Creepy Hollow Launch Day!

Today the Creepy Hollow series kicks off with the release of the first story, GUARDIAN!!

GUARDIAN introduces readers to the magical world of Creepy Hollow, a realm where fae creatures — both safe and definitely-not-so-safe — dwell. Things are cool as long as the fae stick to their own realm. It's when they find their way into the human world that things start going wrong...



1. Receive assignment.

2. Save a life.

3. Sleep.

4. Repeat.

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until one of her assignments—a human boy who shouldn’t even be able to see her—follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? But Nate and Vi are about to land themselves in even bigger trouble—and it’ll take all Vi’s training to get them out alive.

Buy from Amazon US

Buy from Amazon UK

Buy from Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

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Book Trailer

Author Info

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To find out more about the series, the author, and the characters, check out the blog tour that’s happening over the next two weeks.

Click here for the blog tour schedule

And there is a GIVEAWAY going on at Rachel's blog!

Second Challenge (4th Platform-Building Campaign)

You all know Rach, right? Over at Rach Writes? Well, the girl has gone a little crazy this time. Lots of prompts and added challenges, so you can torture yourself as little or as much as you want.

I went with three of the challenges (three being an added challenge), each written in the dystopian genre (another added challenge as I've never written in the dystopian genre before): the pitch, 200 word story using prompt #1, and the five-line story using each of the five prompts.

My theme is life and survival in a newly dystopian world, and so I have used water as a strong life symbol.

You can go HERE to check out the other entries. I am #25 if you want to "like" mine.

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PITCH:

A blip, no bigger than a tear drop, a tiny hiccup in the earth’s perpetual spin, results in the struggle to survive in a new world and a new society for those lucky enough to find their way to the safety of the bridge.

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Under the Bridge


I shifted my position, wincing at the pain in my leg.


“Try not to move,” said my companion. “That cut on your leg is pretty deep.”


Rain water dripped from points off his drenched hair. He had given me the trash bag, first slitting the side and slipping it over my head like a hood, the odor of rotting garbage hugging my face.


The concrete bridge had collapsed, sending pedestrians cascading like a waterfall to drown in the lake of debris below.


I didn’t remember. I awoke sitting here, partially protected under the remains of the bridge, the rusted support beams etching a painful tattoo into my back.


Time escaped me.


“What’s taking so long?” I croaked. “The rescue people – what’s taking so long?”


No sirens blared. No barking, no chirping, no buzzing, no engines.


It disturbed me.


“Where are the others? The other people from the bridge?”


He didn’t answer, only sat with eyes closed, adam’s apple gliding up and down.


It all felt wrong. Terribly wrong.


I leveraged myself up, hands scraping against the rough surface. Dragging my stiff leg, I shuffled to the opening.

Nothing but barren land, leveled, ravaged.


No one was coming.

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Afterlife


Each bridge, dark, dank, wet, safe.


Each child, a miracle.


Each splash of water, life.


Each search through rubble, a treasure hunt.


Each energy field, a field of hope.

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HERE ARE THE PROMPTS, RULES AND CHALLENGES:
There are five prompts, four of them are photographs:

Prompt #1:

Two people are sitting together under the remains of a concrete bridge. Their backs are against a rusted bridge support. One person’s leg is cut. The other person has wet hair.

Prompt #2:

 

Prompt #3:



Prompt #4:



Prompt #5:




Here are the challenges. Do one or more of the following:

1. Write a pitch/logline for a book based on the prompts (less than 100 words)
2. Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts
3. Write a poem with a twist using the prompts as inspiration (in less than 200 words)
4. Write a story/poem in five sentences, each sentence based on one of the prompts
5. Write a poem/flash fiction piece (in less than 200 words) about the water pear *without* using the words “pear”, “spoon”, or “droplet”.

For added difficulty/challenge:

• Complete at least three of the above activities and tie them all together with a common theme (feel free to either state the theme in your post or leave us to guess what it might be)
• Write in a genre that is not your own
• Ask Challenge entrants to critique your writing. After the Challenge closes, you may wish to re-post your revised piece(s), and I’ll include a Linky List at the bottom of this post for those wishing more feedback on their revisions (note: revised entries will not be judged, so please label clearly your original post and your revisions. Please do not offer critique unless someone asks for it, as per the usual blogging conventions. If you do ask for critique, make sure you ask for it clearly so people know you want it, and please be prepared to receive feedback that may not be 100% glowing. If you are a critiquer, please be tactful and courteous, and remember to provide positives as well as negatives.)

Catch Fire! Blog Party!

Today is my blogging buddy's Catch Fire Blog Party to celebrate the release of CassaFire, Alex J. Cavanaugh's second novel and sequel to CassaStar, a top ten best seller on Amazon. The goal is to help CassaFire “catch fire” on the best seller charts and achieve the success of the first book.

There’s also a special package of prizes being given away at the author’s blog (copies of CassaFire, CassaStar, tote bag, mug, and bookmarks) as well as book giveaways during his two-week blog tour which runs from February 27 - March 9th.

See Alex’s site for more details: http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

To find out more about Alex, check out his interview at Ray Gun Revival.


Here's a description of CassaFire:

CassaStar was just the beginning…

The Vindicarn War is a distant memory and Byron’s days of piloting Cosbolt fighters are over. He has kept the promise he made to his fallen mentor and friend - to probe space on an exploration vessel. Shuttle work is dull, but it’s a free and solitary existence. The senior officer is content with his life aboard the Rennather.


The detection of alien ruins sends the exploration ship to the distant planet of Tgren. If their scientists can decipher the language, they can unlock the secrets of this device. Is it a key to the Tgren’s civilization or a weapon of unimaginable power? Tensions mount as their new allies are suspicious of the Cassan’s technology and strange mental abilities.


To complicate matters, the Tgrens are showing signs of mental powers themselves; the strongest of which belongs to a pilot named Athee, a woman whose skills rival Byron’s unique abilities. Forced to train her mind and further develop her flying aptitude, he finds his patience strained. Add a reluctant friendship with a young scientist, and he feels invaded on every level. All Byron wanted was his privacy…

AND THE BEST PART IS, CASSAFIRE IS AVAILABLE TODAY!

You can watch the awesome book trailer here:

CassaFire is available at Barnes & Noble , Amazon and on Amazon Kindle.

First Campaigner Challenge

This is the first campaigner challenge  in Rach Harrie's Fourth Writer's Platform-Building Campaign.

AND THE FIRST CHALLENGE IS:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:

• end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count)
• include the word "orange" in the story
• write in the same genre you normally write
• make your story 200 words exactly!

We are to see how whacky, creative and original we can get.

I've met all of the requirements and added challenges.

Here is my story.

Beware the Shadows

Shadows crept across the wall as the orange moon rose higher in the midnight sky. Darkness enveloped me like a second skin, fear trapped in every pore. I crept along, one with the shifting darkness...

Snap!

I whirled. “Shhh!” I hissed in a loud whisper. “Someone might hear us.” I turned back to the wall and edged along the shadows.

“Sorry,” Simon whispered back. “I can’t bleedin’ see. “Ow!” He tripped and stumbled into my back. “Tell me again what we’re doing here in the middle of the night?”

I sighed. “I told you. I didn’t get to shake his hand. If I could just hold something of his, grasp it in my hands, I might be able to read the energy from it and figure out what he’s up to.”

“Just what is it you suspect him of?”

I shivered. “Murder.”

We shimmied the wall and dropped to the other side, landing in a crouch. Taking the lead, I hurried toward the dark house. I skittered onto an oval mound of loosely packed dirt and sank down like an anchor, a rotten odor spewing up.

Simon snagged a shovel from against the wall.

I grasped the handle.

Everything faded.

As a side note, the energy the MC talks about reading is Psychometry, a way of reading the energy of an object to reveal it's history.

To check out all the entries, GO HERE. I am #52 if you want to "like" mine:)

Yay! My Very First Kreativ Blogger Award!

A very big thank you to Crazy California Claire for awarding me my very first Kreative Blogger Award! I never get tired of it. Really, I don't! My blog awards have their very own page and everything! Sheesh, look at all the exclamation marks!! I should be showing, not telling.

*great big cyber hug to Claire*

So now I have to tell you ten things about myself, and pass on the award to six of my blogging buddies. Here goes:

1) I've lived in California, Florida, California, Oregon, California, Arizona, Colorado, Virginia, California and Colorado. Pretty sure I'm not done yet. Tiger Gypsy blood!

2) I currently live at 9200 ft. elevation on 10 acres of woods in the mountains. We can't see our neighbors, but I have seen deer, elk, rabbit, squirrel, fox, bear, coyote and porcupine. We also have mountain lions, but thank goodness I haven't seen one!

3) I miss the beach. Ever see a dolphin or whale swimming in the ocean? It's awesome.

4) My 24th wedding anniversay is this month! How can that be? I'm not that old!

5) Daughter of a vet, wife of a vet, mother-in-law of a vet (sorry if I'm repeating myself - some of you already know this).

6) I love everything British: The pubs, the theatre and Andrew Lloyd Webber, the black cabs, the underground, double-decker buses, the accents, the architecture, the Cotswolds, cozy mysteries, A Christmas Carol and Charles Dickens, Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Midsommer Murders, Gavin & Stacey, The Vicar of Dibley, Harry Potter, Fish 'n' Chips, Toad-in-the-Whole, Bubble & Squeak, Bangers and Mash, the weather, walking along the Thames, ginnels and snickets, cobblestoned streets, The Beatles, the Royal Family. And of course my friend Claire Hennessy from Crazy California Claire who gave me this award!

7) I am a freak of nature: I don't like beer. (anything else, though, lol).

8) I love to travel. I've been to: England, Ireland, Scotland, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Innsbruck and all points in between. Briefly into Canada and of course Mexico - I grew up on the Mexican border in San Diego. I'm pretty sure I got cussed out by a Catholic priest at Notre Dame in Paris. I watched a student riot with barricades, tire fires and riot police from my hotel balcony in Paris. I had cappuccino on the Spanish Steps in Rome without knowing it. I boarded a train without a reservation in Stuttgart Germany. Sleeper trains are awesome! When I become a world famous author, I want to travel a lot!

9) I am a book whore hoarder:)

10) Living in the moutains, we have to make our own fun. So - we have Japanese Night (Udon, chopsticks, Japanese music on Pandora), Mexican Night (burritos or enchiladas, mexican beer and mexican music on Pandora - especially on Cinco de Mayo and Dia De Los Muertos), German Night (bratwurst and German potato salad, German beer and German music on Pandora), Irish Night (especially on St. Patricks Day, corn beef and cabbage, Guinness, Jameson and Irish Music on Pandora) and Italian Night (bruschetta, pasta, wine, candle stuffed in a chianti bottle and Italian music on the DVR).

AND, HERE ARE THE SIX BLOGGERS I'M PASSING THIS ON TO:

1) Loralie at Apathy's Hero. She's currently hosting the Critique Partner's Blogfest for us. Thank you, Loralie! What a "Kreativ" idea you had.
2) Sarah Pearson at Empty White Pages who writes and posts musical stories that I love. And because she's always so supportive.
3) My new friend and follower Maria Zannini for her kind words and versatile blog.
4) Deborah Walker who actually has two blogs, HERE and as Kelda Crich HERE.
5) Sharon Bayliss at The Blue Word who blogs about writing AND updates us on important contests and opportunities.
6) Joshua at Vive Le Nerd for his "Kreativ" rescue when I deleted all my comments!