced over her shoulder, seeking him out, again.

Big mistake. Huge!

He was still there. Still staring. Still smiling.

Stupid. Don’t draw attention. Don’t look.

She dropped her gaze and self-consciously fiddled with her purse. She had to get away. Lurching from the low-slung leather chair she fled, locking eyes on the lift, willing it to stay open. Heat burned in her chest and her heart raced. She knew without turning his gaze hadn’t shifted. It bored into her back even as she sped away, teasing, and absolutely tempting her to stop, turn round and look back.
Desperate to put space between her and the dark eyed stranger, afraid of the intense sexual tension his direct gaze created, Tara kept going.

She didn’t want to feel it. How could a stranger create such an impact? It scared her.

Then it happened.

Two feet from the lift doors—thankfully still open—she tumbled to the ground in a heap.

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Hey there!

I’m J L Wilson, and I write mysteries and paranormal/reincarnation/time travel books. I’ve got several books out with several different publishers, but today I’m going to talk about the paranormal books. I’m psyched to say my first paranormal book, Forgiveness, placed 3rd in a rather tough contest — the PRISM award for published novels, run by the Romance Writers of America FF&P chapter. I was up against some heavy hitters and my little e-book came in 3rd! No wonder I’m excited!

The second book in this paranormal series comes out in a month, so I’ll tell you about the series and what you can expect. The series is “The History Patrol” and it’s available from Cerridwen Press. It’s about a group of people from the future who travel back in time in the service of a group, the History Patrol. Each History Patrol Guide sent back in time is accompanied by a Companion, a shapeshifting animal who is really a human, but who can’t be seen in human form until they perform penance for a crime they committed. There’s a catch (of course): the penance involves the Guide, who knows nothing about the crime.

Who said God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Here’s the blurb for the first book, Forgiveness

What would you do if you caused the death of the woman you loved?

In 1876, James Benteen caused the death of Penelope Albright. Choosing to serve penance, James is reincarnated in 2168 as Jim, a shapeshifting Companion to Penelope, a Guide with the History Patrol. Penelope doesn’t know about her past connection to Jim. He’s simply a soul she’s learned to love through dozens of trips through time.

They’re sent to 1876 America to observe history and assist in the capture of Franz Mueller, a 22nd-Century murderer who escaped through God’s Portal. It’s here that Penelope meets James Benteen, a cowboy with a dark past. If history repeats itself, Penelope and James will fall in love before James betrays her, causing her death. But this time Jim is there. If he can save Penelope, he can attain forgiveness and his penance will be served.

Jim will have to battle his former self, the Jesse James gang and God to accomplish his purpose. But in the end, it’s Penelope who must intervene with a higher authority to find happiness with the man she’s come to love across time…

The second book in the series, Endurance, is coming in November:

Imagine being torn away from all you know and love. And now imagine being torn away from your place in time.

That’s what happened to Nico Haidess who is trapped, not just in time, but in a reincarnation gone wrong.

He’s a Guide with the History Patrol, sent back from 2190 and now stranded in 21st century America. He’s been reunited with the love of his life, Lucinda Delacroix who has been reincarnated in this place and time. There’s only one problem: he doesn’t recognize her as his lost love and she doesn’t recognize him.

To Lucinda, Nico is just a handsome stranger, a man who seems oddly familiar. And to Nico—a paid assassin—Lucinda is just an assignment, a suspected traitor. He must kill her on Easter morning and make it look like an accident.

Luckily one other creature can help. Cerberus is a telepathic dog on special assignment with the History Patrol, sent to bring these two lovers together. Cerberus has a vested interest in the fate of Nico Haidess and he’ll do whatever it takes to see Nico and Lucinda reunited—even if it means dying and defying God to accomplish his purpose.

But the clock is ticking for all of them and time is starting to run out.

If you want to know more about the History Patrol, check out my website. I have background information about the Patrol there and information about the other books in the series, coming next year (and in years to come). There are seven books planned for the series, and four written, so you’ll have lots of novels to entertain you in the future!

Buy Forgiveness now!

I began writing novels nearly twelve years ago…and had no idea what I was getting myself into! Most of us don’t realize how obsessive we can be until we discover our “passion”, and then (be it sport or art or ?) we become mad things, single-minded and compelled. Well, that’s me…sometimes. Crazed, compulsive, get-up-at-4 am, obsessive-writer personality type unclassified (I write across the genres, you see!)

How did it all begin? With something completely sane - a visit to the local library. I took home eleven books, but couldn’t get into any of ‘em - so I decided to write what I wanted to read. For the most part, that’s held true ever since.

The Hollowing is my second novel with Cerridwen Press, and my 23rd? 24th novel overall? I really enjoyed writing it. Action, suspense, with a little time travel tossed in. Great fun.

I have two writing names: “N. D. Hansen-Hill” and “Melody Knight“. ND writes SF/fantasy/horror/paranormal suspense, while Melody writes romantic and erotic versions of the same genres. I now am lucky enough to have 35 books contracted with a variety of publishers.

“This is an exceptionally, spine-tingling, gut wrenching thriller that takes you by the seat of your pants and have you gripping your chair while you turn each page. From ghosts to time-traveling you are always entertained by the adventure and excitement of this plot excellent dialogue and fabulous description gives you a great seat up front to all that is happening. This is a phenomenal read, and I recommend it highly.
Coffeetime Romance

The Hollowing
by N.D. Hansen-Hill

Shawn Walsh’s problems don’t arise from his own troubled past but from someone else’s. Fires, floods, battles, bone-rattling quakes — he’s frequently an unwilling and horrified participant in events long gone. For when The Hollowing claims him, his present dissolves.

Unfortunately, his problems have everything to do with family and his rather questionable heritage — with a birthright he’d rather know nothing about. Lost and tossed about by destiny, trapped and extorted by those long deceased, he’s tired of playing a victim.

And he refuses to give up hope. There is still a chance he’ll be able to resolve his issues without dying, given the right place… And enough time.

Excerpt

Jack was running flat-out when his world unexpectedly tilted and dipped. He was scared shitless but he couldn’t stop. If he let Shawn die, when he could have stopped it…

Don’t go there.

And then he was lost. On a straight stretch of dimly lighted hallway he’d lost his bearings. He was disoriented, nauseous, with a head suddenly full of clouded spirals. The floor canted, his balance went but his momentum carried him forward. He slid the length of the corridor and out into the warehouse.

The dizzying spin went on, even worse now than before. Jack gripped a table leg and hung on while his world moved around him. His eyes were scrunched shut and there was an ache in his head he’d never experienced before. His heart pounded as he put a name to the fear—hemorrhage. Vomit was fighting its way up his throat, inspired by the stink that was already redolent in the room.

There were noises and shouts in the background but he couldn’t afford to look. The flooring was shuddering beneath him now and it felt as though the building was moving.

Earthquake.

Get out. He’d smelled the rot. The building was going…

“Shawn!” he bellowed.

He opened sore eyes to slits. The giant had recognized the danger too. He was backing across the room. He was the one howling in terror now—not Shawn. Jack had scarcely lifted himself to his knees when the fleeing kidnapper slammed into him, and they both went sprawling.

The rumbling beneath them increased. Dust scattered from joints in the woodwork and echoes of falling plaster mingled with the tap dance of furniture on flooring.

“Shawn!” Jack shouted it again, inhaled a lungful of dust for his trouble and coughed his head off as he crawled on all fours across the room. The giant with the bad temper was behind him somewhere…

Jack spotted Shawn on the far side of the room. He was sprawled across an old conveyor belt. Jack pushed himself to his feet, very conscious of human frailty as the world around him jiggled apart. Shaking almost as much as the building, he upped it to lopsided run.

If anything the gyrating upheaval, the tilt, the cant, the terrifying, nausea-generating dizziness were worse here. It took all Jack’s effort to get to Shawn’s side. He felt like he was running uphill. He dove over the conveyor that Shawn had obviously been tossed across and reached out to grip Shawn’s arm.
Only to experience one of those moments of insight—of sometimes terrifying self-discovery—that sometimes hits when you need it least.

It’s not the place, Jack realized in sudden horror. It’s Shawn.

Shawn was staring back at him, his eyes glittering weirdly in their sockets, somehow giving back more light than they took. This wasn’t a frightened Shawn, insecure about his failings. This man was centered. Solid. Locked in place.

Melded to his surroundings.

While the world went to hell around him.

Taking Jack Riley with it. Jack could feel himself slipping now, and he could never afterward find the words to describe it

But he knew he couldn’t fight it anymore.

At that moment Shawn reached for him. His broken fingers grasped Jack’s and held on

And Jack Riley’s personal cyclone abruptly ceased. Jack buried his face in his arms while the madness carried on beyond him. He could hear it all, the rumble, the jolting, the clatter of flying debris, the giant’s shrieks and curses.

Don’t look.

He had this horrible fear that lifting his head might drag him back in.

Jack lay there, clinging desperately to Shawn’s hand—the only island of calm in a hurricane sea.

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I don’t know what it is - there has been sour cream available on an almost continual basis all year, but the minute I need to make a cheesecake, it all disappears!! That’s Cairo for you. I went to three different grocery stores this morning with no luck. There are a few more places I could try but with tennis lessons, soccer games, and two birthday parties on schedule for the weekend - in addition to the man’s birthday - I just don’t have the time to look anywhere else. There is a swanky bakery in the neighborhood that has NY style cheesecake to die for, but it’s $$$ and way bigger than we need to have around the house. So I’m falling back on plan B.

Homemade strawberry sorbet and brownies. Not such a big sacrifice really!

I went to Curves yesterday and did my water aerobics this morning so I’m taking the weekend off. I probably won’t be able to move anyway!

Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow when N.D. Hansen-Hill will be here with an excerpt of her fantasy book The Hollowing. Norah is a prolific writer and has a huge backlist so if you like her writing, you’re really in luck!

Hailed by reviewers as “Janet Evanovich’s heir apparent” and an author who “weaves romance and suspense wonderfully”, Liz Jasper is the award winning author of Underdead, a cozy vampire mystery about a middle school science teacher who is bitten by an inept vampire and becomes almost undead. The sequel, Underdead in Denial, is available as an ebook from Cerridwen press.

Most of Liz’s early writing was of the dirty limerick variety (one finds fun where one can while getting an MBA and an M.A. in Economics), but she progressed to short stories and now writes mysteries. And why paranormals? After years of teaching middle school science, writing about blood-sucking demons was only natural. She lives with her family and cranky grey cat in Northern California where she is hard at work on her next book in the Underdead series.

You can read excerpts, reviews and maybe win something in a contest over at her website www.lizjasper.com.

Underdead in Denial
by
Liz Jasper

In the sequel to Liz Jasper’s award winning Mystery novel, Underdead, gorgeous enigmatic vampire Will is back and almost undead Jo Gartner is more determined than ever to avoid all things vampire and maintain a normal life. And what’s more normal than doing community service to help a lovesick friend? But getting dressed up in a Halloween costume for a haunted house fundraiser is not what Jo had in mind. Especially when one of the extras turns up dead…

Excerpt

“Something’s going on with you.” Crossing her arms, Becky gave the demo counter a quick, automatic check for spills and leaned against it. “And I think I know what it is.”

I started in disbelief. “You do?” It came out as a whisper.

“Yes. Let’s look at the symptoms, shall we?” She ticked them off on her fingers. “You haven’t gone on a date in months, you get here at dawn, leave at dusk and spend your weekends sitting alone inside your apartment eating nothing but takeout burgers and chocolate, when you eat at all.”

She narrowed her dark almond-shaped eyes. I swallowed convulsively, unable to look away.
“You’ve got chronic PMS,” she said.

“What? I do not have—”

She grinned and then her expression sobered. “I am worried that you’re depressed.”

I grunted in dismissal.

“Not that I blame you,” She looked around my classroom at the solar system dioramas, sagging volcano posters, and dusty mineral display and curled her lip. “Teaching eighth grade earth science would depress anyone. But I have a plan.”

“Oh no.” I knew her plans. It was because of one of them that I now occupied the strange and lonely world between normal human being and vampire. I sank deeper in my chair and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the sharp bite of disappointment. I longed to tell her—tell her what? I couldn’t explain what was really going on. It was too fantastical.

I was too tired today to make one of my usual excuses. Maybe if I fell asleep she’d go away.

“Better yet, I’ve already set the wheels in motion.”

My eyes snapped back open. “Becky, what have you done?”

Buy Underdead in Denial!
Prefer print? Liz’s first book Underdead is also available in print!