Release Blitz Tall Willows

About the Book

Title: Tall Willows
Author: PC Feather
Genre: Murder Mystery / Romance
For senior Ruth Willows, her last year at Golden Valley High School in Golden Valley, Colorado was to be the best year ever. That is until the drop-dead sexy cowboy love-of-her-life Ken Silver turns out to be the school’s new English teacher. When she sees him at school, she faints from the shock, crashes into a bookcase, and goes to the ER. Ken, realizing his terrible conflict of interest, goes to the ER and tells her he cannot see her anymore.
Ruth returns to school, injured, mortified, and heart broken only to discover the district accountant shot dead in the school darkroom. If that weren’t enough, she accidentally picks up a file that the late administrator left in the school office before his death. The file contains proof that someone was embezzling funds from the school.
Ruth finds herself in the middle of the mystery. Was the administrator killed by the embezzler? Does the embezzler know this file exists? Could the murder be a coincidence?
Tall Willows takes you to beautiful horse farms in the fictional small town of Golden Valley, Colorado, back to high school and first love, and into the mind of a crazed murderer. If you love a good mystery with a steamy side of forbidden romance, you’ll love Tall Willows.

About the Author

PC Feather feels blessed. She has lived and traveled from Maine to California. She’s had the opportunity to work many many jobs from Actor to Zookeeper. Currently, PC Feather lives in Monmouth County, New Jersey where she cares for sport horses, shows horses in dressage, and is a certified equine massage therapist.

Links

Book Site:  www.tallwillows.com
Author Site: www.pcfeather.com
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pcfeatherstories
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/pcfeather/
Purchase Tall Willows from Amazon.

Preorder Blitz Malice and Forethought

Malice and Forethought cover

Malice and Forethought:

Short Stories of Malice and Murder

by Felicia Denise

Cover Design: perry elisabeth design

Genre: Crime Thriller / Suspense / Short Stories

Release Date: June 1, 2020


Malice – noun; mal·ice | ˈma-ləs
1 : desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another
//
2 : intent to commit an unlawful act or cause harm without legal justification or excuse
//ruined her reputation and did it with malice
Everyone is capable of malice and no one is immune to its outcome.
A Hint of Malice – When her last living relative commits suicide after having her identity and assets stolen, a grieving niece longs for justice.
Burned – When the masterminds behind a major drug operation get off with a slap on the wrists, a frustrated police detective warns them their wealth cannot shield them from everything.
The Marshall Sisters – After seeing her sister mistreated by far too many men, Leslie Marshall is proud of Paula for standing up for herself and accompanies her on a cold winter’s night to confront her boyfriend, but even Leslie isn’t ready for the new, assertive Paula.
The Watcher – Shamed into exiled by his family because of his sexual fetish and hanging on to the shreds of his sanity, a man plots the ultimate date night with his new neighbor.
What’s done in the dark always comes to the light.

~ PreOrder ~

KINDLE UNLIMITED

https://geni.us/Malice

Malice 3D mockup

~~~

Bloggers needed for preorder and/or release day blitzes!

https://forms.gle/dpv4tbNt1uMr5Q8i6

~~~

About the Author
After writing as a hobby for most of her life, at the urging of a good friend, Felicia took on the challenge of NaNoWriMo in 2015, writing what would become her first published work, In the Best Interest of the Child. It was released in the fall of 2016. Free, a Novella, which began as a three-installment series on her website, was published as a short story in May 2017.
Currently working on projects in several genres, Felicia plans to release book 2 of In the Best Interest of the Child – Family Matters, as well as anthologies of her suspense and women’s fiction short stories in 2020.
A long-time blogger, she also features books by indie authors daily on her blog, Nesie’s Place.
Felicia lost her husband of nearly 36 years of May of 2019, and is a strong advocate and supporter of the National Kidney Foundation. She has three adult children, four grand-pups, and as one of nine children, she has too much extended family to even go into!
In her free time-when not reading-Felicia sews and enjoys experimenting with new dishes in the kitchen. She always has a cup of robust coffee and far too many pun jokes nearby.

~ Stalk Felicia on Social Media ~

Author Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon Author Page

Instagram | Pinterest | Goodreads | Newsletter

~~~

~~~

Book Tours: Starter Day Party The Fire God Tour

I’m hosting the starter day party today for the book tour for contemporary romance with suspenseful and fantasy elements, “The Fire God Tour”. The book is going on tour from August 1 to August 10, AND I’m hosting a review on August 10!

Tour Schedule

August 1st: Starter Day Party @ I Heart Reading

August 2nd: Promo Post @ Bedazzled Reading

August 3rd: Promo Post @ Laura’s Interests

August 4th: Promo Post @ Indy Book Fairy

August 4th: Promo Post @ Chapters Through Life

August 5th: Promo Post and Giveaway @ Nesie’s Place

August 6th: Author Interview @ Majanka’s Blog

August 6th: Book Review @ Crazy KALM

August 7th: Character Interview @ Editor Charlene’s Blog

August 8th: Promo Post @ Bookish Madness

August 9th: Author Interview and Giveaway @ Bright Street Books

August 10th: Book Review and Giveaway @ I Heart Reading

 

About the Book

Title: The Fire God Tour

Author: Michele Sims

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Suspense

Miles Moore is obsessed with fire. He can’t help it—it’s in his genes. He’s also the famous performer Ari, an international hip-hop sensation. There are some negatives that come with fame—death threats and life on the road among them—but there’s also a lot of good: fast cars, fast women, international travel, and more money than he can handle. When Bella Wahlberg joins his team as the chief of marketing, she seems like the antithesis of what he’s looking for, so much so that Miles dubs her Belsa the Ice Queen. It would be unprofessional for them to get together, but more than that, she’s unavailable—and deathly afraid of fire. But as they prepare for The Fire God Tour, Miles can tell something is changing. Is he ready to commit himself to one woman? Can fire and ice come together?

Author Bio

Michele Sims is the creator of the Moore Family Saga and the Fire God Series. She loves writing hot love stories and women’s fiction with multidimensional characters in multigenerational families. She is the recipient of the 2018 RSJ Aspiring Author Award and first runner up in the Introvert Press Poetry Contest for February 2018.  She is a member of the LRWA, in Charleston, SC and the From The Heart Romance Writers’ online group.

She lives in South Carolina with her husband who has been her soulmate and greatest cheerleader. She is the proud mother of two adult sons and the auntie to many loved ones. When she’s not writing, she’s trying to remember the importance of exercise, travelling, listening to different genres of music, and observing the wonders of life on this marvelous planet.

Links

Amazon Autor Page

Email: michelesims2122@gmail.com

Facebook

Goodreads

Instagram

Twitter

Website

Book Review: The Sanctity of Sloth by Greta Boris

Title: The Sanctity of Sloth
Author: Greta Boris
Genre: Suspense, Mystery
Series: The Seven Deadly Sins
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

There’s one thing more dangerous than testifying to a crime—staying silent.
Locked in the ruins of a California Mission, Abby Travers watches helplessly as a girl dies outside her window. As she struggles between her moral obligation to come forward as a witness, and her commitment to a Medieval religious practice that requires her to retreat from the world, the situation spins out of control.
Abby’s hesitation starts a series of catastrophes. She finds herself at the center of a deadly cover up where every minute counts and indecision could be fatal. She questions all her beliefs and everyone she knows becomes suspect. To save herself and those she loves, she must break free from her self-imposed prisons of stone and fear.
The Sanctity of Sloth is a taut, psychological thriller that answers the question: What happens when a good woman does nothing? Fans of Paula Hawkins and A.J. Finn will enjoy this third book in Greta Boris’s Seven Deadly Sins Series.

 

The Sanctity of Sloth is the first book I’ve read by Greta Boris, but I’m already certain it won’t be my last. This book is the third book in a series, but even without reading book one and two, I could follow the story easily enough.

Abby Travers is forced to watch helplessly when a girl dies outside her window, while she’s locked up in a secret room in the ruins of a California Mission. Abby doubts between coming forward as a witness, and her commitment to the practise of the anchorites (and for those unfamiliar with the word, an anchorite is someone who withdraws from secular society for religious reasons). The practice sounds a little bizarre, but when woven into the story and connected with the personality of someone like Abby, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Abby’s hesitation to come forward has disastrous consequences, and Abby starts to question everything she’s ever believed in.

The pacing is great, the tension is nail-biting, and overall the premise is intriguing. Abby makes for a complex, but well-defined and recognizable character. A suspenseful mystery that certainly leaves the reader guessing.

Book Tours: Starter Day Party The Sanctity of Sloth

I’m hosting the starter day party today for the book tour for suspense “The Sanctity of Sloth”. The tour runs from February 25 to March 25. Check out the schedule below!

Tour Schedule

February 25th: Starter Day Party @ I Heart Reading

February 25th: Promo Post @ Nesie’s Place

February 25th: Promo Post @ Stormy Night Reviewing

February 25th: Book Excerpt @ Book Reviews by Steph

February 28th: Book Excerpt @ The Ultimate Reviewer

March 1st: Book Excerpt @ Editor Charlene’s Blog

March 3rd:  Author Interview @ Bedazzled Reading

March 4th: Book Excerpt @ Just Books

March 5th: Character Interview @ Viviana MacKade’s Blog

March 7th: Author Interview @ Reading A Page Turner

March 9th: Book Excerpt @ Bookish Madness

March 11th: Promo Post @ Aaron-Michael Hall’s Blog

 March 12th: Book Excerpts @ Nesie’s Place

March 15th: Book Review @ I Heart Reading

March 17th:  Book Excerpt @ Paranormal Book Fairy

March 18th: Author Interview @ Majanka’s Blog

March 19th: Book Review @ Bedazzled Reading

March 20th: Book Excerpt @ Cheyenne Reads

March 22th: Book Review @ Found in Words

March 23rd: Book Review @ Editor Charlene’s Blog

March 24th: Book Excerpts @ Nesie’s Place

March 25th: Book Review @ Bookish Madness

About the Book

Title: The Sanctity of Sloth

Author: Greta Boris

Genre: Suspense, Mystery

Series: The Seven Deadly Sins

There’s one thing more dangerous than testifying to a crime—staying silent.
Locked in the ruins of a California Mission, Abby Travers watches helplessly as a girl dies outside her window. As she struggles between her moral obligation to come forward as a witness, and her commitment to a Medieval religious practice that requires her to retreat from the world, the situation spins out of control.
Abby’s hesitation starts a series of catastrophes. She finds herself at the center of a deadly cover up where every minute counts and indecision could be fatal. She questions all her beliefs and everyone she knows becomes suspect. To save herself and those she loves, she must break free from her self-imposed prisons of stone and fear.
The Sanctity of Sloth is a taut, psychological thriller that answers the question: What happens when a good woman does nothing? Fans of Paula Hawkins and A.J. Finn will enjoy this third book in Greta Boris’s Seven Deadly Sins Series.

 

Purchase from Amazon

Author Bio

Greta Boris was raised in Greenwich Village, New York by an opera singing, piano playing, voice coach and a magazine publisher. Her original life plan was to be a famous Broadway actor, singer, and dancer, but when she moved to Laguna Beach, California, she changed her plans due to the commute. Today she writes to inspire, entertain, motivate, and so she can afford nice wine.

Links

Facebook Author Page

Twitter

Website

Goodreads

Amazon Author Page

Book Review: In The Wrong Hands by Avi Domoshevizki

Title: In The Wrong Hands
Author: Avi Domoshevizki
Genre: Technothriller / Crime / Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

In the Wrong Hands, a thriller full of unexpected twists and intriguing characters, delves into the real-life world of DNA editing, where science and science fiction are about to meet and change the face of medicine forever

Two unrelated bodies…

A homeland security agent is found dead. Shocking evidence reveals the cause of death is the simultaneous collapse of the man’s blood vessels. When a second body, sharing the same gruesome symptoms is found the hunt is on for a frightening new kind of killer.

Two friends fighting for their lives…

A vicious assault on his leading genetics researcher puts Dr. Ronni Saar, the CEO of Double N, and his friend Gadi, a former military police investigator, on the trail of a sophisticated killer. The deeper Gadi digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. When the search for the truth puts the two men and their wives directly in the path of the killer, they learn a painful truth – no one is beyond suspicion.

And then the killer knocks on their door…

After a long year of research, the author, an experienced high-tech entrepreneur, paints a realistic and sometimes frightening picture of where the science of DNA manipulation can go when left in the wrong hands. Science or science fiction? You decide.

When a body is found with as cause of death the simultaneous collapse of the man’s blood vessels, that’s shocking. When a second body is found, with the exact same cause of death, that’s enough to cause panic. A new, highly sophisticated killer is on the loose…

Ronni Saar, CEO of Double N, a genetic research organization, and Gadi, former military police investigator, are the two men perhaps most-equipped to catch the killer. But the search for the truth could lead them right to the killer’s doorstep, putting their own lives, and the lives of their family, at risk.

Despite containing a lot of technical and medical information, this was explained in an easy, straightforward way that made it easy to understand. Despite the fast-paced plot, it’s the characters, intriguing, three-dimensional, complex, that carry the story.

Science and science fiction collide in this mind-bending thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

 

Cover Reveal Blitz To Know A Killer

About the Book

Title: To Know A Killer

Author: Natalia Hale

Genre: Thriller / Suspense

It takes one to know one still rings true.

For years Luna Lis has been at the forefront of every trend in fashion, deciding what’s in style and what’s out.  Cold, calculating, and downright manipulative, Luna fought her way to the top of the tower at the international fashion magazine L&L and is now editor in chief.  She’s been written up as one of the most influential women of the world, and nobody is about to knock her off her pedestal.  That is until a phone call from a detective makes her realize that there’s more to journalism than what’s hot or not on the runway.

Notorious serial killer Hannah Best has been in jail for over a year, but that hasn’t stopped her from influencing the world.  Half a dozen reports have come out with perpetrators claiming they have killed for her.  She wasn’t willing to speak out about it, but now she wants a tell-all book written about her life and the real story told.  And she knows exactly who she wants to write it.

Luna Lis.

Author Bio

Natalia Hale is a journalism graduate with very little interest in writing news articles of any kind.  A reader of the mysterious and morbid, she decided that it was time to start her publishing journey in 2015 with her novella It Takes a Killer.  Focusing on short fiction, her stories delve into the disturbing tales that toe the line between acceptable to read in public and “if this is what you think about maybe you should talk to someone” (semi-joking advice from a friend).  She is not as dark a person as her writing, but tends to get lost in existential thoughts.

Links

It Takes A Killer, the first book in the series, will be free on Amazon from May 23 to May 25.

It Takes A Killer on Amazon

Website: www.nataliahale.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/halebooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/natalia_writes

Giveaway

Win an ebook copy of “It Takes A Killer”, the first book in the duology.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Emerald Circle by L. Rosenman

Title: The Emerald Circle
Author: L. Rosenman
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Their daughter’s kidnapping plunges the protagonists into a hair-raising calamity

A five-year-old child is kidnapped near her home in a small town in northern Israel. The secret behind her disappearance forces her parents to face a terrible crisis. Mutually suspicious, they embark separately on an emotionally and physically life-changing quest to find their daughter.

Will they ever find her?

Embarking on a physically and emotionally jolting journey to find their lost daughter, they find themselves in a mysterious, far-away, life-threatening place, ruled by a leader who intends to purify the world with genetic engineering. International corporate leaders with dark motives and the Israeli Mossad all feature in the plot.

They must brave a sinister state of altered reality in their search for her

The Emerald Circle is an additional dimension, paralleling our reality, in which occurrences can be more clearly seen. It has vital influence on the protagonists. The solution for the chaos and the turbulent events of the plot can be resolved only on the level of reality itself. In this reality, each passing day increases the danger that the little girl will never be found.

The Emerald Circle definitely fits into the genres of books I like: paranormal mixed with mystery. When a five-year-old goes missing, her parents are willing to do whatever it takes to get her back – although each of them has their own method to do it.

As the clock is racing, the mother infiltrates into a secret organization, and the father tries to help his family from the inside-out. The book skips between both views, giving the reader and over-reaching view over the entire story.

The mix of dystopian elements, the genetic engineering, and the missing-child-narrative is interesting. The book is suspenseful, to say the least, and not the kind of book you can put down halfway through.

Book Review: Skull Session by Daniel Hecht

Title: Skull Session

Author: Daniel Hecht

Genre: Mystery / Thriller

Rating: 3,5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Despite his brilliance, Paul Skoglund hasn’t held a steady job for years, partly because of his Tourette’s syndrome. When his eccentric, wealthy aunt asks him to take on the repairs of her magnificent hunting lodge, he is in no position to refuse. But then he finds that the rambling old house has been savagely vandalized: he discovers a scene of almost superhuman destruction, a violence mirrored by a series of disappearances and grisly deaths haunting the region. Paul delves into the wreckage, wondering what dark passion—and what strength—could cause such chaos. As state police investigator Mo Ford pursues the mystery through official channels, escalating events force Paul deeper into his family’s past and into the darker aspects of his own nature.

Do you know the kind of book that starts out great, builds this wonderful, delightfully creepy plot, introduces you to these amazing characters with detailed, complex, three-dimensional personalities, all of them with their own quirks and characteristics? The suspense is so palpable you’re on the edge of your seat and you just can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Until it does play out, and the big reveal is so shocking you can barely believe what you’re reading – and unfortunately, not in a good way. The big climax is weird, out of place, and seemingly comes out of nowhere. It’s also utterly ridiculous, even within the bonds of the world described in this book.

So, basically, an amazing, atmospheric, eerie read… Up until the last thirty pages which, as one reviewer on Goodreads adequately described them: “the last 30 pages ripped off my head and pooped down my neck”. That’s the most adequate description I’ve found of that horrible, out-of-place, surreal ending.

Anyway, back to hte plot. Paul Skogland, our main character, has Tourette’s syndrom and struggles to cope with his symptoms, and with keeping a job. When his wealthy aunt wants him to repair the old family estate which she has left vacant for the past six months, Paul jumps at the opportunity. But the mayhem wrecked in the manor doesn’t seem like something that could be attributed to a regular person.The force seems almost too strong for that.

Then, when a local police detective investigates missing persons reports of several teenagers who disappeared in the past few months, and the traces lead him to the house Paul is renovating, Paul realizes that to face the monster inhabiting his ancestral home, he might first have to face the monster inside himself.

Worth a read especially if you like psychological horror / neurological thrillers, but I’m giving you a fair warning – you will probably either like the ending, or absolutely hate it.

 

Author Interview Times and Places

  • How long have you been writing?

Throughout the nineties and a couple of years beyond, I wrote a diary and so have a record of what I was thinking and doing every day. I think this discipline helped develop my writing skills, but, besides a few poems and one short children’s story, I only really started writing about five years ago: again children’s stories. I wanted though to write a novel: “Times and Places” is the result!

  • What is your favorite genre to write?

I like Jonathan Coe’s style of strong observational humour tinged with plenty of pathos, even a little light gothic horror. I have tried to write similarly, though his books are more political, mine I think more spiritual… I’m not saying mine is as good!

  • Which genre have you never tried before, but would you like to try out?

For the immediate future I can’t see myself writing anything other than children’s stories and humorous, thought provoking, accessible novels. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with knowing what you like as a writer and focusing on that, at least initially. A lot of top authors stick to what they know – Stephen King and horror, John Grisham and legal dramas. I do though admire writers or any artists who successfully try new genres… perhaps one day, but I’m not ready for it yet… articles maybe?

  • Please tell us about your book.

Fergus and Sylvie are a late middle aged couple who lost their 24 year old daughter a decade previously. Fergus has grown anxious in the intervening years and they take a three week cruise to help him relax. In fact, his vivid imagination and a series of bizarre events only bring his anxieties to a head. The book allows me to observe cruise life and the eccentric characters – to love and loath – who inhabit it, and there’s lots of that observational humour and pathos, as well as exotic destinations.

In alternating chapters we flash back to important moments in Fergus and his daughter’s life: these take place in a range of “times and places”, including the Isles of Scilly, Slovenia and (my home area) the Chilterns. I also take Fergus to Lancashire on retreat to think through his feelings and his faith, but the story asks rather than answers spiritual questions and readers can make up their own minds. Overall, I hope the natural settings in my story provide a softly spiritual feel to a poignant, humourous read.

  • Which character was your favorite, and why? Which character was your least favorite, and why?

I think I would choose Fergus himself as my favourite. He is both deep thinking and deep feeling, slightly detached from the world, and a little vulnerable. I don’t have a least favorite character: the joy of a cruise ship is that, along with the novel’s main protagonists, I was able to create a whole host of colourful side characters, most of whom are very likeable, but a few less so – a trio of boorish men, cruise staff who try too hard to sell extras – but even they add to my overall story, so I regret nobody.

  • What was the hardest part about writing your book?

Two chapters of my thirty two chapter book describe Fergus’ visit to that silent retreat. While I knew what I wanted to say and so these chapters were not difficult to write, the decision to include them was quite tough. They are accessible, maintain the humour and leave readers free to think Fergus quite deluded if they so wish… but they do crank up the spirituality and I knew that this wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea and that the rest of the book would work without them. For me though, those chapters are at the heart of the story and so I bit the bullet and kept them in: some things are worth the risk!

  • What is your writing routine? Are there things you absolutely need to start writing?

I need nothing except my PC and quiet. I wrote “Times and Places” in about five months: hours and hours writing at weekends and lots of time writing in the evenings after work too. But I found that, once I started, I became immersed and time flew, though every now and then I would get stuck and several hours would pass just on one sentence. That was frustrating. Then of course came months and months of editing…

  • How long did it take you to write your book from start to finish?

From first word to publication day took 26 months.

  • Can you tell us about your editing process?

I completed my first draft and reread it on screen several times, performing what I naively thought was a fine tune, before printing it out. In fact this was just the start. My Mum was an English teacher and remains an avid reader, so I showed it to her and then polished it through a number of versions before I showed it to a handful of friends. One in particular came back with very helpful comments and – I think then seeing how serious I was – my Mum cranked up a gear in terms of her scrutiny of the text. Three or four more versions followed before I finally sent it to The Book Guild. Then the copy edit/proof reading stages began. I still made a few textual changes, but was amazed how inadequate my punctuation had been, so most edits were simply lots and lots and lots of commas, and breaking up a few longer sentences, or changing words I had used twice in quick succession. Finally I signed off the proofs. I can still see sentences I could have tweaked, perhaps should have, but eventually you have to let it go!

  • Is this book part of a series? If so, how many installments do you have planned?

No, I want this to be a one off. Though I do hope to start a second novel with a different subject in the next few months. I have some ideas…

  • Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Start writing. Some people feel they have to have a fully fledged book in their head, or at least a complex plan and outline. This puts them off. Perhaps in the past you did, but now it is easy to edit what you have written. The key is to start based on an initial idea and then see how you go: you can polish the text and fine tune (even perform major surgery on) the plot later, if necessary you can start again, but you’ll never write a book unless you start.

  • Why should everyone read your book?

There is something in it for everyone: humour, romance, pathos, spirituality, the natural world, even light gothic horror. I think, above all, it provides food for thought and I believe most people have their reflective moments. But don’t worry! As I’ve said, I was determined my book left it to readers to reach their own conclusions, you can enjoy the book whilst reaching very different ones from Fergus. I believe my book is quite unique, I can’t think of anything too like it, so I hope people who enjoy a thoughtful, poignant read will give it a try.

  • If you could meet three authors, dead or alive, which authors would you choose?

Representing older fiction I’d choose Emily Bronte or Thomas Hardy because, in Wuthering Heights and Tess, they wrote the two classics I genuinely enjoyed (I must read more!) Representing children’s literature would be Road Dahl (I so nearly did meet him once) because he had fantastic imagination and saw the world in a unique and colourful way. Then, representing modern fiction, it would be Jonathan Coe, though nervously, because I like his books a great deal … I once profoundly admired a musician and, when we fleetingly met, he or she didn’t profoundly admire me: in a flash their music was ruined. I’d hate the same to happen to “What a Carve Up!”, “House of Sleep”, “The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Simm” and many others…

  • What inspired you to write your book?

It’s a mix of four things:

I went on that silent retreat and it was eye-opening to experience what happens to the mind when it is taken out of the busy world. Things were clearer and I became aware of the mental junk that I was carrying around. Of course it is tough to hold on to such perspectives for long once you leave. Anyway, I wanted to send Fergus there to think his own issues through.

Then, I went on a cruise and, as I’ve said, it struck me as an ideal setting for a novel: trapped with people you wouldn’t usually mix with, travelling between exotic destinations on a beautiful ocean, the cruise company an open goal for satire too.

I lost my father many years ago and it still hurts, I wanted to try respectfully to explore how much more painful it would be to lose a child, even an adult one. Fergus reflects on all the tragedies there have ever been, remembering countless: “photos of innocent, cheeky little faces staring out of newspapers, taken before some wickedness befell them.” Somehow this helps him put the death of his adult daughter in context, as he reflects how “she had lived and she had lived well… nobody could ever take that away”.

Finally I love wildlife and the natural world, I wanted to share some of my favourite places, and the animals I’ve seen which inhabit them.

  • Are you working on something at the moment? If so, can you tell us more about it?

I’m really just trying to market “Times and Places” at the moment, though I am still writing short stories, the latest was “The Juggler of Poisonous Frogs” for my goddaughter’s seventh birthday! However I do have very initial ideas for a second novel, so I’m hoping there will be one…

Times and Places

Ten years after his daughter Justine’s death, an anxious Fergus embarks on a cruise with his wife. On board, he meets a myriad of characters and is entranced by some, irritated by others and disgusted by one. These turbulent feelings, combined with a sequence of bizarre events, only lead to his increased anxiety.

In a series of flashbacks, Justine enjoys an ultimately short romance, a woman concludes she killed her and an investigating police officer is drawn into her idyllic world. Fergus, haunted by poignant memories, withdraws in search of answers.

Back on the cruise, Fergus reaches breaking point, fearing he has done something terrible. By the time the ship returns, his world has changed forever.

“Times and Places” spans Atlantic islands, the Chiltern countryside, Cornish coasts and rural Slovenia, all of which provide spectacular backdrops to a humorous and moving tale of quiet spirituality.

Purchase from Amazon

Purchase from Book Guild

Purchase from WH Smith
Purchase from Waterstones
 

Author Bio

Keith was born and brought up in the Chilterns, to where he returned after studying French at university in Aberystwyth and a subsequent spell living in west London. He has a love of nature, both in his native Buckinghamshire countryside, but also in Cornwall and wherever there is a wild sea.

Keith has been lucky enough to spend time living in France, Spain, Belgium, Serbia and Croatia, as well as being a regular visitor to Germany, and languages were the only thing he was ever half good at in school. Since graduating he has worked in government departments, but between 2005 and 2008 he was seconded to the European Commission in Brussels and, thanks to a friend from Ljubljana he met there, has travelled regularly to Slovenia, getting to know that country well.

Keith’s other great love is music and he plays classical and finger picking blues guitar, though with persistently limited success. He has always enjoyed writing, including attempts at children’s fiction, and in 2016 he began work on his first full book with “Times and Places” the end result: an accessible, observational story, mixing quiet spirituality with humour, pathos and gothic horror, and setting it against a rich backdrop of the natural world.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/KeithAnthonyWS


 

Giveaway

Win 3 x Signed copies of Times and Places (Open International)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway