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

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, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. By clicking through and buying (anything book-related, 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. Remember though all of these submissions are from people willing to be associated with this blog. So if you’re trying to buy from people who don’t hate you, this is a good place to start.– SAH

FIRST OF ALL WITH A THANK YOU TO DOC N, FOR BEING A GOOD SPORT ABOUT MY USING ONE OF HIS COMICS AS A MEME: His webcomic. And his scifi story arc.

FROM SARAH HOYT’S INSUFFERABLE SELF PROMOTION: Witch’s Daughter.

Some letters come from the living. Some come from the dead. This one comes with a formula that turns a rowboat into a miracle.

Seventeen-year-old Lord Michael Ainsling — youngest brother of the Duke of Darkwater, builder of mechanical marvels, survivor of fairyland — receives a letter from a man sixteen years dead. The inventor Tristram Blakley has not perished; he has been imprisoned by his own genius and begs the one mind in all of Avalon brilliant enough to understand his work to set him free. All Michael has to do is find seven missing brothers first and walk a magical path..

Fifteen-year-old Albinia Blakley has spent her whole life under her mother’s iron thumb — and her mother is a witch. The day Al finally escapes down a rope of knotted sheets, she lands in a world she doesn’t recognize, with no money, no magic kit, and no idea that the stranger who catches her is about to become her greatest ally.

Together, a girl with more secrets than she knows and a boy who builds machines that try to murder him must outwit a sorceress, navigate the treacherous courts of Fairyland, and unravel an enchantment years in the making — before a family is lost for good.

Witch’s Daughter is a gaslamp fantasy brimming with wit, warmth, and wonder, for readers who love their magic wrapped in velvet and their adventures served with morning tea.

FROM ALMA T. C. BOYKIN: The Bard’s Curse: Bard’s Song Book One

In a world where words are power, a bard’s curse weighs heavy on those who draw his wrath.

Tuathal, master bard and prince of two realms, journeys north to his half-brother’s court. When Pyder of the Ford breaks the laws of hospitality, Tuathal’s satire brings ruin in its wake. But more than just righteous anger moves over field and forest. What began as an insult reveals far darker things moving in the realm Fiachta NoDomnail, low king of the Dunalaid.

A wandering bard and prince, Tuathal faces a war that will burn down all that his kindred have built. To stop it and lift a bard’s curse may cost more than he is willing to pay.

Words have power, but darker powers than those of man also have a say.

FROM TALEENA SINCLAIR: A Death In Good Society: A John Recht Novel (John Recht Novels Book 1)

A Death in Good Society

A John Recht Mystery
by Taleena Sinclair

When the body of Maire Beaufort, society’s adored “Angel of Waldfeld,” is found propped against a canal wall in the city’s most fashionable quarter, her death is more than just a tragedy; it threatens to ignite a diplomatic crisis.

Captain John Recht, former intelligence officer, is summoned from retirement to investigate on the heels of burying his wife. What begins as a straightforward murder quickly unravels into a labyrinth of deception, ambition, and betrayal. Powerful families are at odds, the palace whispers of scandal, and the Angel is at the center of it all.

As John and his trusted allies pursue truth through the salons and alleyways of a city built on secrets, they discover that the crime is only the first move in a much larger game—one that could topple governments and destroy the beginnings of John’s new life.

Set in the richly imagined city of Waldfeld, John Recht must discover just who is responsible for A Death In Good Society.

For readers of Patrick O’Brian, C.J. Sansom, and Dorothy Sayers.

FROM ROSS HATHAWAY: The Mything Road: The Bureau of Imaginary Problems 2

Reality is held together by stories.
Someone just put them up for a vote.

Agent Mara Quill expected paperwork, containment protocols, and maybe a mildly haunted bridge.

Instead, she found a miniature golf course running a continent-spanning network of cryptids, myths, and living infrastructure—controlled by a windmill that requires her to vote on reality itself.

Each decision expands the system.
Each connection strengthens it.
Each story becomes part of something larger.

And it’s working.

Forests answer. Rivers align. Mountains approve. Creatures once dismissed as folklore take their place like they’ve been waiting for someone to start the meeting. Because they have.

Then something notices. The Devourer does not attack cities or armies.
It consumes structure. It erases meaning. It unravels the connections that make reality hold together.

And now it has found a network built entirely out of those connections.

Humanity’s response?

Deploy everything.

Ancient myths once carved into stone.
Legends whispered across generations.
Cryptids that refuse to be forgotten.

And, because this is still technically a government operation—Forms.

Thousands of them. Binding. Defining. Weaponized paperwork that can anchor reality just long enough to hold the line.

As interdimensional networks begin to connect, foreign agencies scramble, and something cold and ancient steps through to observe, Mara Quill realizes the truth:

This is not a new system.

This is not a new war.

This is something humanity has been building, defending, and remembering for longer than history admits.

The bridges are not roads. They are conversations.

And this one has just turned into a battlefield.

FROM ERIC W. COWPER: The Cough Is Loose (Bougie Apocalypse Book 1)

When the Cough starts dropping people in the streets, most folks panic.

Jackson “Jack” Harlan and his wife Raych make coffee.

Retired Army Sergeant Major Jack always knew something like this could happen. While society unravels overnight, he and Raych load the white 4Runner, fire up the Coleman stove, and stick to the plan: proper percolator coffee, hot ham and beans, and controlled violence when necessary.

Armed with enough guns and ammo for a small army and an ironclad commitment to not becoming savages, Jack and Raych fight their way out of the suburbs, pick up fellow survivors, and lay down the golden rule that will define their apocalypse:

“We shoot the Walkers… then we go back to the beans.”

A serialized military-flavored post-apocalyptic pulp story with World War Z realism, Zombieland humor, and stubborn civilization in the face of collapse. Because even when the dead start walking, breakfast doesn’t cook itself.

FROM DECLAN FINN: Cross Over (Honeymoon from Hell Book 4)

Amanda Colt and Marco Catalano’s original honeymoon has been extended by an all-expense paid trip to Rome. After fighting off vampires, wendigos, elves, necromancers and mad scientists, the Vatican Ninjas have decided to add to their training.

There is one other students will cross their path: NYPD Detective Thomas Nolan. He has had his own share of nightmare encounters with the forces of darkness.

But devilish things are afoot in Rome. Noises are coming from the catacombs. A film crew is afoul with monsters.

When these three cross over to join forces, they just have to make certain they’re not going to cross over for good.

FROM HOLLY CHISM: Soul Inheritance

Fresh out of college, Evelyn Alexander’s first order of business was finding a place to live. One she could afford on her small inheritance before her job started. None of the local rental agencies had anything in her price range, but…she found a small Victorian house for sale, the only one mostly untouched in a decaying neighborhood of subdivided rental houses.

Complete with a ghost. A very attractive ghost. A very attractive ghost with a strong dislike of the idea of anyone changing his house. So, of course, she bought it. A cranky ghost for a roommate was still a better option than the tiny studio with criminal neighbors.

Between working to restore her new house, embezzlement at work and a murder next door, Evelyn has her hands full. As she works to get on her feet as a productive adult (and not fall in love with a ghost she can’t have), the problems start to snowball. And it’s only compounded by learning that her house has far more secrets than just a single, cranky (attractive) ghost…

FROM LEIGH KIMMEL: She Dreams Day and Night

Nancy White they called her, a good, solid name for a troubled girl. But she knew her father had called her by another name, before he disappeared through the gate into another world of strange stars and stranger moons. No matter how hard the staff of Hildred House try to force her to forget, she remembers. And longs to reopen the gate, to rejoin her father on that alien shore where cloud-waves break.

FROM JOHN BAILEY: The Parcel On Wren Street: and Other Cases of Richard Fairchild (The Aurigan Conflict)

Commander Richard Fairchild thought retirement would be peaceful.

After a distinguished career as a fighter pilot in the Anglo Fleet, a war injury has left him grounded and living quietly with his sister Margaret. Quietly, however, is not the same thing as peacefully.

When a parcel addressed to another man arrives at the Fairchild residence, Richard notices several small irregularities.

Before the package can be returned, the intended recipient is murdered. What begins as a simple curiosity soon develops into a far-reaching investigation involving secret courier routes, hidden communications, and enemy agents operating throughout the region.

Across twelve interconnected adventures, Richard Fairchild and his companions uncover:
• A mysterious parcel containing hidden star coordinates
• A woman using false identities to gather intelligence
• Secret transmitters concealed in an abandoned manor
• A murder among former military aviators
• Smuggling operations hidden behind legitimate commerce
• Coded musical performances used for espionage
• A passenger who vanished from a starliner without a trace
• The mastermind behind an extensive spy network

Assisted by his practical sister Margaret, the capable Dr. Alice Merriweather, and the increasingly tolerant Inspector Geoffrey Pritchard, Fairchild finds himself drawn into mystery after mystery as clues slowly reveal a larger conspiracy.
Written in the tradition of classic detective fiction, The Parcel on Wren Street and Other Cases of Richard Fairchild combines fair-play mysteries, memorable characters, gentle humor, and science-fiction adventure into a series of puzzles where observation matters more than violence and intelligence proves more valuable than force.

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 to ask.

Your writing prompt this week is: FLAG

DAY FIVE OF ACCORDING TO HOYT’S ANNUAL FUNDRAISER!

This blog is running its annual fundraising drive, so that I can quiet the voices in my head that tell me I might as well do macrame or perhaps take an interest in tiddly winks. (Also because Jerry Pournelle tried to convince me to do this for years, and yeah, I miss him.)

There is a Give Send Go fundraiser for this specific fundraiser set up. Here is a Paypal Me Link if you prefer that. (Yes, I know. Paypal, but for now, they’re behaving.) If you have a monthly donation setup to the permanent Give Send Go, that is still working and thank you! There are also two substacks you can subscribe to. One is on the side bar of the blog, the other is supposed to be a newsletter, as well as giving you chapters of the current work in progress if you become a paid subscriber. It takes cards. For snail mail: Sarah Hoyt 304 S Jones Blvd #6771 Las Vegas, NV 89107

IF YOU WANT THE FULL SPIEL AND EXPLANATION IT’S HERE: Toss A Coin To Your Blogger, Oh Readers of Plenty