Saturday, December 21, 2013

Matt Campbell

Critters at the Keyboard

Welcomes

Matt Campbell Author of

Spirit Summoner


Spirit Summoner: The Chosen of the Light: Book One

Darr has the ability to hear the disembodied voices of the spirits. Unfortunately, the spirits have nothing useful to say. A young, inexperienced Spirit Summoner, Darr often wonders at the purpose of such a useless ability. When an unnatural fire sweeps through his village, Darr sets out on a mission of self-discovery and curiosity.


As a Spirit Summoner, Darr learns he can enter the spirit realm. There he has access to the elemental magic contained within the Sephirs, legendary artifacts that once promised balance for a world turning towards chaos. Now, the Sephirs’ powers are dwindling since their untimely disappearance, and Darr is at the center of the quest to find and recover them. Suddenly, Darr’s curiosity is a whirlpool threatening to drown him, but his compulsion to see things through locks him into a journey attracted to disaster.



For the Sephirs do more than restrain the primal forces of magic. The Devoid, an evil long caged and hungry, has begun to loosen the bars of its prison. If the Sephirs fail, the Devoid will escape and feed on the Light of the living until nothing remains.


And the Devoid knows Darr’s lack of confidence is the key needed to free itself completely.


Excerpt


For a moment, Darr lay in the mud in disbelief, letting the rain wash over him. Everything had gone wrong, leaving him lost, cold, and wet. He tried to sit up, but the weight of his pack pulled him down. In a moment of hoarded frustration, he yelled. He didn’t yell at anyone in particular. The Summoner howled in pure annoyance of his situation, his voice carrying over the sound of the storm itself.

His voice cracked, and the small moment of silence allowed the spirits to come flooding into his mind. The spirits snapped Darr to attention, instantly making him aware of their presence.

Then they were gone.

Darr blinked in surprise against the downpour of rain. What had just happened? It was like a door to the Currents had been opened long enough to feel the presence of the spirits, then closed.

The Summoner lifted his head and looked down the slope. A black shape approached through the torrent of rain. Startled, Darr writhed in the mud, attempting to regain his feet. He managed to roll over and get up on one knee. The black form was right on top of him, a massive, frightening shape. Lightning flashed across the sky, and Darr saw it clearly, shaped like a man, robed and hooded. Soul Seekers!

Without a second thought, Darr leapt to his feet, clawing his way up the high slope. A massive hand clamped down on his shoulder and pulled him back.

Spirit Summoner is available on Kindle, Nook, and most other ebook formats:

About the Author:

Over the last twenty years, Matt Campbell has been putting his love for fantasy down on paper. He began writing at the age of 11, but he has been telling stories long before then. With interests in writing, woodworking, parenting, comic books, movies, and video games, Matt always has something new to write about and to inspire him. 

Matt’s passion for love for the fantastic inspired him to write his debut novel, The Chosen of the Light. At a staggering 400,000 words, Matt was forced to split his novel up into three books, the first of which,Spirit Summoner, is due later in 2013.

He lives in Western Washington with his wife, Jen, and son, Jacobi.

For more information, please check out the links below:






Monday, December 16, 2013

The Lady of Corpsewood Manor

Critters at the Keyboard welcomes
Hawk MacKinney
Author of 
The Lady of Corpsewood Manor, book 4 of the Craige Ingram Mystery Series



Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

To see the open spots available go here: Visit these sites for more chances to win!

BLURB:

In the spacious den of Moccasin Hollow, his ancestral South Carolina home, part-time PI, exNavy SEAL Craige Ingram examines a platinum brooch designed like a dragonfly inside a jeweler’s box that he has discovered at the crime scene of Corpsewood Manor.  It is a remarkable piece of artits wings and body worked in exceptional detail. Focusing toward the expected bulbous round eyes, his suspicions jar full throttle. Instead of a head, the empty sockets of a skull leer at him. His gut feelin’s tell him his SEAL buddy Grayson MacGerald’s investigation is considerably more than arson and a double murder trying to hide the theft of classic automobiles. The smoldering rubble of secluded Corpsewood Manor leads Ingram and another of their SEAL Team, Colorado Aspen ski buddy Spinner Krespinak, into a seedy tangle of smuggling crisscrossed and an unexpected encounter with a dead assassin from one of Spinner’s “closed” cases.


Please enjoy this excerpt:


“You been told to stay away from Corpsewood.”
           
Kenyon said, “Ain’t got no other place ‘cept them leaky sheds out behind the garage.  They don’t leak much.  Least before the fire I had a place to sleep.  Got kicked out of my other place.  They let me sleep here.”
           
“I’ll just bet they let your sweet cheeks sleep-over.  You’re just the kind of meat they liked to sucker in.”
           
“Now I got no place, an’ nights are gettin’ colder.”
           
“They the ones that hooked you on crystal?”
           
“I told you.  I don’t do drugs.”
           
“Cut the crapI heard all the stories.  Nothing out’a your mouth ever made sense—only a bunch of your twisted whining.”  Somewhere between a snarl and a chuckle, “I’m suppose to believe you never done meth,” raven-black stab of a look.  “Sureyou’re clean all right except for pushing crank or whatever up your nose or stoking it in your arms,” glanced at the needle tracks on both arms.  “Got a problem?  Run out’a veins in your arms?  Using the ones in your ankles?  Clean yourself up.  Wash your greasy stringy hair and get it cut.  Stop acting like some fool animal that needs to be caged.  Take a bath.  Get a job.  Quit blowing your money, you’d have a place of your own.”
           
“I don’t snort crystal or Nazi dope,” Kenyon griped.  “You’re like ever’body else, judging someone by the way we live.”
           
“I don’t care what you’re on, but anyone fool enough to supply you is askin’ for trouble.  We got enough trouble with the Corpsewood fire and that goddamn homicide Lieutenant MacGerald nosing around with his friggin’ PI SEALmate Ingram helpin’ him dig.”

About the Author

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… murder and mayhem with a touch of romance. 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.  Hawk’s latest release in the Ingram series is due out this fall with another mystery-thriller work out in 2014. The Bleikovat Event, the first volume in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science fiction series, was released in 2012.

"Without question, Hawk is one of the most gifted and imaginative writers I have had the pleasure to represent. His reading fans have something special to look forward to in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series. Intrigue, murder, deception and conspiracy--these are the things that take Hawk's main character, Navy ex-SEAL/part-time private investigator Craige Ingram, from his South Carolina ancestral home of Moccasin Hollow to the dirty backrooms of the nation's capital and across Europe and the Middle East."

Barbara Casey, President
Barbara Casey Literary Agency

Author links and where to buy


Amazon

Barnes and Noble












Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Critters at the Keyboard Welcomes Shari Kelley Worrell

Critters at the Keyboard Welcomes Shari Kelley Worrell


REMEMBERING JAMES J. H. GREGORY: THE SEED KING, PHILANTHROPIST, MAN



James John Howard Gregory (1827-1910) was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, the son of James and Hannah (Hooper) Gregory. He always had a love of botany. At the age of four he had his first garden. His main responsibility was to keep it clear of weeds.

JJH was educated in Marblehead schools. He attended Middlebury College but graduated from Amherst College in 1850. He began his work-life as an educator, first as a teacher and then as a principal/headmaster but this was very short-lived.
Answering an ad in the New England Farmer for a nice winter squash, JJH sent the author of the article some seeds from a squash that he had found to his liking. His father called it Marm Hubbard’s Squash because a lady named Hubbard had given him the seeds. The gentleman liked the squash so much that he wrote an article about their desirability. Almost immediately JJH started receiving orders from all over the world for the seeds. Thus began the accidental start of the James J. H. Gregory Seed Company.

The company grew so much JJH made the decision to quit teaching and devote his time to the seed business. As he started to develop great wealth he made the decision to live on three hundred dollars a year and give away the rest to those less fortunate than he. He lived a very Christian life and lived by the scripture from Galatians 2:10; “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
Unable to have children he adopted four. He married three times. His philanthropy started in his beloved town of Marblehead but soon extended to schools, missions, educators and pastors. Before too long his heart was touched by southern blacks, white Appalachian mountain schools, India and beyond. He did much for many and did it all without notoriety. He felt all people were created equally so he helped those he thought were being treated unfairly just because it was the right thing to do.

This book contains information on his wives, children, grandchildren, ancestry and descendants. It includes many of his lectures that still pertain in today’s times. Learn about his extensive philanthropy and extending hand!
After reading about this kind and generous man you, too, will realize that James John Howard Gregory was a man who should not be forgotten!



Here's something JJH wrote:


JJH WRITES OF FAMILY, GOD, MANKIND
James J. H. Gregory at Seventy-Eight.

In my seventy-eighth year I sit down to send my annual greetings to the many
thousands of friends with whom I have enjoyed many seasons of pleasant intercourse; with some of you well nigh to fifty years. I trust that this finds you enjoying the blessings of good health and prosperity, not only in worldly affairs but in everything where attainment fits us to a higher manhood and nobler womanhood. I am happy to be able to say that I am in the enjoyment of many blessings, physical, mental and moral, for which I daily thank that dear father and mother (long since departed this earth) who gave them to me as a heritage, and the great loving
Father of us all through whose laws they were enabled to transmit blessings to their many children. Not having been blessed with a family of my own, I adopted at one time in early marriage life four little children, strangers to me and strangers to each other; these I educated (and many other unfortunate ones) and now, in my declining years, I enjoy the pleasure of being called “Grandpa” by seventeen bright, healthy, little ones. 
 


J. J. H. GregoryInformation found in The American Florist, Vol. 24, 4 Feb 1905


and a poem he wrote to his daughter:
I WILL BE RICH IN ANOTHER COUNTRY


Why should I agonize below
To pile success in dollars high
Struggling with my fellow man
To get of him the mastery?

In the fierce fight for worldly wealth
My spirit nature dwarfs and starves,
If I but gain what others lose
My riches are but spoils of war.

The earthly harvest for such work
Will cost the immortal soul too dear
Withdrawing from such worldly strife
I will be rich, but not rich here.

God help me pile in that good bank
Whose sacred vaults beyond the stars
The angels tend with willing feet
Riches that are not the spoils of war.

The gold of mercy, gems afire
That from the human heart are mixed
Which he who yearns towards fellow men
In spirit depth can always find.

Then when I reach the heavenly shores
I there shall find my title clear,
Endorsed by Calvary’s dying love,
To riches rare which heaven holds dear.

JJHG                                                                       

 Poem sent to Mrs. Simeon Coffin
(Laura Harwood Gregory)
10 August 1899



About the Author

A photo of me representing Associated Daughters of Early American Witches at the "Witch" Memorial in Salem, MA. I am NOT a witch but descend from those falsely accused of being witches during the Salem witch hysteria.

Sharyn “Shari” Dianne KELLEY was born on a Monday at 1:53 pm at Union Hospital in  Lynn, Essex, MA on 23 Feb 1948. Rev. Claude Dotson  baptized  Shari when she became a member of Trinity Methodist Church, Golf Road, Mt. Prospect., Cook, IL on 21 Nov 1965. She was confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palatine, Cook, IL on 8 Jun 1986.

Shari was a Stewardess (Flight Attendant) for United Airlines for over 35 years. She took early retirement in Jun 2002 due to a work-related injury.

Shari has been very active in volunteer work throughout her life (starting at age 8 with U.N.I.C.E.F.); Muscular Dystrophy Association (co-founded Young Women's League for MDA); Centinela Valley Community and Good  Sheperd Hospitals (served as volunteer and as President of the Auxiliary); Boy Scouts of America; National Lutheran Association of Scouters; Trinity Methodist Church; Immanuel Lutheran Church and School, etc. She is a member of over 60 hereditary  societies (serving on committees and as an officer on local, state and national levels). Shari founded the Order of the First Families of New Hampshire 1622-1680 and served as the presiding officer of OFFNH, Associated Daughters of Early American Witches and The National Guild of St. Margaret of Scotland (Reorganizing President General).

Shari was awarded the Presidential Service Award by George W. Bush and is  listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who Among American Women.

Shari lobbied for many years for exoneration of her 9x great grandmother, Susanna (North) Martin who was executed as a "witch" on 19 Jul 1692 during  the Salem Witch Hysteria. A bill for the exoneration of Susanna and four others  (Bridget Bishop, Wilmot Reed, Margaret Scott and Alice Parker) was presented to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1997/1998. For three  sessions the bill got stuck in committee and tabled. The bill was signed by Acting Governor, Jane Swift, on 31 Oct. 2001. A  memorial church service was held on 9 Jun 2002 in Salem, Essex, MA  at which time all 20 who had  been persecuted and died from those false accusations were memorialized.                

Shari was married to Blaine Patten Worrell, DDS, son of Elmer “Al” Patten and Jean Frances (Cornelius) Worrell. They married on 15 Feb 1979 in Wailua, Kauai, HI. 

Shari and Blaine have a son, Ryan Richard Worrell, Sr., who is an entertainment lawyer for 20th Century Fox Television. He is married to the former Elizabeth Hones and they have a son, Ryan Richard Worrell, Jr. 

If you are interested in a copy of Shari's book, please contact her here: SDWorrell@aol.com


Saturday, November 16, 2013

Matt Campbell Cover Reveal

Book One of The Chosen of the Light Series
 
Spirit Summoner
By Matt Campbell
 
Coming December 3, 2013 
Darr has the ability to hear the disembodied voices of the spirits. Unfortunately, the spirits have nothing useful to say. A young, inexperienced Spirit Summoner, Darr often wonders at the purpose of such a useless ability. When an unnatural fire sweeps through his village, Darr sets out on a mission of self-discovery and curiosity.
As a Spirit Summoner, Darr learns he can enter the spirit realm. There he has access to the elemental magic contained within the Sephirs, legendary artifacts that once promised balance for a world turning towards chaos. Now, the Sephirs’ powers are dwindling since their untimely disappearance, and Darr is at the center of the quest to find and recover them. Suddenly, Darr’s curiosity is a whirlpool threatening to drown him, but his compulsion to see things through locks him into a journey attracted to disaster.
For the Sephirs do more than restrain the primal forces of magic. The Devoid, an evil long caged and hungry, has begun to loosen the bars of its prison. If the Sephirs fail, the Devoid will escape and feed on the Light of the living until nothing remains.
And the Devoid knows Darr’s lack of confidence is the key needed to free itself completely.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Cover Reveal

Tears of Heaven

Urban Fantasy
From R.A. McCandless
In the past, the children of angels and humans, the Nephilim, were allowed to lead their lives as they willed.  But they proved too strong, too ambitious, and too cunning for their own good.  They became warlords, conquerors and emperors.  They caused war and strife until the Throne stepped in and forced them to submit to Its will, or die.

Unlike most of her fellows, Del, one of the first Nephilim, had no interest in conquest and domination.  In the ancient past, prior to the Throne’s interdiction, she met and fell in love with Dami, a Mediterranean ship captain and trader.  Together, they face down pirates and storms and try to create a future together.

In the present, Del unwillingly works for the Throne, obeying the commands of the angel Ahadiel.  She helps to keep the world safe from the horrors of escaped demons.  At the same time, she keeps herself in the Throne’s good graces.  Whenever a rogue demon breaks free from Hell, she and her partner, Marrin, another Nephilim, work together to banish it.

Thrilling danger, fast-paced adventure, high-seas action, and heart-warming romance fill this novel, with a page-turning story that won’t let you put it down.
Pre-order now, from Wild ChildPublishing
December 2013


Friday, November 8, 2013

Elodie Parkes

Thank you for inviting me to the blog today to talk about my new release from Evernight Publishing. ‘Swoop on Love’, is an erotic paranormal romance.
Today meet my two shifter heroes.
Reed and Nathan, are eagle shifters. They live in the United Kingdom and so they’re what we call Sea Eagles.
As men, they are similar in looks but very different in personality.

Reed Aquila,
Tall, 6 feet 2, and although he’s muscled, he’s elegant, gentle, with slender hips. He looks out for Nathan. He’s a businessman, but works online most of the time. He buys and sells real estate, stocks, and shares. He reads lots. He loves pine trees and coniferous forests. He loves to see the sky and wants to live in a light airy place. His lovemaking is caring, gentle, sensual, very sexy, and he likes to make love lots. His blue eyes are dreamy.

Nathan Aquila,
Nathan loves music. He loves to fly. He’s impulsive, a dare devil, an alpha, he takes risks he shouldn’t. He’s brave and yet all this overlays a deep need for freedom, acceptance, and love.
He’s tall, blue-eyed, strong, and very sexy.

His lovemaking is intense, and overwhelming. He gets Reed and himself into trouble and brings them to our heroine, Jeanie’s notice.
Swoop on Love
Lured to the place by its intriguing name, Jeanie was to find no owls lived there, but someone or thing doeswill she realize before it’s too late?

Suspenseshifterssexand love

Jeanie explores her new neighborhood and finds a strange little road leading to a place with an intriguing name. Owlswick. It’s Saturday and she has no plans, as usual, why not drive down this road? What she finds there is even more fascinating than the place name, and to her delight, a very attractive man lives there. Too bad he’s furious with her for taking a photograph. Why is that? What will Jeanie find when she checks the picture out at home later?
A love story, graphic sex scenes and a twist of fantasy suspense, 18+


Read an excerpt: 18+ rated

They fell into each other’s arms. Nathan pulled her close and kissed her softly. Jeanie responded to him. She pressed against him with such passion it filled him with a longing he’d not experienced for many years. He drew back from her and rested his forehead against hers. They breathed against each other for a moment before Nathan kissed her again. Down her neck, across her throat, up to her ear, where he lingered and whispered, “You’re so lovely.”
She pushed closer and he cupped her bottom, pulling her in so that she could feel his cock hard against her. It felt so good to press against her, that he lost himself in kissing her. He nibbled her bottom lip. At her gasp of desire, his stomach clenched and his cock jerked. He slid his tongue against hers and kissed her until he couldn’t breathe. Her body felt so right against his, and he savored the taste of her lips, the softness of her ass in his hands. His heart pounded and although he hadn’t set out to, he wanted it all to be real. He thrust against her, ramming her back against her car. She clung to him, murmuring low sounds of pleasure. His cock was so hard he thought he might come right then when she smoothed her hands down the back of his thighs, leaving a trail of heat through his jeans.

Copyright Elodie Parkes 2013

Buy the book:


 About Elodie:
Elodie Parkes is a British author writing romance, erotic, contemporary, and often with a twist of mystery, paranormal or suspense. Her books are always steamy, cool stories and hot love scenes.
Elodie lives in Canterbury with her two dogs. She works in an antique shop by day and writes at night, loving the cloak of silent, darkness that descends on the rural countryside around her home.
She has also released titles as an individual indie author.


Elodie is running a giveaway for the book launch. Enter the draw via the rafflecopter with just a comment on the blog, to win a $10 or £10 Amazon gift card.

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Sunday, November 3, 2013

BTS Hop


BTS & Freya’s Bower Presents:
Enchanted Times Blog Hop
November 3 – 10

This November Hop we will be giving away a GRAND PRIZE of $200 for the “Enchanted Times” blog hop. Please visit the other hops for more chances to win.

Please enjoy this excerpt from my enchanting fantasy novel, 

The Wizard's Heart



Standing in the makeshift shower, peace descended in a comfortable blanket. Nighttime birds sang and whistled to each other, a frog croaked bass, and the crickets formed the string section. Conceivably, Cryant lived far enough away from the city for the emotions of those in the city not to carry into his compound, to reduce the overflow from battering at her shell.

Sorann let down her guard, expecting a deluge of energies to cause her to feel dirty again. A dog barked and went silent. The pig grunted in its pen, perhaps upset at having its mud rearranged. But no feelings invaded her. In her palace rooms, a shield stayed in place to protect her from the invasion. Could the same be true of Cryant’s canvas?

Dim moonlight spilled in when she pushed the flap aside. She stepped outside marveling at the emotional vacuum she found herself in. Silly to think Cryant could afford the spell needed to empower a canvas to keep out the extended aura of others.

The sky above her wore a sprinkling of bright stars on an inky background. The cool night air caressed her skin. Goose flesh rose over her entire body. The hard ground under her feet felt warm with leftover heat from the day. The stones she stood on glowed in the faint luminosity of the yard light, wet here and there, the water from the shower ran in twin streams on each side of the stone path.

The clarity of her mind extended beyond her in the absence of others emotions and feelings. The world came to her in clear brightness--a veil of gauze lifted. She ran her hands over her stomach, her own skin felt different. The bumps caused by the cold felt alien and as she ran her hands over them, she could feel the tiny hairs on her skin, a chill shook her. She hadn’t even realized a barrier existed between her own hands and her flesh before.

Animal smells came to her, the scent of the soap was even stronger. Why did everything feel magnified? Perhaps subdued?

A result of the shell she kept in place? She’d lowered the shell before, and it wasn’t like this--not even in her rooms with their encasing spell. She spun around holding her arms out in the moonlight. She caressed her own arms, enjoying the feel of the gooseflesh on them. She laughed at the feel of the mud between her toes. She stepped off the path and took slow steps with her toes spread, so the mud curled as it squished between her toes. More laughter escaped her. Her hands traveled to her breasts, her nipples went hard in the cool breeze--had that ever happened to her before? Perhaps she hadn’t felt it?

Sorann, you dressed?”

With a gasp, Sorann scrambled into Cryant’s robe. It stuck to her wet shoulders; luckily, it was over large for her. With quick movements, she wrapped her hair in the towel.

“Yes,” she called back. “I just need to re-rinse my feet. I . . . I accidently stepped off the path.”

“I’ve got soup on.” Cryant stood holding up the door flap. “Stay on the path.”

She quickly rinsed her feet in a clear puddle that remained on the platform under the barrel--the water mixed with mud creating patterns as it ran off her feet. Still puzzled, but prepared for the onslaught of Cryant’s life, she moved to the slice of light coming from Cryant’s doorway.

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