Incoming Books: November 30, 2012

Crown of Vengeance ~ by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, bestselling authors individually and together, return to the world  of their New York Times and USA Today bestselling Obsidian and Enduring Flame Trilogies with Crown of Vengeance.

Here, readers will learn the truth about the Elven Queen Vielissiar Faricarnon, who was the first to face the Endarkened in battle and the first to bond with a dragon. She worked some of the greatest magics her world has ever known, and paid the greatest Price.

Crown of Vengeance is an exciting fantasy adventure that will appeal to fans of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. No previous knowledge of Lackey and Mallory's collaborations is necessary to enjoy this fast-paced, action-packed novel, but returning readers will be excited to discover this amazing story.

Tor Books; November 2012; Hardcover; 608 pages

Bard’s Oath ~ by Joanne Bertin

A stand alone, and long awaited conclusion to this series.

In The Last Dragonlord and Dragon and Phoenix Joanne Bertin created a world unlike our own, where Dragonlords soar in the skies above the many realms of the land.

The Dragonlords’ magic is unique, giving them the ability to change from dragon to human form; to communicate silently among themselves; and other abilities not known to mortals.

For many millennia, the Dragonlords have been a blessing to the world, with their great magic and awesome power. And though they live far longer than the humans who they resemble when not in their draconic state, these fabled changelings are still loyal to their human friends. Now in Bard's Oath, their magic is not the only power abroad in the world. And not all the magic is as benign as theirs.

Leet, a master bard of great ability and vaulting ambition, has his own magic, but of a much darker nature. Years ago, death claimed the woman he loved, setting him on a course to avenge her death, no matter the consequences. Now, mad with hatred and consumed by his thirst for revenge, Leet has set in motion a nefarious plot that ensnares the friend of a Dragonlord, using his bardic skills . . . and dark powers only he can summon, to accomplish his bitter task.

Raven, a young horse-breeder friend of the Dragonloard Linden Rathan, is ensnared by Leet and under the bard’s spell, is one of the bard’s unwitting catspaws. When accused of a heinous crime, Raven turns to Linden, and while Dragonlords normally do not meddle in human affairs, Linden comes to Raven’s aid, loath to abandon him in his time of desperate need.

But Raven, and others victimized by Leet, are at the mercy of human justice. Can even a Dragonlord save them from a dire fate before it is too late?

Tor Books; November 2012; Hardcover; 432 pages

River Road (Sentinels of New Orleans #2)  ~ by Suzanne Johnson

Hurricane Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New species from the Beyond moved into Louisiana after the hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the swamp, DJ learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the threat of a were-gator.

Wizards are dying, and something—or someone—from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of the mighty Mississippi, threatening the humans who live and work along the river. DJ and Alex must figure out what unearthly source is contaminating the water and who—or what—is killing the wizards. Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some other critter altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two.

It’s anything but smooth sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New Orleans series continues.

Tor Books; November 2012; Hardcover; 336 pages

King of the Dead (Jeremiah Hunt Chronicles #2) ~ by Joseph Nassise

Joseph Nassise shook up the urban fantasy genre with Eyes to See, a novel New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry called “heartbreaking, deeply insightful, powerful and genuinely thrilling.” In a devil’s deal, Jeremiah Hunt sacrificed his human sight in exchange for the power to see the hidden world of ghosts and all of the darker spirits that prowl the streets. Hunt uncovered a world of murder and magic that took his daughter from him and nearly cost him his life, but that was only the beginning....

Now Hunt is on the run from the FBI, who have pegged him as a mass-murdering dark sorcerer. His flight from the law is diverted to New Orleans when his companion, a potent witch, has a horrific vision of the city under magical siege. When they arrive, they realize that the situation is more dire than they could have imagined: the world of the living faces a terrifying attack by forces from beyond the grave. King of the Dead, the second book in this groundbreaking series, promises more of Nassise’s electrifying writing that will enthrall readers looking for a supercharged, supernatural thrill.

Tor Books; November 2012; Hardcover; 352 pages

A Legacy of Stars ~ by Danielle Ackley McPhail

Turn your eyes to the heavens and be amazed…

With one small step, mankind embarked on a journey fraught with potential and danger in equal measure. In A Legacy of Stars, Danielle Ackley-McPhail delves into those same depths as humanity ventures out into the complexity of space. New worlds…dangers…marvels… Unearthly landscapes and beings that transcend alien. The conflicts of man versus, well… everything, including man. The bittersweet triumph of survival out among the stars.

In eleven reprints and two never-before-published stories, explore the harsh realities and boundless possibilities of mankind let loose on the greater universe. Pirates and gypsies, elite armed forces and scientific pioneers, all faced with the horror, wonder, and unexpected challenges that life in space has to offer. Pitch battles, political intrigues, military conquest, wondrous discoveries… glimpse what it is to be human, or not, in the technological age, beyond the bounds of humanity’s cradle.

February 28th 2013; Dark Quest Books - DTF Publications

Advent ~ by James Treadwell

For centuries it has been locked away.

Lost beneath the sea.

Warded from earth, air, water, fire, spirits, thought and sight.

But now magic is rising to the world once more.

And a boy called Gavin, who thinks only that he is a city kid with parents who hate him, and knows only that he sees things no one else will believe, is boarding a train, alone, to Cornwall. No one will be there to meet him.

Paperback, 614 pages; November 22nd 2012; Hodder & Stoughton

The Vorrh ~ by B. Catling

Taking its name from the imaginary African forest in Raymond Roussel's Impressions of Africa, The Vorrh is a magnificent, vibrant backdrop on which to stage a high octane narrative led by hunter, Tsungali, the Cyclops, Ishmael and famous photographer Eadweard Muybridge. In contrast with the tired clichs of the traditional fantasy tale, The Vorrh is an invigorating, epic fantasy at its most original, ground-breaking and visionary. Features a foreword from the legendary comics and graphic novel creator, Alan Moore.

Paperback, 502 pages; November 12th 2012; Honest Publishing

The Return Man ~ by V. M. Vito 

Civilisation's gone . . . He's stayed to bury the dead.

The outbreak tore the USA in two. The east remains a safe haven. The west has become a ravaged wilderness, known by survivors as the Evacuated States. It is here that Henry Marco makes his living. Hired by grieving relatives, he tracks down the dead and delivers peace.

Now Homeland Security wants Marco for a mission unlike any other. He must return to California, where the apocalypse began. Where a secret is hidden. And where his own tragic past waits to punish him again.

But in the wastelands of America, you never know who — or what — is watching you.

Hodder & Stoughton; 08 Nov 2012; Paperback; 417 pages

Strangers in the Land ~ by Stant Litore

The aging prophet Devora bolts awake in terror, gasping for air. In her dream she heard her mother’s shrieks as the ravenous dead pulled her from the tent. Devora had been only a girl then, crying as she listened to her mother's screams and the tearing of her flesh.

And in the morning, when her mother rose—undead and hungering—Devora slew her.

This third volume of The Zombie Bible takes you to 1160 BC Israel as the walking corpses devour the tents and homesteads of the People. Four will stand against the dead: Devora, who sees what God sees. The slave girl Hurriya. Zadok, a legend among warriors. And the widower Barak, fighting to keep his vineyard free of this new peril. But can they stand together? For the living fear each other—fear the strangers in the land—as much as they fear the hungry dead.

Strangers in the Land brings an episode from the biblical book of Judges to life, fierce and blood spattered. Few will survive the coming of the dead. None will survive unchanged.

October 16th 2012; 47North

A Trace of Moonlight (#3)  ~ by Allison Pang

Drinking from the waters of lethe and offering herself up as Faerie’s sacrificial Tithe . . . these just might be the least of Abby Sinclair’s problems.

Abby’s pact with a daemon—whether or not she remembers making it—is binding, so she’d better count herself lucky that (in the words of a daemon who knows better) there’s nearly always a loophole. But her friends’ reckless attempts to free her, well intentioned though they may be, set off a disastrous chain of events. In no time at all, Abby turns her incubus lover mortal, then gets herself killed, cursed, and married to an elven prince whose mother wants her dead. On top of everything else, she’s lost the Key to the CrossRoads to her mortal enemy, who promptly uses his restored power to wreak havoc on the OtherWorld and put its very existence in jeopardy. Only one person can make things right again, but to find her, Abby must place her trust in allies of mixed loyalties, and conquer her nightmares once and for all.

Pocket Books; October 2012; Mass Market Paperback; 400 pages

Mandarin Gate (Inspector Shan Tao Yun #7) ~ by Eliot Pattison

In Mandarin Gate, Edgar Award winner Eliot Pattison brings Shan back in a thriller that navigates the explosive political and religious landscape of Tibet.

In an earlier time, Shan Tao Yun was an Inspector stationed in Beijing. But he lost his position, his family and his freedom when he ran afoul of a powerful figure high in the Chinese government. Released unofficially from the work camp to which he'd been sentenced, Shan has been living in remote mountains of Tibet with a group of outlawed Buddhist monks. Without status, official identity, or the freedom to return to his former home in Beijing, Shan has just begun to settle into his menial job as an inspector of irrigation and sewer ditches in a remote Tibetan township when he encounters a wrenching crime scene. Strewn across the grounds of an old Buddhist temple undergoing restoration are the bodies of two unidentified men and a Tibetan nun. Shan quickly realizes that the murders pose a riddle the Chinese police might in fact be trying to cover up. When he discovers that a nearby village has been converted into a new internment camp for Tibetan dissidents arrested in Beijing’s latest pacification campaign, Shan recognizes the dangerous landscape he has entered. To find justice for the victims and to protect an American woman who witnessed the murders, Shan must navigate through the treacherous worlds of the internment camp, the local criminal gang, and the government’s rabid pacification teams, while coping with his growing doubts about his own identity and role in Tibet.

Minotaur Books; November 2012; Hardcover; 320 pages

Girl on the Cliff ~ by Lucinda Riley

We have a guest post from the author about how she writes historical fiction.

To escape a recent heartbreak in New York, Grania Ryan returns to her family home on the wind-swept coast of Ireland. Here, on the cliff edge in the middle of a storm, she meets a young girl, Aurora Lisle, who will profoundly change her life.

Despite the warnings Grania receives from her mother to be wary of the Lisle family, Aurora and Grania forge a close friendship. Through a trove of old family letters dating from 1914, Grania begins to learn just how deeply their families’ histories are entwined. The horrors of World War I, the fate of a beautiful foundling child, and the irresistible lure of the ballet give rise to a legacy of heartache that leaves its imprint on each new generation. Ultimately, it will be Aurora whose uncanny intuition and indomitable spirit may be able to unlock the chains of the past.

US - Atria Books, October 2012; Trade Paperback, 416 pages; UK – Penguin; October 2011 

Tempestuous (A Modern-Day Spin on Shakespeare’s The Tempest) ~ by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Recently banished, unfairly, by the school’s popular crowd, former “it girl,” Miranda Prospero, finds herself in a brave new world: holding dominion amongst a rag-tag crew of geeks and misfits where she works at the Hot-Dog Kabob in the food court of her local mall. When the worst winter storm of the season causes mall workers and last-minute shoppers to be snowed-in for the night, Miranda seizes the opportunity to get revenge against the catty clique behind her social exile. With help from her delightfully dweeby coworker, Ariel, and a sullen loner named Caleb who works at the mall’s nearby gaming and magic shop, Miranda uses charm and trickery to set things to right during this spirited take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Hardcover, 224 pages; December 18th 2012; Merit Press

Review: Cold City ~ by F. Paul Wilson

Review by John for Cold City ~  by F. Paul Wilson

A book that goes back in time and sets the foundation for the popular “Repairman Jack” series of novels. He is the “urban mercenary” and fix-it man who helps victimized people that have nowhere else to turn.

About:  Jack is a 21 year old college dropout who decides to sever all home and family ties and move to New York City. With absolutely no personal documentation or links to his past life, he moves “off the grid” and leads a solitary and hard-working life, being paid in cash and using only cash to live on. While initially working with a group of Latinos as a gardener, inevitably he ends up taking on some dodgy jobs – not hard-core crime but definitely not legal either.

Through a growing reputation for reliability and trustworthiness, he builds up a core of contacts who find him useful and who may be able to help him. Some might even become friends. But living life on the edge of society, he also comes across many unscrupulous and dangerous people.

In no time he encounters (or becomes embroiled with) interstate smugglers, a child slavery ring, a group of dangerous jihadists, the mob, a vengeful con-man and a pair of ruthless vigilantes – some of whom Jack aggravates. While already blessed with wits and plenty of “street smarts”, he has to learn quickly from some of his new-found friends and contacts in order to stay one step ahead of his new enemies.

John’s thoughts:  This is a fun, action-oriented piece of escapism. A few bits of the plot and some of the characters aren’t very believable, but it doesn’t really matter in a story like this.

However - annoyingly, the jacket describes this as a novel and it isn’t; it is a partial novel. After reading 360 pages you find out that nothing is answered, nothing has become clear, and you have to read more books in the series in order to reach any sort of conclusion. Very frustrating. When I read a book that is clearly part of a series, I do expect there to be some loose ends or hooks that can provide a foundation for future stories, but I also expect the book to be reasonably coherent and to stand on its own. This one does not.

So I can’t tell you about how cleverly multiple plot threads are brought together or how the story builds to an exciting climax, because I don’t know. Which is a shame, because the Jack character is interesting and the story pulls you along at a good pace. I blew through the 360 pages in no time at all and was looking forward to seeing how everything turned out.

Given that I have no idea how anything ends up, I can only rate the book 2.5 stars. It’s definitely one for existing Repairman Jack aficionados, or for people who like the sound of the character and are prepared to invest their time in a lengthy series of books.

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Tor Books; 11/27/2012; Hardcover;  368 pages

F. Paul Wilson is the New York Times bestselling author of horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, and virtually everything in between. His books include the Repairman Jack novels—including Ground Zero, The Tomb, and Fatal Error—the Adversary cycle—including The Keep—and a young adult series featuring the teenage Jack. Wilson has won the Prometheus Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Inkpot Award from the San Diego ComiCon, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers of America, among other honors. He lives in Wall, New Jersey.

F. Paul Wilson’s sites:

• Author Website
• Author Twitter

We also have a giveaway for Cold City. Good luck.

Giveaway: The Rise of Ransom City ~ by Felix Gilman

It’s Release Day for The Rise of Randsom City ~ by Felix Gilman, and we have a giveaway to celebrate!

The Rise of Random City is the sequel to the author’s acclaimed steampunk novel The Half-Made World.

And we have one copy of the book for a US or Canadian resident.

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The Rise of Random City ~ This is the story Harry Ransom. If you know his name it’s most likely as the inventor of the Ransom Process, a stroke of genius that changed the world.

Or you may have read about how he lost the battle of Jasper City, or won it, depending on where you stand in matters of politics.

Friends called him Hal or Harry, or by one of a half-dozen aliases, of which he had more than any honest man should. He often went by Professor Harry Ransom, and though he never had anything you might call a formal education, he definitely earned it.

If you’re reading this in the future, Ransom City must be a great and glittering metropolis by now, with a big bronze statue of Harry Ransom in a park somewhere. You might be standing on its sidewalk and not wonder in the least of how it grew to its current glory. Well, here is its story, full of adventure and intrigue. And it all starts with the day that old Harry Ransom crossed paths with Liv Alverhyusen and John Creedmoor, two fugitives running from the Line, amidst a war with no end.

Tor Books; 11/27/2012; Hardcover; 368 pages

Not part of this giveaway, here’s information about the first book in the series: 

The Half-Made World ~ A fantastical reimagining of the American West which draws its influence from steampunk, the American western tradition, and magical realism.  The world is only half made. What exists has been carved out amidst a war between two rival factions: the Line, paving the world with industry and claiming its residents as slaves; and the Gun, a cult of terror and violence that cripples the population with fear. The only hope at stopping them has seemingly disappeared - the Red Republic that once battled the Gun and the Line, and almost won. Now they’re just a myth, a bedtime story parents tell their children, of hope.

To the west lies a vast, uncharted world, inhabited only by the legends of the immortal and powerful Hill People, who live at one with the earth and its elements. Liv Alverhyusen, a doctor of the new science of psychology, travels to the edge of the made world to a spiritually protected mental institution in order to study the minds of those broken by the Gun and the Line. In its rooms lies an old general of the Red Republic, a man whose shattered mind just may hold the secret to stopping the Gun and the Line. And either side will do anything to understand how.

Tor Books; July 2011; Trade Paperback; 480 pages

FELIX GILMAN has been nominated for the John W. Campbell award and the Locus Award for best new writer.  He is the author of the critically acclaimed Thunderer, Gears of the City, and The Half-Made World, which was listed by Amazon as one of the ten best SFF novels of 2010. He lives with his wife in New York City.

• Author Website
• Author Blog
• Author Twitter

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Now for the Giveaway!

Please be a reader or follower to enter this contest, and fill out the Google form:

You must do one of the three below:

1. Google: via the blog’s side bar (I will follow back if I can find your blog) or
2. Facebook: for updates in your feed and add me as a friend or
3. Your Email Box

Optional ways to keep up to date on giveaways, reviews and more:

1. Feed Reader
2. Twitter (I will follow back, for any of these social media sites.)
3. Google+
4. Pinterest
5. Goodreads (no giveaway updates here)

Please remember that your personal information will be use for this giveaway only. Promise. Good luck!

Giveaway: Dreaming of Summer Hop ~ Nov 27th to Dec 2nd

Welcome to the Dreaming of Summer Blog Hop from November 27th to December 2nd. Hosted by Me, My Shelf and I and I Am A Reader Not A Writer.

This blog hop is offering books that have a flavor of summer to them.

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We have one ebook copy of each book below. And because they are ebooks this giveaway is international.

Ebook number 1:  Songs of Love and Darkness ~ various authors listed below

Featuring five of the greatest authors of fantasy, romance, and science fiction, this exclusive eBook set is a chilling collection of unearthly delights and harrowing thrills.

Featuring stories by Mary Jo Putney, Carrie Vaughn, Yasmine Galenorn, M.L.N. Hanover, and Lisa Tuttle these contemporary tales of ill-fated love, originally published in the anthology Songs of Love and Death (edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois) explore romance in five wildly creative settings—from the hidden supernatural side of New York City to werewolf-occupied West Texas. Available at a special low price, these stories promise to keep you up all night.

Pocket Star, October 2012, eBook, 80 pages

And ebook number 2: The Mysterious Madam Morpho ~ by Delilah S. Dawson

Taking place after Wicked as They Come, this original eBook features a mysterious lady and a reclusive mechanical genius who find love and danger in a traveling circus.

An elusive woman arrives at Criminy’s doorstep with a steamer trunk, begging for a position in the caravan to perform her unique new act. She opens her trunk to reveal a menagerie of brilliantly colored butterflies. The woman, who calls herself Madam Morpho, is on the run from a dark past in London, where she was forced to leave her equipment behind and abscond with only her tiny performers. Playing a hunch, Criminy hires Madam Morpho on the spot. Taking her down to meet Mr. Murdoch, the reclusive talented engineer who keeps the carnival’s clockworks running, Criminy instructs them to work together to design and build a groundbreaking new circus for the butterflies. Amid the magical ambiance of the circus and the hint of danger from Madam Morpho’s pursuers, she and Mr. Murdoch soon find that their scientific collaboration has produced chemistry of a more romantic kind.

Pocket Books, October 2012, eBook, 100 pages

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Now for the Giveaway!

Please be a reader or follower to enter this contest, and fill out the Google form:

You must do one of the three below:

1. Google: via the blog’s side bar (I will follow back if I can find your blog) or
2. Facebook: for updates in your feed and add me as a friend or
3. Your Email Box

Optional ways to keep up to date on giveaways, reviews and more:

1. Feed Reader
2. Twitter (I will follow back, for any of these social media sites.)
3. Google+
4. Pinterest
5. Goodreads (no giveaway updates here)

This contest is now closed. Please stop back by for future giveaways, reviews, author guest posts and more.

Congrats to our winners Jasmyn & Tara! A big thank you to Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster) for providing this giveaway.

Guest Post: James Garcia, Jr., author of the DANCE ON FIRE series ~ insight into creating an author’s platform

Guest post from James Garcia Jr. on Creating an Indie Author’s Platform.

James Garcia Jr. has recently graduated from being a small publisher-published author to a self-published author. What I like about James, beyond his bravery in deciding to write as a self-published author, is that he has successfully created a well done, professional and accessible indie author’s platform.

Let’s welcome James with his friendly and professional advice.

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Hello, Fire Enthusiasts… Oops! Wrong blog. That’s what I call the folks who follow my regular posts. I’m a horror writer, you see. I currently write vampires with a crossover slant. That’s my veiled attempt of disclosing that you can find some Christian themes in my series. I don’t’ really call what I write Christian, but that’s another post entirely.

I have the second installment on my vampire series just released around Halloween. It wasn’t intentional, but simply how the whole thing worked out. If you’re curious, I have a “good” vampire and a bad vampire. They don’t sparkle – not that there’s anything wrong with that – but they do come after you while you sit on the proverbial edge of your seat. They won’t gross you out, mostly, but they definitely do have bite. I’d love for you to come by and check my series out; however, that isn’t what I have come to tell you.

I didn’t come by to give you writing advice either. I don’t feel qualified to do that. If we’ve met before, chances are you have figured this out about me already. Although my name doesn’t show up on bestseller lists as of yet, I’m working on that - and that is definitely something that I can share about. There have been many false starts, hiccups and bumps in the road these past three years. Perhaps hearing about these might help you on your road.

Writers just want to write. Unfortunately, unless you get your novel picked up by the big six, Amazon or have your story picked up by Hollywood, you are going to have to do everything yourself. It’s the sad reality.

I had a small publisher for a while until they just recently closed their doors. A month before they published my debut novel back in 2010, I was informed that I would have to build a platform. This meant blogging. I didn’t know the first thing. She created one for me which I’m still using, handed me the virtual keys and said go for it. The successful bloggers will tell you that you have to have content in order to get traffic. I did this for nearly two years; however, I eventually realized I only had time for one post a week. It works for me because I am able to spend the rest of the week visiting the blogs of others who are like-minded, similar in content or friends that I’ve made.

From there I moved to Facebook and created an author page. I already had a Facebook profile for myself, but I needed something that was for my writing. I had some professional photos taken and stayed with that shot for two years, using it for each and every site since those early days. That list now includes Twitter, Google Plus, Goodreads, LinkedIn, etc. I have since changed that photo to something a bit friendlier. That first one was too serious. I don’t have a degree in Marketing, but you won’t need one to figure out that you should be consistent and serious with your “brand” or “image”, if you prefer. We all hate having to hunt for our shampoo because they seemingly change the bottle twice a year, so change very little about yourself and only when necessary.

At some point you might begin to worry over your numbers on those social networking sites or even on your author page on Amazon.com. Don’t be. Just keep doing the work and they will come. I have spent time in these groups where we all like one another’s pages; however, we have to ask ourselves whether this is really getting us where we want to be. I thank those people who have taken the time to do this for me. I have done it for them, too. Yet, are they buying my books or spreading the word for me? No. All we’re doing is padding our numbers. It just doesn’t seem real to me anymore. As I meet new people I love to drop by their sites and throw them some love. I’m just not going to spend a day doing forty of them in a “liking session” anymore.

I recently wrote a blog post asking the following question: “Where are the readers?” I’m still searching for that answer, but I don’t think we’ll find them by promoting to fellow authors all the time. We need to make friends and support one another in this great community because writing can be a very lowly and difficult proposition and the group can and frequently does offer a helping hand or virtual shoulder when things are tough; and they certainly celebrate our successes. In the meantime, what we can do is build our brand, continue to improve our writing, and do everything we can to appear professional. In this community you will find competent cover artists, folks willing to beta read your work well before the buying public, professional editors to polish your work and challenge you to make it the very best it can be.

Remember, my friends. This is a very tough road that you have decided to travel, but you’ve chosen it because you have an artistic bone in your body that needs to show itself. There will be heartache, but there will be successes, too. If it doesn’t work out quite the way you hoped, at least you’ve given it your very best attempt. That’s what got me writing again. I just didn’t want to go to my grave with any regrets.

I realize this isn’t my blog, but I’ll close the way I do over there…

We’ll talk soon.

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About James Garcia’s first book ~ Dance on Fire:

Each May, the Central California town of Kingsburg celebrates its Swedish heritage with the annual Swedish Festival: a weekend event where the town puts on its traditional dress, culminating with a dance around a Maypole on Friday, and a Swedish pancake breakfast and parade on Saturday. The town with a population of over 11,000 residents draws thousands more to the event. This year, two uninvited guests also converged upon the unsuspecting town.

Nathaniel is a vampire. He wandered into town, bothering no one; feeding upon stray cats and other vermin, wanting nothing more than to have a place to rest his head. Vincent is a second vampire, and the one responsible for making Nathaniel. He has been searching for his long lost “son” for well over two centuries. Vincent’s goal is to take Nathaniel home or kill him. Nathaniel has often wished for death, wondering why God ever allowed this punishment: to walk the earth undead and unable to be redeemed. Does God remember the little boy from Romania who watched his parents die, was raised by the murdering vampire, only to become one himself? What does God think of Nathaniel and could there yet be redemption for one outside of heaven?

Ten days before the start of the Swedish Festival the most tumultuous week in the history of Kingsburg has begun with two vampires leaving death and destruction in their wake. Kingsburg Police Detectives Mark Jackson and Michael Lopez, Barbara and the entire Lopez family find themselves drawn into something that threatens to destroy them all or leave them scarred forever.

In a marriage of the classic horror story and the Christian themes of good conquering evil and redemption, Dance on Fire is the account of characters being drawn into the fire and the supernatural forces around them watching as they burn.

His latest recently self published effort and sequel Dance on Fire is ~ Flash Point.

Five years after the death of their only child Tiffany, Steve and Angie Rosen receive an unexpected guest to their Morro Bay, California home: their daughter. She comes with a tale of having suffered a terrible head wound in the fire that took their Kingsburg home, causing her loss of memory and migraine headaches that force her to hide from daylight in order to prevent. Tiffany's reemergence is treated like Manna from Heaven; however, her story is only half true. Tiffany is a vampire and their daughter in name only. She sleeps during the day and hunts for human blood during the night, and has come back to enact a twisted revenge upon those who ruined the plans of her master, the notorious vampire, Vincent. And she is not alone.

Five years after the terrible events that reshaped the Swedish Village, Kingsburg lies unsuspecting as five vampires descend upon her with a great evil in their black hearts.

Five years after old wounds have finally healed and the old fires were thought extinguished, Police Chief Michael Lopez and Officer Mark Jackson and their families find themselves surrounded when fires blaze anew. The good vampire, Nathaniel, has pledged his service to these people, but he is no longer among them. He lives high in the Oregon Mountains near the California border, seeking whether God might have a place in His kingdom yet for him.

When Nathaniel discovers that Tiffany has returned, will he be too late to stop her? And will his desire to protect his friends destroy what God has begun in him?

It will all begin with a Flash Point.

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James Garcia Jr. is the author of the vampire novels, Dance on Fire and Dance on Fire: Flash Point.  Find him at his blog, Facebook , Twitter and Goodreads.

Both of his books can be found on Amazon.