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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'.

Wednesday 6 January 2016

A Beginners Guide to invading Earth - Spotlight and #Giveaway


I'm so happy to welcome Science Fiction author Gerhard Gehrke
 to the Flight Deck today. Let's find out about his debut novel and his writing -


HL: When did you start writing?

 GG: I have a binder with partial stories from grade school. During math class two friends and I produced a regular series of Pac-Man comic books with dozens of reoccurring characters, convoluted plot lines, and questionable artwork. As my collaborators had input, I was forced to allow vampires and Shogun Warriors into the mix. My notebook stories ranged from a boy and his horse story reminiscent of Lassie to a dreary horror novel with a crowbar-wielding maniac with a breathing problem.


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

GG: I'd love to have a slightly younger Clancy Brown (The Kurgan in the original Highlander, etc.) play as my main character Jeff Abel. Such a great voice and the right build, as Jeff is also a big guy with a mop of hair and a slight case of exotropia. Clancy Brown brings a touch of class to some cheesy roles; thus he'd be a great fit.


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


GG: No matter how hard you try, your novel may never feel finished, as there's always a nip/tuck/edit you wish you had done before releasing your project to the world. I find myself critical of my approach of perspective in A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth which I've tightened up on now that I have the sequel going through the editing process. The balance comes from knowing you've listened to your editor and you've given it your all. This allows you to tame your anxieties with the knowledge that you will improve as you progress as an author.

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


GG: I have a connect-the-dots strategy that is essentially a loose outline. I know where I want to land and have several plot points to hit along the way. This all proves malleable as I go. I have several notebooks where I will lay out bullet points of what happens next and what needs to happen after, but these notes are rarely more than a few key words and phrases. I don't use any software for this even though I've tried, and I'm intrigued by ones who manage to lay everything out via spreadsheets like Excel. When I write, the story rarely cooperates with tight scripting. My approach seems locked in for now, but I'm willing to change if I find another way to write that looks like it will fit my style.


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

 GG: How anyone can write while listening to music baffles me. I need silence and I'm easily distracted. Alt-tab is the enemy! But to be fair, I need to sit still when chewing gun, so there's that. Sometimes on a third+ read-through where I'm hunting for extraneous commas I'll put on some classical (Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin) or some Tool or Iron Maiden. I've got a selection of covers of Maiden's song “Fear of the Dark” if anyone's interested.

HL: What is your personal definition of success?


GG: Not to get too sappy, but when something I wrote made someone happy, that's a win. This is an inversion from the service business, where a quiet customer is a happy one. Happy readers will say something and sometimes leave a good review. Then again, angry readers leave feedback too. But at least I made them feel something. Nothing's worse than an audience that shrugs you off with a “meh.”

HL: Is there any advice, as a new writer, that you were either given, or wish you had been given?
 
GG: “Don't write if you don't have to.” A published author told me this once, and this is both good and bad advice. Writing can become an obsession, but it's also a rewarding pursuit. It reminds me of what the lawyer who taught my State Contractor's License class said concerning running your own business: “The highs are higher, the lows are lower.” This is true of writing as well, as there's nothing quite like having someone enjoy something you wrote, but rejection is part of the process too.

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

 
GG: Anyone who's read Allan Cole and Chris Bunch's Sten series knows Alex Kilgour. He's the heavy world sidekick who steals the show and has some of the series' best lines. One ongoing gag is his awful jokes which often take the entire novel to tell as he is continually interrupted or threatened to stop telling it. Of course, reading his parts were sometimes a challenge as the writers chose to render his Scottish brogue phonetically. In hindsight he's like The Simpsons' Groundskeeper Willie on steroids and with more firepower.

HL: Where can readers connect with you?

GG: I'm in the usual spots like Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/gerhardgehrkeauthor/) and Twitter (@gerhardgehrke). My blog is Capriciousnarrator.com where I talk about the world of science fiction and writing. My personal site ( http://www.gerhardgehrke.com ) has links to where you can find a copy of A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth.

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

GG: With writing and blogging I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop where someone asks me “Who do you think you are in talking so much about yourself?” I guess dreading is the word I'm thinking of here, not wishing. But this question is so sweet! I just appreciate Hywela Lyn for having me today.

Thank you so much for visiting with us today - it's been a real pleasure to have you on the Flight Deck! Wishing you much success with your debut  novel!


A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth





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

GENRE: Science Fiction

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


BLURB:



What would you do if you found a dead alien on a lonely highway?

Was it an accident, sabotage, or murder? And why is everyone blaming Jeff?

The extraterrestrials aren’t waiting for answers. They want revenge. And Jeff isn’t ready for company.

His only hope is an outcast mechanic from another world and a woman who might do anything to get off planet, including selling out her own kind. Jeff has to get to the bottom of why there are so many alien bodies piling up and who is really responsible.

A science fiction adventure novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth tells the story of a reclusive ex-computer programmer who is the unwitting central figure of a plot to keep humanity from ever making first contact.



Excerpt

“Do you believe in aliens? Jordan asked.

Outside of town and with no moon, Jeff drove with care. The road ahead curved into black beyond the pickup truck’s headlights. Some of the turns had helpful signs with black arrows on reflective yellow, but most did not.

“Like little green men with designs on our world?” Jeff said.

“More like what’s been going on in the news,” she said. “The actual sightings of extraterrestrials. That alien body in Nevada.”

“I don’t watch T.V. Heard some crazy stuff on the radio. But I don’t listen to it much, either.”

“You really are cut off, you know. Like a hermit.”

Jeff smiled. Only a couple of cars passed them, both heading the opposite way. He thought of the gangly, hairy creature he had seen, working to fix his broken spaceship, panicking at the sight of a human, and somehow knowing Jeff’s name without so much as an introduction. Had that actually happened?

“It seems like pretty big news,” Jordan said. “If it’s real, that is. So do you like keeping yourself so isolated?”

“I like to think of myself as unplugged,” Jeff said. “Maybe more people should try it. As for the aliens, there’s this old theory about hysteria. It’s happened before. A commie in every closet. Fluoride in the drinking water lets the government control the population.”


AUTHOR Bio and Links:



Gerhard Gehrke studied film at San Francisco State University. He wrote and produced
several shows for community television. His Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror short stories have appeared in several publications, including an Editor’s Choice-winning short story at AnotheRealm.com. A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth is his first novel.

You can connect with him at Gerhardgehrke.com.










Also available on iBooks



GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Gerhard Gehrke will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.


a Rafflecopter giveaway





Monday 4 January 2016

Wishing all my guests, friends and readers a very Happy 2016

**************



I'd also like to give a big 'THANK YOU' to everyone who's following or joined this Blog (or re-joined in some instances) Having lost all my followers due to having to redo my Blog, it's taking a while to build up my following again so I really appreciate you taking the time to do so!

Tuesday 29 December 2015

Kiss of the Virgin Queen - Spotlight and Giveaway





Kiss of the Virgin Queen

Kiss of the Jinni Hunter Series
Book Two
Sharon Buchbinder

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Date of Publication: October 14, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-5092-0392-5 Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-5092-0393-2 Digital
ASIN: B015ATFQTA

Number of pages: 300
Word Count: 75K

Cover Artist: Rae Monet

Book Description:

Homeland Security Special Agent Eliana Solomon is on a mission to prevent terrorist attacks. Hard enough to do when the threats are human, almost impossible when it's an evil, shape shifting jinni. Eliana needs help so she calls the sexy and beguiling psychiatrist, Arta Shahani. However, no matter how good he is at his job, the man is on her blacklist. On their last case together, the guy left her for dead.

Arta is stunned when he receives Eliana’s call. Forced to abandon the woman he loves, he now fears she won’t accept his shape-shifting skills as a Persian Lion. Eliana, in the meantime discovers she is a direct descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba with special powers of her own. But will her skill and Arta's be enough to defeat the jinni, or will they lose the love history decreed for them as well as their lives in this battle of good versus evil?


ARe    Amazon     Bookstrand    BN     Kobo    WildRose Publishing


Bonus and Spotlight Material


Short intro: This full length novel is the second in the enthralling new Jinni Hunter series from award-winning author, Sharon Buchbinder. Edgy and suspenseful, this paranormal romance series explores diverse cultures and an array of supernatural beings. Join the Special Agents of the Anomaly Defense Division as they race to save humanity—and the people they love.

Tagline: No matter how far we are in the future, everything connects us to our past.

Two sentence blurb: Forced to work with sexy and secretive Dr. Arta Shahani, Homeland Security Special Agent Eliana Solomon isn’t sure she can trust him—or her heart. Will Eliana’s skill and Arta’s be enough to defeat the evil jinni—or will they lose the love history decreed for them as well as their lives?

Excerpt: Chapter One

Summertown, West Virginia, U.S.A., Present Day

A picturesque flight over the Appalachian Mountains to Summertown, West Virginia gave Special Agent Eliana Solomon of the Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, Anomaly Defense Division time to process the urgent report she’d received by email. Up until this week, the existence of werewolf packs had been concealed from the general population. Now reports of the secretive shape shifters exploded in her inbox. Where had this information been all this time? Had the government monitored them all along? If so, why had her boss, Bert Blackfeather, insisted on her obtaining proof of their existence, along with the jinnis? She’d pry an answer out of that closed mouth man—someday. Right now, she had a more pressing matter at hand.

Five days ago, three nine-year-old werewolf boys and their three eighteen-year-old sisters went on a birthday expedition in the heavily wooded state wildlife area and disappeared. By day, local human authorities, volunteers, and bloodhounds brought in from surrounding jurisdictions combed the forest, the hills, and caves. By night, pack members ran through the forest using their extraordinary senses—olfactory, visual, and auditory—to hunt for their missing kin. Divers also explored the waterways, all to no avail. No clues to the kids’ whereabouts had been found, not even a backpack—until two this morning.

A night security guard discovered the boys in the middle of the Adalwolf Winery parking lot. Slightly bruised and scratched up, but otherwise alive and well, in their human forms, the youngsters had no  recollection of anything between arriving at the park and waking up in the parking lot with their back packs under their heads—their five-day-old lunches untouched.

Rushed to the ER and examined thoroughly, the boys displayed no evidence of physical abuse. The blank space in their minds where the memories should have been was inaccessible to parents and psychologists. If it weren’t for the fact that the three older girls were still missing, the local authorities wouldn’t continue to press the boys for information. Over time, their memories could return, but without ransom notes, calls or clues, the clock was running down for a successful search and rescue. The local police, state troopers, sheriff’s office, and the West Virginia Bureau of Investigation feared the operation would soon become a search and recovery.

The plane touched down, bounced along the runway, and Eliana’s cell began to vibrate.

“Solomon.”

The gruff voice of her boss boomed in her ear. “New development in the case.” Blackfeather paused. “A hiker found one of the missing girls in a culvert near an abandoned mine. Bites, claw marks. Throat ripped open. Damn thing nearly tore her head off.”

She shuddered. “Black bear?”

“Based on the paw prints around the body, the first responders are saying these weren’t bear bites. More like a dog—or wolf.”

“Boss, aside from zoos and wild animal preserves, there are no wolves in the eastern U.S.”
He sighed. “I stand corrected. Werewolf.”

Her stomach lurched, and she gripped the armrest so hard her knuckles turned white. Shit. Shit. Shit. A werewolf attacking one of its own? Why? What the hell was going on?

“West Virginia Division of Homeland Security has a car waiting for you, fully loaded with everything you’ll need for the investigation. Get to that scene.” Her boss clicked off.

Bossy desk jockey.
A flush of shame rushed over her. He’d taken on the orphan Anomaly Defense Division of the Science and Technology Directorate that no one else wanted, along with a mission no one else supported or believed in. As abrupt and abrasive as he could be, the Gulf War veteran deserved credit for giving her the opportunity to pursue what everyone else thought was something out of the tales of The Arabian Nights: jinnis. With the needed proof of werewolves and jinnis from Project Aladdin, support surged into the division. A stable funding source made her jinni hunting work possible So far, it seemed wherever there were werewolves, there was jinni activity.

This case was no different. According to the report, relationships between the local humans and werewolves were more than cordial. They were so intermarried, almost everyone was family. A large non-denominational wedding facility placed Summertown on an international list of destination weddings, like Hawaii and Las Vegas, but specifically for werewolves. A thriving bed and breakfast trade supported the wedding industry, along with other leisure activities, such as biking, hiking, white-water rafting, and winery and sightseeing tours. Murder of a werewolf girl wasn’t just bad for the family, it was bad for the town.


About the Author:

Sharon Buchbinder has been writing fiction since middle school and has the 
rejection slips to prove it. An RN, she provided health care delivery, became a researcher, association executive, and obtained a PhD in Public Health. When not teaching or writing, she can be found fishing, walking her dogs, or breaking bread and laughing with family and friends in Baltimore, MD and Punta Gorda, FL.



Twitter ID @sbuchbinder https://twitter.com/sbuchbinder









Tour Giveaway:      1 Kindle ebook copy of Kiss of the Silver Wolf, Book 1 (Novella) 1Kindle ebook copy Kiss of the Virgin Queen, Book 2, full length novel. 2 Luggage tags 5 sets Romance trading cards (1 for Kiss of the Silver Wolf, 1 for Kiss of the Virgin Queen in cellophane wrapper) 10 Book marks


a Rafflecopter giveaway 





Monday 28 December 2015

Saven Deception - spotlight and reveiw of Siobahn Davis's latest YA SF Romance



This is my stop during the book blitz for Saven: Deception (The Saven Series #1) by Siobhan Davis. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 15 till 28 December, you can view the complete blitz schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.

Saven DeceptionSaven: Deception (The Saven Series #1)
By Siobhan Davis
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: December 15, 2015

Blurb:
I’ve fallen hard for an alien, but he’s harboring secrets.
Massive secrets that threaten the very essence of humanity.
How can I give him my heart when his race plans on taking my future?


Sadie Owens has been slowly dying inside. Bit by bit, piece by piece, day by day. Trapped in a life she hates, she relies on only one person—herself.

Despised by her family and betrayed by an unscrupulous government, Sadie dreams of a different life. When she is chosen to participate in the government’s new social experiment, she is ecstatic at the prospect of spending six months in Thalassic City, the shiny new city under the sea.

Immediately drawn to Logan Chandler, Sadie is captivated by the beautiful boy with the ocean-blue eyes. Logan seems to embody everything that has been forbidden, but he isn’t all he appears to be.

Confused over Logan’s true intentions and concerned when best friend Jenna starts transforming in front of her eyes, Sadie partners with newcomer Jarod in a bid to uncover the government’s real agenda. The truth is more shocking than anything she could ever have imagined.

When Sadie finally understands why the Saven walk among us, will it be too late to save her heart and the human race?

Teaser Saven Deception - Sadie


You can find Saven: Deception on Goodreads

You can buy Saven: Deception here:
- Amazon USA
- Amazon UK
- Amazon Canada
- Amazon Australia

Teaser Saven Deception - Couple Teaser 1


SiobhanAbout the Author:
I write young adult science fiction fantasy romance books, and I’m the author of the Amazon bestselling True Calling series. The first book in my new Saven series will be released in December 2015.

A self-professed teenager forever—at least when it comes to books, music, and films, I am totally addicted to teen fiction and superhero/blockbuster movies. I love baking, shoes, bags, makeup, anti-wrinkle cream, anything pink, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, and Robert Pattinson (definitely Team Edward).

Before pursuing a full-time writing career, I forged a successful corporate career in Human Resources over the last twenty years.

I live in the Garden County of Ireland with my husband and two sons.

You can find and contact Siobhan here:
- Website
- Blog
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google +
- Goodreads
- Amazon  
- Newsletter

Sample chapters, quotes, reviews and book excerpts are all available to download from the authors website

Teaser Saven Deception - Available-Now-Teaser


There is a tour wide giveaway for the book blitz of Saven: Deception. Below are the prizes the author is giving away:
- a 10$ amazon gift card
- 3 e-copies of Saven Deception by Siobhan Davis

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
banner Lola's Blog Tours



I absolutely loved this book.  I really enjoyed the 'True Calling' Series but if anything, I enjoyed Saven: Deception even more. I found Sadie an easy character to identify with and relate to, and Logan Chandler is the kind of dark, hunky hero every girl dreams of.  Each of the characters is very skilfully drawn and as usual with Siobhan Davis's books, there are a lot of twists and turns to the plot,  twists that cause the reader to wonder exactly who can really be trusted, and whether Sadie has jumped out of the proverbial frying pan into a fire of deception and intrigue. This makes for a real page turner and I found it very hard to put the book down. The supporting characters are all very different and each individual is as real and credible as Sadie and Logan. The world building, as with 'True Calling' is well executed and believable, and the detail and description makes it easy to visualize Thalassic City, the 'city under the sea'.

I can thoroughly recommend this book, as one which many adults will enjoy as much as the age range for which it is primarily written.  My only criticism is that it ended in a way that made me long for the next 'episode'.  I can't wait for the next book in this series!

The above review is my own, personal opinion. A free book was provided and accepted for an honest and impartial review, but not in an effort to control the outcome of the review. No compensation has been paid or accepted for any reviews on this site, favorable or otherwise.

Monday 21 December 2015

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY ON-LINE FRIENDS

I've wrapped all the presents and been on the 'Santa Run' to take them to my family in Wales, trimmed the Christmas tree, hung the outside lights and decorated the living room. Just need to put some decorations up in here (my 'office') and I'm done. Well, all except for icing the cake, making the mince pies, and trifle......I do love Christmas., despite the hectic preparations. I've also been to two Carol Services including a nativity play by the children, so feeling nice and festive now!


Wishing you a wonderful Christmas, wherever you may be, and however you wish to celebrate it.
Have a great Christmas time and a  Happy and Peaceful New Year