Badass and the Beast #BlogTour #Giveaway Day 2

For those of you bumming over the long wait until the October release of Death Wish (Lana Harvey book 5) fret not! Lana and the gang make an appearance in the Badass and the Beast anthology—which is now available on Amazon and Kindle. Woot! 

Last year, Kory Shrum and I decided to embark on an epic adventure: co-editing an anthology for charity. We, and many of our fellow authors, have a soft spot for furbabies (or feathered/scaled babies), so theming the short stories around beastly companions was an easy call. Then Kory found the Animal Welfare Institute and checked them out on Charity Watch (A+ rating!) and we were set! The stories we received were fantastic and so very diverse. They also inspired me to redesign the cover several times until it reflected that diversity. 

My contribution to the anthology is a Lana Harvey short story titled “Hair of the Hellhound.” It takes place right after the events of book 4, and it features Saul and Coreen, Lana’s loveable hellhounds. Lana, Gabriel, and the hounds visit the Drunken Dove Brewery in Summerland, where Gabriel’s beer of choice (Ambrosia Ale) is made. I’ll be including the beer glass shown below in the swag giveaway items you can enter to win via the rafflecopter (also below). Be sure to check out all of the badass authors blogging through the tour for more goodies and ways to win! 

xoxo 

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The Badass and the Beast Blog Tour Schedule

May 5^th            Kory M. Shrum
May 6^th            Angela Roquet
May 7^th            Kathrine Pendleton
May 8^th            Monica LaPorta
May 11^th          Mikel Andrews
May 12^th          Shelly M. Burrows
May 13^th          Liz Schulte
May 14^th          Jason T. Graves 
May 15^th          Jasie Gale

 

#MondayBlogs: Badass and the Beast #CoverReveal

I'm so excited to finally reveal the cover of the anthology I've been co-editing! Badass and the Beast has turned out to be even more amazing than I imagined. Kory Shrum, co-editor of the collection, has been fantastic to work with. Of course, we've been in the same critique group for a year now (shout-out to the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse!) so I knew it would be a fun venture. Badass and the Beast will be available for preorder soon, but in the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this peek at the cover, illustrated by me. Woot!  

I struggled with the design for quite some time. There were several drafts of women with large dogs, which are featured in several of the anthology's short stories, but none of them conveyed the "badass" feel I was shooting for. Plus, the stories turned out to be pretty diverse, and I really wanted a design that would show that. Another factor I hadn't counted on was the YA feel many of the stories have--not all, mind you. But the book overall is definitely YA appropriate. So that seemed important to express through the cover design as well.

We have an amazing lineup of authors with some really interesting stories, all about kickass heroines and the beasts that love them! Including a Lana Harvey short, featuring an adventure with Limbo City's favorite hellhounds.

Stay tuned--FB, Twitter, newsletter--or just poke your head outside. I'll be shouting it to the world! More details coming soon. 

Book Review of THE ALEWIFE by Jason T. Graves

This was meant to be a video review. I’ve been really revved up about re-launching my YouTube channel… and of course that’s when I come down with the plague. I never get sick. NEVER. And when I do, I’m over it in no time. It’s been over a week. My throat and eyeballs feel swollen. My voice is all but gone. So video reviews are not an option at the moment. : (

Maybe I’ll be feeling like myself again by the time New Year’s Day rolls around, so I can accomplish ALL THE THINGS. In the meantime, Imma just leave this review here.

Mr. Jason T. Graves is a pretty cool guy. I met him through a mutual friend, UK author Clare Davidson, and then I contributed a short story to OFF THE BEATEN PATH, an anthology he edited and released last year. I recently finished reading his latest book, THE ALEWIFE, and let me tell you, I’ve got some things to say about this book…

 
First of all, do not let the cover deceive you. If the image was any more detailed, it would spoil the story. I started reading this book late in the evening. Big mistake. I was up until 3am, because I had to finish it. HAD TO. Aren’t those the best kind of reads?

So everything starts off simple enough. Middle-aged couple, heading off on a cozy little getaway to relax and try to make a baby. Doug and Jillian are a pretty typical couple. Doug is full of cheesy puns (which I love), and Jillian is a little high-strung. They get to their hotel and have dinner at the hotel restaurant, where things get interesting. Apparently, Doug has been to this restaurant before, and he’s quite familiar with the hot little waitress serving them. She worked there twelve years before, when Doug last visited with a friend. As if the awkwardness with Jillian isn’t bad enough, the girl doesn’t look like she’s aged a day. So Doug, the genius who booked a romantic getaway where his past would most likely be waiting to haunt him (good job, Doug!) is ogling the waitress even more. It’s not very conducive to baby-making with Jillian.

What follows has an erotic, mystery vibe to it—which is fun enough on its own—but then things dive off into the vast depths of sci-fi thrillerdom! Strange science and creatures galore! Great fight scenes and even a touch of romance. Oh! And more puns. Can’t forget those. This turn of events was entirely unexpected and glorious. It reminded me just a bit of Christopher Moore’s FLUKE. So fantastic! It’s definitely one I’ll be reading again.

Click HERE to go to Jason's page where you can stalk him and find links to everywhere you can buy THE ALEWIFE. Since you should. For reals.

 
Happy reading!

OTBP Blog Tour & Giveaway | Winners Announcement!

The Off the Beaten Path Blog Tour & Giveaway has concluded, and the winners are....

Grand Prize winner of bound book & $10 Amazon card:

Felicia T. 

Triple winners of 2 $5 Amazon cards &“Off the Beaten Path” ebook:

Tanya J.

Amy H.

Double winner of $5 Amazon card & “Off the Beaten Path” ebook:

Teresa E.

Winners of “Off the Beaten Path” ebook:

Tiffany M.

Seth C.

Kristy E.

Tiffany K.

Winners of $5 Amazon card:

Clare T.

Jackie B.

Rose W.

Congratulations to you all! Thanks for entering, and we hope you enjoy our collection of paranormal short stories. : )

OTBP Blog Tour & Giveaway | Author Interview: Sharon Sant

The Off the Beaten Path Blog Tour & Giveaway is almost over, but there's still time to enter for a chance to win one of the many prizes available! Check out the details below!

Today, I' like to share a little about author Sharon Sant with you. Sharon is the author of the Sky Song trilogy, Runners, The Jackie Chan Fan Club, and, most recently, The Memory Game. I actually got the chance to read The Memory Game over the weekend, and it was wonderful! I'm really digging the cover too.

David is an average fifteen-year-old. He has a mom and step-dad, friends at school, and he delivers newspapers. One evening, while on his paper route, he is hit by a car and dies. He suddenly finds himself stuck without a body, left to wander around his hometown where no one can see or hear him... except Bethany, the most hated girl in school, who David wasn't all that nice to when he was alive. Together, David and Bethany try to discover why David didn't go on to wherever people are supposed to go when they die.

This was such a sweet, fun read. There were lots of laughs and tears! Beautifully written. Sharon is also the author of "Soul Trading", a short story featured in Off the Beaten Path. 



Sharon Sant was born in Dorset but now lives in Stoke-on-Trent. Agedeightshe wrote a poem about ET, which received the ultimate praise of being pinned onto the classroom wall, and from that moment on she knew she'd never stop writing. She graduated from Staffordshire University in 2009 with a degree in English and creative writing. She currently works part time as a freelance editor and continues to write her own stories. An avid reader with eclectic tastes across many genres, when not busy trying in vain to be a domestic goddess, she can often be found lurking in local coffee shops with her head in a book. Sometimes she pretends to be clever but really loves nothing more than watching geeky TV and eating Pringles. Young adult novels Sky Song, The Young Moon and Not of Our (the Sky Song trilogy) and Runners were all released in 2013 to glowing reviews. The Memory Game, a YA paranormal novella, was released in August 2013.

Find Sharon all over the interwebs...

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon | Goodreads

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Off the Beaten Path Blog Tour & Giveaway Begins Today!

Happy October everyone!

This is my very favorite time of year, and even more so this year. Off the Beaten Path, an anthology featuring a short Lana Harvey story, is now available on Kindle and Amazon! This collection of eight paranormal tales is a perfect read for the season. It also features some of my favorite indie authors from a lively bunch I had the pleasure of doing an awesome giveaway with earlier this year.

To celebrate the release of our haunting collection of short stories, we're giving away all kinds of bookish goods during our blog tour, which starts today! See below for all the easy ways to enter for a chance to win!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

The Blog Tour for OFF THE BEATEN PATH starts October 1st! Woot! The anthology features eight short stories from some great indie authors. We'll be giving away copies of the Kindle ebook edition and several Amazon gift cards, so be sure to check out these great blogs from October 1st - October 8th for some fun interviews and the chance to enter the giveaway!

Blog List 

Sharon Sant, author of Sky Song and The New Moon

Angela Roquet, author of the Lana Harvey series and Crazy Ex-Ghoulfriend

Monica La Porta, author of The Ginecean Chronicles and The Prince's Day Out

D. R. Johnson, author of The Phoenix Curse saga

Jason Graves, author of On the Bridge, Blood Roses, and Morning Stars 

Chip Putnam, author of The Reason Why Grandmothers Should Not Be Allowed To Read Vampire Novels and Prairie Zombies


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