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Welcome to my place in the blogosphere!
feel free to explore the Flight Deck and check out my books and website.
Then fasten your seatbelts, sip a glass of something sparkling and let's chat awhile!
I hope you'll stop by again for guest authors and spotlights from time to time.

Beloved Enemy joined Starquest and Children of the Mist to continue the Destiny Trilogy and I'm thrilled to announce was shortlisted for the R.N.A. RoNA Awards 2017, awarded 2nd Runner up in the RONE Awards 2017 and was the winner in the SF/Fantasy category of the 'Best Banter Contest'.

Sunday 4 August 2019

Weekend Writing Warriors Snippet Sunday - The Matchmaker's Mare "- there will be no more argument'

Continuing snippets from my fantasy novel 'The Matchmaker's Mare. This story is told from three p.o.vs. and two time-lines. Today's excerpt is again from Rhiannon's p.o.v. and takes place in the distant past, a few paragraphs along from the last one. I forgot to say last week that it takes place in rural West Wales (where I grew up) so some of the names may be very unfamiliar.


 (As usual, creative punctuation to comply with the 8 sentence rule.)

Don't forget to visit the other authors at the link below, there's something for all tastes.
                                            Snippet Sunday Facebook  Group


Her father’s voice rang in her ears.


“It is all arranged. You will marry Gwynfor Pryce, we have already agreed on the marriage settlement and the wedding is arranged for a week today - there will be no more argument.” 


Rhiannon knew then she must leave the little cottage where she had lived with her father since her mother died seven years before. It pained her to leave the dwelling where she’d lived her whole life, the only home she’d known. However, she would not marry a man she hated, a man who she knew to be cruel to his servants and animals. A man she suspected might be a master of the dark arts. 


Along the edge of the forest and past the foot of craggy Bryn Glas, Rhiannon then turned southeast to follow the drover route she knew Sion would be taking on his return journey. “Faster, Seren, faster,” she whispered again, and the tiny bells she wore around her belt jingled as she urged the pony on. She clutched her hand to her breast to feel the reassuring bulk of the kerchief, holding the only wealth she possessed, and a fragrant sprig of lavender Sion had given her before he left…


 By the way, I now have some audio codes for each of the three books in the Destiny Trilogy. If you would like one, or all three, just let me know with your email address at Lyn@hywelalyn.co.uk and I'll send you the ones you request, (Each book has its own code). If could manage to post a short review after you've listened, that would be greatly appreciated. 😍



For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join


Sunday 28 July 2019

Weekend Writing Warriors Snippet Sunday - The Matchmaker's Mare

Apologies - it's been a long time since I posted - but I've been busy with my current WIP - a fantasy romance entitled 'The Matchmaker's mare.

I'm going to use it for to my Weekend Warriors post, after quite a while away. This story is told from three p.o.vs. and two time-lines. Today's excerpt is from Rhiannon's p.o.v. and takes place in the distant past. (As usual, cretive punctuation to comply with the 8 sentence rule.)

Don't forget to visit the other authors at the link below, there's something for all tastes.
                                            Snippet Sunday Facebook  Group

Faster Seren, faster.” Leaning low over the pony’s neck the young woman urged her into a mile eating gallop, the mare’s hooves scarcely touching the ground as she appeared to fly across the rugged landscape. If only the pony could really fly, sometimes it felt as if she truly galloped through the air. There was something very special about the filly she’d found as a motherless foal in the mountains and cared for until it was fully grown. She’d named her for the perfect diamond shaped star on her face. Seren needed no breaking in or training, but allowed Rhiannon to sit on her back as soon as she was mature enough to take a rider, although no-one else could ride her, not even Sion Sienco.

“Oh Sion,” she whispered silently. “Sion, where are you when I need you?”

She cast one last swift look over her shoulder at the only home she had known, as the cottage, rapidly receded into the distance,  it melted into the shadows, appearing forlorn in the soft moonlight, almost as if it knew she would never return.


For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Tuesday 25 June 2019

King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court by Kim Iverson Headlee - Spotlight and #Giveaway



King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court
by
Kim Iverson Headlee
Genre: SF Time Travel Fantasy

How sick are you of US politics? How doomed is the world because of who has claimed the Oval Office throne—er, chair?

Refresh your spirit by laughing along with what Mark Twain might have written about today’s political falderal.

Solidly entertaining.” —Publishers Weekly

WINNER 2016 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal for Science Fiction & Fantasy.

Morgan le Fay, sixth-century Queen of Gore and the only major character not killed off by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, vows revenge upon the Yankee Hank Morgan. She casts a spell to take her to 1879 Connecticut so she may waylay Sir Boss before he can travel back in time to destroy her world. But the spell misses by 300 miles and 200 years, landing her in the Washington, D.C., of 2079, replete with flying limousines, hovering office buildings, virtual reality television, and sundry other technological marvels.

Whatever is a time-displaced queen of magic and minions to do? Why, rebuild her kingdom, of course—two kingdoms, in fact: as Campaign Boss for the reelection of American President MaloryBeckham Hinton, and as owner of the London Knights world-champion baseball franchise.
Written as though by the old master himself, King Arthur’s Sister in Washington’s Court by Mark Twain as channeled by Kim Iverson Headlee offers laughs, love, and a candid look at American society, popular culture, politics, baseball… and the human heart.

Mark Twain began work on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in 1879—the same year the Yankee Hank Morgan departed for his sojourn in sixth-century Britain. The first edition was published in 1889 and features more than 200 illustrations by the man who later would become founder of the Boy Scouts of America, Daniel Carter Beard. These illustrations are now in the public domain, and a handful have been incorporated into King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court as
an artistic homage to this classic edition of the first time travel story in all literature.

  **On Sale for only 99 cents!!**



Amazon
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Kim Headlee lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, goats, Great Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife.
People and creatures come and go, but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins--the latter having been occupied as recently as the mid-twentieth century--seem to be sticking around for a while yet.

Kim has been a published novelist since 1999 with the first edition of Dawnflight (Sonnet Books, Simon & Schuster) and has been studying the Arthurian legends for nigh on half a century.







Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!



For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Friday 7 June 2019

#AudioBookMonth



 
Just in time for AUDIO BOOK MONTH, the long-awaited audio version of the third book in the Destiny Trilogy, BELOVED ENEMY, narrated by Drea Hope, has just been released. If you would like to listen to a sample of the first chapter it's now available at https://amzn.to/2HyEJuuI







For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Thursday 23 May 2019





I'm excited to announce that the long-awaited audio version of the third book in the Destiny Trilogy, BELOVED ENEMY, narrated by Drea Hope, has just been released. If you would like to listen to a sample of the first chapter it's now available at https://amzn.to/2HyEJuuI




For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join

Sunday 19 May 2019

Fresh off the Starship


I'm delighted to welcome Ann Crawford to the Flight Deck today, to tell us some more about herself and her book Fresh Off The Starship - a romantic comedy, which as it says on the cover is 'out of this world' - so appropriate for this blog, don't you think! 😊


HL: . OK, I just have to ask you AnnWhere did the idea for the book come from
AC: I moved to Kansas—from the Northern California coast and after growing up in New York—thirteen years ago to marry my husband and be a stepmom to his two wonderful kids. I’d been through Kansas a few times as I crisscrossed the country over the years. He grew up halftime in Wichita and halftime on a farm in Western Kansas. When he took me out there, I fell in love with the people and the land. When I would tell people from big cities and the coasts that I was living in Kansas, they’d roll their eyes—like I probably used to (oops!). So I wanted to celebrate these people and the land as well as delve into some of the issues they experience there, as many places do. I wanted to show these Kansas folks’ depth, sincerity, and wisdom—they’re definitely not the bunch of “hicks” so many may think.

Also, I heard a line from the movie Starman many years ago: something along the lines of “You humans are at your best when you’re at (facing) your worst.” I’ve wanted to create my own starbeing for decades and have to look through her eyes to see how beautiful we humans can be and how amazing life on Earth is. It was really fun to have to imagine taking a sip of water for the first time as well as the many other fun—and far more exciting—things humans engage in.

HL:  I love it! So often Science Fiction and Fantasy is seen from the human perspective, this sounds like such fun. How long did it take to write?

AC: This book took only 5 months to write AND publish! My writing often includes speaking into the Notes feature on my iPhone, and I probably spoke about half the book into my phone as I was driving back and forth across Kansas over two nights on either side of a weekend conference farther east. It’d been in the back of my mind for so long that it just came out. And that magical night on the side of the highway, that Matt and Missy have in the book and which is based on something that actually happened, certainly helped.

HL: When did you start writing?

AC: Oh, age 3 or so. 😊 As I was growing up, sometimes I looked at my childhood books that my mom read to me, I saw that I’d written in them, trying to continue the story!

HL:  LOL, been there myself! :) What do you do for fun when not writing?

AC: OMG, I look like such a mild-mannered author and all, but I do a lot of wild-and-crazy things…I can fly a plane…I go scuba diving…I travel—a LOT (70 countries and counting, plus all 50 states). My favorite thing of all, though, is to just sit on a balcony overlooking the ocean, in a tropical setting. Reading and movies are two big loves, too.

HL:   Wow what an exciting life you have! So what comes first: the plot or the characters?

AC: The characters! They can get quite rowdy in my head. 

HL:   Yes, I can relate to that one too,. Sometimes the only way to shut characters up is to write about them! 😏If someone were to play one of your characters in a movie, which character and what actor would it be and why?

AC: I think Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper would make a GREAT Missy and another-character-to-remain-unnamed here (don’t want to spoil it).

HL:  Have you a favourite actor/hunk? If you’ve answered question 6 would this be the same person?

AC: I have a major thing for Aquaman. My husband is growing out a beard and looks like a sea captain or Poseidon or someone along those lines. Last night I said to him, “You look like Aquaman’s dad!” Knowing what a big thing I have for Jason Momoa, he said, “Wow! That’s a HUGE compliment!”

Actually, Jason would make a great character-to-remain-unnamed, too. 

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

AC: I have a writing “nest” – a comfy sofa that faces out a window where I have a view of a grove of trees and a beautiful garden. I have a desk, too, but I never seem to write there. I put my laptop on a huge, thick cushion on my legs, and I’m more comfortable than at a desk plus my posture is better. I’ve written five books on that sofa. Oliver, our parrot, is right next to me enjoying the view, too, along with some neck scratches when I’m taking a break.

I generally meditate right after breakfast and then write. I spend the afternoons doing things like marketing work (which can be endless) and recording audiobooks, which is REALLY big fun. I had no idea it’d be so much fun for me. I’m converting a couple of my books into screenplays and that sure takes a while, too.

My writing process has changed over the years, especially since I’ve started writing full time. When I had a day job, I pretty much just wrote on Sundays. Then I started writing for an hour each weekday very early in the morning, before work started. I’m so grateful I can spend my whole mornings writing now—and even have Sundays to chill!

HL:   Do you listen to music when you write and if so, what kind of music – or do you find it distracts you?

AC: I develop a new music playlist for every book…and after a little while it’s Pavlovian: as soon as I turn on the music, I’m in the world of the book. Even now, if I hear a song from, for example, the Angels on Overtime playlist, I’m back in the mountains of Idaho.

HL:   What is your personal definition of success?

AC: Winning the lottery and not changing a thing about my life—how I spend my days, what I do, where I live, being able to touch lives…in other words, already doing and having all those things. I’m getting there!


HL:   Is there any advice, as a new writer, that you were either given, or wish you had been given?

AC: Keep writing! Show up to, as the adage goes, “put the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair” at a pre-arranged, uninterruptable time every workday, and the book will get written. Even if you have only fifteen minutes a day, little by little a book can get done.

Some writers are plotters, where they outline and pre-arrange the book before writing it. I’m definitely not one of them. I write whatever wants to be written that day and then tie those pieces together.

For me the most important thing is being open to the music from the muse and the changes it might bring. I once said to a screenwriting professor that my writing surprises me sometimes. “You mean you say, ‘I can’t believe I just wrote that?’” she asked. The class laughed, and so did I. But…well…yes, I do mean that, LOL.

HL:   If you were an animal, which one do you think you would be, and why?

AC: A dolphin! I’m such an ocean person and they are such amazingly happy, playful, beautiful beings. I had the opportunity to swim with them in the wild, off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. That was one of the highlights of my life. 

HL: Oh, brilliant choice! I love dolphins too, but I can only dream of swimming with them. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today, and wishing you much success with this book - it's on my Kindle and I can't wait to read it!



BLURB:

Love to laugh? You'll enjoy this feel-good tale.

A starbeing skyrockets to Earth from the other side of forever with a specific assignment: to help steer humanity away from the collision course it's on. But we all know how travel can get drastically diverted--instead of landing in Washington, D.C., where she could assist on a grand geopolitical scale, she ends up in...Kansas!

Wrong place, right time? Join our shero on this whimsical journey as she pursues her purpose as well as discovers the beauty of life and love on Earth.



EXCERPT
Matt hands her a large drink with a little mountain of fluffy white stuff on top, with stripes of brown dripping down the mountainsides.

“Here, got you extra whipped cream and lots of car’mul on top, just the way you like it.”

Missy takes a lick of the whipped cream and her eyes go wide. “Oh!”

“Well, yer not supposed to lick it like an ice-cream cone. Sip it.”

She does and then slaps her hand on the table.

“Missy! You okay?”

“Oh, my! How can you beings ever complain about anything?”

“How’s that now?”

“Nothing.” She takes another sip and moans again. Several customers seated nearby look over at her.

“Missy, sweetheart, can you calm yourself a bit?”

She takes a bite of the round treat on a stick he’d set down by her. The moans escalate.

“Geez,” Matt says, trying to sink farther into his seat, “I feel like I’m straight out of
When Harry Met Sally.”

“Who’s Harry? Who’s Sally?”

“The main characters in one of yer favorite movies. You made me watch it at least half a dozen times.”

She takes another sip and bite. The moans escalate even more. By this time everyone in the café is looking at her.

“Missy! Perhaps we should eat these in the car.”

“Wherever you want!”

The customers in the café receive one more rendition of “Ohhhhhhhh!” as Matt leads her out the door and she takes another sip of her drink.

Okay, maybe it’s not thaaaat bad here.

AUTHOR BIO

I'm a fun-loving, world-traveling, high-flying, deep-diving, and living-to-the-max author of eight books. When I'm not flying planes, scuba diving, climbing every mountain (on the back of my husband’s motorcycle) or riding the world’s fastest roller coasters, you can find me in my writing nest with a view of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains out the window. I've lived all over--from both oceans white with foam, to the prairie, and now to the mountain. Yes, a little backwards, but what the hey.

My bestselling and award-winning novels go as high and deep as I do—they’re profound yet funny; playful although poignant; heart-opening and heart-lifting; thought-provoking and inspiring; and edgy while universal. I'm also a screenwriter and award-winning filmmaker and humanitarian.

Social Media & Book Links
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Book link:

The book will be on sale for only $0.99.


Ann Crawford will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 Rafflecopter giveaway



Follow the tour HERE - the more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have of winning!








For insider news and subscriber-only info, subscribe to my occasional Newsletter. I promise not to spam and your in-box will only see an email from me every 3 or 4 months or so - unless of course I have something really Newsworthy to share! I also promise that I never have and never will share your information or email address with anyone or any organisation.  http://madmimi.com/signups/196357/join