A bard. A wizard…and a college student from Kentucky.
Sara Moore is having crazy dreams. Gryphon and dragon crazy.
The scary part? Waking up, with scratches and splinters. Is she losing it because of stress? Her twin sister is in a coma. One more unfinished sculpture will fully tank her grades. Goodbye bachelor’s degree, hello failure.
It’s enough to make anyone sleepwalk.
Choosing to defy the Conclave, Trystan risks capture and mind control to find a magical lute through a shadow network. Dane meets a sinister stranger and barely escapes with his life. Together, guided by a fae only known as Sara, they will end an ancient curse…or die trying.
INDIES TODAY BEST FANTASY BOOK 2019
“A richly conceived fantasy with a grand emotional payoff.” -Kirkus Reviews
Anne C. Miles, an award-winning author, was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1971. She successfully avoided writing fiction for years by blogging and extensive journaling. However, one day, she logged into a writing site and scribbled. She kept going, and now cannot stop. Her book, Sorrowfish, was named Best Fantasy of 2019 by Indies Today. A chapter within the second book (not yet published) won an honorable mention from the Writers of the Future contest in 2020.
Anne designs and builds websites with her husband and enjoys video games. She was confirmed in the Anglican Church (ACNA, High Anglican) in 2016. When Anne isn’t working or writing, she plays violin badly and spoils her grandchildren.
She is hard at work on the next book of her series, The Call of the Lorica.
Hi everyone! Today I have something fun to share…a special chance to win some help with your writing bills. Awesome, right?
Some of you may know Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi of Writers Helping Writers. Well, today they are releasing a new book, and I’m part of their street team. I’m handing the blog over to them today so they can tell you a bit about their Writer’s Showcase event, new book, and a great freebie to check out. Read on!
Certain details can reveal a lot about a character, such as their goals, desires, and backstory wounds. But did you know there’s another detail that can tie your character’s arc to the plot, provide intense, multi-layered conflict, AND shorten the “get to know the character” curve for readers?
It’s true. Your character’s occupation is a GOLD MINE of storytelling potential.
Think about it: how much time do you spend on the job? Does it fulfill you or frustrate you? Can you separate work from home? Is it causing you challenges, creating obstacles, or helping you live your truth?
Just like us, most characters will have a job, and the work they do will impact their life. The ups and downs can serve us well in the story.
Maybe you haven’t thought much about jobs in the past and how they act as a window into your character’s personality, interests, and skills. It’s okay, you aren’t alone. The good news is that The Occupation Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Jobs, Vocations, and Careers is going to do all the heavy lifting for you. (Here’s one of the job profiles we cover in this book:FIREFIGHTER.)
My Review of The Occupation Thesaurus:
I found this to be a really useful resource. I anticipate using it for every book I write from now on, to make sure I pick the right occupation for each character and describe the details of their job well. I definitely recommend the Occupation Thesaurus – it would be a great addition to any author’s toolbelt. It might even be useful for someone researching a new possible career for themselves!
GIVEAWAY ALERT: THE WRITER’S SHOWCASE
To celebrate the release of a new book, Writers Helping Writers has a giveaway happening July 20th & July 23rd. You can win some great prizes, including gift certificates that can be spent on writing services within our Writer’s Showcase. Stop by to enter!
Resource Alert: A List of Additional Jobs Profiles For Your Characters
Some of the amazing writers in our community have put together additional career profiles for you, based on jobs they have done in the past.
What a great way to get accurate information so you can better describe the roles and responsibilities that go with a specific job, right?
A tale of courage and hope in the darkest of times…
Silver Moon, the third book in the series: By the Light of the Moon, paints a stunning and poignant picture of life on the home front in Webaashi Bay, Ontario, and of three men who are a part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during WWI.
Shamed into joining the war, the tide turns for Luis Wilson when he is steered into the depths of espionage. Injured and presumed missing, will he lose his heart to the very woman who presented him with a white feather?
Oshki and Jimmy offer a grim perspective on life in the trenches. They despair of ever returning home to the women who hold their hearts.
Meanwhile, Lily fights for the cause in her own way and rallies the female troops at home as prejudices run high and the local cafe owner is accused of being a spy.
Will the women of Webaashi Bay receive their men back unscathed? Can the power of love win out over insurmountable odds? All this drama and more plays out under the light of a silver moon.
Fans of WWI historical fiction, Christian historical fiction, and literary fiction will find Silver Moon a moving, powerful read!
“Silver Moon is a highly recommended read for fans of historical wartime fiction, powerful emotive drama, and excellent atmospheric writing.”–Readers’ Favorite
“I am stunned by the amount of detail the author gave in this single story. On one hand, we have powerful characters… and on the other, we have a plot that demands all our attention. Jenny Knipfer pulls no punches and holds nothing back.”–Readers’ Favorite
The year is 1885 and unwed Vanessa Gulet must surrender her newborn son to her married twin sister, Valerie, to raise. A seed of bitterness grows in Vanessa. When the opportunity arises for her to have what she’s always wanted, Vanessa takes it despite the consequences to her family, getting more than she bargained for.
Meanwhile, Valerie, overcome with loss and grief, faces the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Will she and her husband, Felix, forge through their trials together or will life’s upsets cause them to drift apart? Will Vanessa and Valerie remain at odds, or will they allow the power of forgiveness to heal their strained relationship?
Love seems to bloom in the most unlikely of places in Webaashi Bay for an old friend of Jenay’s and a woman who owns the local dress shop. A parallel tale of love, forgiveness, and reuniting lost things is spun by a local author adding another dimension to the tale of the Gulet twins and their saga.
Ruby Moon embodies a tale of grief, guilt, and romance set on the shores of Lake Superior in Ontario during the mid 1890’s. Jenay, a young woman of mixed French and Ojibwe descent, must survive the trauma of causing a horrific accident.
Amidst this drama, Jenay is caught in a web spun by Renault, a rich, charming man who once threatened ruination of her father’s shipping company but now seeks something even more valuable…
Jenay must find where her strength lies in order to face the challenges life brings her or be washed away like driftwood on the tumultuous shores of Lake Superior. Life’s richest dramas are played out under the banner of two ruby-colored moons and become the hidden gems which forge her into a mature strong woman. Jenay realizes God is by her side, using even the harsh events of life to create something precious in her.
Jenny lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Ken and their pet Yorkie, Ruby. She is also a mom and loves being a grandma. She enjoys many creative pursuits but finds writing the most fulfilling.
Jenny’s education background stems from psychology, music, and cultural missions. She spent many years as a librarian in a local public library but recently switched to using her skills as a floral designer in a retail flower shop. She is now retired from work due to disability.
She authored and performed a self-published musical CD entitled, Scrapbook of a Closet Poet. Jenny acquires joy in the journey as an author. Ruby Moon, the first title in her historical fiction series: By the Light of the Moon, earned a five star rating from Readers’ Favorite. Her books are available in eBook and paperback formats through Amazon and Ingramspark.
Jenny holds membership in the: Historical Novel Society, Wisconsin Writers Association, and Midwest Independent Booksellers Association.
Jenny’s favorite place to relax is by the western shore of Lake Superior, where her novel series is set.
What starts as the abduction of Millie Merchant turns into an awakening of bitter truth. Her life is a lie. Her family a fake. It’s all been part of an elaborate hoax to keep her from her destiny. A destiny that lies in the land of Roshambo.
The lines between fantasy & reality blur as she’s transported to a fantastical realm boarding on extinction. Struggling to make sense of it all, Millie is presented with two princes determined to win her hand. One has her best interest at heart, the other seeks control of the realm. But who can she trust in a world full of strangers?
War is looming. Nightmarish beasts prowl the lands. It falls to Millie to be the salvation of Roshambo. For she alone is the ruler the Outliers have been searching for. The origins of rock, paper, scissors come alive in a tale far more twisted than a simple child’s game.
Sarah Zolton Arthur is a USA TODAY Bestselling author of Adult Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Rom-Com, LBGTQ+, and PNR author who recently decided to dip her toes in the world of YA Fantasy. She spends her days embracing the weirdly wonderful parts of life with her two kooky sons while pretending to be a responsible adult. And there is plenty of the weird and wonderful to go around with her older son being autistic and the younger being a plain ol’ wisecracker.
She resides in Michigan, where the winters bring cold, and the summers bring construction. The roads might have potholes, but the beaches are amazing.
Above all else, she lives by these rules. Call them Sarah’s life edicts: In Sarah’s world all books have kissing and end in some form of HEA. Because really, what more do you need in life?
Warning: This book deals with loss by suicide and the grief a family endures.
Life has been comfortable for the Miller family. Liz and Josh have devoted their lives to raising their two sons. Their oldest son, Colby, reached adulthood and set out on his own. A few hard knocks sent him back to live with Mom and Dad, until life got to be too much, that is. As Liz and Josh grapple with the hole in their hearts left by Colby’s early departure from this world, they find themselves at odds with one another and with their faith.
Will they remember that Jesus is enough in the middle of this dark storm? Will they see through their own pain and help each other and their teenage son, Tyler, learn to live despite the grief?
Regina Walker was born in the beautiful state of Colorado. She moved to Oklahoma in her late teen years, where she has resided ever since. She likes to curl up on the couch and binge-watch crime shows with her hard-working husband. When she’s not wrestling with a writing project, she can be found wrangling their children, riding their horses, or tending the garden. Along with finding horses on their small farm, chickens, dogs, and cats can be found at nearly every turn.
Regina crafts compelling characters facing some of life’s hardest challenges. Her heart’s desire is to always point toward Jesus through the way her characters face challenges, relationships, and adversity.
About the Story: Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire’s most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie’s escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
What is the Collar for, and What is a Cavvarach? The story is set in a world very much like our own, with just a few major differences. One is that slavery is legal there. Slaves must wear metal collars that lock around their neck, making their enslaved status obvious to everyone. Any slave attempting to escape faces the dilemma of how and where to illegally get their collar removed (a crime punishable by enslavement for the remover). Another difference is the popularity of a martial art called cavvara shil. It is fought with a cavvarach (rhymes with “have a rack”), an unsharpened weapon similar to a sword but with a steel hook protruding from partway down its top edge. Competitors can strike at each other with their feet as well as with the blades. You win in one of two ways: disarming your opponent (hooking or knocking their cavvarach out of their hands) or pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.
More About the Story Set in a world alarmingly like our own, The Collar and the Cavvarach is the story of fourteen-year-old Bensin, a slave, whose status is made obvious to everyone by the steel collar locked around his neck. A martial artist who competes to win money for his owner, Bensin fights in tournaments with a cavvarach. But his greatest battle is the struggle to protect his little sister from the horrors of legalized slavery in a world where slaves have few rights. Desperate to keep her safe, Bensin struggles to find a means – legal or otherwise – to arrange for her freedom. (For a fun introduction to the story’s setting and its culture, including an explanation of how cavvara shil works, click here.)
Sound Like a Book you Might Enjoy? Click the play button below to listen to the first 15 minutes of the story as narrated by Joseph Baltz.
Click here to go to the audiobook on Audible. Click here to go to the audiobook on Amazon. (Either way, try listening to the free sample to see what you think!) Like to Read Along While You Listen? The Collar and the Cavvarach ebook is available for FREE from July 14-18. Grab your copy now!
Enter the Giveaway to Win a Bundle of Action and Adventure eBooks by Thirteen Talented Authors!
A destroyed world. A discovery that will reveal the dark truth.
In the third exciting installment of the Sum of all Tears series, the last of humanity needs a hero as chaos rises to dangerous levels inside Liberty, threatening the future of civilization.
Fans of The Day after Tomorrow, Mad Max, Divergent, and The Hunger Games will enjoy this enthralling post-apocalyptic dystopian series with a paranormal twist. Join the epic life-and-death battle for survival today!
In the second exciting installment of the Sum of all Tears series, a new enemy rises. Surviving the cold is only the beginning.
Weeks after a failed climate change experiment triggers a new Ice Age, a dangerous resistance is growing at Liberty, the Mars prototype biodome settlement in Rhode Island after Graysen Marx is removed from power.
Trying to cope with the reality of the icy new world, August and a group of survivors are forced to make a perilous journey to Boston in search of biofuel but the lawless landscape and killing cold are more than just a breeding ground for deadly scavengers foraging for food.
When August discovers additional information about her father’s climate change experiment and Graysen Marx’s involvement, she learns that a young survivor who can predict the future may hold the key to the future of civilization. And August and her friend’s paranormal abilities may not be enough to save what’s left of humanity from what is about to come.
Fans of The Day after Tomorrow, Mad Max, Divergent, and The Hunger Games will enjoy this enthralling post-apocalyptic dystopian series with a paranormal twist. Join the epic life-and-death battle for survival today!
They said it wouldn’t happen. Everything would be better. They were wrong.
After a climate change experiment goes terribly wrong, August Madison finds herself resurrected in a frozen wasteland.
With most of the world’s population and food sources annihilated, depraved nomadic gangs patrol the lawless landscape as outlasters claw for survival.
Amid the chaos, Graysen Marx, iron-fisted leader of the domed settlement Liberty, emerges from the catastrophic event with his own agenda.
When August crosses his path, he sees an opportunity he must exploit.
She sees an evil she must destroy.
Fans of The Day after Tomorrow, The Handmaid’s Tale, Mad Max, and The Hunger Games are sure to enjoy this enthralling post-apocalyptic dystopian adventure with a paranormal twist.
Kim Cresswell resides in London, Ontario, Canada and is the bestselling and award-winning author of the action-packed WHITNEY STEEL series. Kim recently signed a 3-book German translation deal with LUZIFER Verlag for the first three books in the series: Reflection, Retribution and Resurrect. The popular series will be published in German beginning in 2018.
Her debut romantic suspense, REFLECTION (A Whitney Steel Novel – Book One), has won numerous awards: RomCon®’s 2014 Readers’ Crown Finalist (Romantic Suspense), InD’tale Magazine 2014 Rone Award Finalist (Suspense/Thriller), UP Authors Fiction Challenge Winner (2013), Silicon Valley’s Romance Writers of America (RWA) “Gotcha!” Romantic Suspense Winner (2004), Honourable Mention in Calgary’s (RWA) The Writer’s Voice Contest (2006).
LETHAL JOURNEY won RomCon®’s 2014 Readers’ Crown (Thriller) and was a finalist in From the Heart Romance Writers (FTHRW) Golden Gate Contest (2003).
She also published two Kindle Worlds novellas (Jet: Oblivion and Jet: Duplicity) featuring characters from her Whitney Steel series and JET from Russell Blake’s New York Times bestselling JET action thriller series. You can read Russell Blake’s interview with Kim at http://russellblake.com/kim-cresswell-does-jet-kindle-worlds/.
Kim recently signed with Joel Eisenberg at Council Tree Productions, a feature film and TV development company located in Los Angeles, California. The ASSASSIN CHRONICLES TV series is based on her upcoming 4-book paranormal/supernatural thriller series: Deadly Shadow, Assassin’s Prophecy, Invisible Truth, and Vision of Fire.
Fresh from their brief adventure to colonial times, Gabe, Elizabeth, and Marty receive their next summons from Thrylos, warning them that this will be a longer adventure, and to pack appropriately. Not knowing what ‘longer’ means, the kids do as they’re told, and arrive on a deserted island in 1609, just in time to see a shipwreck on the reefs!
It turns out that the ship is called the Sea Venture, and it was originally bound for the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. The deserted island is called Bermuda, reputed at the time to be surrounded by monsters. All the passengers of the Sea Venture survived the wreck, including one dog whom Elizabeth happily adopts, but the ship itself did not. Gabe, Elizabeth, and Marty find themselves stranded with the would-be settlers as they build two new ships and learn to survive off the land.
Nine months later, when the kids are really starting to wonder what they’re doing there, they finally set sail in the new vessels for Jamestown—only to find that the remaining settlers there are at death’s door! The kids learn from a mysterious prophetess that a resupply ship from England is on the way. But the crew of the original Sea Venture doesn’t know this; they consider the colony a lost cause, and they are on the verge of returning to England and letting it fail. Can Gabe, Elizabeth, and Marty convince them to just hang on in Jamestown for a few more days, even when it looks like all is lost?
Ten year old Gabriel Jordan always wanted to be a magician. He just isn’t very good at it. His godmother writes to a mysterious traveling magician named Thrylos and begs him to visit Gabe, just to encourage him. To her surprise and Gabe’s, Thrylos does so—only it turns out that Thrylos doesn’t just do “magic tricks.” He’s a real magician, and he offers Gabe a magical adventure—any adventure—of his choice.
Gabe thinks long and hard about this. Because Gabe’s godparents adopted him when he lost his mom and dad, he knows what it is to be sad, and to need something exciting to cheer him up. So he tells Thrylos when he returns that he wants to give his adventure away to another kid who needs it more than he does. Thrylos is so impressed with Gabe’s unselfish choice that he offers to make Gabe his apprentice instead. Thrylos reveals that he is a time-traveling magician, and he travels throughout history to various critical, kairos moments in time to make sure they happen the way they should. But he can’t do it alone. Gabe asks if he can bring his adopted little sister Elizabeth and his bookish friend Marty as apprentices too, and Thrylos agrees.
Together, the three kids travel to Christmas Night, 1776: the pivotal night of the American Revolutionary War. Whether or not America ever becomes a nation hinges on General George Washington’s decision that night, when it seems like everything has gone wrong. Can Gabe, Elizabeth, and Marty convince General Washington to press on in the face of incredible odds? The fate of the future United States of America hangs in the balance!
C.A. Gray is the author of three YA Amazon bestselling trilogies: PIERCING THE VEIL (magic and quantum physics meet Arthurian legends), THE LIBERTY BOX (dystopian metaphysics and mind control technology), and UNCANNY VALLEY (dystopian coming-of-age with neuroscience and super intelligent A.I). She starts with some scientific concept that she’s interested in learning more about herself, and then creates lots of epic chaos and high-stakes action to go along with it. Her stories are free of gratuitous violence, language, and sexual content, and she abhors depressing endings… but they’re not all kittens and rainbows either! She also listens to and reviews audiobooks on her website (www.authorcagray.com), Goodreads, Instagram, and on her podcast, Clean Audiobook Reviews, where she also occasionally interviews other authors.
By day, C.A. Gray practices naturopathic medicine, podcasts, and writes medical non-fiction under her maiden name (Lauren Deville). She lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband Frank, and together they maintain an occasionally contentious film review blog (under her real name: Lauren Baden. Three names. Yes.) She’s kind of the queen of multitasking–so in her spare time, she creates whatever meals or crafts she found most recently on Pinterest, drinks lots of coffee (Aeropress btw) and occasional wine (reds–and she saves the corks for craft projects), works out (while listening to audiobooks), and studies the Bible (about half of the podcasts on Christian Natural Health are scripture meditations). …She does sleep, too.
Join her newsletter for best-of-the-month reads, freebies and giveaway information, as well as new releases! http://eepurl.com/F3rof
Rex Bright enjoys drawing in notebooks and dreaming. He’s thirteen, and his life is ordinary. Until he sees a face in a cloud which changes everything. Rex glimpses the girl from an airplane window while travelling to his aunt and uncle’s farm for the summer. Her features are so perfect, Rex can’t believe she’s only vapor. But Cloud Girl is real. A week later, Skyclyffe, a mysterious airship cloaked in a cumulus, abducts Rex and his family. The captors expect the Brights to live in their flying city forever. And, although he’s kidnapped, Rex loves the craft filled with robots, scientific discoveries, and silvery-white beings. Before long, Rex will be forced to decide whether to escape, or if Skyclyffe and its secret wonders are worth never stepping foot on Earth again.
Z. Moss lives in Stillwater, Minnesota and is currently working on the sequel to Skyclyffe. Two dogs, three cats, and two turtles run the household, including the real-life Radar.
Noah Kershisnik has been acting since before he could read. He spent his youth performing Shakespeare plays in a traveling children’s theater, and developed a passion for performance and storytelling. Fortunately he did eventually learn to read, and now spends his time narrating audiobooks as well as acting on camera and stage.
Follow the tour HEREfor special content and a giveaway!
The Princes of Stone and Steel 
Regina Walker was born in the beautiful state of Colorado. She moved to Oklahoma in her late teen years, where she has resided ever since. She likes to curl up on the couch and binge-watch crime shows with her hard-working husband. When she’s not wrestling with a writing project, she can be found wrangling their children, riding their horses, or tending the garden. Along with finding horses on their small farm, chickens, dogs, and cats can be found at nearly every turn.
C.A. Gray is the author of three YA Amazon bestselling trilogies: PIERCING THE VEIL (magic and quantum physics meet Arthurian legends), THE LIBERTY BOX (dystopian metaphysics and mind control technology), and UNCANNY VALLEY (dystopian coming-of-age with neuroscience and super intelligent A.I). She starts with some scientific concept that she’s interested in learning more about herself, and then creates lots of epic chaos and high-stakes action to go along with it. Her stories are free of gratuitous violence, language, and sexual content, and she abhors depressing endings… but they’re not all kittens and rainbows either! She also listens to and reviews audiobooks on her website (www.authorcagray.com), Goodreads, Instagram, and on her podcast, Clean Audiobook Reviews, where she also occasionally interviews other authors. 
Rex Bright enjoys drawing in notebooks and dreaming. He’s thirteen, and his life is ordinary. Until he sees a face in a cloud which changes everything. Rex glimpses the girl from an airplane window while travelling to his aunt and uncle’s farm for the summer. Her features are so perfect, Rex can’t believe she’s only vapor. But Cloud Girl is real. A week later, Skyclyffe, a mysterious airship cloaked in a cumulus, abducts Rex and his family. The captors expect the Brights to live in their flying city forever. And, although he’s kidnapped, Rex loves the craft filled with robots, scientific discoveries, and silvery-white beings. Before long, Rex will be forced to decide whether to escape, or if Skyclyffe and its secret wonders are worth never stepping foot on Earth again. 
