Shadows of the Highridge -Interview and #Contest

It's a real thrill to welcome Jay Swanson to the Flight Deck today.

Please help youself to something cool and sparkling, Jay - I hope you don't mind me being informal - and the astro-bot will be along in a moment with some delicious nibbles.  Ok, let's get started with some things I and the readers are dying to know about you:

 HL: Tell us a little more about yourself, with three things not many people know about you.

 JS: Most people probably don’t know that I was totally into zombies as the craze rose, the fervor pitch of which I personally believe was struck with the release of Left 4 Dead. I loved that game, probably played a gazillion hours of it and could still identify the special zombies by sound alone if you asked me to. Don’t stone me for this, but I think zombies are overplayed today. The undead will always remain an interesting aspect of genre fiction, horror, fantasy, what have you, but zombies… eh. I’m over it.

Except in the occasional dream. Then it’s fun again.

 I. Love. Pizza. I love it so much my sister and I got matching pizza tattoos. Don’t believe me? Check my Instagram.

 And for the final bit of trivia: I can’t tell you because it was illegal and I can’t share illegal things on this blog. I can however tell you about the time I convinced a man carrying an AK-47 to let me climb a massive lighting tower in a West-African port. That wasn’t TECHNICALLY illegal, it just required a little convincing on my part. And it was all to impress a girl.

Isn’t it always? She was South African. I love the South African accents, particularly with British inflection or a gentle dusting of Afrikaans.

 HL:  Hm, I think I agree with you about the zombies, LOL.  What fascinating answers. What do you do for fun when not writing?

 JS: You can do stuff for fun and not write? I need to have a conversation with my publiohyeah that’s me. I run a lot, around 20 miles/week or more. That’s more for health than fun though. To be honest, and this is kind of sad to put in writing, I don’t have a ton of fun right now. I just finished a job that required I travel every week. I flew over 100k miles domestically in 2015 (not counting international trips) and spent an average of 20h/week in transit.  To put that in context, I was on an airplane every four days. So… I’m very good at navigating airports. That’s almost like a game, right?

Now that the job is over, I intend to take up rock climbing and probably a video game or three. Oh, and friends. I’m going to have friends again.

 HL: Oh, we all need our friends! :) When did you start writing?

 JS: I wrote my first play when I was in first grade. My class produced it. I found the tape a few years ago and actually remembered writing it. I was (of course) the badass prince wearing purple boots and a cape. Can’t go wrong with any of that.

 HL: What comes first: the plot or the characters?

 JS: Eggs. No, chickens. Actually for me it’s end scenes and emotional payoff. What is it I’m aiming for? What does that climactic scene look like? Then, once I’m cheering or weeping or laughing or soaring, I start asking other questions. Who’s there? Who is required to be there? Who’s missing? Why? What makes this ending worthwhile? What was it that they had to overcome to get here? I build backwards. It’s fun to open with your first line, to craft it and hone it and hook hook hook – but then you’ve gotta end it somewhere, and while not all great beginnings lead to great endings, all great endings can have great beginnings.

 HL: Tell us about your latest release and what you think readers will enjoy about it

JS: Shadows of the Highridge is a book about how we handle grief, tragedy, calamity, and ourselves. This won’t post for some time, but I’m just now leaving Paris in the wake of the attacks that claimed so many lives in the city and national stadium. Having lived through an incident like that myself, I went into my time there understanding that not everyone would react the same. Not everyone sees these things with the same eyes, or comes out with the same emotions (if their minds even permit emotion to pass through so shortly after).

 Shadows of the Highridge explores that, but not in such a heavy-handed fashion. If you enjoyed Tremors (and can survive Kevin Bacon being an upstanding coward instead of a sleazy adventure-seeker) then you’ll really enjoy this book. I should stop bringing Kevin Bacon up in all of these posts. Shadows of the Highridge is fantasy, it’s horror, and there are some laughs along the way. It’s also a really quick and fun read.

 HL: It sounds like a wonderful read! If someone were to play one of your characters in a movie, which character and what actor would it be and why?

 JS: KEVIN BAC Oh wait I promised to stop doing that. A haggard and roughed up Jake Gyllenhaal would make a decent Vanig, although so would that guy with the huge mustache from Tombstone. I just wish we could get Sean Connery from the 80’s back to play Salisir.

 Cate Blanchett would make a great Hellen (Vanig’s epic sister). And get whoever played Gollum to play the worms. All of them.

 HL: (Grin) and I'm sure he'd be honoured! Have you a favourite actor/hunk? If you’ve answered question 6 would this be the same guy?

JS: My favorite actor/hunk would probably be Nathan Fillion, but I haven’t written any major roles that match his charm.

 HL: What have you learned about writing since you were published that surprised you the most?

 JS: While you get better at writing, it doesn’t get any easier. I mean it does in many ways, but the ceiling is ever-rising. I thought I’d write a masterpiece out of the blocks. Ah, my sweet naïve younger self. It’s one of the great joys of the craft and simultaneously one of its most daunting aspects: there is always room to grow.

 HL: What’s you’re writing process? Has it changed since writing your first book?

 JS: Sit, hands on keyboard, music in ears (usually EDM of some variety), and maybe coffee in reach (I only drink the milked-down and sugared up kinds unless it’s straight espresso). My method has changed only in location. I used to write on an old Danish rail ferry converted into a hospital sitting on the coast of western Africa. Now I write primarily on airplanes or in coffee shops (I’m writing this on an airplane over Wichita right now – the view is alright but the dang clouds keep mucking the whole thing up).

 HL: Clouds have a habit of doing that, don't they! You've already answered this really, but I'm going to ask you to elaborate! Do you listen to music when you write and if so, what kind of music – or do you find it distracts you?

 JS: Ah hey, my clairvoyance strikes again. I do write with music – I almost have to. The way I put it to people is that I’ve got this annoying ten-year-old version of myself throwing all kinds of ideas and wants at me at all times and I have to placate him somehow. Turn the music on. White noise with a beat. Get him to shut up for twenty minutes and when he finally has something to say, it’ll be worthwhile.

 HL: Do you have a support system? Do you have a writing community? What valuable lessons have you learned from them?

 JS: My support system is growing, which is really exciting. When I started out I sent my first manuscript to something like 20 people. Christmas day, 2010, from Appelsbosch, South Africa. I think five wrote back. The rest were stricken from my friends list forever (kidding). Those five people who did respond were key to moving forward and remain with me today in one form or another (life takes us all for different rides at different times).

 Now, thanks to conventions and really really generous acquaintances, I’m meeting all kinds of writers whose names I will refuse to drop here (but Mark Twain and I are tight). It’s so refreshing to meet other people like me in the sense that they’re burdened with stories to tell. Some of my favorite conversations have happened over beer in strange places like Saratoga Springs and Spokane (I even alliterate my convention destinations). More to come on that front, I’m sure.

 HL: I certainly agree that we can't do without those fantastic 'beta readers'. What is your personal definition of success?

 JS: Besides saving the world? Hmmm… I’ve been thinking on this a lot lately. I actually spent a few evenings in Paris sketching it out in one of my notebooks (let’s be honest, the fact that I can even say that makes my life pretty amazing as it is). What makes me happy? Where do I want to live and with whom? What do I want to do (because writing on its own may not satisfy me in the end)?

I need adventure. I need friends. Love. Romance. I need to sail the open sea and to dive into the depths of forgotten places. I don’t want to lose those parts of myself. I also need a home base. Something stable. Something known. I need family. I need to create.

So I don’t have an answer for you that is concrete. I would say that the day my writing (and the surrounding projects) can afford me the ability to pack up and leave on whatever journey calls me next would be the day I call myself a writing success. But then again it will be the day I actually fall in love for the last time. It will be the moment I reach some far-flung location I’d only heard of and realize I’ve overcome another deep personal failing. It will be when I can forgive myself the transgressions I hold too dear.All of those moments will be success as well.

 HL: What is your favourite source of inspiration?

 JS: Learning. Any time you read a good book that explains some aspect of the world, sit under the arch of an ancient building and admire arts long-lost, or see a new landscape unfold and break the horizon in ways you never before imagined – those are moments where inspiration lurks. As our mind opens to new emotions, new thoughts, ideas that contradict everything we hold true – as we change – we become agents of that change for others. And change is the great source of conflict, where conflict is the great source of story.

 HL: Absolutely! I couldn't agree more. Is there any advice, as a new writer, that you were either given, or wish you had been given?

 JS: I’m really glad no one told me not to do it. I’ll make something up though:

Don’t assume the publishing world is out to get you (in the negative sense). It’s not. It can be cold and cutthroat at times, but it is a business. Take the time to get to know other writers, befriend publishers, editors, and keep honing your craft. There are more friendly and helpful people around than villains. The gates may be closed to you for now, and your self-published efforts may feel futile, but do whatever you can to keep from taking any of that personally. Remember that no one owes you anything, and you owe your fans and readers everything – no matter how few or how many there are

HL: Very true! What sort of research do you do for your books and what’s your favourite source of information.

 JS: I just read as broadly as I can, and I try to read good stuff. I used to feel obligated to finish any book I picked up – not any more. I don’t have time for bad books, especially when they’re non-fiction (sometimes I’ll finish bad fiction just so I know what the heck the rage is about or to learn what not to do).

 HL: Funny, I've come to feel exactly the same way!  Now, just for fun - if you were an animal, which one do you think you would be, and why?

 JS: Hippogriff – you can fly, you’re huge, tough, sexy, and yet not destined to be evil. If we’re going with the non-13-year-old-Jay answer, I’d be a dog because they’re probably the only species that humankind won’t be wiping out in the near or distant future (survivalist-Jay).

HL: Sadly that has the ring of truth to it! 
Many authors model their characters on people they know. Is this the case with your characters and do you see yourself in any of them?

 JS: They’re all pretty much modeled on the worst and best aspects of who I am and who I hope to be. Or who I hope I never become. I never consciously model any character off any person, but sometimes little ticks or quirks will find their way in, I’m sure. I should probably model some after my grandfathers, because they were total BAMFs in their own rights.

 HL: Who is your favorite character in your book and why?

In Shadows of the Highridge I would say it’s Tolly. She’s got a lot of horrible things on her plate to deal with, and she won’t do it all in the right way, but who does? She’s quick-witted, smart, fast on her feet, tough, and unafraid to speak her mind. Calculating without a lack of empathy. I just like her a lot.

 HL: Who is your most favorite character of all time from any book?

 JS: Samwise, of course, but I didn’t always think that. I tended to prefer the big shiny heroes. Sam used to make me cringe, and while I never disliked him I really struggled with how his story ended. It wasn’t what I wanted for him – it seemed so unjust. He loses Frodo. Merry and Pip get their romance and seem to all but forget he exists. He’s left with a life that’s so… normal (albeit exceptional by Hobbit standards). But then it’s not about what I want, is it?

Sam is the loyal friend, the true hero of LOTR, we all know this. But Sam taught me how to handle happiness for others when it’s not what you would have for them – when it’s not exactly what they would have for themselves. None of us gets to choose our own ending, so let’s be thankful when they’re good ones – normal or otherwise.

 HL: That's a really interesting answer, not what I was expecting perhaps (I was thinking Strider) but yes, Samwise is a great character.
So...where can readers connect with you?

 JS: You can read my ongoing project, Into the Nanten at intothenanten.com. We bill it as the world’s first real-time fantasy blog, filled with illustrations by Nimit Malavia, and from which Shadows of the Highridge spun off. If you’d like to follow me you can sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Twitter @jayonaboat, check out the artwork on Instagram @mindofjayswanson, or come say hi over on Facebook. I’d love to hear from you.

 HL: Is there a question you really, really wish someone would ask, but they never do? If so what would be your reply?

 Interviewer: What’s your favorite word?

Jay: “Parraseux,” because it’s so delightfully ironic for how much work it takes to say.

Interviewer: Why do you have to be so difficult? Speak English.

Jay: Fine.

Interviewer: That’s your favorite word? “Fine?”

Jay: No! Would you stop? I’m thinking.

Interviewer: …

Jay: “Kleptocracy.” Spellcheck doesn’t even recognize it, but it’s an amazing word. Right up there with “Bankster.” I guess I have a thing for portmanteaus. Oh! “Portmanteau.” What a great concept.

Interviewer: You can stop now.

Jay: And XKCD’s take on it with his entry mocking Wikipedia with “Malamanteaus.” GENIUS!

Interviewer: I’m turning off the recorder now.

 Jay: And I totally forgot–END TRANSMISSION

 HL: Love it! Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog, it’s been a thrill having you here and learning more about you and your writing. I wish you much success now and in the future.

 JS: Thanks for having me! It was a pleasure to thrill, and I hope you’ll have me back by sometime down the road.

HL: I'd be delighted, you're welcome on the Flight Deck anytime - just let me know your timeline and co-ordinates and I'll send down a shuttle for you! :)

SHADOWS OF THE HIGHRIDGE
BLURB;

Moving along the soil is the quickest way to die; for Tolly to survive she must learn to stay silent.
Life on farms like hers was difficult enough in the face of plague and a decade of drought, but something worse has come to the foothills under the Highridge Mountains. Something that will destroy everything she loves.
 Mere miles away, Vanig’s search for water to revive his farm is cut short when soldiers arrive bearing dark news of disaster striking farms throughout the region – and they suspect he is the root cause of it all. Those suspicions spike when a disheveled warrior appears hundreds of miles from home and takes Vanig hostage.

 Death looms in the shadows of the Highridge.

EXCERPT:

“Farmer.” Gaptooth grabbed Vanig by the shoulder and turned him. “We ain’t walkin’ no farther. You do your thinkin’ on the way back.”

“Do you think I came out here to ruminate?” Vanig was shocked at how the anger boiled over, but he followed it.

“To rumiwhat?”

“I need to make a survey of these draws.” Vanig shoved the soldier’s hand off his shoulder. It felt good. “Take measurements. Draw. No amount of thinking will move it without knowing just what I’m moving it through. You think because I live out here that I’m some stupid mystic. Sacrifice a goat and maybe this time the rain gods will bless me with abundance? Well they won’t. Gods and man have abandoned this place all the same. It’s a waste; and without someone like me to change that, that’s the way it will stay.”

Crooknose stepped forward to speak, but Vanig held up his hand.

 “I need an hour. Give me that. Go drink your fill and sit down to rest. Gods know you both need it.”

 Crooknose shoved his finger into Vanig’s chest. “Listen here you goat lovin’, dirt humpin’, ignorant piece of shit. We’re leavin’, and we’re leavin’ now.”

 “We are not,” Vanig growled. “So get your finger off my chest.”

“Don’t move. Any of you.” All three of them jumped at the sound of the voice. A new voice, one they didn’t recognize. “I mean it! Don’t move. Take one more step and you’re all dead.”

Jay Swanson is the creator of Into the Nanten, the world’s first real-time fantasy blog. He is also author of a spin-off novel, Shadows of the Highridge, the standalone short novel Dark Horse, and the Vitalis Chronicles trilogy. Jay grew up in Washington State, and has lived all over the world since then. Jay served for three years with Mercy Ships, a medical charity that runs the world’s largest private hospital ship, the Africa Mercy. In each country they visit, Mercy Ships donates free surgeries to the world’s forgotten poor, alleviating the suffering that so often accompanies a lack of access to medical care. He started in IT, then worked as the editor for their international Creative Pool, and finished as the on board Media Liason.

Paris will always have a place in Jay’s heart; he lived in France for two years, but he’s currently working in the US as a consultant on electronic medical records. Basically, he lives on planes.
Jay has a background in design and video production which have been instrumental in his self-publishing endeavors. Jay was telling stories from an early age, and latched on to video as soon as he discovered he could borrow people’s cameras. The stories that would one day become the Vitalis Chronicles began to take form in Jay’s head as movie ideas while he was still in college, and he began writing them down when he realized that they might make good books as well as films (and that if he died in Africa, there would be nothing left to prove they ever existed). He started writing White Shores in May of 2010 and finished on Christmas day of that year in Applesbosch, South Africa.

LINKS:

http://jayswanson.me/

https://www.facebook.com/jay.swanson.author

https://twitter.com/jayonaboat

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadows-of-the-highridge-jay-swanson/1122841797

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Highridge-Jay-Swanson-ebook/dp/B016ATZML6

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/586676

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27203157-shadows-of-the-highridge

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Jay Swanson will be awarding print copies of Into the Nanten to two randomly drawn winners (US shipping only -- an e-book of Shadows of the Highridge will be substituted to international winners) and a print of the original artwork created for his series Into the Nanten (US only shipping) to two other randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Courting the West Release Tour

New Release - A Time To Love by Angela Ford

The Bleikovat Event - The Cairns of Sainctuarie by Hawk MacKinney

BLURB:

Among the close-kin clans of western rural Malfesian Murians, farming and gelf ranches are long held traditions.  Times are good…full barns, fat gelf calves and large families thrive among the sprawling grain fields and hamlets and the river from which they derive their name—the Feldon.  Word comes with the trade caravans that times are not so good in the regions far to the east of the Feldon River:  tumultuous changes stir among the remote province of Bleikovia.  Old timer Feldovats shrug it off as one more squabble between clans over boundaries or water rights…too distant to affect the Feldovats.

The western clans learn too late, however, it is no local squabble.  Outnumbered and unprepared, Feldovats resist a hoard bent on plunder and conquest.  Days of battle along the Feldon River stain the riverbanks in green Murian blood.  In the finals days of exhausted fighting, Judikar Klarvko Celo, leader of the Clan Klarvkon and the Feldovats, is fatally stabbed with the slow-acting sevon poison.  The Judikar’s consort, Etikaa Klarvkaa, becomes Regentkaa, and with Celovat Field Commander Korvo Celo serving as her advisor, she leads the demoralized Feldovat survivors on a gruesome ill-prepared winter trek through high mountain passes of ice and blizzard snow in an attempt to elude the Green Dragon forces of the Bleikovats.

Etkaa’s only son, Klarvko Celo II, helps spirit Feldovat young across a remote mountain exodus to the west toward Eedov Province. The battered, starving Feldovats reach the Malfesian coast at Eedov City only to be confronted with their implacable enemy determined to destroy the remaining Klarvkon rabble.  Taking passage on crowded lumbering Maalonovion freighters, Feldovats and Malfesian refugees set sail.  On arrival in Maalon City they are welcomed among their Maalon hosts, and settle into a new life.

But famine and a pandemic pestilence stir old hates and nurse former ambitions.  The enraged Overseers of Bleikovia move against the Klarvkons, this time bringing bloodshed to Maalonovia.  The exiles from the Feldon must fight once again, but starvation and plague across the Planete Myr make it a different war from the battles along the Feldon…a na’ä blikovat…the Bleikovvat Phenomenon…an event with unexpected consequences and outcomes none could have foreseen.

Before the vendetta killing is exhausted, the Regentkaa Klarvkaa and her son are swept onto the Maalon throne, setting the Klarvkon Dynasty and the Murians toward an intergalactic golden age, and a star-flung destiny the once-agrarian Feldovats could never have envisaged.

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Excerpt 

The catafalque of the old Dowager Queen rested on the high rostrum of the Temple of the Goddess Myraa. There was little ceremony to the cremation of dead. Yet, all that had passed made this requiem for the Dowager Queen Klarvkaa Etkaa Bremanova Celovaa Bremanova a symbol of the changes which had swept so many lives. Long annuals before the ascendancy of The Klarvkon Dynasty, the massive wood and granite Temple to the Goddess Myraa had been destroyed in the firestorm which laid waste Eedov City. After the close of the Malfesian War the temple was rebuilt, but not the city. On the ashes of the old temple, immense columns rose above the sanctuary and vaults. Iridescent alabaster and polished marble greeted pilgrim supplicants who had come to the shoreline plains washed by the Green Sea.

Dowager Etkaa Klarvkaa—wife, myäat, founding matriarch of the Klarvkon Dynasty—gave hope from a time without hope. As was her wish, she would be cremated on the soil of her birth, her ashes to mingle with those of her consort, Klarvko Celo. Their son, His Imperial Majesty Klarvko Celo the Second, decreed it would be done. At the enormous base of the great temple in a spectacular vision never seen before and seldom since came an undulating ocean of banners. Some of them clans which no longer existed, even the once-hated Green Dragon of Bleikovia. Murians had taken her to their hearts and never relinquished her. Even in death, her shadow would reach across the centuries, and measure all who followed.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

With postgraduate degrees and faculty appointments in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. In addition to professional articles and texts on chordate neuroembryology, Hawk has authored several works of fiction.

Hawk began writing mysteries for his school newspaper. His works of fiction, historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers are not genre-centered, but plot-character driven, and reflect his southwest upbringing in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his serial protagonist in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series. Vault of Secrets, the first book in the Ingram series, was followed by Nymrod Resurrection, Blood and Gold, and The Lady of Corpsewood Manor. All have received national attention.  Walking the Pet is Hawk’s latest release in the Ingram series. The first book in another mystery-thriller series is scheduled for release in 2015. The Bleikovat Event, the first volume in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science fiction series, was released in 2012. Its sequel, The Missing Planets, has just been released.

www.hawkmackinney.net

www.sagewordspublishing.com  

www.archebooks.com   

http://youtu.be/IFbsl36LTC8

http://youtu.be/-m-H8pfoh-A

http://youtu.be/OvV8gqls688

http://youtu.be/tLOOHlQ3IYs

www.amazon.com   

www.barnesandnoble.com

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Heart of Steel - Release Day Spotlight and Review

Congratulations to Elizabeth Einspanier on the release today of HEART OF STEEL, a Science Fiction Romance. Elizabeth is giving away a $20 gift certificate to Steampunk Emporium. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When reclusive cyborg Alistair Mechanus meets his captive, ER doctor Julia Parker, it is love at first sight--for him. While he eagerly drops his plans for World Conquest to woo her, ten years of solitude have left his social skills badly rusted. When his misguided act of kindness spirals out of control, however, Julia is forced to trust the mad genius with her life, and she discovers the vulnerable side under his armored plating. She has the skills he needs to unlock his forgotten past, but learning who he used to be may come at the cost of his remaining sanity.

MY REVIEW

Heart of Steel could be summarised as 'The Island of Dr Moreau meets 'Beauty and the Beast' except that this description seems a bit flippant for such an enjoyable story. Although I would class it as Science Fiction, and the description of medical and electronic procedures was written with confidence and an air of authenticity, there is also a 'Steampunk' feel, especially in the last chapter.

I was drawn into it from the start, and although I have to admit I initially felt a 'mad Scientist' called Dr Mechanus was a little like a 'comic strip' character, as the story progressed I realised there was far more to Alistair Mechanus than his desire for world domination.  It transpires that even this desire is actually more altruistic than manic. There are occasional references to Jules Verne and Star Trek and at times Julia seems to feel she's living in a dream world, and well she might, with a cybernetically enhanced and very jealous ex boyfriend on the rampage, various bio-electronic creatures and automatons, and  a charismatic, if seemingly deranged bionic genius who first takes her captive and then enlists her help.

Alistair Mechanus's deepening affection for Julia is touching, as is the gentle way he treats her, his thoughtful acts of courtesy seemingly at odds with his reclusive nature and macabre appearance. The story is fast moving and had me turning the pages, anxious to see whether Julia really could help him recover his memories of his past without sending him over the edge, while being reluctant for the story to finish.  I don't want to give too much away, sufficient to say that the end is satisfying and neatly ties up the loose ends.  I finished it, wanting more, which is not a bad thing. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a sweet romance spiced with plenty of action and intriguing Science Fiction elements.

Enjoy an excerpt:

She advanced cautiously, trying to get a look at the subject of his study in the next room. Before she could, however, the tall man in the hall with her spoke.

“Greetings, Julia,” he said in the baritone she’d heard from the speaker. She turned, and saw to her shock that a significant portion of the left half of his face, now revealed to her, was crafted of overlapping segments of unpolished metal, apparently riveted through the flesh and into the skull and jaw. His left eye was a mechanical lens that turned and focused in perfect coordination with its biological counterpart as he regarded her, its iris dilating as he offered her a welcoming smile. “I am, as you have probably guessed, Dr. Mechanus. I welcome you to my humble lair.” He sketched a bow to her, and she either heard or imagined the sound of countless motors whirring within him.

At first her thoughts were consumed by a single horrified thought—what the hell what the hell what the hell—repeated over and over again until her mind filled with what the hell from top to bottom and side to side. She felt light-headed, and braced herself against the edge of the observation window to avoid falling, but some persistently reasonable corner of her mind gently informed her that now simply was not a good time for her to faint or throw up.

Stay frosty, Julia, the voice advised her, in a familiar-sounding voice that Julia couldn’t immediately identify. Think of this like your first car crash in the ER. Sure, it looks horrible, but you can get through this. Just breathe. Get through this, and find out what’s happened to Jim. You’re okay.

PURCHASE ON AMAZON

About the Author:

Elizabeth Einspanier is the self-published author of the Weird Western novella Sheep’s Clothing and the upcoming S/F romance novel Heart of Steel. Her short stories have been published in Down in the Dirt and Dark Fire Fiction. She is a member of the St. Louis Writer’s Guild and an associate member of the Horror Writers of America. She lives in St. Louis, but frequently spends extended periods in worlds of her own creation.

Website: http://elizabetheinspanier.com
Blog: http://calliopeskiss.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeekGirlWriter
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ElizabethEinspanier/
Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/elizabetheinspanier

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An Amish Christmas Quilt - Blog tour and Review

 

AMAZON PURCHASE LINK

An Amish Christmas Quilt
by Charlotte Hubbard, Kelly Long, Jennifer Beckstrand

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BLURB:

A Willow Ridge Christmas Pageant

Seth Brenneman didn’t expect his holiday would include rescuing pregnant young Mary Kaffman and her two children…or having unexpected feelings for the still-grieving widow. But when they must play the leads in an impromptu live Nativity pageant to help his Amish community, will their roles reveal their hearts—and work a miracle for a lifetime?

A Perfect Amish Christmas

Anna and Felty Helmuth’s grandson, Gideon, plans to spend Christmas on a beach in sunny Mexico. But Anna is quite sure he’d rather be with them, snowshoeing, ice fishing—falling in love. And she knows the perfect girl. Not only is Dottie Schrock an excellent quilter and baker, she’s having a party. There’s just one complication—Gideon is not invited. Dottie has her reasons, but Anna trusts that the spirit of Christmas—and true love-will change her mind, and her future …

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT
A Willow Ridge Christmas Pageant

“Are we ready? I think our Nativity’s going to be a huge success, with such a heavenly little angel and a regal king,” Rebecca said as she grinned at each of the kids. “And how’s our main attraction?”

Emmanuel, cradled in Mary’s arms, wiggled when Rebecca smiled down at him.

“He’s been fed and changed, so he’s ready,” Mary replied. She smiled at the little parade walking up the Hooleys’ lane. “And here come our shepherds and the other wise men and angels. Everybody looks really gut, Rebecca. We couldn’t have done this without your help.”

As Rebecca murmured something in reply, Mary lost track of it. A tall, broad-shouldered man in a flowing brick-red tunic was striding up the lane toward her, and while she couldn’t see his eyes, she sensed Seth was looking right at her . . . just as she was gazing at him. Thank you for this night, Lord, as we celebrate the birth of Your son and the beginning of our new life in Willow Ridge, Mary prayed quickly. Help me be your faithful handmaiden, as the Virgin Mary was so long ago.

“Let’s hope this works the way I envisioned it,” Rebecca said as other folks began to gather from around town.

Mary turned just in time to see a star-shaped balloon rise into the air, on a long ribbon tied to the light post—and when Rebecca turned on the second lantern, which was aimed skyward, the star glowed and sparkled. Miriam, Ben, Bishop Tom, and the Zook family all let out a delighted oh!

“Folks will be able to see that from quite a ways off!” Tom said. His face shone with boyish wonder as he gazed raptly at the shimmering star above them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jennifer Beckstrand

Jennifer Beckstrand is the bestselling author of The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series and the
Forever After in Apple Lake series, set in two Amish communities in beautiful Wisconsin. She has always been drawn to the strong faith and the enduring family ties of the Plain people and loves writing about the antics of Anna and Felty Helmuth, the two scheming Amish grandparents who try to help their grandchildren find suitable mates in Huckleberry Hill. Who would ever suspect two elderly Amish folks of mischief?

Jennifer has a degree in mathematics, which comes in handy when one of her six children needs help with algebra. After twenty-five years of being a chauffeur, cook, maid, and nurse, she embarked on a writing career. Jennifer is a member of Romance Writers of America and is represented by Mary Sue Seymour of The Seymour Agency.

She and her husband have been married for thirty years, and she has four daughters, two sons, and two adorable grandsons, whom she spoils rotten.

You can find out more about Jennifer and her books by going to her website: jenniferbeckstrand.com or visiting her Facebook page: Jennifer Beckstrand Fans.

http://www.jenniferbeckstrand.com
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferbeckstrandfans
Twitter: @JenniferBeckst1

Kelly Long

Kelly Long was born and raised in North Central Pennsylvania. There was an Amish hitching post at the small grocery store in her town. She loves to write Amish romance and is the author of novel, Sarah's Garden, the novella Amish Christmas Expanded Edition with some other great Amish authors, Amish Love with Beth Wiseman and Kathy Fuller, and Lilly's Wedding Quilt--the sequel to Sarah's Garden. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and children.


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Charlotte Hubbard

Many moons ago—like, in 1983 while I was still a school librarian—I sold my first story to True Story magazine. This launched me into writing about seventy of those “true confessions” stories over the years, and I’ve been a slave to my overactive imagination ever since. My stories invariably take on a life of their own, different from the way I’ve proposed them: I love it when unforeseen characters and plot twists come along, because they keep me guessing right along with my readers!

I love touring historic homes, trying new recipes, crocheting, and playing with my border collie Ramona—although it’s humbling, having a dog smarter than I am! I’m an ordained Presbyterian deacon, and I devote a lot of time to singing in my church choir and to practicing/performing with our percussion ensemble. I’m celebrating more than thirty-five years with my husband, who—bless him—has never once suggested I get a real job!

www.CharlotteHubbard.com
https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.hubbard1

Buy Links:

Kensington Books: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/30305
The Book Depository:  http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781617735547
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=161773554X/

Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781617735547
  B-A-M: http://www.booksamillion.com/product/9781617735547

Chapters: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/a/9781617735547

IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781617735547

Powell’s: http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9781617735547

Ebook:

Kensington Books: http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/30377

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Amish-Christmas-Quilt-Charlotte-Hubbard-ebook/dp/B00JVW6H5U/

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-amish-christmas-quilt-charlotte-hubbard/1118482472?ean=9781617735554

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/an-amish-christmas-quilt/id868217805?mt=11

The authors will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn host.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/09/blurb-blitz-amish-christmas-quilt-by.html

MY REVIEW 

I had a wonderful holiday in Pennsylvania and Ohio last year, and stayed in Amish country. I was fascinated by the glimpses of Amish life I saw, harking back to earlier, gentler times, with a voluntary lack of modern tools technology and convenience,  and their dedication to God. These three stories reflect these ideals and also subtly bring across the true message of Christmas.

I thought each of the three stories in turn was my 'favourite' but in truth, by the time I'd finished the book I realised the three were so different, although linked together by the common theme of a 'Christmas Quilt' that it was quite impossible for me to choose between them. They each bring something special and delightful to the theme,each quilt serving its own unique purpose in the plot, and each story is a lovely illustration of the true meaning of Christmas.

The first story, 'A Willow Ridge Pageant',by Charlotte Hubbard, is rich in symbolism and the story begins with the main character, Mary, a young, pregnant widow, nearing the final stages of labour and stranded in a buggy in the snow with her two stepchildren.The relationship between Mary and her stepchildren is really touching, as are the feelings Seth has for Mary and her new baby, whose arrival into the world he helps bring about,and a gentle romance between  Mary, and Seth the carpenter gradually develops throughout the tale. The climax, featuring a Christmas pageant of the Nativity story, brings about a reconciliation, and hope for a new future.

'A Christmas On Ice Mountain' by Kelly Long has a haunting 'Romeo and Juliet' quality. Two former best friends, John  and Luke, have turned into lifelong rivals, and not spoken for years, although none of their family or friends  really know what their quarrel was about. However, their children, Laurel and Matthew fall in love despite their fathers' enmity, and conduct their romance in secret, desperate to marry, but unsure how to gain permission to do so. The matter is resolved in a way neither of them could have anticipated, and there is a final twist when the reason for the two men's quarrel is discovered and they realise that twenty five years of bitterness could have been avoided. Christmas is a time for forgiveness and healing.

The third story ' A Perfect Christmas' by Jennifer Beckstrand, features  grandparents Anna and Felty Helmuths. Anna is determined to bring her grandson, Gideon and Dottie Schrock togther in what she sees to be the perfect match. However, all Dottie cares about is organising the perfect Christmas for her mother, who is recuperating from cancer. She carefully plans for the Christmas celebrations and organises a party, to which Gideon is not invited. When all her carefully laid plans go awry, Dottie comes to realise that a perfect Christmas is not about perfectly folded napkins, beautifully iced cream horns, or even the lovely Christmas quilt for her mother that she has been so painstakingly working on, but is about the Christchild, family - and love;

This anthology of three delightful and heartwarming stories is perfect for getting into the Christmas spirit and reminding us of the Holy First Christmas, and would make an ideal Christmas gift.

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