Friday, September 28, 2012

It's The Weekend

There aren't enough days in the weekend ~ Rod Schmidt
I can certainly get behind this quote.... Enjoy yours. I'll be back Monday.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Honoring The Dead or Disrespecting The Living?

I work close to a beautiful old cemetery. Many of the occupants in this peaceful place are civil war soldiers. When I walked by the other day, I saw several confederate flags on the graves.  I couldn't help wondering, do those flags honor the dead or disrespect the living?

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

VBT Love's Debt


With us today is Rachel Brimble. Welcome Rachel. Your heroine runs the Red Lion Tavern. What difficulties does she run in to?

Ooh, I can’t give too much away here! Let’s just say difficulties do arise in Milly’s story but not so much with the tavern. The tavern is an important part of the story and where she is the happiest. She is a popular, fun, hardworking barmaid with ambition. The difficulties come when she meets the hero…

What are your thoughts on self-publishing?

I really don’t have an opinion – A few of my writer friends have gone down this route and never looked back. Others haven’t enjoyed the process after trying and wouldn’t do it again. I admire the people who self-publish and achieve success because it’s a lot of hard work and commitment to edit, proof read, create cover art all single-handedly. It’s not for me though – I wouldn’t know where to start!

What is your favorite genre to write in?

Victorian (obviously!) and romantic suspense are my favorite to write. I have also written mainstream contemporary and comedy, both of which have been published but with recent contract signings with Harlequin and Kensington, from now on I will only be concentrating on Victorian and romantic suspense.

What is your favorite genre to read?

Romantic suspense is my absolute favorite to read but as a bibliophile I read right across the genres, from all types of romance (except paranormal) to crime to historical to biographies. I love to read! I don’t know a writer who doesn’t. I usually have two or three books I’m reading simultaneously at any one time J


BUY LINK(S):

BLURB:
To keep herself from the depths of poverty, Millie Shepherd needs to be appointed manager of the Red Lion Tavern. The elderly owner is in failing health and has promised her the job permanently if no one more suitable applies. Milly will fight with her entire being to make the job her own.

Joseph Jacobs needs to supplement his income to pay off his father’s creditors and save him from debtor’s prison. Though the job as manager of the local tavern looks promising, Milly is favored by both the owner and customers.  Instead, Joseph swallows his pride and agrees to tend bar.

As they work together, their attraction grows, their goals cross, and both Millie and Joseph find they must face their fears …the question is whether they face them alone or together?

EXCERPT:
Joseph Jacobs closed the tavern door behind him and paused a moment to take in his surroundings. As a man used to looking over his shoulder and sensing trouble, experience taught him to be aware of others before they became aware of you. He narrowed his gaze. The meager number of patrons at the tables surprised him at an hour when he expected the bar to be fairly busy. He glanced at the clock; maybe it wasn’t time for the workers yet.

He shifted his gaze to the woman standing beneath the clock and his heart kicked. Her green-gold eyes held him where he stood. She stared and Joseph swallowed, willing some words to come forth from his frozen tongue or at least a smile to curve his paralyzed lips.

She lifted her eyebrows and slowly pulled a cloth from her shoulders. Her hair was a mass of fire-tipped curls around her oval face, her skin creamy-white and her parted lips, a soft delicate pink. Joseph cleared his throat and belatedly removed his hat.“Good evening, miss.”

Her smile slipped easily into place. “Good evening to you, sir.” Her voice was smooth, clear and full of confidence. “Are you looking to quench your thirst or just planning on soaking up the atmosphere?”

Joseph inhaled a long breath through flared nostrils as if trying to smell her. Something told him she’d smell of lavender…or maybe musk. Something to throw a man off guard, to lower his defenses.

He stepped forward. “Neither. I am looking for the landlord. Would you happen to know if he’s available?”

Her gaze lingered on his a moment longer before she looked to the four glasses at the table beside her. She grasped them expertly between her fingers and carried them behind the bar without answering his question.

Joseph couldn’t take his gaze from the natural sway of her hips beneath the deep burgundy dress she wore, the bustle a little too prominent for the current fashion showing her lack of money to afford better. Why else would a woman with the features of an artist’s model be working in a tavern unless necessity demanded it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Rachel lives with her husband and two young daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK.  She started writing short stories about eight years ago but once her children were at school, she embarked on her first novel. It was published in 2007. Since then, she’s had several books published with small presses as well as securing her first contract with Harlequin Superromance in May 2012.

Represented by US agent Dawn Dowdle, of Blue Ridge Literary Agency, Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family.  Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England. And in the evening? Well, a well-deserved glass of wine is never, ever refused…

Contact Rachel at:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/rachelbrimble or @rachelbrimble



http://cblspromotions.blogspot.com/2012/09/scheduled-vbt-loves-debt-by-rachel.html

"http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f92c8685/

Monday, September 24, 2012

VBT Away From the Spotlight



With us today is Tamara Carlisle on her virtual book tour. I asked her  how she researched law school and what other research was necessary. Here is her response.
In writing Away from the Spotlight, I wrote what I knew so extensive research was unnecessary.  I am a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law and lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years.  That said, it has been a while since I graduated and I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area several years ago.  Consequently, I had to perform some research to determine what, if anything, had changed since I went to law school and lived in L.A.
Based upon that research, I made minor changes.  For example, my law school graduation ceremony took place at USC’s Bovard Auditorium, but the law school now holds its graduation ceremonies in the McCarthy Quad.  In addition, in my day, I would have gone to Commons for lunch.  However, the old Commons was demolished and replaced with the Ronald Tutor Campus Center in recent years.
I ignored some of the differences I found because changing them would not work for the story as I envisioned it.  For example, when I took my Bar Review course, recorded lectures were replayed during the day classes and live lectures took place at night.  Now, the live lectures take place during the day and the recorded lectures are replayed in the classes held at night.  I preferred my schedule of studying during the day, going to a live lecture at night and then going out afterward so I kept it that way in the story.  Had I kept my old schedule, but substituted the recorded lectures for the live lectures, I would have had to remove some of the commentary that was based upon my experience, such as heckling the USC professor who delivered one of the Bar Review lectures.  I didn’t want to do that since peppering in some of my experience gave the fairytale some of its realism.  
The other thing I had to deal with that might have required research was the issue of using appropriate British idioms.  However, I have spent a lot of time in the U.K. and my husband is from Scotland.  I hope that Will and his friends and family sound like proper Brits.  If not, my fallback position is that, at least with respect to Will, Stephen, Colin, Kate and Gemma, they had been living in L.A. and working with a lot of Americans so any slips can be attributed to their having adapted American terms and speech patterns. 
In addition, even though most of the places I mention are fictional, they were often based upon real places.  I therefore reviewed the relevant websites to ensure my memories and reality matched.  For example, the manor house hotel where Will and Shannon got engaged was based upon Cliveden, where one of my best friends got married.  The Royalist was based upon the Ye Olde King’s Head Pub in Santa Monica, where I met my husband when he was on holiday and where my Bachelorette Party was held.  With respect to Shannon’s travels through Europe, I checked tourism websites to confirm my memories as well as Eurail train schedules and routes to ensure that Shannon’s trip worked logistically.
While the plot and characters are purely fictional, it is my hope that the supporting details from my experience and confirmed through research make it easier for the required suspension of disbelief.
Thank you for the “spotlight” on my novel, Away from the Spotlight, today. 

BLURB:

In the closing weeks of law school, Shannon Sutherland meets handsome and charming Englishman Will MacKenzie. Initially swept off her feet, Shannon finds that Will has a secret that, once discovered and the consequences realized, could destroy their fledgling relationship. Will and Shannon take great pains to have a normal relationship but, ultimately, find it impossible to do so. Will the pressures of their careers and the temptations of others drive Will and Shannon apart? Can Will and Shannon live a happy life away from the spotlight?
EXCERPT:

“I met someone.  His name is Will.  He’s English, I think.”

“That would be different for you.”

She wasn’t wrong.  I had very casually dated a number of men I had met in the various pubs in Santa Monica.  They were from all over Europe, but not one of them had been English for some reason.  There were Scottish, Irish and Welsh men among them, but never English.  I had commented on occasion on the fact that I never seemed to meet English men at the English pubs I frequented.

“I’m going to see him again tomorrow night.”

“What’s he like?”

“Drop-dead gorgeous, smart, funny and with excellent taste in music.  Just my type.  Well, better than my type, actually.  It’s hard to believe someone that perfect has any interest in me.”

Please” Rachael said.  “You get hit on every time we go out.”

“That’s overstating things quite a bit.”

“You seem oblivious to it half the time.”

I guess I did ignore some of it.  When you spend time as part of a female minority in bars full of drunk men, it was hard not to think that some of them would have hit on me for no other reason than that I was female, regardless of how I acted, what I said, or what I looked like.  I therefore learned that getting hit on wasn’t necessarily a compliment and, the later it happened in the evening, the less of a compliment it was.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Tamara Carlisle is a former attorney and business consultant.  Away from the Spotlight is her first published work of fiction.  She currently is working on two additional novels:  one is about love in the music industry and the other is a work of paranormal fiction.  Tamara currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her British husband and daughter.  For further information, go to http://www.tamaracarlisle.com. 

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Away-from-the-Spotlight-by-Tamara-Carlisle/166846163445733
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6185721.Tamara_Carlisle
Shelfari:  http://www.shelfari.com/books/29531300/Away-from-the-Spotlight?amatc=kdp-c
Library Thing:  http://www.librarything.com/author/carlisletamara

Tamara’s Goodreads Author Page also includes a blog detailing trivia relating to Away from the Spotlight.
  
 Tamara will be awarding two $25 Amazon GCs to randomly drawn commenters during the tour.

Friday, September 21, 2012

We Survived

Yay, it's Friday! Enjoy your weekend. I'll see you (in the cyber sense) Monday.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

VBT Devil's Mountain



AVAILABLE AT
Amazon

B&N

iTunes

All Romance eBooks


BLURB
You will hate Him for all that he's taken, but you will love Him. God help you, you will love Him.

Mary Devlin accepted her fate years ago, to serve Slanaitheoir, the mountain spirit who saved her ancestors from the Irish Famine. The hauntingly beautiful woman submitted to His every caress, His every humiliation, but He’s gone too far by threatening her family.

Mary’s daughter-in-law is now an unwitting pawn in the fickle spirit’s game. Mary must challenge her fate and that of all future Devlin women, but Slanaitheoir is the most powerful being in the land. And when part of her still yearns for His touch and love, how can she fight him and win?

EXCERPT:
Marcie, one of the Wanna-Be Manhattan Moms who had also experienced success, lived a few blocks away on East 85th Street. A group of successful Wanna-Be Manhattan Moms had formed a little Upper East Side sorority. We would go to Mommy-and-Me classes, play dates and at times babysat for each other. I’m not sure exactly what happened to the not-so-successful Wanna-Be Manhattan Moms. None of us mentioned them.

Marcie agreed to babysit Aidan while I went to my acupuncture appointment at the Yorktown Natural Fertility Clinic. Bobby refused to go back to the New York Infertility Institute. In fact, it was all I could do to convince him not to use condoms. “I’ve got my beautiful wife and my beautiful son,” he said in a sing-song voice whenever I raised the topic of another child. “That’s all I want. That’s all I need.”

Why wasn’t that all I needed?

The first few months of Aidan’s life, I was completely satisfied. I’d never been so happy or imagined I could be so happy.

But then, the old familiar niggling started. I’d take Aidan in his stroller through Central Park and see a woman pushing twins in a stroller. Or a mother holding the hands of a small boy and a girl. And I would get that sour taste in my mouth, the same one I had tasted for years whenever I saw a pregnant woman.

And so it began.

I couldn’t very well steal a vial of Bobby’s sperm and take it with me back to Dr. Feinberg’s office. But we had, somehow, managed to conceive Aidan on our own. Perhaps with some Chinese herbs and acupuncture we could conceive again. Marcie swore by acupuncture, and after she had been thrown out of two Manhattan IVF clinics she tried traditional Chinese medicine and conceived her own miracle baby. Why couldn’t I too, conceive a little miracle baby with the help of magic teas and shiny needles?

Just one more, I thought to myself as I opened the heavy glass doors of the Yorktown Natural Fertility Clinic. “Just one more miracle. And then. Then I’ll be happy and content.”

I promise, I silently swore to God, the universe or whoever else might be listening to my thoughts. 
AUTHOR BIO
Bernadette Walsh has been writing contemporary and paranormal romance for four years. She has published three novels to date (The House on Prospect (Echelon Press) and Gold Coast Wives (Lyrical Press)) and the first book of her paranormal trilogy, Devil’s Mountain -- Book One of the Devlin Legacy. While Bernadette has hopped around genres, all of her books to date have a common theme: strong women handling what life throws at them the best way they can.



~*~
Milson has won a copy of Golden Chariot. Milson, please send your email addie to sandracox1@gmail.com.


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Animal Charities

In case you donate  to animal charities, I'm passing on information that was sent out on a rescue loop .



The Humane Society of the United States does not run any shelters for companion animals.
HSUS 2010 Annual Income: $148Million 
The ASPCA (New York City) runs one single animal shelter in New York City.. In 2010 they adopted out 3389 animals there.ASPCA  2010 Annual Income:  $133Million
PETA runs a single facility in VA that they call an animal shelter but has no living areas or holding wards. It's an office building with a walk-in freezer. In 2010 they killed 93.8% of animals they took in - 2200 animals.PeTa 2010 Annual Income: $35Million

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Strong Women


Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says~~  "Oh Crap, She's up!"

Monday, September 17, 2012

VBT Heroes Live Forever


BLURB:

Elinor Hawthorne has inherited a house haunted by the ghosts of two medieval knights, Basil Manneville and Guy Guiscard. Basil is the man of her dreams, her knight in shining armor. She falls in love with him and he with her. Basil soon realizes she needs to live a normal life, a happy life with a mortal.

A lifetime later fate intervenes. Basil, still in love with Elinor, is told her spirit lives on in a young woman and he is given another chance at life to find her. 


At the top of the stairs, goose bumps suddenly dotted Elinor’s skin and the hair on her arms stood on end. She glanced back, but didn’t see anything strange, or more to the point, Lucy’s ghost knight.

Author Bio:

I was born and raised in Chicago. My father was a history professor and my mother was, and is, a voracious reader. I grew up with a love of history and books.

My parents also love traveling, a passion they passed onto me. I wanted to see the places I read about, see the land and monuments from the time periods that fascinated me. I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively throughout Europe, the Near East, and North Africa.

I am a retired police detective. I spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two different agencies. My desire to write came in my early teens. After I retired, I decided to pursue that dream.

I currently live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband, four rescue dogs and a rescue horse. 





Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Emotion Thesaurus

Has anyone out there ordered this yet? I ran across information about this on one of my writers' loops. I've ordered it and I'm anxious to check it out.Like most writers I'm always on the look out for better ways to express myself.  I'll let you know what I think of it after it gets here.

And on a just-for-fun note. I've finished Divergent. If you're a dystopian YA fan, I recommend it.

What about you? Read any good ones lately?

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Munchkins

Blogging today on four-legged Munchkins at Night Writers.

Remembrance of the nine-eleven victims and their loved ones.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Who Knew?


With the exception of Elmer's Glue, I haven't tried these so I don't know if they work. I did try the glue on a splinter and it worked.If you've tried any of these in the past and they've worked for you or haven't, let us know.
I'm curious about the Wesson oil, but I'm hesitant to try it on the kitties. Maybe, I'll run it by my buddy the vet tech.

Who knew? 

 
Eliminate ear mites. All it takes is a few drops ofWesson Corn Oil in your cat's ear... Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat's skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing. 
Kills fleas instantly...Dawn Dishwashing Liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog's bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to avoid skin irritations. Good-bye fleas. 
Rainy day cure for dog odor: Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making your dog smell springtime fresh. 
Did you know that drinking two glasses of
Gatoradecan relieve headache pain almost immediately-without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional pain relievers?

Did you know that Colgate Toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns? 
Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They'll clear up your stuffed nose. 
Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 tablespoon horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil for instant relief foraching muscles. 
Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria. 
Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer. Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly-even though the product was never been advertised for this use. 
Honey remedy for skin blemishes... Cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight. 
Listerine therapy for toenail fungus: Get rid of unsightlytoenail fungusby soaking your toes in Listerine Mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.  Vicks Vapor Rub does it too, put it under the nails.
Easy eyeglass protection... To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Maybelline Crystal Clear Nail Polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them. 
Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer... If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can't find the insecticide, try a spray ofFormula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly. 
Smart splinter remover: Just pour a drop of Elmer's Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to the dried glue. 
Hunt's Tomato Paste boil cure... Cover the boil with Hunt's Tomato Paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head. 

Balm for broken blisters.. To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine
a powerful antiseptic.

Vinegar to heal bruises... Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.
Quaker Oats for fastpain relief... it's not for breakfast any more! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Dying Breed

I'm a dinosaur. I think I must be the last person in the world who owns a flip phone instead of a smart one. I don't text. Gasp. It's a wonder I ever hear from my children. I've no doubt, I'd hear from them more frequently if I did. What do I have against texting? Not a thing, except it would jack up my monthly phone charge. Do I sound a little bit squeaky, as in so tight? Maybe. Its a matter of priorities. Texting just isn't that big a deal for me. And I wouldn't mind a smart phone I just don't want one bad enough  to pay a higher fee. Plus there's the matter of I'd have to figure out how to use it. Is there anybody else out there that still uses a flip phone or am I the only  person on the verge of extinction?


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

How to Turn Ghost Hunting Into A Novel


With us today is my friend, Dana Davis. Dana has  interests I think you'll find fascinating. Dana, I know you're involved in the paranormal and ghost hunting. Please tell us about what transpires when you're on a hunt and how your experiences helped shape your new release Desert Magick. Also please tell us about what kind of equipment you use and your most unusual ghost hunting experience.

Thanks for having me back, Sandra! I’ll start with a little background of how I got into the paranormal so I can better answer your questions.

Since I was a small child, I’ve been interested in the paranormal and science. That might seem like an odd mixture to some, but it was a perfectly normal way for me. My mother’s side of the family is very open to the paranormal and I had a great-great aunt who was a medium back in the early 1900s, so I heard a lot of fascinating stories growing up. My dad was a chemist, a scientist, and pretty much a skeptic about all things ghostly. I believe these opposite views gave me a nice balance in my beliefs and the ability to reason out the normal from the unexplained.

When I decided to write a paranormal fantasy series, I chose to focus on witches, mediums and psychics. With the first book, I pulled on some of those family stories, as well as personal experiences I’ve had over the years. In doing so, I found a new love for my family lineage. I’m not saying the family tales are true all the way down their nuggets, since oral stories get exaggerated over time, but they’re part of my family lore, true or not, and I embraced them. It’s kind of cool to tell people I had a practicing medium in the family back when the occult was at a peak in the early 1900s. I’ve also heard family members say that one of our ancestors was a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600s. I haven’t found links to any of the persecuted from that time, but I did find an ancestor cousin buried in Salem when hubby and I traveled there a couple of years ago. And I have several documented ancestors from the Boston area, so who knows. I just love a good family mystery!

But back to ghosts. A couple of years ago, when I was living in Arizona, a paranormal team heard I was writing about ghosts and invited me on one of their investigations. “Who ya gonna call?” immediately played inside my head and I got a tingly feeling in my tummy. I mean, how could I turn down such a grand opportunity? This was a chance to satiate my curiosity and expand my thirst for all things odd and unexplainable. Not to mention, get new fodder for my series.

The first investigation was at an old abandoned gold mine over an hour from my home. The place was closed and we spent several hours investigating with flashlights, cameras, digital video recorders and voice recorders. The whole thing reminded me a lot of my days in Hollywood when we would go on location for a shoot. You spend a lot of time setting up and getting things just so, and then there’s a lot of waiting. And more waiting. Sitting in the dark at wee hours of the night waiting for something to happen isn’t for everyone, but I love it.

The team’s director seemed impressed that I would ask questions to thin air and not feel self-conscious about it so I was question girl for the remainder of the night. It was very quiet out there at night and I didn’t hear any answers to my questions. But we did get visited by a couple of foxes. Not paranormal, but still cool. We also witnessed a rock bouncing in through an open window. Or rather a missing window. It was an abandoned site from the 1800s, after all. That was pretty much the most excitement we experienced. While the team and I weren’t overly impressed, a couple of guys who had won a contest to participate in the hunt looked like they might just ditch us and run all the way home. Needless to say, they were more entertaining than the mystery rock.

Over the next few weeks, I helped out with the evidence. I went through photos, audio recordings, and video, looking for anything unusual. That rock did show up on one of the audio files, which confirmed that it happened, but we got no other evidence so it was just labeled an unusual occurrence. After that experience, I decided I really wanted to do more of these types of investigations. I asked the director if I could join her team and she accepted me.  

Over the next couple of years, I participated in several investigations, ghost tours, and investigative training sessions with my team and with others. You have to be extremely patient because most of the time, you get nothing unusual. When you get a hit, it’s very exciting and tends to fuel the desire to dig even deeper into the mystery of the afterlife. I had heard fascinating stories from other investigators and I really wanted to experience something more than a single mystery rock. Fortunately, I got my wish a few investigations later.

While listening to hours and hours of digital files, I heard something strange. One came from an old hotel. I heard a male voice next to me when there was no one there at the time. It came in under the woman who was explaining a bit about the history of the place. The voice was a different frequency than the rest of the recording, little more than a harsh whisper, but it sounded irritated or maybe even angry. I didn’t hear the voice at the time, but it was pretty awesome to hear it in the recording.

Nothing showed up on the photos I took, so I had no other evidence. Since I don’t have the amount of experience some of my teammates have, I sent the unaltered file out to a couple of them for their opinions. Both investigators agreed that the audio clip was legitimate. It wasn’t something mechanical. It was a voice. And it didn’t belong to any humans present during the investigation. Imagine my excitement when I realized I caught an EVP - electronic voice phenomenon (a voice no one hears at the time but that shows up on a recording). Does this mean an actual dead person was standing next to me and I caught his voice on my recorder? Not necessarily. But it does mean that after many hours of investigating, I finally got something we couldn’t explain. I did a happy dance all around my house and couldn’t wait for the next investigation.

I’ll continue to incorporate my experiences and family stories into my Desert Magick series, which is set in the Arizona desert towns in and around Phoenix. The series is fantasy-based, so when you read the books, you might find yourself wondering which events are based on actual stories and which are made up. I’m certainly not telling.

Dana Davis is an award-winning and bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction and a paranormal investigator. She once worked for Hollywood and Disney. Genealogy fascinates her, and her ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, Dutch, British, and Mohawk Indian. Her great-great aunt is purported to have been a medium and a telekinetic. President Barack Obama is her seventh cousin once removed. And her grandfather was an engineer with NASA. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and uses her varied background, along with family stories, to aid in her writing.

Dana’s contest: Enter for a chance to win a free PDF or ePub copy of the newly released Desert Magick: Phoenix Lights (Bk 4). To enter, leave a comment and email addy (Use AT in place of @ to avoid spammers). The winner will be chosen at random and must have an email address that accepts attachments in order to receive the prize. Contest ends Wednesday, September 5th at 9 pm PST, and Dana will notify the winner within one week of that date. Dana’s family members are not eligible. Sorry about that. Good luck!

For information on the entire bestselling Desert Magick series, please visit Dana’s website www.danadaviswriting.com


Dana’s Blah Blah blog http://danadaviswriting.blogspot.com/



BLURB

Daisy and Noah turned just in time to see a ball of light move toward them from one of the nearby peaks. It pulsated as it traveled at an amazing speed. Straight at Daisy. She yelped, and she and Noah both ducked as it flew past. Just as she stood and turned to see where it had gone, the thing came at her again. She backpedaled and lost her footing, landing hard on the rocky ground.
“Damnit. That hurt. I don’t think he wants to help me.” And I’m so not in the mood to fall off a mountain tonight. Noah helped her up and she dusted her throbbing hands on her jeans. The orb made another pass at her but she stayed on her feet this time. Barely. “Scarlet, do something!”
The medium stepped next to Daisy as the orb started toward her again. Daisy was about to duck out of the way, but the orb stopped abruptly about a foot in front of them. It flickered like a flame in a breeze. Before Daisy could move, the orb streaked toward her, slamming into her chest. She doubled over and cried out from the pain. The pain grew to agony as the thing now inside her started to expand. Someone near her called out but she couldn’t make out the words. Her body stiffened, refusing to obey her commands to run. White hot pain seared her muscles. She screamed but it sounded distant to her own ears. Her head felt like it was on fire. Her eyes burned and her breath caught.
Am I dying? She barely formed that thought when another wave of pain, this one tearing at her muscles, shot through her, and she pitched to the ground.