LELA MARKHAM'S LATEST RELEASE!

Life As We Knew It

BY Lela Markham

Chaos changes everything!

Shane Delaney, a burned-out mercenary with a troubled past, returns home to small-town Kansas to heal his scars and quiet his demons, not planning to stay long enough for the townsfolk to reject who he has become.

He never expected the town to need his deadlier skills.

When a terrorist attack on distant cities abruptly transforms life as they knew it, the people of Emmaus must forget their own disaster plan to survive.

What would you do if the world as you know it ended today?

The people of Emmaus will find out.

 

My review:

Life As We Knew It is a very unusual read. I enjoy dystopian books a lot, and Lela Markham’s take on the apocalypse did not disappoint. The book is written in chapters that are short and switching from one character to another, which is never boring and which gives us a full picture of what is going on. The author shows the characters’ feelings, emotions, doubts well, which makes them true-to-life and easy to relate to. I especially enjoyed reading chapters from Shane Denaley’s point of view.

The life of a small town of Emmaus transforms abruptly when terrible news comes from large cities. That – together with great characterization – was my most favorite aspect of the book. I enjoyed the way the author shows as the world collapses – the attack, then the state of not knowing what is going on, what is going to happen next. It’s well done and realistic. I’d recommend it to lovers of dystopian novels.

LIFE AS WE KNEW IT is book 1 in Transformation Project series and I look forward to reading the next book.

KINDLE BOOK ON AMAZON US

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lela Markham is the pen name of an Alaskan novelists who was raised in a home built of books. Alaska is a grand adventure like none other with a culture that embraces summer adventure and winter artistic pursuits.

Lela has been a journalist, worked in the mental health field, and currently works for the State of Alaska, but her avocation has always been storyteller.

Her first published book The Willow Branch begins an exploration of the world of Daermad where a fractured kingdom leaves two races vulnerable to destruction by a third and opens the opportunity to mend old wounds. Lela drew inspiration from Celtic mythology, Alaskan raven legends and the Bible to craft a tale of war, faith and reconciliation. And, don't forget ... Celtic goddesses, sentient animals and dragons.

When not writing stories, Lela reads political philosophy, economics, history, mysteries, fantasies, science fiction and the backs of cereal boxes and enjoys speculative tales on TV. For variety, she quilts, tackles home improvement projects, hikes the Alaskan wilderness well-armed against the wildlife, and holds blackbelts in cold weather living and mosquito annihilation. Oh, and aurora viewing ... it's all about the aurora watching.

Lela shares her life with her adventuresome husband, two fearless offspring and a sentient husky who keeps a yellow Lab for a pet.

You can stalk her at:

aurorawatcherak@wordpress.com

thewillowbranch@wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/lelamarkham7

Or reach out old-school at lelamarkham@gmail.com

Great introduction into a new series!

Tell Me My Name

by Mary Fan

Tell Me My Name is an introduction into Mary Fan’s new fantasy series, Fated Stars, with the first book, Windborn, due in 2015.

A girl wakes up in an icy cell without knowing who she is and why she is there. A group of magicians visit her, accompanied by an apprentice who is the only one who seems to care about how the girl feels.

Whenever she tries to remember anything, searing pain shoots through her, but she keeps trying nevertheless as she is sure remembering some facts about her past may help her get out of the cell.  
 

Tell Me My Name was a short but an enjoyable read, with a highly inventive ending. I’ve read all of Mary Fan’s books and this one was as great as the others. I look forward to reading more books by this talented author.

BOOK LINK ON AMAZON US

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now, she tells them through books—a habit she began as soon as she could pick up a pencil.

Mary lives in New Jersey and has a B.A. from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and blogging about everything having to do with books.

 

   

The Unholy by Paul DeBlassie III

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Thiller, Horror

Page Count: 200

 

Synopsis:

A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, "The Unholy" is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. Native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision.

 

Purchase Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble

   

About the Author

   

PAUL DeBLASSIE III, PhD, is a psychologist and writer living in his native New Mexico. A member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association, and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, he has for over thirty years treated survivors of the dark side of religion.

   

Author Links

Website | Twitter | Facebook

   

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Balancing life and writing

It’s a matter of listening to the energy coming from self, family, and friends so that nothing tips more one way than the other and the creative juices stay flowing rather than being depleted by excessive writing and are therefore constantly in a state of being replenished. I had a music teacher who once told me to practice or play up to the point that I feel bored, that the energy for it has been spent, and then to stop for the day. That’s what I do with writing. I stay with it, hit the page running each day, and go for as long and with as much intensity as I have for the scene that I’m writing. Then, I stop. And, if I don’t stop I’ll have nightmare that night that I’m being seduced and used by the muse and that such a thing could lead to utter ruination. There are horror stories about this. Writers in the stories feel the tug to write, the muse senses that someone is taking the bait and then the writer is hooked and reeled in. So, if I let myself be hooked and reeled in then I lose my balance. There is something to being hooked and reeled of course, but the true and balanced thing of it happens when it comes from a hook and a reeling that is my own and not one that causes me to be possessed by something other than my own common sense. After all, what matters is the living of life, and living a good one to the best of one’s ability, writing only a part of that.

   

The Purple Morrow (Rise of the Papilion: Book I)

by Dyane Forde

The Purple Morrow is an exciting, well-written fantasy tale set in a unique world where the Rovers from the North tear through the Southernlands where the main characters of the book live.

Jeru, a clan hunter, suffers after the loss of his wife and tends to stay away from his clan, but the threat hanging over his clan and the clans close by doesn’t let him stay uninvolved when the people dear to him get hurt. What I immediately noted to myself is that the author did a great job creating three-dimensional characters that are easy to relate to. It doesn’t only refer to Jeru, but to Nyssa and Kelen as well.  

Dyane Forde is a gifted storyteller, paying a lot of attention to detail that makes her narrative believable and easy to visualize. I really enjoyed being immersed in this book, and I’d love to read the continuation of the story.

DON’T MISS THE PURPLE MORROW SEQUEL!

Wolf'sBane (Rise of the Papilion: Book II)

The Rovers have invaded the Southernlands, sending its inhabitants fleeing for respite. Waylaid in a defunct desert town, and reeling from revelations about his past, a powerful, emerging evil lures Kelen to seek vengeance. Though he resists, Kelen soon learns that the Shadow Man will not relent until a terrible, ancient claim is fulfilled.
As Marathana quails under the burgeoning darkness, Jeru’s clan looks to him to lead. Jeru, however, knows his path lies elsewhere. Leaving everything behind, he braves the Badlands, a hellish desertland where only the bravest dare tread, to awaken the latent spirit of the Papilion within him. Jeru learns much in that place of desolation, including one truth which could turn destiny on its head. Now more than ever, Kelen, the Wolf of the North, threatens everything he holds dear. Jeru must choose: save the people he loves, or sacrifice them to save Marathana.