Sunday, September 22, 2013

Take the Train Autumn Blog Hop


Do you have a favorite fall memory linked to a train? What do you imagine you would see if you were riding a train in the fall? Join the authors of Wild CHild publishing and Freyas Bower as we Take an Autumn Train Ride through our blogs.

Prizes will include

  • Four $50 gift certificates (two for Wild Child and two for Freya's Bower)
  • An awsome swag package that includes:
    • Bookmarks
    • Books
    • Wild Child T-shirt and mug
    • Wild Child and Freya's Bower bags
    • Four handmade, crochet coasters by Kit Wylde
    • An autographed copy of Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
    • A rare DVD copy of the Matheson/Furst classic "Up The Creek" (lovingly used)
    • One ebook copy of a short story, The Dream (previously published as part of a Freya's Bower anthology.)
    • Book trading cards
    • Signed Dangerous Waters poster
    • copy of "Battle for Blood: The Blood Feud"
    • the winner's name as a character in one of our authors next sweet romance story.
    • A Yankee Candle
    • and more...

My first train ride . . . .

My very first memory of taking a train was in late fall, as a child I spent a lot of time shipped off to one relative or the other.  Most times this involved a rather long bus ride.  This was in the 60’s mind you, these days putting a 5 year old on a bus by themselves might land you an appointment with CPS.  And I actually think that first time I wasn’t quite 5 yet.  Shipped off to stay with my aunt in Wisconsin, I spent a summer with her.  As fall crept in, it was time for me to head back home.

We drove to a small town where I assumed I would be boarding another bus.  Instead my aunt took me to the train stop.  As a small child that train seemed like some giant monster.  It was windy, cold and dark out.  And you had to step across this gap between the platform and the train.  The gap was illuminated from below by a light that shone from beneath the train.  As a child I had no idea where that light came from, as an adult, I know it was from car headlights on the other side of the train waiting for the train to leave.

This was the first time I had ever been on a train.  Small memories surface from that train trip, the flashes of color going by the window, the man who sat next to me—smoking, asking me where my mother was, where my father was, why I was on the train.  I told him my mother was not feeling well and she was in the bathroom. No one had told me what to say if someone asked why I was on the train alone.  When he didn’t go away I told him my mother was going to be mad if he didn’t get out of her seat.



Looking back, I don’t remember if he got out of the seat or not.  I remember clearly that the seat was a grey/blue, and the floor was dirty, and the toilet, it was open to the tracks below when you “flushed”.  And the trees were in full color, racing by that train window.  


TALES OF THE ZINGARI: BOOK 1: THE WIZARD'S HEART

$5.99

by S.R. Howen

"The old one will come. When he comes, his one true wife must carry within her a child of the old one who would be king. Only then can the heart be found and the evil of the world kept in its bounds." –The Prophecy of the Land


Sorann is the queen's daughter and training to be an empathic healer. Javert is a member of the wandering tribe called the Zingari and their future king. When Sorann's failed healer's magic test brings them together, they discover the prophecy governing the land is false. In order to prevent magic, and the Zingari, from being wiped from the land, Sorann must become Javert's wife and leave everything behind that she once held dear.


Tricked by demons, and followed by the queen's soldiers, they must find the fabled Wizard's Heart in the frozen Winter Valley.


What sacrifices will they have to make along the way, and will Javert ever discover the true meaning of the Wizard's Heart before his people and the love of his life are lost?

Please visit these sites for more chances to win, the more you visit the more chances you have to win. We have 46 participating authors. You can stop at as many or as little blogs as you wish. At each stop, you will find either two chances to enter per blog to win some awesome prizes. If you visit all, that's 92 chances to win! There will be five, lucky winners.

Take the Blog Train and Visit These Blogs for more chances to win



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Monday, September 16, 2013

Caoe Cursed

Critters at the Keyboard Welcomes Janice Lane Palko, Author of Cape Cursed.


Janice will be awarding a $25 gift certificate to the OBXstore to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and a paperback of her first novel, St. Anne's Day, to a randomly drawn host (US ONLY). Please leave a comment with your email for a chance to win, and be sure to enter the raffle copter giveaway!

Bliss Sherman doesn’t believe in curses—that is until she arrives at Cape Destiny, North Carolina.  Bliss comes to the cape determined to make a name for herself and her new firm by accomplishing an incredible engineering feat—moving the Cape Destiny Lighthouse inland before it's swallowed by the Atlantic Ocean. 

Bliss, who has struggled with dyslexia, discrimination, and betrayal by her ex-husband and former business partner, Jonathan, faces her greatest challenge when she falls in love with the handsome, mysterious descendant of the lighthouse keepers, Parker Swain, who is vehemently opposed to the lighthouse’s move.

When someone targets Bliss, she begins to wonder if the curse that is rumored to be attached to the lighthouse may be true.  Who is sabotaging her dream?  Who is trying to harm her?  Who wants to kill her?  When all clues point to Parker, she dismisses her suspicions, deciding to trust him and her heart.  But as the evidence mounts against Parker, she begins to doubt not only herself and her heart, but also Parker. 

Can she trust her judgment?  Can she trust Parker?   Most importantly, when she is trapped inside the lighthouse with him during a raging hurricane, can she trust Parker with her life?  

A romantic suspense with all the seaside moody romance of du Maurier’s Rebecca and the spine-tingling thrills that keep you turning the pages, Cape Cursed casts a spell of sensous deception and seductive danger.  A Category 5 of a romantic suspense novel,Cape Cursed, barrels in packing a surge of suspense that knocks you off your feet and a blistering romance that sweeps you up and carries you away.  


Bliss walked into the Beach Mart.  June, who was arranging cartons of cigarettes behind the counter, looked up when the bell on the door jangled. 

“Hello, June.  How are you today?” Bliss said as she walked up to the counter.  “As you can see, I need something for this sunburn, and I came to pick up a prescription.

June shoved a carton of Marlboros into a vacant space and turned to Bliss.  “Well, if it isn’t the celebrity herself.  Fancy a star like you gracing the Beach Mart.”

Bliss chuckled.  “I like keeping in touch with the little people.”

June leaned over the counter and exclaimed.  “Did you know you were all over the news last night?  Why, my sister-in-law out in Phoenix even saw you on the national news!”

Bliss smiled, “Oh, I’m quite the media darling these days.”

June smiled knowingly.  “I hear tell it you’re not only their darling but somebody else’s as well.”

Bliss stared at her.  “What are you talking about?”

She looked up into the air.  “Oh, a little birdie told me that somebody didn’t come home last night.  Spent the night at the Keeper’s House with one Parker Swain.”

“How do you know that?” Bliss asked, astonished that not only was she the center of attention around here, but she was being spied on.

“Oh, some sissified fellow, with a split lip, came in here looking for some bandages and an ice pack.  Told me he got into a scrape this mornin’ with Parker Swain over a woman.  Josh Mooney, my cousin, is the night desk clerk at the Destiny Cove, and he said there was a frantic woman who called all night trying to get in touch with you.  She looked at Bliss with the satisfaction of Miss Marple after solving a case.  “Now, I wonder where you were last night?”

Bliss blushed, making her sunburn more vivid.  “Nothing happened.  It was completely innocent.  I passed out from the heat, and Parker found me.  He gave me water and dinner.  I fell asleep on his porch swing.”

About the Author


In addition to Cape Cursed, Janice Lane Palko is the author of the romantic comedy St. Anne’s Day and the Christmas novel, A Shepherd’s Song.  She has been a professional writer for nearly 20 years.  During her career, she has written everything from greeting cards to web content and has taught several classes at the local community college including Building English Skills to Creative and Memoir writing.

She is currently on the staff of the website Popular Pittsburgh and has been the executive editor of Northern Connection and Pittsburgh 55+ magazines, where she also contributed to the editorial content, writing her own column and numerous features. Palko has also been a columnist with the North Hills News Record.

Her work has appeared in publications such as The Reader’s Digest, Guideposts for Teens, Woman’s World, The Christian Science Monitor, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and her essays have been featured in the books A Cup of Comfort for Inspiration, A Cup of Comfort for Expectant Mothers, and Chicken Soup for the Single’s Soul.

A graduate of Union Institute & University with a B.A. in Writing & Literature, Palko has won several awards for her writing including the prestigious Amy Foundation Award of Merit. Her writings have also garnered accolades at the The Kent State Writer's Conference, and she has been selected as Writer of the Month by Oatmeal Studio greeting cards.

She is at work on her next novel, another romantic suspense entitled Most Highly Favored Daughter.

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