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Alison DeLuca’s Crown Phoenix Series Blog Tour – The Lamplighter’s Special

This is the third and final stop on our blog tour of Alison DeLuca’s fabulous Crown Phoenix Series. There are three books in the series, all available on Kindle and Nook.

The Lamplighter’s Special

The Manor where Squire Bisselthwaite lived was in the center of Grimstead Compound. The thirteen farms that made up the rest of the Compound fanned out from the large, old house. Most of the fields touched the edge of the Manor grounds at their narrowest points, although all the farms were separated from the Bisselthwaite property by a dark, crumbling wall.

As Lizzie and her family rode through the huge, rusted iron gates set into the stones, she glanced up at the rooftops of the Manor. Her hat slipped down her neck, and she clapped one hand to hold it on as she squinted up at the dark front of the house.

There was a rather grand entrance, but of course the carriage took the family to the back of the house to the kitchen gardens. As the cart jostled over the pebbly drive, Ninna murmured in Lizzie’s ear, “Did you see that?” She pointed up to one of the windows on the third or fourth floor.

“What?” Lizzie squinted again. It was all a gray blur to her.

“Oh, nothing. Just thought I saw a face in one of the windows upstairs.”

 

Books in the Crown Phoenix series:

  1. The Night Watchman Express
  2. Devil’s Kitchen
  3. The Lamplighter’s Special

 

Abput Alison DeLuca

Alison DeLuca is the author of several steampunk and urban fantasy books. She was born in Arizona and has also lived in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mexico, Ireland, and Spain.

Currently she wrestles words and laundry in New Jersey.

You can find Alison here:

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/alison.deluca.author

OR http://on.fb.me/TNWEfb

Twitter – http://twitter.com/ – !/AlisonDeLuca

Google + http://bit.ly/ADGoogle

Author Central: http://amzn.to/ADeLucaAuthorCentral

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/alisondeluca/

 

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Alison DeLuca’s Crown Phoenix Series Blog Tour – Devil’s Kitchen

Alison DeLuca's Devil's Kitchen Cover

This is the second stop on our blog tour of Alison DeLuca’s fabulous Crown Phoenix Series. There are three books in the series, all available on Kindle and Nook.

Devil’s Kitchen

Alison DeLuca's Devil's Kitchen Cover

The Headmistress entered the cell and looked down at her. It seemed as though the woman never stood in full light. From that angle, her light eyes gleamed like ice in the center of two black puddles.

“Stand up when I address you,” she said after a long moment.

Miriam stood and looked up at the woman. “Why am I here?” she asked. “When can I go home?”

There was a pause, and the Headmistress responded, “You will not talk to me unless I ask you a direct question.”

Miriam felt a rush of anger. Once, at a dinner party that her father had given, she had been allowed to squirt some soda water from a large siphon into a glass and taste it. Some had gone up her nose in her haste to drink the unexpected treat, and the prickling, stinging sensation in her nostrils was just like the fury that she felt now.

“You will work for the factory here,” the Headmistress said. “Mrs. Siddons will show you your duties tomorrow. You will start at the very bottom of the task list and, if you do as you are bid, you might possibly work your way up to a better position. Do you understand?”

Miriam gritted her teeth. She’d be damned before she gave this woman the satisfaction of an answer.

Books in the Crown Phoenix series:

  1. The Night Watchman Express
  2. Devil’s Kitchen
  3. The Lamplighter’s Special

 

Abput Alison DeLuca

Alison DeLuca is the author of several steampunk and urban fantasy books. She was born in Arizona and has also lived in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mexico, Ireland, and Spain.

Currently she wrestles words and laundry in New Jersey.

You can find Alison here:

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/alison.deluca.author

OR http://on.fb.me/TNWEfb

Twitter – http://twitter.com/ – !/AlisonDeLuca

Google + http://bit.ly/ADGoogle

Author Central: http://amzn.to/ADeLucaAuthorCentral

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/alisondeluca/

 

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Alison DeLuca’s Crown Phoenix Series Blog Tour – The Night Watchman Express

Alison DeLuca’s fabulous Crown Phoenix Series books have now launched with a bang. If you haven’t heard about them yet, where have you been? There are three books in the series, all available on Kindle and Nook.

Set in a Steampunk world , they are an original and riveting read. To get your appetite running I will be posting an excerpt for one book over the next few days.

The Night Watchman Express:

The Night Watchman Express cover

“Oh, come on,” he said, pushing past the heavy desk and large chair to where she stood. “What have you got there, behind your back? I won’t tell on you; I just want to see what you’ve got.” Miriam twisted away from him, but Simon managed to get an arm around her and grab the paper.

“Ha ha!” he said, releasing her and holding the paper above his head. “Success!” He put a hand out and grabbed her arm.  “No, hold on, don’t leave; I just want to see…”

His voice died out as he stared at the letter. For an instant, he was frozen in disbelief. Then he looked up at her, mouth hanging open. “What on earth?”

“Well, don’t think that I had anything to do with it!” Miriam cried out.

“Yes, but-”

At that moment, they heard Theodosia’s voice at the front door, demanding that a servant come to take her parcels. Simon held the paper out to Miriam, and she thrust it back it him as if it were a live snake. He looked around the study and pushed it under the corner of the blotter. They retreated from the desk, escaped from the room and, as if with mute accord, ran for the back door as quickly as they could.

Outside, Simon took a deep breath and blew it out. He laughed a bit, feeling a certain exultation at avoiding his mother.

Miriam, leaning against the house and feeling her own heart thud in her chest, laughed as well. The next moment she opened her eyes and realized where she was. She was standing there with Simon, alone.

“Um, just realized. I must be off. ’Bye,” she announced hastily.

Simon frowned and reached out a hand to grab her arm again, but she slipped away and disappeared back into the house. He dropped his hand and started after her.

Neil came up behind him and grabbed his collar. “Hey, you abandoned me! Where’ve you been?” he demanded. “Did you find the string we needed?”

“What?” Simon turned to him and blinked.

“What’s the matter with you? You look like you just saw Old Harry himself. Where’s that string, idiot?”

Simon appeared to recall where he was. “String, right. String.” He squared his shoulders and marched away. Neil was left behind, scratching his head.

 Abput Alison DeLuca

Alison DeLuca is the author of several steampunk and urban fantasy books.  She was born in Arizona and has also lived in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mexico, Ireland, and Spain.

Currently she wrestles words and laundry in New Jersey.

You can find Alison here:

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/alison.deluca.author

OR http://on.fb.me/TNWEfb

Twitter – http://twitter.com/ – !/AlisonDeLuca

Google + http://bit.ly/ADGoogle

Author Central: http://amzn.to/ADeLucaAuthorCentral

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/alisondeluca/

 

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The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

I read this book while holidaying in Cypress. I finished it in two days which is a reflection of how good it is. I can spend months reading a book I’m not keen on and have been known to cheekily take a sneak peak at Wikipedia for the synopsis to bluff my way through a Reading Group evening….

The story was beautifully written and at one point I thought to myself it was like poetry. I’m not a fan of poetry normally but the way the story unfolded evoked emotions and reveries which added to the ambience.

The Woodcutter is the guardian of the Wood. He is a powerful man who doesn’t seem to covet power – he does what he must. An evil queen is trying to take over the twelve kingdoms and he is the only person who can stop her.

From Snow White to Baba Yaga to Odin, the tale covers many legends and fairy stories of yore. The main characters are fleshed out, the Woodcutters wife waiting at home the only thing keeping him going at times. It blends them to a perfect mix which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I’m now looking forward to the next book…

Amazon discussions – Fantasy book club: http://www.amazon.com/forum/fantasy/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg1?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=FxRHP2KEWXI0H1&cdPage=1&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx2S3FAMAQ54V47

October 2011 -Kate Danley –The Woodcutter
November 2011 -Martin T Ingham –The Rogue Investigations
December 2011 -Richard Bacon –Sinderella – The True Legend
January 2012 -J. R. Tomlin –Wings of Evil
February 2012 – Triune – Willow Poison by Triune
March 2012 -Diane Jones –Demonspell (Sunspinners)
April 2012 – Alison Deluca – The Night Watchman Express
June 2012 – Danielle Raver – Brother, Betrayed
July 2012 -David N Alderman -Black Earth: End of the Innocence:
August 2012 -Andrea K Hosth -Champion of the Rose (Darest)
September 2012 -J. Dean -The Summoning of Clade Josso: The first descent into the Vein
October 2012 – Gary Hoover – Land of Nod, The Artifact
November 2012 -James M. Vargo -Passage of the Acolyte, Part One
December 2012 -Heather C. Hudak -Breathless (The Cordelia Chronicles)
January 2013 -Patti Roberts -Paradox – The Angels Are Here
February 2013 -Muto Michelle -The Book of Lost Souls
March 2013 -Erick Flaig -Call Me Ishmael
April 2013 -Jeremy Johnson -The Legendiers and the Battle of Darkness
May 2013 -Theresa Henson -Shift: A Novel
June 2013 -Chris Howard -Saltwater Witch (Book #1 of The Seaborn Trilogy)(Book #1 of The Seaborn Trilogy)
July 2013 -Ed Gregory -As Shadows Wait (The Dayshadow Trilogy)
August 2013 -Edward W. Robertson -The White Tree
September 2013 -JS Laurenz -To Conquer the Heart of a King
October 2013 -Jeffrey Joslin -The Twilight of Miogaror: Part I
November 2013 -Jon Rosenberg -The Unicorn Crisis (The Hidden Academy)
December 2013 -Brendan Connell -The Translation of Father Torturo
January 2014 -Michael Waterhouse -Dustin Anfeald And The Vail (Anfealds World)
February 2014 -MJ Holmes -Tyme and Yon Serpent (Serpent’s Tail)
March 2014 -R.K. Finnell -Kickshaw Candies
April 2014 -Ceri Clark -Children of the Elementi special edition

 

For more great books check out Fantasy Island Book Publishers website for these great books:

Terps by Elaine Gannon

The Rose Tower by Connie J. Jasperson

After Ilium by S. M. Swartz

Children of the Elementi by Ceri Clark

Emeline and the Muntant by Rachel Tsoumbakos

Miranda Warning by Marilyn Rucker Norrod

Brother, Betrayed by Danielle Raver

Ednor Scardens by Kathleen Barker

Land Of Nod, The Artifact by Gary Hoover

Losing Beauty by Johanna Garth

The King Of Egypt by J. J. Makins

The Last Good Knight by Connie J. Jasperson

The Night Watchman Express by Alison DeLuca

Black Numbers by Dean Frank Lappi

The Lollipop Club by J. Darroll Hall

http://fantasyislandbookpublishing.com/

Visit them now, you won’t be disappointed!

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Ways to read ebooks on your computer (PC or Mac) – for when you don’t have a Kindle or iPad

Having recently done a Member Giveaway of  my ebook, Children of the Elementi, I sent emails with the book attached in the Kindle and epub formats. I was surprised that not everyone knew about Kindle for PC or Mac, so I thought I would do a brief post about the various ways to read an ebook on your computer.

Kindle Apps

The best software for reading Mobi files is always going to be using the Kindle software but there are several different versions.

Go to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk (whichever is appropriate) and click on Kindle on the left navigation bar. Choose Free Kindle Reading Apps. A page will load which will give you the option to download the app for your PC or Mac. Download and enjoy.

The advantage of using the Kindle Apps is that if you read books on your phone using Kindle but then read a little on your computer, if you bought the book from Amazon then it will synchronise how for you’ve got. This means you don’t have to mess with bookmarks, the software just opens at the point where you stopped reading previously. Brilliant.

You can read Mobis and PDFs using this.

Calibre

Calibre ebook software is not just a way to manage your ebooks, it also contain an ereader. You can pretty much read all file formats using this software. Its multipurpose.

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Digital Editions

With Acrobat you can read PDFs and with Adobe Digital Editions  you can read Epubs and PDFs.

You CAN have the benefits of ebooks without ereader devices!

Please note: There are other ebook readers but these are the best in my opinion. This is not an exhaustive list. If you would like to find out more type ereaders into Google. 🙂

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The Night Watchman Express by Alison DeLuca

I enjoyed this one!

As an independent author, I am eager to help and read other indie authors. I set up a Fantasy Kindle Book Group on Kindle on Amazon discussions and also belong to the ABNA Writers Group on Facebook.

Now I’ve read quite a few books over the months and I came across some books which, ahem, I was very disappointed with but Allison DeLuca’s book is most definitely NOT in that category.

The Night Watchman Express kept me interested throughout the book. This is the book that doubters of Indie publishing should read, it shows that there are Indie books which can be and are of a high quality. In fact better than some main stream books I’ve read!

What is it about? Well it’s a historical fantasy but not the sword and sorcery variety. It is what I would call more of a realistic fantasy.

The main character is an heiress whose life is turned upside down when her guardians come to stay. Relegated to the attic, while her new ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’ enjoy the trimmings her inheritance pays for, a governess suddenly appears who tames the wild creature the girl has become in her grief. The guardians have an important project which depends on a hidden device. This project has repercussions for not only the girl and their family but also a mysterious island.

The book poses a few questions, which are all (satisfactorily) explained through the book. Who is the Governess? Where did she come from? What is the device the guardians are looking for? What is the project?

The book is extremely well written and I truly cared about the characters. The fact I glared at my husband when he stopped me reading to get my attention says it all. When you read this book you will be drawn into a story that will melt reality away.

Go on buy it, you know you want to!

————————————————–

News from Fantasy Island Publishing

Fantasy Island publishing is going from strength to strength with new authors and more sales.

Connie J. Jasperson’s book “The Last Great Knight” has been received well and grows readership daily. Compared to the great Wilbur Smith in her action and bawdy prose, she will be one of the great writers of fictional adventures to come.

The Last Good Knight
Connie J. Jasperson

Alison DeLuca’s new book “The Night Watchman Express” is soaring up the Amazon Kindle sales ranking and is a promising series to look forward to in the future.

The Night Watchman Express
Alison DeLuca

J. Darroll Hall and his Fantasy Island Book Publishing brand are topping Amazon sales rankings all over the Kindle book rankings. The brands bookshelves and catalog are on fire at the moment.

http://www.fantasyislandbookpublishing.com

Well I’m not going to write a blog post and not plug my book! :-):

Children of the Elementi special edition
Ceri Clark

THE KING OF EGYPT: Special edition.
www.amazon.com
Raised a warrior, Tigris, crowned Nitiqreti, is the first female pharaoh. With a beauty that can bring men to their knees and a power that reaps respect from an army, she is prepared to take on any enemy. Author J.J. Makins has written a fascinating look at one of the most beautiful and unknown rulers of Egypt.

Miranda Warning
www.amazon.com
Why is someone killing the band geeks of Richland, Texas? Miranda Beeling would like to know since she is one of them.

Author Marilyn Rucker Norrod certainly knows her subject. A musician and an attorney, she has taken that background and spun a wonderful book with great characters and lots of humor as well as intrigue.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_2?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=J. Darroll Hall

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How not to respond to a review / Rebecca Black / Libya/ Japan/Ceri Clark/ Connie J. Jasperson/ Alison DeLuca/ Marilyn Rucker Norrod/

How not to respond to a Review

The internet was abuzz with how not to respond to a review this week. An author had submitted her book to a reviewer and took exception to what the reviewer said. Now I don’t condone what the author did. It did seem very unprofessional to me but I don’t know what is happening in her private life. She just seemed to have lost it.

The thing with reviews in my limited experience is that people either get your story or they don’t. This can be for a number of reasons, they may not like the genre, the writing style may turn them off or they may even be in the wrong age group. You have to take the good with the bad and concentrate on the people that like your work. After all, you wrote your story for them! I wrote Children of the Elementi specifically for some younger teenagers I knew. They are my target audience. If adults like it fantastic, if they don’t? That is also fine, there are others who will like it. Besides if I got 4 and 5 stars all the time, people would thing I was writing the reviews! My advice to other writers, go with the flow…

If you want to see post that caused all the ruckus, go here: http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

Rebecca Black

I won’t say I am a big fan, in fact I thought the Fridays song was hilarious when I first heard it. I was a little startled by the age of the driver, but hey I thought what do I know about the legal driving age in the US? 😉

Still, bad but catchy song aside, I thought the comments under the YouTube clip were uncalled for. There is simply no need to say those things. People have feelings. The posters may have been anonymous but Rebecca is not. She will have the last laugh though. The amount she has sold and the plethora of parody videos mean that she will stay famous for that little bit longer than she may have otherwise expected.

Libya

I have mixed feelings about Libya. I obviously don’t agree with dictatorships and something had to be done but there is just too much war. I really hope that the conflict will have a speedy resolution soon with a minimum of collateral damage. I hate that word, but we all know what it means.

Japan

Things took a turn for the worse recently, with some radioactive material leaking on to the concrete floor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. This is really scary stuff. I was reassured by a news programme which mentioned that the particular type of radiation that had spilled previously had a half life of just days. I just hope that the new radioactive leak has a similar longevity. I really feel for those plant workers in the situation they are in and I believe they are heroes.

News 

Connie J. Jasperson’s new book “The Last Great Knight” has been received well and grows readership daily. Compared to the great Wilbur Smith in her action and bawdy prose, she will be one of the great writers of fictional adventures to come.

The Last Good Knight
Connie J. Jasperson

Alison DeLuca’s new book “The night watchman express” is soaring up the Amazon Kindle sales ranking and is a promising series to look forward to in the future.

The Night Watchman Express
Alison DeLuca

Located in Wales in the UK, author Ceri Clark has the children and young adult market abuzz with her fantasy series “Children of the Elementi!” This book series is and will become the new “Potter” the entire world will fall in love with. This book series is profound, important, and masterfully written. Learn the name Ceri Clark; it will be a household name in a short time.

Children of the Elementi special edition
Ceri Clark

Miranda Warning
www.amazon.com
Why is someone killing the band geeks of Richland, Texas? Miranda Beeling would like to know since she is one of them.

Author Marilyn Rucker Norrod certainly knows her subject. A musician and an attorney, she has taken that background and spun a wonderful book with great characters and lots of humor as well as intrigue.