Good Morning Peeps!

Today I'm delighted to feature my good friend Carmen DeSousa and her new novel, CREATUS. Without further ado, let's go straight into a synopsis about her book.

In every myth there is a modicum of truth…
Creatus
The reason we believe in Fairy Tales—and Monsters.

As the sun’s rays peeked above the horizon, lighting the abyss below her, she inhaled a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped. She didn’t scream; she didn’t look down. As much as she hated her life, she hoped it wouldn’t end this way. She’d really like to see him one more time.

Her life didn’t flash before her eyes as she’d always heard. Just an image of her mother covered in blood and her Dark Angel telling her he was sorry.

Creatus by best-selling author Carmen DeSousa is a new romantic-suspense novel with a supernatural edge that answers the myths and fairy tales you’ve heard about preternatural sentient beings.

Prepare yourself to believe.

Download Creatus:

Amazon.com

Amazon UK

In order to spread the news, we are also giving away a $50 gift card! In order to qualify, just share this post’s URL in the Raffle Copter. Any social website you choose. The more places you share, the more entries you earn.
Contest ends midnight, Monday September 2, 2013. The drawing, which includes all participating websites, will be held Tuesday, September 3, 2013. The winner will be posted the same day.

Raffle Copter $50 Giveaway

Today is the last day! We hope you’ve had fun. We awesome Indies certainly have. Today we have a whole lot of FREE ebooks for you as well as an opportunity to enter the drawing to win a free Kindle Paperwhite ereader. They’re a great reader.  The raffle closes at the end of the month, so make sure you get your name in the hat today!

If you haven’t visited the 99c sale yet, (click on the 99c motive on the right-hand side of this blog) you’d better go and have a browse today! Remember that each book you buy helps support the new wave of quality independent fiction. If you want good books, you need to choose good books – and we have plenty of them on the Awesome Indie site!


AMAZON.COM    AMAZON.CO.UK

The Awesome Indies Grand Opening Party; 26 top reads at just 99 cents each, plus 5 days of partying!  

You’re invited to the Awesome Indies Grand Opening Party—a sale of 26 top reads at just 99 cents each, plus 5 days of fun. See the new website, meet the authors, join them for games, giveaways and giggles and be in the draw to win the latest generation Kindle.

The Awesome Indies have found a way to take the risk out of buying indie. If it’s Awesome Indies Approved (AIA), a qualified publishing industry professional has determined that it’s as good as anything produced by the mainstream. Readers need no longer wonder if that book is really worth downloading. If a book is listed on the Awesome Indies, then it’s worth your time.

Click on this link, to visit the Awesome Indies to browse the huge 99c sale and learn what you have to do to be in the draw for a Kindle Paperwhite

PS My own book, The Assassins' Village is one of the 99c special offers! Get your copy now!

AMAZON.COM                                  AMAZON.CO.UK

I'm proud to say my other Awesome Indie Approved Books are:

Morning Peeps!

Greeting from a very hot and sunny Cyprus!

I recently read an article where Stephen King talks about writing and more specifically, that all important first line. He said there are all sorts of theories and ideas about what constitutes a good opening line. But it’s a tricky thing for him because he just writes and worries about fine-tuning later. It may take him a month or two to write the line he's happy to start his new book with.

But there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite my readers to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this!

I’ve read some terrific books and some lousy ones. I’ve picked out some of what I consider are the best opening lines. Some books are classics and some contemporary. Have a look and let me know your favourites.

For a bit of fun, I’ve added the first lines of my own novels at the end of the post…some I really like, some maybe not so good…perhaps I’ll change some! I've also included two of my novels which are due to be published later this year, Devil's Brae (psychological thriller) and A Seasonal Affair (contemporary romance).

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. George Orwell, 1984

The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed. Stephen King, The Gunslinger

Mother died today. Albert Camus, The Stranger

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859).

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1877).

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley. Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

The Primroses were over. Richard Adams, Watership Down

Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French. PG Wodehouse. The Luck of the Bodkins (1935)

It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me. Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers (1980)

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York. Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar (1963)

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992)

Billy gathered his treasures together and laid them at the end of his ramshackle bunk in hut nineteen. There wasn’t a lot to account for three years’ incarceration. Faith Mortimer, The Seeds of Time (2012)

Richard glanced at his watch. It was still early. There was plenty of time to do what he wanted that morning. He took a sip of his strong coffee and finished the last of his fried egg, ensuring no trace of the yellow yolk remained on the plate. He smiled; he took after his father. Faith Mortimer, Harvest (2012)

He awoke confused and disorientated, barely able to breathe, his throat obstructed. He heard a voice; soft and persistent, close to his ear. Faith Mortimer, The Assassins’ Village (2011)

Opening the kitchen door, Hermione spotted a vixen standing near the refuse bin. She clapped her hands, and it shot through the hedge at the bottom of the garden. Faith Mortimer, Children of the Plantation (2011)

Playing this game was a major enjoyment. It had been played many times before, and this time, it was proving even more of a thrill. The watcher spotted her immediately. Faith Mortimer, The Surgeon’s Blade (2012)

For some reason, Diana didn’t want to go any nearer the stage, which was surprising since she had once loved it. Instead, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She remembered. Faith Mortimer, Camera Action…Murder! (2012)

Lucille Boudin stood transfixed in front of the Cheval mirror. Holding her arms away from her tall slim body, she turned very slowly, studying her reflection as she did so. The dress was exquisite. Faith Mortimer, A Very French Affair, (2013)

He had been living there for almost as long as she. After the trial and her disgraceful release, he made sure she would never be out of his sight for long. He counted himself lucky: he had time on his side. Faith Mortimer, Childhunt. (2013)

Once upon a time, in the seventeenth Century, it is said that a girl known locally as the Fairy Girl walked in this Glen. Faith Mortimer, Devil’s Brae. (To be published Aug/Sep 2013)

It was a filthy day and everything was going wrong. Faith Mortimer, A Seasonal Affair (To be published, late 2013)

But remember - you can't create a novel based on first lines.  A book won't stand or fall on the very first line of prose -- the story has got to be there, and that's the real work. Yet a really good first line can do so much to establish that crucial sense of voice -- it's the first thing that acquaints you, that makes you eager, that starts to enlist you for the long haul. So there's incredible power in it, when you say, come in here. You want to know about this. And someone begins to listen.

Thanks for dropping and happy reading!

Faithx

For today 5th August and tomorrow only, KINDLE BOOKS AND TIPS IS FEATURING, The Surgeon's Blade is 99c/77p!

If you enjoy psychological thrillers with a medical story then you might enjoy this!

Simply click on the book cover for Amazon.com or here for Amazon.co.uk
Happy reading!

Nursing sister, Libby Hunter wakes up in hospital with amnesia after a traumatic sailing accident. The stranger she finds sitting by her bedside claims to be her fiancé. As she cannot remember ever being engaged, she finds excuses to put him off until she is completely sure of her true feelings.

Returning home, Libby finds herself in great danger when her house is broken into. Who is the intruder and what does he want? Is this connected in any way to a series of attacks on nurses in London and Southampton? Will Libby be the latest targeted victim?

Distressed Libby turns to helicopter pilot, Robert for help and understanding, but is he as respectable and kind as he appears to be? Is her so-called fiancé, Nigel trustworthy?

The night time intrusion into Libby’s house sets in motion a downwards spiral of cataclysmic and terrifying events, culminating in our favourite sleuth, Diana Rivers stepping in to help solve the case in this chilling mystery.

Morning Peeps!

With the hot, hot, weather we’re having, I’m finding it hard keeping up my energy levels and getting everything done on time and I know some of you feel the same. But it’s been some time since I gave you an update on my writing and publishing for some time – so here goes…
Summer has been crazy! I’m busy with writing and I don’t have a holiday coming up until late September! Roll on late September!

1. DEVIL’S BRAE ~ A Dark Minds Novel (NEW SERIES PLANNED!) Coming soon!

For those of you who love my darker psychological novels, (eg Childhunt, The Surgeon’s Blade and Camera Action…Murder), I have embarked on another SERIES. This time it goes under the title of DARK MINDS novels.

The first in the series is already written and lodged with my editor. I’m hoping she’ll finish the edits in time for an August launch. The new book, Devil’s Brae is set in Scotland. The main protagonist visits a remote village in Scotland, in hope of recovering from the death of a young child and her sister. When she gets the feeling she is being watched and odd, creepy things start happening she realises she is not alone. Why does she feel so threatened and who is behind it? Coming August/September.

2. A SEASONAL AFFAIR ~All of us love a good romance and I’m delighted the way my novel, A Very French Affair has taken the UK market by storm! Thank you readers!

Because I’ve received masses of mail from fans (yes fans and I love you all!), asking for another romance, I’m now well into writing my next. This is set in England, just before Christmas and is entitled A Seasonal Affair. Catherine finds herself out of a job, and when the roof in her flat collapses…out of a home too -  just weeks before Christmas. With a five year old in tow, she is in desperate circumstances. Can Jack, help? Will Catherine unbend and give in to his overtures of friendship, help and possibly love?

I’m writing like a mad woman! (yes I know) – and hope to release this in late Autumn in time for Christmas.

3.THE DIANA RIVERS SERIES.

Most of you are familiar with my Diana Rivers Series – mystery, suspense, psychological thrillers. So far there are five in the series: The Assassins’ Village, Children of the Plantation, The Surgeon’s Blade, Camera Action…Murder! And Childhunt.

I’m planning to add a sixth to the series, set in Portugal and will get started on this in the Autumn - Watch this space!

PLANNED PROMOTIONS:

With seemingly zillions of books competing with mine, I have to promote! But that’s good news for you as readers, because often the promotion offers my books at discounted prices. So coming up in August:

4th August. The Diana Rivers Series is being promoted on Bassett Books. The Assassins’ Village and The Surgeon’s Blade will be discounted. 99c/77p

5th August. The Surgeons’ Blade is featured on Kindle Books and Tips, and discounted to 99c/77p

21st – 25th August. Awesome Indies plan a massive launch of their best books and I am so proud to have four books on their website! The Assassins’ Village, The Surgeon’s Blade, A Very French affair and The Seeds of Time. (To be an Awesome Indie writer you have to be reviewed by a special reviewer.) There are exciting prizes to be won, discounts, games and much more!

Later in the year I’ll have more to tell you…in the meantime this is all for now!! Take care and talk to you soon. Thank you for dropping by.

Faithx