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 ALMA BOYKIN: In the Vliets: A Steampunk Adventure

Hamburg’s half-buried canals, the vliets, hold a secret and a key.

The Prussians conquered Hamburg in 1865, adding the city-state to their new German Empire against the city’s will. Jakob Timmerman fought in that war—as a mage-soldier called Jaeger. Twenty-five years later that war resumes among the waterways and hidden channels of the great port city of Hamburg. Imperial mages and their klankmänner—armored men condemned to half-life for treason or murder—stalk the city.

Jakob accidentally discovers the Imperials’ secret. Now his only hope for safety, and for justice, lies in the vliets among the very men who hate his kind the most.

WITH A SHORT STORY BY SARAH A. HOYT: Shapers of Worlds Volume IV: Science fiction and fantasy by authors featured on The Worldshapers podcast

*The entire anthology made the Tangent online reading list, and Sarah A. Hoyt’s and Edward Willet’s story got the highest (three star) recommendation.*

The fourth in a series of powerhouse anthologies featuring some of today’s top authors of science fiction and fantasy

From the farthest reaches of our galaxy to the cozy-yet-mysterious spaces under beds and behind sofa cushions, from mystical realms of fantasy to the here-and-now and the very near future, the nineteen authors in this fourth collection of science fiction and fantasy by authors featured on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers offer readers a kaleidoscope of fantastical adventures in the company of unforgettable characters.

The editor of a tyrannical bestselling author thinks she’s finally escaped their hellish relationship when the author dies . . . but she couldn’t be more wrong. A retired ghost-hunter’s life takes an unexpected turn when an immensely valuable magical vase from the nineteenth century is brought to her attention. At the end of a millennia-long journey to the edge of the galaxy, a man who has lived a hundred lifetimes is reunited with his first true love in the midst of a battle for survival. Scarecrows that appear overnight on a lonely man’s lawn prove to be far more than the teenagers’ prank he thinks them to be. A man travels back in time to confront the attacker who destroyed his life, only to make a horrifying discovery. The Monster Under the Bed finally meets his match . . .

Shapers of Worlds Volume IV has new stories by David Boop, Michael brent Collings, Roy M. Griffis, Sarah A. Hoyt, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Noah Lemelson, Edward M. Lerner, David Liss, Gail Z. Martin, Joshua Palmatier, Richard Paolinelli, Jean-Louis Trudel, James van Pelt, Garon Whited, and Edward Willett, plus previously published stories by James Kennedy, Mark Leslie, R.S. Mellette, and Lavie Tidhar. Each story features an illustration by Wendi Nordell.

Travel into the past, the present, and the future in stories set in our world, in deep space, in worlds scattered across the multiverse, and in worlds that exist only in the imagination, all shaped by an outstanding collection of authors, many of them bestsellers and award-winners.
An unforgettable journey awaits. All you have to do is turn the page . . .

FROM RACONTEUR PRESS ANTHOLOGIES, WITH A STORY BY CEDAR SANDERSON: He Was Dead When I Got There

It seems like disaster always strikes when you’re on the road. Sometimes it’s unavoidable but others, it’s from a the actions of one of the world’s dumbest and most incompetent creatures. Andrew Spurgle is at it again, complete with an explanation from the “man” himself in the Foreword.

FROM FRANCES DECHANTAL: Jessamyn’s Yarn

How far do you go to help a relative you haven’t seen for sixteen years? On the verge of making promises to a chosen community, twenty-five year old Jessamyn drops everything and rushes to help her Great Uncle, when he is attacked and injured, on his Iowa sheep farm. Some of her best memories come from his long ago kindness. Once there she struggles with his concussion, his sheep, his handsome neighbors, and his acquaintances, some of whom would love to steal the sheep, or take over the farm. What is she going to do when the crisis is over? Will she stay on the farm or return to her previous life?
Enjoy this warm tale of family and friends rearranging their relationships, and watching a few shooting stars as they do so.

FROM EDDIE MCTIER: Ant Poison Revenge

When Dave Walker got hurt on the job, he moved with his wife Jean to rural Georgia. They were glad to bid goodbye to the cold and the cramped cities of Pennsylvania for the room and warm breezes of the rural South

The people were friendly and welcoming, but beneath the surface lived another civilization. Poison ants that were sick and tired of being poisoned themselves by the demons who lived above ground. One day they decide to fight back – and the Walkers are the first people in their way.

They might not be the last.

FROM HOLLY CHISM:NOW LIVE: Whine in a Box (Liquid Diet Chronicles Book 3)

Maybe chasing murderers wasn’t so bad after all…

Meg Turner, vampire, accountant, and investments advisor…is a political radical. By vampire standards, at least. She’s young, American, and wasn’t inducted into the unlife in the usual way. Which means she’s not a European feudalist. So, when other vampires started asking to move into her territory, she wasn’t sure how to react, other than to welcome some of them. She has a chance to shape an entire territory, if she wants.

(She doesn’t)

Her allies have other plans, though. And, between those plans being sprung on her without much warning, her nearest neighbor coming under attack (and sending his helpless civilians to her for shelter), her mother showing up on her doorstep, looking for answers to why she’d not gotten in contact in the last twenty years…yeah. She’s got a reason to whine.

And that’s not even counting the rising panic over a brand new virus…that shouldn’t affect her people, but will anyway.

FROM PAM UPHOFF: Dare (Fall of the Alliance Book 9)

Arkady was a servant’s bastard, but when he needed to update his records, his friends dared him to claim a father . . .
A year after the Japanese left the Alliance, then turned to attack the Home World . . . things are getting back to normal on Home. Normal being the usual viciously competitive power struggles, both personal and to maintain the class structure of Lords and the brain chipped slaves . . .
The Lebedov Family is undergoing a shift in it’s internal structure as the older Lords die of natural causes . . . and sometimes helped along . . .
Arkady may not have chosen the best time to try to join the ranks of the Lords . . .

FROM STEPHEN KRUEGER: Law Future

The anthology has 25 original legal science-fiction stories: 3 short-short stories, 18 short stories, 2 novelettes, and 2 novellas. Plus 1 original preface, 1 original essay, and 1 original Post Scriptum.“Science fiction” intends a recital, the foundation of which is a yet-to-be technology. Usual yet-to-be technologies are space travel, time travel, and terraforming.
“Legal” intends that a substantive law matter is central to a recital.
The target audiences are lawyers and sci-fi readers. To that end, excellent writing prevails. There is not a single blasphemous, scatological, or reproductive word in the anthology. An aficionado or aficionada of quality legal fiction and of first-rate science fiction will be happy with the anthology.

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: INTRODUCE

40 thoughts on “Book Promo And Vignettes By Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike”

  1. Grumble Grumble

    I knew that I shouldn’t have purchased Whine In A Box yesterday! [Crazy Grin]

    Like

  2. Oh, dear! Our suzeraine, Il Duce Giovanni, has abdicated.

    We are now ruled by his new apprentice, Il Intro Duce Pietro.

    Like

  4. Tired and terribly hungry Steve tried to fight whatever was pulling him forward.

    Steve didn’t know where he was and how he was flying, but something was influencing him to fly in a certain direction.

    His hunger also grew and he feared if he gave into his hunger, something or somebody would die.

    His hunger pulled him down toward a herd of some sort of animals.

    Then a voice spoke behind him “Allow me to introduce myself, young one. I’m called Lord Tarvick. How you wish to known by?”

    “What?” Steve saw a strange man hovering near him. “Ah, call me Steve. Who are you and what do you want?”

    “I’m Lord Tarvick and I’m here to train you in your Powers. But first, you are very hungry and you fear killing in your hunger. Please trust me, you have to feed but I will prevent you from killing when you feed.”

    Like

  6. Felix was already falling back while she thought, dumb-founded, that it would only give the birds more ways to attack, and she fell in with the others.
    Birds darted at them until they were half way back to the other door. Then they were, on their perches and in the air between them, clamorous, restless, eyeing the doorway and hopping about on their perches when they weren’t flitting between them.
    Lucie’s breath gusted out. The retreat had not introduced a new peril, but they were trapped.
    Autumn looked aside and, putting up her sword, started to walk into the shadows.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. “If we introduce nanotech it will disrupt far more than just the economy. You can’t prevent people with access to nanotech from making anything they want. Anything. Tools. Drugs. Chemicals. Explosives. And guns. All your gun control will be instantly rendered irrelevant when anybody can turn a pile of scrap metal into machine guns overnight.”

    His smile, as he watched that sink in, was anything but pleasant.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. A hero to some, a villain to others…especially to the left-wing government types he’s talking to, that want nanotech turned over to the ‘Experts’.

        He didn’t even mention weaponized nanotech. Did you see The Day The Earth Stood Still remake? Those swarms of miniature machines were not one percent the nightmare that true weaponized nanotech would be. It could scour a planet so that nothing would ever live there again.
        ———————————
        They’re the Experts! They only seem stupid to you because you’re not as Educated as they are.

        Like

  8. Ligonier Rafferty was glad he had plenty of practice in maintaining his poker face. He’d known this was an important party to attend, but he hadn’t realized just how important. Some of these people could make or break an ambitious young priest’s career. Only one problem — he didn’t have a line on any of them.

    Back home in Codyland, “the roof is your introduction,” as the saying went. Basically, if you were invited to a party, it was assumed that the mere fact the host had invited you meant that you had enough in common with all the other guests that you could strike up a conversation at will. Only for something like a formal state dinner at the Four Deuces would you have to be formally introduced to another guest before you could have a chat.

    Here on the shores of the Bitter Lake, the rules were much stricter. Maybe if it were a casual invitation to dine en famiglia after Mass on Sunday, but for anything happening in the evening, one must maintain proper romanitas. Which meant the proper forms must be observed, including introductions.

    Ligonier glanced over to his companion. Miquail Calailquai seemed to make friendships and collegial connections as easily as breathing. After all, he was the one who’d drawn the young Codylander into his circle when nobody else wanted to be associated with him.

    But Miku shook his head, spoke in a low whisper that wouldn’t carry over the hubbub of conversation all around them. “Sorry, Ligo, but no, I don’t know any of these people. I might be able to find someone who does, before the end of the night, but I don’t want to make any promises.”

    Ligonier nodded, considering his options.

    Like

  9. She lowered her voice. “It would be a courtesy to my uncle, Lord Graycastle. The war has left the land poor, and he has had few guests for many a year.”
    Rosaleen inclined her head, hoping it was graciously, and accepted Liam’s arm.
    The roses were indeed lovely.

    Like

  10. “Pleased to meet you,” said the little girl, with an expression somewhere between frightened and hopeful.

    “I’m sure you and Lily will be wonderful friends, Nigel,” said Mother, her tone suggesting no alternative.

    Am I doing alpha or beta testing? wondered young Nigel Slim-Howland, but he didn’t dare say it.

    Like

    1. Blast! This one didn’t post for some reason, and it was supposed to go right after the previous one.

      This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

      But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

      Like

    2. Blast! The second vignette didn’t post, and it was supposed to come right after the previous one. Let’s try again.

      This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

      But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

      Like

    3. This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

      But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

      Like

    4. This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

      But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

      Like

    5. Blast, the second vignette didn’t post! Let’s try this again:

      This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

      But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

      Like

    6. I had a second vignette that was supposed to go here, but spam kept eating it, I guess. Here it is…

      This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d experienced many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

      But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

      Like

  11. This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

    But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

    Like

  12. This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

    But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

    Like

  13. This wasn’t young Nigel’s first introduction. He’d had many: proofs-of-concept, brassboard prototypes, advanced developmental units, and others. He’d speak prepared lines and wait for reactions. Sometimes they looked “real;” sometimes they were frightening arrays of servomotors and rubbery synthetic sinew.

    But Lily was the first one introduced as a friend.

    Like

  14. Alone now, Nigel eyed his new companion. With his siblings away at school, he’d become accustomed to solitude; he didn’t particularly crave another “friend.” “Right, I’m Nigel,” he said.

    “So I’m told,” replied Lily.

    “So, do you want to play a game?”

    Lily grinned impishly. “Tag, you’re it!” she squealed.

    Like

  15. Lily ran out the kitchen door, through the garden, and into the woods beyond. Nigel, huffing and puffing, caught up to her studying a plant under a tree, with tiny, dainty flowers, like little pearls.

    “Nigel,” she said, “meet my namesake. Lily of the valley!”

    This one’s different, thought Nigel.

    Like

  16. “I hear you’re looking for work. Let me take you to meet my dad.” That was how I ended up spending half a year working for an old couple who lived up in the hills, a few miles from the city. In summer, the trees were infested by invasive beetles.

    Like

  17. I wanted to know who figures out what the cover will look like, the title of the book and where do you go to get the cover painted and printed up? One place where they have all the sources to do it. Or many places you have to go to get the job done for the cover?

    Like

  18. He screamed, and the smoke billowed up. Marcus flew around before quite thinking of how it would blind him, and saw clearly on the roof, not only the necromancer in his rage but children cringing against the chimney. The necromancer was looking at them.
    Marcus dove in toward them, the smoke fly to either hand at his passing, and went to snatch. Fortunate they were all so small. He was able to seize them all, hide them from the necromancer’s sight, and fly off.
    The necromancer fell silent at the hiding. The only sound was the crackle of fire. Marcus fled before the necromancer could think about this new element.
    He had landed two streets away and put the children down before the church before he realized that at the sight of the children, he had forgotten stopping the necromancer. He flew again, but the necromancer had vanished from sight.

    Like

  19. The dawning sun threw flares of scarlet red across the horizon as the group struck camp. Estresa twisted her hair back as tightly as she could, until the bun tugged slightly, then focused her attentions on the bed rolls and blankets, ignoring the quiet tugging in her gut.

    Close, close, close, the Belonging hummed to her. But no matter how far she had traveled with her new companions, it never changed.

    Not you, not here, not right, whispered the land beneath her feet. As had every land before. As she sometimes believed every land would, until she starved. Her people could live long when nourishing and nourished by their homeland. But how one would fare who never found a home, none could say.

    “Oy, Princeling!” Keven called from his wooden stump, glancing up from his woodcarving towards Hagan, who was diligently stomping out and dousing the fire’s last ashes.

    The young prince seemed not to hear him, pouring another bucket of river water over the hastily-constructed stone pit while whistling a merry tune. Asira glanced over from where she stood managing the horses and her face crinkled into a faint smile before she turned back to the task at hand.

    Keven chuckled and rose, leaving his knife and a half-carved wolf on the stump to walk over and tap Hagan on the shoulder.

    Hagan blinked and looked at him for a moment, then started slightly. “Oh, yes! Prince. That would be me. What do you need?”

    Keven flipped another, longer knife in his hand once, then smirked. “You’d better get used to the title again, Highness. If all goes to plan, we’ll be in the castle by sunset.”

    A weary sigh came from the direction of the horses, then Asira’s aged voice called, “See if we make it by the end of this week, boy! Singing stars, I thought you knew better than to say things like that.”

    He laughed. “And now that you have said that, Grandmother, we may rest easy in the knowledge that Lady Luck has been appeased. But to my point, Your Highness: I assume we will be properly introduced to your uncle, the king?”

    “Oh, most certainly. And you will all be rewarded most handsomely for your aid in my return!”

    Keven’s smile tilted to one side, became a dry smirk. “I have no doubt. But I meant to ask, is there anyone else we should take special care to meet in your palace? Or, perhaps, take special care not to meet?”

    Like

  20. “First! You must introduce yourself to your paper.” The instructor’s intense gaze swept over the students. “You do this by dominating the paper, thusly!” She positioned the straight edge on the board and boldly ran the lead-holder along it. “You put a line on it, at the bottom. Your base line. Show the paper you are not afraid of its blankness!”

    “This is either going to be the best drafting class ever or the absolute worst,” one student murmured.

    Like

  21. I was going to ask: Are there lots of replies in the spam folder? I had one more vignette to add, and for some reason, it wouldn’t post.

    Or maybe ATH wised up and said, “enough of your blather!”

    Like

    1. I’ll look. WordPress has decided half the regulars are spammers, and we’re finally unpacking the library (which means assembling a million shelves.) So…. I haven’t looked recently.

      Like

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