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Where Awesome Book Readers Meet Awesome Writers

1. The Witches of Dark Root - 2013-06-06 00:43:06-04
   April Aasheim has worked as a preschool teacher, a social worker, and as a very bad waitress. She was actually fired from four restaurants because of her inability to tolerate people jiggling empty ice cups at her as she walked by. She spent her childhood living in the Southwest, then later moved to California, Tennessee, and finally ended up in Oregon. She loved all of these places and someday hopes to spend some time on the East Coast of the United States. April's mother was a fortune teller, providing April with a foundation in magic during the years when most little girls were playing with dolls. Since then, April has spent her life researching the many types of magic, as well as world religions and philosophies. In April's spare time she enjoys reading, people watching, and watching movies. She maintains an active blog at http://aprilaasheim.blogspot.com
   
2. The Master’s Plan: A novel about purpose - 2013-06-06 01:22:03-04
   Stephany's life changed dramatically in the fall of 2008. The professional contract and business writer was unable to find the senior manager job she expected to easily find after her relocation to Atlanta, Georgia. The move was for family reasons and a little sooner than expected but was a part of her personal life plan. Refusing to succumb to the heavy disappointment of not advancing her career in a city with such promise, Stephany struggled to understand purpose behind sudden and unexpected life changes. When her oldest son asked, 'why don't you just write a book? Do what you love to do?', after a few weeks of thought, she decided to give it a shot. She loved to write and realized that one of the reasons she succeeded as a proposal writer was because of her ability to 'create programs and program designs' ---so effectively that they were loved by her business clients and convincingly presented to and funded by grant sources! From inception to publication, Stephany worked for four years on her first novel, The Master's Plan, A Novel About Purpose. When thinking about how much she continually enjoys reading her debut novel, she writes, "I still laugh at all my favorite chapters and have yet to decide who is my favorite or least liked character. It's amazing! I was able to spin a tail around two frameworks that have had a major influence on my life: church and government politics. In writing The Master Plan, I was reminded of what a blessed life I have had and that despite what appeared to be very dismal circumstances, I was able to use my creativity and love of writing in a different way. Truly, I can see and believe, it was all part of a master plan." Stephany Tullis graduated from Russell Sage College with a Masters in Public Service Administration. She is the recipient of several leadership and career related rewards. She continues to consult for not for profits and lives in Georgia with her family. She is currently working on her second novel: '48 Hours Til Christmas. Projected release date is November 2013.
   
3. Learning To Talk Bear, by Roland Cheek - 2013-06-06 01:25:46-04
   There are, I suppose, febrile savants who reject any notion that a person can acquire the writing art outside those hallowed halls of academia. Yet storytellers captured audiences for millenniums before Oxford or Harvard were more than forest enclaves where wild turnips sprout. There's dissent, of course, holding the cloistered academic life to be poor training grounds for the kinds of riveting stories audiences wish to hear or read. My particular PhD came from God's own university of wild places and wilder things. My Culture might best be described as the Campfire kind, backed up against the inky black of star-filled nights, regaling saucer-eyed guests with tales of wilderness adventure, while horses stomped at picket lines and coyotes howled at a rising moon. My doctoral thesis came during three decades of narratives about those wild places and wilder things; wonders saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt; crafted for Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, and Sports Afield. My column was syndicated over two decades to 17 newspapers, and I hosted a coast-to-coast radio show with 210,000 listeners airing on 75 stations across America. Then I turned my attention to books: a baker's dozen novels and wildlife and adventure nonfiction titles, all self-published to great success, all flavored with real-life experiences. What's my point? That one can have adventure AND learn to write very well indeed (despite academic disdain for anyone outside their comfortable inner circle); well enough indeed to tell the conventional publishing world to go to hell--that I'll publish my own stuff. More successfully. And at greater profit!
   
4. Lodestone (Witch-Hunt) by Wendy Scott - 2013-06-06 01:32:38-04
   ABOUT THE AUTHOR Wendy Scott has a New Zealand Certificate in Science (Chemistry), which allows her to dabble with fuming potions and strange substances, satisfying her inner witch. Wendy writes fantasy, children’s and romance novels. One of the creeds she lives by is to always – Live a life less ordinary! Please visit www.wendyjscott.com to learn more, read Wendy’s blog or to leave her a message. She loves hearing from readers.
   
5. Mason’s Daughter by Cynthia J Stone - 2013-06-06 01:55:18-04
   Cynthia Stone believes she and Sting were twins separated at birth, because they share the same birthday and original last name. Since she’s a native Austinite, some complications in proving their kinship are sure to arise. All of which provides creative fodder for the family sagas she loves to write. Cynthia wrote her first story at age five and has continued to indulge that Muse ever since. Her checkered career includes magazine publishing, copywriting, professional fundraising for the fine arts, antiques importing, and interior decorating. She still lives in Austin with her ever-patient husband, Gerald, a restaurateur. Connect with Cynthia online: www.CynthiaJStone.com
   
6. Forever (The Forever series, Book One) by Eve Newton - 2013-06-07 01:15:28-04
   Eve is a budding UK novelist with a passion for... PASSION! Currently studying towards a BA in English Language & Literature, which is something she has always wanted to do and never had the time before. She enjoys the finer things in life. Loves Louboutins and fast cars & her beloved Manchester United. A perfect evening in, is good wine, candles and a good book! Eve has always loved to read, anything Paranormal catches her interest, and writing has always been a passion of hers, so she decided to take the plunge and combine the two into a series of Paranormal Erotica novels. Eve has loads more ideas churning around in her head and can't wait to get them down on paper! There are currently seven books in the Forever series finished, with five already published. Eve plans to keep writing the series until there is nothing left to say or THE END just happens! She will be working on a new series over the summer months. She hopes you will enjoy reading her books as much as she enjoys writing them!
   
7. A Strange and Bitter Fruit by Barry Davis - 2013-06-07 01:50:33-04
   I love books – reading and writing them. As a child I used to hang out in the library near my west Philadelphia home. One of my brothers would have to stop around to remind me to come home and eat my dinner. My parents – Robert and Lena – loved to read so this affinity came naturally. I confined my love of books to writing until I reached my late 30's. Call it a mid-life crisis or what have you but I felt a void in my life. I felt that I had something to say but wasn't saying it, lost in the day to day grind of earning enough dollars to pay my mortgage and put food on the table. I returned to my first love, words, and began to write. I began by writing screenplays to enter an online contest held by the HBO reality show called Project Greenlight in the 2002 and 2003. Out of thousands of entries my screenplays finished in the top 100, which impressed me since I was a brand new writer. I then moved on to novels, stupidly believing that getting a novel published would be easy compared to getting a screenplay made into a movie. I can't say how wrong that was. There's nothing easy about it. Eight years later I have completed my sixth novel – THE ZOMBIE WHO WOULD BE KING – adapted from one of my most popular Greenlight screenplays. If you read my work, you will see that I love many types of books (I obey the axiom that you write what you read). I love historical fiction, crime, mystery, horror and science fiction. My TV is usually set to PBS or whatever baseball game that happens to be playing. When not writing, working or hanging with my family, I love to ride my bike. There's no better place to work a kink out in a book than on the back of good road bike. The boring but vital stuff: I am a University of Pennsylvania graduate who currently lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two children. I have written screen plays, novels and short stories. I have had had several short stories published in webzines and print magazines.
   
8. The Last Execution by Jerrie Alexander - 2013-06-07 02:14:52-04
   A student of creative writing in her youth, Jerrie set aside her passion when life presented her with a John Wayne husband, and two wonderful children. A career in logistics offered her the opportunity to travel to many beautiful locations in America, and she revisits them in her romantic suspense novels. But the characters went with her, talked to her, and insisted she share their dark, sexy stories with others. She writes alpha males and kick-ass women who weave their way through death and fear to emerge stronger because of, and on occasion in spite of, their love for each other. She likes to torture people, make them suffer, and if they’re strong enough, they live happily ever after. The author of THE GREEN-EYED DOLL, winner of both The Golden Pen, and the CataNetwork of Reviewers Choice Award released in 2012. And recently released, THE LAST EXECUTION, Jerrie and her husband live in Texas. She loves sunshine, children’s laughter, sugar (human and granulated), and researching for her heroes and heroines.