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

FIRST LET’S GET THE SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION OUT OF THE WAY. ALL THESE BOOKS FROM SARAH A. HOYT ARE ON SALE RIGHT NOW FOR 99C. REMEMBER YOU CAN ORDER FOR DELIVERY ON CHRISTMAS MORNING:

Christmas In the Stars: A collection of Christmas Short Stories

This is a collection of four Christmas short stories.
It starts with a star-explorer stranded in unknown coordinates listening very hard for sleigh bells. Then there are two deserters of a doomed planetary war, in a forsaken planet, trying to do the right thing to secure peace and good will, even if one of them happens to be dead. And did you know there was a small, sweet robot at the nativity? Also, sometimes, all you need for a Merry Christmas is a cat.
This is a short collection, but it’s heartwarming and cozy, and the sort of thing to read on a snowy afternoon, by your fireplace, with a cup of eggnog nearby.

Draw One In The Dark (The Shifter Series Book 1)

Something or someone is killing shape shifters in the small mountain town of Goldport, Colorado. Kyrie Smith, a server at a local diner, is the last person to solve the mystery. Except of course for the fact that she changes into a panther and that her co-worker, Tom Ormson, who changes into a dragon, thinks he might have killed someone. Add in a policeman who shape-shifts into a lion, a father who is suffering from remorse about how he raised his son, and a triad of dragon shape shifters on the trail of a magical object known as The Pearl of Heaven and the adventure is bound to get very exciting indeed. Solving the crime is difficult enough, but so is — for our characters — trusting someone with secrets long-held. Originally published by Baen Books.

Gentleman Takes A Chance (The Shifter Series Book 2)

Family! Can’t live with them and can’t eat them.
Tom Ormson, owner — with his girlfriend — of The George, a diner in downtown Goldport, Colorado is well on his way to becoming a responsible and respectable adult, despite his rough start and the fact that he turns into a dragon.
But then the unpredictable Colorado weather, the ancient leader of a dragon triad and an even more ancient shifter-enforcer combine to destroy his home, put his diner at risk and attempt to kill him.
All this, of course, has to happen while Tom’s friend, Rafiel, is trying to solve a series of murders-by-shark at the city aquarium, and Tom’s newly-reconciled father is attempting to move to Denver.
Fasten your seat belts, a wild ride is about to begin.

Includes new afterword by author

Originally published by Baen Books.

FROM JOHN-RICHARD THOMPSON: The Christmas Mink: And Other December Tales from the North Woods

The Christmas Mink and Other December Tales from the North Woods brings the spirit of the season alive. In this whimsical collection of Christmas stories and poems from the snowy north woods of New England, see the season in a new light and find the holiday spirit in unlikely places – in Siberia, from the tail of the Christmas Comet, or even your own tree. In the title tale, The Christmas Mink, young Will, worried about finding a gift for his generous mother, receives a miraculous gift courtesy of a talking mink. In Coal, hapless elves Jeremiah Blizzard and Artie Sleet must travel to Siberia to gather Santa’s supply of coal for his list of VBKs (very bad kids). Follow noble Tobias the donkey on a journey of undeniable importance.Join curmudgeonly old woodsmen, living ornaments, a congress of talking animals, a horde of helpful mice and one grandiose moose in these rousing December tales certain to please both cynic and celebrant alike.

FROM MARY CATELLI: The Maze, the Manor, and the Unicorn

A short story of banishment and magical intrigues.

Cecily had been a lady-in-waiting. Exiled to Clearwater — for her health — after she angered Queen Blanche, she has nothing to do but wait.

Until an ambassador is sent there, for his health, and Cecily finds that the court intrigues reach farther than she had known they could.

FROM MATTHEW C. LUCAS: Sword of the Godless

From the dark alleys of a crooked city, to the sacred halls of an ancient seminary, to the blood-stained sands of the arena, Simeon Severals is a hero like no other. It’s a hard life in Lower Bajebluff. Where an outcast boy must fight to keep what’s his, and friends turn on each other to take what’s theirs. But Simeon’s got a sharp mind and a special talent for writing. He’s taken in as a seminary scribe—until a forbidden romance with a noble’s daughter puts an end to Simeon’s life of study. Judged a criminal and cast out of the seminary, he’s sentenced to the Escola, the kingdom’s most infamous school for gladiators. There, the scribe is remade into a warrior. A master swordsman. A champion of the arena, who spits at the gods he once served. How high can a godless gladiator rise before he’s cast down? What weapon can he wield to win his freedom? Who can he trust in the shadowy underworld of the arena?

Matthew C. (“Matt”) Lucas lives in Tampa with his wife, two sons, a dog, and an axolotl. He’s the author of the historical fantasy series, Yonder & Far, the epic fantasy novel, The Mountain, and numerous novellas and short stories that have appeared in various venues. A Florida native with eclectic interests, when he’s not writing, Matt enjoys the outdoors, nineties music, Florida State football, and playing the bagpipes. You can find out more about Matt’s work at http://www.matthewclucas.com.

FROM MACKEY CHANDLER, AND ON SALE FOR 2.49 FOR THE REST OF DECEMBER: Family Law

People love easily. Look at most of your relatives or coworkers. How lovable are they? Really? Yet most have mates and children. The vast majority are still invited to family gatherings and their relatives will speak to them.

Many have pets to which they are devoted. Some even call them their fur-babies. Is your dog or cat or parakeet property or family? Not in law but in your heart? Can a pet really love you back? Or is it a different affection? Are you not kind to those who feed and shelter you? But what if your dog could talk back? Would your cat speak to you kindly?

How much more complicated might it be if we meet really intelligent species not human? How would we treat these ‘people’ in feathers or fur? Perhaps a more difficult question is: How would they treat us? Are we that lovable?

When society and the law decide these sort of questions must be answered it is usually because someone disapproves of your choices. Today it may be a cat named in a will or a contest for custody of a dog. People are usually happy living the way they want until conflict is forced upon them.

What if the furry fellow in question has his own law? And is quite articulate in explaining his choices. Can a Human adopt such an alien? Can such an intelligent alien adopt a human? Should they?

Of course if the furry alien in question is smart enough to fly spaceships, and happens to be similar in size and disposition to a mature Grizzly bear, wisdom calls for a certain delicacy in telling him no…

The “April” series of books works from an earlier time toward merging with the “Family Law” series.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: The Last Pendragon (Legends Book 1)

“The last thing I expected when I went to grieve in the mountains was to get chased by werewolves, kidnapped by a dragon, or meet a legend. But that was exactly what happened.”–Sara Hawke

Sara Hawke, a highly-educated former PhD candidate in Linguistics, is plunged into a situation that strains her skepticism: first she meets a pack of werewolves while camping on the night of the full moon, then she’s rescued by a man the werewolves seemed to fear. Her rescuer then decides that she’ll be good company until he decides to let her go. Then he tells her that she has the potential to be a sorceress, and offers to teach her.

Along the way, she learns that legends aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be, and are occasionally more than they seem…

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: Love in the Time of Campaigning

As Frank Correra brings his family to a lunar settlement to get them away from a worsening political situation on Earth, he reminisces about how he and his wife met.

Frank had always dreamed of the skies. As a clone of an astronaut who subsequently became a US Senator, Frank thought he had a clear path ahead of him. But when it comes time to apply for the Air Force Academy, it is an election year. His ur-brother can’t promise a nomination until he’s won another term, and this year promises a hard race to run. When the other side puts up an ugly attack ad, can Frank find a way to discredit it before it destroys his ur-brother’s chance of re-election, and with it Frank’s slot at an Academy appointment?

A short story of the Grissom timeline.

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: ordinary.

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

  1. My parents were determined that I should be an ordinary person, unremarkable, just another face in a crowd. The sort of person who is only of interest to family, friends and statisticians. But that was not my fate in life.

    I think Mom’s family never quite forgave Aunt Kate for marrying Uncle Soso, a union which took her off to be a princess in post-Soviet Russia’s new Imperial Family — or that the connection should prove the key to saving my life. Not to say that my mother wasn’t grateful that she didn’t have to bear me only to bury me, but she never was comfortable with the need to take me back over there every year so Academician Voronsky could make sure my lungs were growing with me.

    In my first years they were just a few days, long enough for the medical examinations. But as I got old enough to take an international flight as an unaccompanied minor, Aunt Kate suggested they be extended to give me an opportunity to spend time with my cousins. For the next several years I spent my entire summer vacations over there, joining my cousins and their cousins in all kinds of activities.

    The year my father announced there would be no trip to Russia, that I would be spending my summer here, I thought it was a punishment. For years I wondered whether my parents were angry that I was too excited to go, or not excited enough to come back home. I chafed under their ever-increasing restrictions on my communications with my cousins, which were clearly designed to keep me from letting them know just how much I missed my visits there, how desperately unhappy I was in a town that viewed me as suspect, as tainted by “Frankenstein science.”

    Looking back, I now know that the summer I last visited was one marred by several acts of Purificationist terrorism, which might well have raised concerns about my safety. And as I was reaching puberty, there was concern about teen passions, and particularly some of the hot-blooded young genomic princes of the other branches of the Imperial House paying a little too much attention to me.

    Which is ironic, given how things ended up.

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  3. Cora looked at her. “I suppose,” she said slowly, “that one boy who decided to show he wasn’t afraid of Marcus might be trouble.”

    “We would have to show we, too, were knights,” said Rae. “And not all dangers are ordinary. There could be a necromancer. We know of that.”

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  4. Something’s wrong, I thought, looking through the sensors. Everything is right on the error bars for average, boring and simple. It’s ordinary, nothing going on with this ship.

    I tapped a command on my console. “Sensors, XO. I want a passive gravimetric scan done, fine grain. Deploy a drone and sweep Sierra-337.”

    “Aye aye, sir,” the lieutenant in charge of the sensors replied.

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  5. It was just an ordinary caper for a super master-thief until he found a powerful Ultra agent waiting for him.

    “Good day Slippery Fox, I’m afraid that this caper of yours is going to be incomplete as I have a job for you”.

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  6. Cari gazed at the stars – when she went into one of her reveries, Max never knew when she’d come back to reality.

    “Isn’t it staggering?” Cary said wistfully. “Centuries ago, another ordinary girl, just like me, was gazing at this very same sky.”

    You’re far, far from ordinary, Max thought.

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  7. Here’s a place in Dumfries, Virginia, called Williams Ordinary, not too far from where we live. It was built around 1785, and spent time as a tavern, inn, and private residence. It’s now owned by Prince William County. More information can be found here.

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  8. Nothing about the forest betrayed anything out of the ordinary.

    Minutes later, breathing hard, he slowed, and stopped. His breathing calmed, and then, more slowly, his heart ceased to hammer. He heard no sound of their pursuing him.

    Then, they had had some purpose in bringing him by this way.

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  9. It was a dark and stormy night. Winds howled relentlessly about the roof, and poked drafty fingers into the rooms. Snow sifted by with a hiss. She knew if she looked out the window, the firelight would show the heaped snow to be pale, as far as the light reached, and only darkness beyond. Like any other wintry night.

    Wiser souls than she were all clumped about the fire, though she knew nothing that made it out of the ordinary for such a light.

    No one, of course, suggested that Lady Fianna must calm herself.

    She wondered where Osgar was.

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  11. Ron Draper had a superior reputation as math tutor to lazy rich kids with no interest in numbers. But this scion of a banking executive was a real challenge. The teen could do the mechanics, yet he had no grasp of the underlying concepts.

    ”What are the names for the set of numbers that count and the set showing sequence?” Ron quizzed the boy.

    Percy von Neumann’s brow furrowed, part in concentration but mostly in puzzlement. Then a flash of enlightenment crossed Percy’s face. “The first one is cardinal and the second is ordinary,” he answered, sounding quite pleased with himself.

    Ron closed his eyes in exasperation, then looked heavenward for deliverance from this task. “Thats’s ordinal,” he sighed, leaving unspoken the remainder of his thought: you twit.

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  12. I don’t have the same definition of ordinary as most of you.

    I was born in Arcata, California when it was a comfortable Republican town.

    It isn’t anymore, hasn’t been since maybe 1970. It’s changed like fine, aged milk. But it’s still in the middle of nearly the most beautiful place in the world.

    https://visitarcata.com/

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