Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Blog Tour: S.H.A.Y. by Christina Leigh Pritchard @teeny120 #NA #scifi #suspense #giveaway


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S.H.A.Y. (Almost #1)
Genre: NA Scifi/Suspense
Release Date: August 16th 2016
Limitless Publishing

Summary from Goodreads:


Experiment 318: Gone Rogue

Shay is scientific experiment #318. Science may have created her, but she refuses to allow it to blind her to the difference between right and wrong…

Synthetic Hominid Assumed Youth (S.H.A.Y.) is eighteen years old, which means she has completed Phase One: Developmental. Shay no longer requires the assistance of her Optional Human Parent, Darla, who has guided her in the process of discovering her morality. Shay loves her easy, charming life aboard the marine research facility and doesn’t want it to change.

Phase Two: Experimental. All S.H.A.Y. ages 18-20 will experience loss…
Darla shouldn’t have to die because of an experiment. The thought of losing the only parent she’s ever known is too much. Determined to make sure the scientists at the facility don’t get their way, Shay entraps Darla in a transport device to escape across the Miami Border. There, on the mainland, law enforcement will keep her human parent safe.

Escape Mission: Failed…

Shay crashes into one of the Lone Keys off the coast of Florida, abandoned to all humanity, except for the stranger who drags her ashore. Shay must get Darla to safety or she will die of radiation poisoning trapped inside the Freeze Portal, but Shay can’t do it alone.

The boy who found her, an Ersatz Reproduction Intelligence Clone (E.R.I.C.), is her only hope. He has adaptation skills she needs to complete her mission. Eric was created by the same scientists who want to kill Darla, though. She tries to keep their interaction strictly business, but it’s hard to hate him. He’s flirty, charming and not to mention devastatingly handsome.

Shay must put her trust in Eric’s hands if she wants to save Darla from her fate. It may be worth her heart, but will it be worth her life?


Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BAM
Excerpt
S.H.A.Y. argues with the E.R.I.C.

“Well then, I’m not going to get in the water.” I bent over, snatching my clothes. He helped me, handing me my shirt. I snatched it from him. “I’ll just wait up here for you to get back.”
He laughed, poking me in the stomach. “Look, creampuff, I’m not going in without you.”
“Oh yes you will, or I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Talk to yourself some more?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, stumbling as I tugged my pants on.
“You’re the one who needs my help, remember?”
“You make me sick.” My shirt slipped down over my head and I struggled with the buttons.
He smiled. “Take your clothes off.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
Amie groaned. She stood beside me, rolling her eyes. “You’re just creating more and more sexual tension with the E.R.I.C. Soon, you’ll forget all about your Darla and I’ll have no human mother for S.H.A.Y. 319.”
“I won’t!” I unzipped my pants again. “I’ll do whatever it takes to save them both.”
Eric backed away. “Whoa, there, I was just teasing you.”
“I’m not talking to you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Right, I forgot, you have others here with you.”
“I’m not doing this for you, you’re the enemy. I’m trying to save my, my—”
“You’re trying to save your ‘what’ exactly?”
“It doesn’t concern you. Just follow me into the water. That way, we can get started.”
“Are you hitting on me?” His eyes widened. “I enjoy a little banter and all, but—”

I shoved him. “Like I’d ever flirt with you.”

About the Author
Christina Leigh Pritchard was born and raised in South Florida. Her first stories were written at the age of nine in spiral notebooks and in the various diaries she kept.

Since she's upgraded to a computer, she's completed over fifty books, including her ALMOST Series, signed with Limitless Publishing.

Christina Leigh Pritchard is still going strong with many more to come! Her genre's include science fiction, dark fantasy, young adult, drama, suspense, historical romance, multicultural, comedy, poetry and many more.

Author Links:


GIVEAWAY: 

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Tuesday, 8 March 2016

Tuesday Teaser - Dreamwalkers by SM Schmitz #paranormal #suspense

Dreamwalkers: a paranormal psychological suspense
S.M. Schmitz
Release date: February 18, 2016

My father used to tell me our pasts shaped our presents and our presents shaped our futures. As a child, the only thing I heard was “presents” and was unbelievably disappointed when there were no presents in my immediate future. By the time I reached adolescence, I had the same opinion most teenagers held of their parents: my old man was just crazy. Because the older I got, the more insistent he became that we could never really get rid of our pasts, that the deeds of our fathers and grandfathers and their fathers before them lived on forever, and we would have to live with the choices they made as well as our own so he would warn me to choose wisely.
But like I said: I was convinced my dad was nuts. One day, when I was fifteen years old, I came home from school to a house with two cop cars and an ambulance in the driveway, and one of those cops stopped me on my own porch and wouldn’t let me go inside. And it was that stranger, this cop whose name I can’t remember even though he told me his name, that sat me down on our front porch swing and said, “Gavyn, I’m so sorry. Your father ended his life today. We can’t let you go inside right now. I’m going to take you to your grandmother’s house, ok?” 
I can’t remember if I told him that was ok or not. 
I’ve spent almost fifteen years cycling through periods of blaming my father for abandoning me, feeling sorry for him because he really must have been crazy, hating him and loving him, feeling guilty and blaming myself for his death, and always… always wanting him back. 
But honestly? I never understood my father and what he seemed to be warning me about until my thirtieth birthday. And then everything changed.

Blurb:

After losing his father to suicide, Gavyn Cooper becomes convinced that his dad’s odd ramblings were nothing more than the product of mental illness. But on his thirtieth birthday, Gavyn begins having vivid dreams that transport him into the world of Caleb Ellis, a young man who lived on a sugar plantation in 1835, and he is forced to question not only his own experiences but his father’s as well. Now, Gavyn will have to make a choice between following in his father’s footsteps or writing his own future.

Dreamwalkers is available for Kindle on Amazon. Print edition is forthcoming and will be available for purchase on Amazon or directly from the author on her website.


About the Author:

S.M. Schmitz has an M.A. in modern European history and is a retired world history instructor. Her novels are infused with the same humorous sarcasm that she employed frequently in the classroom. As a native of Louisiana, she sets many of her scenes here, and like Dietrich in her Resurrected trilogy, she is also convinced Louisiana has been cursed with mosquitoes much like Biblical Egypt with its locusts.

Her prior novels include the Resurrected trilogy, which are science-fiction romances, The Immortals series, which are heavily influenced by Middle Eastern mythology and world history, and The Golden Eagle, a dystopian romantic suspense. 

To learn more, please visit www.smschmitz.com.


To connect with the author on social media, you can follow her on Facebook at Author S. M. Schmitz or on Twitter.


If you’d like to get a free e-copy of Resurrected just for signing up for her mailing list, you can claim it here.

Friday, 20 February 2015

Jane Doe: The Day Before by @LianaBrooks #scifi #thriller #suspense


Blurb:


A body is found in the Alabama wilderness. The question is:
Is it a human corpse … or is it just a piece of discarded property?

Agent Samantha Rose has been exiled to a backwater assignment for the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation, a death knell for her career. But then Sam catches a break—a murder—that could give her the boost she needs to get her life back on track. There's a snag, though: the body is a clone, and technically that means it's not a homicide. And yet, something about the body raises questions, not only for her, but for coroner Linsey Mackenzie.

The more they dig, the more they realize nothing about this case is what it seems … and for Sam, nothing about Mac is what it seems, either.

This case might be the way out for her, but that way could be in a bodybag.

A thrilling new mystery from Liana Brooks, The Day Before will have you looking over your shoulder and questioning what it means to be human.



Excerpt:

Friday May 17th, 2069

Alabama District 3       

Commonwealth of North America



With an asthmatic wheeze the engine died. It figured. Stuck in a man’s craw, it did. This truck had been his daddy’s and his pappy’s, and before the Commonwealth government forced him to replace the diesel engine with the newfangled water doohickey, he was certain he’d pass the truck onto his son.
He’d been playing under the hood of trucks since he was six and now he was stranded. Embarrassing, that’s what it was. He climbed out of the cab to check the engine out of habit. The ice blue block of modern fuel efficiency stared back. Three hundred bucks it’d cost him, straight from his pocket.
Oh, there was a government subsidy, all right. A priority list. Major Population Centers, they said. Unite the countries of the Commonwealth on a timeline, they said. And what did all that mean?
It meant the damn Yankees got upgraded cities and free cars before the ink was dry on the Constitution and what about the little man? Nobody thought about the working class. No one cared about a man covered in oil and grease anymore.
He thumbed his cellphone on. No reception. Figured.
So much for the era of new prosperity. He’d hoof it. There was a little town about five miles down the road where he could call Ricky to bring a tow truck. It would have been cheaper to pay the diesel fines than get all this fixed.
Off schedule. Over budget. Son of a –
He stared at the distant trees. Well, it wasn’t going to get any cooler.
He grabbed his wallet and keys from the cab of his truck. The tree line looked like a good spot to answer a call from nature, then he’d see if there weren’t a shortcut through to town. A meadowlark sang. Not a bad day for a hike. Would’ve been better if it weren’t so dammed hot, but at least the humidity was low. He wouldn’t like to walk in a summer monsoon, not at his age with arthritis playing up.
Under a sprawling oak he unzipped his pants. As an afterthought, he glanced down to make sure he wouldn’t stir up a hill of fire ants.
A hand lay next to his boots.
He blinked, zipped his pants slowly, and turned around. "Hello?"
Cicadas chirped in answer.
"Are you drunk?" The quiet field that looked so peaceful only moments before was now eerily sinister. He nudged the hand with his foot. It was swollen and pale and crusted with blood, just like a prop out of a horror movie.
Maybe it was a good idea to run to the next town.


LINKS:











Liana Brooks





Coming April 28th, 2015



Available for Pre-Order





Author Bio:


Liana Brooks once read the book GOOD OMENS by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and noted that both their biographies invited readers to send money (or banana daiquiris). That seems to have worked well for them. Liana prefers strawberry daiquiris (virgin!) and will never say no to large amounts of cash in unmarked bills. 
Her books are sweet and humorous with just enough edge to keep you reading past your bedtime. 


Liana was born in San Diego after bouncing around the country she's settled (temporarily) in the great wilderness of Alaska. She can be found on Twitter (@LianaBrooks), on FaceBook, and on the web at www.lianabrooks.com

Monday, 26 December 2011

Romance Contest

This is a contest being run by my publisher - Lyrical Press Inc. It's for Romance and Erotica, and there's no entrance fee and a substantial $200 advance on offer. Best of luck!


The First Annual Lyrical Press How Lyrical is Your Romance? Contest opens on Monday, January 16th. This contest is open to both published and unpublished authors.
Entries must be complete works, ranging in word count between 15,000-100,000 words, any heat level, and fit into one of the following subgenre categories:
  • Contemporary romance
  • Historical romance
  • Paranormal or urban fantasy romance
  • Romantic steampunk
  • Romantic Suspense
Prizes:
1st Place: $200 advance and digital publishing contract (advance payable as $100 upon finalized contract and $100 upon publication).
2nd Place: $100 advance and digital publishing contract (advance payable as $50 upon finalized contract and $50 upon publication).
3rd Place: Top-scoring contestant in each genre category will receive an acquiring editor’s critique of synopsis and first 50 pages of manuscript.
Guidelines:
  • File type: .rtf, .doc, or .docx only
  • 12pt black font (Times New Roman, Cambria, Courier or Georgia preferred)
  • Line spacing: 1.5
  • Margins: 1" all
  • Page-breaks between chapters
Please include a title page listing the following information:
  • Legal name
  • Pen name
  • Email address
  • Contact phone
  • Working title (include series name and details if applicable)
  • Word count
  • Genre/category
Entries will be accepted from January 16, 2012 through February 5, 2012, and must be emailed to contest@lyricalpress.com. Entries sent to an email other than the aforementioned will be ignored. Please include book title and contest in subject line thusly: Booktitle – How Lyrical Is Your Romance?. Attach full manuscript, and 2-5 page synopsis in .rtf, .doc, or .docx format (Booktitle_MS and Booktitle_SYN as file names--your book title replaces “Booktitle”). After February 5, the contest will close, but we’ll still be accepting submissions as always at our submissions@lyricalpress.com address.
No entry fee required. Judges reserve the right to Decline to Judge any entry if it does not fit our lines, level of writing is not acceptable, or submission guidelines are not followed.
Entries will be judged on the following criteria: Hook, Pacing/Plot, Characterization, Dialogue, Mechanics, and Author Voice.
Winners will be announced on March 12, 2012 via our blog http://lyricalpress.blogspot.com/ and direct emails to winners.