ACROSS THE POND by Barry Eva (aka Storyheart)

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Across the Pond, Barry Eva, blog tour, Storyheart, teen book, virtual blog tour, virtual book tour, Young Adult, young adult fiction, young adult romance

Author: Barry Eva (aka Storyheart)
Title: Across the Pond
Paperback: 120 pages
Publisher: Xlibris (October 2008)
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1436371767
ISBN-13: 978-1436371766

First Sentence: “Burrdonk! The wheels locked as the plane descended toward the airport.”

Born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Barry Eva, also known as “Storyheart,” left his beloved England in 2000, moving to the USA to be with the woman he’d met and fallen in love with on the Internet.

Better known for his short romance stories on the net and in his book “Stories from the Heart”.Barry is popular for narrating his stories on local TV or as a guest on other media stations,where his whit, oratory, and old-fashioned English charm make him a popular interviewee.

At present, Barry is living in Connecticut, with his wife and two children.

You can visit Storyheart’s website at http://www.across-t-pond.com.

Finding himself packed off to friends in the USA, fifteen-year-old English born Fred Squire is not happy. Then he meets Brittany.

Struggling with his feelings for Brit and the language, Fred is further confused when he meets Brit’s flirtatious friend, Angel.

Escaping from a confrontation with Steve Harris, the neighborhood bully, Brit tells Fred her dark secret about Harris, and Fred’s world is turned upside down.

Life continues to throw Fred a curveball when he catches a baseball worth a small fortune. Further run-ins with Harris, a crazy family BBQ, and a chase through a mall all add to Fred’s American adventure.

“Brit and her Brit”, know that their young love will be followed by heartache when Fred has to return to England. But not before some final twists in the tale.

With believable characters, exciting events, humor, first love, education and a little sport thrown in for good measure. Across the Pond is read and enjoyed by people of all ages from the young to the young at heart.

Soon they were out of the airport and in the car park, or “parking lot” as Phil called it. They stopped at a very large car, or at least large compared to the ones Fred was used to.

“I’ll help you put the luggage into the boot.” Fred said.

Brit looked at Fred, her nose wrinkling in a quizzical manner, “The what?”

Phil laughed, “Fred means the ‘trunk’, it’s called the boot in England. Your Dad e-mailed me about some sort of school project you have to work on while you’re here Fred, about the differences in the languages, right?”

“Yeah,” Fred said with a grimace. “I don’t want to do it, but a new X-Box is the bait for me to do a good report.”

Brit rolled her eyes again, something Fred found quite attractive about Brit. That, and the way she wrinkled her nose.

“A school project?”

“That’s what my teacher said, anyway,” Fred gasped as he struggled with his suitcase. “Gotta make a list of all the words I find that are different in this country.” He kicked an imaginary stone. “Of course my parents thought it a great idea… Some holiday!”

Fred got into the car and sat next to Brit, feeling a little self-conscious about being so close to her, hoping he didn’t smell too bad after his travels. He felt very tired as the jet lag of the journey started to wash over him. Yawning, he struggled to remove a notebook from his pocket.

“Here, sleepy head, let me,” said Brit taking the book from Fred, who was too tired to complain. “No time like the present to start your list. What have we got so far?”

Carefully she drew a line down the center of the page and wrote.

ENGLISH – BOOT AMERICAN -TRUNK

ENGLISH – CAR PARK AMERICAN – PARKING LOT

Phil never seemed to stop talking during to drive home. Soon the endless chatter and journey had Fred’s eyes almost closed. Suddenly Brit jabbed her elbow into Fred’s ribs, making him jolt awake.

“What the… Err… Pardon…” Fred said trying to come to.

Phil laughed, “Okay Fred, I guess you really must be tired after your long trip. And of course your body clock is still working on English time. I just asked if you found it funny driving on the right hand side of the road.”

“Nahh.” Fred said trying to wake up. “We’ve driven in Europe loads of times, and they all drive on the right.” Suddenly he grabbed the seat “Bloody Hell!”

Phil stopped the car and looked round.

“Are you all right?” Brit asked.

“Err, sorry” Fred replied sheepishly. “But, you just drove through a red light.”

Phil laughed and started the car up again. “It’s okay Fred, in the U.S. unless is says not to, you can turn right at a red stop light, or traffic light as you call them.”

“Sheeesh,” Fred said. “My parents have enough trouble with round-a-bouts in France; they’d have a conniption with people driving through red lights.

Brit sighed. “Okay Fred, what the heck has a round-a-bout to do with driving, I thought it was like a merry-go-round?”

Phil let out another of his “told you so” chuckles. “Brit, we call them rotary’s over here. That will be another couple of words for Fred to put in his book.”

The teenagers looked at each other and smiled.

At that moment they passed a group of boys standing at the side of the road. Brit’s smile faded from her face and she shrank down in her seat in an effort not to be seen.

It was a tired and slightly puzzled Fred who fell into bed a short time later.

A strange country, where people drive through red lights and half the language is different. A girl who can make me smile just by rolling her eyes. And what is it with Brit and that group of boys?

Purchase Across the Pond at Amazon!

AVENGING ANGEL by Kim Smith

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Avenging Angel, Between the Covers, blog tour, book promotion, Kim Smith, mainstream fiction, Mystery, online book promotion, Red Rose Publishing, virtual blog tour, virtual book tour

Author: Kim Smith
Title: Avenging Angel: A Shannon Wallace Mystery
Electronic (eBook format)
Publisher: Red Rose Publishing (December 2008)
Genre: Mystery, Mainstream Fiction
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-60435-276-4

First Sentence: “I could hear Rick rapping on his desk with his Mont Blanc pen before I reached the doorway.”

Shannon Wallace is having a bad hair week.

She’s been ditched by her job, dumped by her boyfriend, and implicated in his murder.

When she finds out her very private video collection is missing from the crime scene, it is all out war to find the disks before the cops do. The problem is, the killer has them. And he’s watched them.

Now Shannon’s at the top of his most wanted list.

Kim Smith was born in Memphis Tennessee, the youngest of four children. After a short stint in a Northwest Mississippi junior college, during the era of John Grisham’s rise as a lawyer, she gave up educational pursuits to marry and begin family life.

She has worked in many fields in her life, from fast food waitress to telephone sales. “I always got the seniors on the phone who were lonely and wanted someone to talk to. My boss couldn’t understand why in the world I spent so much time talking to them and not enough time selling. That was when I realized I love people and care deeply about their lives.”

After the birth of her two children, she gave up working outside the home for the more important domestic duties of wife and mother. When her kids decided they wanted to pursue theater as an extracurricular activity, she gave up her free time to drive them to rehearsals, training classes, and plays. During those years, she found herself bored with nothing to do to while away the hours stuck in a car. She began thinking of stories to entertain herself and pass the time. Before long she started telling her husband about her stories and he assured her she could write a book if she really wanted to. She put the idea away once she landed a job as a network administrator for a small corporation, and together the Smith’s started their own video production company.

Writing was a dream, hidden but not forgotten, and soon Kim began to talk again of trying her hand at it. She played with words, and wrote several poems, one of which was picked up for an anthology

One day in the early nineties her husband came home with a desktop computer and sat her in front of it. “Now you have no more excuses,” he said, and she realized the truth in his words. Procrastination, now no longer an option, she took off on the pursuit of penning her first book. Though that book, a young adult fantasy, was lost due to unforeseen circumstances, she kept going, writing a historical romance, and another YA.

When she decided to try out her hand at mystery writing, she discovered her true love and niche in the writing journey. She has since had four short stories, and her first mystery novel accepted for publication.

Kim is a member of Sisters in Crime, and EPIC. She still lives in the Mid South region of the United States and is currently working on her second book in the mystery series.

You can visit her website at www.mkimsmith.com.

My Aunt Nancy always told me to dress in my best clothes when I went out, because I never knew whom I might meet. This time, I hadn’t done the best I could to make myself presentable. Jeans, tee shirt, and a ponytail didn’t qualify for modern chic.

When the detective opened the door to the Homicide Office, I wished I’d worn a skirt and heels. In a moment of clarity, I understood my aunt’s concerns about going out half-ready.

The sexy, Hispanic man who raised an eyebrow and patiently waited for me to state my business was none other than Salvador Ramirez, formerly of Mississippi Junior College, the same school I attended back in the day. Of all the eligible men at college, he was the most highly sought after. Partly because he’d won the “sexiest legs” contest two years in a row, and partly because he had a bad boy quality, which made all of the girls want him.

Especially me. And damn the luck, I got a shot at him. When I discovered our date was based on a dare someone posed, I retaliated by publishing excerpts of his personal journal in the college’s monthly newsletter, The Bugle.

“Mr. Ramirez,” I said, trying to look harmless. “Of the award-winning legs.”

His expression changed as he looked at me and I knew he remembered our rocky past. My heart leapt into my throat. This was not the face of a man happy to see an old chum.

“Shannon Wallace, of the vigilantes for journalism,” he said, deadpan. “Mama said there would be days like this.”

Nope. He was not a happy cop.
He waved me into the room. “Come in.”

The entire office was a mess, most of it concentrated on two desks littered with papers.

“What are you doing here? Looking for a few good men to belittle in a new publication? Should I hide the personal notes on my cases?” he asked.

Sarcasm. I smiled. It was a beginning. He hadn’t forgotten, so that meant he intended on seeing I didn’t get a chance to repeat my past mistakes. Dandy by me. I just wanted to plead my case, and escape a free woman. If I never crossed the threshold here again, my feelings wouldn’t be hurt.

“I think you’ve held a grudge, but it was all in fun.”

“Fun?” He scanned the hallway before shutting the door. “You ruined every chance I ever had of getting a decent date. I never dreamed you would print my private journal for Christ’s sake.”

“It was no journal. It was a freaking scorecard.”

He frowned at me and turned away, muttering something in Spanish that sounded like curses.

Suddenly turning the details of my situation over to him didn’t seem like such a great idea. Had he harbored a desire for revenge all these years?
Dwayne’s words came to mind. I couldn’t have done it; criminals were innocent until proven guilty and all that jazz.

Would Sal see that?

“I’m not here to do an exposé on your life, Sal. I’m here about my own troubles. I need to tell a cop about a man who was murdered. But if you aren’t interested…”

He stopped clearing file folders from a metal folding chair and pinioned me with his Nestlé’s cocoa-colored eyes.

“Murdered?”

“Yes. Richard Fine. Is he your case?”

“You know he is. Or have you given up your journalistic aspirations?” He shoved papers into the files. “Have you graduated from theft to murder, now?”

I sat there for a moment trying to squelch the anger that surfaced.

“Would you stop being so disagreeable about what’s past between us and listen? You might get some information that could help you. I never intended to hurt you. It was a joke.”

“I don’t like your jokes.”

That was the final straw. “And I don’t like being made fun of. How much did they pay you to take me out on your little ‘dare date’ that night?”

He straightened, gripping the back of a nearby folding chair.

Checkmate.

He carried the chair to where I stood, and I got a better look at him. He was a good deal taller than me, and even under the yellow Oxford shirt I saw he was well rippled with muscles, maleness, and menace. Sal seemed quite a different person from the jeans, golf shirts, and practical jokes days. The cologne was the same though. Aramis. I took a deep breath in appreciation.

The angry fire I’d stirred showed in his eyes. He skidded the metal chair a few feet forward. It made a scraping sound as it landed perfectly, facing his desk.

“Sit, Miss Wallace. Tell me why I should hear your story. And keep in mind I’m due for a meeting in about ten minutes.”

I sat and waited while he joined me behind his desk. It felt rather official all of a sudden. He crossed his hands and leaned forward, ready to hear my story.

“I was at Rick’s apartment at midnight. And when forensics finishes checking out his place, they’re going to find my hair and other assorted things.”

“Will they find your fingerprints on a knife?”

I thought about his question. We hadn’t done much cooking at Rick’s apartment, but there was the off chance that I had handled a steak knife. Or cleaver. I closed my eyes, and prayed Dwayne was right. I just knew I wouldn’t look good in a state uniform.

“They’ll find them on a lot of stuff. Do I need a lawyer present?”

Purchase Avenging Angel at Red Rose Publishing!

GRAYRIDER by Bruce Skye

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Between the Covers, book blog tour, book promotion, Bruce Skye, Eloquent Books, fantasy author, fantasy books, Grayrider, online book promotion, virtual blog tour, virtual book tour

Author: Bruce Skye
Title: Grayrider
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Eloquent Books (October 28, 2008)
Genre: Fantasy
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1606935011
ISBN-13: 978-1606935019

First Sentence: “A sentry on the north wall was the first to see him: a figure in a silver gray cloak mounted on an immense black warhorse.”

Gabriel, the exiled king of Rivalin, comes before King Airell to warn him the Ansgarian army will invade his kingdom before the night is over. Airell tells him he has no one to send. Gabriel wants revenge for the murder of his family by the Ansgarians. He decides to fight the incursion without help.

As this takes place, Deirdre (Airell’s daughter), flees the kingdom of Cynyr north of Boadhagh. She knows now her mentor, Morrigan, created the Ansgarian army her father has fought for years. She goes south to warn him of her. Because Deirdre does not believe in herself, the young sorceress has difficulty in performing magic.

Once she is reunited with her father, she tells both he and Grayrider about Morrigan. Her power is growing; only Gabriel’s magical sword may yet destroy her. He must go to Cynyr to fight her. He agrees if Deirdre attends him, seeking her counsel. On that journey they fall in love and foil many efforts by Morrigan to kill Gabriel by both armies and sorcerers.

Grayrider fights Morrigan and sees his beloved slain by the sorceress before he is finally able to kill her. He returns to Rivalin brokenhearted. The ending is a complete surprise the reader will not expect at all.

A former technical writer, detail is important to Bruce Skye. His research for the Deathsong Chronicles included medieval armor and fortresses, as well as Celtic names and magic. “If you create a world, it must be consistent. And that’s what I strive for Grayrider’s world to be. I’ve built a database of material for each of the Deathsong Chronicles. Those databases aid me in keeping the world the same from book to book.

“When I wrote Grayrider, I followed the advice of Stephen King. I did not write the book following any sort of outline. I have no more idea than my readers do when I write a novel what will happen in the midst of the story. It makes it more exciting for both the readers and myself.”

You can visit his website at www.bruceskye.com.

Gabriel, the exiled king of Rivalin, comes before King Airell to warn him the Ansgarian army will invade his kingdom before the night is over. Airell tells him he has no one to send. Gabriel wants revenge for the murder of his family by the Ansgarians. He decides to fight the incursion without help.

As this takes place, Deirdre (Airell’s daughter), flees the kingdom of Cynyr north of Boadhagh. She knows now her mentor, Morrigan, created the Ansgarian army her father has fought for years. She goes south to warn him of her. Because Deirdre does not believe in herself, the young sorceress has difficulty in performing magic.

Once she is reunited with her father, she tells both he and Grayrider about Morrigan. Her power is growing; only Gabriel’s magical sword may yet destroy her. He must go to Cynyr to fight her. He agrees if Deirdre attends him, seeking her counsel. On that journey they fall in love and foil many efforts by Morrigan to kill Gabriel by both armies and sorcerers.

Grayrider fights Morrigan and sees his beloved slain by the sorceress before he is finally able to kill her. He returns to Rivalin brokenhearted. The ending is a complete surprise the reader will not expect at all.

Messiah Interviews

Messiah Interviews: Belonging to God
Jerry Pollock
Spiritual fiction/Inspirational fiction
Shechinah Third Temple

 

You can visit Jerry’s website at  http://www.shechinahthirdtemple.org/

Jerry Pollock is the author of seventy-five scientific publications. His background includes both a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Pharmacy from the University of Toronto, a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Postdoctoral training in Microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Pollock is currently Professor Emeritus in the Oral Biology and Pathology Department in the School of Dental Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island. Jerry’s first writer of the arts book, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul, was a spiritual memoir originally published in 2003. The second edition of Divinely Inspired will be reissued in Paperback on Jan. 1, 2009. His ‘not so fictional’ novel, Messiah Interviews: Belonging to God, due out also on Jan. 1, 2009, is Jerry’s way of giving back to the Creator. Jerry is married to Marcia, his bashert or destined one. They reside in Florida.

Ever since the Creation of Adam and Eve, man has grappled with knowing whether life exists after death. Because humans achieve the possible, while God accomplishes the impossible, only the Creator knows our fate and destiny at the End of Days. Scientist Jerry Pollock weaves his Messiah Interviews story of an imperfect life on Earth with an imaginative account of being interviewed in Heaven to be the Messiah. The writing becomes a testament to Divine morality, and to finding truth and sincerity in one’s heart.

As readers embark on a journey of knowledge and understanding, they’ll join Jerry on an exploration of the implications of biblical history on our modern world. Through a series of unexplainable events, Jerry empowers readers to decide if an additional personal spiritual effort is worth making in this life, in order to possibly gain entrance to an uncertain futuristic Garden of Eden, the Messianic Age. In a process of the dreamlike interviews with biblical personalities―the angel Gabriel, Methuselah, Chanoch, Seth, King David, Moses, Jacob, Abraham and the prophet Isaiah―Jerry is forced to bear his soul and his own hidden demons.

As human beings, we are all flawed. That’s how the Creator made us. During the course of reading the book, readers have the opportunity to ponder the improvement of their own imperfections, in order to meet the requirements set out in the Messiah Interviews for admission into a future blissful life at the End of Days. The book is God-centered and discusses, briefly or at length, various topics, including The Ten Commandments, Creation, Evolution, Good and Evil, Primal Therapy, Bipolar Disorder, Resurrection, Aging, Twelve Tribes of Israel, Monotheistic Religions, Third Temple, Messiah, and the Messianic Age.

The Archangel Michael speaking in Heaven:

 

“We have deliberately chosen a sinner: you, Yoseph, who has knowingly cheated in science. Yet, you have publicly repented and confessed your sins to your Stony Brook University administration; and sent letters of apology to the former institutions that you attended. Moreover, you have expressed your heartfelt remorse and your sincere regrets for all of your sinful actions in your published book, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul, for all to see. We have intentionally chosen someone who has suffered horrifically, yet has the potential through his suffering to look inside and understand human nature. We also have especially not chosen a tzaddik, the wisest, most righteous, and perfect of men. We are testing the potential of a simple imperfect man. If you succeed in answering our questions, you will become King Messiah, and return to earth to take your place at the End of Days. If our assessment of you is that you are not the person, we had in mind, then we will have failed once again in finding the true Messiah.”

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blog tour, book excerpts, book spotlight, Mystery, Richard E. Roach, Scattered Leaves, Suspense, virtual blog tour, virtual book tour

Scattered Leaves
Richard E. Roach
Suspense, Mystery
Multi-Media

Suspense/Mystery author Richard Roach was born in 1931 in Galveston, Texas. Short stories of his have been published in Man’s Story 2, Happy 2007, Vol. 20 and Bibliophilos 2006, Vol. 42. His first novel, Scattered Leaves, hit the book stores on September 1, ’08, and his second novel, Scattered Money, will be published in 2009.

You can visit his website at www.richarderoach.com.

When Ben McCord comes home from a business trip to find his young wife raped and murdered, he starts out on a journey of death and destruction. Clues lead him to a dark world of drugs and violence in action that spans Texas, Colorado, and the Mexican border. McCord hooks up with a beautiful doctor, who was also victimized by members of the same drug cartel, and together they track down the killers, surviving bloody confrontations, and ending with a suspenseful climax in the Big Thicket of Texas.

I found her on the floor near my side of the bed, nude, lying in a pool of inky-black, coagulated blood. She was dead. Cold dead. A long time dead. The words seemed foreign.

She had worried about her twenty-ninth birthday, which was coming up soon; she had been concerned that being nearly thirty might be getting old. She had been fretful about too many things: not having rugs beside the bed, the poor people at church, when would the roof start leaking. All those worries had taken wing when her heart had stopped
beating and her blood ceased to flow.

I could not share with her the final pain of her last moments on this earth. She would forever be twenty-eight.

The smell of death permeated the bedroom air.

She had never been a big person, but in death she seemed shrunken. A glob of caked blood held a dozen strands of her silky, blonde hair and was stuck to her temple. The swollen, black tongue protruded from her mouth. She looked at the world from behind eyelids that were almost closed.

Purchase Scattered Leaves at Amazon!

AVENGING ANGEL by Kim Smith

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Avenging Angel, blog tour, book excerpts, book publicity, Kim Smith, mystery novel, promote your book, sell your book, virtual blog tour, virtual book tour

Avenging Angel: A Shannon Wallace Mystery
Kim Smith
Mystery, Mainstream Fiction
Red Rose Publishing

Kim Smith was born in Memphis Tennessee, the youngest of four children. After a short stint in a Northwest Mississippi junior college, during the era of John Grisham’s rise as a lawyer, she gave up educational pursuits to marry and begin family life.

She has worked in many fields in her life, from fast food waitress to telephone sales. “I always got the seniors on the phone who were lonely and wanted someone to talk to. My boss couldn’t understand why in the world I spent so much time talking to them and not enough time selling. That was when I realized I love people and care deeply about their lives.”

After the birth of her two children, she gave up working outside the home for the more important domestic duties of wife and mother. When her kids decided they wanted to pursue theater as an extracurricular activity, she gave up her free time to drive them to rehearsals, training classes, and plays. During those years, she found herself bored with nothing to do to while away the hours stuck in a car. She began thinking of stories to entertain herself and pass the time. Before long she started telling her husband about her stories and he assured her she could write a book if she really wanted to. She put the idea away once she landed a job as a network administrator for a small corporation, and together the Smith’s started their own video production company.

Writing was a dream, hidden but not forgotten, and soon Kim began to talk again of trying her hand at it. She played with words, and wrote several poems, one of which was picked up for an anthology

One day in the early nineties her husband came home with a desktop computer and sat her in front of it. “Now you have no more excuses,” he said, and she realized the truth in his words. Procrastination, now no longer an option, she took off on the pursuit of penning her first book. Though that book, a young adult fantasy, was lost due to unforeseen circumstances, she kept going, writing a historical romance, and another YA.

When she decided to try out her hand at mystery writing, she discovered her true love and niche in the writing journey. She has since had four short stories, and her first mystery novel accepted for publication.

Kim is a member of Sisters in Crime, and EPIC. She still lives in the Mid South region of the United States and is currently working on her second book in the mystery series.

You can visit her website at www.mkimsmith.com.

Shannon Wallace is having a bad hair week.

She’s been ditched by her job, dumped by her boyfriend, and implicated in his murder.

When she finds out her very private video collection is missing from the crime scene, it is all out war to find the disks before the cops do. The problem is, the killer has them. And he’s watched them.

Now Shannon’s at the top of his most wanted list.

My Aunt Nancy always told me to dress in my best clothes when I went out, because I never knew whom I might meet. This time, I hadn’t done the best I could to make myself presentable. Jeans, tee shirt, and a ponytail didn’t qualify for modern chic. When the detective opened the door to the Homicide Office, I wished I’d worn a skirt and heels. In a moment of clarity, I understood my aunt’s concerns about going out half-ready.

The sexy, Hispanic man who raised an eyebrow and patiently waited for me to state my business was none other than Salvador Ramirez, formerly of Mississippi Junior College, the same school I attended back in the day. Of all the eligible men at college, he was the most highly sought after. Partly because he’d won the “sexiest legs” contest two years in a row, and partly because he had a bad boy quality, which made all of the girls want him.

Especially me. And damn the luck, I got a shot at him. When I discovered our date was based on a dare someone posed, I retaliated by publishing excerpts of his personal journal in the college’s monthly newsletter, The Bugle.

“Mr. Ramirez,” I said, trying to look harmless. “Of the award-winning legs.”

His expression changed as he looked at me and I knew he remembered our rocky past. My heart leapt into my throat. This was not the face of a man happy to see an old chum.

“Shannon Wallace, of the vigilantes for journalism,” he said, deadpan. “Mama said there would be days like this.”

Nope. He was not a happy cop.

He waved me into the room. “Come in.”

The entire office was a mess, most of it concentrated on two desks littered with papers.

“What are you doing here? Looking for a few good men to belittle in a new publication? Should I hide the personal notes on my cases?” he asked.

Sarcasm. I smiled. It was a beginning. He hadn’t forgotten, so that meant he intended on seeing I didn’t get a chance to repeat my past mistakes. Dandy by me. I just wanted to plead my case, and escape a free woman. If I never crossed the threshold here again, my feelings wouldn’t be hurt.

“I think you’ve held a grudge, but it was all in fun.”

“Fun?” He scanned the hallway before shutting the door. “You ruined every chance I ever had of getting a decent date. I never dreamed you would print my private journal for Christ’s sake.”

“It was no journal. It was a freaking scorecard.”

He frowned at me and turned away, muttering something in Spanish that sounded like curses.

Suddenly turning the details of my situation over to him didn’t seem like such a great idea. Had he harbored a desire for revenge all these years?

Dwayne’s words came to mind. I couldn’t have done it; criminals were innocent until proven guilty and all that jazz.

Would Sal see that?

“I’m not here to do an exposé on your life, Sal. I’m here about my own troubles. I need to tell a cop about a man who was murdered. But if you aren’t interested…”

He stopped clearing file folders from a metal folding chair and pinioned me with his Nestlé’s cocoa-colored eyes. “Murdered?”

“Yes. Richard Fine. Is he your case?”

“You know he is. Or have you given up your journalistic aspirations?” He shoved papers into the files. “Have you graduated from theft to murder, now?”

I sat there for a moment trying to squelch the anger that surfaced. “Would you stop being so disagreeable about what’s past between us and listen? You might get some information that could help you. I never intended to hurt you. It was a joke.”

“I don’t like your jokes.”

That was the final straw. “And I don’t like being made fun of. How much did they pay you to take me out on your little ‘dare date’ that night?”

He straightened, gripping the back of a nearby folding chair.

Checkmate.

He carried the chair to where I stood, and I got a better look at him. He was a good deal taller than me, and even under the yellow Oxford shirt I saw he was well rippled with muscles, maleness, and menace. Sal seemed quite a different person from the jeans, golf shirts, and practical jokes days. The cologne was the same though. Aramis. I took a deep breath in appreciation.

The angry fire I’d stirred showed in his eyes. He skidded the metal chair a few feet forward. It made a scraping sound as it landed perfectly, facing his desk.

“Sit, Miss Wallace. Tell me why I should hear your story. And keep in mind I’m due for a meeting in about ten minutes.”

I sat and waited while he joined me behind his desk. It felt rather official all of a sudden. He crossed his hands and leaned forward, ready to hear my story.

“I was at Rick’s apartment at midnight. And when forensics finishes checking out his place, they’re going to find my hair and other assorted things.”

“Will they find your fingerprints on a knife?”

I thought about his question. We hadn’t done much cooking at Rick’s apartment, but there was the off chance that I had handled a steak knife. Or cleaver. I closed my eyes, and prayed Dwayne was right. I just knew I wouldn’t look good in a state uniform.

“They’ll find them on a lot of stuff. Do I need a lawyer present?”

Purchase Avenging Angel at Red Rose Publishing!

FIVE STEPS TO C.A.L.M. (CAREER AND LIFE MANAGEMENT) by Robert Patterson

Five Steps to C.A.L.M. (Career and Life Management)
Robert Patterson
Nonfiction; Business
Booksurge
134 pages

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio Reverend Robert Patterson, Sr. is the father of six children (5 sons one daughter) and the loving husband of Mrs. Linda Patterson. He is a grandfather as well as a great grandfather.

As a member of Walker Chapel AME Church (The Fifth District), he has served in various capacities, from the Usher Board to the Steward and Trustee Boards. He has taught both Sunday School and Bible Study and has served in each department to the best of his abilities

His life reads like a road map, he is a Vietnam ERA Veteran (U.S.M.C 1961-1970), A Graduate of San Diego State University (Class of 1975). He has served as a Cable Television News Reporter, (Oceanside, CA.) Host of “Behind the Truth”, Employment Counselor Specialist, (Operation SER), Counselor-Testing Specialist, Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee (MAAC). Coordinator of Manpower, CETA Area Training Center (at Palomar Community College), Transitional Assistance Program Instructor (TAP) and was Director of Personal Affairs (Camp Pendleton, CA) and Coordinated the first ever Sickle Cell Anemia Testing in Oceanside, just to name a few of his many accomplishments.

Reverend Patterson is a strong advocate of education and cultural awareness. He likes teaching and having the interaction and discussion of both Bible Study and Sunday School with the congregation in order to get down to the nitty gritty and still be brief, be specific, and be seated.” As he is fond of saying, “The day that you stop seeking knowledge, is the day that you most surely are dead.”

You can visit his website at www.rpatters.com.

A father once told his young son, who was going out into the world on his own, “Son, whatever you want to become, be The Best.” This course teaches you how to be “The Best.”

It begins with instructions on how to put “The Best” of you on paper  Writing Your Resume. Then, later presenting “The Best” of you in person  Preparing for an Interview.

You’ll begin with the basic Resume Content, noting what should and should not be included in your Resume. After mastering the content, then begins the formatting of the Resume.

The author has thoughtfully provided you with a Resume checklist. Some of the questions are as follows:

Is the Resume two pages or less?
(Do you realize the importance of this question?)
Are the dates consistent on the left (or right) side, and limited to years?
Does the language “flow” (neither stiff nor stilted)?
Are Action Verbs used to your full advantage?

I would like to make a comment here; this is one of the many sections that you will utilize not only in your job search but also in your everyday associations.

C.A.L.M. gives you access to nine different categories for Action Verbs. They are listed under the headings of:

Communication Skills
Creative Skills
Detailed Skills
Financial Skills
Helping Skills
Management Skills
Manual Skills
Research Skills
Teaching Skills

You’ll be surprised how many Action Verbs from this section you will be able to include in your Resume, which will help make it more impressive to your employer.

Didn’t I tell you that employers would be impressed with your Resume? Now, you have been called for an interview! The next section of the book takes you into “Interviewing Techniques.” What other book walks you through an all-inclusive “Pre-Interview” session? Well, C.A.L.M. does, and once you have completed this lesson, you will indeed be CALM during your interview, no matter how many people may be on the panel of interviewers.

Included in the “Interviewing Techniques” section are Fashion Recommendations, which takes you step by step through the protocol for the business interview dress code, how both men and women should dress when going to an interview. Remember, your Resume may have “opened” the door, now your personal appearance may get a “foot” in that door. Here is where you put the lessons you have learned from C.A.L.M. into practice. Here’s where you sell The Product – Yourself! Don’t worry. C.A.L.M. has fully prepared you for any of the possible questions that you may be asked during the interview. You are ready for them, and you will remain CALM.

C.A.L.M. guides you step-by-step through the entire interview: from the Beginning of the Interview, during the Interview, and through the Closure of the Interview. After completing this course of study, you will glide through your interview with confidence and a sense of achievement. You will have left a favorable impression with the employer, and all because you put into practice your C.A.L.M. course of study.

While the employer is checking you out, C.A.L.M. also instructs you on how to compile a checklist of pertinent company information. Information that is important to you in helping you decide whether or not you would want to work for this firm or company.

The author has thought of everything in preparing you for the job search. He has included a web-site listing for those of you who want to do your job-hunting via the Internet.

C.A.L.M. answers all the questions you may have ever had in your previous job search. The “Who,” the “What,” the “Where,” and the “How.”

If you are willing to strike a Faustian Bargain, that is, willing to sacrifice anything to satisfy a limitless desire for knowledge, then C.A.L.M. is, without a doubt, the course of study for you.

CAREER CRUSADE
Points to Successfully Conducting Your Career Crusade
1.) Conduct Your Career Crusade with Integrity
2.) No Other Rules Apply

Given the two and only rules above, it should be clear to you that you are free to be as creative and imaginative as possible in order to distinguish yourself in the market place. Undoubtedly, there are some skills or talents that you possess which set you apart from others seeking a new position in your desired field. It is up to you to recognize those skills and talents, then identify the value that they have. Realize the value of rendering these skills and talents to others, mainly your customers (future employers). Conduct a marketing plan, which will cause your customers to want to take advantage of the benefits that your skills and talents will bring to them. Look at the employers’ problems as your opportunities in disguise. Demonstrate that your skills and abilities would solve those problems through greater efficiency, increased sales, and increased profits. Then you will have your pick of a number of job offers. Obviously, this requires some research.

You need to be flexible when considering the job offer. Think of the ability to progress. The “rich man over night” idea does not relate to your job search.

Network with other people all of the time in order for them to keep you in mind for upcoming position offers. You might even gain a lead from one of your contacts.

Believe in yourself and the value that you can contribute to others.

You need to know that you are important, no matter what level you may start on.

Commit to your action plan, implement it with discipline, and conduct it persistently.

Purchase FIVE STEPS TO C.A.L.M. (CAREER AND LIFE MANAGEMENT at Amazon!

AMAZING GRAYS: A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO MAKING THE NEXT 50 THE BEST 50 by Maggie Rose Crane

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Amazing Grays, baby boomer women, boomer women, Maggie Crane, Maggie Rose Crane, midlife, midlife crisis, midlife women, online book promotion, women in midlife, women's nonfiction

Amazing Grays: A Woman’s Guide to Making the Next 50 the Best 50
Maggie Rose Crane
Self-Help
FTA Press
281 pages

Prior to publishing her book, AMAZING GRAYS, Maggie Rose Crane spent a decade crisscrossing the country conducting leadership and life-skills workshops for women. Born on the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation, she has experienced many life passages common to her peers: college, marriage, divorce, single motherhood, career changes, and creating a blended family. At the core of her message, shared through writing, speeches and workshops, Maggie exposes the fears and anxieties that haunt many midlife women – and reveals how to mindfully navigate the turbulence with wisdom, perspective and practice. She also serves as a guest editor for the Dove Real Women/Real Beauty Campaign website. (www.dove.com) Born and raised in Wisconsin, Maggie now resides on the West Coast. You can visit her website at http://www.maggiecrane.com.

Maggie Rose Crane has written an informative and engaging book for boomers who are unwilling to become feeble old women with boobs in their laps, dreams on the shelf, and “Memory Lane” their only destination. This book is for maturing women who are staking their claim as part of a dynamic and growing movement of ‘Amazing Grays’, women who want to challenge stereotypes about aging and create a fresh start for the second half of life – but aren’t quite sure how to pull it off.

When an epiphany in the hair salon convinced Maggie to try life without hair dye, she found herself face to face with the fears and questions that unsettle many maturing women living in a culture obsessed with youth and manufactured beauty…
Who am I now that I’m no longer young and fertile? Will I still be desirable as I age? Will I be invisible? Is this the beginning of the end? Is it too late to make a difference? And how on earth do I stop coloring my hair if I want to?

Balanced somewhere between a memoir and a how-to, Maggie uses her personal journey as a springboard to shatter stereotypes about aging. She shares her most poignant insights and experiences on what it means to be a woman “of a certain age,” and offers suggestions on how to mindfully chart a graceful course through the physical changes, emotional challenges and mental gauntlet of aging. With honesty, humor and plenty of research, Maggie lights the way for women who want to live with vibrancy and joy – regardless of their hair color!

In this provocative and touching book, Maggie explores, with humor and compassion, the many aspects of growing older – from changing social and family roles to changes in body and appearance, even changes in perspective and purpose. She shares how redirecting her focus from her packaging to her essence gave her the perspective to age mindfully and joyfully (after, of course, a bit of kicking and screaming).

Table of Contents:

1. Young…Forever?
2. What if It Really Is All in Our Heads?
3. The Culture Made Me Do It
4. The Key to Aging Gracefully
5. Shift Happens (When You Choose It)
6. How Do We Age?
7. Back to Your Roots
8. Becoming a Silver Sage
9. Riding the Cycle
10. Why Are Hormones So Darned Important?
11. Natural vs. Synthetic Hormone Replacement
12. Sex, Stereotypes and Statistics
13. A Weight is Lifted
14. Boomer Angst
15. Follow Your Bliss
16. A Code You Can Live By
17. The Happiness Quotient
18. Turning Within
19. The Workings of a Conditional Ego
20. Practice makes Present
21. The Power of Grace

AFTER SPENDING THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES in a Madison Avenue culture of youth and beauty, many of us are feeling uncertain of our place in a society that seems not to honor or appreciate the aging. Our roles are changing and we are beginning to question the time and energy we put into maintaining the look our our youth. We wonder:

Will I be invisible as I age? Will I be respected? Will I be loved? Why do my looks matter so much? What am I so afraid of? Who am I now that I’m no longer of reproductive age? Will I still be important? Will I be seen as a person of interest? Is everyone this scared of dying? I’m a Boomer…can’t I do this my way?

Thankfully, we boomers now have information available to us that has turned the whole notion of what it means to age on its head! True to our history, we’ll continue to make it up as we go along, testing the waters and pushing into new possibilities.

One thing f or certain is that whatever we counted on to define us in the past will change in the future. Appearance, talen, roles, responsibilities – it all changes. Rsisting change – trying to hold on to what was – is like holding your breath and hoping you’ll eventually get your way. It just doesn’t work.

We have come to a crossroads, and the direction that each of us chooses to take will determine how we experience the rest of our life.

Rather than sit back and allow our fears of aging to determine our experience of aging, let’s take hold of the wheel and steer ourselves toward a new reality, one that supports us in being vibrant, active and engaged members of society. Rather than hide away any evidence of our years, we can shift our focus to a more authentic and joyful way to age: with grace and intention…and gusto!

It’s a scary, sweet, and exciting time of life; an opportunity to redefine who you are now, and decide…

Who will I become?

Purchase AMAZING GRAYS: A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO MAKING THE NEXT 50 THE BEST 50 at Amazon!

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