Kindle Freebie: Carrots by Colleen Helme

Shelby Nichols is an average woman who is married to the only guy she ever fell for. Her life is organized and predictable, revolving around her husband and two children. All that changes the day she stops at the grocery store for some carrots. As the cashier rings up her purchases, a gunman is busy robbing the bank inside the store. When a customer grabs the robber's mask, he is shot and everyone runs for cover. Everyone except Shelby, who finds herself face to face with the killer. The next thing she knows, she's lying on the floor with a bullet wound to her head. Luckily, the bullet only grazes her scalp, and she doesn't suspect any lasting affects until later, when she suddenly 'hears' what people are thinking. With this uncanny ability, her life takes on a whole new dimension. Her kids think she's bossy and too old to understand them, but that's nothing compared to her husband. He says he loves her, but what is it about the redhead at work that he doesn't want her to know? As if that isn't enough, the gunman knows she can identify him, and he's out to silence her forever. In her fight to stay alive, she is saved from certain death by a handsome hit-man with ties to organized crime. This pulls Shelby even deeper into danger, where knowing someone's thoughts can not only hurt her feelings, but get her killed.

File Size: 1575 KB
Print Length: 287 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B004PYDGBM

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Short Story: Blood Brothers by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

From New York Times bestselling authors James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell comes a dark story of murder, mystery, and a brotherhood steeped in a bloody past.

As a young reporter, Arthur Crane exposed the secrets behind the Orchid Killer, a cult murderer from the late ‘60s whose crimes blackened the end of the Summer of Love. Half a century later, Arthur wakes to find an orchid resting on his pillow, a symbol of death from a killer connected to his estranged younger brother, Christian. To discover the horrifying truth, Arthur will risk all—even his very soul—for Christian may not be the brother that Arthur remembers...

Included with this chilling story is a sneak peek at Innocent Blood, the second book in the Order of the Sanguines Series.

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James Rollins is the New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. Known for unveiling unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets, Rollins has a knack for breakneck pacing and stunning originality that has been hailed by critics and embraced by millions of readers around the world. Visit James online at www.jamesrollins.com

Rebecca Cantrell’s Hannah Vogel mystery/thriller novels have won the Bruce Alexander and Macavity awards and been nominated for the Barry and RT Reviewers Choice awards; her critically-acclaimed cell phone novel, iDrakula, was nominated for the APPY award and listed on Booklist’s Top 10 Horror Fiction for Youth. She and her husband and son just left Hawaii’s sunny shores for adventures in Berlin. Find Rebecca Cantrell on Facebook, Twitter, and at www.rebeccacantrell.com.

This post first appeared at The Book Connection.

Interview with David Huffstetler, Author of Blood on the Pen

Educated in Dallas, North Carolina, David Huffstetler holds degrees in Engineering and Business Administration. He has worked in the area of human relations and spent fourteen years weaving through the maze of politics, including participating in a Federal Law suit as Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Commission, with a sitting governor over issues of separation of powers. David has served on Boards of Directors for numerous professional organizations including Crime Stoppers, SC Workers’ Compensation Educational Association, SC Safety Council, the SC Fire Academy, and the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Workers’ Compensation. He has advised governors and legislators on matters of public policy and legislation. His wealth of experience is broad and brings deep insight to his writing.


David’s work as a senior manager with a major industrial concern took him to international venues and exposures that helped feed his urge to write Disposable People, a dramatic expose of the working conditions and politics that engulf undocumented workers. Disposable People is a top-ten “Suggested Book” at Tufts University in Boston, MA.


He turned the frustrations and rejection that plagues thousands of yet-to-be-published authors into the heralded mystery/thriller Blood on the Pen, with a serial killer disposing of literary agents. David, an avid history buff, led him to write Dead in Utah, the story of Joe Hill, the controversial musician and union organizer accused of a double murder in 1914.
His books receive praise from mystery readers across the globe.

As an editor, David edited a treatise on the South Carolina workers’ compensation laws, as well as, Shannon Faulkner’s novel Fire and Ice. Shannon was the first female cadet at the Citadel. She received national publicity for her federal lawsuit and was a guest on Good Morning America.
As an editor, public speaker, and seasoned professional, David has appeared on television and radio, and has lectured on the East Coast, California, Canada and Mexico.


David currently lives in Lexington, South Carolina with his wife, Trudy.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in several places, all in North Carolina. My earliest memory is of Lexington, watching our dog being hit by a car. As you might guess, my siblings blamed it on me, and they may have been right. I spent several years in Winston-Salem, the most progressive city of my childhood. Then we moved to a textile town, Gastonia. Even when living in the same city, I remember a lot of moves.

Do you write during the day, at night, or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

If I only have a few moments, then I make notes on ideas or concepts for the story, maybe even describe a character. I need time to write, because I get caught up in the plot and lose track of time. I sit down with a cup of coffee and, when I look up, the coffee is gone or is cold, and it’s three hours later. Sometimes the day has gone from afternoon to evening.

Who is your favorite character from the book?

Hard to say, but the most fun to write about was Moses Browner, the Deputy Medical Examiner. He’s the smartest guy in the book, and he has a unique personality, always reminding people that he is a doctor and fastidious about his personal preferences, like chicory in his coffee.

Do you have an agent or are you looking for one?

Many authors can relate, when I say no agent wanted me. We face that dilemma that major publisher only accept submissions from agents, and agents only want to represent someone who has been published. Now that I have some publishing credits, I may look into an agent in the future, but I’m not in a hurry.

Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?

Oh, everyone has an easy time getting published, and, if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell. I suffered through the same rejections and form letters that most other authors do. Signing that first contract is very rewarding, but there is a price to pay before you get there.

Do you have a website or blog where readers can find out more?

My website is http://www.davidhuffstetler.com/.  It has information about all my books, reviews, and some personal information. I hope people like it. I also have a blog, but I confess to being a poor blogger.

What is up for you next?

The second book in the series, Blood on the Cards, should be released later this year. We are about to begin the edits on it. Like Blood on the Pen it is being published by Wild Child Publishing, and it will start as an ebook. The final book in the series is Blood on the Badge, but I don’t expect to see that one published until 2012. I am working on the manuscript for Thread of Life, the story of nine-year-old boy whose elderly, billionaire father is murdered. Yes, I said elderly father, and that is part of the plot.

Book Summary


Jack Harden is a modern-day Texas Ranger haunted by his wife's death a year ago.

But when a murderer strikes, he is called into duty. Now he must battle the urge to kill the drunk driver responsible for her death and the hunger to kill himself as he hunts for a serial killer who wants him dead.

Elsie Rodriguez is assigned to report on the murders for her newspaper and ordered to stay with Jack Harden. He's old school, tough, and doesn't want her there, but, despite his gruff manner, the big Ranger triggers something inside her. Something more than just her Latin temper.

Can she pull him back from the edge of sanity? Or will death win again?

eBook
Price: $5.95
Amazon ASIN: B0041G6JC2
BN ID: 2940012599278
Release: August 2010

Amazon buy link ($5.95)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041G6JC2

Barnes&Noble.com buy link ($5.95)

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=dcSBhG3Rj8w&offerid=229293.2940012599278

Wild Child Publishing buy link ($5.95)

http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=76&products_id=319


David Huffstetler blog:


http://davidhuffstetler.blogspot.com/

David Huffstetler Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1195650439

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

Blood on the Pen blog tour site:

http://bloodonthepen.blogspot.com/

This post first appeared at The Book Connection.

Guest Blogger: Nell Walton, Author of The Bone Trail

Today's special guest is Nell Walton, author of the mystery thriller, The Bone Trail.

Inspired by actual events, The Bone Trail is the story of investigative journalist and horsewoman, Kate Wyndham, who is sent to northern Nevada to do a story on the disappearance of two wild horse advocates. When Wyndham attempts to gain information from the FBI and local authorities she is stonewalled.

She turns to Jim Ludlow, a local rancher who lives on an Indian Reservation near where the advocates disappeared. Ludlow, a Shoshone Indian horse “whisperer” agrees to try to help Wyndham and they begin a search for answers that may cost them everything the hold dear – it may even cost them their lives.

Is Social Protest Literature Dead?

by Nell Walton

One of the many things that made the fiction of Charles Dickens remarkable was his fearlessness in addressing the multiple social issues that were endemic in England in the early 19th Century. Dickens was extremely familiar with the problems at a personal level. His father was imprisoned for debt when Dickens was 12 years old and during this time he had to leave school and work in a shoe-dying factory that utilized child labor. Working in these horrible conditions was the worst time of Dickens’ life, but it was also here that the seed of Dickens’ ideas for social reform were sown. Many experts attribute the improvements in debtor’s prisons, child workhouses that were enacted during Dickens’ life directly to Dickens’ writings as well as his stage performances.

Over the years many writers have written social protest literature that has had a fundamental change on society as a whole. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe being one example, among others are The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Currently, it seems that social issues are rarely addressed in modern fiction, and, more and more rarely in non-fiction. I’ve often wondered if it is just a cycle that publishing companies go through, or if people just don’t care anymore.

I have a hard time believing the latter, because people and society have not really changed that much in the last two centuries. Certainly, we are bombarded with more information via the Internet and 24x7 news media. There is more competition for our time, attention and certainly our money. The constant influx of negative information probably contributes to a certain amount of hopelessness as well as compassion fatigue in many people. But, I think that at a basic level, people DO care about social issues and are willing to take steps to help make positive changes as long as they are clear on what it is they can do to help. The outpouring of caring support by people all around the world during Hurricane Katrina is an excellent example, the current massive support that people are providing for relief for Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief is another.

In my book, The Bone Trail, I DO tackle social issues. Environmental destruction, alcoholism and rehabilitation in Native populations in the US, the mismanagement of the wild horses in the American West, and child abuse are all central to the plot of the book. From a writer’s perspective I will say that when you do include these types of plot elements it can limit your flexibility as far as pacing vs. character development. For example, in order to fully address the Native alcoholism and rehabilitation issue, I had to stop the plot and flip to a couple of chapters of backstory about one-third into the book. I worried about it, because generally I prefer to fold backstory in with the plot, but there was really no way to do that effectively with such a sensitive subject.

Surprisingly enough, it actually has worked out well, and gave a great depth to a character that I feel is the heart of the book. My editor loved the transition, and I have gotten excellent feedback from readers also.

So, while I did make the decision to break a rule as far as plot pacing, it has paid off as far as giving one of the central characters air and life.

So, I don’t believe that social protest literature is dead, or there is a lack of interest by any means. And, if you have to break a pacing rule to thoroughly address an issue effectively, it can pay off with your readership.

I hope one day we will see more authors making the effort to address social issues in modern fiction, and readers taking such an avid interest as they did in the 19th Century.

Nell Walton is an avid horsewoman and also owns two wild horses, both of which came from a herd near Elko, NV. She is also the founder and managing editor of the online equestrian news magazine, The AllHorses Post (www.allpetspost.org/allhorsespost). She has degrees in journalism and biology from the University of Arkansas, spent many years as a professional journalist and worked as an intern for former President Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas. She lives in East Tennessee on a small horse farm with her husband, four horses, one donkey, two cats and two dogs. The Bone Trail is her first novel.


www.allpetspost.org/AllHorsesPost
www.allpetspost.org/TheBoneTrail
Twitter: @nellwal
Facebook: AllHorses Post http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-AllHorses-Post-Fan-Page/114209878634737

This post first appeared at The Book Connection.