Susan Royal

Xander’s Tangled Web
Fantasy
Available April 26

About the Book

After a late night visit to Battington’s marketplace, Princess Mena vanishes without a trace. Merchants are frantic, because King Leander has called for a curfew and postponed the Spring Festival until further notice. Certain his former constable is the man for the job, the mayor hires Xander to investigate, hoping he can solve the mystery in a hurry so things can go back to normal.

But Xander’s not so sure that’s possible, because there’s romance involved, and he knows when that happens folks who are normally very sensible seem to lose all reason. In addition to sorting out truths, half-truths and outright lies, he must deal with gypsies, love potions and an illegal moonshine operation before he gets to the bottom of things.

All books available at MuseItUp, Amazon, B&N, Goodreads



About the Author

Born in west Texas and raised in south Texas, Susan makes her home in a 100-year-old farmhouse in a small east Texas town. She shares it with a ghost who harmonizes with her son when he plays guitar. 

      She is married and the mother of six (she counts her children’s spouses as her own) and five unique grandchildren. Her family is rich with characters, both past and present. Her grandmother shared stories of life with three sisters and three brothers on a farm in Oklahoma Territory and working as a telephone operator in the early 20^th century.  She heard about growing up in San Antonio in the depression from her father, and experienced being a teenager during WWII through her mother’s eyes.When Susan isn’t writing, she works as a secretary in education and does her best to keep up with her grandchildren. Music and painting are two of her passions. She also loves to bargain shop anywhere there’s a sale and began repurposing long before it was popular. She is a firm believer in getting what you want without breaking the bank.  She paints, crafts and sews. Her office/craft/sewing room is littered with her latest projects.

     She loves to take her readers through all kinds of adventures with liberal doses of romance. So far, she’s written two books in her It’s About Time series, Not Long Ago and From Now On. They are time travel adventures with romance about two people who fall in love despite the fact they come from very different worlds. In My Own Shadow is a Fantasy adventure/romance. Xander’s Tangled Web is a fantasy. Look for her books at MuseItUp/Amazon/B&N. You can also find Odin’s Spear, one of her short stories featured in a Quests, Curses, and Vengeance anthology, Martinus Publishing, available on Amazon.

     Want to know more? Visit susanaroyal.wordpress.com or susanaroyal.moonfruit.com for a peek inside this writer’s mind and see what she’s up to. You never know what world she’s going to visit next.

In My Own Shadow (fantasy, adventure, romance) 
Not Long Ago (time travel, adventure, romance)

Not Long Ago book trailer

And pop on over to Susan's blog where she's interviewing me about my new upcoming book, Everything About You, due out March 25 from Prism Book Group.

Sara Jayne Townsend and her book Dead Cool

SARA JAYNE TOWNSEND Talks about her book DEAD COOL

 

About DEAD COOL:

They were dying to be famous. And someone was prepared to kill for it…

Actress Shara Summers has settled in London and is “between jobs” when her Canadian ex-boyfriend David sails back into her life, begging to her to fill the backing singer vacancy in the up and coming band he’s about to go on a European tour with. Short on funds and auditions Shara reluctantly agrees, but tragedy strikes at the opening night party when the band’s charismatic front man Dallas Cleary Anderson falls to his death from a hotel window. It soon becomes clear that Dallas did not fall, but was pushed.  His arrogant and confrontational manner means there are no shortage of people who wanted him out of the band permanently – but who would resort to murder?

DEAD COOL is the second novel in the series about her contemporary amateur sleuth, Canadian actress Shara Summers

DEAD COOL is available in all e-book formats from MuseItUp Publishing’s book store.

Price:  $5.50

ISBN:  978-1-77127-579-8

Nov 2014

Currently DEAD COOL is available at a discounted sale price and can be found at the following e-book vendors:

Amazon Kindle US 

Amazon Kindle UK

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Sara Jayne, what do you love about this book?

I really love writing about Shara.  Through her I can vicariously explore the acting life.  She’s also far more shamelessly nosy than me, and has no problem sneaking into places she shouldn’t and poking about.  I’m not nearly brave enough to do things like that.  In DEAD COOL Shara is hired as backing singer for an up and coming rock band, so writing this book also gave me the opportunity to explore a fantasy I’ve held since high school about being a rock star.

Introduce us to the character who gave you the most trouble.

DC Aaron Blake, who is the police officer investigating the murder.  He rather fancies Shara, and I wanted to have some chemistry between them but I was worried that it was unprofessional for a police officer to flirt with someone who was at best a witness to a murder, and at worst a suspect.

My source for researching police procedure is a retired copper who served on the London Metropolitan murder squad, and he was hugely helpful.  He also reassured me that police officers are human beings, and sometimes fancy people they shouldn’t.  He helped me shape Aaron Blake into a realistic (if flawed) character.

Can you share one or two things you learned during the process of writing and publishing this book?

When I first started writing about Shara, she had a casual, conversational voice that included quite a lot of detail that ended up being cut out of the book – detail that I thought was essential to her as a character, but turned out not to be essential to moving the plot forward.  I think about this a lot more in my writing now.  Is this scene essential to moving the plot forward in some way?  If it is not, it shouldn’t be in the book.

--Excellent point!

In some ways the publishing process is harder work than the actual writing.  You finally finish the manuscript, and submit it.  Once it’s been accepted, you think that’s the end of the story but it’s actually the beginning.  Rounds and rounds of edits follow, where you end up reading the manuscript so many times you get sick to death of your own story, and often you have to do it to tight deadlines.  And no matter how many times you and your editors go through it, you get to final galley stage and you still find mistakes that have somehow slipped through.  I never read the final published copy of my own books when I receive them.  Firstly because by the time I get to that stage I’ve read the story so much I’ve grown to hate it, and secondly because I’m afraid of what mistakes I might find, that have still managed to slip through the net and at that stage it’s too late to do anything about them.

What do you want readers to tell others when they’re done?

That it’s a good holiday read. I’m not aiming to win any literary prizes, but if I can write books that people find an enjoyable way to pass the time while they are lying on the beach, then I will be happy.  And I hope readers will tell others – reviews and word of mouth are the best forms of publicity for any author.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on the third Shara Summers novel, which places her in a remote house off the Scottish coast as part of a reality show.  The novel is an homage to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”.  I’m at an early stage of draft 1, though, so a long way to go yet.

I’m also working on a horror novel about a group of live action role players who unwittingly release an ancient evil entity during a game.  That one I’m hoping to have finished and ready to submit very soon.

About the Author:

Sara-Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror. She was born in Cheshire in 1969, but spent most of the 1980s living in Canada after her family emigrated there.  She now lives in Surrey with two cats and her guitarist husband Chris. She co-founded the T Party Writers’ Group in 1994, and remains Chair Person.

The first two books in her amateur sleuth series about Canadian actress Shara Summers, DEATH SCENE and DEAD COOL, are available as e-books from the MuseitUp book store. 

You can learn more about Sara and her writing at her website at or her blog.

From Now On, with Susan A. Royal

Remember, friends, MuseItUp is a Canadian publisher, so some Queen's English rules apply.

Introducing Susan A. Royal, a fellow MuseItUp Publishing author, to talk about her new book,
From Now On

About the Book:

     Griffin has traveled across centuries to reunite with the woman he loves, but he and Erin may not get their ‘happy ever after’. Not if Lady Isobeil has anything to do with it. She forces Griffin to leave Erin behind and travel to eerie Manx Island. When he goes missing, Erin and his friends set out to find him. Followed by his strong-willed sister, Kateryn, they ride to Swansea and secure passage with the notorious Captain Akin.

     Erin sees firsthand how the island earned its dark reputation when she battles freakish weather, encounters a race of little people known as “Prowlies”, and experiences ghosts of the long departed. She discovers “ley lines” crossing the island’s mountain peak and making time travel possible. 

     Yet these obstacles pale in comparison to the secrets Erin uncovers while determined to rescue the man she loves.

Enjoy this Mini-Excerpt:

     I am a stranger in this world, even though I’ve traveled this way before.

     Fate and not design brought me the first time. It hurled me into a distant future, with no idea how or why, taking me from an existence dependent upon modern technology to a place where people fear such things and those who use them. While searching for my way home from this harsh and sometimes violent world, my admiration for its inhabitants who valued honor and duty above all else grew into admiration and respect. I found myself drawn to one in particular, a man who saved me more than once. Only I never expected to fall in love with him.

      Torn between my feelings and a longing for home, I returned to my time with only vague memories of my experience. My life went back to normal, but part of me sensed the loss of something more precious than anything I’d regained. Until one day, I saw him again.

     This time I’ve come by choice, and it is where I’m going to stay.

     Fate willing.

A brief Interview with the author:

Susan, what do you love about your book?

I’ve read time travel ever since I was a kid, hanging out at the bookmobile that visited our shopping center every other week during the summer months. The idea of being up close and personal with another time in history…particularly medieval times…well let’s just I was hooked. I read every time travel book I could lay my hands on. It was only natural I’d want to write a book along the same lines. What I love about Not Long Ago and the sequel From Now On is the relationship angle. Erin is a modern girl, used to taking care of herself. So when she gets time travels to a medieval world and finds herself falling for a handsome knight, she tries to be sensible. Only it doesn’t work. When she goes back to her time, she can’t forget him. And he feels the same way. In Book 2, they return to his world. As with any relationship, there are obstacles to overcome along the way. When Griffin disappears, Erin fears the worst, but she is determined to find him no matter how long it takes. Go ahead and say it…I’m an incurable romantic…I love writing about two people from totally different worlds who are willing to overcome insurmountable odds to be together. ~~sigh~~

Introduce us to your favorite secondary character.

It would have to be Arvo. He’s a tall gangly young man with a disreputable shock of red hair who becomes Erin’s good friend and confidant. He’s witty, he’s charming, he’s just a little lazy and he has the appetite of a horse. He wasn’t intended to be more than an ‘extra’, but as the story progressed, I realized Erin needed a confidant who was familiar with castle goings on and knew all the gossip. And when she needed a dress for the Masquerade Ball, who better to help her but the tailor’s son? He was such a loyal friend to Erin I brought him back in the sequel.

Share two things you learned during the writing and publishing process.

Research is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

My next book is always going to be my best book because of what I learn every time during the writing process.

What are you working on now? I just signed a contract with MuseItUp for Xander’s Tangled Web, a fantasy with a mystery, due out in fall of 2015, and I’m writing a third book in my It’s About Time Series. I can’t wait to find out what will happen to Erin and Griffin in this adventure.

Lisa: ~Me, either. Thank you, Susan!

About the Author:

Born in west Texas and raised in south Texas, Susan A. Royal makes her home in a 100-year-old farmhouse in a small east Texas town that comes complete with a ghost who has been known to harmonize with her son when he plays guitar. 

     She is married and the mother of six (she counts her children’s spouses as her own) and five grandchildren who are all unique and very special. Her family is rich with characters, both past and present. Her grandmother shared stories of living on a farm in Oklahoma Territory with three sisters and three brothers and working as a telephone operator in the early 20th century.  Her father told her about growing up in San Antonio in the depression, and she experienced being a teenager during WWII through her mother’s eyes.

     When she isn’t writing, she still has a day job, working in the public schools in east Texas as a secretary. She does her best to keep up with her grandchildren. Music and painting are two of her passions. Susan is a firm believer in getting what you want without breaking the bank. She loves to bargain shop anywhere there’s a sale and began repurposing long before it was popular. She paints, crafts and sews. Her office/craft/sewing room is littered with her latest projects.

     Susan loves to take her readers through all kinds of adventures with liberal doses of romance. So far, she’s written two books in her It’s About Time series, Not Long Ago and From Now On. They are time travel adventures with romance about two people who fall in love despite the fact they come from very different worlds. In My Own Shadow is a Fantasy adventure/romance. Look for her books at MuseItUp/Amazon/B&N. You can also find Odin’s Spear, one of her short stories featured in a Quests, Curses, and Vengeance anthology, Martinus Publishing, available on Amazon.

     Want to know more? Visit susanaroyal.wordpress.com or susanaroyal.moonfruit.com for a peek inside this writer’s mind and see what she’s up to. You never know what new world she’s going to visit next.

In My Own Shadow (fantasy, adventure, romance) 

Not Long Ago (time travel, adventure, romance) 

Fun new cozy by Susan Bernhardt

The Ginseng Conspiracy

By Susan Bernhardt

Ebook 5.95

MuseItUp Publishing

January 2014

  

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

MuseItUp 

About the Book:

On her way to attend a Halloween Ball, Kay Driscoll, a newcomer to town, witnesses the murder of a local professor. When the official coroner's report rules the cause of death to be accidental and the community accepts the judgment, Kay decides to uncover the truth for herself. Through her personal investigations, Kay exposes a complex conspiracy, woven deep within the thriving local ginseng industry, that involves some of the more prominent figures and families of Sudbury Falls.

With her new friends, the free-spirited herbalist Deirdre and the untamed modern woman Elizabeth, Kay discusses new clues over tea and pastries at Sweet Marissa's Patisserie, their crime-fighting headquarters. As Kay gets closer to the heart of the conspiracy, additional murders happen in quick succession. Before long, Kay learns that the villains are gunning for her, too. Phil, her musically talented but preoccupied husband, determined to keep her safe, withholds from her the one thing she needs most: the truth.

My Review:

I was eager to read and review Bernhardt’s new cozy from my publisher, MuseItUp. The Ginseng Conspiracy is set in the fictional town in Wisconsin near where I set my own—I think I recognized a couple of characters, too. Big Smile.

Unlike the typical cozy, Bernhardt’s story unravels much like Columbo. The crime of murder appears after the stage was set, readers know who dun it, and we follow the amateur sleuth as she and her sidekicks dig up clues. We want to scream “duck” or “don’t go there!” as conspirators lurk around every corner. The bad guys have a few scenes of their own, and there’s something else going on with our sleuth’s marriage that is part sideline and part red herring. The author did leave a surprise suspect which kept me turning pages in a hurry.

Ginseng Conspiracy is a longer mystery, filled with yummy food and lots of descriptions. Mostly told in first person from Kay, the sleuth’s, point of view, the reader will occasionally wander into other character’s perspectives. Kay’s friends are a blast, and the mythical town of Sudbury Falls is a great place to visit. Fun for those who like meatier cozies. Looking forward to more of Kay and her buddies to come! Recipes? Please!

About the Author:

Susan Bernhardt’s town in northern Wisconsin was an inspiration for the quaint setting of her novel. Like Kay Driscoll in her cozy mystery, The Ginseng Conspiracy, Susan is a retired nurse who volunteers at her local free clinic. She lives with her husband, William, and has two sons, Peter and David.

An avid reader of mysteries, she is a member of Sisters in Crime, Inc. Her other published works include October 31st, Midsummer, and John and Madeline.

When not writing, Susan loves to travel, bicycle, kayak, and create culinary magic in her kitchen. She works in stained-glass, daydreams in her organic garden, stays up late reading mysteries, and eats lots of chocolate.

Eric Price: Unveiling the Wizard's Shroud Giveaway

 

Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud

By Eric Price

MuseItUp Publishing

November, 2013

About the Book:

As the only son to King Kendrick, Owen despises the idea of being king one day. Magician may be the only career he’d like less. He has dreaded the days leading up to his fifteenth birthday, when his father will certainly declare Owen heir to the throne. But at the birthday celebration, his father falls ill. The only person in the kingdom that may be able to save him is a magician–the very same magician Owen holds responsible for the death of his mother.

Owen and his companions will have to travel the continent of Wittatun in search of the cure for King Kendrick. On the journey, they will battle strange beasts and harsh climates, befriend extraordinary magicians, and meet a dragon before returning to Innes Castle–where much has happened in the days since he departed.

 

The Giveaway:

Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud comes out November 22. It’s available to pre-order now on the Muse It Up Publishing website. If you pre-order it, save your confirmation number and enter it into the rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win a T-shirt featuring the beautiful cover art by CK Volnek. I’d even scribble my name across the shirt, if you so desire.
Available in all sizes. For US mailing addresses only, sorry. Non-US readers, if you pre-order, keep your confirmation number as well. I have more giveaways planned for after the release.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

I asked Eric what he loved about this book:
What I love about Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud is the surprises. With my publisher, authors go through at least six rounds of edits. Three with the content editor to make sure the plot elements stay consistent and the narrative is written in an active voice, not passive. Two rounds with a line editor to fix grammar mistakes and to weed out overused words. And one round with a format editor to make sure it transfers from a word processor file to the eBook format without any errors. Each time I read through the story, I discovered elements I forgot I’d included, from witty comments by the characters to subtle bits of symbolism. I once read, “If you don’t surprise yourself, you won’t surprise your readers.” I hope my readers will find a lot of surprises.

 

Read an Excerpt:

 

Chapter One

The Festival

             The late afternoon sun glared in the young warrior's eyes. Squinting, he could only see his opponent’s outline. His ever tightening leg muscles cried for a reprieve with each step, yet he continued to circle, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. After a long day of sword dueling with little downtime between rounds, Owen's whole body screamed for a rest.But he wanted nothing more in the world, at this precise moment, than to win the championship bout.

His opponent must also be tired. They had each fought four previous matches, and every contestant entered in the tournament presented a worthy challenge. Edward, Shield of the King—the commander of the King's Sentry, the strongest army in all of Wittatun—received continual praise for his skill with a blade. Owen, having already defeated two Sentrymen earlier in the day, hoped to beat one more. But to overcome the King’s Shield would require more skill than besting a Sentryman of lesser rank.

The fighters continued to circle one another. Sunlight gleamed off Edward's brilliant metal chest plate and helm. Now facing the westering sun, the Shield of the King squinted. The younger fighter saw his opportunity and sprung. He feigned a slash toward the commander's shield hand. When Edward raised his shield and braced for impact, Owen redoubled his assault.

He spun and sliced his blade at his opponent's neck. The loud clang of steel on steel resonated throughout the courtyard as Edward raised his sword to parry. The vibration transmitted up Owen’s arm, but he finished his compound attack by kicking the Sentryman in the chest plate. The judge blew a whistle to signify the landing of the first blow in the best-of-three veney.

The experienced warrior wasted no time mounting his counterattack by gaining the measure and reestablishing just distance. He made several quick jabs at Owen's head and chest, which the defender parried away with ease and countered with a testing jab. Edward sidestepped, moved back in line, and raised his sword to the en garde position. The younger fighter noticed Edward’s shield drop ever so slightly. The tiny gap in defense may provide the opening needed to finish him.

Owen lunged. He recognized the move as a mistake, but his forward motion could not be stopped. The tip of Edward’s sword slid between the hinge where the chest plate met the shoulder guard and dug into muscle. Sharp pain shot through his left shoulder, and he barely heard the judge blow the whistle through the anguish. Edward had lowered his shield as an invitation for a strike. When the younger fighter took the offering, the elder's stop-thrust found the only weak point of the armor.

Owen, large for his age, still stood six inches shorter than the Shield, whose muscular forearms resembled Owen’s thighs. The chainmail armor on his forearm, form fitting on most soldiers, clung tight to Edward. His muscles rippled as he pushed the sword tip a little deeper into the meat. A stream of blood trickled down the blade and dripped to the ground.

Edward sneered. Red drops splattered the trampled grass. “I wish we fought to first-blood. I hope the king doesn't put me to death for injuring his son.”

  

About the Author:

Eric grew up in central Illinois. He now lives in northwest Iowa with his wife and two sons. He began publishing in 2008 when he started writing a quarterly column for a local newspaper. His first short story, “Ghost Bed and Ghoul Breakfast,” a spooky children’s tale about a haunted bed and breakfast, came out later the same year. He has published more than 30 nonfiction articles/columns, four short stories, and a poem. Three of his short stories have won honorable mention in the CrossTIME Annual Science Fiction contest. This is his first novel.

 



Work in Progress blog hop - The Last Detail pique!

Greetings! And welcome to another blog hop! I'm following the fabulous Teena Stewart, who is one of my co-conspirators on Brave New Century, a historical novella collection from the Prism Book Group, coming...sometime!

Teena blogged on June 6.  But our book isn't the one I'm talking up today - this one is the latest I've been blessed to sign with Prism, all on my own.

 

What is the working title of your next book? It's called The Last Detail.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Several years ago I met a good friend half way between our homes for a weekend catch-up and getaway--this happened to be at Peru-LaSalle, Illinois, and one of the parks we visited was Starved Rock State Park. It had such a neat history, as well as the gruesome story of a murder in the 1950s. A local author wrote about this murder, and for me, the idea morphed into what would happen when people die who have no family to clean up after them? The fictional business The Last Detail was born. The story takes place in this area, in a fictional community, of course, called Fox Falls, and uses Starved Rock park often.

In what genre does your book fall?

 I hope it will be contemporary fiction.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

 Ug - this is not something I think about. I'm terrible at this! I suppose a Ben Affleck-Amy Adams couple would work.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

 All Christian marriages should be perfect, right?

Who is publishing your book?

 The Prism Group. Thanks, Marcy!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

 

About six weeks.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I think a little of Cynthia Ruchti's book, They Almost Always Come Home, which is also not a genre romance, but of rekindling what was lost. Contemporary is hard to categorize, because although there's love and romance in there, the story is more about keeping it alive after, and I think that's what makes for good conversation. Probably Jodi Picoult's books.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I wanted to talk about marriage--the way men and women perceive each other while they're getting to know each other; how we think we're doing God's will when He has other plans in mind; how even after we get what we want, it's hard, hard, hard work making marriage be the blessing it's meant to be. Sometimes we're so busy doing for God or following our own path, we forget to take time out for each other.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

 

The characters aren't based on my oldest son and his wife, but it was interesting that I was writing about a missionary who never planned to marry, which was something my son's wife had thought about in her life at one point, and a young woman who was very safe in her own little community, with no desire to change anything.

Find more news and more books on my website.
~Lisa Lickel

 

Follow along on our hop by visiting the fabulous Karla Akins next!    

Meet Alan Calder, author of The Glorious Twelfth

About the Book: 

In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown speculates that the Holy Grail lies buried in the filled in crypt of Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh. This mysterious church was built by the Sinclairs in the first half of the fifteenth century, by which time the clan was well established in Caithness, where it still holds the Earldom. Caithness, then remote and inaccessible, would have provided a much better hiding place for the Grail than Rosslyn, especially after the Sinclairs began to build a series of heavily fortified castles round the Caithness coast. So did Dan Brown have the right family but the wrong hiding place? 

The Glorious Twelfth opens as archaeologist Ben Harris finds a Celtic stone and evidence of a medieval shipwreck on the Noster estate of Sir Ranald Sinclair. Careless talk by Ben at a conference in Paris sparks off a robbery at  Sir Ranald’s mausoleum, uncovering a treasure that has been hidden for centuries. The robbery follows the opening day of the grouse season, hence the title of the book. The chief villain, grail fanatic Russian Boris Zadarnov, also abducts Sir Ranald’s wayward daughter, Fran, who is already in love with Ben. American oilman Al Regan, a neighbour of Sir Ranald, leads a rescue party to Paris where Fran is freed and most of the treasure recovered, but the thieves escape with a ruby encrusted chalice.

     For a series of misdemeanours, Ben is sacked from his university job. He finds consolation in the arms of Fran and moves north to continue treasure hunting, making the discovery of his life near one of the ancient Sinclair castles. Has he found the greatest archaeological prize in Christendom, the Holy Grail? Will he be able to protect it from the malevolent attention of the Russians?     

    The genre is mystery/suspense with a streak of romance running all the way through. The action takes place mainly in Caithness with forays to Edinburgh, France, Italy, Egypt and Poland.

Alan, what do you love about this book?

The Glorious Twelfth is set in my native Caithness where I was brought up and went to school. The most northerly Scottish mainland county has a particular atmosphere. It lies beyond the Highlands, the people a mix of Viking and Gael, the land littered with the stones of its prehistory, the geography dominated by the rugged cave infested cliffs of old red sandstone, the sky vast and the sea always brooding. It is a unique place and I hope that comes over. So the thing I love most about The Glorious Twelfth is that Caithness is the main character, providing an interesting and exciting stage for the cast to strut on.   

 

Can you share something unique with readers they won’t find anyplace else about this book?

Readers might be interested in a bit more detail about the genesis of The Glorious Twelfth. Before I started writing I read The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, an intriguing book full of conspiracy theories that seem to have been at least partly the inspiration for Dan Brown’s , The Da Vinci Code. The most controversial aspect of the book is its reference to a ‘bloodline of Christ’ descending from a child that Mary Magdalene allegedly bore. Many famous European families were suggested as belonging to this line, including the Sinclairs, originally from Normandy and the Stuart dynasty. In addition, it is documented that the Sinclairs were early leaders of the Templar movement and builders of the mysterious Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh, fictional final resting place of the Holy Grail in The Da Vinci Code. However the Sinclairs also established themselves as Earls of Orkney, then Caithness in medieval times and became the dominant family, a position they still occupy today. The premise of The Glorious Twelfth is that the Sinclairs had much better hiding places for the Holy Grail in Caithness among the many castles and mausoleums they built. The story opens with an archaeologist on a summer dig in Caithness,  starting to find clues…

Tell us one new thing you learned or were surprised to learn during your research

The thing that surprised me most was how all three books that I’ve written have their roots in the same medieval pot of history. They are contemporary stories that descend from medieval kings, aristocrats and saints.  

What’s your best promotion tip?

I wish I had one but then again, it all depends what your objectives are. Why are you writing?  It quickly dawns on the ebook writer that his/her work is being flung into a vast market populated by other scribblers, most of whom are screaming for attention. Many give their work away free, using all the communication methods facilitated by social networking and the internet. It’s a market that is vastly over served, so in competitive terms it’s difficult to evolve effective robust business models. I’ve read most of the advice around. The most logical but least practical is to develop relationships with loads of people who will then want to buy your book.

     That advice reflects the reality that we are all involved in what I have coined ‘digital hand selling,’ where almost every sale requires an action on the part of the writer. In that scenario sales are proportional to promotional input. I’ve heard some say that 50% of a writer’s time should be spent on promotion. Saner counsel recommends one day a week. In a disturbing parallel with vanity publishing, many organisations will take money to promote your book, so we have vanity promotion as well. It remains to be seen whether paying someone to shout louder about your book will be cost effective. I’m not going down that road.

       In the end you need to decide why you are writing but if you really do need to make a living go someplace else! I get tremendous satisfaction from researching, writing and knowing that my work is appreciated by many. At the same time writing has allowed me to develop the artistic side of my character, long supressed in the rigour of my former scientific life and the exigencies of management roles. For me, writing is a lifestyle choice, it’s what I do when I’m not fishing or…..

The book can be downloaded to e-readers from Amazon or the publisher’s website. You'll need an Amazon UK account to purchase the books from Amazon, but that's easy to do.

Buy The Glorious Twelfth

on the publisher site

on Amazon UK

About the Author:

Alan Calder is a Scottish born writer who divides his time between Yorkshire and his native Caithness. He is married to Jennifer and has two daughters and four grandchildren. He has BSc and PhD degrees in chemistry from the University of Aberdeen.

Writing novels and poetry follows a successful career in research and marketing with ICI/Zeneca. He also held several offices in the Royal Society of Chemistry including being President of the Industrial Division and served on a number of government committees. He chaired the Chemicals Sector of the UK Foresight project in the early 1990s and was made a CBE in 1996 for services to the chemical industry.

While working with ICI the family enjoyed a secondment to Paris and travelled extensively in France, developing a particular affection for the Vaucluse area of the southern Rhone valley and its wine villages. Many family holidays have been spent in that area and countless bottles of red wine imported. This led to our interest in vineyard walks and each year a group visits a European wine area for that purpose. Last year it was Tuscany (for the second time) and this year we’re planning Sicily; we seem to have exhausted France. On the other hand, France features in all my books and my third novel is set there.

Alan is a keen fisherman. He caught his first salmon as a boy on the Wick River in Caithness, a stream which he still fishes when there is water. Otherwise he fishes stocked rainbows in Yorkshire or salmon in the Thurso River, also in Caithness.

Without great forethought it turns out that all his novels gravitate to the suspense/mystery genre and while contemporary, have their roots firmly planted in history.   His first book, The Stuart Agenda, published in 2011 describes a conspiracy to get a Stuart back on the throne of an independent Scotland.

Also by Alan Calder, The Stuart Agenda published by Willowmoon 

 

Marva Dasef, mystery writer!

Marva is offering a prize drawing for one person who comments on each blog on the tour:
http://mgddasef.blogspot.com/p/mad-release-schedule-and-prizes.html

Marva Dasef is a writer living in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and a fat white cat. Retired from thirty-five years in the software industry, she has now turned her energies to writing fiction and finds it a much more satisfying occupation. Marva has published more than forty stories in a number of on-line and print magazines, with several included in Best of anthologies. She has several already published books and a few more scheduled for 2011 and 2012 from her super duper publisher, MuseItUp.

Follow the tour!

What do I love about this book?

Its setting (eastern Oregon high desert) and its theme of the consequences of prejudice of a type that most readers might not even be aware. Drop in a nice romance, and I hope it's a book that will appeal to a wide audience.

What did I learn in the process of publishing it?

I learned that there are fabulous small publishers available for writers. MuseItUp has been a revelation and a joy to work with. From Lea Schizas, the publisher, my editors, Anne Duguid and Penny Ehrenkranz, and the cover artist, Suzannah Safi--what a class act from beginning to end!

MISSING, ASSUMED DEAD

Prejudice, murder, insanity, suicide: Every small town has its secrets.

Back Cover Copy:

When Kameron McBride receives notice she’s the last living relative of a missing man she’s never even heard of, the last thing she wants to do is head to some half-baked Oregon town to settle his affairs. But since she’s the only one available, she grudgingly agrees.

Excerpt:

Kam gasped and jumped down the embankment toward the creek, stumbling through the underbrush. She heard the pickup tires screech and glanced back. Scruffy had gotten out and headed down the slope behind her. She moved faster, gripping her hair spray. A strap broke on her sandal, and she kicked it off. Ignoring the brambles poking into her legs through her jeans, she moved as fast as she could, the terrain preventing her from flat out running.

She heard the crashing of bushes behind her and put on more steam. She knew the pickup would have reached her car by now, but she’d be coming up on the passenger door, slightly downhill from the driver’s side. She switched the hair spray to her left hand and pawed into her purse for the keys. Finding them, she dropped the bag on the ground to free her hands and kept moving.

When she reached the Chrysler, the driver had already skidded down the embankment and was standing on the driver’s side. Thin compared to the other man, but his arms were solid muscle under the tats. She rushed to the passenger side, jerked open the heavy door, dived in, slammed the door and hit the lock button on the key fob.

The driver pounded the window with his fist. The scruffy one had caught up and pulled on the passenger side door handle. Kam hit the panic button on the fob. The deep and seriously loud Chrysler horn went off with honking bursts. Both men jumped back from the car.

The driver yelled, “I’ll fetch the rifle.” He scrambled to climb up the embankment.

Kam’s heart almost stopped. Even the shatterproof windows wouldn’t stand up against a hunting rifle. She looked around the car wildly, her breath coming in sharp rasps, and then launched herself over the console and into the rear. Sweat ran from her armpits, soaking her blouse. She ran her shaking hands across the top of the seat back hunting for the latch. She hoped the Chrysler had fold down back seats.

If she could just reach the tire iron, she’d have a weapon. If this stupid car even had one that is.

She felt the latch pin, grasped it and pulled it up. It clicked. She grasped the seat back in both hands and pulled it down. On her belly, she crawled halfway into the trunk searching for the spare tire well.

by Marva Dasef

Web: http://marvadasef.com

Blog: http://mgddasef.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/MarvaDasef

Twitter Handle: @Gurina

MuseItUp Buy Link: http://tinyurl.com/Missing-Dasef

MuseItUp Author page: http://tinyurl.com/MIU-MarvaDasef

Book Trailer:

Endorsements:

This action-packed mystery is rich with colorful characters, a tight plot, and a warm romance. Recommended! ‹L.J. Sellers, author of the Detective Jackson mysteries>

A town with too many secrets makes Kam a target for a killer. Filled with wonderful characters, twists and surprises, here's a novel I couldn't put down until the end. <Lorrie Unites-Struiff, author of Gypsy Crystal>