And then THIS happened. :)

So...some of you may have heard my big news over on Facebook, but I know lots of you might not have.

I've signed two books with InkSpell Publishing.

One Good Catch, the second book in the Maguire's Corner series, will be out Spring 2015 and MC will be re-released after that with a new look, a new shine, and even a new name!

Lots of great stuff will be coming up in the next few months like teasers and book cover reveals followed by release days and blog tours!

I'm so thankful that you guys were always there for me. It made me keep going even when I didn't see a reason to continue.

I've got to go work on a few things and then get started on book 3 in the series.

That's exciting too!

Happy Monday!

#atozchallenge #roadtrip - Stormy keeps the rubber on the road.

 

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind

(Running on Empty - Jackson Browne)

Welcome to leg six of the Post A-to-Z Road Trip!

Stormy the Weather Gnome and I are going to try to hit at least 20 new blogs a week from the Challenge list and tell you about a few of them in each of my posts.

When you go visit these awesome blogs, please make sure you tell them that you're visiting on the Post A to Z Road Trip!



Jeremy Hawkins - [Being Retro]

One of my favorite blogs any month of the year but this past April was especially wonderful!

26 letters devoted to my favorite Marvel movies, shows, characters and actors! I LOVE IT! Thank you, Jeremy! It's a magical place!


In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on


Nicki Elson - Nicki Elson's Not So Deep Thoughts

Nicki's theme was a constant stream of awesomeness. 90s Pop Culture Favorites! Books, movies and music to name just a few! And, of course, X for The X-Files!


Mina Burrows

Mina didn't pull any punches with her A-Z: Classic Monsters theme! Dragons, Kong, Orcs and The Thing are all highlighted in her April posts!


Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels

Running on - running into the sun
But I'm running behind


Lexa Cain

Lexa scared the crap out of me with her April theme. Hauntings: haunted places around the world! No place is safe!

Really, I don't believe in ghosts.
Well, I didn't.


Spacer Guy - Star Trek - Sci Fi Blog

This one may seem self explanatory, but its not. These 26 Star Trek posts are funny and interesting behind the scenes bits and other pieces of insightful information about all the Star Trek shows.

Thanks for visiting with us today!
Are you finding any great blogs on your trip?

One day...I'll be going places.

One day...I will be at the yearly RWA conference. (Romance Writers of America)

One day...I will be at SDCC! (San Diego Comic-Con)

I say this because both of these seem to be going on right at this moment and a LOT of people I admire and follow on social media are at both places, talking about all the cool things they are doing, and I'm SOOOOOO jealous.

Okay, honestly, more about SDCC than anything else.

I want to get my GEEK on!

I wouldn't mind seeing some of my favorite movie and TV stars hanging out at SDCC!

I'm not one for dressing up any longer, but I would enjoy seeing others dress in funny costumes.

I would like to go to some of the panels.

Walk through the convention center looking at all the neat things to buy.

That sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Well, it does to me.

Better than schmoozing with muckity-mucks from the writing world.

What about you?

Ever been to a writer's conference or a comic book convention?

--

Happy 75th birthday, Batman!

Today is the day! Effigy is here!

It's Effigy Release Day!

EFFIGY (Epic Fantasy), Book One in the Coileáin Chronicles
by M.J. Fifield

Release date: July 22, 2014

Now available in paperback at Amazon, Amazon UK, and CreateSpace (E-book editions to follow soon!)

The survival of a once-mighty kingdom rests in the hands of its young queen, Haleine Coileáin, as it slowly succumbs to an ancient evil fueled by her husband’s cruelty.

A sadistic man with a talent for torture and a taste for murder, he is determined to burn the land and all souls within. Haleine is determined to save her kingdom and, after a chance encounter, joins forces with the leader of the people’s rebellion. She gives him her support, soon followed by her heart.

Loving him is inadvertent but becomes as natural and necessary as breathing. She lies and steals on his behalf, doing anything she can to further their cause. She compromises beliefs held all her life, for what life will exist if evil prevails?

Her journey leads to a deceiving world of magic, monsters, and gods she never believed existed outside of myth. The deeper she goes, the more her soul is stripped away, but she continues on, desperate to see her quest complete. If she can bring her husband to ruin and save her people, any sacrifice is worth the price—even if it means her life.

Add it to your Goodreads List!

About the author:

Armed with a deep and lasting love of chocolate, purple pens, and medieval weaponry, M.J. Fifield is nothing if not a uniquely supplied insomniac. When she isn't writing, she's on the hunt for oversized baked goods or shiny new daggers. M.J. lives with a variety of furry creatures—mostly pets—in New Hampshire's Mount Washington Valley. Effigy is her first novel. Visit her online at mjfifield.com, find her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Late Friday post .. cause I don't own a watch.

So, where did this week go?

I have no idea.

I'm cheating by using a post that I was supposed to use somewhere else but never did so I get to use it here. 

I think.

***

Five things that make up the perfect hero and the perfect heroine?

Well, that’s a completely subjective list!

Actually, in my opinion, many important traits will overlap in people.

Heroes and Heroines … will be beautiful.
To each other. 

They may never be seen as beautiful by others, but will see each other as beautiful inside and out.


Heroes and Heroines … should be funny. Period.

Humor will get people through just about any situation.


Heroes and Heroines … must be flawed. 
Fact.

Who wants to read about perfect people?


Heroes and Heroines … are huge pains in the asses. 
Truth.

They will find and bring out the very best and the very worst in each other.


Heroes and Heroines … will have love. 
Always.

People say you can’t have love without trust, loyalty and respect. 

I disagree. 

Love overlooks a lot of things. 

Love is always there. 

Everything else is earned.

Cover Reveal!!! -- Crystal Collier -- Soulless

I love cover reveal day!

So shiny and new and purty!

Check it out!

Have you met the Soulless and Passionate? In the world of 1770 where supernatural beings mix with humanity, Alexia is playing a deadly game.

 

 

SOULLESS, Book 2 in the Maiden of Time trilogy

 

Alexia manipulated time to save the man of her dreams, and lost her best friend to red-eyed wraiths. Still grieving, she struggles to reconcile her loss with what was gained: her impending marriage. But when her wedding is destroyed by the Soulless—who then steal the only protection her people have—she's forced to unleash her true power.

 

And risk losing everything.

 

What people are saying about this series: 

"With a completely unique plot that keeps you guessing and interested, it brings you close to the characters, sympathizing with them and understanding their trials and tribulations." –SC, Amazon reviewer
"It's clean, classy and supernaturally packed with suspense, longing, intrigue and magic." –Jill Jennings, TX
"SWOON." –Sherlyn, Mermaid with a Book Reviewer
 

 
 

Crystal Collier is a young adult author who pens dark fantasy, historical, and romance hybrids. She can be found practicing her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or madly typing about fantastic and impossible creatures. She has lived from coast to coast and now calls Florida home with her creative husband, three littles, and “friend" (a.k.a. the zombie locked in her closet). Secretly, she dreams of world domination and a bottomless supply of cheese. You can find her on her blog and Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.
 

 

COMING October 13, 2014

 

 

PREORDER your print copy

or 

Sign up for Crystal Collier's newsletter to receive release news and freebies.

#atozchallenge #roadtrip - Stormy sails the Road Trip seas!

 

My love is in league with the freeway
Its passion will ride, as the cities fly by
And the tail-lights dissolve, in the coming of night
And the questions in thousands take flight

(Big Log - Robert Plant)

Welcome to leg five of the Post A-to-Z Road Trip!

Stormy the Weather Gnome and I are going to try to hit at least 20 new blogs a week from the Challenge list and tell you about a few of them in each of my posts.

When you go visit these awesome blogs, please make sure you tell them that you're visiting on the Post A to Z Road Trip!

Damyanti Biswas - Amlokiblogs

Co-host extraordinaire Damyanti's April theme? Quotes from Authors and Bookish People about Writing.

So many inspirational quotes and brilliant advice from great people that we all admire. Complete win!

And it's you once again
Leading me on - leading me down the road
Driving beyond - driving me down the road 

Smurfin' The Web Movie Reviews & Other Stuff 

Smurfin' The Web chose some of their favourite movies of all time and gave a movie review for every letter of the alphabet, like...Hot Fuzz, Platoon, and The Usual Suspects!

Julie Flanders

How much fun is this? Julie shows us around Martha's Vineyard with her 26 letters for April with some great pictures and cool facts!

Sensing too well when the journey is done
There is no turning back - no
There is no turning back - on the run 

Carrie-Anne - Onomastics Outside the Box

Her theme was invented names which were so popular in the early decades of the Soviet Union. Some of these names are really epic and her blog is full of all kinds of great names, not just Russian. Great for the writer's out there!

Katie - The Cyborg Mom

How to Keep Busy While Recovering was one of my favorite themes. Katie has some shitty bones (Bad ankle, bad!) and she has spent her fair share of time immobile. She lists 26 great ways to keep from going INSANE while healing and she's got a great sense of humor while she does it. 

Thanks for visiting with us today!
Are you finding any great blogs on your trip?

Susanne Matthews - Echoes of the Past.

When my [insert explicative here] publisher went out of business, I wasn't the only one that was left in the cold.

I've told the other authors that I would share their new successes on my blog.

I'm happy to introduce...Susanne Matthews.

Born Mohawk, raised white, forensic pathologist, Michelle Thomas is trapped between two worlds—this one and the spirit world where the ghosts of those who’ve drowned speak to her. Haunted by crippling nightmares of her own drowning death and erotic dreams of a phantom lover, she strives to make sense of her life. When two suspicious deaths occur at the Lake of the Mountain Resort, she’s sent to investigate. She’ll face the greatest challenge of her career when her past and her present collide. One of these men is her future, but which one—the rich and powerful Mayor Ron Davies, or Tony Steele, the hydrology professor who may be responsible for his students’ deaths? Charged by the spirits of her Mohawk ancestors to atone for her previous sins by protecting Lake of the Gods, can Michelle solve the murders, save the sacred waters, and fulfill her destiny? 

Release Date July 11, 2014

Purchase Echoes of the Past from SCP.

Check my Website for other purchase options.

EXCERPT:

Naked, she lies on her back inside the green, leafy grotto, which meshes seamlessly into the landscape. It’s late morning, and after last night’s storm, everything smells clean and fresh. She stares up at the man she loves, but darkness and his long, honey-brown hair shadow his face. Her body hums in anticipation of his touch. Her nipples harden. His large, calloused hands caress her, and where they touch, her flesh burns with desire.

He runs the fingers of one hand through her unbraided hair. His lips capture hers in a searing kiss, branding her his. She reaches up to him. She opens her mouth, and a deep moan escapes her as his lips meet hers.

The scene changes. He runs along the edge of the forest across the lake. Run, my love, she screams silently as all around her the women urge their men to hurry, pointing at him, screaming instructions. He stops, and once she knows he’s seen her, she turns away. They’ll catch him, and she can’t bear to watch him be killed. She pulls her marriage blanket tightly around her shoulders. Everyone thinks she’s made it for another. Sobbing, she hurries away from the beach…

Michelle Thomas awoke in tears as she had so many nights since arriving in Thunder Bay. Bathed in sweat, she shivered with need and a bone-deep cold invaded her body. The nightmares, usually terrifying, realistic visions of her watery death, exhausted her. Recently the dreams which had plagued her most of her life had changed, and these new ones in which she was both participant and witness, frustrated and grieved her. She preferred those old night terrors to these out of body erotic fantasies with a man whose face she never saw, but loved with every ounce of her being. Tonight, the thought of his capture and death made the pain of loss worse than ever. How could she go on like this?

Her wild weeping slowed to sobbing. She got out of bed and padded into the motel room’s washroom. She turned on the light and gasped at the mirror’s reflection. The face of a woman who closely resembled her—the Mohawk woman in braids she’d been seeing off and on for weeks now—glared accusingly at her.

“What do you want from me?” She yelled at the face in the mirror, anguish loud in her tear-filled voice. “You’re dead. He’s dead. I don’t have any answers for you. Go away. Leave me in peace.”

 

About the author:

Susanne Matthews was born and raised in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.  She’s always been an avid reader of all types of books, but always with a penchant for happily ever after romances. In her imagination, she travelled to foreign lands, past and present, and soared into the future. Today, gets to spend her time writing, so she can share her adventures with her readers. She loves the ins and outs of romance, and the complex journey it takes to get from the first word to the last period of a novel. As she writes, her characters take on a life of their own, and she shares their fears and agonies on the road to self-discovery and love.

Follow Susanne on her:  Website    Blog   

  

Facebook page     Twitter @jandsmatt

Amazon author page    and    Goodreads author page