Death’s Servant – C.J. Ellisson

Death’s Servant – C.J. Ellisson

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre – Urban Fantasy

Rating – R

4.9 (77 reviews)

Free until 31 December 2013

Jonathan Winchester has clashed with his alpha one too many times. After another argument he leaves the Manitoba pack, his only home since the werewolf attack that changed his life. He returns to his home state of Virginia to start a new life free of pack politics. Jon finds work and meets a young waitress, Raine, who appears to be a lone werewolf, too.
As their relationship progresses, Jon's embroiled in more intrigue than he bargained for and a danger bigger than he can handle. He's running scared until his own alpha tendencies surface, making him unable to leave the pretty werewolf's problems behind. The young man is desperate to save Raine--even if his efforts may lead him straight to death.
Journey along in this first prequel novel involving the favorite characters from the bestselling V V Inn series. Written at reader demand, this stand-alone story explains how the beloved Jonathan came to serve the deadly redheaded vampire, Dria.

Almost A Senior by Brenda Faye Collie

Chapter 1

“Jason, wake up” I yelled for the hundredth time. For the hundredth and one time he stirred in the bed mumbling, “Five more minutes.” He had stayed up Thursday night to watch Friday the 13th, Part Six. When I told him to cut off his new television at 12:00 am because he had an appointment with his probation officer at 9:00 am, he mumbled as the masked Jason on television cut up some poor white woman after having her screaming and running for ten minutes, “Five more minutes.” Jason was famous for his five more minutes. Mama said that he was born five days late and he’d probably be late for his own funeral. But I was determined that I wasn’t going to be late for school this morning. So, after I turned the slab bacon strips in the frying pan, I politely went into the refrigerator and took out the pitcher of cold water and threw it on him. He gave a yell which woke up Mama and I’m sure a few dead people. Mama came out of our bedroom running and screaming, “What’s the matter, Jay?” That’s what she calls him. Jay, which is short for jaybird cause he ain’t got much sense. He is nineteen and six feet two, which means he’s too old to be whining over a little cold water.

“Why you do that to him, Loresha?”

“Cause she’s crazy, Mama.” He used his pointer to circle his head.

I went into the kitchen and started beating two eggs for my breakfast. Me crazy? I didn’t steal a bucket of subway tokens from a subway station and then try to sell them outside the same station. He’s the one that has to appear in court every month to show that he’s making progress in a GED program and working for PAL as a youth aide. I go to regular school. I’m in the eleventh grade. I ain’t got to report to anyone except Mama Police.

Mama Police entered the kitchen and picked up a slice of bacon. She slammed the cabinet door after pulling down a cup. I didn’t say anything to her. I knew she didn’t want me to remind her that her job interview was at ten o’clock. I just scraped my eggs onto my plate because the look on her face said that she was not in a friendly mood. The faucet water thundered into the coffee pot.

“Why must everyone wake when you wake up, Loresha?”

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Genre – Young Adult

Rating – PG

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Website http://www.daylightbooks.net/#!

Justin Blaney – For Evan Burl Fans

Guest Blog Post 5: For Evan Burl fans, There’s a lot to be Excited About in the Next 6 Months.

by Justin Blaney

Part 1 and 2 of Evan Burl and the Falling released in January

As noted in a previous post, I’m combining part 1 and 2 of Evan Burl’s series into a single book. We’re going to do a huge launch (hopefully huge, with your help it will be) on January 9, 2014.

For those of you waiting for book two (I love you!), you might be disappointed with the amount of new material in this book. It depends on what version you read last. The easiest way to know is looking at the chapter count. The book being published in January will have about 66 chapters. If your version has less than 66 chapters, there will be some new stuff in that final version for you. If your version already has 66 chapters, there probably won’t be much new until the new Book Two comes out down the road. Even if you have read a 66 chapter version, the new version will be all shiny and edited and worth downloading a new free ebook when it launches.

The reason for this confusion is there are at least 5 different versions of Evan Burl. I’ve been adding new material to book one since December, 2012 to test it with a public audience. In fact, the book available on Amazon right now is actually the combined version of 1 and 2.

If you have already finished any version of Evan Burl, I recommend waiting until the final launch in January. I’m doing a ton of work editing it down and adding details that I think will make the book even more enjoyable.

If you haven’t read any version of Evan Burl yet, I’d love to have you pick up a free copy at evanburl.com/download and give me some feedback to incorporate into the final release. I’m actively seeking feedback on this advanced reader version and your input will make a huge difference in the quality of the final book.

Thanks for your patience with the number of revisions and confusion. I’m planning to explain more about why I’ve released so many versions in a future post that discusses a new take on the philosophy of today’s publishing world.

Amazon shopping spree and book giveaway

To celebrate the launch of Evan Burl in January, I’m giving away 10 signed books and an Amazon shopping spree (at least $250, maybe more). I planning tons of ways to get more entries in the giveaway like downloading the free ebook, joining this mailing list, writing a review and sharing the giveaway on Facebook. If you’ve already done any of those things, don’t worry, you’ll automatically be entered.  This contest is for you so if you have any ideas for how to run it better, please leave a comment!

And if you want to share our contest with your friends now, all they have to do to enter is download the book. Here are some links: Twitter, Facebook and email. Thanks! Blog tour

I hope to get Evan Burl reviewed and have our giveaway featured by 100 blogs. If you’re a blogger or know one, please let me know! I’m also planning to do some Facebook parties, but have no idea what I’m doing. If you want to help out, email me or leave a comment. I don’t know much about blog tours and release parties, but I know they’re important to getting the word out and would love your help if you have some experience.

Kickstarter campaign

Along with the release of Evan Burl in January, I’m planning a kickstarter campaign to print several thousand hardbacks. I have several goals for this campaign that I think are really exciting.

1. With your help, I want to donate 1000 copies of the book to libraries around the world to encourage reading, especially with young men, and increase awareness for issues related to fatherlessness.

2. I love small, independent book stores and want to support them by printing a high enough volume to keep our prices low. In today’s publishing world (even Barnes and Nobel is bleeding money) small, independent bookstores need our support more than ever. Together, we can ensure that we always have inviting, comfortable places to browse and discover great new books! Plus, book stores smell great. The world just wouldn’t be the same without them.

3. In addition to donating copies to libraries, I hope to see Evan Burl used by reading groups to stimulate conversations around the social and personal issues brought up in this novel. As part of the kickstarter, I plan to release support materials and make highly discounted books available to make participation affordable. (the ebook will be free, but not everyone can afford an ereader).

4. Wonder what Evan Burl’s world looks like? (Sometimes, I do too) I’m planning to work with a great artist based here in Seattle to develop a series of original digital canvases which could be included in the hardback version.

5. 10% of the proceeds from the kickstarter will be donated to support at risk youth and orphans.

6. Promoting and participating in the kickstarter will also earn entries to the Amazon shopping spree giveaway.

Book trailer

You may not know that I own a video production studio, which pays for my writing habit. I’m planning to get our whole production team involved in something special for Evan’s book trailer and can’t wait to share it with you. Look for the trailer to be released around the first part of September.

Book two progress reports

Starting in 2014, I plan to release regular progress reports on how work is going with the next book in Evan Burl’s tale. This was originally going to be book three in the series, but because I combined books one and two into the new Evan Burl and the Falling, this will be the currently-unnamed, book two. No release date is planned yet, but you’ll be the first to hear as soon as I know.

About this blog

Over the next six months, I’ll continue to update you on launch activities. I also have a few other writing projects I think you might find interesting, including an illustrated children’s book called Isfits, and plan to share more about those projects in the future. That said, I don’t want this to be some kind of continuous commercial for all my junk. If you ever have any ideas for something interesting you’d like to read about here, let me know. I’ll also be on the hunt for content to write about that I think you’ll find interesting. Thanks for being along for the ride as we figure this blogging/writing/publishing thing out together!

That’s it for now. I’ll be in touch.

Your friend,

Justin

PS, if you want to let any of your friends know how to get a free copy of Evan Burl, I’ve made it easy with these links: Twitter, Facebook and email.

About the author

Justin Blaney is the #1 bestselling author of Evan Burl and the Falling. He’s a blogger at JustinBlaney.com and I4J.org, the creator of Isfits, and a film producer with Inkliss. He lives outside Seattle with his wife and three daughters. Connect with Justin on Facebook, Twitter or Youtube.

 

My father abandoned me when I was an infant.
My friends have turned against me.
My uncle beats me.
The most powerful men in the world want me dead.
They all have one thing in common.
They think I’m turning into a monster.

I’m starting to worry they’re right.

Genre - Young Adult

Rating – PG

Connect with Justin Blaney on his website

Bliss: An Anthology of Novellas (Bliss Series)

TWO

ADAM HIMSELF WOULD have been hard-pressed to answer John You’s question in that moment as to what he was doing there. As a private in Meade’s infantry, he should have been many miles to the north right now, celebrating the Gettysburg victory. Except that he didn’t have it in him to celebrate that kind of carnage. He’d picked up a newspaper somewhere along their hard journey south, and the battle was being proclaimed as a turning point, but to him it just seemed pointless.

He’d been surveying the carnage of the peach orchard, walking among the dead and the dying, when he looked into the face of a wounded Confederate and beneath the sweat, grime, and gunpowder, saw a face he recognized.

His oldest friend. A man who’d treated him like family, even though they’d come from vastly different backgrounds. Leander Harrington of the Albemarle Harringtons. Livie Harrington’s beloved twin brother.

“Adam?” Leander’s voice had been a mere whisper, a husk of his former baritone. “That really you?”

“Leander. Jesus. I didn’t know you were here.”

“We marched up from Richmond. That a canteen you got there? I sure could use a drink.”

Adam knelt beside him to assess his condition. He opened Lee’s jacket and bit back a curse.

“It’s bad, ain’t it? You don’t have to lie to me. I sorta already know. Just gimme some water.”

Holding his own canteen to Leander’s lips, Adam let a trickle of water flow into his mouth. “Easy does it. Don’t choke on it.” Another few drops, and he gently lay Lee back down.

“Much obliged. I’m dyin’, Adam,” Leander said with a hollow laugh. “I was all puffed up with excitement at the prospect of fightin’ on Northern soil. Now, I kinda wish I’d stayed home. Livie’s gonna be mad as a wet hen when she hears. She won’t even have a body to bury.”

“C’mon now, don’t talk like that,” Adam said. “You’ll pull out of this. You know you will. You’ve been in worse scrapes before. Member the time that friend of yours from Charleston shot you in the leg cause you called him a card cheat? That was bad, too, but you pulled through just fine.”

“I ain’t never had nothin’ this bad,” Lee said. “Hell, I can’t even keep the blow flies off me. I’ll be full of maggots by sunup. Jesus, God. I can’t think of anything worse.” As if to bear out the truth of his statement, a fat green bottle fly buzzed close to his blood-soaked midsection. Lee slapped it away, cursing.

I ain’t gonna let that happen,” Adam said. “I’ll get someone over here. We’ll get you to the field hospital.”

“And do what? I’m busted up inside, Adam. There ain’t nothin’ them sawbones can amputate. They’ll lay me in the shade and there I’ll stay until they’ve treated every Yank with a hangnail. No Union doc’s gonna give a damn about a busted up Reb.”

Adam said nothing, but he knew that Leander was right. Anger and resentment, choler and hatred fueled the machinery of war and one more dead Rebel soldier would not make a damn bit of difference to anyone—except to him.

While Adam waged a battle between duty and simple humanity, Leander did something astounding. In the growing darkness, in the smoke and the dust, he broke down and started to sob. “You won’t tell Livie what a coward I was?”

“You’re not a coward,” Adam insisted. This was his brother, in spirit, if not in fact, and he knelt there beside him feeling as ineffectual as teats on a bull. There had to be some way to help him, despite the fact that he was only a private, and he had little choice but to follow the orders of his superiors.

“I’m bawlin’ like a baby,” Leander said, “but I don’t want to die here, Adam. God help me, I don’t want to breathe my last on Yankee soil. I want to go home. Jesus, help me, I just want to go home.”

It was the most insane act of a man who’d done a lot of crazy things over the years, for no good reason he could recall, but as he sat there in the blistering darkness, Adam knew there was only one thing he could do, and that was to make the attempt to get Leander home to Bliss.

It wasn’t just risky. It was lunacy.

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Genre – Romance

Rating – R

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