Give Me Tomorrow by Kaye Spencer #PrairieRosePubs #upcomingrelease #vampire

This is Part 3 of my release day countdown for Give Me Tomorrow...

Give Me Tomorrow is a paranormal-lite cowboy/vampire novella set in 1990 Colorado. It releases through Fire Star Press on September 27, 2018 [Author's Note: Release day moved to September 20, 2018]  just in time to kick off the October spooky reads of the Halloween season.

Click Here > Part 1
Click Here > Part 2

Teaser

Lissa Price, a veterinarian, is a centuries-old vampire. Her heart has hardened over the years out of self-preservation brought on by years of loneliness compounded by the necessary isolation of being a vampire.

Jaxon Granger is part-owner of his family’s thoroughbred racehorse boarding and layover facility. Bachelorhood is his religion, and there isn’t a woman alive who can make him a one-woman man.

That is, until the woman he falls for turns out not to be alive in the strictest sense of the word.

Excerpt 

"I learned a good long time ago that horses respond well to the sound of my voice."

Jax scoffed. "You say that like you've been around for ages. You don't look more than thirty-five or so."

"Forty-one, actually, but I appreciate the compliment. It's been a long and eventful forty-one by ordinary standards. I've aged well, I guess."

The regret in her sigh made him wonder what sadness she carried in her memories. When he lifted his coffee mug, her gaze pinned him with an intensity that stopped his hand. He couldn't look away. She pulled him into her mind, claimed his thoughts as hers, and read what he was thinking. She reached inside his heart and opened the door to his deepest secrets. The room blurred. A crazy thought popped into his head that he was prey to a psychic predator. A shuddering prickle of goosebumps along his arms snapped him back to reality.

Unnerved, he fumbled his cup and tipped his chair in his hasty retreat. "I'm going to check the fire in the other room."

If Lissa replied, he didn't hear her in his flight from the kitchen. With each step from her, his mind cleared...

Part 4 - September 24th with cover reveal [Author's note: cover revealed Sept. 20]

Give Me Tomorrow will be available through Amazon.com.

Kindle | KindleUnlimited | Print

Until next time,

Kaye Spencer

Writing through history one romance upon a time

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New Release — USA: Eliminated! (The Jupiter Factor Series Book 1) by William D. Nash

Jack Slater has chased UFOs his entire life—and now, he’s found one! It’s real, it’s abandoned in an alien hangar—and it’s in perfect condition. As the director of a governmental agency that studies aerial phenomena (OSAP), he knows he’s just discovered the find of a lifetime…and he wastes no time learning to fly it.

But as Jack and his OSAP colleagues explore the saucer’s secrets, the world watches as a deadly meteor plummets to earth, leaving a devastating path of destruction in its wake—including two important space stations. Too late, it becomes apparent the meteor is a missile, apparently fired by the Russian Federation. Detonating, it releases a terrible bioweapon, seemingly beyond the capabilities of Russia’s current weapons technology

The alien technology Jack has discovered is the only hope of survival for the United States. But that technology has appeared at a suspiciously convenient time, in Jack’s opinion. What are they dealing with? Is humanity truly at war with itself, or is an alien external force playing a deadly game determined to see the USA: ELIMINATED!

EXCERPT

Space—2072

     “This is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard the Spaceplane Aurora. We have just escaped Earth’s gravity, and are now cruising at an altitude of seventy-one miles. Thrusters will kick in in about five minutes. Our ETA to the Interplanetary Space Station is twenty-seven minutes. Please stay seated and keep your seatbelts on at all times.”
     Thirty-one people half-filled the passenger cabin. Scientists and engineers in various fields sat chatting. They would live and work aboard the station for the next several years.
     Among the passengers was a family of three with their six-year-old daughter, the mother an astrophysicist and the father an engineer. Little Julie would be the first child aboard the space station, and she was excited. She sat next to the window looking out. The stars, brighter and more numerous than she had ever seen at home.
     “Mommy, look. Fireflies!” She pressed her nose against the window.
     Her mother looked down at her, smiled. “Honey, there are no fireflies in space. There’s no air in…” She stopped short. “What the…fireflies?” A swarm of small lights danced outside the window. Before she said anything else, a bright sheet of light appeared in the forward section of the cabin. It proceeded to move toward the rear, passing through people.
     “I think we’re being scanned,” someone speculated. The light went through them with no effect. “It seems harmless.”
     “Where’s it coming from?” someone asked.
     “I think from that.” One of the men pointed out his window. A glowing sphere-shaped object paced the spaceplane.
     “Is that what I think it is?” another questioned in disbelief.
     “Well, it’s definitely a UFO.”
     Several seconds later, it circled the plane several times. It approached the plane, then backed away. It performed the maneuver several times. Then it glowed brighter. It turned and charged the spaceplane. It ripped through the cabin like it was paper as people screamed. The vacuum of space gripped them, pulled them to their deaths.
     The cabin cameras caught everything and uploaded the video to the space station. Right before the video ended, it showed little Julie trying to hold on to her seat, still strapped in. Moments later the strap broke. The horror on her face grew as she flew through the large gaping hole.
     The Spaceplane Aurora drifted high in Earth’s orbit. Holes in its sides. Floating debris. Tumbling bodies. Some burned as they re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.

Procrastination

Procrastinate:  to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done.  The Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

While procrastinating writing this blog piece because I could not think of a topic to write about, I thought procrastination, itself, might be a good topic; specifically, how it relates to writing.  I often find myself procrastinating sitting down, opening the computer, and working on a writing project.  I’m not sure why I do this, but I think it involves the fear of writer’s block - not writer’s block, itself, but fear that if I sit down and try to write, I won’t have any ideas and won’t be able to progress the story.  For me, this fear may relate to the fact that I don’t outline, but rather shoot from the hip when writing, so I generally don’t know what will happen in the next scene, although I do try to have a few ideas in mind as I go.  That’s why stopping writing in mid-action is better for me than stopping at the end of a scene.  That way, I will have something I know is occurring to go back to and can use that action to keep the momentum going.  

Procrastination affects people in different ways.  For example, if I don’t have something done a week or a few days before the deadline, I awaken suddenly in the middle of the night hyperventilating in a pool of sweat.  However, I know people who can wait until the last possible moment to complete a task and not even be anxious.  For example, a good friend of mine in college never wrote a paper unless it was the night before it was due, which would often necessitate her running across campus in her pajamas the next morning after staying up all night, and slipping the paper under the professor’s door at the last chime of the clock of the hour it was due, never breaking a sweat.  Also, my husband seems to like to begin substantial home improvement projects a few hours before we have to leave for the airport or before we are expecting house guests.  Maybe the last minute nature of their methods fuels these individuals to accomplish great things, whereas it paralyzes me.  

So, what are your favorite methods of procrastination, you may ask.  I find that doing something else that needs to be done makes me feel less guilty about my procrastination.  

Possibly acceptable procrastination tasks:

1.  House cleaning and laundry.  As I’m sitting down to do my writing, I will inevitably notice those crumbs on the floor that will likely soon attract ants or that pile of dirty laundry that needs washing.  These tasks, of course, need to be dealt with immediately, whereas writing can wait.  After all, my husband won’t have to go without pants if I don’t get my writing done for the day, but if the laundry’s not washed, lookout neighborhood. 

2.  Cooking.  You gotta eat, right?  

3.  Day job.  This is a no-brainer since it actually pays the bills, whereas I haven’t quite gotten to that point with the writing gig.  

4.  Socializing with pets.  Studies show that spending time with animals lowers blood pressure, reduces stress, and I will go so far as to say puts one in the right frame of mind for writing, so this might actually assist in accomplishing my writing goals. 

[Gratuitous picture of my cat, who would rather be playing with her mouse.] 

Possibly unacceptable procrastination tasks:

1.  Watching TV.  Watching mindless TV (like The Real Housewives of [insert your own town here], one of my favorite guilty pleasures) is probably not an acceptable form of procrastination, or at least not a guiltless one.  But what if you’re watching something like Grantchester, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Midsomer Murders, or Death in Paradise.  I think this could count as time well spent for a mystery writer on researching plot and character development, so can probably be bumped up to the acceptable list.  

2.  Reading for pleasure.  See above.  In addition, reading just about anything can help the writer develop his or her craft, so bump this one up, too.

3.  Weekend trip or vacation.  This might seem like an unacceptable procrastination activity, but set your next story at your destination and you’ve turned this unacceptable diversion into an acceptable research and tax deductible opportunity.  

Now that I’ve established that there are no unacceptable procrastination tasks, I feel much better.  And, I got my blog piece done (3 days before posting)!  Tell me your favorite procrastination tactics in the comments.

Angela Crider Neary is an attorney by day and writer by night. She is an avid mystery reader and especially enjoys reading novels set in interesting locales. She was inspired to write her first mystery novella, Li'l Tom and the Pussyfoot Detective Bureau: The Case of the Parrots Desaparecidos, by one of her favorite areas in San Francisco, Telegraph Hill.  Her second book, Li'l Tom and the Case of the New Year Dragon is now available.  To learn more, visit her on Facebook and Amazon.

Conflict, by Michael E. Gonzales

The one common denominator in all fiction stories, regardless of genre, is conflict.

Whether it is the conflict brewing within the hearts of lovers, or the international conflict between nations, or even worlds, it is conflict that drives our stories.

It has been said that there are really only two stories; someone enters town, someone leaves town. Whichever your story starts with there must eventually (and rapidly) be conflict.

Why? Because it is conflict and its ultimate resolution that the reader craves.

The key is to invent a unique conflict and an even more unique resolution. In between the story must titillate, entice, direct and misdirect the reader. He must be entertained, amused, and often scared senseless. 

How hard can that be?

This is the job of the fiction writer.

Additionally, the more conflict in your story the better. A band of unlikely heroes departs on a desperate journey to save their world from a villainous despot. Among them are two whose races have hated each other since beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition. A man and a woman who despise one another. Another who holds all with him in low regard.

So, in addition to the obvious bad guy, the villainous despot, you have all that lovely conflict between the heroes. (The lord of the Ring comes to mind).

With so many characters in conflict it is imperative you keep meticulous records on each. A detailed description of the character physically, a list of his strengths and his weaknesses, and a bio detailing who she is, where she has been, what she has done and of course, her antecedents.

You must also map out each conflict to its end. And keep in mind not all resolutions have to be happy endings. “Death come to us all.” I have read stories where the hero fails and dies in the end, but recent events in my literary life have proven to me that the timing of such deaths is of paramount concern.

In conclusion I submit that the conflict in our stories is our story.

“Nonsense!”

“Who said that?”

“I did! You could not be more wrong! I have enjoyed several novels that contained no conflict!”

“Name one.”

“The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker.”

“Okay, you may be right there. It’s a story entirely without a plot. It relates the thoughts of a man over the course of his lunch break. He snaps a shoelace, and by the end of the story, he manages to buy a new pair. That's about it. And even then, it could be argued, the conflict was between the man and his shoes.”

“Hmm…a man and his shoes?”

“Conflict. Learn it, embrace it, love it.” 

 Please visit my Web Site:  http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/home.html

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Thank you!

 Dark Moon Rising, Battle of Broken Moon, Across a Sea of Star, The Vampires of Antyllus, Action, Action Adventure, Alien worlds, Aliens, battle, Dark Moon Rising, FireStarPress, Michael E. Gonzales, mikegonzalesauthor.com, NewRelease, Romance,science fiction, syfy

"Now Everybody and Anybody Can Write a Cocky Book"

This is not the post I planned to write for this month. As a matter of fact, I had another post written and scheduled. But, since I have been writing about all things #cockygate, I decided to delay my original post until next month so I could give you the latest. (Did you miss my earlier posts? If so, you can read them HERE and HERE.)

#cockygate is over. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. You read that right. At the end of June it seemed a settlement had been reached which would go into effect July 6, 2018 if there were no issues. Of course, as there have been since the beginning, there were issues. Surprised? No? Me either. After finger-pointing and accusations by the lawyers for both sides, it seemed that the settlement was going to go the way of the dodo. But, after the judge gave everyone one last chance to play nice, amazingly enough, they did. The settlement was accepted by all parties and the case was dismissed with prejudice.

Now, I don’t know about you but when I hear the phrase “with prejudice,” nothing good comes to mind. However, in the world of legalese, it turns out that “with prejudice” is a positive thing. Basically it means that neither Faleena Hopkins nor her company, Hop Hop Productions, can bring suit against these plaintiffs on these same charges again. Ever. But, since the settlement included Faleena dropping two of her three trademarks, the issues that caused the suit are now null and void. Hop Hop Productions has filed the paperwork relinquishing the two trademarks on the word “cocky.” One trademark was for the word in any font, the other was for the word in the stylized font Faleena uses on her book covers. While both trademarks were problematic, the second one was exceptionally so since the Terms of Service of the designer of the stylized font specifically states it cannot be used in a trademark. Faleena’s trademark for “The Cocker Brothers” still stands, as it should. After all, that is the name of her series and, in my opinion, is the only thing she should have trademarked to begin with.

As she is prone to do, Faleena released a (for once, short) video about giving up her trademarks. She still seems clueless as to why everyone was so upset and why so many of the things she did was wrong but she has oh-so-graciously stated that “now everybody and anybody can write a cocky book” – you know, so we can be discovered when people are searching for her books because no one else used cocky before her. Ah, the hubris.

Crow it from the rooftops! Cocky has been freed!

But, levity aside, #cockygate has opened many eyes – mine included – to the importance of keeping an eye on pending trademarks.

Over the last few days I have stumbled across non-publishing related trademark debacles that boggle the mind. Are you ready to see how deep the rabbit hole goes? (A reference to the movie The Matrix for the non-nerds in the audience.) Alrighty then, hold on to your butts! (Jurassic Park reference this time. I’m on a roll!)

First, Baa Ram Ewe, “an independent manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of Yorkshire wool and related goods” has existing trademarks for TITUS, DOVESTONE, and of course BAA RAM EWE. Now, Diamond Yarn, a former distributor of Baa Ram Ewe products in Canada, has filed for trademarks on Baa Ram Ewe’s existing trademarks! This one makes my head hurt. How can anyone even think this is a good idea? Needless, to say, Baa Ram Ewe has come out lawyers blazing. I’m over here cheering them on from the sidelines.

Second, a Caucasian male, owner of a small restaurant chain (based out of Chicago) named Aloha Poke Company, applied for and received a trademark on his company name. He is now suing native Hawaiian business owners for using the words “aloha poke” to describe their own businesses. That’s right, he is suing natives for using words in their own language to describe their native food. This guy has some major cajones. As with the #cockygate fiasco, I don’t see #alohapoke ending well for him.

While I find all of these subjects weirdly interesting I promise to move onto a different topic next month. Well, unless something else crazy happens, LOL.

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