Rachel Thompson

Jack Canon's American Destiny

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Orangeberry Free Alert - Lionslayer’s Woman by Nhys Glover

Lionslayer’s Woman - Nhys Glover

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre - Historical Romance

Rating - R

5 (1 reviews)

Free until 24 June 2013

A mother and child kidnapped at Imperial command!

Only they can save them…

An Imperial Purge leaves a stoic philosopher dead and his wife and youngest child kidnapped. Galeria, the teacher’s elder daughter and Cyra , her Parthian slave girl, are the only ones who can save them. But their task seems impossible until two men arrive to aid their search.

Nexus once saved his mistress from Vesuvius. But since the death of his lover, he is only half the man he was. Sent to save the family from the emperor’s wrath, he never expected to find love and a reason to live again. But, from the first moment he meets Galeria and agrees to help her, his life has meaning again. And he will do anything to find her mother and keep his new love safe from the fiend who wants her for himself.

Decaneus the Dacian warrior, renamed Leonis after he slew a lion in the Colosseum, has no goal but regaining his freedom. That is, until he meets Cyra. Then her goals become his, as they set out to rescue the child that she loves most in all the world.

Across the Aegean, from Rhodes to Ephesus and Antioch, the couples pit themselves against the might of an emperor, a devious fiend and treacherous slavers, as they race to rescue a mother and daughter from their terrible fate.

What readers say about Nhys Glover’s Roman Historical Romances:

“This is a very good romantic adventure with well-developed characters that held my interest until early into the morning” Lorijay

“I LOVED this book (note the shouty caps). This is a beautifully written novel with strong engaging lead and secondary characters and a gripping story line that kept me in suspense right until the end.” Ereviewer

“Interesting story line full of adventure and romance. Can’t wait for more books by this author. I never thought that the Roman empire was so depraved.” Eda

Orangeberry Book of the Day - Saving Jackie K by LDC Fitzgerald

1:10 PM – EDT

Having frightened guileless Danny into compliance, Zimmerman held court with the full complement of Lehigh guards and local police outside the power plant. The colonel had toyed with the idea of a complete lockdown of buildings, but rejected it as too overt. When curious students began to congregate, he had dispersed them with random threats and vague comments about a mock drill.

He grouped the patrols according to a map of the Catacombs, dorms, and classrooms. Every single exit point would be monitored. Instead of a laborious and possibly futile search of thousands of interior locations, he would wait them out. “People, we have two escaped convicts running loose. They are being aided by a government worker and your own Professor Frank Thomas, as per the photos we issued. All four are wanted for crimes of treason against our beloved United States of America. From this moment forward, I am in charge. All orders will come directly from me and only from me. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.

“All vehicles must leave through the main gate and will be personally inspected by me and my assistant here, Sutherland.”

The captain bristled. Assistant, indeed.

“Remember, you must use the utmost caution. These fugitives are assumed to be armed and dangerous. You are hereby permitted to use any means to apprehend them, but I want the women alive. Dismissed.”

1:45 PM – EDT

Frank removed his bifocals and wiped the lenses with a handkerchief from his pocket. Thoroughly soiled from the Catacombs, he had repeatedly performed this action. Realizing the transparency of his behavior, he shoved the cloth back into his trousers.

Sera decided he needed a distraction. “Frank, now that we’ve been honest with you”—she caught his angry glare—“we’d like to know the real reason you left NASA. You loved that job.”

He hesitated. “Remember last year when the auxiliary oxygen tank on the Sentinel Space Fort blew?”

“Yes.”

Iggy turned to them with interest. “It could have ended in a devastating tragedy if not for that Zeus 5 astronaut. He was a hero.”

“Right. But the general public doesn’t know all the facts. The NASA press secretary told the media that Zeus 5 was simply a reconnaissance expedition to study construction of the Russian space fort.”

“Gagarin.” Jay whispered the word with reverence. “The Soviets named it after Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space and the first to orbit the earth in 1961.”

“Correct. But Zeus 5 wasn’t directed to spy on the Gagarin Fort. Their mission was to blow it to smithereens.”

Sera raised her eyebrows.

“I know what I’m talking about because I was CAPCOM.” Frank’s gaze flitted over Iggy and Jay. “I mean capsule communicator, from Houston. Shortly after we launched Zeus 5, the accident occurred on Sentinel in a completely separate incident. When their tank exploded, not only did they lose reserve O2, but the blast punched a gaping hole in the hull. The crew sealed off that compartment; however, their breathable air diminished to a two-hour supply.”

Frank rubbed his beard. “We were ecstatic we’d just sent off another spacecraft that could effect a rescue. We couldn’t believe our luck. But then NASA ordered the commander of Zeus 5 to continue with the Gagarin destruction first. Their ship couldn’t handle the additional passengers along with the immense weight of the bomb.”

Iggy wrinkled her forehead. “That must have been one heck of a weapon.”

“It would have to be, wouldn’t it?” Jay stepped away from the window where he’d been scanning for activity. “You see, bombs within the earth’s atmosphere work mostly on overpressure. The explosion pushes air away at a high velocity. In the vacuum of space, of course, you need a much larger reaction to cause comparable damage.”

Frank stared at him. “Anyway, Commander Dylan was no fool. He knew that by the time he deployed his weapon, the Sentinel crew would be dead. So Dylan defied orders. He deactivated the bomb, released it into space and courageously went on to save eight brave men and women. The newswires picked up the story and hailed him as an American hero. And it suited him. You probably saw the coverage. A handsome rogue, he had a veritable love affair with the cameras. Naturally, NASA officials weren’t too pleased that he’d ejected a two million dollar piece of ordnance. But they could hardly discipline a national icon.” 

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Thriller

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with LDC Fitzgerald on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.savingjackiek.com/

Stephanie Erickson – Why Book Covers Are So Important

Why Book Covers are so Important

by Stephanie Erickson

As a graphic designer, this issue strikes a cord with me.  I’ve spent years learning how your eye tracks across the page, what is visually appealing, and how to attract millions with something as simple as an apple with a chunk taken out of it.

With writing, you might think your work is done once you’ve written something brilliant.  You’re going to be the next Steven King meets F. Scott Fitzgerald right?  Obviously you’re that perfect balance of appeal to the masses meets substance, and people should read it just based on that.  No need to flower it up with distracting, flashy designs and covers right?  Wrong.

Take your reader on a date

Think about it like this:  Your cover is your first impression, your first date with your potential reader.  If you want this person to spend the rest of their life with you (as loyal readers do), do you show up smelling like you haven’t showered in a week, covered in dust and dirt, and wearing last week’s dirty clothes?  No, you’ll dress up, put on your best cologne, and maybe even use one of those teeth whitening systems.  The same applies to your book.

I’ve found with the Indie publishing industry, book covers tend to be an after thought.  Indie authors have already spent their money on editors, so there’s not much left to hire a designer for the cover.  They figure they can do it themselves in Microsoft Paint and call it a day.  Nine times out of ten, they’re killing their book before it ever hits Amazon.

It’s important to invest in that first date.  Spend the money on the tooth whitening system, so your reader isn’t disgusted by you.  Get a new dress to really get them salivating over you.  In the end, it’ll pay dividends.

It’s very shiny, very sparkly

As a general rule, people are visual.  The problem is, people are also unique.  What one person finds attractive, someone else may be repulsed by.  The key is finding a balance, and when it comes to your book, it can mean the difference between 50 sales and 50,000 sales.

As a professional designer, I’m always going to recommend hiring someone to do your cover.  However, if you insist on doing your own, here are a few tips:

  1. Look at other books in your genre that made the bestseller list.  Not the Amazon>Kindle Store>Kindle eBooks> Literature & Fiction>Genre Fiction>Romance>Paranormal list.  The actual New York Times bestseller list.  You know, the ones with George R. R. Martin, Barbra Kingsolver, James Patterson and the like.  No, you probably won’t go shoulder to shoulder with them from your first book, but there’s a reason why they’re so successful.  What attracts you to their books?  Is it the color scheme?  The art? The font?  Try to mimic that.
  2. Pay for actual art.  Nothing turns a reader off faster than a low resolution image you shanghai’d off the internet.  I know, the point of doing it yourself was so you didn’t have to spend money, but don’t shoot yourself in the foot here.  Additionally, paying for art helps protect you from all those pesky internet theft rules.
  3. Capture your title.  Above all, create a captivating image that encapsulates what your story is about.  The Blackout is about a catastrophic solar flare.  So naturally, the cover has a dramatic solar flare striking the title on it. Is your book a romance?  Typically those have pictures of couples, but don’t feel constrained either.  You could use a foggy picture of rolling hills (think Wuthering Heights).  The point is to be relevant to your content, but still stand out in an appealing way.  Sound complicated?  It is.  That’s why there are people who make careers of it.
  4. Above all, come up with a design that would make you want to read the book if you hadn’t written it.  Think your cover is boring and amateur?  You better believe your potential readers will too.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Adult Fiction / Contemporary

Rating – PG13 (some strong language)

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Stephanie Erickson on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://stephanieerickson.weebly.com/