Monday, December 31, 2018
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Saturday, December 29, 2018
Friday, December 28, 2018
This Map Is Made From Over 1,000 Song Titles That Cleverly Reference Each Location
Since many musicians spend time touring the globe, their songs are often about the places they visit. Others pay homage to their hometown, often writing lyrics that tell stories of fond memories and nostalgic childhood dreams. Inspired by the many location-related songs of the past and present, UK-based design studio Dorothy created a map of the United States of America made from over 1,000 song titles. From classic tunes such as Sweet Home Alabama to California Girls, the vintage-style poster “will take you on a musical journey around the U.S.” through the country’s cities, rivers, mountains, highways, and landmarks.
Read more about it here.
Read more about it here.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Now Available in Print! THE 13th GIFT OF CHRISTMAS
THE 13th GIFT OF CHRISTMAS
*Sweet Contemporary Fantasy Romance
Word Count: 32.2K
$2.99 e / $9.99 p
The greatest joy is giving joy to others.
Being the daughter of THE big man in red, Nicolette knows the power of faith and magic. The power of believing. But according to her father, when that faith is lost, there’s no hope left. She doesn’t believe that, though.
When Nika encounters a soul so dark and depressed it breaks her heart, she’s determined to fill him with Christmas cheer once again. What she didn’t expect was to fall for the human along the way.
Terry Janssen’s life has been a lonely struggle. Raising his sick sister alone and working two jobs to pay the bills, the holiday season just isn’t looking too bright for him. But a chance meeting with a beautiful soul has helped left his spirits. There’s just something about her...
Is Nika part of the Christmas magic, or
a Christmas miracle?
Warning! Contains peppermint hot chocolate, Mollie
Dollies, a rich reward,
eighty-six thousand four hundred, a unique ringtone, and a
priceless donation that unites two families with endless joy.
*NOTE: This is a sweet romance, but you can
get the love/consummation scene for free by clicking the button above.
This scene is NOT included in the print edition.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Monday, December 24, 2018
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Friday, December 21, 2018
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Monday, December 17, 2018
Please Welcome Sam Poling As He Tells Us About His Dark Fantasy, GOETIA, The Oldenrai Archives, Book Two
by Sam Poling
Genre: Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
Publisher: Tirgearr Publishing
Date of Publication: 10/31/18
ISBN: 9780463828861
ASIN: B07GKYH54D
Number of pages: 180
Word Count: ~74,500
Cover Artist: Cora Graphics
Tagline: Integrate your shadow
Book Description:
After imposing a controversial quarantine, Adelstadt Mayoress Mirabel Fairfax finds herself in the crosshairs with vengeful highwaymen. When they target her family and the vital shipments her village desperately needs, she turns to witchcraft to restore order herself. But something is wrong: her magic becomes unreliable, and monstrous images torment her mind's eye.
When gruesome murders terrorize Adelstadt, she suspects the highwaymen have turned to the occult, allying with a demonic entity. A Goetia. The hallucinations become all-too-real, and Mirabel must rely on her cunning, wrath, and what few friends she has left if she hopes to rescue her valley, her beloved, and her mind.
Felix Fairfax does the best he can as the husband of a controversial mayoress witch, but his life is once again turned into a fight for survival when he’s kidnapped by the highwaymen. They force him to help investigate his wife’s hidden lair, where they become trapped with creatures of unspeakable horror. Whatever Mirabel had locked away hunts indiscriminately—it hunts him—and if it gets out, plagues and highwaymen won’t be Adelstadt’s problems any longer.
Excerpt:
Mirabel’s boots
clicked down a stone, spiral stairway, blowing past the half-melted candles
lining the steps. The candles provided the only light, at times leaving her to
fumble for footing on the disrepair of the steps. The descent into darkness
went on longer than she’d ever recalled experiencing before. What a time for
metaphysical nonsense. An echo of raspy, hollow screams chased her,
reverberating within the stairwell, challenging her to keep up speed.
She stumbled off
the final steps, at last on the ground floor, and clawed her wild, deep red
hair from her face. Archaic, religious candle racks illuminated the chamber.
Nothing had changed down here. At least, not yet.
She sped past
rows of dilapidated tables and pews, reached a laboratory-style workbench, and
threw her arms against a stack of journals, scattering the research. Upon
snaring a specific handful of pages, she sprinted for the tower entrance.
A bony tusk
punched through a nearby wall, knocking candles from their altar. They struck
silver offering plates on the floor, crashing like cymbals. Mirabel leaped
back, one hand clutching her research against her body, the other gripping the
handle of her rapier.
Black, viscous
slime poured from the hole around the horn, crept over the altar, and dripped
onto the floor. Small, misshapen hands sprouted from the goop like blooming
black-fingered flowers, grasping at the stone tiles. A reek like sweet, rotting
fruit flooded the air.
She closed her
gaping mouth, turned away, and continued running down the hall. Her
burned-orange cape fluttered and whipped, a nuisance, rescinding its value.
The entire tower
quaked, followed by more disembodied shrieking. A spiny, gray tentacle as thick
as a branch smashed through the wall ahead in a deafening boom, lashing and
twisting like an eel out of water. She drew her rapier and severed the tip with
the sharpened, distal edge of her weapon. The piece of otherworldly flesh fell
away, but several more tentacles punched through imperfections in the
surrounding walls, blocking her path. Each unique arm contorted at varied
rates, some more aggressive than others.
Still holding
her sword, she extended her arm and channeled magic through it with a rush of
heat. Upon releasing her focus, the heat fled her body and flames burst in
front of her, engulfing the tentacles and transforming them into crackling ash.
Vertigo crashed
over her in waves as penalty for her sudden, great expenditure of soul energy.
With inhuman moans drifting on the air, she shook off her fatigue and proceeded
to the iron double doors ahead, ramming her shoulder against them. They opened
a crack, blasting her face with freezing air from outside.
She pushed
against the door, and it ground open, scraping through a layer of fresh snow.
She slipped her thin frame through, dropped her research and rapier, and shoved
the door closed.
“Mayoress?”
She spun and
straightened her posture. “Under no circumstances is anyone to approach the
tower.”
Two guardsmen
clad in vermillion red, double-breasted uniforms stood at the base of the tower
steps, shoulders dusted with snow. They possessed several weapons: muskets with
bayonets, sabers, and crossbow pistols. All useless.
“Aye,” said the
leading guard. “We thought we heard some rumbling from our post. Another
quake?”
She knelt,
sheathing her rapier and collecting her papers. And then she saw the ooze. Not
much, but strands of it slithered under the door. She backed away and marched
down the steps.
“Evacuate.”
“Excuse me,
Mayoress?”
She stopped
between the guards and faced the shift lead. “Evacuate. It’s a simple concept.
Do it now.”
“Evacuate what?
Ironsnow?”
“Yes, the entire
hamlet. Get everyone to Adelstadt at once.” She looked past him at dozens of
wood-framed homes at the base of the tower’s hill, billowing smoke from their
chimneys. “No one goes near the tower. Get everyone out now.”
The other guard
spoke. “But why? Minor quakes happen all the time. My family lives here.”
The three
marched down the hill. Mirabel said nothing.
“Mayoress?”
“Miasma. I’ve
discovered the tower is the source of plague-infested miasma. Likely the cause
of other outbreaks around Adelstadt. Deadly strains. None can reside here any
longer. I’m sorry.”
“Tordin’s
mercy,” said the guard. “I’ll have my family pack right away.”
“Nay. Full
evacuation. Immediately. Have the citizens take only what they can carry on
their way out.”
“It’s that
urgent?”
“I am the
Mayoress and a syndicate-certified disease specialist. You think I give this
order lightly?”
“Of course not,
Mayoress Fairfax,” said the lead guard. “We’ll get everyone out within the
hour.”
“Faster if you
are able. Much faster.”
What is it that makes this book special?
Goetia is a novel about our perceptions of good and evil. What makes it stand out is its characters. We have a main protagonist, Mirabel, who is, by all rights, the villain. She is narcissistic, brutal, literally a witch, and literally a demon. Even what she says smacks of the dark side, mocking her opponents for their "false heroism."
Goetia is a novel about our perceptions of good and evil. What makes it stand out is its characters. We have a main protagonist, Mirabel, who is, by all rights, the villain. She is narcissistic, brutal, literally a witch, and literally a demon. Even what she says smacks of the dark side, mocking her opponents for their "false heroism."
Meanwhile, many of her enemies stand
strong. They give inspiring speeches. They insist on burying their dead even at
great cost and risk. They look, and speak, like true heroes, opposed to the "evil"
Mayoress Mirabel Fairfax.
But they don't know what Mirabel
knows. They don't understand the darkness she does. And even as she loses
support, Mirabel must face unspeakable, supernatural evil if she wishes to save
the lives of everyone in her city.
Nothing is what is seems when the
witch is repelling the supernatural forces of the hells, struggling to keep the
peace and sanity of humanity while everything crumbles around her. Not many
female heroines are as imperfect as Mirabel, but she's incorporated her shadow.
And sometimes the "wicked sorceress" is your only hope.
About the Author:
Sam Poling has been writing fantasy and science fiction for the thrill of it his entire life, from short stories to screenplays. His love for each of the subgenres led to dedication to writing genre-skirting fiction with all the elements that make up the human condition. He holds a strong enthusiasm for medical studies and currently works as a medical assistant in a large clinic while taking classing for nursing. He also serves on a health and safety committee, including disaster preparedness and infection control. His interest in epidemiology and medical science tends to spill over into his writing endeavors.
Find Sam Online:
Website – http://www.sampoling.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Samuel.T.Poling
Twitter - https://twitter.com/SamuelPoling
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Friday, December 14, 2018
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Join us For the Twelve Giveaway Days of Christmas!
I'm giving away Amazon gift cards, ebooks, audio books, print books, bags of swag, AND MORE!
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
This Artist Brilliantly Uses Different Jigsaw Puzzles to Create Surreal Mashups
From My Modern Met:
While many jigsaw junkies enjoy making order out of chaos, Vancouver-based artist Tim Klein breaks the rules by playing the game his own creative way. After discovering that manufacturing companies tend to reuse the same shaped pieces for multiple puzzles, Klein decided to have some fun by combining the interchangeable parts to make his own montage puzzle art.
You can read more and see more of his fantastic creations here.
While many jigsaw junkies enjoy making order out of chaos, Vancouver-based artist Tim Klein breaks the rules by playing the game his own creative way. After discovering that manufacturing companies tend to reuse the same shaped pieces for multiple puzzles, Klein decided to have some fun by combining the interchangeable parts to make his own montage puzzle art.
You can read more and see more of his fantastic creations here.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Six on Sunday - THE 13th GIFT OF CHRISTMAS
1. Memories of past Christmases flashed through her mind. They were among her most cherished remembrances. Back when she’d been younger, he’d taken her with him to show her what it was like. She’d spent the majority of the ride huddled under warm blankets as they soared through the skies. Transfixed by the sleigh’s rollercoaster ups and downs at dizzying speeds. Awed by the lights and decorations which festooned the cities and towns. And, more than anything, overwhelmingly proud of her father for all the work he did to bring joy to children and believers all over the world.
2. It was well after dark and he was hungry, not having eaten anything since lunch that day, and that being only a bologna sandwich. He briefly debated whether or not to try and get something with the six dollars he had left in his pocket, but quickly shot it down. He might need that money at some crucial time later on. In the meantime, he could wait until he got back to the apartment and eat another bologna sandwich.
3. She had no idea what his circumstances were. She didn’t know if he was married, or engaged, or divorced. If he lived alone, with his family, or with roommates. But what she did know was that his pain and depression was real. And if there was any way in the world she could bring him maybe one iota of happiness during this holiday season, she was going to try.
4. “Yeah, I know you think I’m too old for a doll, but this one… I don’t know. I can’t explain why I want one, but I’ll understand if you can’t get it for me.” She’d shrugged her thin shoulders and gazed at him with a wan smile. Dark circles under her eyes emphasized her pale face and the toll her condition was taking on her. At that moment he knew he’d move Heaven and Earth to get her one of those dolls. She rarely asked him for anything. And since this may be her last holiday…
5. “That’s true, but you have to be prepared to tell him everything. I mean everything, including the fact that you’re immortal, and he isn’t. You’ve witnessed countless human lives come and go. If he rejects your offer, you will outlive him. Will you still love him this much when he grows old and feeble, while you remain youthful looking and healthy?”
6. Pressing the card and envelope to his face, his shoulders shook as he allowed the tears to fall.
Excerpt and Buy Links
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Friday, December 7, 2018
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Now Available as an Audio Book! A BATTLE LORD'S HEART, The Battle Lord Saga Book 3
Now Available as an Audio Book!
A BATTLE LORD'S HEART
Book 3 of The Battle Lord Saga
Sci-Fi/Futuristic/Post-Apocalyptic Romance
Word Count: 62.7K
$3.99 e / $9.99 p / $19.95 a
Book 3 of The Battle Lord Saga
Sci-Fi/Futuristic/Post-Apocalyptic Romance
Word Count: 62.7K
$3.99 e / $9.99 p / $19.95 a
Narrated by Daniela Acitelli
Length: 7 hrs, 12 min
Forced to leave Atty behind
under the protection of Alta Novis, Yulen D'Jacques takes his
troops to his newly acquired compound of Bearinger to defend it
against the increasing attacks by Bloods. But when news
arrives that Bearinger's walls were breached, Atty knows
she must risk the dangerous trek to find out whether or not her
husband is still alive. And if so, to bring him back home,
regardless of the consequences.
Warning: Contains
a massacre beyond description, a mission of
mercy, kitchen sex, secret Mutah compounds, pheromones, black
linen, and a psychic link between two lovers that even death
cannot sever.
