Jagged Feathers – @jansikes3 #NewRelease #RomanticSuspense #WhiteRuneSeries

February 16, 2022February 8, 2022 ~ John W. Howell ~ 96 Comments

I am pleased that Jan Sikes will be visiting today to talk about her new book, Jagged Feathers. Jan is an old friend and fellow member of Story Empire. Please welcome her to Fiction Favorites.

Thank you, John, for inviting me to your blog site today to talk about my new book, JAGGED FEATHERS! I appreciate your generosity.

I mentioned Vann’s faithful and loyal canine, Champion, in another blog post. The beautiful animal showed up on his front porch, injured and starving. But like in real life, sometimes our animals get hurt. Champion takes a bullet in a daring escape from the drug cartel henchmen. It kills Vann to see the animal injured again, and with no time to get him into town, performs surgery to remove the bullet after taking refuge at a neighbor’s horse ranch.

EXCERPT #1:

He touched Nakina’s shoulder. “It’s safe to come up now.”

She raised herself from the bottom of the boat onto the seat, trembling from head to toe. “Holy shit! I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“Are you okay?” Her ashen face left no doubt.

She nodded and took a deep breath. “I think so.”

“Champion?” He reached down to let Champion know it was safe to come up, but the animal didn’t get up. With his heart in his throat, he knelt over the dog and encountered an all-too-familiar stickiness. “He’s been hit.”

Tears streamed down Nakina’s face, and the boat rocked as she joined Vann on her knees. “No!”

Vann turned Champion over to see sticky blood oozing from a wound near his hind leg. “Shit!”

Nakina stroked the big dog’s head while Vann probed through the thick fur and located the entry point. Champion yelped, then whined low and long.

“It looks like the bullet might be lodged in bone.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a bandana, then tied it tightly around the wound. “We need to elevate his head and keep pressure on the wound.”

Nakina settled herself into the bottom of the boat and cradled Champion’s head on her lap.

The boat rocked when Vann stood and scoured the surroundings. The creek branched off ahead, and he knew which way to go.

He rowed like a mad man while keeping one eye on Champion.

“Where are we going?” Nakina asked.

“I have a neighbor, Colt Layne, a few miles down the creek. He owns a large horse ranch. He’s a good guy. He’ll help.”

EXCERPT #2:

Colt dropped his medical tools into the water and added antiseptic. “We’ll know more once I can dig around in there. Depending on where it is, sometimes it’s best to leave the bullet in and sew him up.”

As he reached into the boiling water with tongs, the door flew open. A ranch hand jerked his hat off when he spotted Nakina. “Boss, I’m sorry, but we’ve got a problem. Daisy’s foaling, and she’s in big trouble.”

Vann stepped forward. “Go on, man. I can do this. Go see about your mare.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.” Memories from his special mission training flooded back. This was only slightly different from digging bullets out of cadavers. “It’s not my first time.”

Colt nodded, grabbed his hat, and sprinted through the door following the ranch hand, yelling over his shoulder, “Anything you need, just make yourselves at home. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Vann pulled on vinyl gloves, grabbed the tongs, and fished out forceps. After some probing, he frowned. “I can feel it, but it’s at a weird angle. I’ll have to dig around.”

He met Nakina’s worried gaze. “Champion can’t feel a thing.”

She nodded. “Thank goodness.”

Minutes ticked by before Vann finally pulled the forceps out, holding a gold blood-stained bullet. He looked it over before dropping it into a pan. “Looks like a thirty-eight slug.”

Nakina passed the antiseptic, and Vann poured it over the wound, then reached for a needle and thread.

“What now?” Nakina’s voice shook.

“I’ll sew him up and wait for Colt. Champion will need antibiotics. He may be left with a limp.” Vann hated the many similarities between himself and the animal. “I guess that’s better than being lame or having to amputate.”

***

I have zero experience with any kind of bullet wound, especially in an animal, so a good amount of research helped me understand the process and healing time. Many of us have stated before how folks would view us as perhaps a little unstable or demented if they could see our search histories, but it’s the quickest and easiest way to find information and keep working. What is the most bizarre research you’ve ever done for a story? I’d love to hear it.

And just so you know, Champion recovers quite well.

BOOK TRAILER LINK: https://youtu.be/CwGRyRVMyLE

BLURB:

Vann Noble did his duty. He served his country and returned a shell of a man, wounded inside and out. With a missing limb and battling PTSD, he seeks healing in an isolated cabin outside a small Texas town with a stray dog that sees beyond his master’s scars. If only the white rune’s magic can bring a happily ever after to a man as broken as Vann.

On the run from hired killers and struggling to make sense of her unexplained deadly mission, Nakina Bird seeks refuge in Vann’s cabin. She has secrets. Secrets that can get them all killed.

A ticking clock and long odds of living or dying, create jarring risks.

Will these two not only survive, but find an unexpected love along the way? Or, will evil forces win and destroy them both?

UNIVERSAL PURCHASE LINK:

https://linktr.ee/Rijanjks

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

WEBSITE: http://www.jansikes.com

BLOG: http://www.jansikesblog.com

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/jansikes3

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJanSikesBooks

PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/jks0851/

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7095856.Jan_Sikes

BOOKBUB: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jan-sikes

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jansikes/

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Sikes/e/B00CS9K8DK

Introducing Cold Dark Night by Joan Hall #newbook

June 15, 2021June 6, 2021 ~ John W. Howell ~ 46 Comments

I am welcoming Joan Hall to fiction Favorites. Joan is a fellow member of Story Empire and a terrific writer. She has a new book to tell us about. Joan the post is yours.

Thank you for hosting me today, John. I’m delighted to be here and to tell your readers about my newest release, Cold Dark Night. It’s the first novel in the Legends of Madeira series. Each book begins with a historical event that ties to modern-day.

I have the utmost respect for the men and women who serve or have served in the military. My character, Connor Hughes, is a former SEAL. He’s recently returned to Madeira after his discharge from the Navy and purchases a gun range.

There are parts of his past that he’s reluctant to share, but he and lead character Jason soon strike up a friendship. Connor plays a pivotal role late in the story. The following scene is when he and my lead character Jason first meet.

Excerpt:

Connor Hughes unlocked the door of the gun range, then stepped inside. For what must have been the hundredth time in the past few weeks, he asked himself why he’d returned to his hometown. There was nothing left for him here. His parents sold the family home shortly after he enlisted in the navy and bought a condo in Westwood. These days they spent most of their time traveling. The friends he once had in Madeira were either living somewhere else or had likely forgotten him.

Okay, that was an unfair assumption. The truth was, he’d forgotten his friends. A few of them didn’t understand why he decided to join the military—not even the one person he thought would support him in anything.

This morning, he’d driven through his old neighborhood. One house stood out among the others—the two-story Victorian where Ruth Hazelton once lived. Apparently, she no longer lived there—a mid-size SUV and a black Camaro sat in the driveway.

But it was his family home that drew his attention. He had a lot of good memories there. Family gatherings. Shared meals. Having friends over for a visit. Times when…

Connor shook his head. He would not think of her today.

His decision to buy the shooting range wasn’t one made lightly. After his years in the Navy, he figured he had one of two choices. He could put his college degree to use and work in the information technology field or use the skills and training he’d learned in the military. The thought of working all day in an office no longer appealed to him. Owning a business could be demanding but having some flexibility—rather than a nine-to-five job—would also give him time to pursue ways to help his fellow veterans.

It was mid-afternoon when the door opened. Connor walked to the front to greet a man wearing a police uniform. He extended his hand. “Hello. Here to get in a little practice time?”

“Jason Montgomery, the new police chief. Wanted to introduce myself and look around.”

“Connor Hughes.”

“I heard you recently bought the business.”

“Word travels fast in small towns.”

“Actually, my lead detective told me.”

“Manuel Ortiz?”

Jason nodded.

“Glad to know he’s still around.”

“Almost thirty years on the force. He told me officers have used this place for training and certification.”

“Yes, they have. I hope you’ll want to continue.”

“There are other ranges nearby, but I see no reason to change. My officers have only had annual training. I’d like to increase the number of required sessions to twice a year.”

“Good idea. Even with small-town police forces.”

“Probably more so.”

“Yeah. It’s a different world out there these days.”

“Were you in law enforcement?”

Connor shook his head. “Military. Spent ten years in the Navy. Eight of them as a SEAL.”

Jason paused, then cleared his throat. “Impressive.”

Cold Dark Night is available on Amazon. This is the last day to grab a copy for only .99. After tomorrow, the price increases to $3.99.

Blurb:

New husband, new house, new town… and a new mystery to solve.

Tami Montgomery thought her police chief husband was going to be the only investigator in the family when she gave up her journalism career and moved with him to Madeira, New Mexico.

But after the historical society asks her to write stories for a book celebrating the town’s history, she becomes embroiled in a new mystery. If she can’t solve this one, she could lose everything. Her research uncovers a spate of untimely deaths of local law enforcement officials. Further digging reveals a common link—they all lived in the house she and Jason now share.

Tami isn’t a superstitious person, but the circumstances are too similar for coincidence. Then she unearths an even more disturbing pattern. And if history repeats itself, her husband will be the next to die.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Dark-Night-Legends-Madeira-ebook/dp/B0968CXZQ9

Connect with Joan:

Welcome to Harmony Kent and Her New Release – The Vanished Boy

April 14, 2021April 11, 2021 ~ John W. Howell ~ 82 Comments

I am very pleased to welcome Harmony Kent to my blog to talk about her latest mystery suspense novel. So without further delay . . .

Hi everyone. Harmony here. Thanks so much, John, for letting me visit with you today. I’m so thrilled to share the launch of my latest book with you all.

The Vanished Boy is a mystery suspense novel based around a teenaged boy, who’s gone missing. The book follows the mother as she trawls through her missing son’s online life and realises, to her horror, how out of the loop she’s become.

The inspiration for this novel came from watching a number of movies based on how our lives both revolve around and are influenced by the Internet and mobile devices. Although these movies covered many genres such as murder/mystery, thriller, and the supernatural, they all centered around the same theme: Apps and living life online. This led me to ponder how many of us spend our lives in digital pursuits rather than physical—both the old and the young? For many people, their actual physical lives become but a shadow compared to their online existence.

Mostly, the shift to a digital world happens slowly. It’s incremental and, too often, insidious. All of which led me to ask how well do we actually know our children? Our loved ones? Those around us? What might be going on in the shadows?

From that inspiration and questioning, this story was born. Much of life and our actions originate from the same needs and wants: to be loved and accepted, the ability to differentiate between truth and lies, and the things we do to cover our mistakes and make ourselves look better than the reality instead of owning who we are. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Below is an excerpt from the book:

His words remind Carole she was supposed to have submitted the final draft of the marketing agreement over the weekend. No wonder Dan sounds so annoyed with her. But it’s so unfair. She’s never let him down once until now. And, quite frankly, until she has Jayden back safe and sound, her boss and her work can go to hell.

She mumbles a curt ‘thanks’ and hangs up. More tears spill onto her cheeks and drip off her chin. Carole grabs more kitchen towels and scrubs at her face with hard, angry strokes. She balls up all the coffee-and-snot-sodden sheets and throws them into the bin. With a sigh, Carole grabs her mug, rinses and dries it, and fixes a fresh cup of coffee.

Exhaustion drags her down, and she falls onto the chair rather than sits. The kitchen clock accuses her of wasting hours. At a little past nine, she hasn’t opened the laptop yet. Guilt pierces her guts, and her stomach roils sickeningly. Carole bites her lower lip and drags the machine toward her. At least she left it plugged in when she fell asleep. When she lifts the lid, and the screen loads, the battery indicator glows green and full.

Carole keeps digging, though somewhat aimlessly after yesterday’s dead end. She’d felt so sure those two accounts would have led the police toward Jayden. Something nags at her, but every time she tries to focus on it, the damn thing slithers away like a spiteful snake. Her phone rings. Again.

The blurb.

It’s so remote out here. Anything could happen …

A missed phone call in the night is all it takes.

When Carole’s 18-year-old son goes missing, she breaks into Jayden’s laptop to try to understand his life.

All too soon, Carole discovers just how little she knew her boy.

And when one lead after another dead-ends, the distraught mother has to face the unthinkable.

Sucked into a sticky web of deceit and lies, nothing is as it seems.

When your life turns

inside out and upside down,

who would you trust?

Author Bio

After spending around thirteen years as an ordained Buddhist monk, living in a Zen Buddhist temple, and six years after a life-changing injury following a surgical error, Harmony Kent returned to the world at the tender age of forty.

Now, she is famous for her laughter, and has made quite the name for herself … she’s also, um, a writer … and fairly well known for that too. She’s even won a few awards. Harmony lives in rural Cornwall with her adorable husband, ever-present sense of humour, and quirky neighbours.

Harmony is passionate about supporting her fellow authors.

Links

Website: https://harmonykent.co.uk/

Story Empire (co-authored): https://storyempirecom.wordpress.com/

Amazon Author Page: author.to/HarmonysBooks

Twitter: @harmony_kent

Goodreads: Author Page

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/harmony-kent

The Vanished Boy Sales Link: http://mybook.to/TheVanishedBoy

Thursday – A little Personal – Book Launch Day

August 27, 2020August 26, 2020 ~ John W. Howell ~ 100 Comments

“Yes, Lucy.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be launching a book.”
“Well, the big launch starts on September first.”
“So, it sits there until then?”
“I guess I could do a soft launch.”
“Soft smoft. Announce it already.”

Eternal Road – The final stop is Now Available in Paper and Kindle Formats. For the Introduction, the Kindle edition is on sale at 99¢. The Price Will Never be Lower.

Universal links

Kindle

Paper

The Blurb

James Wainwright picks up a hitchhiker and discovers two things 1. The woman he picks up is his childhood sweetheart, only Seventeen years older. 2. He is no longer of this world.

James began a road trip alone in his 1956 Oldsmobile. He stops for a hitchhiker only to discover she is his childhood sweetheart, Sam, who disappeared seventeen years before. James learns from Sam falling asleep miles back caused him to perish in a one-car accident. He also comes to understand that Sam was taken and murdered all those years ago, and now she has come back to help him find his eternal home.

The pair visit a number of times and places and are witness to a number of historical events. The rules dictate that they do no harm to the time continuum. Trying to be careful, they inadvertently come to the attention of Lucifer, who would love to have their souls as his subjects. They also find a threat to human survival and desperately need to put in place the fix necessary to save humankind.

The question becomes, will James find his eternal home in grace or lose the battle with Satan for his immortal soul and the future of human life with it? If you like time-travel, adventure, mystery, justice, and the supernatural, this story is for you.

This is not your usual thriller or paranormal romance. It is a piece of fiction that is a combination of inspiration, adventure, time travel, sci-fi, a touch of erotica, and a dash of spiritual. In short, it is a lot of things, but hopefully, a story that will make you happy to have read it.

The Trailer

Cover Reveal – Mae Clair’s End of Day

September 10, 2018September 6, 2018 ~ John W. Howell ~ 20 Comments

Book cover for End of Day, mystery/suspense novel by Mae Clair shows old dilapidated church with bell tower and a cemetery in the background overgrown with weeds

Release Date: January 15, 2019
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Supernatural Thriller
Publisher: Kensington Publishing • Lyrical Underground Imprint

BLURB:
The past is never truly buried…

Generations of Jillian Cley’s family have been tasked with a strange duty—tending the burial plot of Gabriel Vane, whose body was the first to be interred in the Hode’s Hill cemetery. Jillian faithfully continues the long-standing tradition—until one October night, Vane’s body is stolen from its resting place. Is it a Halloween prank? Or something more sinister?

As the descendants of those buried in the church yard begin to experience bizarre “accidents,” Jillian tries to uncover the cause. Deeply empathic, she does not make friends easily, or lightly. But to fend off the terror taking over her town, she must join forces with artist Dante DeLuca, whose sensitivity to the spirit world has been both a blessing and a curse. The two soon realize Jillian’s murky family history is entwined in a tragic legacy tracing back to the founding of Hode’s Hill. In order to set matters right, an ancient wrong must be avenged…or Jillian, Dante, and everyone in town will forever be at the mercy of a vengeful spirit.

End of Day can be read as a stand alone novel or as a follow-up to book one of the Hode’s Hill series, Cusp of Night.

End of Day is available for pre-order through this link
and available to add to your Goodreads to-be-read list here.

Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:

Views of the Neighborhood – Guest Post by Mae Clair

June 3, 2018May 31, 2018 ~ John W. Howell ~ 131 Comments

I know it is a little odd to see a guest post on the day I usually run a Views of the Neighborhood. I’ve done this for two reasons. 1. My friend Mae Clair is launching a new book and I want to help spread the word. 2. I am in Phoenix this weekend with no opportiunity to capture some sights there. So I am proud to turn my blog over to Mae Clair.

Many thanks for having me as your guest today, John! I’ve been making the rounds with my new mystery/suspense release, Cusp of Night, a book that uses dual timelines and elements of the supernatural.

For the past timelines, I delve into aspects of Spiritualism in the late 19^th Century. This was a time when sham mediums were so common many of them advertised their services in the classified ads of local papers. People were intrigued by oddities, flocking to any traveling circus or sideshow, lured by promises of seeing three-legged men, conjoined twins, or bearded women. Is it any wonder they believed someone could breach the Aether and connect with spirits in Summerland?

Some mediums of the day were magicians, others genuine, still others, charlatans. The frauds were deft in plying their trade and used multiple trick to swindle their customers. Below are just a few of the most popular: Victorian woman holding candlestick looking out rainy window.

A medium would research the background of “sitters” who planned to attend their séances. This included visiting cemeteries to learn family ancestry and asking seemingly innocent questions of townspeople to garner inside information.

Mediums often had trap doors and sliding panels installed in the rooms they used for séances. This allowed assistants, made up with costumes and wigs, to appear from the darkness in the guise of spirits summoned from the grave.

Other times, a medium might use balloons, painted with faces. These would bob from the darkness on invisible wires or would be held by assistants cloaked head to toe in black. Sitters would take the ghostly representatives as the embodiment of departed loved ones.

A skilled medium—many had honed their trades as magicians or ventriloquists—could throw their voice to make a disembodied balloon (or other object) seem a spectre from beyond the grave.

Cheesecloth was often used to create “ectoplasm.” Mediums concealed this in their mouth or other body cavity (yes, even intimate ones) to produce ghostly manifestations. In later years, mediums would strip nude, allowing themselves to be probed to make certain nothing was hidden anywhere. The skilled still had a way of getting around these examinations.

A medium easily produced “table tilting”—a common trick spirits employed to announce their presence—through use of a hook attached to a belt or a foot. Invisible wires were common ploys to produce everything from ringing bells and chimes to having objects soar through a dark room.

Charlatans knew what they were doing, but Lucinda Glass, the medium in my book, had to learn the tricks of the trade to rise above the circumstances of her birth. She’s mentored by a man who is determined to make her the toast of society. Unfortunately, not all turns out as planned.

Here’s the blurb:

Banner ad for cusp of Night, a mystery/suspense novel by author, Mae Cllair BLURB
Recently settled in Hode’s Hill, Pennsylvania, Maya Sinclair is enthralled by the town’s folklore, especially the legend about a centuries-old monster. A devil-like creature with uncanny abilities responsible for several horrific murders, the Fiend has evolved into the stuff of urban myth. But the past lives again when Maya witnesses an assault during the annual “Fiend Fest.” The victim is developer Leland Hode, patriarch of the town’s most powerful family, and he was attacked by someone dressed like the Fiend.

Compelled to discover who is behind the attack and why, Maya uncovers a shortlist of enemies of the Hode clan. The mystery deepens when she finds the journal of a late nineteenth-century spiritualist who once lived in Maya’s house–a woman whose ghost may still linger.

Known as the Blue Lady of Hode’s Hill due to a genetic condition, Lucinda Glass vanished without a trace and was believed to be one of the Fiend’s tragic victims. The disappearance of a young couple, combined with more sightings of the monster, trigger Maya to join forces with Leland’s son Collin. But the closer she gets to unearthing the truth, the closer she comes to a hidden world of twisted secrets, insanity, and evil that refuses to die . . .

PURCHASE HERE

bio box for author, Mae Clair