MORE NEW OCTOBER RELEASES FROM LINDA SWIFT!

And...we're back with a few more upcoming October releases! Today we want to showcase Ms. Linda Swift and her upcoming releases with Prairie Rose Publications AND Fire Star Press! These three excellent books are available for PRE-ORDER NOW, and will be released on October 17th! Jump on over to Amazon right now to work the Kindle magic by buying each of them with one click--they will magically appear on your kindle on October 17th!

THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Once in love, Leigh and Russell are maneuvered into spending time together during the Christmas holidays. Recovering from a tragedy, Leigh vows never to be responsible for a child again while Russell faces deciding custody of his two daughters after his ex-wife remarries.

Even as their attraction flares once more, how can they possibly overcome the obstacles life has placed between them? Then toss an arsonist, a lovable Labrador, and an unwanted stepfather into the situation...

Will the twelve days of Christmas be time enough to sort it all out?

LET NOTHING YOU DISMAY

Kala's position as tour guide at a Kentucky Welcome Center isn't enough to cope with huge debts left by her late husband's illness, but she manages to make ends meet, until she has car trouble. To save on future repairs, she enrolls in a basic auto-care class.

Rex is a handsome, part-time instructor whose broken heart needs repairing, too. After recently losing his important job and family, he has sworn never to get involved with another woman.

Kala discounts her growing attraction to Rex when she learns he is years younger, until the winter storm of the century throws them together. When the Interstate closes down, Kala opens her home to a houseful of strangers. Despite fire, flood, and friction, she creates an old-fashioned holiday rich in the true spirit of Christmas. In the process, will Kala and Rex discover the greatest gift of all?

PROMISES ON THE WIND

Heart-warming Civil War Tales

A Season of Miracles
Caroline Ross, a Confederate widow, desperately seeks medical help for her little son in the Union Army camp.

John Oldham, a soldier disowned by his family for choosing the wrong side, comes to her aid.

As they keep a vigil for days at Danny's bedside, a close relationship develops between them. John longs for a family and wants to make Caroline and Danny his own. Will his wish come true in this season of miracles?

• ♥ •

A Season for Love
Elizabeth Harper, a recent widow, is in danger of losing her home and livelihood to her late husband's brother who is claiming legal ownership.

Matthew Sutton, a homeless wounded veteran, takes on her cause when he agrees to become her husband to stop Fred Harper's takeover. Elizabeth and Matthew have no intentions of falling in love, but love happens. Can she convince him that she looks beyond his past allegiance and useless arm and loves the man he has become?

• ♥ •

A Season to Forgive
Enid Sutton is resigned to remaining single and caring for her dictatorial father in the aftermath of the Civil War. When Judge Sutton suffers a heart attack, Enid sends for his estranged son who returns and brings his new family with him.

Ben Taylor arrives to claim his deceased aunt's property and convert the mansion into a school for freedmen, but his plans go awry.

We'll be back again next Friday with MORE OCTOBER RELEASES to show you!

New Release -- Stalking her Dreams (A Coverton Mills Romance Book 1) by Agnes Alexander

At a book signing, Heather Masterson, a successful mystery author, comes face-to-face with a successful rancher who bears the name of one of her fictional characters. The “real” Alex Hargrove is fascinated by Heather, and she is just as captivated by him. 

They both believe that they are fated for one another as their feelings evolve quickly, and a simple friendship becomes love in a short period of time. 

But in a diabolical mystery plot of her own, Rachelle Albright, an unstable alcoholic fan of Heather’s, has a different idea of the way this story should come to a close. She fancies herself in love with the fictional Alex—and the only way to have him for herself is to rid the world of Heather. 

A storybook ending doesn’t seem possible for Heather as Rachelle enlists the aid of a man from the past who’s out to settle the score with Alex. How can there be a happy-ever-after ending for Heather when someone is STALKING HER DREAMS…

EXCERPT:

     Standing in the living room of her apartment, Rachelle Al-bright poured herself another glass of whisky and reread the letter from the publisher.
     Through gritted teeth she uttered several oaths, followed by, “Why can’t they let me write a book about Alex Hargrove? Why is that Masterson bitch the only one who can write his stories? I know more about him than she does. I love him.” She took a swallow of whiskey. “Why couldn’t they publish the book I wrote making him fall in love with a woman named Rachelle? I still had him fighting crime and making women swoon, but he loved Rachelle so much he left the other women alone and came back to her.”
     She downed the rest of the whiskey and poured another glass. “It’s all your fault, Heather Masterson. If you weren’t in the picture I bet they’d want somebody to write more Alex Hargrove books ...” Her voice trailed off and a thought began to form in her mind.

     After two more glasses of whiskey, a toothy grin spread across her face. Things would work out fine. She only had to rid the world of Heather Masterson.

      

Trade Paperback available at CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/7576192

Soon to be at Amazon

OUTWITTING PLAN B, by Mollie Hunt

                                                                                                

I recently heard an interesting bit of wisdom from an unexpected source. The source was actress Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Longmire) in an interview at a comic-con, The wisdom was:

            When you are working toward a purpose, don’t have a Plan B.

This really struck a chord with me, the idea that we often defeat our own purposes by giving ourselves an easy way out.

Pursuing any goal is bound to be fraught with roadblocks, but if we see these as reason to quit or even delay, we lose our momentum and may never make it to where we want to be.

     The falling bird must fly.

     The feral cat must hunt.

     “Do or do not; there is no try.”  — Yoda

In other words,  if you really want something, the best route to take is straight ahead, through all the difficulties and disappointments, as if your life depends on it. Okay, I can do that.

In a way, I feel like that’s what I did when I quit my job to concentrate on writing. There was no plan B, and for several months, no income either. Thankfully I have a supportive husband who covers little details such as the mortgage and food, but this wasn’t about money anyway. If I wanted a comfortable income, I could have stayed in that life-sucking job. I had already written several books working around the full time hours. I had given readings and attended events, skipping work when necessary. But it wasn’t enough. It was a compromise, with dullness weighing heavily against the flight of the soul.

I have never regretted my decision, and now all my days are centered around my writing. I have picked up a few part-time jobs I enjoy such as cat sitting. I have stopped wanting to buy things I don’t need (and thinking I need things I don’t). Though I have a long way to go to support myself by my books, that doesn’t even come into play. After sixty-some years of life, I finally feel like a whole happy flawed alive person.

My Plan A is to write like hell, pursue every opportunity that comes, and drop the rest in God’s lap. It’s working for me; will it work for you?

Katee Sackhoff

  

PS: Katee is from Portland. I’m so proud!

About Mollie Hunt: 

Mollie is the author of the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series, featuring Lynley Cannon, a sixty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble than a cat in catnip. Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, and the Cat Writers’ Association. This year she won a CWA Muse Medallion for her 3-part blogpost series, “Life Stages”. Like Lynley, Mollie is a grateful shelter volunteer. 

You can find Mollie on her Website: http://www.lecatts.wordpress.com/, her Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/molliehunt, and her Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MollieHuntCatWriter/. Sign up for her Extremely Informal Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/c0fOTn.

Commas & FANBOYS by Zina Abbott

I have discovered one of the difficulties of becoming a professional writer later in life is someone, somehow, has changed English grammar.

In eighth grade back in the dinosaur days, I aced English grammar. I was still of an age where I was comfortable with “rules.” Like math, where two plus two always added up to equal four, if there was a hard and fast grammar rule, I ingrained it in my brain. Through the years I’ve fallen back on those rules to get me through my school term papers, my creative writing efforts (which were few and far between while I raised my six children), to correct my children’s term papers, my business correspondence on my jobs, and my reports and grievance files as a union steward.

Then I started writing fiction—novelettes to full-length books—only to discover someone along the way has changed the rules, especially in regards to the use of commas. I first noticed it when a ran across either a blog post or Facebook discussion about it no longer being necessary to use a comma before ending a sentence with the words “too” or “also.” Example: “I want to go to the store, too.” is now written as “I want to go to the store too.”

WHAT?!? That comma in the sentence is a rule. That has stuck with me from dinosaur days until now. However, after doing a little research, I discovered that current style manuals have declared that little ol’ comma is no longer necessary.

My most recent line editor just shattered for me another rule. It involves FANBOYS. What are FANBOYS? That almost sounds a little risqué. No such luck. It is an acronym for:

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

I don’t recall any rules about FANBOYS from my eighth grade grammar class up through college. I was kindly told by my latest copy editor friend there is a reason. In the “old days” coordinating conjunctions which joined independent clauses always had a comma before them. Example: “I went to the store, and he insisted he go with me.” Now those commas before the “and” (or any of the FANBOYS conjunctions I might have used in its place) is no longer necessary unless the author wants to place them there for effect, or to create a pause for emphasis, or as part of a character’s speaking style.

WHAT?!? We can be creative? There are rules, but we don’t always have to stick to them? My thirteen year-old grammar ace self would not have found that acceptable. Neither would have my eighth grade English teacher.

And, it used to be a big no-no to start a sentence with any of the FANBOYS. Nor, did you use a comma after a FANBOYS at the start of a sentence because starting a sentence with a FANBOYS just was not done. But, it may be done now for effect. Yet, if the author wants to use a comma for effect, he or she may. Or not. For "someone" have changed the rules. So, someone like me who loves to start sentences with FANBOYS conjunctions finds that particular change in the rules to be a good thing. 

But, any writer who wants to be published needs to find out what set of grammar rules their editor or publisher prefers and write in a style acceptable to that publishing house.

In other words, find out what style manual your publisher uses and how hard and fast said publisher sticks to it.

I actually have a style manual in my possession I purchased decades ago. It is the one published by Merriam-Webster. Unfortunately, I have never hear of anyone declare they use that style manual. Several publishers like The Chicago Manual of Style. The rules in the various style manuals will be similar, but not always the same, because someone, somewhere, somehow has changed some of the grammar rules in the last half century.

Or, if you are really lucky, your editor may rely on what she learned in her eighth grade grammar class back in the dinosaur days.

Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. Her novel, Family Secrets, was published by Fire Star Press. Her novelette, A Christmas Promise, along with the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series were published by Prairie Rose Publications.

Please visit and follow the Zina Abbott’s Amazon Author Page by clicking HERE.

New Release -- TEXAS JEOPARDY by James J. Griffin

Texas Ranger Jim Blawcyzk lands in hot water when he kills a drug dealer in a shoot-out between the Rangers and a gang of modern day outlaws deep in the heart of Texas. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg as he uncovers the criminal connection between these same drug dealers and a slew of murders taking place across several Texas counties. 

When the hit men come after him and his family, they get more than they ever bargained for—the fight is on, and Jim Blawcyzk is one Ranger who is determined to get his man, or die trying. 

As a deadly shooter chases his wife, mother, and baby son through city streets, Jim takes the battle to him in the most personal way he can. A Texas Ranger to the bone, Jim Blawcyzk vows to protect and defend his family, friends, and beloved home at any cost, in this deadly TEXAS JEOPARDY…

EXCERPT

     Jim leapt from his truck, shotgun in hand.
     “Texas Rangers!” he shouted. “Nobody move. Down on the floor, now!”
     He fired one round from his Remington into a shelf of empty glass bottles for emphasis. One man toward the back started for his pistol, but a bullet between his feet from Jerry’s pistol quickly discouraged him. He dropped to his belly, and put his hands behind his head.
     “Next one who tries somethin’ like that will wind up dead,” Jim warned. “Get down on your bellies, hands behind your necks, and stay there. Don’t even wiggle.”