Guest Author: Michael Pang

I would like to thank Jenai for allowing me to share a little about my young adult paranormal fiction novel, IN THE EYES OF MADNESS of the DECLAN PETERS CHRONICLES series, and myself. Let me start off saying that I’m a huge fan of the paranormal and urban fantasy genre.  I feel that I already spend most of my day in the real world (going to work, playing and taking care of my kids, and spending time with my wife). When I open a book, I want to dive into a world that is magical, where anything can happen.  So, one might ask, well, why not just pure fantasy novels?  Fantasy novels tend to build amazing magical worlds that can allow the reader’s imagination to completely run free.  I would agree with that. And I do enjoy a fantasy novel every so often for that reason.  However, urban fantasy has the ability to cause a paradigm shift from how we would view our everyday life.  They like to twist the things that would seem mundane into things that really make you wonder.  And when you then add the paranormal theme to these urban fantasies what you end up with is a masterpiece that drills down the dark forbidden paths that you would avoid in real life. These stories tantalize your curiosity, fear, excitement, and bewilderment all at the same time.  

I guess I would say that the idea of my novel came to me in a somewhat mystical way.  About four years ago, my wife and I had our first baby. Months of sleepless nights went by and we both looked like zombies. Then, one night a very strange dream (more like a nightmare) came to me about a teenager working in a mental asylum. The patients there were all gaunt and ghastly with very abrupt demeanor changes. Some of the things the patients were doing were fairly odd and supernatural (like levitating, retrieving objects via telekinesis, and speaking with multi-vocal projections). And I remember wandering to myself, are these people all just insane or demon possessed. Then the teenager went into a room and called the patient residing in the room, “mom.”  She turned around abruptly, and the expression on her face was terrifying as she pounced on him. I woke up immediately. As shaken from the dream as I was, I couldn’t help wanting to find out what happened to the teenager.  I tried to go back to sleep in hopes of getting the dream to continue.  But it didn’t work.  The next morning, I told my wife about the strange dream and how I had hoped that it had continued when I went back to sleep.  So my wife told me that it sounded like it would make an excellent novel and that I should write my own ending. 

And over the past four years, I’ve been working hard (writing and re-writing) this story.  It’s funny how things tend to fall into place.  When I started writing the story, my role within the energy company that I was working at the time for had changed. And I ended up traveling almost every month.  There were just so many movies that you can watch on the plane before you get extremely bored, so I continued my writing while I was on the plane and at the airports during a layover.  Were I at home, I think I would have spent the time with my wife and kids instead.  And now, four years later, I published my 222-page novel, IN THE EYES OF MADNESS, with Sola Fide Publishing.  IN THE EYES OF MADNESS is volume one of the DECLAN PETERS CHRONICLES series. You can expect to dive into a magical world that mirrors our own. Explore hidden secrets behind the heroes and the villains that are sure to keep your minds wondering.  

***

IN THE EYES OF MADNESS, 
Declan Peters Chronicles Volume 1
by Michael Pang


Series: Declan Peters Chronicles
Paperback: 222 pages
Formats available: Paperback, Mobi (Kindle), and Epub (Nook)
Publisher: SolaFide Publishing
Publish Date: April 30, 2015
Available at on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles




About the book

A near tragic incident at the hands of his psychotic mother left Declan Peters alone and with so many questions.

Years later, Declan is determined to find a way to be closer to his mother and takes a job at the institution where she's being held. That fateful decision will be the impetus for a chain of events so terrifying that Declan will question his own grasp on reality.

What he finds will be more horrifying than anything he's ever experienced and more dangerous than anything he's yet known. In a place, rife with demonic possession and sadistic beings, will Declan finally be able to find the answers he's longed for before its too late or will he succumb to the evil forces that inhabit the institution and all who live there?

Read book excerpt HERE

For more information about the book, please checkout the website: 
http://www.InTheEyesOfMadness.com

Book Review: Dreams of Perfection by Rebecca Heflin

Dreams of Perfection

(Dreams Come True Book #1)

by Rebecca Heflin

Paperback: 276 pages
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing (July 16, 2014)

Kindle Edition
File Size: 3690 KB
Print Length: 276 pages
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing (May 5, 2014)
Publication Date: May 5, 2014
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Rebecca Heflin. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

My thoughts:

I immensely enjoyed reading this book! I know I swore before that I am done reading the "in love-with-best friend-story". Often, they are all the same, it's like re-reading an old story. Glad that Ms. Heflin did a good job in writing a believable and heartfelt friendship/romance between Darcy and Josh. It was really such a relief for me that she was able to make it right. Character dialogue felt authentic, love the humor, really had fun reading this. 

My only complain is the magical element here. I didn't see it coming and I hated it. It would have been a perfect book for me if not for that 'magic'. Anyway, I have book # 2, I am excited to read Laura's story! 

About the book: 

Best-selling romance writer Darcy Butler is holding out for perfection in the form of her own carefully-crafted heroes. Once blissfully engaged to be married, Darcy’s post-traumatic commitment phobia is depriving her of the very thing she wants most: her very own happily-ever-after. Now, here she is just six months shy of her thirtieth birthday, and not a Prince Charming in sight. 

Successful lawyer Josh Ryan is the boy-next-door with a soft spot for the less fortunate, and Darcy’s best friend without benefits. Darcy often comes to him lamenting her love-life, or the lack thereof, whereupon Josh patiently doles out his sage advice. Problem is Josh is in love with Darcy. 

But when Darcy finds herself looking into the handsome face of the man who graces the cover of her soon-to-be-released novel, she’s convinced her dreams of perfection have come true. Or have they?

About the author:

Rebecca Heflin is an award-winning author who has dreamed of writing romantic fiction since she was fifteen and her older sister snuck a copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss' Shanna to her and told her to read it. Rebecca writes women's fiction and contemporary romance. When not passionately pursuing her dream, Rebecca is busy with her day-job as a practicing attorney.

Rebecca is a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), Florida Romance Writers, RWA Contemporary Romance, and Florida Writers Association. She and her mountain-climbing husband live at sea level in sunny Florida.

Guest Author and Book Spotlight : Kate Blackwell

STORY AND MEMORY   
By Kate Blackwell

Fiction writers, pay attention to memories. The stones you still stumble over. Pick them up. Weigh them in your hand. Turn them over, see what’s underneath. A Christmas party. An outing to a lighthouse. Whole stories, whole novels are stitched from a memory. 

Most of my stories begin with a memory of something I can’t forget and I don’t understand. 
At a family gathering my cousin stands with his young wife who is dying of brain cancer. He is helping her drink through a straw. They are both twenty-five. How can they do this? How do they feel? My story “The Obi Tree” was written to answer these questions.

But memory doesn’t hand you a story on a platter; it must be transformed. Sometimes you must add another memory.

When writing about my cousin and his dying wife, I invoked a memory of my first real love and how it ended. I became the young husband who refuses to let his wife go quietly, refuses to accept. There is anger in loss, there is sexual longing, as well as the pain.

Chekhov: “I never write directly from life. The subject must pass through the sieve of my memory, so that only what is important or typical remains, as in a filter.”  

Memory in fiction is not memoir. Nor is it journalism. You add something that didn’t happen, you invent. 

In the title story of my collection, a woman goes through her last days of pregnancy, then gives birth to her first child. I used a lot of details from memory to describe her physical discomfort, her emotional dislocation, but what did it all add up to? Even “she” (the character) isn’t sure. After she gives birth, she remembers the cliché that people tell you: you won’t remember this. Suddenly, the words mean something different than she’d thought before.

Memory isn’t your master. Change what you want to, or what you must. The farther you get from the facts of “what happened,” the closer you are to the truth of “how it felt.” Never include something “because it happened that way.” Know when to invent, when to cut. 

The story is a template placed over a memory, giving us another way to see.  

You Won’t Remember This

Author: Kate Blackwell

Publisher: Bacon Press Books

Pages: 232

Genre: Short Stories/Southern Fiction

Format: Kindle

About the book:

The twelve stories in Kate Blackwell’s debut collection illuminate the lives of men and women who appear as unremarkable as your next-door-neighbor until their lives explode quietly on the page. Her wry, often darkly funny voice describes the repressed underside of a range of middle-class characters living in the South. Blackwell’s focus is elemental—on marriage, birth, death, and the entanglements of love at all ages—but her gift is to shine a light on these universal situations with such lucidity, it is as if one has never seen them before.

For More Information

• You Won’t Remember This is available at Amazon.

• Purchase book at Bacon Press Books.

• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

• Read excerpt here.

Book Excerpt:

Carpe Diem

The "shadow line," Kurt calls it. Carroll believes he is referring to age, to some transitional moment into old age. But what moment exactly? When we are too old to make love? Too tired to feel desire? Kurt shrugs. When our hopes are extinguished? When I'll never see you again? What line are you talking about, Kurt?

Kurt is almost fifty but looks younger. His hair is a dark silky brown. His skin is smooth. There is a youthful leprechaun quality about him, though he is beginning to have a paunch about the belly. He does not get enough exercise. If he could ski regularly, he says, he would lose that flab. Kurt is an expert skier. He learned to ski when he was five, in Germany. When he was eleven, he had a terrible accident that broke both legs below the knee. The fractured fibulas erupted through flesh and skin. Carroll, drawing her finger along the deep scars on Kurt's calves, tries to envision the accident, the broken skis, the bloodied snow, the boy lying there in the snow, waiting for someone to come.

But she has a hard time picturing Kurt as a boy. Sometimes she has a hard time remembering what he looks like now. Though they have been together for nearly two years, loosely speaking—she has her own place, he has his—they really do not see that much of each other. Kurt is a free-lance photographer and is often traveling. Benin. Djibouti. Sucre. Carroll, too, is busy. She owns and runs a nursery school called Sunshine Day for three- and four-year-olds. Sometimes months go by when Carroll and Kurt do not see each other, though sometimes, out of the blue, he will call from some distant place. She will hear his voice, high-pitched and tentative, a as if he did not expect her to answer (or perhaps it’s the connection that makes it sound that way?)—Hello? Remember me?—and she feels such happiness it terrifies her. Does he actually believe she has forgotten him?

And yet, in certain ways, she does forget. Today, standing in her school yard among all the small revved-up bodies and high yelling voices, sniffing the odors of sand and lilac, she tries to conjure his face. She knows his eyes are green, his nose small and sharp, his skin lightly freckled. But she cannot visualize his mouth or the curve of his cheek or his expression when he looks at her. She cannot remember his voice. She expects to hear that voice, though, perhaps in a few hours. Kurt is due back today from Mali. Or is it Niger? The prospect of seeing him makes her giddy. He has been away nearly two months. Even so, even in the midst of her excitement, she can't help asking herself where this relationship is going. The question occurs to her all the time, but whenever she alludes to the future—an off-hand reference to season tickets for the opera or a time-share deal on a beach house—Kurt shakes his head.

"Carpe diem," he says, in his lightly accented speech.

And Carroll, though she is not seeking permanence, though she does not believe that relationships require official bonds, though she is happy living on her own and seeing Kurt for compressed periods of passion and good talk, is enraged.

Carpe diem indeed.

About the Author

KATE BLACKWELL worked as a journalist and editor before turning full-time to fiction. Her first collection, YOU WON’T REMEMBER THIS, was published in hardback in 2007 by Southern Methodist University Press.  Her stories have appeared in numerous journals, including Agni, Prairie Schooner, New Letters, Carve, The Literary Review, The Greensboro Review, Sojourner, and So To Speak. She lives in Washington, DC.

For More Information

• Visit Kate Blackwell’s website.

• Connect with Kate on Facebook.

• Find out more about Kate at Goodreads.

• Contact Kate.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

"It's Monday! What are you reading?" is a fun meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey. This is where we share the books we have read the last week and our reading plans for this week.

Books Reviewed

PROTECT HER (Parts 1-3)
by Ivy Sinclair

BOOK REVIEW / SPOTLIGHT

Human. Angel. Demon. 

Three species that have coexisted since the beginning of time, although humankind is blissfully unaware of the predators and protectors that walk among them. But there is a new threat emerging that affects them all. 

The story begins when an innocent girl is saved from certain death by a man who straddles the worlds of darkness and light. Their relationship holds the key to saving everyone. 

PROTECT HER: PART ONE 
Get in. Get the job done. Get out. Get paid. 
It’s a simple motto that I’ve lived by for the last five years. It’s kept me alive and made me rich. 

There’s no love lost between me and the supernatural beings who walk the world beside us. But when it comes to being able to retrieve valuable information from the dead, Necromancer Riley Stone is the only game in town. They know it. I know it too, and that’s why my services aren’t cheap. 

The archangel Benjamin hired me to find out why he has a new demon problem. Three demon interrogations in, and the only thing I know is that the demons are in hot pursuit of a nameless young woman. She’s here on Calamata Island, and the demon officials are willing to risk Benjamin’s wrath to grab her. 

But I found her first, and she’s nothing like what I expected. In my line of work, you can’t afford to let anyone get too close. But there’s something about Paige Matthews that I can’t shake, and she needs my help. I won’t turn her over to Benjamin until I help her find out why the demons are after her. 

So now I’ve got a demon problem, and I’m in way over my head. 

PROTECT HER: PART TWO 
Want to know what happens to a human caught in the crossfire between angels and demons? I’m going to make sure that Paige Matthews doesn’t find out. 

The job that originally brought me to Calamata Island might be done, but I can’t leave Paige behind. Without me she’s defenseless against the demons that are after her. I just met her, but I feel protective of her, and I can’t walk away. Not yet. 

Paige is at the epicenter of something big, and none of it is good. It’s not just the demons that want her. The angels are in on it too being led by the archangel Benjamin. 

Paige’s past is being hidden by her amnesia. Those secrets want to be let out. It’s up to me to make sure that she stays alive long enough to find the answers that will finally reveal it all. 

PROTECT HER: PART THREE 
I want Paige Matthews. The archangel Benjamin’s claim on her soul is one that cannot be easily broken, but I intend to try. Of course, that’s assuming that she would want someone like me once this is all over. 

First, we have to get off Calamata Island in one piece. I know someone who can help Paige finally unlock the memories of her past. That’s the key to gaining the upper hand against the demons who are coming for her. Among those is a familiar face; a demon official who stole something from me five years ago. Having a shot at a little vengeance in the process is all right with me. 

Everything’s coming to a head, and this is one fight that I intend to win. I just have to make sure that I don’t lose Paige in the process. 

* * * 

HOW TO CATCH A PRINCE
by Rachel Hauck

BOOK REVIEW

Prince Stephen came to America to escape responsibility. But what he found complicates his life more than ever.

Corina Del Rey is happy with her life in Melbourne, Florida. She spends her days engrossed in her career as a journalist and has her sights set on climbing the corporate ladder if for no other reason, to distract herself from her dissolving family. But when she is confronted with the past she fought so hard to put behind her, she struggles to make sense of her future.

Prince Stephen of Brighton Kingdom has moved on since the tragic death of his buddies in Afghanistan. A star professional rugby player, he has no intention of looking over his shoulder at what could ve been.


But when a notice arrives in the mail requiring his and his wife s appearance before the courts to dissolve their marriage, he must deal with the questions rumbling around in his heart. He thought his marriage had been annulled long ago, but his memories of Corina Del Rey remain close. Does he still love her? Can he even find her? Above all, can he tell her the truth about that fateful night in Afghanistan seven years ago? If he does, he might really lose her forever."

Books for Review

AFTER THE GOODE
by Cary Allen Stone

Jake Roberts' superiors in Atlanta Homicide gave him a choice––retire, or face criminal prosecution. Jake went beyond the rules to capture serial killer Jared Hamilton. Jake decided to retire and move to Los Angeles with his Hollywood agent girlfriend Caitland where he writes best-selling crime novels. They decide to take a mini-vacation to visit his best friend in Phoenix. Bobby Goode is a superstar comedian. During his opening night in Phoenix, he humiliates a heckler. After the show, the heckler stalks Bobby with a baseball bat. Defending himself, Bobby shoots the man. He panics from the fear that he will lose his fame and fortune if anyone finds out. At the crime scene, Phoenix homicide detectives Wynter Williams and Vince Farina investigate a charred body and torched Cadillac. They invite Jake to consult on the case. Jake later determines that it is Bobby they are looking for. On closing night, inside the comedy club, Jake and Wynter arrive to arrest Bobby––"Shots fired!"

* * * 

DREAMS OF PERFECTION
by Rebecca Heflin

Best-selling romance writer Darcy Butler is holding out for perfection in the form of her own carefully-crafted heroes. Once blissfully engaged to be married, Darcy's post-traumatic commitment phobia is depriving her of the very thing she wants most: her very own happily-ever-after. Now, here she is just six months shy of her thirtieth birthday, and not a Prince Charming in sight. Successful lawyer Josh Ryan is the boy-next-door with a soft spot for the less fortunate, and Darcy's best friend without benefits. Darcy often comes to him lamenting her love-life, or the lack thereof, whereupon Josh patiently doles out his sage advice. Problem is Josh is in love with Darcy. But when Darcy finds herself looking into the handsome face of the man who graces the cover of her soon-to-be-released novel, she's convinced her dreams of perfection have come true. Or have they?

* * * 

BLIND DATE, CHECK MATE
by Veronica Blade

Should a woman who’s unable to forget her first love give “happily ever after” one more try?

Shelby Winters’ one great love went sour. If she can’t feel that way about a guy again, why bother? When Shelby’s best friend sets her up on a blind date with Logan, the guy who broke her heart, he pursues her relentlessly, forcing her to make a choice: give her heart what it’s always desired and risk total devastation or shut Logan out and lose her only shot at happiness. To Shelby, it’s a lose-lose situation. Or is it?

Currently Reading

THE CARETAKER OF IMAGINATION
by Z.R. Southcombe


Bored with his real life, John Carroll runs away with his faithful cat in tow seeking adventures vast and amazing. But when he meets a real-life pirate he realizes that there is more to life than he’d ever believed possible – magic is real, and in need of a hero.

John must convince the (once fearsome) Captain Simon Peabody to help him find the only person who can save magic from being lost forever: the Caretaker of Imagination.

This wondrous tale harks back to the style of classic children’s literature. Perfect as a read-aloud, it is sure to delight readers of all ages. 

* * * 

WHEN SHE SMILED
by Ritoban Chakrabarti 

Mrityunjoy Roy is a fifteen year old Bengali who has spent the last ten years of his life growing up in Shimla. While his family is completely academically oriented, he wants something more. 

Finally he meets Akanksha in school, who turns his world upside down with her gorgeous looks and mind boggling smile. 

As fate would have it, she joins his tuition, and thus begins the torrid year of puppy love, romance, heartbreak, tragedy, and self discovery. 

Set among the scenic Shivalik hills of Shimla when mobile phones and internet were non-existent, this is a story of how an average young teenager comes to terms with his destiny.

How about you? What book/s do you plan to read this week? Happy Monday!

Blog Tour with Excerpt: ’89 Walls by Katie Pierson

 ’89 Walls

By Katie Pierson

Publisher: Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Pages: 240
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback

About the book:

College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity.  
Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite. 

Seth and Quinn’s passionate new romance takes them both by surprise. They keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs—and each other—in the clear light of day.

For More Information

• ’89 Walls is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Book Excerpt:

Quinn used the three extra minutes before class that day to turn in her cap-and-gown order form at the office. She made sure no one was looking before skipping down the marble staircase like a little kid. She watched her light-green sundress rise and settle with each bounce. The translucent afternoon sun had managed to warm the foyer by the entrance doors as if spring might actually stick. A tiny breeze jiggled the branches of the narrow pine trees framing the building’s entrance. The stretch of blue sky spanning the transom window reassured her, like it was telling her that years of self-conscious high school angst were almost over.

Only Trish understood how crucial Quinn’s façade of success was to the fact of it. As long as she stuck to the script—Take the advanced placement classes. Study. Join the debate team. Perform.—she could hold herself together. She could no more drop the script than let her bones dissolve. 

Quinn hated the debate team.

She stomped on the final step. As she rounded the bottom of the stairwell, she saw Seth walking to class from the opposite direction. His dark-blond hair looked like it wanted to cover his eyes but was failing at it. Even looking at him made her feel defensive.

He drew near enough for Quinn to read his T-shirt. A cartoon of Uncle Sam silk-screened in black-and-white on the front said, “Join the army. Travel to exotic, distant lands. Meet exciting, unusual people. And kill them.” On the inside, Quinn rolled her eyes; why did liberals like him act as though people like her invented war and they alone wanted peace, love, and teddy bears? Quinn read his shirt again. Okay, maybe it was kind of funny. But it looked out of place on a guy who never smiled.

They had less than a minute before the bell rang, and the hallway had emptied out. He probably wouldn’t acknowledge her; he never even said hi unless she said hi first. But he passed the classroom door. He was headed straight for her. His tan cheeks glowed bright pink, and his eyebrows scrunched together. Quinn felt her shoulders creep up as their eyes met. Was he going to call her out on something right now?

She saw Ilene slipping into the classroom and waved at her. Quinn tried to veer out of Seth’s path; if he wanted to tangle, he’d have to wait until class, when Mr. Levine could referee. But he sidestepped in front of her, forcing her to stop. What the hell? They stared at each other for several seconds. Quinn noticed that the dark brown of Seth’s eyes blended right into his pupils. He also had broad shoulders for a lean guy, but he was barely three inches taller than she was.

Seth started to say something but then kind of deflated. He pressed a limp, folded piece of notebook paper into her hand. Scowling at the floor, he mumbled something under his breath before charging into the classroom.

Quinn looked around in confusion to see if there had been witnesses. There hadn’t. She walked into room 105. She sat down next to Ilene and said hi back to a few people. Taking a huge, slow breath, she slid the letter into her folder and pulled a pen out of her backpack.

Waiting for the slackers to trickle in, Mr. Levine strolled over to his desk and pried the lid off yesterday’s McDonald’s drink. He poured the light-brown liquid into the spider plant. Then he flipped off the lights and closed the door. He rubbed his hands together with that sinister glee that teachers saved up for things like pop quizzes. Then he slapped an outline on the overhead projector, on which he’d chicken-scratched the title “South Africa.” As the class groaned, Mr. Levine shrugged out of his sports jacket. He tossed it across his desk with one of the sleeves inside out.

As soon as he starting talking about apartheid, Quinn flipped open her folder to read the note.

Dear Quinn,

Here’s what I’ve wanted to say to you for a long time: I’ve liked you since the beginning of tenth grade. We haven’t had any big conversations, but I feel like I know you.

I know that you’re genuinely nice. Even though you have a lot of friends, you make a point of saying hello to people like me (the shy, antisocial types!). You’re really pretty, especially when you wear that green dress. You’re also smart. I hear George Washington University figured that out, too. Congratulations on getting in. 

I wondered if you’d like to go to a movie sometime. I know it sounds weird coming from someone you’ve barely talked to (and especially from someone who would tease you about being a Republican), but I hope you’ll say yes.

Seth

About the Author

Katie Pierson freelances for local non-profits, using her background in public policy and grassroots organizing to overthrow the patriarchy one introverted step at a time. When she’s not writing fiction, she returns library books, makes soup, and tries to be cooler than she really is by hip-hopping at the YMCA. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in American History from the University of Pennsylvania (where she dabbled briefly in being a College Republican) and a Master’s in American History from the University of Minnesota. She grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and now lives with her family in a suburb of Minneapolis. '89 Walls is her first novel.

For More Information

• Visit Katie Pierson’s website.

• Connect with Katie on Facebook and Twitter.

• Find out more about Katie at Goodreads.

• Visit Katie’s blog.

Blog Tour and Giveaway: The First Annual Hedlund Summer Steampunk Festival

The First Annual 

Hedlund Summer Steampunk Festival

Come to Hedlund for a riveting good time.  Arrive in style using your personal steamcoach.  Don’t forget to wear your finest attire and top it all off with a shot of absinthe.

Hedlund is home to Clark Treasure, the rogue star of TREASURE DARKLY, a young adult romance set in a steampunk Wild West world.  Join him here in Hedlund while wearing your best cowboy boots and goggles.  For three days only (July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd), TREASURE DARKLY is on sale as an Amazon ebook for just 99 cents.  That’s a quite a steal, and Clark knows a lot about stealing, having swiped a bottle of what he thought was absinthe, but the green liquid actually gave him the ability to save the already deceased.

TREASURE DARKLY picks up when Clark finds the father he never knew – a millionaire rancher meeting his illegitimate son?  Uh oh – but what happens while Clark is on the run from the army and its captain who seeks to use him for his newfound power?  Check out the following short story for an adventure featuring Clark Treasure in all his bad boy glory.

What’s a festival without games and prizes?  You can win this awesome spyglass necklace and be able to see across the desert, in case a rival gang is hot on your trail.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out my website for contests related to my books, and you can read the first three chapters of TREASURE DARKLY: http://www.jordanelizabethmierek.com/

Craving more steampunk?  The clockwork adventures continue with GEARS OF BRASS, a steampunk anthology featuring TREASURE DARKLY’s own Amethyst Treasure.

The Summer Steampunk Festival might end soon, but you can return to Hedlund in September for the release of BORN OF TREASURE, the sequel to TREASURE DARKLY.  Twice the romance, thrice the ghosts, and a heap of clockwork inventions.

As a special addition to the summer steampunk festival, TREASURE DARKLY is on sale for 99 cents this week only!  Check out Amazon for the deal.