Interview with paranormal novelist Barb Jones

Paranormal novelist Barb Jones is here today and we’re chatting about Blood Prophecy Three: Queen’s Ascension.

During her virtual book tour, Barb will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Welcome, Barb. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born in Hawaii, a place rich with culture and storytellers. As a little girl, scary tales about vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and witches were my favorite kind — much to my mother's dismay.

The scarier, the better.

My love for the supernatural never went away, even after moving to Seattle, far from Hawaii's majestic beaches with unusual colors. Nothing compares to the landscapes of Maui, Lanai, or Oahu. But somehow, Seattle stole my heart anyway. It became the place where my love for stories took on a new form, in a book of my own: The Adventures of Little Arthur and Merlin the Magnificent. This book is for kids who love stories, just like I did.

Then I had an idea while sleeping.

One night, my mind began to work overtime. In a dream, I saw a unique storyline involving all the races and an epic battle of good versus evil. It was a modern day plot with a three thousand year old prophecy, The Blood Prophecy. I finished the first book in 2014, The Queen's Destiny. Two years later, I released The Queen's Enemy. The last book in the series, The Queen's Ascension, released on August 17, 2020.

Today, I live in Florida with its beaches and sunshine. But I'm still a Seattle girl at heart. And so all my stories take place in the Northwest.

I always keep to my roots when I write.

Please share a little bit about your current release.

Queen’s Ascension is the third book in the series that brings Amber closer to fulfilling her destiny. For a millennia, a prophecy has been foretold that a Queen will unite the supernatural races in an epic battle that will test everything she holds dear. Her friends, her love, her life – all will be tested as she prepares for the prophecy to come true.

What inspired you to write this book?

The original storyline for Queen’s Destiny came from a dream but once I started creating this world, the rest just evolved into the series as we know it today.

Excerpt from Blood Prophecy Three: Queen’s Ascension:

Merlin, Camelot, 1276

Deep within the woods surrounding Camelot, Merlin, a strapping young man with sharp blue eyes and dark black hair, and knowledge that surpassed his years, ran through the trees, darting past the shrubbery in hopes of reaching his destination.

Out of breath, he stopped in front of a wall of foliage and flowers. With a wave of his hand, he whispered, “Eowan,” and revealed a hidden door within the cobblestone wall. A charge of wind pushed his hair back as he entered the passageway, and behind him, the wall was sealed once more.

With every step he took, fire illuminated his path, until finally, he reached the opening, a large room filled with herbs and ancient ingredients. The rickety shelves on the walls were lined with books and scrolls.

He eyed the cauldron within the hearth and said, “Ignis flamma,” and a fire lit underneath the kettle and quickly started to bubble. Merlin racked the shelves looking for a specific book he had in mind.

“Aha.” He found the volume and reached for it. In his hands, he had a delicately crafted book, made from worn soft leather with embossed writing which read, Balocræftum. He blew on the cover to rid it from the dust and cracked it open. While perusing the pages, he flipped through eagerly. Merlin found what he was in search of.

In the middle was a hole gouged out from the pages. He reached inside and pulled out an amulet, magnificently encrusted with all sorts of gems and diamonds. It radiated light and glowed. He pulled it up to his face and inspected it, the jewel aglow in his visage. His eyes sparkled in admiration.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’ve decided to continue the series. I wasn’t ready for it to end and neither were the readers. So, I have already started Book Four: The Rise of the Hunter.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I think when I was 9. I wrote a story for Language Arts at St. Anthony’s School in Hawaii. My fourth grade teacher told me that if I kept up my writing and storytelling, I can be a writer. She even told me to think of myself as a writer beginning that day.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I actually work as a Senior Level (Executive) IT Consultant, Personal Fitness Trainer and Nutrition Coach. It’s a busy day but I am primarily in IT. I love Fitness so much that I became a trainer and paired it with healthy eating. That’s the day job. But in the evenings and on weekends, I write. I don’t miss a day of writing, even if it is just a paragraph. I’m a perfectionist so I will rewrite my endings until I find the one perfect for me and the characters. With two grown kids, it makes it easier to find the time too.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Probably that I can write anywhere and I mean it! On a date, during a run or workout in the gym, anytime I get a thought I want to put it down!

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always knew I wanted to be a mom. But, I also wanted to be an astronaut. I was so intrigued by the Space Program and the Engineering behind the shuttle.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

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Interview with paranormal novelist Patricia V. Davis

Welcome readers. Today’s special guest is writer Patricia V. Davis. We’re chatting about her new paranormal Secret Spice Café Trilogy, including book 1: Cooking for Ghosts.

During her virtual book tour, Patricia will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Bio:

Patricia V. Davis's debut novel series, The Secret Spice Cafe, is comprised of three books: Cooking for Ghosts (2016), Spells and Oregano (2017), and Demons, Well-Seasoned. (2019) The audio books will be released in 2020 by Tantor Media, and narrated by Ann Marie Gideon. Patricia lives with her husband, who is both a poker player and a rice farmer, so she divides her time between southern Nevada and northern California. Say hello to Patricia at her author website.

Please share a little bit about your current release.

Cooking for Ghosts: Book I in The Secret Spice Café trilogy is a story about four remarkably diverse women from four different parts of the world, who find commonalities when they bond over recipes on a food blogging site to which they all belong. They share personal stories, but what they don’t share is that they each have a secret heartbreak they’re trying to overcome. When one of them learns that restaurant space is available to rent aboard the RMS Queen Mary, they decide, impulsively, to open a restaurant together. The Queen Mary is a real-life historic ocean liner that has been turned into a hotel and museum, and is docked permanently in Long Beach, California. The thing is, Time magazine has labeled it “one of the top ten most haunted sites in the United States.” The women are unaware of that when they go aboard. Each woman brings her own figurative ‘ghosts’ with her when she travels to the Queen Mary, little knowing that she will encounter spirits who want to meddle in the live to fix a few problems, and nudge them into solving a decades old murder that took place aboard the ship.

What inspired you to write this book?

My first overnight aboard the Queen Mary, I had a remarkable paranormal experience. You can hear more about that in this nine-minute video.


Excerpt from book 3: Demons, Well Seasoned:
At the exact time Queen Mary of Teck christened her ship—not one second later or earlier—a child was born more than four thousand miles away, just north of the French Quarter in New Orleans, in a grand colonial country home on Bayou St. John.

Here the time was six hours earlier than it was in Clydebank, just ten past nine in the morning. The weather was warm, the humidity thick enough to slice with a Cajun skinning knife. The scents of the marshland were peppery and ripe, and the water wasn’t tainted by shipyard waste. The bayou thrummed with life, slow-moving though it was. The fish and crustaceans swam in languid circles under the surface, making themselves an easy mark for the water snakes and alligators that lay in wait, hidden in the murkiness of the duckweed and hyacinths. The river turtles were a nuisance only to the insects, as they snacked solely on algae, mayflies, beetle larvae and the like. Along the marsh’s edge, in the surrounding foliage of cypress and tupelo trees, muskrats, raccoons, nutria, and other marine mammals scuttled and hid, trying to keep themselves from ending up a bigger creature’s breakfast, while at the same time searching for a meal of their own.

On the bank of the water, the white-columned manor was built in a style that kept hot summers in mind; the ground floor was enclosed with pastel walls of soft brick. The hipped roof was double-pitched and the briquette-entre-poteaux design offered structural support, as well as insulation. The doors were positioned across from one another to keep cool air moving, and extended galleries on both the bottom and top levels of the house kept the sun off the walls and offered outdoor breezeways. An opulent Venetian-style fountain bubbled in the center of the circular drive, birds chirping happily in its dancing spray. Lush gardens boasted sultry-scented magnolias, cerulean-blue irises, camellias as plump and pink as a young woman’s lips, and climbing white roses as old as the bayou itself.

The house was fitted with shutters to provide relief from the Louisiana sun, and in the bedroom where the baby had been born, they were shut tight to keep out lizards and prying eyes. But a determined mosquito could always slip in through the slats. That morning, they hovered over the laboring woman’s bed and crooned for blood.

They got it. The evidence of a birth gone wrong stained the bed linens red and spattered the elegant Persian carpet. It soaked the towels the midwife had tried to stave it with, covered her apron, smeared across her palms, and made dark crescents under her fingernails. Its tangy, metallic essence infused the air, clashing with the aroma of spiced catfish and eggs the cook had been frying up before the pains started. They came too early and too fast, as though Èrzulie Dantòr had made it happen, had wanted the child to arrive that day. And when the infant girl was brought forth, like so much else in the room, she was marked. But not with the blood of life.

Her mother knew two things: she wouldn’t live to see her baby’s second day on this earth, and the white man who thought he was the baby’s father wouldn’t want her.

What exciting story are you working on next?
What I am working on right now is very, very exciting. It’s a marvelous opportunity, and were I not sworn to secrecy, I would tell you all about it.

When did you first consider yourself a writer? It was not when I got my Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. It was when my first content editor thanked me for writing a “real’ story that she could sink her teeth into.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like?

I do write full time. I took some time off recently because I was contracted to write all three books in the trilogy at breakneck speed, so when it was done, I just wanted to spend time reconnecting with my family and nature. I also spent some time on our house, which we purchased and moved into the day after Cooking for Ghosts came out! It’s been sitting neglected for the past four years, but in the last five months, I have finally gotten a headway on making it look like people actually live In it.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? I tape book outlines to the floor in my office, so that I can cross things off as I write them. Seeing that outline which goes across the whole room on large sheets of paper, and crossing out things as I get to them, is gratifying. Maybe not as quirky is that I send the final draft of every manuscript to my son who lives overseas. After the content editors get it, after my agent sees it, after the publishing house sees it, I want him to see it. He has a storytelling genius that to me is unequaled. It’s like I gave birth to the best editor I could have wished for.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I appreciate you, and I welcome your comments and criticisms.

Links:

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Wikipedia | TikTok

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

Thanks for having me on!

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Interview with YA paranormal fantasy author Cynthia A. Morgan

My guest author today is Cynthia A. Morgan. She’s chatting with me about her newest release, Dark Fey: Standing in Shadows, which is the second installment of the Dark Fey Trilogy, her WIP. The Trilogy’s finale, Dark Fey: Breaking into the Light is due out in the early part of next year.

Welcome, Cynthia. Please tell us a little bit about your newest release.

Standing in Shadows delves deeper into the mystery and suspense of the tale initiated in book one: The Reviled. In book two, readers discover the history behind the main character, Gairynzvl, in greater detail as they learn about the harrowing life he endured among the Reviled Fey of the Uunglarda, as well as the terrors of The Integration; the process of intentional cruelty and neglect designed to twist childfey into Dark Ones. Although Standing in Shadows reaches deeper into the shadows, it never strays entirely out of the Light, relating a tale of both fear and hope as readers share Gairynzvl’s challenges to return into a restored life.

What inspired you to write this book?

Although certainly darker than book one, Standing in Shadows does not incorporate this level of horror simply for the sake of it. One does not need to open the pages of a book to discover the unthinkable, as the darkness typically embodied in fantasy genre stories by some terrifying being or creature is very much alive in our own reality and this is the underlying motivation for the darkness woven into Dark Fey. Standing in Shadows was inspired in great part by the terrifying, yet true-life events of the Lord’s Resistance Army or LRA, a rebel militant group in Uganda that has for over 20 years abducted children from their homes; forcing them to commit horrifying acts of violence against each other and their own people. These children suffer a very real Integration and, like the childfey of Jyndari, they endure violence, starvation, multiple rapes and beatings at the hands of truly sadistic overlords. This is how the Reviled came to life and became the horrifyingly cruel beings depicted in Dark Fey.

Did you have to research for this novel and if so, why?

Jyndari is a realm of my own making and the Fey who abide there are unlike fairies in a typical fantasy genre, so I did not need to research them. They are their own creation; however, I did research the LRA to understand more fully what happens to the children they abduct. Much of what happens to them is represented through intimation in the story of the childfey of Jyndari, not to add any measure of sadistic horror to the tale, but to bring to light the horrifying truths of our own world.

What surprised you most to learn and why?

Learning that such atrocities happen in our own world was heartbreaking to me. We like to think that such darkness only exists in books, but fact actually IS much stranger than any fiction.

Is there anything specific you want readers to know about this piece of work?

The story itself is fantasy, but the underlying significance lies in how we deal with tragedy and hardship; how the choices we make affect others, and the decision to live a purposeful life that will have a positive contribution. Heavy stuff for a fantasy, I know. It is also my greatest hope to be able to ultimately provide some percentage of its royalties to the work UNICEF does, specifically in Uganda.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I have always been a writer. Even as a child I wrote poems, in crayon! I have an abiding love of words, beautiful phrases, creating images through lyrical descriptions and weaving stories.

Anything else you’d like to share with the readers?

I love sharing my love of words with others who feel the same and being able to do something I enjoy so passionately, ultimately for employment as well as for the sheer joy of it, is a Blessing to be forever thankful for.

Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Pinterest | LinkedIn | Author Page

Buy links:

Dark Fey The Reviled on Amazon/Kindle: 
Dark Fey The Reviled on Barnes and Noble:  

Dark Fey Standing In Shadows Amazon US | Amazon UK

Barnes and Noble  

Thanks for being here today, Cynthia!

Interview with writer/author Brett Scott Ermilio

Today’s special guest is Brett Scott Ermilio. He’s blinking under the hot lights while answering writing-related questions and questions about the first book in his new romantic suspense trilogy, The Connolly Affair.

During his virtual tour, Brett will be giving away a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly chosen winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Writer/Author Brett Scott Ermilio lives by the Jersey Shore with his 8 crazy roommates: his beautiful wife, 4 amazingly insane kids, 2 small yapping dogs and one moody fish. Writing screenplay, TV pilots and books, Brett enjoys all aspects of creativity.

In 2007, Brett wrote, directed and produced his first feature film, Two Hitmen. The nephew of music producer, Neil Scott Bogart, Brett recently published Going Platinum: KISS, Donna Summer and How Neil Bogart Built Casablanca Records with Lyons Press. A feature film version entitled Spinning Gold, and staring Justin Timberlake, is being produced by Brett’s family members and is due out early next year. Additionally, Brett has published his award winning screenplay, Jacob, as a book earlier in 2015. His romance/suspense trilogy, The Connolly Affair, released May 29^th, 2015. Book 2 is due out towards the end of 2015.

Aside from working on books, Brett has numerous TV projects in the works and is excited about any and all opportunities that comes his way.

Brett is represented by Jason Leibovitch of LEIBO Management.

Welcome, Brett. Please tell us about your current release.

The Connolly Affair is a romance-suspense trilogy. It is a powerful story keying in on romance, love, drama, suspense and lots of thrills. Book 1, The First Dance, finds Nicki Connolly’s marriage to Aiden flatlining. She is caught in a daily grind in which her partnership at her law firm is taking her away from her two daughters. At the same time, her husband is resenting Nicki as he is taking a back seat to her career. To make matters more complicated, Nicki is heading a class-action lawsuit on behalf of her cousin and others. This is applying a tremendous amount of stress to both her personal and professional lives.

Then comes Taylor Diamond. Taylor is handsome, smart and seemingly infallible. He is brought into Nicki’s firm and the owners place Taylor as her second chair. Nicki is annoyed and infuriated at first. But as she speaks with Taylor and they work on the case, she finds something in him more than just a good looking attorney. But dark forces loom and converge upon Nicki and Taylor. As obstacles grow, the two form a fiery bond just as the case and her life reach an epic breaking point.

The Connolly Affair delivers a suspense-filled thrill ride that will have readers on the edge of their seats.

What inspired you to write this book?

My wife inspired me to write this story. She loves reading suspense books. Combining the elements of romance and suspense in this thrilling setting was a wonderful challenge for me. She is VERY happy with the end result. And of course, she is reading the early draft of book 2 as we speak…so she is extremely well-versed on the story.


Excerpt from The Connolly Affair:
 I arrive back at the office to a lot of excitement. There is a strange buzz circling around—an energy that is infecting the halls of the normally docile office to the point of drawing me over into the conference room. The first look I get is from Lincoln and it is full of concern. It’s a strange glare, considering the positive energy circling all around.

            Bob, Charles, and James are all hovering over someone—something. As they applaud and step back, I see with my own eyes their new toy. Taylor Diamond. Taylor is an incredibly aggressive young attorney with a long list of clients and an even longer list of success. He looks like he just fell out of a Yale fraternity magazine; the ideal stunner of a man. His face maintains the perfect jaw structure, his blue eyes and perfect wavy, black hair only further compliment his broad shoulders and, near perfect, six-foot physique. Oh, my God. He’s incredible. For a moment, I forget that I am a partner in my law firm and not a school girl, staring at the shockingly handsome, cool senior at Liberty High.

            Taylor slowly stands up, his body and height safely rising above and encompassing my own shadow. He even smiles like an all-star. It’s all too much and I fall victim again, disappearing into his blue eyes. I quickly recover as his hand was left extended for a good three seconds before my brown eyes could even recognize his hand existed.

            “Oh, sorry,” I reply, shaking it. I awkwardly clasp my other hand on top of his as if I were an eighty-year-old man, consoling a youngster. What the hell is wrong with you, Nicki? Pull it together!

            “Nice to meet you. I’m Taylor Diamond.” He smiles and seems kind. He isn’t cocky. “I’ve actually heard a lot about you, Nicki. You’re an amazing attorney. I’m very excited to be here,” Taylor’s words roll of his tongue with ease and are like a secret potion, drawing me further and further into everything that is him.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Aside from working on this trilogy, I am working on a few other projects. I have 2 TV pilots heading out this summer to companies for consideration. I also am working on a potential kids show with Nickelodeon. A side project I am working on is a crime-thriller series which I am chipping away for fun slowly until I wrap up The Connolly Affair.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Great question. I am a firm believer that everyone is a writer. But in the sense of me writing projects that are cohesive and may have value to the rest of the world, when I finished my first screenplay at age 16. I taught myself how to write a movie script and formatting my first one in MS Word. The script was terrible! Ha. But I saw my potential and loved writing that crappy story. So it started me on a path of writing and writing and more writing.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

My entire life has been two jobs: writer and (insert other job here). I wrote the original 415 pages of The Connolly Affair: The First Dance in just about three months. I was holding a 50 hour a week job as a restaurant General Manager and have 4 kids. It was insane. I was writing everywhere! I used a notebook and hand wrote the entire first book, typing in chapters in the early morning and late at night. I pushed myself like never before because I knew the story was special.

At this moment, I am just a writer for the first time in my life. I have many projects I’m working on and I love having the time to dive in.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I have two. The first is, I’ll listen to the same song over and over again if it inspires my story. I’m talking up to a thousand times. The second is I sometimes will speak before/as I’m typing. This makes it appear as though I have imaginary friends all around me. I do this in the bathroom when I’m handwriting notes (which I will do from time to time). My wife thinks I’m crazy and makes fun of me for it.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Baseball player. I played until college and was a catching prospect at one point. I had a good run. But I chose not to do steroids or other supplements which MANY players, good and bad, were doing around me.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I want to thank everyone for sharing this time. I hope you enjoy the stories I tell. I have many of them and I will always do my very best to deliver great engaging stories that challenge my readers and my audience. I take great pride in telling stories and hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

Links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Thanks, Brett!

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