Book Promo And Vignettes By Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike

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 JOHN BAILEY: The Road From Concord: April 1775 and the Birth of the American War (Historical Fiction)

April 1775.

What began as a march to seize weapons became the opening campaign of a war that would last eight years.

As British regulars march out of Boston under secret orders, Ensign Edward Hamilton believes discipline and training will quickly restore order in the rebellious countryside. Across the darkened roads of Massachusetts, Lieutenant Nathaniel Ward—farmer, veteran, and reluctant officer—answers the alarm as neighbors gather with muskets, powder horns, and resolve.

From the first shots on Lexington Green to the running battle back from Concord, the countryside itself becomes a battlefield of stone walls, forests, and narrow roads. Exhaustion, hunger, fear, and courage shape every decision. Neither side fully understands what has begun—only that there is no turning back.

When the smoke clears, thousands of militia converge on the heights around Boston. The siege begins. And two men on opposite sides realize the same truth: this war will not end quickly—and it will change them forever.

The Road From Concord is a meticulously researched historical novel that brings the opening days of the American Revolutionary War to life through the eyes of those who fought it.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Street Snacks (Liquid Diet Chronicles Book 5)

Don’t leave your empties lying in the streets, guys, jeez…

Meg Turner had a quiet six months (after the end of the monster incursion). That was because her borders were closed, but her six months of peace were up when her borders came down. While, yes, bringing her borders down allowed for a lot of postponed good things, it also allowed for an ill-considered challenge for her territory and a couple of murderers to waltz across her borders.

Oh, and an abandoned fledgling that had awakened to the night, buried in a dumpster. One that the Justices would have seen culled with most of the fledglings in the Kansas City nest. Thank goodness she’d sent Radu to rescue the ones that could recover from being brought over by cannibalistic monsters, and nobody official had paid attention to how many they’d rescued.

Between hiding an extra fledgling from the new Justice, Richmond recovering from a nasty case of PTSD, a vampire hiding his feeding on the homeless as animal attacks, and another feeding on her young vampires, Meg has her hands full.

And she’d really like to close her borders again, to avoid having to deal with all of this nonsense, please and thank you.

FROM M. C. A. HOGARTH: An Exile Amid Stars (Shieldmatron Book 2)

For nearly ten years, Surela “Rel” Silin Eddings has been plying the galactic waters on the merchant vessel Earthrise, picking up sundries for the home system from which she remains exiled… and enjoying herself despite it. How else, with a congenial crew, dozens of worlds to explore, and so many things to learn? Most days, she can even forget she’s a criminal to her own people, and that’s the way she likes it. The last thing Surela wants is a new mission… particularly one that involves haring off into the unknown reaches of space in search of an Eldritch from a House predisposed to hate her for her misdeeds. But the Empress has decided one of the Eldritch’s waywards needs to come home, and Surela’s the woman to fetch her.As usual, nothing goes as planned…

FROM JOHN BAILEY: The Quiet Zones

In near-Earth orbit, regions of space have begun swallowing signals whole. No telemetry. No data. No explanation. The agencies that monitor them call these anomalies Quiet Zones—and pretend they don’t exist.

Kurt Calder, an orbital systems analyst, notices what no one else will admit: the silence is spreading. When a classified mission disappears inside one of the Zones, Kurt is pulled into a covert investigation that forces him beyond the edge of mapped space—and into something that doesn’t communicate with words.

Inside the Quiet Zones, instruments fail but awareness sharpens. Crews report missing time, shared thoughts, and an overwhelming pressure to stop moving forward. What waits in the silence isn’t hostile in the way humanity expects—but it is not passive, and it does not intend to be ignored.

As Earth prepares to push deeper into space, Kurt must decide whether the Quiet Zones are a warning…
or the first move in a war humanity doesn’t yet realize it’s fighting.

The Quiet Zones is a tense, atmospheric science fiction mystery about expansion, control, and the danger of discovering you are not alone—and never were.

FROM ALMA T. C. BOYKIN: Of Land and Magic

Something hides under the land …
Knights guard secrets …
Three sisters watch a new world and old evil …
Stone and metal conceal a surprise. Or do they?

Four short tales of fantasy, set in places as different as central Spain and the cool valleys of Austria, to the deserts of Arizona and a city like and unlike our own.

EDITED BY RITA BEEMAN: Uncanny Valet (Raconteur Press Anthologies Book 69)

The cumulative effect of these stories is a many-shaded collection of tales that explores the idea of how a more automated world would affect actual humans, as well as the automatons, themselves. On a deeper level, one might be inspired to consider the way humans treat one another, particularly when a helper is considered of a lower station. If one is predisposed to condescend to “lesser” folk, how, then, will that same person treat a non-person?
It’s possible that a person would take greater care with an automaton for which they paid a great deal of money, rather than a mere human servant who might be instantly dismissed for no particular reason. Possibly the best idea of “Uncanny Valet” is to consider how we treat the other people and objects (like cars) in our day-to-day lives. But more than anything, we hope you will enjoy these flights of fancy.

While one may be tempted to think with apprehension of a future of increased reliance on frightening automation and automatons, it’s important to consider that heart-warming and humorous outcomes are equally possible. Come what may, we can’t wait to see what happens.

—Rita Beeman (from the Introduction)

FROM MALORY: The Weird Map in Mr. Glimm’s Skull

In a dusty school boiler room, 12-year-old inventor Felix Jones tunes his homemade radio and unleashes a whisper from the shadows: his own name. What starts as a creepy glitch explodes into a heart-pounding adventure when Felix uncovers a hidden Russian hatch, a vanishing caretaker with a scarred past, and a buried Cold War bunker teeming with psychic experiments and deadly drones. Accompanied by his loyal friend William, Felix races against shadowy spies and an ancient entity called “Mother” that’s hungry for freedom. Secrets shatter, memories twist, and the fate of their sleepy village hangs by a wire in this pulse-racing tale of bravery, betrayal, and buried horrors. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Rick Riordan—will Felix crack the code or become the next victim?

EDITED BY DAVID BADURINA: Insert Coin (Raconteur Press Anthologies Book 70)

Insert Coin harkens back to retro arcades, digital adventures, and pockets full of quarters on a sweaty Saturday night with a group of friends. Looking for stories that have high adventure and real consequences? Friends surviving, very real injuries, clever moments where the big boss is conquered through wit and ingenuity. The games may be anything – space oriented, sword-and-sorcery, sports, spies, and the stakes are high.

FROM DAVE FREER: Storm-Dragon

On the treacherous Vann’s World, Skut battles a savage wind and deadly hamerkops to rescue a mysterious, telepathic creature. Fleeing a rising tide and a menacing Loor-beast, he forms an unexpected bond with the tiny, electric-charged being that sees him as its protector. As Skut navigates the perilous tidal tiers, his impulsive escape from Highpoint Station unravels into a fight for survival—both for himself and his newfound companion.

Podge is the new kid in town, trying to keep his head down. Meeting Skut is about the only bright spot in his introduction to this strange new world. The boys bond over Skut’s creature, and trying to avoid the class bullies. This is only the beginning; soon Skut finds his new friends do not ease the growing concerns of the adults around him while the town is coming under a mysterious threat. What can two boys and a tiny storm-dragon do?

FROM MEL DUNAY: Dragon’s Teeth (Hunter Healer King Book 3)

The name’s Chloe Fortebat, and I don’t understand this place at all.
Maxim and I are engaged, but there’s a problem: his late mother may be too closely related to my mother. We need answers about her past, but she abandoned me as a child, and we don’t know where she is now. Meanwhile, a candidate for Emperor was attacked by a vicious beast, and Maxim’s friend the Prime Minister is pushing him forward as a replacement. I think Maxim would be good at it, but right now, we have bigger problems. We have to find my mother, and stop the monster stalking this city. But neither the monster nor my mother may be what we expected.
My name is Dr. Maxim os Storm, and I hunt the beasts that haunt the night.
I want to marry Chloe more than anything, but first we must find her mother, who vanished years ago under suspicious circumstances. As we investigate, the questions multiply. What creature killed one man and mauled another near the Beast Garden? What is the meaning of the signet ring marked with a face that is half woman, half dragon? Why does the Prime Minister want to thrust the Imperial Crown onto my head? But Chloe’s courage never wavers, no matter what ancient horrors await us. We will find the answers we seek, and face the darkness together.
For fans of Lindsay Buroker and Patricia Briggs, here is a dual POV gaslamp fantasy with monster hunting, a slow-burn romance subplot, and a reluctant king facing his destiny. Book 3 of the Hunter Healer King Trilogy.

FROM C. CHANCY: Oni the Lonely

A grieving mountain cove doctor. A pair of wayward oni. A curse borne on the black wings of crows.

The Rivertown Shopping Village has seen a lot of strange proprietors. An oni painter on the run from a bad breakup is a new one. Maple Leaf Studio opened with blazing color, but will a haunting end Kyosai Momoji’s dream before it begins?

At the south end of Rivertown, Rain McKee delivers soap and perfume with a hint of mountain blessings, picking up her life in the wake of her grandparents’ deaths. Deaths that may have been from a firstborn curse….

Kyosai’s a firstborn, and oni attract trouble like lightning strikes. If either of them want to survive, they’ll have to face haunts, monsters, and a curse so ancient no living mortal knows its name.

The Appalachians are old; the evils lurking there, older still….

(If you want ancient folklore, modern magic, and a love story that prioritizes friendship first, this is the slow burn for you!)

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: How Much for a Perfect Holiday Dinner?

In cyberspace, dreams can come true — but sometimes it’s easier said than done.

Jaygee grew up longing for the holiday dinners he saw in media portrayals. With his dysfunctional upbringing behind him and success within his grasp, he discovers a game where he can have the holiday dinner he dreamed of.

But realizing it proves harder than anticipated — and has unexpected consequences. Jaygee has some hard decisions to make, and sometimes you can’t go back home again.

FROM CHRISTOPHER WOERNER: Big Beautiful Book

Coverage of current events building up to Trump 2.0 and the first half-year of his work. Not even covering everything, just hitting as much as I could. As much criticism as I have of the current administration, this is still what we voted for. Just watching the left go hysterical is worth the effort. Even more amazing is that this coverage ended in July so, other than the B-side which is a humorous look at the government shutdown last fall, I didn’t even get around to covering what’s happened since. There’s a lot more where this came from and we still have three and a half years to go.

BY CLEVE F. ADAMS, REVIVED BY D. JASON FLEMING: Too Fair To Die (Annotated): The classic hard-boiled pulp noir

Cherchez la femme, they told McBride. Find the woman. He hit the trail in the suburbs of L.A., and wound up in the heart of Montana; in the heart of a bitter, bullet-baited gubernatorial election; in the heart of the one woman he would have given his life to put behind bars.

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

NOMINATED FOR THE PROMETHEUS, FROM SARAH A. HOYT: No Man’s Land: Volume 1 (Chronicles of Lost Elly)

Sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.

On a lost colony world, mad geneticists thought they could eliminate inequality by making everyone hermaphrodite. They were wrong. Catastrophically wrong.
Now technology indistinguishable from magic courses through the veins of the inhabitants, making their barbaric civilization survivable—and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Kayel Hayden, Viscount Webson, Envoy of the Star Empire—Skip to his friends— has just crash-landed through a time-space rift into the middle of it all.
Dodging assassins and plummeting from high windows was just the beginning. With a desperate king and an archmagician as his only allies, Scipio must outrun death itself while battling beasts, traitors, and infiltrators bent on finishing what the founders started: total destruction.
Two worlds. One chance. No time to lose.

Volume 1
The Ambassador Corps has rules: you cannot know everything, don’t get horizontal with the natives, don’t make promises you can’t keep.
They’re a lot harder to follow when assassins are hunting you, your barbarian allies could kill you for the wrong word, and death lurks around every corner.
The unwritten rule? Never identify with the natives.
Skip’s already broken that one.
Now he’s racing against time to save his new friends from slavery—or worse—while dodging energy blasts and political intrigue. One crash-landed diplomat. A world of deadly secrets. And absolutely no backup.

Some rules are meant to be broken. Others will get you killed.

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: tangible