VBT: Whisper Of A Witch

BLURB:

Biologist Shauni Miller, is as beautiful as she is compassionate, harbors a secret that could alter her life forever. If she chooses to share it. Dr. Michael Black helps Shauni in her time of need, but sees more in the raven-haired temptress than she ever meant to reveal. He knows she’s hiding something, but then, so is he. Both Shauni and Michael have a role to play and decisions to make as a centuries-old prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. Only the fates know if they are meant to be together. Or if one of them has to die.

EXCERPT

Willyn opened her mouth to speak, but paused and looked down at the stone floor. All of the women stilled and listened.

They sensed.

Shauni grasped Hayden’s arm just above the elbow when she felt a low but very distinctive vibration. It was more like a hum and came from the floor, the walls, possibly the ceiling. It was all around them, and judging by the others’ faces, they felt it, too. “What is that?” she whispered.

A new voice spoke gently but with the authority of one who was well acquainted with privilege and position. “What you’re all feeling is the power of the nine.”

They turned to find another had joined them. Sable brown hair fell around her shoulders and brilliant blue eyes held warmth and welcome above a serene smile. “You’ll get used to it, so that you probably won’t even notice. And it only occurs when we’re all together.” Her lips spread into a playful grin. “Just wait until we link.”

“Cool,” Kylie said. “Hey, Anna.”

Shauni remained where she was but zeroed in on the elegant woman, still very young to be so comfortable wearing the unseen but almost palpable cloak of power. “Link?”

“You know why we’re here?” Paige asked. “Because I’m ready for some…”

“Answers,” Anna finished for her. “Yes, I know.” She stepped back and swept a hand toward a door in the back of the room. An invitation. “And I have some.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Suza Kates can’t remember a time when she didn’t love books, but two particular memories stay with her. “As a young girl I picked up Little Women, read it straight through, and promptly turned to page one to start all over again. The next book I did that with was Mind Hunter by John Douglas, tales about profiling serial killers.”

Thus a twisted romantic was born.

Throughout her teenage and young adult years, she read everything from horror to historical romance yet never imagined writing anything of her own.

It was during a long, cold winter in a tiny apartment in Germany that Suza picked up a pen and notebook to entertain herself. “The apartment was so tiny, my bed also served as my living room couch. Plus, I shared it with three cats.”

Missing the warmth, the hospitality, and the food of the South, she wrote about those things with a huge dose of family thrown in. She says she still has a sweet spot in her heart for her first book, Southern Moon, but to date, she hasn’t revisited it for submission to her publisher.

Suza followed her heart to Savannah, Georgia, and it was the gorgeous city with its moss-covered oaks and secrets of history that inspired her to consider paranormal romance. “I had an idea about sisters and magic, so I went to work on the first book of The Savannah Coven Series, Whisper of a Witch. The series is still going strong, and I am grateful every day that I took a chance on paranormal romance, a genre I wasn’t very familiar with and had never actually read before writing it.”

Suza has since joined RWA and can’t say enough about this organization. “The education and support are unparalleled. I am so grateful to all of my fellow writers who have offered advice.”

Suza still resides in Savannah and is currently working on her next book. She considers it a perfect day when she can sit at the keyboard with coffee in her cup and one of her cats purring in her lap. 

www.suzakates.com

http://www.facebook.com/authorsuzakates

   



Suza will award signed cover flats and pens to a commenter at every stop, a total of five $15 Amazon/BN GCs to randomly drawn commenters during this tour and her Name Before the Masses tour, and gift basket to one commentator from both this tour and her Name Before the Masses tour,

Weekly Workout

Mondays:    Kickboxing

Tuesday: Yoga

Wednesday: Walking

Thursday: Kickboxing

Friday: Walk from the restaurant to the sales racks

Sat and Sunday: Ah......

This is what my Monday through Thursday is supposed to look like. Unfortunately, I cheat. What's your workout week look like?

~*~ 

Among the northern tribes there is a legend passed down from generation to generationabout shape-shifting Minders—guardians of the innocents—and how they came to be.
It is said that nowadays only a handful of Minders exist, hunted to near extinction by a fearsome beast. Of the remaining Minders, only one wears a garnet-studded collar, the symbol of protection and royalty.
Even when my aunt told me the story and handed me an ancient garnet-studded band, I had no idea the tale applied to me. After all, it’s only a legend… MINDER

Weekends and Rainbows

Weekends are a bit like rainbows; they look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.  John Shirley

I'll be back Monday. Enjoy your weekend.

Curtail Baby Formula and Soft Drinks, Really?

Back in the day, I was a smoker, a heavy smoker let me add. So if I could quit, anyone can. But I digress. You're probably wondering what smoking has to do with carbonated drinks and baby formula.  I'm getting to it. At that point in time, they'd started running serious anti-smoking ads mainly by trying to lay guilt trips on smokers. Every time I saw one I'd light up. So I'm not certain how worthwhile New York's approach to breast feeding and limiting soda intake is.
If I was a pregnant woman in New York right now, I'd be packing my bags.If I was a heavy soda drinker, yup, I'd be heading elsewhere.
It goes without saying soda isn't good for you, especially if like 90% of the populace you're fighting waistline spread. And mother's milk good for babies? You betcha.  But for me it still comes down to choice. Especially breast feeding. That's pretty personal.  I feel strongly that it should be a mother's choice.
My understanding is if a mom wants formula for her baby she'll have to listen to a lecture first on the benefits of breastfeeding. Hmm, I can't think after hours spent in labor too many moms are going to be thrilled about that.
Granted, they aren't doing away with the large amounts of soda or breast feeding, just drawing attention to those that want the big soda or are more comfortable with formula. I wonder what's next, zeroing in on the healthiest means of birth control?

The Graduate

Penny Cox graduated from Puppy Obedience School. Her best friend was a tea cup Chihuahua. She will be continuing her secondary education at the Intermediate level.

Pyschic Spies, really? Really!

I asked   Patricia if she had former experience with the CIA. I found her answer fascinating. I think you will too.

When I began writing Black Swamp Mysteries, making Vicki Boyd, one of the main characters, a CIA operative was a no-brainer. But having her as a psychic spy was something I just happened upon.

Before I became a full-time writer, I founded and operated two computer companies. My clients included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. My specialty was white collar computer crime and computer intelligence. Later, I began working with local law enforcement as well. Some of the projects I worked on inspired computer-themed crimes in my suspense/thrillers and actually helped me along as a writer.

While working on Medicare fraud and abuse, I learned to think like a criminal. I worked with auditors to think of ways in which a person or business could defraud the government and then I developed software that could trap them. It was fascinating work and extremely fulfilling when I discovered my software was actually helping to identify criminal activity.

Most of my books have had computer programmers or analysts working on the side of the law. But when I wrote Exit 22, the first of the Black Swamp Mysteries series, for the first time I developed a character that walked the dark side of computer technology. That character, Brenda Carnegie, has come back strong in Secrets of a Dangerous Woman—and, as you might have guessed, Brenda is the dangerous woman.

Her sister is Vicki Boyd, a psychic spy.

Years ago, in order to peruse declassified files, I had to file with the United States Information Agency, a now defunct organization. Or I had to complete paperwork with a specific agency and it often took weeks or months to receive the information I requested, and I had to be very specific.

But times have changed. Now it is possible to view declassified cases right on the CIA’s own website. It’s the best place to go for ideas because I know what I am reading are straight from the agency. It isn’t filtered through another website that might change facts to suit a particular agenda.

It was there that I stumbled upon information regarding the United States’ real psychic spy program. It began during the Cold War when Intelligence sources in the United States intercepted information that the Soviet Union had developed a psychic spy program. The goal was to train Soviet operatives to enter our nuclear facilities with only their minds, to sit in on the highest cabinet level meetings, and to see our weapons and secret documents in such minute detail that the operatives could draw detailed pictures and write exactly what they’d seen in their mind’s eye.

Our intelligence sources asked for government funding to explore this possibility. They didn’t know if the capability existed for psychic spies to be effective. But if they were, they didn’t want to find out twenty years down the road—and find out the Soviets were superior in this area than the United States. Thus began joint operations between the CIA and the Department of Defense to identify individuals who showed an aptitude in remote viewing and to train them as psychic spies.

The Black Swamp Mysteries series contains an ensemble cast, which makes it possible for me to always surprise (and hopefully delight) my readers. Vicki’s psychic spy abilities allows her to travel anywhere in the world, even into remote regions such as the Hindu Kush. Brenda’s computer hacking and prowess allows me to weave computer technology into the plots. Vicki’s love interest, Dylan Maguire, is an Irishman who works as a CIA ground operative. His missions can take the readers into dangerous areas and see events unfold through his eyes. And Brenda’s love interest, Christopher Sandige, is a political strategist—which can come in handy on more than one occasion.

And the CIA element of the series allows me to weave true missions into the plots—because sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.

 Blurb:

In Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, Dylan Maguire is back in his first assignment with the CIA: to interrogate recently captured Brenda Carnegie. But when she escapes again, it's obvious she's had help from within the CIA's own ranks. With Vicki Boyd's assistance, Brenda is back in Dylan's custody. And now he must find out why some in the highest levels of our government want her dead while others are willing to risk everything to help her. And when he discovers Brenda's real identity, his mission has just become very personal.

 Excerpt:

Dylan and Sam stood in the wide, hushed hallway as they observed the interrogation room through the one-way mirror. Inside was a metal table in the center of the room with empty chairs on one side. Against the far wall was a counter that ran the length of the room, comprised of a sink and cabinets above and below the stainless steel countertop.

But it was the single chair on one side of the table, the side closest to Dylan and Sam that riveted their attention. The metal chair was arranged so they viewed the occupant from the side. The ankles were cuffed to the slat at the bottom of the chair while each wrist was cuffed to the chair arms. Thick copper hair hung in waves that reached to the person’s waist and obscured the face.

“That’s a woman,” Dylan said.

“Very observant,” Sam replied.

“Women cry.”

Sam crossed his arms in front of him. “Not this one. She’s not even close to breaking.”

“What’s ‘er name?”

“Brenda Carnegie.”

“Ah, a Scottish name…What is it you want me to do with ‘er?”

“Keep her awake, for starters.” He glanced at him. “It should be good practice for you. Use some of those interrogation techniques they taught you.”

“She’s got blood on ‘er.”

“Yeah.”

“You got a medical bag, do you?”

“I’m sure we can round one up.”

“What is it you want to know?”

“Who she works for,” Sam said as he picked up a handset beside the one-way mirror.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 16 books, including Vicki's Key, a 2012 International Book Awards finalist, and River Passage, 2010 Best Fiction & Drama winner. She is the co-founder of The Book 'Em Foundation whose slogan is "Buy a Book and Stop a Crook" and the co-chair of Book 'Em North Carolina Writers Conference & Book Fair. For more information, visit www.pmterrell.com.

www.pmterrell.com

www.pmterrell.blogspot.com

Twitter: @pmterrell

Facebook: Patricia M. Terrell

Patricia is offering 25 Amazon Gift Card to one randomly drawn commenter). The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/07/virtual-book-tour-secrets-of-dangerous.html.

Highland Series

I'm hosting the Highland Home Series today at Downtown YA. If you like YAs about vampires and werewolves this series looks pretty interesting.