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Welcome to my place in the blogosphere!
feel free to explore the Flight Deck and check out my books and website.
Then fasten your seatbelts, sip a glass of something sparkling and let's chat awhile!
I hope you'll stop by again for guest authors and spotlights from time to time.

Beloved Enemy joined Starquest and Children of the Mist to continue the Destiny Trilogy and I'm thrilled to announce was shortlisted for the R.N.A. RoNA Awards 2017, awarded 2nd Runner up in the RONE Awards 2017 and was the winner in the SF/Fantasy category of the 'Best Banter Contest'.

Friday 31 October 2014

Welcome to my post for the Snarkology Halloween Blog Hop and Giveaway

Preview







This post is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend the late Sharon Donovan, a romantic suspense author, who loved  Halloween and telling spooky stories. She would always have  several special posts for Halloween during the month of October and would enthral her readers with ghostly tales.  She is sorely missed by everyone who knew and loved her, and I miss her even more at this time of year!
We don't celebrate Halloween as much over here as in the US, but the kids love any excuse to dress up, of course, and more and more people are starting to have Halloween Parties. Of course there's the usual 'Trick or Treating' with the local children dressed up as ghouls and witches and I always have a stock of treats handy for them. Last year I made cupcakes with cute bat s to decorate them, but I must have made too many and my hubby and I had to finishthem off between us! (someone had to! :) )

As for spooky tales, I had an eerie experience some years ago when I was attending a writing weekend at an old mansion known as Gregynnog, in Wales.

I attended a writing workshop at the mansion. We were told there was a legend that the house was haunted by a lady whose family used to own it but who lost their money and had to leave. Apparently she returned to the house after she died because she loved it so much. I felt nothing but a warm, welcoming presence, not cold or frightening at all. I slept soundly at night and enjoyed exploring the house and extensive grounds, and writing in the large, comfortable music room. 


I took a photo of a friend standing beside a large stone hand in the garden, and he took one of me. When they were printed the one of him was fine, nice and clear and sharp. The one of me, taken seconds later, with the same camera, showed a mist in the bushes behind me and the shadowy figure of a lady in a long flowing dress. It wasn't easy to see unless you looked really hard, and it was another friend who first spotted it. The figure eventually faded over time, although it was still visible if you knew where to look.  
I would add that I’m not the only one who has had strange experiences regarding this beautiful old house and a reflection of a lady in a long, flowing dress has been seen in the river beneath a small bridge, near the entrance to Gregynnog, accompanied by a sudden strong wind where previously all had been calm.


To end with, I thought I'd share an excerpt from my very first Wild Rose Press novel 'Starquest', which I think has a really 'spooky' feel to it, although it's SF romance rather than witches or vampires! My heroine is stranded on an uninhabited planet with her companion who has been badly wounded. She keeps guard during the night, watching over him and trying to tend to his wounds, but has a feeling they are not alone. 

Then tiny, dancing pinpoints of light appear... 


EXCERPT FROM STARQUEST  

After a while I decided it was just marsh gas, but as I watched I became aware that the 'flames' were orderly. They moved in groups of threes and fours, gliding in straight lines and then circling to retrace their steps in what seemed to be a methodical fashion, as no Will o' the Wisp ever did. I began to feel I was in the presence of something malevolent...evil. Then I heard the voices. Strange, unearthly voices, which had nothing to do with flesh and blood. 

"Take the male," they hissed, "while he yet lives. Before the life-force within him dies and is of no use to us." 

"Wait. The female is stronger," came another voice. "Stay until she sleeps. Then will be our chance, and we can take them both." 

 I reached for my blaster, by now fully charged, and fired a steady beam in the direction of the 'flames.' When I laid down the gun there was nothing, only the darkness. Had the voices been in my imagination, or was it a dream? But I knew I had not slept. Trying to recall the experience, as I record this, I realise they did not speak in words at all. Yet I had understood... I've always loved the night, the beauty of the darkened, star-filled skies. Here, however, on this forsaken and perilous planet, it is menacing, with the sense of something lurking, lying in wait.
 
You can purchase Starquest  at my Wild Rose Press Author Page - where you can also read my FREE short story 'A Bargain With Death' which I think is just right for this time of year.
  
  TRICK OR TREAT                    


*Contests*

I'm offering a free download of any of my books, or a $5 Wild Rose Press Gift Certificate to someone who comments on my blog between today and 1st November I'll pick the winner with the Random Generator and announce the name on November 2nd - and don't forget the Snarkology Blog Hop Grand Prize of $100 - enter below  



You'll need to click on the link above to enter via the Rafflecopter -Sorry for some reason it's stopped showing up on this post but the link works.

The other Blogs taking part in this blog hop are in the link below. Visit them all on a virtual 'trick or treat'for the greatest chance of winning and most of them are offering their own prize as well!

Thank you for stopping by on my stage of Melissa's Halloween  Blog Hop. Continuing the 'spooky' theme, while you're here, if you have a moment, please take a look at the 'Cover Reveal' for my friend Echo Shea's latest release 'Light A Candle For The Beast', to be released on 26th November.. which is directly beneath this post.  I've had the privilege of reading an ARC of this and it's a chilling and compellingly haunting story! (If you leave a comment on that post as well, I'll give you another entry into my contest.)

'STARQUEST'    'CHILDREN OF THE MIST'  (The sequel to Starquest)   
Dancing With Fate      'Freeread': 'A BARGAIN WITH DEATH

Today is the Release Date for Spooktacular Anthology



Falling in love can be terrifying.
Eight tales of spooky romance brought to you just in time for Halloween.


Spooktacular Seductions
A Halloween Anthology
Romance
By Various Authors
Release Date: October 31, 2014

Where Angels Tread by Christy Thomas

Blurb: Loralei takes extreme measures to prove her cheating husband has forsaken their bows by seeking confirmation from a fortune-teller. The truth revealed is that she’s been unfaithful in a six hundred year old spiritual marriage.

Samael, the Angel of Death must assist a young girl’s soul in ascending to heaven. An unexpected encounter with his estranged wife distracts him and the precious soul is lost.

Working together to save the endangered soul, they find the price to reach her is higher than they both anticipate.

Do You Believe in Ghosts by Anne Higa

Blurb: Jeff Austin-LeGrange has been fleeing from the remnants of his dark and haunted childhood his entire life. The past always catches up to us, and his is no exception.

Alice Hopkins, Jeff's high school sweetheart, has tried to forget him and tried to move on. You never forget your first love.

When Jeff's mother dies and Alice's father falls ill, the two are forced to confront their mutual history and their deepest desires. One thing is sure: neither of their lives will ever be the same again. Perhaps, the past can be overcome. Perhaps, it is not too late to believe in miracles. Perhaps, more than one couple will be reunited this Fall.

Who can say? With a little magic, anything is possible.

Bewitching Gypsy by Linda Carroll-Bradd

Blurb: Fiona Mikolas is an outcast, branded by her fiery red hair and a purple birth mark—both signs of the devil. Two years earlier, she survived an influenza outbreak that claimed her peddler husband, Gregos, and her baby son, Tito. Now she lives a solitary life, traveling a circuit of southern states in America and selling healing potions. Until the night of All Hallow’s Eve, when her lonely life is changed by the arrival of two strangers in her camp.

Beaten and robbed, rancher Hagan Fletcher stumbles toward the light of a campfire in south Texas, intent on finding a way to retrieve his stolen stallion. When he awakens, he’s forgotten his name and how he came to be in the company of an exotic beauty. Fiona’s ways are a mystery but when her quick-thinking saves his life again, he looks deeper beneath the surface to who she really is.

If This Be Madness by Echo Shea

Blurb: Don’t let me go…

Those are words that break her. When the person you love most is gone, how do you let go?

And, more importantly, who will you be once you do?

Encantado by Havva Murat

Blurb: Spending Friday night in an abandoned amusement park sounded like an awesome idea to motherless, teenage track star, Remy Bordeaux—empty rides with no queues, and time alone with his best friend’s alluring sister, Rafaela, was sure to make for a memorable night.

But Friday night at Six Flags became memorable for all the wrong reasons when the park turned out to not be so abandoned after all. Rafaela goes missing after getting cozy with Remy, and everyone thinks that Remy is responsible, even his best friend.

It will take another trespassing trip to Six Flags for the truth of Rafaela’s disappearance to be revealed and for the riddle of Remy’s birth to be unraveled.

Garden of Souls by Michelle Ziegler

Blurb: Something, or someone, pulled Miranda to purchase the old carriage house. It was a great deal, most likely because of the cemetery or the unexpected resident, Thomas. The ghost she finds within the sanctuary of her new home should have scared her. Instead she finds herself falling in love with him.

Now, a few days from Halloween, Thomas continues to push her to live her life. He wants one night though; the one night of magic for the dead. Torn by her love for Thomas and her need for reality and human contact, Miranda takes a chance with Sean. Someone who’s alive. The guilt is eating away at her. Sean’s nice and he hasn’t run off yet, pushed away by her craziness. Miranda knows she can’t split herself.

Choosing her heart’s desire doesn’t seem possible, but living and loving another seems like a life riddled with pain.

Spooky Hollow Café by Lisa A. Adams


Blurb: Aggie Pierce owns a quaint little spot, the Spooky Hollow Cafe'. Tourist come from all over the nation to her confections diner for the entertainment. Real live interacting ghosts make appearances once a day, you just don't know when.

But, when a ghost's crush becomes an obsession, just how far will a hero have to go to save Aggie's life?

Ghost of a Chance by Lily Carlyle


Blurb: After years of having her college boyfriend Sean as an ex with benefits, Julie believes he is finally, irrevocably out of her life. Forever. And it breaks her heart.

Until one night he shows up at the neighborhood hangout—with a mysterious job, luxurious car, and fabulous digs. Not to mention a new determination to woo Julie.

Even as her mind says no, her heart—and other parts of her body—is saying yes, yes, yes!



Wednesday 29 October 2014

Falling: Angels Among Us by Linn Halton - spotlight and Giveaway



http://viewBook.at/FallingAngelsAmongUsSeries

I am delighted to welcome Linn B Halton to the Flightdeck today as part of her Blog Tour. I have had the pleasure of meeting Linn (albeit fairly briefly) at the Festival Of Romance, so it's even more of a privilege to feature her today. (And don't forget to enter the Rafflcopter contest at the end of this post.)
Without further ado, here is the back cover blurb for 'Falling':

Ceri thinks she sees angels … everywhere. She struggles to keep separate what feels like two very different sides to her life. As a manager in an advertising company she’s been working with the gorgeous Alex for two years. The have a friendship based upon the image she portrays whilst she’s at work and it helps to keep her sane. One mad, crazy night spent sharing their secrets and a lot of wine result in them ending up in bed together and their relationship changes. When Alex explains that the reason he doesn’t date is because someone broke his heart, how can Ceri admit that she feels a deep connection to him?

Ceri knows she’s different. What she doesn’t fully appreciate, is that her task in life is to correct a series of incidents that affect some of the people’s lives with whom she comes into contact. She’s simply putting right little errors that could ripple outwards and change the course of their destiny. When she finds herself getting pulled into things that happen around her, how can she prove that she really has made a difference? Is it all in her head?
She’s alone for a reason; she’s not meant to fall in love in her earthly life. Alex is supposed to cross paths with her and help Ceri during a phase where she begins to question the signs she’s being given. It’s meant to be a turning point for them both—but in opposite directions. They are destined to travel very different paths … but Ceri doesn’t know that and neither does Alex …



ABOUT LINN B HALTON

Linn B Halton lives in the small village of Lydbrook, Gloucestershire in the UK, but was born in Bristol. She resides there with her husband and cat with 'catitude'- Mr Tiggs.

Linn began writing in March 2009 and her debut novel was published in February 2011. In a recent interview Linn was asked about genres:

"From a very young age I knew romantic fiction was always going to be my genre. I am, and will always be, madly in love with love! Whether that's love of life, a partner, or the things I'm passionate about.

My stories are about love, life and real relationships - but romance is always the one thing that holds each story together. Often there's a light, psychic touch and I never dreamed I would write drawing upon my personal psychic experiences. But as my interest and understanding has grown in the subject, it is now such a part of my life it finds its way into my fictional tales. However, what is heartening is that most of my experiences have been uplifting and it's wonderful to know loved ones are around me always. I hope it will make readers stop and wonder 'What if?'

The result is that I get a lot of mail from readers who have had similar experiences and some are sharing theirs for the first time with me. I always feel that's something rather special and for which I'm very grateful."

Love, life and beyond... but it's ALWAYS about the romance!

Linn is published by HarperImpulse and Sapphire Star Publishing.
Linn is the editor of Loveahappyending Lifestyle emagazine.



Website:  (linnbhalton.co.uk)
Twitter:
@LinnBHalton
Facebook:
Author Linn B Halton
Bookshelf:
http://viewauthor.at/LinnBHalton




The giveaway for the tour
1st -  prize a copy of The Restaurant @ The Mill and ecopies of Falling: Angels Among Us The Complete Series and Touched by The Light.
2nd Prize - 3 winners can choose which book they want from any of Linn’s ebooks.

Please enter in the Rafflecopter below