Dark Cotillion Tour and Giveaway

Dark Cotillion

By Hadena James

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Brenna Strachan is half-Demon, half-Witch and it’s the eve of her 30th birthday. This means that she will stop aging and come into all her Demon powers. But there are forces at work hoping to keep her from Maturing. They must kill her in the short time that she is mortal. If they fail, she will take her place among the most powerful beings on Earth. What will it cost her to survive?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt Three:

“I have silverware; there are at least a dozen boxes of assorted disposable utensils in the drawer.”

“Metal utensils?”

“Uh, yeah, my mom gave me a box of old silver when she gave me the china dishes.”

“China dishes?” He rolled his eyes as Gabriel snickered. “Do you have anything except antique Bone China place settings?”

“Ewww, they are made of bone? One more reason to use paper plates. Stop setting those things on my damn table.” I looked pointedly at Gabriel.

“No, Ani, she has almost nothing in her kitchen, except disposable and fine antiques that should be used only on very special occasions.” Gabriel looked back at me and stuck out his tongue.

“I tried to give the fine stuff back to mom, but she refused to take it. She said some nonsense about every homeowner needing a good set of dishes.”

“Let me get this straight,” Anubis shook his head again, “you have no food and even if you did, we couldn’t cook it unless it was microwavable, and then we would have to eat it on plates that are probably a couple hundred years old, with silverware that is probably older?”

“Sounds accurate,” I lit a cigarette. “I’m sorry; I’m just not very domestic.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Plotter or pantster?

Pantser all the way!

2. What books have influenced your writing style?

HP Lovecraft’s short stories, Mister B Gone by Clive Barker, and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

3. Classics or something else?

Not Tolstoy, everything else is fair game for my reading pleasure.

4. Favorite ice cream flavor?

Um, oddly, I don’t like ice cream… However, about once a year, I drink a milkshake and it’s almost always vanilla.

5. Favorite type of character to write about?

Damaged but strong.

6. Tell us one thing about you that no one knows.

I sleep in socks… all year long.  I actually have trouble sleeping without my socks.

7. Name three things on your desk right now.

A strange little pewter statue of a dolphin glued to a dragon’s tear, a statue of Anubis, and a deck of cards.

8. What is next on your writing timetable?

Book one of my new fantasy trilogy.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I’ve been writing for over two decades and before that, I was creating my own bedtime stories to tell myself.  I penned my first short story at the ripe old age of 8.  It was a fable about how the raccoon got its eye-mask and was roughly three pages of handwritten, 8 year old scrawl.  My mother still has it and occasionally, I still dig it out and admire it.

When I got my first computer, I took all my handwritten stories and typed them in.  Afterwards, I tossed the originals.  In my early twenties, I had a bit of a writer’s meltdown and deleted everything.  So, with the exception of the story about the raccoon, I actually have none of my writings from before I was 23.  Which is sad, because I had a half dozen other novels and well over two hundred short stories.  It has all been offered up to the computer and writing gods as a sacrifice and show of humility or some such nonsense that makes me feel less like an idiot about it.

I have been offered contracts with publishing houses in the past and always turned them down.  Now that I have experimented with being an Indie Author, I really like it and I’m really glad I turned them down.  However, if you had asked me this in the early years of 2000, I would have told you that I was an idiot (and it was a huge contributing factor to my deleting all my work). 

When I’m not writing, I play in a steel-tip dart league and enjoy going to dart tournaments.  I enjoy renaissance festivals and sanitized pirates who sing sea shanties.  My appetite for reading is ferocious and I consume two to three books a week as well as writing my own.  Aside from introducing me to darts, my SO has introduced me to camping, which I, surprisingly, enjoy.  We can often be found in the summer at Mark Twain Lake in Missouri, where his parents own a campground. 

I am a native of Columbia, Missouri, which I will probably call home for the rest of my life, but I love to travel.  Day trips, week trips, vacations on other continents, wherever the path takes me is where I want to be and I’m hoping to be able to travel more in the future.

http://www.facebook.com/hadenajames

hadenajames.wordpress.com

@hadenajames

Newsletter:  http://forms.aweber.com/form/77/48212477.htm

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Cotillion-Book-Strachan-Brenna-ebook/dp/B0093UKS82/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395661931&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+cotillion

Barnes & Noble Nook:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-cotillion-hadena-james/1113959473?ean=2940045115919

Barnes & Noble Print: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-cotillion-hadena-james/1112797339?ean=9781479212279

Hadena will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
Follow the tour for more chances to win!

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/03/virtual-nbtm-book-tour-dark-cotillion.html

The Price of Justice Name Before the Masses Tour

Price of Justice

by Alan Brenham

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

His focus is on solving the murders—until the unthinkable happens…

Recently widowed, Austin Police Detective Jason Scarsdale works to solve the murders of two pedophiles, while trying to be both mother and father to his five-year-old daughter. During his investigation, Scarsdale is forced to navigate between the crosshairs of two police commanders out to get him. Drawn to Austin Police Crime Analyst, Dani Mueller, who has also suffered tragedy, Scarsdale fights both his attraction and his suspicions that something just isn’t right…

She is hiding a secret, one that could not only cost her a job—it could end her life…

Dani hides a deadly past. After her daughter was brutally murdered, Dani exacted her revenge then changed her name and fled to Austin. But if her secret ever gets out, she knows there is no place she can hide from the murderer’s vicious family.

Pulled into a web of malice and deceit, Scarsdale and Dani discover the value of breaking the rules. Then just when they thought things couldn’t get worse…they do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt Three:

Scarsdale trudged into the courthouse, flashing his badge so he could bypass security. He stopped at the rear of a throng of people maneuvering to get an elevator. He checked to see where the four elevators were—one was stopped on floor three, another just arrived at the fifth floor and two seemed stuck on Eight. People elbowed their way closer to the doors—even he got jostled. A distinct odor of alcohol, mixed with cheap perfume and a trace of marihuana, made him sneeze a couple of times.

Looking around, Scarsdale didn’t recognize anyone connected with his dreaded hearing. He leaned against the wall and let his thoughts drift. The events of the past five years flashed through his mind. The wedding Marcy refused to attend. Then Charity’s funeral—the second time Marcy had seen Shannon since she was born—gushing over her granddaughter, telling Shannon how much she missed her. Scarsdale stopped outside the big wooden courtroom doors. He stared at the brass door handles. What will the judge decide?

His heart hammered against his chest. Taking a couple of deep breaths and swallowing hard, he pulled the courtroom doors open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Interview:

1.  First, tell us about yourself - where you live, your family, and those sorts of details.

My home is in the Austin, Texas, area with my truly wonderful wife. I’ve worked as a law enforcement officer and criminal investigator and am a licensed attorney with experience in criminal prosecution and defense.

2.  How long have you been writing?    

       I’ve been writing fiction since 2010. Prior to that, I wrote plenty of legal briefs, motions and police offense reports. A number of opposing counsel and defense attorneys considered some of those to be fiction.

3.   Do you have a favorite place to write Price of Justice?

      I do all my writing in my home office. It has an outside view- great for creating setting, and a quiet environment well away from distractions.

4.  Why did you decide to write Price of Justice?

     I wanted to tell a story about two people, one motivated by a work ethic and the other by grief, and how they worked toward a common goal but from opposite ends of the legal spectrum. It was a scenario I’d seen both as a police officer and as an attorney.

5.  Who is your favorite character in your book and why?

     It didn’t start out this way but after the book was finished and I looked back on the story, I’d have to say my favorite is Dani Mueller. She endured a lot of heart-ache, grief, fear, and did a lot of soul-searching. 

6.  How about your least favorite character?  What makes them less appealing to you?

     My least favorite character in Price of Justice would be the guy known as the CEO. He was a psycho who bullied others and preyed on the innocent and helpless for profit.

7.  Do you proofread/edit your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?

     I do several revisions and edits on my own but after all the self-edits are done, I have someone else go through it - a fresh set of eyes.

8.  What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

     I’m an avid fan of certain TV shows such as The Blacklist, The Originals, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and most recently Bitten.  I love going places and doing fun things with my wife, like going to The Melting Pot for dinner or to the Austin Aquarium, or a really great movie. When football is in season, I have two teams I pay close attention to.  I also read a lot of crime and legal thriller books.

9.  Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?

     I bought myself a Nook and read every morning over a cup of coffee and many times in the evening. The authors I’ve read the most are Michael McGarrity, John Sandford, and Michael Connelly. Recently Andrea Kane, Jeffery Deaver, John Grisham, and John Lescroart are making the list.

10. What question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has?  Write it out here, then answer it.

      Question:  Why did you write the character of Dani Mueller in 1st person  point of view?

       

        Answer:  Since the story deals with two people after the same goal but from different ends of the legal spectrum, I wanted to have a clear contrast between the protagonist detective and Dani Mueller. Having Dani tell her own story allows the reader to see things as she saw them and be in her head. As such, in my opinion, it then creates a closer bond between the reader and the character. Some reviewers have commented that they really enjoyed her character.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Alan Brenham is the pseudonym of Alan Behr, an American author and attorney. He served as a law enforcement officer before earning a law degree. He worked first as a prosecutor then defense attorney for the next twenty-six years. His travels took him to several European and Middle Eastern countries, Alaska and almost every island in the Caribbean. While contracted to US military forces, he resided in Berlin, Germany for a few years. Alan and his wife, Lillian, currently live in the Austin, Texas area. He has authored two crime fiction books, Price of Justice and Cornered, and is working on a third titled Rampage.

Links:

website:  http://www.alanbrenham.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Price-Justice-Alan-Brenham/dp/1626940835

Black Opal Books:  http://www.blackopalbooks.com

 Alan will be awarding a $50 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Follow the tour and leave a comment for more chances to win!

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/12/name-before-masses-tour-price-of.html