Richard E. Flanagan is a retired Major in the United States Air Force. He has participated in a wide variety of military assignments from over 2600 EC-121D combat hours as an airborne weapons controller in Vietnam, to Command of tactical units in Korea and Germany. He earned an undergraduate degree in Secondary Education from Plymouth College and a Master of Arts degree in Therapeutic Counseling from Ball State University.
Currently, he resides in Massachusetts. His first novel, Texas Justice, is the story of three Texas brothers growing up in the turbulent days of the early 1800’s. The second novel of the trilogy, Spanish Gold relates the story of how Tal Kincaid finds a large Spanish treasure and the dangers he faces when he attempts to transport the treasure to the safety of the Abilene bank. The third novel, The Triple K Ranch chronicles the continuing saga of the Kincaid brothers as they build the largest cattle ranch in Texas and drive their first herd to market. The Marshal of Mystery is a work in progress. The novels of the Kincaid saga relate the tale of the Kincaid brothers living and surviving on the Texas frontier in the mid 1800s. The novels chronicle the difficulty of life on the emerging frontier of western expansion in the mid 1800s. Rick’s homepage is available at: http://www.rickflanagan.com. Upon his retirement from active duty with the United States Air Force in 1981, he returned to work in industry and embark on something he has enjoyed doing since his high school days … writing. He looks forward to many more years of writing and developing stories about the old west, the men and women who lived in that courageous era and their heroic battle to develop the frontier.
When she's not planning her inevitable rise as world dictator, Skyla Dawn Cameron likes to mess with people's minds and save children from burning orphanages...that way superheroes never suspect what she's REALLY up to... Skyla has been writing since she was very, very, very young--possibly while she was still in the womb--which wasn't all that long ago considering she's only 24. She is a full-time novelist living with her soulmate in Bowmanville across from KFC (which is unfortunate because she's a strict vegetarian). She's also formally an ordained minister, an indigo child, proud secular humanist, and the bravest little toaster around. Yes, THE bravest. A recent CNN poll says so. She often talks about herself in the third person, as you might have noticed here. Though not currently critically acclaimed or worshipped, she insists she will be someday. Really.
Stephanie Redmont is the pen name of inspirational fiction writer Carlene Havel, a Texan who has lived in several US states and two foreign countries. She supports her writing habit as a software tester.
Mystery author April Star took an unusual route to a writing career. Travelling the roads of America for 16 years with her husband, Jerry, she began to write on the road as a means of expressing all her adventures and experiences. Jerry’s work in the construction trade brought them to every “where-in-the-hell-is” place on the map. April filled her days writing journals of people, places, and oh…the countless “things” that happen on the road and in campgrounds. Many campers through the years would ask her over and over why she didn’t write a book. She did. A nonfiction account of all the journals titled, LIFE THROUGH A REAR VIEW MIRROR. Shortly after writing that very large volume, April discovered her real niche was in the mystery genre.
In 1992, shortly after hurricane Andrew devastated the Homestead, Florida area, April and her husband rolled their thirty-two foot Avion into a camping resort (which, at the time, appeared to be more of a MASH unit).
In an attempt to keep her sanity, she took a job in the office where she soon discovered INSANITY bred! A year later April became assistant manager and marketing director and in 1996 Jerry joined her in the office as they agreed upon the offer of campground managers. There they stayed and there is where the REAL stories and characters emerged for what is now a reality—the Wanderlust Mystery Series. Taken from both views of the full-time rv’er—the traveller across America and Canada as well as the villains—otherwise known as “THE Managers.”
April lives in Sebring, Florida with her husband and three Maltese terriers. She is an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, Sisters In Crime, The International Thriller Writers and The Authors Guild. Tropical Warnings is where the journey begins.
Ms. Star will be appearing at a number of RV resorts and bookstores introducing readers to the mysterious and adventurous world of the wanderlust sleuths. Visit her website http://www.authoraprilstar.com for event schedules of time and place.
Author of Clearwater (Western) and Mercer's Manor (Western), Bobby R. Woodall was born in Oklahoma City in 1944. He spent his childhood moving from state to state as his father followed the oil fields. This constant moving played havoc with his education. He was in four different grade schools in one year. His father never got past the fourth grade and his mother never got past the eighth, but they instilled in him a quest for knowledge. He was the first of over fifty cousins to graduate from high school.
When he was thirty, he had a horrible car accident. Transported to the local hospital, he was given electric shock to start his heart beating again. He lay in a coma for 47 days and was finally released. He gives high praise to his wife: “Here I was, a 30 year-old man who could not walk without the aid of a walker, could not dress myself and could not talk well. She had to take care of not only me, but also our daughter who was 3 ½ years old and our son of nine months. A terrific woman!”
After coming home, he spent time in speech therapy and learned to walk with a cane. Finally, he was able to walk on his own. It was at this time, he was given an early type of computer by the state of Indiana to rehabilitate him. There was a psychologist in Indianapolis that had developed a program to help brain damaged people to cope with life. While tackling these tasks, he started writing. Having been an avid reader, mostly westerns by Louis L’Amour and J. R. Roberts, he would spend countless hours perusing a myriad of books. “Why I can write as good as them guys,” he thought. So he started writing western novels.
Bobby can be reached at his email address: bwoodall@voyager.net and invites you to visit his web sites. Be sure to sign his guest books also.
When the guests started disappearing one or two at a time they knew then the house, its uninvited and mysterious guests, held them in their grip.
Believing they were being held captive by the house, to the land surrounding it, and to the bay beyond, they felt they had no choice but to see where it would all lead.
The unnerving feeling of always being watched crept over them; that creepy-hair-rising feeling something, somewhere, monitoring their every move was waiting.
Waiting for what? To catch them off guard, to whisk them away to a place from which would never return?
In the dusty streets of Miller's Pass, a killer stalks women of the night. Hiding in shadows, vanishing in the light of dawn, he butchers with impunity and in a blood frenzy.
Until Jim Hannigan and his lovely partner are called into the case by a woman from the ex-manhunter's past. But this killer is unlike any Hannigan has ever dealt with, a figure who out-maneuvers and taunts the law, leaving a trail bathed in scarlet.
Is he outlaw, ghost or one of the town's bizarre players--the violent saloon owner, the enigmatic physician or Indian animal skinner? With the lives of a lost love and his lovely partner threatened Hannigan races against time before two more victims are added to the tally of history's most notorious murderer--Jack the Ripper!
BOOKS WE LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY CONTEST:
In this and future issues of the Books We Love newsletter, we’ll be featuring excerpts from novels by our members. Below are two excerpts to pique your interest. To find out more about the author or the book, click on the link at the end of the excerpt to visit the author’s Books We Love page. To go to the publisher's site to read more or purchase the book, simply click on the book cover.
BOOK EXCERPT:
SHIVERS AND SCREAMS, VISIONS AND DREAMS
(PARANORMAL ANTHOLOGY - SIX NOVELLAS TO KEEP YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT!)
by Elizabeth Delisi, Maureen McMahon and others
RESTLESS SPIRIT by Elizabeth Delisi:
Mildly curious, Laura reached out and pressed her fingers to the planchette.
It jumped.
She gasped and stumbled backward, her hand to her throat.
The planchette had moved. Of its own volition.
She shuddered and shook her head desperately. Ridiculous! Inanimate objects don't move–at least, not without help. She must have pushed it without knowing it. She was just overwrought with the
emotions of packing Brian’s things.
She moved back to the table and reached out tentatively. She touched the planchette with the tip of her index finger, putting the absolute minimum pressure on it to allow her to make contact.
It jumped again.
But this time, she was ready for it. She kept her finger on it and watched it move unhesitatingly to the letter W on the board. Next came H, and then O. Who.
Next came A, then R, then E. Are. She could almost predict what came next: Y, O, U.
Who are you?
Suddenly, Laura felt faint, her knees wobbly, her heart racing. She pulled out one of the small chairs and sank down into it. What was she doing? Had she somehow contacted “the great beyond”? Was she in touch with a spirit? And if so...was it a good spirit or an evil one?
Most important...good or bad, could the spirit put her in touch with Brian?
‘NEATH HALLOWED HALLS AND IVIED WALLS (an independent sequel to Return of the Gulls) by Maureen McMahon:
"What's wrong?" His voice was urgent, knowing.
"Nothing," It was just too complicated to explain, and frankly I felt too shaken by the experience to talk about it yet. "I'd better go," I said. "I've got to get this last article in today if I'm going to meet you by Friday."
"Stace…"
"Hmm?"
"You know how much I've missed you?"
I smiled and sighed. "Yes. Yes, I do - as much as I've missed you. But Friday's only two days away."
"Yes. Two days." He let out his breath audibly.
"See you Friday."
"See you then."
I replaced the phone on its hook on the wall and turned to look out the kitchen window at the Manhattan skyline. It was sunny but cool, with a cloud haze moving in.
A crow lit on the black balustrade of the balcony, tilting its head this way and that as it eyed me through the closed sliding door. Suddenly it let out a piercing squawk, lifted its wings and flew directly into the glass pane of the door. The sickening crack as it hit the window made me cry out in shock, the impact leaving a stain of blood and down on the glass.
I was out the door in an instant, but there was nothing I could do. The bird's neck was broken and it lay in a messy heap of feathers on the concrete balcony. I squatted down and reached out a tentative hand. Its breast was still warm, but its eye, a mustard-yellow, stared sightlessly up at me. For no reason I could logically name, I drew my hand quickly away, shivering - overwhelmed by a feeling of mortal dread.
When Lessa Trimble glanced at the wall clock a shiver trickled down her spine. She'd stayed at the one-room schoolhouse far too long, correcting papers she should have finished hours ago. But her mind kept drifting, focusing on the fate awaiting her when she stepped through the door to her home, where he'd be waiting on her, that look on his face she had come to loathe. The look that promised she would pay dearly for not having his dinner on the table on time, for not scrubbing the kitchen spotless, for not catering to his every need the way a good wife should. Unless she got lucky and it was one of the nights when he failed to come home at all.
It would be her own fault he took his fist to her again. She was asking for the mistreatment. She was begging for it. That's what he pounded into her head each time he doled out punishment for her transgressions. Lies she had come to accept as gospel.
At least until those moments she lay safe in another's arms...
The redolent smell of ink and tang of fresh paper suddenly made her stomach turn, but she knew it was only the memory of the scent of her own blood filling her nostrils, the gunmetal taste of it on her tongue after he beat her, making her ill. Fear did things to a body: It rose sweat on her brow and made her pulse throb in her ears. It set her heart racing like horses stampeding and her hands trembling, as she lay a sheet of paper atop the stack of others on the huge pine desk.
Two weeks ago Lessa Trimble had celebrated her thirty-first birthday, but already her brown hair, pulled back into a tight bun, was frosting with gray at the temples. That too, along with the simmering fear in her soul, was his fault, though she supposed she should have simply accepted the blame for that as well.
She still kept her figure--Lord knew Galen Trimble would never let her go to tallow, as he so righteously put it. He wanted his woman--or should she say women?--to retain their youthful shape. How would it look for the town hero to keep a matronly wife? How would it look for him to exhibit anything other than a trophy worth his stature and standing? Horses or women, it made no difference. Both were owned in his view.
That was the reason they remained childless. Children made women fat, slovenly. He'd told her that as if he'd been reciting it straight from the Good Book itself. Decreed by God, women would stay sleek of figure, ready to serve. He ignored the edict "be fruitful and multiply" because it wasn't to his advantage, didn't fit in with his lofty delusions. He brooked no argument on the point and denied her her earthly and heavenly right as a woman to bear a child. She rarely brought that up anymore, because he often enforced painful measures protecting against such possibilities. And to backtalk him meant harsher punishment, then usually a violent hour's worth of his using her in a "husbandly" way.
"Bastard..." she muttered, a spike of fury and terror plunging into her belly with the thought of his rough hands groping her, his sour breath from that rotgut whiskey he drank searing her nostrils. Every manly scent about him now repulsed her where once it had aroused like fine musk. Now he simply stank, but the odor came from his soul.
She stood suddenly, unable to control her shaking limbs. Moving around to the front of the desk and staring towards the door she wrapped her arms about herself, shivered. Her hands bleached as she tried to squeeze herself tighter, stop the shaking, the fabric of her blue gingham dress straining against her ripe bosom. The room was stuffy, too warm, yet still she felt incredibly frozen.
Her gaze drifted from the door to the rows of desks, the children long gone home, the gentle sounds of their laughter and sight of their bright faces one of the few joys in her life. She missed them, looked forward to the time she was here, teaching...away from him. This school was as close as she had ever come to having young'uns of her own.
At least until three weeks ago, when she discovered she'd gone far longer without her womanly than she should have.
Two days ago she'd begun to feel sick in the morning and found herself vomiting after Galen left for work. Other signs should have made it obvious, despite her fearful self-denial, but she knew with that sense only a mother feels what was growing inside of her.
Barb was born in California, married in Iowa and now resides in Kansas. The years in-between were lived in most of the southern states and 3 in Japan because her dad was an Air Force pilot. That probably explains why she still loves to travel and explore new places and has each of her novels set in a different locale.
She has a BS in Education and an MA in Communication. She’s been a legal secretary, a secretary at a commercial cattle feedlot, a teacher, worked for public television and a Judicial District, and has taught at the college level. (Of course, all her job experience is great background research for future novels!) She’s written practically all her life, beginning with journals of family vacations. She’s published in poetry, short stories, essays, magazine articles, teacher resource materials, and full-length fiction. She also wrote and co-produced a documentary on Kansas history which won state and national awards.
Barb loves talking almost as much as she loves writing. While in education she made over 100 presentations at state and national conferences on material she developed in the classroom. During her 14 years with public television, she was on air as a program moderator and during annual pledge drives. She’s also taught public speaking classes at the college level.
When not working and writing, she loves to do all kinds of crafts. She’s made pottery and fused glass, candles and baskets, quilts and handmade note and post cards. Barb can be reached at writer0926@yahoo.com or through her website at www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin.
Cuddle up by the fire with Heroes Unwrapped - A charity anthology brought to you by the Linden Bay Romance authors. All proceeds are being donated to SOS America, Inc. in support of injured veterans.
Rules of Engagement by Barri Bryan: Mike O’Shea has never known any family or home outside of the Marine Corps. Carole Madison knows too well the pain of risking her heart. There’s no denying the attraction they feel for each other, and a little holiday magic makes it even more than that.
CELIA LEAMAN has revamped her webpages for Christmas. She's uploaded the annual Gale Island poem (if the music annoys you, please turn it off on your computer.) There's also an inspirational short story; No More Regrets.She has the release of two new short story books to celebrate. Reviews, information about her other books etc., can be found on her webpage, here.
JUDY LEIGH PETERSwould like to announce her book, Josua's Faith, is nominated for a CAPA 2006 in Inspirational. Congratulations Judy!
An unsuspecting nurse is lured to an ancient family mansion—said to hold both ghosts and horrifying secrets—in order to care for three recently orphaned children.
Falcon's Bend is a small, sleepy town in Wisconsin that owns more taverns than churches, but fills both on the appropriate days. Teenagers talk of escape from a one-horse town like Falcon's Bend because nothing ever seems to happen...until one fateful night when a dancer from the town's scandalous strip joint is found strangled. It soon becomes clear to Investigators Pete Shasta and Danny Vincent that the close-knit "family" at the nightclub is a bizarre breeding-ground for unbalanced feelings and obsessions.
A novel ablaze with the fiery flames of malevolent schemes, family loyalty and magnificent passion that tests the wills of two strangers. Mercy Hudson, the proud, sensual Irish lass whose strong, independent constitution could never be conquered--until she met the dashing, honorable man who promised her a lifetime of passion and adoration...Will Owen, the son of a common farmer who plunges her world into a tailspin when he enlists in the army to bring peace to a nation torn apart by Civil War, and to stop bloodthirsty renegade Indians on the war path. But neither are able to dispel the days their souls were lost forever to a passion so fierce, a love so strong, even death cannot destroy it.
Take one Argon healer, add one maddening Felys male, a hefty pinch of sexual attraction, mix in some sass, a dash of dislike, stir well and watch the sparks and hisses fly.
Now add Death and a deadly secret. Can Tera and Illam stop the fur flying long enough to save a whole species from extinction?
Lynda Hilburn makes her living as a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and professional psychic. She lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, in beautiful Boulder, CO. She has a grown son who lives in the nearby mountains with his two beloved dogs. After writing nonfiction for a long time, including penning a metaphysical advice column in a local weekly newspaper for five years, Lynda began exploring fiction writing two years ago. During that time she completed a paranormal fiction novel (vampire urban fantasy chick lit) about a psychologist in Denver who gets pulled into the vampire underground, which is being offered by her agent, and other novellas/short stories. She is in the midst of completing the second book in her vampire psychologist series and several other projects.
High school is never easy--especially when you're a fifteen year old werewolf.
River was once the strong, alpha female of a wolf pack. Then she was bitten, changed into human, and thrust into a strange new world where she doesn't belong. Despite being separated from her mate and her pack for three years, River retains her defiant nature, though her strange ideas of socially acceptable behavior lead others to question her sanity.
She is haunted by the knowledge that somewhere in the world is the human that bit her. Why did he change her? How can she go back? Though she doubts her questions will ever be answered, all that will change one day in gym class
Told in first person by the vampire herself (Zara), this is the diary of an ancient, self-absorbed, yet-amusing nightwalker. She lusts for both sex and blood. Unfortunately, something has gone awry and her normal habits now create new problems to solve. In the midst of sorting things out, she meets an intriguing human named Niven -- a musician who lives in the magical kingdom of contemporary Boulder, CO -- and discovers that he is much more than he appears to be. Then, if things weren't interesting enough, Zara encounters her old mentor/lover -- the vampire who originally turned her -- and things get downright supernatural.
Take two old prospectors who have turned into ghosts, one modern day writer/photographer, and one handsome, if somewhat absent-minded mine owner and mix them up with an explosion gone awry in the Nevada mining town of Peavine. Add to that a time difference of over 130 years, and the chances for romance, mishaps and mayhem are as abundant as Nevada Gold.
Marshal Galen Trimble is a hero, a man who single-handedly brought down the notorious Crigger Gang and put an end to their string of robberies and what the newspapers dubbed the "scarecrow murders". But, years later, when the legendary lawman of Hollow Pass becomes the target of an unknown killer resurrecting the Scarecrow method of death, speculation runs rampant a lost Crigger brother has returned to exact revenge.
In the old days, ex-manhunter Jim Hannigan rode with Marshal Galen Trimble, but they parted ways with a strained friendship and unresolved suspicions. Now, the marshal's life threatened, an anonymous plea brings Hannigan and his lovely partner into the investigation against the lawman's wishes. Their mission: find the killer responsible for an innocent woman's vicious murder and unlock a door to the past that once opened will alter their future irrevocably.
Since he witnessed the abduction of his baby sister by an alien creature, Zack will stop at nothing to rescue her, even if it means joining the Special Forces. But Tia Vargas, the reckless Amazon training the secret unit for a highly classified mission, has no use for this handsome, rebellious recruit, at least not on the battlefield. When Zack’s farfetched stories prove to be true and tragedy strikes, they must face their differences and fight back. Great sacrifices must be made, as the survival of the human race is at stake. But Tia’s childhood secret might jeopardize humanity’s future. The fight against the alien warrior race called the Anaz-voohri has just begun.
On CD
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