Sebastien the Great, a magician whose fiancée, Kathryn, disappears through the magic trunk, vows revenge. If Cynthia and Gus don't find a missing page from the “Book of Spells,” Cynthia’s family could face financial and personal ruin.
Follow this time-traveling duo as they journey back to a 1914 Swiss castle where Eva, Sebastien’s grandmother, gives them clues on where to begin their search. Their journey takes them through miles of tree tunnels, an enchanted garden ruled by a cranky rock monster, and even high in the Alps. They get the surprise of their lives when they're sent 50 years into the future, have a shocking encounter with another set of best friends, and receive a fresh set of clues that could lead to Kathryn's return. But, at what price?
Make a comment and win a chance for a free download of "Christmas With Daisy," a Cynthia's Attic Christmas story!
Mary Cunningham is the author of the award-winning 'Tween fantasy/mystery series, Cynthia’s Attic. She is proud to announce book four, "The Magician's Castle," is due for release in December, 2009. Her children's mystery series was inspired by a recurring dream about a mysterious attic. After realizing that the dream took place in the home of her childhood friend, Cynthia, the dreams stopped and the writing began.
She is also co-writer of the humor-filled, women's lifestyle book, "WOOF: Women Only Over Fifty" along with published stories, "Ghost Light" and "Christmas Daisy," A Cynthia's Attic short story.
Trapped in a troubled marriage with a disabled husband, Carolyn Weedman is ripe for a change in her life. After a chance encounter with a widowed Pala Indian professor, Carolyn finds herself drawn into an unexpected love affair. Torn by conflicting feelings, she discovers a secret about her husband's past that forces her to confront her divided emotions and choose between the two men she loves.
Set against the simmering backdrop of local politics on the Pala Indian Reservation in San Diego, Coyote Heart explores the intricacies of illicit love and marriage, the strength that comes from sacrifice, and the courage to forgive the injuries of the past.
“With Coyote Heart, Paula Margulies uses lyrical, yet restrained prose to take us into a world where the usual definitions will not fit—where the personal and the political, even the human and the animal, become increasingly difficult to differentiate. This novel bravely explores the difference between a relationship that bends and one that breaks; it even suggests that a healed fracture is stronger than what was originally whole.” -Peter Rock, author of My Abandonment, The Bewildered, and The Unsettling
Disabilities and marriage make things hard for both parties involved. "Coyote Heart: A Graceful Story of Love and Redemption" tells the story of Carolyn Weedman as she copes with a disabled husband and a failing marriage. When love begins to bloom elsewhere, she is faced with harsh decisions that will change her life forever. Poignant and intriguing reading with strong romance elements, "Coyote Heart" is a solid and top pick for general fiction readers. -- Midwest Book Review
******************************************* Paula, what or who most influenced your writing? I’ve always been a huge fan of the Southern gothic – William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor are my all-time favorite writers. As a graduate student in English Literature, I studied Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Bellow, Doctorow, Didion, Heller, and Pynchon. Other authors whose stories have haunted me, stunned me, or made me weep: Sherman Alexie, Ha Jin, Barbara Kingsolver, Louise Erdrich, Jane Smiley, Jane Hamilton, Anna Quindlen, and Elizabeth Berg.
What is the one thing you want readers to know about your book(s) and/or writing? I wrote this novel, in part, because I’ve always been fascinated by what makes a marriage work. My sense is that many marriages survive not because the two individuals involved are meant for each other, but because the losses and hardships that they’ve endured forge a bond that is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to sever. I also believe that oftentimes one has to leave a marriage – sometimes through adultery or separation – in order to find it again. Carolyn Weedman has married young and given up her career while in her twenties. She loses a child, suffers through her husband’s affair with a friend’s wife, and then has to live with his disability after an auto accident. When Coyote Heart begins, she’s ripe for a detour in her life and an incident where she accidentally hits a dog and meets Roy Washburn presents her with that option. Although she doesn’t seek the affair, when the opportunity arises, she lets it happen and, ultimately (ironically), saves her marriage.
What is your next project and when can we expect to read it? I am working on an historical novel called Favorite Daughter, which is about Pocahontas, who tells the story in first person, in her own point of view. I recently read Sena Jeter Naslund’s novel, Abundance, which tells the story of Marie Antoinette in her own voice and was fascinated by the way it dispelled so many myths about her character, while showing us who she really was as a person. I’m trying to do the same thing in Favorite Daughter, by telling the story from Pocahontas’s perspective and letting her show us the true nature of her relationship with John Smith and how she came to play such a significant role in American history.
A heretic priest launches an expedition into the unexplored regions of the frontier forest world of Evergreen, in search of the fabled City of God. A young man seeks his mother's killer amidst a rough and tumble camp of off-world lumberjacks. A woman is torn between love for her husband and lust for her stepson. A guilt-wracked man finds himself recruited by a colonial rebellion despite his desire to withdraw into narcotic dreams. An exobiologist studies primate-like creatures she believes have the capability to evolve into the first extraterrestrial sentient species. All the while the vegetal consciousness that is Evergreen contemplates the human colony.
As their personal conflicts unfold, and secrets are revealed, the expedition discovers the ruins of an ancient village, and evidence that a Neanderthal-like intelligence once existed on this world. The mystery of what happened to that species reveals the truth about Evergreen.
*************************************** Bruce, what or who most influenced your writing? Robert Heinlein, Mark Twain, Robert Howard, Rod Serling, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jim Morrison were my main influences as a youngster. What is the one thing you want readers to know about your book(s) and/or writing? I'm always trying to do something different--something unexpected. In Evergreen I tackled a theme not often seen in science fiction. What is your next project and when can we expect to read it? Dancing with the Velvet Lizard is a collection of all my short stories. It should be out in mid 2010.
Nights in New Orleans can be as dangerous as they are steamy, especially for a smart-mouthed, competitive Assistant District Attorney like Ryan Murphy. If the criminals she prosecutes aren't trouble enough, she has an overprotective police captain for a daddy and four cop brothers to contend with, as well as a possible romance with a hot detective-- or two. And then there's the small problem of a psychotic serial killer, who may or may not be trying to help her on her way to the top.
"Holli Castillo has the pulse on law enforcement beyond the headlines in pre-Katrina New Orleans. Her background as a public defender lends her debut novel authenticity and a strong voice to prosecutor Ryan Murphy. Part police procedural, part legal drama, Castillo is a welcome addition to both genres."- Sunny Frazier, author of WHERE ANGELS FEAR and others in the Christy Bristol Mystery Series.
************************************ Who or what most influenced your writing? My background as a prosecutor and public defender, and I also had a family and teachers who encouraged me to write.
What is the one thing you want readers to know about your book(s) and/or writing? I do my best writing in the wee hours of the morning, when most people have gone to bed.
What is your next project and when can we expect to read it? I am working on the as of yet untitled follow up to Gumbo Justice. Hopefully, it will be out in the next year.
IRRETRIEVABLY BROKEN is the haunting, funny, and heart-breaking account of German ex-patriots Nora, Ruth, and Bettina Adler. The plot takes us across the U.S., to the bush country of Canada, and to a cold case murder scene in Germany as this multi-cultural family deals with diversity and racism. The novel is populated with unforgettable characters in a sometimes shocking and always unflinchingly honest exploration of the past. “Irretrievably Broken” was chosen as one of the top 20 novels by the online magazine, “Cold Coffee.”
AUTHOR IRMA FRITZ was born in Ukraine of German ancestry. By the time she immigrated to the U.S., she had already lived in five countries: Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Germany. Ms. Fritz developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a child, growing up in post-WWII Germany, she wrote poetry and short stories, and immersed herself in reading the classics. Upon moving to the U. S., she earned a B.A. in English from Cal State L.A. After graduation, she spent some years working as press agent at various Hollywood PR companies. After moving to Washington State, she worked in banking administration and human resources.
Ms. Fritz continued to hone her writing skills at the University of Washington as well as other writers’ workshops. “Irretrievably Broken” is her debut novel. The work was ultimately inspired by a newspaper clipping from her hometown in Germany. A neighboring property had been torn down and a mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath, was unearthed. Experts speculated that a synagogue would most likely be situated beneath the foundations of the house she had lived in as a child.
Ms. Fritz says, “I read the clipping and promptly forgot about it. Or so I thought! But this discovery must have been burned into my subconscious. After I finished the novel, I rediscovered the clipping and realized how these facts had informed my writing. There, at the heart of a story of adventure and travel, of love and loss, was a Holocaust story, come to light after years of concealment, very much like the mikvah that had been unearthed so many years later under our former neighbor's house in a small German town where no one in post-WWII Germany ever spoke about such things.”
“You must read this novel to truly understand the impact of what this amazing author has successfully written . . . This is a book that reminds us that forgiveness does not come easily and without a price. It is truly about a family that finds understanding and each other as result of their shared lives and experiences . . . I give this book FIVE GOLDEN STARS” Fran Lewis: Reviewer *******************************************
WHAT OR WHO MOST INFLUENCED MY WRITING: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Styron, Shakespeare; the Russian novelists Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky & Pasternak; Graham Greene, John Irving, Michael Chabon, Michael Ondaatje,Cormac McCarthy; Doris Lessing, Toni Morrison, Dorothy Allison, Donna Tartt, Ann Patchet, Annie Proulx, and on & on.
ONE THING I WANT READERS TO KNOW ABOUT MY BOOK: Such incredible pain and joy to write! The characters “talked” to me for a long time after I finished the novel.
NEXT PROJECT and WHEN: A book of short stories--with death as its common theme--I hope to publish before yearend. Next I plan to develop one of the short stories, “The Cat,” into a novel.
A SENSIBLE MATCH:How do you thwart well-meaning, but relentless, matchmaking parents without getting caught?
Abby's perfect solution was to try too hard to chase down and please her equally reluctant counterpart, the new vicar of Midland. Lord Edwin Chappell was certainly startled by her performance but too smart to be taken in by Abby's act. Just as she was showing him that she was anything but the perfect vicar's wife, he was trying to prove that her idea of a vicar was quite as far fetched.
After a humorous battle of wits and wills between the young couple, tragic events lead the matchmaking parents to stand against the match just when Abby and Edwin are falling in love. Now, the couple must decide to obey the time-honored dictates of their respective families or follow the path they believe God has now chosen for them.
Kay James of The Romance Readers at Heartwebsite has this to say..."A SENSIBLE MATCH by Teryl Cartwright is one of those delightful books that brings a smile to the reader’s face from the very first page. Then, it kept me entertained so thoroughly that I was saddened to realize the adventure was nearing an end. Although the story feels a bit “rambling” in spots, the story is overall wonderfully written, engaging and through-and-through humorous. Not merely an account of one couple’s awkward courtship, it is a commentary on relationships. Those between men and women, families and their opinions on marriage and the opposite sex.
"A SENSIBLE MATCH is a sensible choice for summertime reading. It is entertaining and lively, romantic and funny. I loved watching the relationship between Abby and Edwin evolve. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say it was great fun to watch them change so drastically. They are not the same characters at the end of this novel that they were in the opening pages, and it was entertaining to watch the transformation."
“Well?” Constance tapped her toe impatiently, awaiting Abby’s response.
“I am sure I must see him soon enough. I need not appear eager for I am not.” Abby’s heart raced; she wished she could just go home.
What must everyone be thinking? Were they watching her, too?
Constance moved to put her arm around Abby’s shoulder. “Truly I sympathize with you, sister, though I don’t understand.”
“You would not wish to marry against your will,” Abby explained. She really didn’t want to meet this man and resented her parents for insisting upon it.
“But if you don’t marry, I may have to wait!” Constance whined. “It doesn’t seem fair to do that to me. Now, does it?”
“Fair…what is fair?” Abby kept her voice low. “Should I marry to please you, Mama, Papa, his family, him…all but myself?” She ended up sputtering rebelliously.
“Isn’t it a Christian duty to forget the self? Besides, from what I can see of him, he looks a man of fine mettle.” Constance smiled provocatively. She kept stealing glances across the room to see the newcomers more clearly.
“Fine mettle.” Abby looked over her shoulder. She saw the top of his head with some difficulty for many people had moved to greet him.
“Look how he enters a room and makes it his own. Oh, how I hate how everyone crowds around him. How well pleased he must be with all the attention.”
She watched him move and talk. His smile was charming and his looks handsome… not at all what she had expected. Surprisingly, he did not look sickly; he looked very fit and well dressed for a country assembly.
He looked fine, but Abby told herself that Christian character remained more important above all. She would not be fooled by looks; she knew what he thought of her.
“His is the gift of a silver tongue and a smile that speaks as well,” Constance observed. She almost looked envious of her staid older sister and continued lightly tapping her fan against her arm as if preoccupied.
“Mettle indeed…fine metal. I’d rather he have a heart of gold than quicksilver wit or…or iron will.” Abby was not impressed by him or his winning ways.
“Perhaps he has lead feet as well. That would indeed be tragic if you must dance with him,” Constance teased. “Fine metal, Abby, just for you.”
Abby became envious of the ease with which he graced the dance. This man looked as if he had the gift of social graces. He seemed so eloquent that surely he could have his choice of bride. So why was he not already engaged? What was wrong with him?
Thoughts from the author:
* What or who most influenced your writing? While Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park influenced my novel, A Sensible Match, my writing has most been influenced overall by Georgette Heyer and Louis L’amour.
* What is the one thing you want readers to know about your book(s) and/or writing? I would like readers to know that it’s possible to have faith and a sense of humor; I try to include both within a great story.
* What is your next project and when can we expect to read it? Courting Constance, sequel to A Sensible Match, will be published next year. It’s about “how to win a guy in 10 days” with hilarious results.
Martha A. Cheves has written a definitive cookbook for the ages. I started reading her book today - and could not put it down, except for running to the store for some much needed ingredients. The steak and potatoes recipe literally had my mouth watering. Recipes I had not tasted in years are reborn in Stir, Laugh, Repeat. I smiled when I saw the Banana Puddin' recipe. To have such a wonderful cook guide in these financially stressed times is a much needed; stress relief resource for all families.
From Martha's Meaty Mashed Potatoes - to her Breakfast Pinwheels, this is by far one of the most exceptional cook guides that I have ever read. Young cooks just starting out can be guided to great meals by Martha's easy to read directions. SLR is similar to the red and white tablecloth cookbooks Betty Crocker use to sell; that we all spotted on our grandmother's kitchen table. Martha's book has old flavor and contemporary style suitable for meat lovers and vegetarians. I commend this book to all. Thanks Martha! --Carol Denise Mitchell, Author of "Rovella Starr"
In the 1870s Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region, mine owners and their employees, particularly the Irish immigrants, are in conflict over working conditions.
Private police forces commissioned by the state but paid by the coal companies are sworn to protect property of the mine owners. The miners know their real purpose is to spy upon targeted agitators and intimidate and break up strikers.
The Mollie Maguires, a secret society some see as working to improve the lot of the Irish and which others damn as a terrorist organization, are viewed as an increasing threat.
Benjamin Franklin Yeager is a coal company police officer. He does his best to follow orders while trying to be fair to the workers whose lot he sees as little different from his own. Despite his efforts at fairness, Yeager’s job makes him the enemy of the Irish.
And that’s the crux of his troubles.
For Ben is in love with an Irish girl.
Corruption’s Child (third in the Sticks Hetrick mystery series), ISBN: 978-1-60313-219-0
Retired police chief Daniel ‘Sticks’ Hetrick, still serving as unofficial consultant to his less experienced successor, has another murder to deal with in rural Swatara Creek, Pennsylvania. It soon develops the death of a local waitress is not the only trouble in the township. An elderly man has been seriously injured in the latest of a string of burglaries from the Amish, the burglaries may have a connection to unscrupulous antique dealers, there are items missing from the police department evidence room and rumors are circulating of drug dealing. What—if anything—does all this have in common?
Could it be the strange Amish girl who may, or may not be, Flora Vastine’s new friend?
"Cynthia had an attic. Not just an ordinary attic. Cynthia's attic was magic.
Cynthia and I came into the world just three months apart. We grew up on the same quiet, sycamore-lined street, our friendship as close as our houses. Fifty years earlier, our grandmothers were best friends. However, we didn't realize the extent of their friendship until after our experience in Cynthia's attic. This is the story of one of our great adventures...the way I remember it."
Every Reader Picture book! Wendel Wordsworth: No Words for Wendel
Wendel Wordsworth loves books. When he discovers their mysterious disappearance from all the bookshelves in town, he sets out to get to the bottom -- or top -- of the cause.
Single-handedly he solves the mystery and helps the “thief” accept responsibility for his selfish actions. In doing so, Wendel finds forgiveness in his heart and a new friend.
A plan is exposed, centuries in the making and so sinister not even the legend himself could have predicted the depth of its impact on the world. In his lifetime Stefano Terenzio had a merciless ambition for absolute power. Two generations later the shock wave he ignited was still being felt. Now, as the world inches closer to 2012 sides are chosen, families divide and an epic battle begins that will determine whether mankind continues existing in a world of lies or shatters the chains that have held us prisoner since his-story was written.
Shocking yet hopeful, Synarchyslowly unravels the tightly laced reality we have created for ourselves. Blending the metaphysical with conspiracy, fact with fiction, debut author DCS has opened up a world that will force you to rethink everything you believe about your own. The knowledge within provokes the question: do you really want to know? Website Blog Facebook
*** Kindred Spirits: A troubled marriage, a "perfect" murder, a victim whose spirit won't rest, the genocide of the Tolowa people, and two dangerous trips for Deputy Tempe Crabtree as she searches for answers.
"... and now Kindred Spirits are books not to be missed. The mystery as well as the way Hutch and Tempe work out their differences makes for interesting reading." Patricia Reid, Best Sellers World
***No Sanctuary: Two churches, two ministers, two wives, one murder. Officer Stacey Wilbur must make three major decisions--one may cost her life.
"What grabbed me most about this book and makes me want to go back and read the other Rocky Bluff tales is the fabulous cast of characters that Meredith has developed for the reader to get to know. As a writer she has a way of putting the reader in the character's shoes so that they feel like they are part of the very intriguing storyline that plays out."-- The Library at the End of the Universe
Amazon - The Gold Standard School teacher Judy Winters sets out to solve the mystery surrounding her only living relative’s murder on the cross-state farm where Aunt Louise grew up. Judy will inherit the farm—if she agrees to stay there...
Healing Grace, an adult fiction/intrigue, a haunting tale of love and sacrifice, coming in May fromZumaya Books
This first installment of a six-book series introduces characters so real you will swear you have met them somewhere before, perhaps in your family or your very own Bay Harbour.
