FEATURED AUTHOR: KIRK ZUROSKY

 

ABOUT VOLUME 1: MY EX-WIFE SAID GO TO HELL

Sirius Sinister keeps sleeping with the wrong women. And this time, it’s led to his imprisonment in Hell. Literal Hell. Immortal vampire assassin Sirius Sinister has a healthy libido that constantly results in bad relationship decisions. But when he’s served divorce papers by Bloodsucker Number One—a shady woman from his past—he realizes there’s a major problem: he was never even married to her, or so he thought. Regardless of the truth, Sirius is put under the jurisdiction of Immortal Divorce Court. You would think by now he’d know having sex can lead to horrific consequences like marriage, children, and ex-wives—but some habits just won’t die. Leaving his faithful vampire Maltese, Garlic, behind, Sirius travels to court to defend himself with the help of his demon attorney, Maximillian Justice. Unfortunately, the trial quickly spirals out of control, and Sirius is banished to hell for a hundred years. When Sirius finally escapes, he ends up in the Caribbean where he meets his next paramour: the Howler. After a wild romp with his new werewolf lover under the lure of a full blood moon, he finds himself becoming the father of a litter of pups—but, the Howler and her Pack want to put the dead in deadbeat dad. Luckily, Sirius is saved by the Queen of the Merfolk, who comes with a hidden agenda even as they fall in love. Can he make it work with the Queen, or will he have to head to Immortal Divorce Court once again as yet another relationship flounders? For all those who have nursed a broken heart—or a vengeful one—Immortal Divorce Court Volume 1 is a sexy, exciting debut and the start of a hellishly fun new series about the flawed antihero Sirius Sinister.

ABOUT VOLUME 2: A SIRIUS EDUCATION

Sirius Sinister has always been a bit of a know-it-all, but in order to save the world, he’s going to need a serious education!

The Lady of the Underworld has cast Sirius Sinister out of her fiery realm and into the icy Himalayas to teach him a lesson in humility. Hades can be a real bitch, but self-doubt is even worse. It’s here that Sirius and his vampire Maltese, Garlic, battle for their immortal lives against menacing wolves and crazed snow demons.

After leaving the mountains, Hedley Edrick, the Master of Masters, leads Sirius to the Queen, but their reunion is quickly interrupted by some murderous merfolk. Escaping to the House of Indigo, Hedley informs Sirius about the mystical Seven Sacred Relics, and warns him that the forces of evil will gain limitless power if they get their hands on them. Sirius wants a life of sunshine, rainbows, and glitter for his daughters, so there’s no way he’s going to let unspeakable evil muck that up!

To prepare for a battle over the Relics, Hedley sends Sirius to Florence, Italy to be enlightened by the incomparable, rainbow-haired bookworm, Knowledge. After gaining an impressive education, a spot on the faculty at the College of Immortals opens up, which Sirius happily accepts. It’s not long before he realizes that simultaneously teaching young immortals, balancing parenthood, and taking on the forces of evil is a test the world cannot afford him to fail.

In Immortal Divorce Court Volume 2: A Sirius Education, the story of Earth’s most notorious vampire continues with adventure and intensity, as Sirius Sinister seeks the answers to the questions that plague him. Can Hedley Edrick, the Master of Masters really be trusted? Or is he simply using Sirius as a pawn in a much more dangerous game? And, perhaps most troubling of all—will Sirius ever be comfortable with his daughters dating? 




LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH KIRK ZUROSKY

A few of your favorite things: traveling the world with my wife Susie, enjoying the conversations with folks we meet along the way, and eating the local food and drinking the local wine.  
Things you need to throw out: those boxes in the attic I keep telling myself I am going to throw out.


Things you need in order to write: to be inspired, have an idea of what I want to write, and absolute quiet.
Things that hamper your writing: if my mind is focused on other things, or I am not in a creative mood, it is really hard to get started sometimes.  But, usually once I do, I can get into the scene of what I am writing.


Things you love about writing: sharing a piece of myself with the world, and the thrill of coming up with things that challenge my characters, and amuse myself all at the same time.
Things you hate about writing: I don’t hate anything about the process of writing, though it is sometimes frustrating how hard it is to get your work out there.

Easiest thing about being a writer: when I am in the right frame of mind, the words just flow right to the page. 

Hardest thing about being a writer: ignoring the noise of those that don’t get your work, characters, or humor.  No matter how thick your skin is, no one likes to hear or read negative things about what they have created.


Things you love about where you live: I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is a good-sized city with a small-town feel.  The weather is great most of the year, and it has an international airport, so I can get anywhere in the world from here.
Things that make you want to move: I have been in North Carolina for over twenty-five years, and retiring somewhere overseas to immerse myself in a different culture is a dream that I would like to come true.


Things you never want to run out of: great wine, dog treats for our wannabe vampire Maltese, Daisy, and energy.
Things you wish you’d never bought: all that stuff the kids never used or wore.


Favorite foods: I am a foodie, so I will try just about anything.
Things that make you want to throw up: it won’t make me throw up, but super spicy food does not like me very much!

Favorite music: I am child of the 80s, so classic rock.
Music that make your ears bleed: most music put out after 2000.

Favorite beverage: awesome red wine.

Something that gives you a pickle face: really crappy wine.

Favorite smell: my wife.

Something that makes you hold your nose: my ex.

Something you’re really good at: word games, making a mess, and breaking things.

Something you’re really bad at: fixing things.



Last best thing you ate: we just came back from Cabo, and everything we ate was amazing!

Last thing you regret eating: eating dessert every night was something the scale says was a bad idea.

Things you always put in your books: extra hot sex scenes.

Things you never put in your books: sad endings.

Favorite places you’ve been: South Africa, South America, Spain, Italy, and England.

Places you never want to go to again: mortal divorce court.

Favorite things to do: travel, exercise, laughing, eating, and playing with Daisy. 

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: shopping in a mall.

Best thing you’ve ever done: marry my wife, Susie.

Biggest mistake: not finding her soon enough.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: bungee jumped off of a 290-foot bridge.

Something you chickened out from doing: I’m pretty daring, but I would pass on the bungee jumping now. Being in your 50s versus your 20s, discretion is ever the better part of valor.

The last thing you did for the first time: rode a camel.

Something you’ll never do again: bungee jump, and drink crappy wine. And, definitely not both of these at the same time!

EXCERPT FROM IMMORTAL DIVORCE COURT, VOLUME 1







One

I could do nothing but wait for the deputies to return and, hopefully, free me. I was just beginning to grow a little bit crazy, trading insults with the boil, when I heard footsteps approaching. Through the door came a broad-shouldered figure wearing a traveling cloak as blue as the sky with a large cowl draped over its head. It moved slowly but deliberately, like its knees had suffered many an injury, and stopped suddenly just out of the boil’s range.

“Drat,” said the boil to our mysterious guest. “How did you know to stop just outside of spitting range?”

“I’ve read Bartholomew’s Treatise on Enchanted Boils,” the deep voice behind the cowl said. “Save your pus for a less well-read guest.”

“Who are you?” By this point I’d had so many guests that I was not remotely bothered by my privates being on full display. “Are you a special warlock envoy of Immortal Divorce Court, sent to try your magic on these accursed chains?”

“Well, Sirius Sinister,” said my guest, “I have actually been waiting a few centuries to make your acquaintance. I grew tired of waiting for you to come to me, so I decided to come to you. And seeing how you have been on the wrong end of a few bad decisions, I figured now was the perfect time.” He drew his hood back, revealing a perfectly clean-shaven head that glistened in the eerie light of the chains. “I am Hedley Edrick, but you can call me ‘the Teacher of Teachers,’ ‘the Master of Masters,’ ‘the Scholar of Scholars,’ ‘the Sage of Sages,’ and yes, you guessed it, I am the most learned creature on this amazing planet of ours.”

“What a cocky cock!” opined the boil.

I smiled wryly. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you,” I said. “I always meant to attend your school at some point in the last two hundred years. But instead I seem to have wandered off onto an all too different path.” I rattled my chains. “Of course, I have been getting some hard lessons all the same, though.”

“So I see,” Hedley replied, his eyes twinkling. “But it is never too late to find the proper path. Sometimes life is like making sausage— the process is not something that is pleasant to look at but ends up as something you really wanted all along.”

“What I really want is to be free from these chains so I can go to Immortal Divorce Court and fight for my girls,” I said, feeling a tear come to my eye, which I fought unsuccessfully to blink back in.

“I will free you from those chains,” Hedley said. “If you promise that you will do just one little thing for me.”

“Anything!” I said. “Just name your price!”

“No matter your result at the IDC, whether you are jailed for a thousand years or are free to live unfettered with your girls, you must promise to come to my school and study for as long as I say,” he said.

“I will,” I said. “Not a problem. Now get me out of these chains!”

“Swear,” Hedley said.

“Shit!” said the boil. “Are we free yet?”

“Fine, I swear, I swear,” I said. “Now come on, Edrick, get a move on, those faeries will be coming back any minute now. I can feel it.”

“Swear also to never give up in trying to find the purest love that lifts your heart up and makes all well with the world.”

Damn, that certainly wasn’t a question I wanted to be asked while chained to a wall with my breeches at my ankles and some

strange hooded man in the room. But hopefully, this wasn’t that kind of party.

 

Excerpt from Immortal Divorce Court, Volume 1. Copyright © 2020 by Kurk Zurosky. Reproduced with permission from Kurk Zurosky. All rights reserved.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kirk Zurosky has practiced plaintiff’s personal injury and workers’ compensation law in North Carolina and South Carolina for over twenty years.  He finds working as an attorney helping those that have been injured to be incredibly rewarding.  He has enjoyed writing poems, and fiction stories, since he was a child. Writing was his first love, or so he thought until he met his wife, Susie. That is when he realized what love really was all about and that he could write one Hell of a sex scene. In Kirk’s spare time he enjoys traveling the world with Susie, world history and cultures, fitness, and experiencing all the wonder that life has to offer!



Connect with Kirk:
Website  |  Facebook  | Goodreads  

Buy the book:

Amazon  Volume 1  |  Amazon Volume 2  |  Barnes & Noble 

FEATURED AUTHOR: CARA REINARD

ABOUT THE BOOK 


It’s what Sarah Ellsworth dreamed of. Marriage to her childhood sweetheart, Martin. Living in a historic mansion in Pennsylvania’s most exclusive borough. And Finn, a teenage son with so much promise. Until . . . a call for help in the middle of the night leads Sarah and Martin to the woods, where they find Finn, injured, dazed, and weeping near his girlfriend’s dead body. Convinced he’s innocent, Sarah and Martin agree to protect their son at any cost and not report the crime.

But there are things Sarah finds hard to reconcile: a cover-up by Martin’s family that’s so unnervingly cold-blooded. Finn’s lies to the authorities are too comfortable, too proficient, not to arouse her suspicions. Even the secrets of the old house she lives in seem to be connected to the incident. As each troubling even unfolds, Sarah must decide how far she’ll go to save her perfect life.

 

Book Details:

Title: Sweet Water

Author: Cara Reinard

Genre: domestic thriller

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (January 1st, 2021)

Print length: 363 pages


LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH CARA REINARD

A few of your favorite things: my Bernese mountain dog, Lily (I love dogs), inspirational coffee mugs, my shoe collection, although I’ve had nowhere to wear them lately.
Things you need to throw out: my sweatshirts from twenty years ago (but they’re so soft!).


Things you need in order to write: COFFEE. That is all.
Things that hamper your writing: research. Too much noise. Especially people sounds. Or the dishwasher. Or a fly buzzing around. Everything. Every. Single. Thing. Is a distraction.


Things you love about writing: escapism. The power to disappear into a different world. It’s truly felt like a gift this year.
Things you hate about writing: there’s never enough time to escape, and while you’re escaping no one is cleaning your house and the laundry continues to pile up.

Easiest thing about being a writer: talking to other writers about writing.

Hardest thing about being a writer: explaining being a writer to non-writers.


Things you love about where you live: all four seasons.
Things that make you want to move: the fourth season. Winter. Winter in Pittsburgh is frigid, with hills, so it’s like living on a ginormous ski slope that never stops. The other three seasons are okay. Unless you have hay fever. Or any allergies at all. Maybe I should just move!

Things you never want to run out of: coffee, chocolate, toilet paper (THIS YEAR ONLY).
Things you wish you’d never bought: all that damn toilet paper.


Favorite foods: sushi, Italian, Mexican.
Things that make you want to throw up: cabbage, cooked or raw.   

Favorite beverage: red wine. 

Something that gives you a pickle face: IPAs.

Something you wish you could do: play an instrument.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: play Animal Crossing. One more distraction!

Things you’d walk a mile for: nothing. I’d run instead. I’m a runner. Why would I walk?
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Rob Zombie movies.

Things you always put in your books: the title of my book. I always sneak it in there somewhere. I’m one of those.

Things you never put in your books: the death of a dog. I love them too much. Humans, on the other hand, I have no problem killing off in my stories.

Things to say to an author: what are you working on these days?

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I wish I had the time to write a book. (As if time is the only thing holding them back). Writing a novel is hard, people.

Favorite places you’ve been: Grand Cayman, Hawaii, Italy.

Places you never want to go to again: Detroit, Syracuse, Tijuana.

Favorite things to do: run, read, write, play with my kids (ages 7 and 10), being a hockey and cheer mom.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: yard work.

Things that make you happy: my family—my husband. My dog. Books. Movies. Music.

Things that drive you crazy: fake news. Social Media. Roundabouts.

The last thing you did for the first time: saw a concert from the second row (The Black Keys, almost a year ago) P.S. I really MISS concerts.

Something you’ll never do again: run a full marathon.


EXCERPT FROM SWEET WATER

Chapter 1

I reach for my phone inside my purse slung around my neck. It’s dangling behind my back because I had nowhere else to put it while examining the body.

“Sarah, is she breathing?” Martin asks. I turn my head to find him, but it’s too dark.

I stumble, disoriented under the canopy of trees. We’re somewhere off Fern Hollow Road, the closest turnoff to Finn’s pinned iPhone location.

“I d-don’t know,” I sputter, still shocked we found her and not Finn when we parked the car and hiked the rest of the way into Sewickley Heights Park.

“Check her—now. I need to find Finn.” Martin’s voice fades into the forest, and all I want to do is follow him, but I just spoke to my son on the phone. His speech was slurred, and his girlfriend is . . .

“Oh God.” I open my mouth and let out a strangled breath, so sick that I sway to the side.

My eyes water as I kneel beside Yazmin Veltri, a girl I’ve known for only the briefest period. The wetness soaks through the holes in my jeans, settling into my bare kneecaps, ice on bone.

“Yazmin?” I shine my phone’s light in her direction, but I’m stopped by the certain hint of marijuana.

Shit. All these years working with at-risk young women, and I couldn’t see that Finn was dating one.

“Please,” I beg the starlit sky peeking through the trees. “Let her be breathing.”

I sniffle and inhale the truth through the rotting leaves. Something terrible has happened here, and I’m too late. The autumn mist snakes in through my nose, out through my mouth, emitting tiny white puffs of air.

The forest ground is slippery, a feathered blanket beneath my knees, slathering the tops of my shoes.

I hear more hurried footsteps. Martin sounds like a mouse lost in a maze. Has he found Finn? I need to go to him, but my husband told me to stay here.

The branches scratch the tops of my feet as I move closer to her, the fallen leaves collecting between my knees. Yazmin could still be alive. A bitter taste rises in my mouth as I bite my tongue, and I’m close enough to touch her now.

My arm trembles as I place two fingers on the cold flesh of her neck. Not only cold—wet. I can’t see what I’m touching, but I can feel her absence. Right below her jawline, in the space beside her trachea where I know a steady drumbeat should exist, there’s nothing.

No pulse. My heartbeat quickens and plummets. Oh God.

My blood is rushing. Pounding. I’m sweating despite the near-thirty-degree temperature. I dip my head closer to Yazmin’s chest, careful not to tangle my hair with hers. I’ve checked on my kids enough times in the middle of the night to know this girl’s not breathing. I shut my eyes and listen anyway.

Sure enough, the steady rise and fall of Yazmin’s chest is absent along with her pulse.

“She’s dead. We have to call the police,” I announce, loud enough for Martin to hear, but not nearly as loud as the screaming in my head.

Call somebody! Help!

I hear Martin crunch closer, and I turn my back on the girl.

I scoot up on my legs and use my hands to push myself into a crouching position. My breath is heavy, and everything on my body—my hands, my knees—rattles with fear. I hear a cry in the distance.

My son’s cry. And then Martin’s rustling footsteps. Beside me again.

“Where is he?” I ask.

“He’s okay, but . . .” Martin nods to the right. “He’s injured. We need to get him out of here, Sarah.”

“Okay,” I say, but I close my eyes because my head is a ringing bell of stress even though this wooded area is one of the things that drew me to this town. The park is near the country club where we’re members, where Martin’s family have been members for years, and things like this just don’t happen here.

“Let’s go, Sarah!” Martin urges.

My eyes snap open, and I hold up my phone. “Wait. I’m calling 911. For her.”

“No.” Martin swats my hand away with the flick of his strong knuckles. The blood on my palms makes everything slick, and my cell phone goes flying across the forest like a bar of soap in the shower. I slip sideways into a bramble of branches and land on my left hip, staring at my husband’s garish face in the moonlight. He looks unfamiliar, that expression one reserved for when he loses business at work, a rare occurrence. Martin is an innovator, his causes noble. Sometimes I don’t approve of how he does things, but I usually approve of why.

“Damn it.” Martin scrambles to find my phone. Right now, I don’t approve at all.

“Why did you do that?” I ask, but I’m more surprised that he’s hit me than I am by the fact that he doesn’t agree with my decision to call the police.

“It will get reported tomorrow. We need to leave with Finn. Now.”

“What? That makes no sense.”

Martin retrieves my phone, and I’m trying to get his attention, but he’s looking right past me at the gas pipeline in the distance, a clear-cut, inclined path free of foliage about a thousand yards long in the mountainous terrain. Martin and I messed around with sleds one winter on a protected slope of land just like it, and I think maybe Finn and Yazmin planned their own adventure out here tonight and something went terribly wrong.

“Martin.” I try to get up, but my foot slips on a mossy rock.

He grabs my arm. Then drops it. “Watch yourself,” he says, but he doesn’t help me rise. He’s too busy texting.

It’s then that I hear water rushing nearby. The river rocks are indigenous to this area, like everything else woodsy and serene in Sewickley.

Sewickley, the Shawnee word for sweet water, derived from the tribe’s belief that the borough’s shores were a little sweeter on that stretch of the Ohio River, the maple trees that grow at its shores only part of the saccharine story.

“Who’re you texting?” I’m crying and my hands are still wet, but I can’t wipe them. There’s blood all over my palms, and I can’t remember how it got there; head wounds bleed the worst.

“Hold on!” Martin is standing with his back to me now, holding his phone in the air like he’s trying to decide what to do with it, a six-foot silhouette of trepidation. He scratches his dark hair and rubs his cell phone on his sweater-vest, but he doesn’t use it to call anyone, only texts.

“I’m getting legal advice from my father,” Martin says.

His father?

I picture William Sr. texting back from the comfort of one of his high-back chairs inside his home, one of the few estates that make up Sewickley Heights like a richly woven patchwork quilt—the expensive kind sewn together with colonials surrounded by alabaster columns and mile-long driveways.

“Martin?”

William’s house is a fat-thatched Tudor hiding behind manicured bushes, a peek of white here, a slip of brown there, but there’s no hiding from this.

“Of course you have to report it!” I look again—at her—and the blood is already congealing around her open head wound, her neck bent at an awkward angle, a matchstick snapped in half. The rushing water streams just behind her.

Martin’s tugging on my coat. “Get up, Sarah. We have to go.”

“We can’t leave her.” Yazmin’s long black hair is covering the expression on her face, although the one I imagine is stuck there will haunt me more than the one I cannot see. She rests on her back, and it would be an odd way to fall, backward instead of forward, her hands crossed over her chest as if she were thwarting an attack. It reminds me of a tae kwon do block from when Finn used to take classes. We’d enrolled him when he was a child because he was painfully shy, whereas Spencer, his older brother, was frequently mentioned by his teachers as boisterous or exuberant, adjectives used in private schools to describe disruptive overachievers. I might expect Spencer to get into trouble with a girl like this, but not my poor Finny.

I turn toward Martin. He’s speaking, but I’ve stopped listening.

His eyes are pleading. “She’s dead. We can’t help her. Finn was the last person with her.”

“But—”

“He’s on something, Sarah. Drugs.” Martin shakes his head furiously. “This looks bad.”

I can hear what he’s saying, but I’ve retreated into my own body, and I don’t even know who we are right now.

We used to be Martin and Sarah Ellsworth of Blackburn Road.

We were the couple sitting at a corner table at a fancy restaurant, splitting a bottle of wine. Laughing at each other’s jokes.

“We have to do something for her.” My voice is swallowed by the humming sounds of the forest and the flapping of the leaves on the trees, the river. She’s already dead, but we need to make sure she’s at least taken to the hospital so her parents can identify her. Bile rises in my mouth. My heart is beating so fast, drowning out everything else, but I faintly hear Finn’s voice again nearby.

“I’m sorry.” Martin extends his arm to help me up, but I waggle my finger in the air at him, pointing to my hands, reminding my brainy husband that I’m bloodied and pulling me up isn’t a good idea. I must’ve made the mistake of touching Yazmin in the wrong place.

“Right.” He draws his palms back.

My legs won’t work. I gaze up, silently praying. The large enveloping trees of Sewickley Heights tower above us like old wealthy gatekeepers winking in the night.

“I need your help. I can’t move him on my own, Sarah,” Martin reveals.

I close my eyes, wishing it all away. It’s all a bad dream.

“Can we just make an anonymous call from a pay phone or something? For her parents’ sake, at least?”

“You can’t. They’ll try to interview Finn, see the drug use, and assume the worst. He’ll go to jail.” His voice is thick with desperation. “Sarah, this will ruin Finn’s life. This isn’t his fault!” Martin kicks a stone with his worn loafer, a product from one of the posh boutiques that line downtown Sewickley, a mishmash of overpriced things people don’t really need displayed in windowed storefronts on cobblestone streets. There’s a place to reupholster old furniture with patterns better left to die with their original owners, a claw-foot-tub specialist, an herbal spa with enough fresh fruit remedies to double as a bakery, the imported-leather-shoe store.

I bought Martin the shoes he has on now, and he’s worn them down to the soles. He’s practical, a computer engineer and CEO of a robotics start-up in the Strip District. He does things that make sense.

But right now, he’s not making any.

“Maybe she slipped.” My voice is shallow like the night air sneaking away from my lips, but the idea of an accident fills my heart with hope. “We’ll leave an anonymous tip.” If I had my phone, I’d call myself.

I’d explain this is exactly how we found her. She wasn’t even near our son when we discovered her body.

Unless . . . we’ve messed with the scene of the crime so much that we’ve hurt Finn more than helped him. I look down at my bloody hands and cringe. As far as we know, Finn is the last one who saw Yazmin alive. This could be very bad for him. “Shit.”

Martin grabs me by the arm. “We have to go, Sarah. Get up.” I can’t see much of Martin’s face but the stringy blue vein in his forehead that only comes out when he’s upset.

It’s been only minutes, but we need to move—faster.

“We need to go to him,” I say.

“Yes.” Martin nods.

I’m in shock. That’s what’s wrong with me. I blindly follow Martin, adrenaline fueling my limbs. Finn is off the beaten path, and I feel as though I’ve already failed him for taking so long. He’s huddled over a pile of leaves, his knees tucked into his chest like he used to do when he was a little kid. He looks so small right now.

So young.

A little boy who fell off his scooter and skinned his knee. I wish this problem were as easy to fix.

I wipe my hands on my jeans and throw my arms around him.

“I’m here. Mom’s here.” Finn’s crying and I don’t know how to make it better for him. He obviously didn’t mean for the girl to get hurt, but this was no accident either. He’s made a terrible mistake, gotten himself into a horrible predicament. So Finn did what we always told him to do if he was ever in trouble—he called us.

***

Excerpt from Sweet Water by Cara Reinard. Copyright 2021 by Cara Reinard. Reproduced with permission from Cara Reinard. All rights reserved.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Cara Reinard is an author of domestic suspense and women’s fiction. She lives in the Pittsburgh area with her husband, two children and Bernese mountain dog. Sweet Water is her debut domestic thriller. It was released from Thomas & Mercer on January 1, 2021. Into the Sound, her next domestic thriller, will be released from Thomas & Mercer in December 2021.


Connect with Cara:

Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

a Rafflecopter giveaway


GUEST POST WITH GRAY BASNIGHT

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Six years after his Flight of the Fox ordeal that dubbed him the American Prometheus, humble math professor Sam Teagarden becomes embroiled in another mission involving decoding a secret document provoking tragic reactions around the world. Unearthed in northern Israel, the ancient parchment is called the Q Document, for the German word quelle, meaning: source. Biblical scholars believe it may be the original source for the two Gospels: Matthew and Luke. If decoded, it could shed light on the creation of the world's most widely observed religious faith.

This time, instead of trying to kill him, the FBI formally taps Teagarden to assist – and help stop – a contagion of mass suicides among religious zealots. Each cult-like group is motivated by fear of what may, or may not, be revealed if the document is decoded and published.  His mission is supposed to last two days on foreign soil. When the plan goes awry, Teagarden is forced to work alone, without the promised protection from the FBI and CIA.
 
The journey takes him from New York to Israel, across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome, and finally Berlin. As he tries to decipher the two-thousand-year-old enigmatic parchment, he must outsmart two fanatical and equally dangerous groups: one entrenched in religious faith, the other rooted in fervent atheism. He learns that one group wants him dead, while the other wants him alive – until their goals reverse midstream.
 
Will he become another casualty caught up in the controversy caused by fear of the Q Document? Or, if he survives the gauntlet of extreme violence, will he be blamed for conveying news to the world that millions will not want to hear?

Book Details:
Title: Madness of the Q
Author: Gray Basnight
Genre: thriller
Series: Sam Teagarden Thriller, book 2
Publisher and publish date: Down & Out Books, December 14, 2020
Print length: 345 Pages

GUEST POST BY GRAY BASNIGHT

The Writer’s Life: Outside Looking In & Inside Looking Out

 
From the outside, the writerly life would appear quite boring. Imagine watching someone at a desk, fingers on keyboard, butt in chair, 4-6 hours a day, 6 days a week. That’s it. That’s really the only rule for writing.  If the aspiring writer doesn’t spend large chunks of time writing on a daily basis, then it will remain an aspiration only. 

In between the work of writing, my writer’s life is a regular pursuit of family, friends, food, and recreation. COVID has changed the scenario because there’s less time for all that, and therefore, less distraction. I realize that for some writers, the COVID restrictions diminish productivity because they need social interaction as creative motivation – but for me, it equals more writing time and increased productivity. 
 
Having said that, while the writers’ life is generally very internal and solitary, I wouldn’t call it lonely, and I wouldn’t say I’m alone. From the inside looking out, there are endless ideas, characters, and plots knocking around my consciousness. They talk to me, and I talk to them. They tell me their stories and sometimes take me places I don’t expect.  Sometimes they stop midstream and force me to figure out where they and the story will go next. That happens because I am mostly a seat-of-the-pants-er, which means I don’t work from outlines. I’ve tried and just can’t do it. The risk of not outlining is great loss of time caused by diving into some rabbit hole that you don’t know is wasted time until you realize—uh-oh, that was wasted time. 
 
On the other hand, the benefit of not outlining poses a greater chance for discovery, a more intensely burning fire, and creative newness. As Picasso said, to create, you must “close your eyes and sing.” Personally, I believe non-outliners can be better singers.
 
It’s also worth noting that writers are watchers, listeners and readers. Curiosity is a creative spark that involves expanding the mind. On the reading front, I tend to read and re-read from my list of favorite novels. This list started to accumulate once I graduated from comic books around age 11. Another point of inspiration for me comes from history. For Flight of the Fox, the spark was a “what if” idea involving discovery of a diary kept by Clyde Anderson Tolson, who was J. Edgar Hoover’s lover and lifetime partner.  That led to the genesis of my everyman math professor Sam Teagarden.

A far more ancient point in history became the launching point for Sam’s return in my current thriller Madness of the Q. I was listening to a Great Courses audio lecture about the New Testament when the real professor mentioned a theorized source for two Gospels called the Q Document. That was a lightning bolt that engendered another “what if” scenario. What if the Q Document were discovered in our time? And off I went to find out through a fictional lens.
 
Finally, in sharing thoughts about the writing life, I can’t say enough about the writer’s need for readers – including interacting and hearing from readers. During COVID, it’s a little more challenging with few in-person events. But it can still be done via virtual events, online reviews, and social media. Here’s where I give thanks to libraries and indie bookstores that have stepped up and are playing a very timely and vital role in hosting both established and emerging authors.
 
Long story short, to see what a writer does, don’t look. But do read the book because that’s where you’ll see the act of someone who had some fun by playing God, inventing a world, filling it with people, and making things happen to each of them.    

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gray Basnight was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, where he spent his childhood and teen years on two much-loved activities: reading and participating in theatre productions. After studying English and theatre at a small college in North Carolina and George Washington University in Washington, DC, Gray moved to New York City where, after experiencing the actor's struggle, he began working in local radio. Almost 30 years later, he was laid off as a radio reporter at the height of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Though he'd been writing fiction all along, he decided to turn that life-altering event into an opportunity to pursue a second (or third) life.  His first novel, The Cop with the Pink Pistol, was published to rave reviews in 2012.  His Civil War historical novel Shadows in the Fire was released in 2015. Flight of the Fox, a political thriller, appeared 2018, and its sequel, Madness of the Q followed in mid-December 2020.

Connect with Gray:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads 

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Down & Out Books

FEATURED AUTHOR: PAULA DOMBROWIAK

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Love is complicated, messy, and sometimes painful but oh so worth it. A heartbreaking journey through love, friendship, family, and fame. Music brought them together, addiction tore them apart, loyalty saved them. It was always Jack and Mia, everyone else was just collateral damage.

Jack O’Donnell’s life was teetering on the edge. Forced, as a teenager, to make a decision that would change his life forever, he left his hometown to pursue a music career with collaborator Mia Stone. Living in a van by the beach was not the glamorous Los Angeles lifestyle they had envisioned but sparked the most creative time of their lives. Making it big was all they ever wanted but when it happened, friendships were tested, hearts were broken, and lives were changed forever.

Erin Langford is a seasoned journalist tasked with writing a feature on Jack O’Donnell. Being at the right place at the right moment puts Erin in a unique position to get the story, but at what cost? Having preconceived notions about Jack’s rock star image, she learns there is more to a story than just the headlines. The two embark on a journey through Jack’s past where he recounts the rise and fall of his band Mogo and the irreplaceable bond between himself and collaborator Mia Stone. The feature she thought she was going to write, turns into so much more.

Blood and Bone is an evocative story told in alternating time periods, from the early ‘90s to the present day about deep bonds between flawed people whose only outlet of self-expression is through their music.

Book Details


Title: Blood and Bone


Author: Paula Dombrowiak


Genre: women’s fiction/romance


Publisher: Paula Dombrowiak (October 30, 2020)


Print length: 324 pages

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH PAULA DOMBROWIAK

A few of your favorite things: chocolate, music, animals and books.
Things you need to throw out: a stack of papers that needs to be shredded.


Things you need in order to write: silence, comfy chair, and comfy pair of leggings.
Things that hamper your writing: interruptions such as kids and the lure of social media.


Things you love about writing: creating a story that someone will connect with.
Things you hate about writing: the first start of transferring the story from my head to the blank page. It’s so difficult to get that first bit down, but once I do it gets easier.

Easiest thing about being a writer: you can do it from anywhere, home, a coffee shop, on vacation, etc.

Hardest thing about being a writer: editing, especially removing a scene that you love but just doesn’t fit into the story anymore.


Things you love about where you live: the weather, especially in the winter is very nice.
Things that make you want to move: I wish we had all four seasons because I miss that.


Things you never want to run out of: veggies because they are my life force.
Things you wish you’d never bought: potato chips because let’s face it, I could do without them.


Words that describe you: impatient, sweet, honest, loyal.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: introvert, shy, corpulent.

Favorite foods: cheese and bread.
Things that make you want to throw up: sushi, meat.

Favorite music or song: Alternative Rock.
Music that make your ears bleed: Rap.

Favorite beverage: it’s a toss-up between a Hot Dirty Chai Tea Latte with Almond Milk and an Iced Mexican Mocha with Almond Milk.

Something that gives you a pickle face: very dry wine.

Favorite smell: vanilla.

Something that makes you hold your nose: dog farts.

Something you’re really good at: keeping in touch with friends.

Something you’re really bad at: giving advice.


Something you wish you could do: play the guitar.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: ballet.

Something you like to do: going to wineries with my friends, whether it’s local or a trip.

Something you wish you’d never done: gotten married, ha ha, well, true but I remedied that.



Last best thing you ate: deep dish pizza.

Last thing you regret eating: Christmas tree snack cake.

Things you’d walk a mile for: caffeinated beverage.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: my cat’s licking their butts.

Things you always put in your books: a musical element.

Things you never put in your books: cheesy pop culture references.

Things to say to an author: Can I take a picture with you? Can you sign my book? I really enjoyed your latest book.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Did you really do the things you wrote about in your book?

Favorite places you’ve been: Portland, Oregon; San Diego, California.

Places you never want to go to again: Peter Piper Pizza.

Favorite things to do: relax at home and watch TV, take road trips, read a good book.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: public speaking.

Things that make you happy: snuggles from my kids, kisses from my dog, a glass of wine with my besties.

Things that drive you crazy: slow drivers and when my pets lick themselves in front of me.

Proudest moment: graduating college.
Most embarrassing moment: going up on stage to collect an award but realizing it wasn’t my name they called.


Best thing you’ve ever done: had my kids although I said I never wanted kids just because I didn’t want to go through childbirth, I’m a scaredy cat that way, but so glad I did.

Biggest mistake: selling a house I owned to an investor who kind of screwed me.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: going on The Eagle roller coaster at Great America in Gurnee, Illinois.

Something you chickened out from doing: zip lining.

The last thing you did for the first time: hiking in Oak Creek Canyon, in Sedona, Arizona.

Something you’ll never do again: go on a scary roller coaster.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Paula Dombrowiak grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois but currently lives in Arizona. She is the author of Blood and Bone, her first adult romance novel which combines her love of music and imperfect relationships. Paula is a lifelong music junkie, whose wardrobe consists of band T-shirts and leggings which are perpetually covered in pet hair. Music is what inspires her storytelling.


Connect with Paula:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads


Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble 

FEATURED AUTHOR: ELIZABETH PANTLEY

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Hayden was a child, she lost her cat. Adults told her the cat ran away, but she knew the truth. The mirror had taken her.

She knew because the mirror had given her a glimpse of an alternate world and had nearly pulled her in, so she was certain the cat had suffered that fate.

Twenty years later Hayden discovers the secret of the mirror when she is thrust into it. She learns of a world she never knew existed, and a family she never knew she had.

But danger brought her here, and it followed her. Now, Hayden is on a mission to remove the threat, so that she can begin her magical, meaningful new life in this enchanted world.

Book Details:
Title: Falling into Magic
Author: Elizabeth Pantley
Genre: cozy mystery
Series: Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic series, book 1
Published: November 12, 2020
Print length: 299 pages

GUEST POST BY ELIZABETH PANTLEY

A Day in My Life

As a mom of four kids my life used to be filled with mothering, and writing was wedged into corners wherever I found them, usually surrounded by Legos and picture books. Now that my youngest is in college, my days are a bit more flexible! Here’s what a typical day looks like for me now.

5:00-6:00 AM
 I wake up every morning without an alarm, excited about what awaits in the day ahead. My husband jokes that I skip to work every morning! You know what they say, if you love with you do you never have to work a day in your life? That’s me!

6:00-8:00 AM 
My office is at home, so I have a super short commute – down a flight of stairs. First thing I do is open my email and get far too excited about notes from bloggers, readers, and the companies doing the formatting or editing on my books. You’d never guess that I’ve had thirteen published books since every single one is like my firstborn child!

8:00-10:00 AM
 Workout and self-care time! Just like Hayden, the protagonist in Falling into Magic, I’ve transformed my physical fitness over the past year. I used to always be “too busy” to exercise, but I have found that time on my treadmill. lifting weights and doing a bit of yoga makes me happier and more productive. I follow that up with a steamy shower and then a gigantic bowl of protein oatmeal with fruit, and a mug of tea (extra cream and sugar, just like Hayden.)

10:00 AM to ???
 Playtime! By that I mean time to write! If I’m working on a manuscript my writing time could go on until bedtime, with a few breaks for tea, food and family. Not because I have any strict deadline, but because once I’m in the story my mind swirls with it. If I’m not typing, then I’m thinking about it and making notes on my phone, or pestering my family for their opinions on a certain scene. The characters and places become so real to me that they actually help to tell their own story.

6:00 PM
 Husband home from work, so time to take him for a walk. We enjoy strolling our neighborhood and catching up on the day. He then listens to my stories about all the great bloggers and readers I connected with that day, and what fascinating steps have been taken on my book. And he’s a great listener, luckily, because sometimes my chatter keeps going on right through dinner.

8:00 PM
 Wind-down time. Grab a cup of tea, a bowl of popcorn and read . . .  cozy mysteries, of course!

EXCERPT FROM FALLING INTO MAGIC







One

I woke up to twelve pounds of fluffy, grey feline sitting on my chest. Two intense blue cat eyes were barely an inch from my nose and Sassy’s warm, steady breath was in my face. There’s no telling how long my Himalayan had been there staring at me and waiting for her Person to wake up and serve breakfast, but it must have been a while. The tone of her meow was snappish. I reached up to pet the softest pair of ears in town and enjoyed the warm rumble of her purr. Forgiven for the moment, it seems.

Let’s see, today was Wednesday? Working at home had plenty of advantages but knowing the day of the week wasn’t one of them. That meant that my piece about green therapy was due in two days, and Luna and I needed to review the schedule for the next issue. “Okay you furry Himalayan battleship. Get off Mama so I can get out of bed and make some tea.”

Meow! “Yes, I hear you Snookums. I’ll feed you, too, not to worry. Since you’re nothing but fur and bones.” I tickled the spot on her back that made her do a little belly jiggle. I chuckled. My cat loved her meals, and she was not at risk of starvation.

I tamed my wild brown waves into a ponytail, slipped on my running clothes, fed Sassy, then grabbed my earbuds. I was so proud of myself. My daily run had become a habit that affected not just my body but my mind, as well. The ancient Greeks knew what they were talking about when they said healthy in body, healthy in mind. It worked for me, anyway. I’m not, and never will be a skinny carrot-eating runway model, but I have an abundance of energy for life, and I feel great in my skin. I think that’s what those old Greek guys meant. Ah, see what I mean? Running clears my head and apparently makes me a happy philosopher.

Excerpt from by Falling into Magic. Copyright © 2018 by Elizabeth Pantley. All rights reserved.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Elizabeth Pantley is the international bestselling author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution and twelve other books for parents. Her books have been published in over twenty languages. She lives near Seattle and is the mother of four and nana to one. She’s excited to present her first work of fiction.

Connect with Elizabeth:
Website  |  Blog  |  
Facebook |   
Instagram  |  Pinterest 

Buy the book:
Amazon

FEATURED AUTHOR: BLUETTE MATTHEY

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Barn burning in a sleepy farming community is a serious enough matter, but a grisly murder or two in a small midwest town is a showstopper. Throw in a serial blackmailer who has his claws in some of the town’s leading citizens and you have one big recipe for disaster. Charlie Simmons, newly sworn in as Shannon’s policeman, takes on the challenge of investigating this cauldron of crimes in stride, untangling one thread after another from the fabric of the town of Shannon to find the simple truth.


Book Details:


Title: Two Murders Too Many


Author: Bluette Matthey


Genre: mystery



Publisher: Blue Shutter Publishing (October 21, 2020)


Print length: 215 pages

On tour with: Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours

 



LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH BLUETTE MATTHEY

A few of your favorite things: raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens . . . the gentleness of living in the South of France, fresh croissants, strong black tea . . .
Things you need to throw out: just thinking about it all depresses me . . . what if I have to move it again? Still, as soon as I toss something out it seems I need it the following week.


Things you need in order to write: my books start with a trip to a place that provides an interesting setting, pictures of said place, and quiet time to brood on the plot and characters.
Things that hamper your writing: stress is a big obstacle to writing, as well as nagging minutiae that distract.


Things you love about writing: I love being a part of the process that results in the birth of a book with all its characters. I also enjoy sharing things I discover with my readers, like the history and background I bring to my books.
Things you hate about writing: proofreading a book 20 times and STILL finding a typo!


Things you love about where you live: Beziers, France is the second oldest city in France and a treasure trove of historical sites, fifteen minutes from the Mediterranean, and has loads of places to walk and explore.
Things that make you want to move: I really detest the (inhuman) bullfights that take place here.


Things you never want to run out of: cat litter; Taylor’s of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold Black Tea; Vitamin D3 K2.
Things you wish you’d never bought: snowshoes; classical guitar; 5-pound box of See’s Chocolates.


Favorite foods: a great hamburger or steak frites!
Things that make you want to throw up: Kimchi.

Favorite music: I love the French chanteurs and chanteuses, notably Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour.
Music that make your ears bleed: punk rock, hip hop.

Favorite beverage: pure water.

Something that gives you a pickle face: cheap wine.

Favorite smell: the lavender fields of Provence.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Kimchi.

Something you’re really good at: creating (books, films, food . . .)

Something you’re really bad at: slow, methodical analysis.


Last best thing you ate: a passionflower-and-coconut confection from a patisserie up the street.

Last thing you regret eating: take-out pizza.

Things you always put in your books: a role for a cat, no matter how small.

Things you never put in your books: steamy sex scenes.

Favorite places you’ve been: perched villages in Provence; Florence, Italy; Abruzzo, Italy; all of Switzerland.

Places you never want to go to again: Atlanta, Georgia.

Favorite things to do: snorkel, travel to new places, enjoy time with my family.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: fly anywhere in economy.

Things that make you happy: a road trip to someplace new.

Things that drive you crazy: having to clean up after adults.

Best thing you’ve ever done: raised three wonderful sons!

Biggest mistake: sometimes I wonder if we really make mistakes. We do things (sometimes dumb things) that we regret but, ultimately, these mistakes are woven into who we are.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I hiked into the remote Hermitage of San Bartolomeo near Roccamorice, Abruzzo, Italy, aware I was the only human around for miles as I trekked through the Majella National Park. Animal scat along the trail reminded me there were bears, wolves, and other beasts present.

Something you chickened out from doing: trying out for cheerleader in high school.

The last thing you did for the first time: rode an electric scooter around Paris.

Something you’ll never do again: hot air balloon ride . . . hated the crash landing!




EXCERPT FROM TWO MURDERS TOO MANY

Blanche Gruman sprawled on the park bench in front of the Presbyterian Church Monday enjoying the afternoon sun, her long, tanned legs stretched out on the sidewalk in front of the bench. She looked serene, with her face turned sunward, eyes protected by aviator sunglasses. Her blonde hair was almost white, bleached by the sun, and she wore it long and loose.

“Afternoon, Blanche,” Charlie said as he made his way toward town hall.

Blanche turned her head to see who had spoken. “Well, hey, Charlie!” she replied. She quickly sat up, pulling her bare legs primly under the edge of the bench. It was a lady-like move; just what you would expect from Blanche. A broad smile, showing perfect pearl-white teeth lit up her face.

Blanche Gruman owned and operated a successful hair salon in town. For Shannon, it was an exclusive salon. Blanche was an excellent cutter and stylist, and her flamboyant but tasteful sense of style attracted the cream of Shannon’s women to her salon, as well as some of the more prominent men. She had expanded her business over the course of a decade, hiring additional staff, but she was the queen bee, and closely guarded her select clientele.

Blanche had never married, though she’d had a fairly constant parade of suitors. Rumor had it that when someone had once asked her why she had never married she had flippantly replied, “Why marry one man when I can make so many happy?” Whether or not this was true, it was generally agreed that Blanche had a less traditional approach to relationships with men than her female contemporaries, and it was speculated that many of her female devotees who religiously came to Blanche for hair treatment did so as a means of keeping an eye on her latest paramour, primarily to make sure it wasn’t a wayfaring husband.

“You look mighty pleased with yourself,” Charlie said. He stood in front of her, blocking the sun from her eyes. She removed her sunglasses, hooking one of the templates on the V-neck of a snug knit top that accented her generous curves.

“It’s a great day to celebrate life,” she told him, “and that’s just what I’m doing.” Clearly, she was enjoying herself.

Charlie changed the subject. “You hear about what happened to Otto Hilty the other night?”

His question soured Blanche’s mood noticeably. Her voice took on a hard edge when she responded. “That SOB …” she began. “I don’t truck with what happened to Otto,” she said, “but I’ll not shed any tears for him.” She put her sunglasses on and stood, facing Charlie. “Like I said … it’s a great day to celebrate.” She walked off leaving Charlie standing, literally, with his mouth agape.

***

Excerpt from Two Murders Too Many by Bluette Matthey.  Copyright 2020 by Bluette Matthey. Reproduced with permission from Bluette Matthey. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Bluette Matthey grew up in a small Midwestern town, reading mysteries and being frightened to death as a child watching Alfred Hitchcock on Friday nights.  The result: Two Murders Too Many, Bluette’s latest mystery.

Bluette Matthey loves to travel as well as she likes a good mystery. She combines her two passions in her Hardy Durkin Travel Mystery Series, with her protagonist, trekker Hardy Durkin, taking readers to Corsica, Dalmatia, Abruzzo, Italy, The Black Forest, Germany, and the Swiss Engadine Valley. As always, Hardy is never far from a murder or two and invariably finds the key to resolving the crimes.

Matthey has a boots-on-the-ground approach to her writing and insists on visiting (and often hiking) each locale featured in her books, focusing on the region’s history, culture, and food as backdrop for her mysteries. Her treks mimic less strenuous versions than those of her protagonist, Hardy.

Bluette has also written the narrative for and developed a travel app for the South of France, Potty Poche. The app is written in five languages, focuses on must-see destinations in Provence and the Languedoc-Roussillon areas of Southern France, and serves as a public toilet navigator for the locations visited on the app, as well.

Bluette lives in Béziers in the South of France with her husband and two demanding cats. Béziers is France’s second oldest city, with history dating back to 500 BC, and the setting of Bluette’s next Hardy Durkin mystery, Homicide Hérault.


Connect with Bluette:
Website  |  Blog   |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

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FEATURED AUTHOR: GEORGE MILTON

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

What would you do if you had a revolutionary resource to help you become a successful leader, reach your goals, make your life better and propel you to become all that you are meant to be? Sounds impossible? Well, it’s not! In the “impossible” is the “possible.” And if you want the possibility of becoming successful, U. S. Army Retired Colonel, George Milton’s book, Failure Is Not The Problem, It’s The Beginning Of Your Success is a must read. Most leadership books discuss how to achieve success only, but in life we all fail sometimes. If you want to succeed you must walk through the doorway of this life changing resource, failure. In his amazing book he addresses the challenge of adversity and how failure can motivate you, focus you, and change your life for the better. His inspiring story of growth from a difficult youth to a distinguished career Army combat officer, he shares that it was only possible because he changed his attitude. Not only does he reveal personal triumphs and defeats, he demonstrates in12 easy to follow steps, how you can transform your mindset from negative to positive regarding failure and in the process become successful.

Book Details

Title: Failure Is Not the Problem, It’s the Beginning Of Your Success
Author: George Milton

Genre: self-help

Publisher: Marissa F. Cohen (March 7, 2020)

Print length: 150 pages

 

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH GEORGE MILTON

Things you need in order to write: a quiet place.
Things that hamper your writing: writers block and too much noise. 


Things you love about writing: it allows me to share what I’ve learn over many years.
Things you hate about writing: I sometimes think writing has to be perfect.

Easiest thing about being a writer: coming up with ideas to write about.

Hardest thing about being a writer: trying to get all the details on paper. 


Things you love about where you live: the ability to get to the beach within an hour.
Things that make you want to move: I want to live in Cali.


Things you never want to run out of: love for people.
Things you wish you’d never bought: a fake diamond ring off a street vendor. 


Words that describe you: kind, generous, loving, trustworthy, gentle, motivated, energized.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: too direct.

Favorite foods: Korean foods.
Things that make you want to throw up: watermelon.  

Favorite music: classical.
Music that make your ears bleed: heavy metal.

Favorite smell: lavender.

Something that makes you hold your nose: skunk.

Something you’re really good at: motivating people.

Something you’re really bad at: forgiving myself or being too hard on myself. 


Something you wish you could do: play the piano.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: giving up on playing the piano.

Last best thing you ate: Korean food.

Last thing you regret eating: a rotten tomato off the vine from the garden.

Things you’d walk a mile for: TRUE LOVE!
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: rude people.

Things you always put in your books: all topics regarding failure but, in a positive way.

Things you never put in your books: things that would hurt someone’s feelings intentionally.

Favorite things to do: read, workout, swim, dance, talk, teach, mentor, train on leadership.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: watching a scary movie.

Things that make you happy: motivational speaking, coaching, mentoring, talking to people. 

Things that drive you crazy: rudeness.


Proudest moment: as a single dad, raising three amazing kids.
Most embarrassing moment: a girlfriend threw a cup of ice water in my face in front of several of my friends as they all laughed.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: becoming an Army paratrooper. 

Something you chickened out from doing: drinking spit from a cup that others spat in to pledge a fraternity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

George Milton is the CEO of Failure Is Not The Problem, LLC, a consulting company that specializes in leadership development and training, life coaching, and motivational speaking. He is a United States Army Retired, Colonel who has over 30 years of experience as an internationally known Communicator, Coach, Mentor, Trainer Intuitive Counselor, Teacher, Inspirational Speaker, TV Co-Host and Author. George connects with people of all ages on all levels. He is a former University Assistant Professor who has extensive experience working with the federal government but also has a tremendous background in working within city government and community organizations. In his role as a Senior Staff Officer at European Command in Stuttgart, Germany he routinely briefed and spoke with Ambassadors. He has experience speaking to and training foreign government officials and delivering oration to foreign public entities. As the Division Chief of the Civil Partnership Division, at European Command, he led on an annual basis, a group of staff members to Oxford University, in Oxford, England on a two week trip to study and learn how to properly” Partner” with civilian agencies in support of military organizations.

George Milton’s straight-from-the-heart, passion and high-energy, motivates audiences to step beyond their limitations and into their greatness in many ways. Over the past decade, George has used his role from keynote speaker to Master Trainer, creating the kind of workshop learning experience that got him committed to personal-and-professional development. His charisma, warmth and humor have transformed ordinary people into extraordinary achievers by using his own life, and his in-depth study of others’ challenges, to build an understanding of what works, what doesn’t work, and why.

He is a Certified Trainer in Success Principles, successfully completing the competency examination, and adoption of the Canfield Code of Ethics.

Connect with George:
Website  |  Facebook

Buy the book:
Amazon