Book Promo and Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Book promo

If you wish to send us books for next week’s promo, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com. If you feel a need to re-promo the same book do so no more than once every six months (unless you’re me or my relative. Deal.) One book per author per week. Amazon links only. Oh, yeah, by clicking through and buying (anything, actually) through one of the links below, you will at no cost to you be giving a portion of your purchase to support ATH through our associates number. A COMMISSION IS EARNED FROM EACH PURCHASE.*Note that I haven’t read most of these books (my reading is eclectic and “craving led”,) and apply the usual cautions to buying. I reserve the right not to run any submission, if cover, blurb or anything else made me decide not to, at my sole discretion.– SAH

FROM BLANE MCCANTS: The Hands That Rock the Triggers

On an alternate earth where England’s George III choked to death in 1767, the next couple hundred years played out far differently.
In 1992 sniper Sergeant John Smith—in the face of personal and professional heartbreak—bids adieu to a nine-year career in the Royal Marine Corps. Three years later, he is hired by corporate buccaneer Jean Lafitte to find out what happened to several of his executives, who have gone missing. Smith discovers that East Coast dames are deadlier, the films are tawdrier, and that revenge is a dish served in calibers larger than even he was used to throwing downrange. It’s a far cry from the relatively civilized criminal scene of his hometown, Ft. Detroit City. The deeper Smith digs, the more mysteries he unearths. Before he knows it, he is up to his eyeballs in out-of-this-world drugs, court-martials, Imperial Russian Spetsnaz, and romance. Two things he learns for sure, though: Miss Eva Braun is not much of an actress and the Corps, in the person of his old pal Gunny Scarbutt, still has his back.

FROM JOHN DAVID MARTIN: Charis Colony: The Landing

Dr. Raj Mondal had it all. Born to one of The Landing’s founding families, he had a high-status position with the Colonial Medical Administration. He implemented the Colonial Governing Council’s eugenics policies, which meant he decided who was allowed to have children and who wasn’t, who lived and who died. He was a reliable, loyal citizen of Charis Colony. Until his patient, Mr. Singh, disappeared. Suddenly, Dr. Mondal was suspected of aiding a defector. He and his wife, Shirin, now found themselves in the crosshairs of a vindictive Chief Inspector from Colonial Security. Fleeing for their lives, they seek the help of the very people they were taught to fear most: The McGuire Point Rebels. But how far does the reach of Colonial Security extend? And were the rumors about the violent and barbaric people of McGuire Point true?

FROM MARY CATELLI: Winter’s Curse

Who but a fool would linger after Zavrien laid his curse? Ill luck can kill — and all the more in Zavrien’s enchanted, endless winter, haunted with ice giants and frost fairies.

When the soldier Gareth is cursed, the young wizard Perriel learns how dangerous lingering can be.

But she can hold out a sliver of hope for breaking the curse — if it doesn’t break them first.

WRITTEN BY MAX BRAND, REVIVED BY D. JASON FLEMING: 3 Trails to Freedom: A Pulp Western Omnibus

Three rip-roaring western action novels from adventure master Max Brand!

The Long, Long Trail

When outlaw Jess Dreer, on the run for avenging his father’s murder, met Mary Valentine, the town flirt of Salt Springs, it changed them both. It changed others, too, and not always for the worse.

But a change in character means nothing to a clan that’s been crossed, and even less to a sheriff who has spent years in single-minded pursuit.

Regardless of character, regardless of good deeds or noble sacrifices, bullets will fly and justice will be done at the end of the long, long trail!

Wild Freedom

Tommy Parks followed his father over the mountain ridge with a blind faith and love. But his father hadn’t counted on the last winter storm. Now twelve-year old Tommy was alone, in the frontier wilderness, with only his wits and the remains of his father’s supplies to survive against nature, grizzly bears, and the most dangerous creature of all — man!

Jim Curry’s Test

Jim Curry was a loafer, but never did anybody any harm. Until his gun accidentally went off, and killed the most beloved old-timer in the area. It was an accident, but the sheriff wasn’t overly sympathetic, and when Curry breaks the sheriff’s jaw escaping, the townsfolk decide that due process just won’t do…

BY JOHNSTON MCCULLEY, REVIVED BY D. JASON FLEMING: The Rangers’ Code (Annotated): The classic pulp western

Cactusville needed cleaning up, Sheriff Tom Thomas knew that. But the deputies he kept sending to do the job always turned up dead.

Until ex-Texas Ranger Dick Ganley took on the job, at least. Or so Ganley claimed would happen. He would not only take out the gang running Cactusville, nor would he stop at identifying and bringing to justice the shadowy head of the gang, the “King of Cactusville”.

No, Ganley had his own score to settle into the bargain, and it was a score that could only be settled by blood!

This iktaPOP Media edition includes a new introduction giving the book historical and genre context.

FROM KAREN MYERS: Bound into the Blood – A Virginian in Elfland (The Hounds of Annwn Book 4)

Book 4 of The Hounds of Annwn.

DISTURBING THE FAMILY SECRETS COULD BRING RUIN TO EVERYTHING HE’S WORKED SO HARD TO BUILD.

George Talbot Traherne, the human huntsman for the Wild Hunt, is preparing for the birth of his child by exploring the family papers about his parents and their deaths. When his improved relationship with his patron, the antlered god Cernunnos, is jeopardized by an unexpected opposition, he finds he must choose between loyalty to family and loyalty to a god.

He discovers he doesn’t know either of them as well as he thought he did. His search for answers takes him to the human world with unsuitable companions.

How will he keep a rock-wight safe from detection, or even teach her the rules of the road? And what will he awaken in the process, bringing disaster back to his family on his own doorstep? What if his loyalty is misplaced? What will be the price of his mistakes?

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: The Margins of Mundania

A tween boy’s Christmas gift opens a world of wonder and brings joy to a whole town fallen on hard times. A young New Englander in the early Twentieth Century discovers that some parts of human history don’t bear too close examination. A literary critic in the old Soviet Union must confront his own moral cowardice.

These stories, along with a multitude of bite-sized works of flash fiction, carry you from the most prosaic of events to the moments of awe that offer glimpses of matters larger than ourselves.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Bite Sized (Liquid Diet Chronicles Book 1)

Meg Turner has been a vampire for twenty years. Her favorite food is rapists. Which is how she met Andi Donahue, her new best friend/ girl Friday.

And then the nightmares start. And the bodies start showing up–bled out and raped. Just like Meg was. They don’t have a whole lot of time to stop the killer before he strikes again, and only one way to stop the killer.

But how can Andi help Meg stop a killer she can’t even see?

FROM M. C. A. HOGARTH: To the Court of Love: A Peltedverse Collection in the Fallowtide Period (The Fallowtide Sequence Book 8)

Sediryl Galare’s first official function as the formally invested heir to the Eldritch Empire is to open the summer court, on Escutcheon and on the world of Chalice. But behind every big event are a myriad of stories—some smaller in scope, and some enormous in implication. Join the Eldritch and their allies in this Fallowtide collection for a glimpse into those everyday stories. Who are the musicians of Ontine? What happened to the nobles of Asaniefa who didn’t care to fight the Empress? Will Jeasa and Haladir ever come to an accommodation? And how are the social changes sweeping the world affecting those who wish they hadn’t?

This reader-commissioned collection includes stories written by the author at reader request. Come home to the Alliance with seven tales of hope, renewal, romance, and change.

FROM BLAKE SMITH: A Kingdom of Glass: A Novel of The Garia Cycle

Zara hasn’t seen her family in eleven years, but she doesn’t mind. They sent her to live in a neighboring kingdom when she was small, and she’s adopted her foster parents in their place. She lives the life of an aristocratic Garian girl- riding her horse, shooting her bow, exploring the castle with her friends- and she has nothing to wish for.

Until she’s summoned home, to a prospective marriage she doesn’t want, family she doesn’t remember, and a poisonous royal court that threatens everything she’s ever known. The East Morlans are nothing like Garia, and Zara struggles to find her place among the scheming Morlander aristocrats. Along the way, she makes new friends, meets enemies, and falls in love. But secrets abound in the glittering palace, and Zara must discover who she can trust as she fights for her life and freedom in a fragile, beautiful, kingdom of glass.

SOME WRITERS AND THEIR INCESSANT SELF-PROMOTION:

FROM SARAH A. HOYT: Barbarella: The Center Cannot Hold

At last, the secrets of the Unnamable are revealed! Having travelled beyond our universe to reach the home of the Unnamable, Barbarella and her stalwart companions may have the answers they’ve been seeking, but they’re very, very far from home, and very, very vulnerable. Can a war between universes be averted? Will the Architects sacrifice our universe in the name of victory? Can we possibly fit in all the answers we’re promising here? One thing’s for sure, our universe will never be the same again. Learn more in this final chapter! 

Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

So what’s a vignette? You might know them as flash fiction, or even just sketches. We will provide a prompt each Sunday that you can use directly (including it in your work) or just as an inspiration. You, in turn, will write about 50 words (yes, we are going for short shorts! Not even a Drabble 100 words, just half that!). Then post it! For an additional challenge, you can aim to make it exactly 50 words, if you like.

We recommend that if you have an original vignette, you post that as a new reply. If you are commenting on someone’s vignette, then post that as a reply to the vignette. Comments — this is writing practice, so comments should be aimed at helping someone be a better writer, not at crushing them. And since these are likely to be drafts, don’t jump up and down too hard on typos and grammar.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: BEWILDERED

29 thoughts on “Book Promo and Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike”

  1. “These Ultra Powers bewilder me. All the science I knew can’t explain them! Even this so-called ultra energy that is claimed to be the source of is bewildering!”

    The Ancient Ultra replied, “True but in our time, we didn’t care about explaining the Powers. We knew what we could do and what we couldn’t do. But we see what your people have done since we left millennials ago especially those things that resulted from the desire to understand the universe. So, we want you to lead a team to study the powers. Only the Creator knows what will result from that.”

    In a low voice, the Ancient continued “Considering how our Age ended, all of mankind may need that understanding.”

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  2. A flash of scarlet buzzed over our heads.
    “Holy Crap!” exclaimed Joe. “That one must have been 12 inches long!”
    “You get stung, you’ll be dead before you hit the ground.”
    That wouldn’t stop us though. Not when we could net an “easy” 100,000 for a single Wild Red Bee.

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  3. I was hoping for a prompt word that would let me write this!

    “Lord Protector! A moment, if you please!”

    Edmund Baines turned around sharply to see who had been so bold as to address him. Most soldiers of both Arev and Odrysia avoided him out of fear as much as they did out of respect and that is how he preferred it. Yet he was not surprised by who he saw: the Chosen of the Carnelian.

    “What is it, Zanaatkâr Burakgazi?” the Lord Protector asked, his expression cool and professional as he sized up the gigantic Odrysian man approaching him.

    “That, actually,” Alparslan said, a bewildered expression on his face. “Not even the Grand Vizier addresses me as zanaatkâr, much less His Majesty. I was going to ask why you do.”

    Edmund paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. Perhaps even…wistful? His expression remained calm, but Alparslan could have sworn he saw the faintest hint of a smile on the Lord Protector’s face before he answered: “It was simply an acknowledgement of wrongs done from one unwilling son of Odrysia to another.”

    “Ah…” the Chosen of the Carnelian was rendered speechless for a moment. He too had heard the whispers of Yusuf of the Sultan’s guard and how he reclaimed his former name when he entered the service of the late Emperor Iraklis to serve as then-Princess Lysandra’s bodyguard. He had simply never put two and two together until now. All he could manage was “Teşekkür ederim, Lord Protector.”

    “Rica ederim, Zanaatkâr Burakgazi.” Edmund replied. “Operations begin in two hours. Alpheratz and I are looking forward to what you and Elnath can do.”

    “We won’t disappoint!” the engineer replied with a wide grin and a salute before going towards the Odrysian camp, still smiling. It felt good to have someone acknowledge him for who he really was, especially from someone who knew how his homeland was. Zanaatkâr. Artificer.

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  4. The orb in the sky began diminishing visibly.

    Captain Zero watched it move away for a minute, then turned to the golden space goddess Lehai and said, “We were doomed. That monster-planet was going to destroy us. How did you stop it!?”

    The goddess turned her cold black eyes upon him and smiled. “The planet was all one consciousness, everything on it was all part of the same system. So I added vegetation to some of its more barren parts. Trees, animals. Things not under its direct control. Now it has things to play with… once it figures them out. Which may take a while.”

    “You added… forests?”

    “Forests, jungles, areas it no longer understood in fullness. You might say I bewildered it.”

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  5. She tried to watch where they went and how they got there as they walked, in hopes she could at least find her way back to the path. Then Lucie stopped in front of a boulder with a door in it, and all thoughts of return were driven from mind.

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  7. Rosaleen stared out the window. Trees covered the hills before her.
    They had reached this kingdom safely, but they still might find themselves bewildered in the wilderness.
    Behind her, the king and his huntsmen spoke. The huntsmen were as chary of speech as if the king had ordered Liam’s death, and speaking of his life was an admission that they had defied him.
    Nevertheless, they admitted, in due course, that they had set the prince on a path, to the north. To the wilderness, the forest and the mountains, that she and the dwarves had avoided on the way south.

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  8. I had to admit, I was bewildered. “It’s a sealed box,” I sighed. “It’s a warded and sealed box. The air intake and exhaust are a quarter of her size. We have video of her being put into it. It had water, food, and a sandbox. And toys.

    “So, how in the hell did the cat get out?”

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  9. Armed only with a dagger, Jot knew his chances against the charging bandit were slim, that he and Miki were at his mercy. Jot was astonished to see the bandit stop, his expression changing from bewilderment to anguish. He emitted a mournful “No, I can’t! I won’t!” as he fled.

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  10. Jot turned to check on Miki behind him. He knew he was looking at Miki, but what he saw broke his heart. He understood Miki was using an In-Between Elf trick, but he had no idea how it worked. All he knew was he didn’t want to see it again.

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  11. “I’m sorry,” said Miki, catching her breath. “It was meant for the bandit, but the trick affects everyone else around.”

    “What’s it do?” asked Jot. “What did the bandit see?”

    “Something he treasured,” said Miki. “Something he absolutely couldn’t see harmed.”

    Then Jot understood why he’d seen his little sister.

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  12. Watching Miki sleep, Jot realized he was completely bewildered. He had no idea why Miki was so duty-bound. He couldn’t explain exactly why he had agreed to accompany her on such a long and dangerous journey. Her duties hardly obligated him. Why had Miki’s quest suddenly become so damned important?

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      1. Maybe one or the other, but I’d always pictured it as Jot beginning to realize that other people’s problems weren’t any less important than his were, and if he had the opportunity to help, then maybe he should.

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  14. I am not “bewildered”, per se, by the reactions of those around me. I am saddened. The answer, as I see it is clear. But none of us take the steps we know we must. I think we, for the most part, fear what we may become if we do act. And we fear acting alone. These are normal, healthy feelings, especially for a government that murders dissidents with the same impunity shown by Stalin, Mao, Castro, and Mugabe.

    What bewilders me is how the evil men and women of our government think they can escape the righteous vengeance of a perfectly just God. We can see from their evasion, prevarication, and emotionalism they know they are doing wrong.

    What happens in this life is not all there is. And even living to be 100 years old here is nothing compared to the eternity that awaits us.

    I certainly do not envy any of them.

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  15. He staggered back. To flee to the village, or bewildered in the woods were wiser choices, he realized.
    There were no other figures looming in the mist. She did not have a pack as the Huntsman did. If he escaped her, he escaped indeed.
    He turned himself unseen. She screamed.

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  16. There were times when dealing with Soviet equipment could be downright bewildering. It wasn’t just the Cyrillic alphabet, which looked just enough like the familiar Roman alphabet that the strange characters threw you for a loop. There was also their fondness for old-fashioned mechanical gauges and dials, complete with intricate tangles of wiring behind the panels.

    On the other hand, Lucius allowed, it was quite possible that all these old analog systems actually held up under the strain of an ammonia leak better than the digital technology over at Tranquillity East. At least one thing was certain — it was much easier to repair them at need.

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  17. Although most of June’s focus was on the road and the car following her in the rear view mirror, a corner of her mind recognized the tune playing on the car radio. “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered am I…” she was tempted to sing the lyrics, but the next moment the music was nearly drowned out by the chaos of excited children.

    “Are we there yet, Mommy?”

    “Is the water gonna be cold? I don’t like it cold. Will there be sharks?”

    Lurie, playing wingman in the passenger seat, switched into commander mode to get the children to sit still and listen.

    “Ten minutes! Then we have to park. When we get out of the car, everybody has to carry something. Follow us or Mrs. Hardley, she’s right behind us. Nobody wander off!”

    The end-of-summer holiday was going much as expected. Having decided that there was safety in numbers, the mothers had pooled their resources and carpooled to the nearest beach.

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  18. Erednahzer sighed. Her brother looked over at her. “What’s wrong, Ered?”

    “I can’t decide what to do for Posilauren’s bachelorette party. Do I keep it simple or go nuts? What do you think – should it be Mild or Wild?”

    “That’s easy,” he smirked. “Bachelorette parties should always be wild, Ered!”

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