Long Time Forgotten

Once upon a  time this blog was my oasis. It was where I came to vent, rant, commiserate, and meet up with my friends. Not sure how many friends I still have who subscribe or bother to check this blog but not that I FINALLY finished rewrites on what I hope is going to be my next book I felt compelled to revitalize this blog.

I'm not sure if I'm getting lazier or life truly is getting that much busier but wow do I miss the good old days when I wrote this blog on a daily basis, as well as 2K-5K words of fiction each and every day.
Since my last update I've turned 40 so perhaps I'm just getting lazy in my middle age.

I had hinted at a big announcement in the last few post I wrote. At the time it had seemed I was about to embark on a huge endeavor. Sadly, my faith in that endeavor ever happening is not what it once was. I can;t say much as I did sign a confidentiality clause but the "big announcement" had something to do with TV cameras and me living with a group of strangers in a competitive setting. I would use the word reality but at this point after many hops and much effort the reality is I'm not very confidant its all going to come together.

So moving on.

A plethora of my friends have published books as of late.I won't inundate you with long flowery praise for these folks but I guarantee you there is a book or three on this list for all tastes so if you are looking for a good read check out a few of these. Most are available as both e-books and print editions.

THE RAINBIRD WAR by ALEX KETO -- When Richard Goodwin returns to Kenya after 15 years, he’s shocked to see that the peaceful colony he left as a child is gripped by bloody rebellion: the vicious Mau Mau are murdering settlers, burning villages, and slaughtering livestock in their bid to take back the land. Swept into the ruthless fighting as the killings mount, Richard wonders if he has another enemy, too—an insider who somehow knows his unit's location and wants him dead. Is it someone among the decadent, drug-addled settler aristocracy, or one of the two women he’s in love with?

FORSADA by PETER DUDLEY -- Lupay isn't afraid of fighting, but what can one girl do against an army?Thousands of Southshawans, whipped into a war frenzy by a fundamentalist demogague, are poised to sweep in and crush her home of Tawtrukk, and Lupay is powerless to stop it.

Or is she?

Driven into hiding and pursued even into the depths of the mountain, Lupay and her friens do their best to resist. But resistance won't withstand the onslaught forever, and ultimately Lupay must choose: flee into the radioactive barrens of the Desolation, or rise up and fight fire with fire, like the legendary Tawtrukk warrior queen, Forsada.

Forsada is the second book in the New Eden series, which begins with SEMPER. You can get SEMPER at Amazon here: bit.ly/semperbook 

FLICKER by MELANIE HOOYENGA -- Biz is a perfectly normal teenager except for one minor detail: she uses sunlight to jump back to yesterday. She takes advantage of flickering by retaking Trig tests, fixing fights with her boyfriend (or reliving the making up), and repeating pretty much anything that could be done better. Trouble is, flickering makes her head explode from the inside. Or feel like it anyway.

No one knows about her freakish ability and she’s content to keep it that way. Guys don't stick around because she refuses to let them in, but all that changes when Cameron, her best friend, starts looking oh-so-yummy. Suddenly she's noticing his biceps, his smile, and the cute way his eyes crinkle when he—gah! This is her friend!

But the butterflies come to a screeching halt when little girls start disappearing, then take a nosedive when the police link the kidnappings to Cameron's sister, who vanished years earlier. As the police grasp for clues, Biz photographs a strange man lurking in the shadows and realizes that her flickering can help more than just herself.

FOREST OF THE FORSAKEN by JOANNE BROTHWELL -- Forbidden love. Buried secrets. The ultimate betrayal.

Following her mother’s death to cancer, Meg’s world crashes in around her. Her father re-marries within weeks of their loss, her step-mother is cold and rejecting, and her new step-brother, Joey, has some rather unusual sexual preferences. Meg’s only hope is to move away and leave her father and the dark memories behind.

When her father forces her to attend his honeymoon with this new and unwanted blended family, Meg finds herself in the remote wilderness of the Rocky Mountains, miles from civilization. Meg begins to see things in the forbidding forest—strange, unexplainable things she believes are the result of compounding stress. But when her father and step-mother disappear, leaving Meg and Joey to fend for themselves, lost and without supplies, she realizes her terrifying visions are not merely her imagination after all.

Will Meg and Joey find their way back to civilization? Or will they submit to the darkness within the Forest of the Forsaken?

In this eerie, erotic adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, the fairy tale ending may be far from happy.

BUCK and TANGEE: THINGS THAT HAPPENED by JON ZECH -- I thought when I finished this book, I was through writing. My editor thought otherwise and said I had to write something for the back cover to sort of sum up what the book was about. I guess that makes sense, and I figured it would be easy. It wasn't. Every time I tried to chop a forty page section down to two or three sentenses, it sounded stupid. Look:
The first section is about how my brother, Roy, and I tried to start a men'sonly, beer allowed, version of one of those PlastiQueen kitchenware parties. It didn't go well. There. See? Does that sound like a story you'd want to read? Maybe.

And the second part, about how four buddies and I took a trip out to Vegas in a reconditioned, forty-year-old school bus. Lots of things happened, but I can't cut any of them down to just a few words. Okay, here's one: When we pulled in to our very first overnight campsite, we had no idea we'd wake up in the morning, axel deep in.... No. I'm just not going to spoil it.

Then in the third section, Tangee got a job and I wrote this book. There, right? Not fair. Look, buy this book and read it. Then email me and tell me how you would have squashed it all into two hundred and fifty words.

I'm going to call it good for today with these five but I will include others in upcoming posts.

Today's sample has some Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Erotica, and Comedy. Please check them out.