A Cowboy Christmas by Shanna Hatfield
Happy Holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Shanna Hatfield, author of A Cowboy Christmas!
The jangle of spurs mingles with the jingle of sleigh bells in this celebration of Christmas—cowboy style!
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with A Cowboy Christmas!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged A Cowboy Christmas, Cooking, Holiday, Non-fiction, Ranch Life, Shanna Hatfield by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
Maggie’s Starring Role by Emily Mims
Happy holidays to all? Give a big welcome to Emily Mims, author of Maggie’s Starring Role!
Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets see what Maggie’s Starring Role is all about. But first take a peek into Emily’s Christmas Traditions of Making Music. Thanks for joining us! Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post.
just about everyone’s Christmas, whether it’s Christmas carols at the church
Christmas program, a rerun of Bing Crosby singing in ‘White Christmas’, or the
incessant Muzak playing at the malls. As
a singer and musician, Christmas music is an especially important part of my Christmas. I have been making music for the holidays
since I was a teenager playing the organ in a little Baptist church, and it
continues to be an important part of my Christmas celebration every year.
about everywhere. In that small church,
at the school where I taught for many years, in the televised choir of a large
suburban congregation, in the back of a truck on a Christmas caroling hayride,
on a barge floating down the San Antonio River with the Boy Scouts, for church
senior groups, in the dining rooms and halls of nursing homes. I’ve made Christmas music in every one of
those places. My opportunities to make
Christmas music grew exponentially when I learned to play the dulcimer and
ukulele. My dulcimer group, The San Antonio Slow Jam, is still in the learning
stage, but we make plenty of Christmas music nevertheless! Hopefully in a year
or two we will be able to perform publicly and share our music with the people
of San Antonio.
Antonio’s Ukulele Ladies and Gents. This group is a performing band and has
become quite accomplished over the years. This group is special to me in that
it offers me the opportunity to take to the mic every so often, complete with
forty ukuleles, forty backup singers and a bass behind me. We play all kinds of
music, including lots of island songs, and perform for just about anyone who
wants to listen! With this group, I have
expanded my holiday repertoire beyond the usual Christmas carols and radio and
movie songs to include Hawaiian Christmas music, complete with hula dancers and
red and green Aloha shirts. And we sing
them in Hawaiian! Of course, we do other
Christmas songs also. The ukulele group plays many different places, including
parades and churches and libraries and a lot of nursing homes. I love going
into the nursing homes, especially the Alzheimer’s units. It constantly amazes
me that the residents can remember the words to a Christmas carol when they’ve
lost so much else. I also love singing with school choirs and the young ukulele
players accompanying them. Although we play for someone or something every
month, the holidays tend to be our busy season.
So far, we have four performances scheduled for December. And that’s so far. There may be more.
the ladies’ choir at my church. Every Thursday we hop on a bus and sing at a
different nursing home. We have a lot of fun with four-part ladies’ harmony and
have been known to sing Christmas songs from Africa, complete with drums.
Occasionally we must skip a party or another event to play and sing. But making music, especially Christmas
music, deeply enriches our holiday. I cannot imagine Christmas without it.
A peek between the pages of Maggie’s Starring Role –
She settled into her desk chair and Kirby sat down across from her. “So are there any questions I can answer for you?” she asked, cursing the faint flush she could feel on her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if it was from wanting to impress him on the theater’s behalf or Kirby himself.
“No. Not a one.” He leaned forward with an unreadable expression. “Don’t get your hopes up about the grant. The only reason I came today was because the Rileys insisted. I have no intention of letting those people award their grant to the Durango.” She caught a smirk starting to cross his face before he schooled it into impassivity.
The rustling coming from the other office stopped. Maggie willed herself not to look up at the gap at the top of the temporary wall. “May I ask why? Don’t we meet the parameters of the grant?” she asked, feigning confusion.
“Actually, you do. If things were different, I would be happy to see them award the grant to the theater. But with things the way they are, I intend to see that they send the grant another direction. I’m sure you understand.”
Maggie’s heart sank as she looked at him. So the grant was lost because of his antipathy toward her. He really was going to take his anger with her out on the whole theater. Damn him, she thought hotly. He was a prick. Some things never change. The grant might be gone, but he wasn’t going to get away with a stunt like this. She’d be damned if she let him walk out the door with no repercussions. He was going to explain himself to everyone at the Durango and the chips could fall where they may. She had nothing to lose. “No, I’m afraid I don’t understand. If we meet the parameters of the grant, why are you so determined that it go elsewhere?”
“Because of your association with the theater,” he said, his voice calm and his expression cold. “I absolutely refuse to work with you. You are directly responsible for my father’s death and I will not work with you, have anything to do with you, or award the grant to the theater that employs you.”
“So let me be clear. You’re mad at me, so you’re willing to take it out on everyone here at the Durango, despite the wonderful proposal, and even though we meet the parameters and need the money desperately. Do I have that right?”
“I wouldn’t have put it that way, but yes. You have that right.” He leaned forward. “Karma’s a bitch, isn’t she?”
“Oh dear. I am so disappointed.” She leaned forward so that they were barely a foot apart. “Especially since your old friend Josh Goldstein, who’s my boss and the executive director of the theater, assured me you’d be fair despite your feelings toward me. Why, he sat in that office next door, the one he’s sitting in right now eavesdropping on this entire conversation, and said you weren’t the kind to take out your feelings about me on the theater.” She looked up and raised her voice. “Did you hear all that, Josh? Guess you were wrong. He doesn’t plan to play fair.”
“Yes, I heard every damned word,” Josh yelled.
“I did, too,” Rachel shouted from her office two doors down.
“So did I,” a deep voice piped up from the lobby.
Kirby’s face morphed from a vindictive smirk to unmasked horror. “You…you knew they were listening,” he gasped. “You knew they’d hear every word.”
“They needed to.” Maggie regarded him steadily. “You’re breaking faith with the Rileys and you’re breaking faith with us. I told you yesterday we both needed to behave in a professional manner. Instead you decided to use the grant as a weapon to pay me back for something in our past that you hold against me. You’re being unfair to the Durango and you’re being unfair to the Rileys. Somebody needs to know. Hopefully someone who will inform the Rileys of your duplicity.”
Kirby opened his mouth but glanced up and closed it again. He muttered something under his breath as he stood up and yanked the door open, slamming it behind him.
Maggie leaned her elbows on the desk and put her chin in her hands. That had been sneaky, but damn it, Kirby had no right to punish the theater because he was mad at her. They deserved a fair shake, and if that meant getting Kirby in trouble for admitting he was using the grant as a weapon, so be it. She giggled as the sound of raised voices filtered into her office. Good. Josh was giving Kirby a deserved ration of shit. And if she wasn’t mistaken, the voice she’d heard in the lobby was none other than Wade Baxter. The Rileys’ grandson. She smirked even as she rubbed her aching temples.
Yes, Kirby, Karma can be a bitch.
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Maggie’s Starring Role!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Contemporary Romance, Durango St. Theatre Series, Emily Mims, Maggie's Starring Role by Tena Stetler with 4 comments.
Suzanne V. Reese Author of ExtraNormal
Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets see what ExtraNormal is all about. Thanks for joining us!
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Suzanne V. Reese will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
They told me it would be easy—just blend in, observe, and keep to myself. They didn’t tell me that failure would cost me everything.
Mira Johns is pretty much like any other teenage girl. Which is why it’s a shock when she’s selected ahead of six hundred other candidates to be the first student ever to travel from the planet Nreim to Earth. Even though she’s only there to observe, she’s given what feels like a million rules that are mostly intended to keep her away from the planet’s primitive males. But after she finds one mysterious boy too irresistible for stupid rules, she realizes they have a connection that transcends their two planets—and puts both their lives in danger. When a series of serious accidents makes it clear that someone wants to force her return, Mira decides her only hope is to uncover the truth to why she, the most mediocre of candidates, was actually chosen for this assignment—before the agency discovers her secret and sends her back home.
Read an Excerpt
The room circled around us, lights falling across our intertwined bodies. The rich musical notes surrounded us in full crescendo. The world and all the forces pulling against us fell away in that bright, singular moment.
I imagined him in his bedroom, tormented and desperate, composing and playing each of those harmonic parts separately, then blending them together. Even on my world, I would consider him brilliant. I never imagined my love for him could grow this much.
Jesse released me when the haunting strains of the music died away. I caught my breath—and wanted to ask him to start it again. But he would have to walk away to do that. Another—far lesser—song began. We moved again with our feet side-by-side, wrapped in each other’s arms, our bodies close. I’d often wondered why he was so different from other boys—so pure in his love for me. But with that kiss, I understood that he did long to be close to me. Not in the empty and greedy way of other boys from this world, but simply to express his love.
Buy Link:
About the Author:
A decade ago, author Suzanne V. Reese had a string of land-mark events—published her first novel, outlined her second novel (while daydreaming in a university science class), graduated from that university, became a grandmother, and then topped it all with a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis.
That second novel, ExtraNormal, YA speculative fiction, became her therapy during a long and difficult treatment program. It was published a few years later with the encouragement of her incredibly supportive friends and family. Despite little marketing, the book quickly became an Amazon best-seller.
Suzanne then made the difficult decision to ensure her long-term existence by focusing on her health rather than continue with the series. Happily, to celebrate her ten-year survival and end-of-treatment mark, she is releasing an updated version of the best-selling novel ExtraNormal, this time to be soon followed by the remaining books in the ExtraNormal Chronicles.
Suzanne has a degree in communications from Utah State University, as well as certifications in nutrition and holistic health. She is the founder of Story Igniters, which offers courses that help readers find their real-life superpowers. She lives with her husband in Draper, Utah, where she enjoys doting on her seven grandchildren.
Website: http://www.SuzanneVReese.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2726852.Suzanne_V_Reese
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/suzannevreese
Instagram: https://instagram.com/suzannevreese
Facebook: https://facebook.com/suzannevreese
Amazon sales page for ExtraNormal: https://amzn.to/2Qw9kNQ
Note: Because this is my ten-year cancerversary, I will be donating author proceeds during launch week to cancer research. (The Huntsman Cancer Research program, where 100% of donations go towards research. They are also the center that treated me.)
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with ExtraNormal!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged ExtraNormal, Suzanne V. Reese, YA Sci-Fi Romance by Tena Stetler with 3 comments.
Dark Tomorrow II by Jeremiah Franklin
Happy holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Jeremiah Franklin, author of Dark Tomorrow II. Cult of the Crow Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets find out a little about Jeremiah and see what Dark Tomorrow II is all about. Thanks for joining us!
Jeremiah what inspired this particular story?
I was inspired to write the Dark Tomorrow trilogy after reading the dystopian novel, The Road, written by Cormack McCarthy. By no means am I comparing myself to him as a writer, but I was drawn to McCarthy’s dark and realistic depiction of a post-apocalyptic world, and I wanted to adapt that concept for a young adult audience.
Did you tell friends and family that you were writing a book?
Of course, what better way to confirm to your closest confidants that you have finally lost your mind! To be honest, I actually did try to keep it relatively quiet in the beginning. I didn’t want to be that guy who says he’s writing a book, but never actually does. Or worse than that, I didn’t want to write a terrible book and then force my friends and family to read it. But once I had finished the full manuscript, and it wasn’t half-bad, I understood that I would need some beta-readers and I hand-picked those friends and family that I knew were already avid readers. Fortunately, they liked the story, and after uncountable re-writes, the rest is history. Or post-apocalyptic future to be more precise.
What do you want your readers to take away from your books?
More than anything, I’d like for my readers to be able to immerse themselves in the story and experience what it might really be like to live life on the brink. In the Dark Tomorrow trilogy, the characters are faced with life and death decisions every single day, and I want to give the reader the opportunity to put themselves in Sawyer’s and Sara’s shoes, and to think about the lengths they personally would, or would not go, just to see another sunrise.
You’ve got a time machine, a cloak of invisibility, and one hour. Where would you go, and what eavesdropping would you do?
I’d definitely go to some point in the not-too-distance future and see how it all turns out. Will it be a beautiful utopia? Will it be a dystopian nightmare? Or will it be something else altogether? Depending on the scenario, one hour in the future might be like spending a single moment in Heaven, or on the other hand, it could feel like living an eternity in Hell. Either way, to be a fly on a future wall would be a risk I’d be willing to take.
If you enjoy Science Fiction/Post-apocalyptic, Dark Tomorrow II – Cult of the Crow is for you.
normal for Sawyer, Sara, and the survivors of the deadly virus that has all but
annihilated the human race.
and the disappearance of the strange boy known as Mason, the teens are left
reeling, but alongside the enigmatic ex-Marine, Edward, they soon forge an
alliance with a collection of young survivors led by the sage and charismatic
Kai.
will prevail.
betrayal lurks in every corner, and when it comes to the end of the world–nothing is what it seems.
nearest set of bushes, but just as he was about to begin the countdown, there
was the faintest sound of a gun cocking, and suddenly the thick brush ahead of
him erupted in a hail of gunfire. Sawyer had once heard his father say that
sometimes in war all you can hope for is to “return fire and pray,” but with
bullets flying only inches past his body, there was no time to talk with God.
Instead, he dropped to one knee and squeezed the trigger as fast as he could,
pumping three rounds of double-zero buckshot into the brush.
low groan as the last round of buckshot tore through the bushes, but there was
no time to breathe easy. The boy looked back at the cliff behind him and grit
his teeth. There was no question that Sawyer had been born with luck on his
side, but even he knew that he could not hope to survive another volley of
gunshots at such close range. He could hear movement in the brush, and with
only one bad option left on the table, Sawyer emptied the last three rounds
from the shotgun into the bushes, swallowed hard, and leapt off the edge of the
cliff.
the Dark Tomorrow trilogy. When he is not creating thrilling post-apocalyptic
worlds, or discussing himself in the third person, the author enjoys reading,
staying active, and spending time outdoors with family and friends. He holds a
Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, a Master’s Degree in Education, and several
other certifications that no one really cares about. He lives, writes, and
plays in beautiful central Oregon, USA.
Well, what did you think? Will you be adding it to your Christmas list? Jeremiah good luck with Dark Tomorrow II- Cult of the Crow!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Dark Tomorrow II - Cult of the Crow, Jeremiah Franklin, Science Fiction/Post-apocalyptic by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
