Wednesday, March 31, 2021

New and Revised! QITIRIN, a Sensuous Paranormal Romance

 
New and Revised!

This edition replaces the one recorded in 2015, and contains the full manuscript.

QITIRIN
Paranormal Romance
Word Count:  33.2K 
$2.99 e/$9.99 p / $14.95 a

Narrated by AJ Carter
Length: 3 hrs, 14 min
Hear a Sample

Scarred and traumatized, former Marine Sergeant Joshua Cobb can no longer function amid normal civilization. He's retreated to the mountains of Alaska to live in solitude, where he can battle his personal demons in peace.

Life is harsh in the untamed wild, especially when he has to face other creatures who are also trying to survive. But the bears and wolves and other dangerous animals are no match for the two-legged variety who see Joshua as easy prey.

He has no idea that the injured wolf he rescues will become more than a companion. It will also save his life, and show him a love he only believed was possible in fairy tales.

Because the wolf, Qitirin, is more human than anyone could imagine.

Warning! Contains ill-fitting clothes, inhumane traps, actionable threats, banishment, pissed-off bears, and a way of life that demands both undying love and the ultimate sacrifice.

Monday, March 29, 2021

New! 4-Point Star, an Erotic SciFi Romance Novel



4-Point Star
Erotic Sci-Fi Romance
Word Count: 52.9K
$3.99 e / $9.99 p

Being called to become part of a Gaspiel is an honor, a chance to serve in the war against the Fol’Minites and to protect the K’Stollians’ world. Four men are required to form the four-point star, each one controlling a different element of their warship—navigation, weapons, engine, and the captain. But the most important element and hardest to find is their fifth, their Visl—their strength.

When Ensign Sienna Pratt finds out she is called to be a Gaspiel, she sees it as an opportunity to learn about a system no one knows anything about, and she agrees. She knows the K’Stollian ships are different. They don’t run on fuel, have no material for weapons, they are completely bio-dispensing organisms. Basically, the ships convert the endorphins released during sex into power to run their systems, and that’s where Sienna would come into play. Not knowing exactly what she’s signing up for, she’s willing to take the risk to help the people and the planet. But when it comes time to fulfill her obligations, can she give herself over?

The crew quickly learns that Sienna is not your average Visl, and she will not take things lying down. She is not merely there to service the men, she's determined to prove her worth. The war has been raging for centuries, but now it’s a battle for the K’Stollians’ existence. Someone is sabotaging them and wants to wipe out their entire species, but who? The Gaspiel know there is strength in numbers, but whom can they trust?

To make matters worse, rule number one is not to let your emotions become involved, but when it comes to the four males who've claimed her body, that quickly proves impossible.

Warning: Contains recharged batteries, two ports of entry, a two-year commitment, lumpy seats, miracle soothing cream,  unexpected food additives, a dead language, a plot to destroy an entire civilization, and a woman battling her heart for the love of four men--one especially.

Excerpt and Buy Links

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Additional Scene From JEXX, a Sensuous Sci-Fi Romance

This month, I'm offering up this additional scene from JEXX, a sensuous sci-fi romance.

~ ~ ~

Throughout their existence, Govun mates have never been able to procreate. And yet, Kaxx and Jelia know they’ve been blessed with a miracle baby on the way.

However, it’s also brought about unforeseen and unexpected problems and possibilities—some of which might have hilarious consequences.

Link


Friday, March 26, 2021

Now Available as an Audiobook! E I E I O, a Story of Cannibalistic Horror

 
Now Available as an Audiobook!

E I E I O
Cannibalistic Horror
by Linda Mooney writing as Gail Smith
Word Count:  12.1K
$1.99 e / $6.99 p / $6.95 a

Narrated by AJ Carter
Length: 1 hrs, 5 min
Hear a Sample

Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O
And on this farm he had some pigs, E I E I O
With a hack hack here, and a chop chop there,
Here a shriek, there a scream
Everywhere the blood streams...
Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O

In rural Georgia in 1948, a man was lucky to get any kind of work.  Which was why Cletus Pink felt he'd been blessed when an old farmer named MacDonald offered him a job. 

But what was making the horrific sounds coming from the main house?  Worse, why was there always fresh blood oozing out from underneath the kitchen's back door?

Excerpt and Buy Links

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Do It Yourself Forest

 



1. Go to the woods. Bring a cone.
2. Put the cone in a pot - so that most of it stands out.
3. Pour it every day with a small amount of water, as excess water makes the cones rot.
4. After some time, a tiny tree will appear.
5.
Congratulations
- they just started oxygen production and you have a piece of forest in your own home.
You're doing something for nature, and you'll see what nature does for you.
Photo and project from Linda A Hughes


Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Please Welcome Catherine Stine as She Tells Us About Her Urban Fantasy Romance, Secrets of the Mermaid, The Keepers of Knowledge, Book Six


Secrets of the Mermaid
The Keepers of Knowledge
Book Six
Catherine Stine

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Konjur Road Press
Date of Publication: March 15, 2021
ASIN: B08QJSB14G
Number of pages: 221
Word Count: 50k
Cover Artist: Dark Unicorn Designs

Book Description:

Meet Indigo Rain, a beautiful but lonely mermaid. Regretful of a dark past, she has vowed to remain alone and research ancient merfolk tribes. When she unearths a seabed burial site that even she cannot identify, she shares this with a High Council merfolk historian. But she keeps one shocking secret to herself.

Bay Finley is the flirty, dashing Royal merfolk Keeper assigned to teach Indigo on Pyreshore, a glamoured city of supernaturals tasked with keeping invaluable knowledge alive. Indigo thinks Bay is a know-it-all. She also thinks he’s dangerously handsome. He’s engaged to Abigail Torrent, a Royal, unlike Indigo, but he’s spending time with Indigo in the lab…

Indigo has three quests: Uncover the mystery of the burial tablet, resist falling in love, and never, ever reveal her biggest secret, even to the Keepers.

Some secrets heal, some kill. Other secrets change life as we know it.

10 books, 10 authors, 10 keepers, 1 shared world. Read in any order!



Excerpt: 
They plunged downward. Indigo felt the transformative rush as her legs changed to a single tailfin, and her hips and below became a sheen of golden scales. She breathed in water and wriggled her way downward. As she did, she stole peeks at Bay. His merman patterns, like ruddy tribal tattoos, emerged along his jawline, down his muscled arms and on both sides of his lean torso. His scales, a rusty gold, matched the patterns on his skin, and glittered brightly against the darker waters like the sea-glass she so loved. His chest and abs seemed to swell and flex at the same time with the strength of a Poseidon, the grace of a marathon swimmer, the glory of a merman Royal in his prime. She forced herself to look away, and to concentrate on seeking out the tablets, whether they were the nano-synth ones, more of the type in that hidden burial chamber, or another type of artifact altogether.
They swam a good way around the outer perimeter, and found nothing of note except for a shattered belt-pack, most likely from the mining accident. She left it there. A little farther on Bay found a cracked human skull. Indigo was sure this was also from a miner, fatally injured in the blast.
She and Bay dug a plot and buried the thing, after she argued that it would be a dishonor to the human dead to ferry it to Pyreshore. “I witnessed that accident,” she explained to him. “There’s nothing more to learn from a human miner’s cracked skull. We’re here for the merfolk.”
He agreed. Halfway around the next perimeter, Bay found another synth plaque, half buried in a whorl of sand and shattered shells. He gingerly slid it in his pack. They gave each other the thumbs up and carried on. For another hour, they worked their way around the crest until they reached the chasm itself. The sight made Indigo shudder. It wasn’t that there was anything visually horrific about the opening, with its piles of sand mixed with shell and coral shards. It was its energy—pulling them toward it as if subterranean demons were sucking them in, famished enough to gulp them down whole. As if this gaping wound was the dark force of what humans called Hell—an eternal, cursed tunnel lined with sticky, deadly evil. 
Bay tread water near its edge. Trepidation was etched on his face. “What if… we dove down and explored this damn hellhole together?”
So he connected it with hell too. He must feel the force, luring them both in. “You sure, Bay? Only a week ago I hauled you up, half dead, from this site. You were hooked up to all kinds of wires in the hospital, remember?”
“I’ll never forget.” Their eyes met in a question, followed by a resolve.
Something else was on Indigo’s mind. She realized, as she undulated closer to the chasm, that she had harbored her own plans to head back as soon as she gathered the courage, to explore the hidden alcove inside the wall of the burial chamber where she’d found the orb.
The orb… what was it exactly? Why did it have its own tiny room? Why was the wall there like a mollusk that grew and shrank? How was it connected to the supposed merfolk coffins? Or was it pure coincidence they existed side by side? She didn’t want to lie to Bay anymore. But she wasn’t ready to spill her guts about the orb’s existence with him either. There were still too many questions.
“So, are we doing this?” He nodded toward the abyss.
“Yeah, we’re doing this. But of one of us gets badly mauled, or worse, the other will haul both of our tailfins up and out of there. And if you see the phantom fish or hear screams in languages you don’t understand you’ll tell me. You won’t just chalk it up to volcanic pressure. Agree?”
“Okay, sure. I’ll keep an open mind. Let’s head down together. As allies.” With this, he held out his hand. 
She took it. His palm gripping hers was electric, and they thundered down in a flurry of bubbles.

What Makes this Book Special? 

I love writing books set in beach towns and characters with complex relationships to the ocean. In my novel Witch of the Cards, I wrote about a woman learning that she hailed from a sea witch dynasty. In Pictures of Dorianna, I wrote about a girl who, unbeknownst to her, makes a deal with the Prince of Darkness. This happens when his supernatural video of her on a Coney Island beach goes viral, spinning her life out of control.

            In this new urban fantasy, Secrets of the Mermaid, I got to study mermaid lore and deep-sea creatures, and create mysterious merfolk characters. My heroine, Indigo Rain moves to a glamoured gothic beach town called Pyreshore and becomes a Keeper of the merfolk’s secret history. Indigo is a mermaid with a private slide from her basement into the Atlantic Ocean, and her own deep, dark secrets.

            Her eventual love interest, Bay Finley, is of Royal merman stock, while Indigo, is of common stock. So the added “special sauce” is the Harry and Meghan royal versus commoner element.

            Who wouldn’t love to suddenly be able to transform from human to mermaid? I give readers the experience through Indigo. “Out of sheer exuberance, she performed somersaults, twirls, and grand swoops up and over the seabed ravines and ridges.” Or even better, her first dive with Bay, her fellow merfolk researcher and secret crush:

            “They plunged in. Indigo felt the transformative rush as her legs changed to a single tailfin, and her hips and below became a sheen of golden scales. She breathed in water and wriggled her way downward. As she did, she stole peeks at Bay. His merman patterns, like ruddy tribal tattoos, emerged along his jawline, down his muscled arms and on both sides of his lean torso. His scales, a rusty gold, matched the patterns on his skin, and glittered brightly against the darker waters like the sea glass she so loved. His chest and abs seemed to swell and flex at the same time with the strength of a Poseidon, the grace of a marathon swimmer, the glory of a merman Royal in his prime. She forced herself to look away, and to concentrate on seeking out the tablets, whether they were the nano-synth ones, more of the type in that hidden burial chamber, or another type of artifact altogether.”

            I discovered deep-sea fish like the ghost shark with an extra set of jaws inside its maw that can suddenly extend like a slingshot to gobble prey, and the dragon fish that produce their own glowing light. They protect Indigo when a dangerous phantom attacks her and their light guides her back home. Mermaid lore is also endlessly fascinating, and disturbing! One element I used was that mermaid were known to lure sailors undersea and drown them, in order to use them to fertilize their ova to make wee little merbabies. Rather gruesome, and one shameful thing in Indigo’s past she feels compelled to atone for. You have to read the book to find out how! No spoilers here. If you love the ocean and its magical creatures, why not spend time with Indigo, Bay and the quirky cast of characters on Pyreshore and under its coastal waters?

About the Author:

Catherine Stine is a USA Today bestselling author of paranormal, urban and historical fantasy with romance. Witch of the Wild Beasts won a second prize in the Romance Writers of America’s Sheila Contest. Other novels have earned Indie Notable awards and New York Public Library Best Books for Teens. She lives in New York State and grew up in Philadelphia. Before writing novels, she was a painter and fabric designer. She’s a visual author when it comes to scenes, and sees writing as painting with words. She loves edgy thrills, perhaps because her dad read Edgar Allen Poe tales to her as a child. Catherine loves spending time with her beagle Benny, writing about supernatural creatures, gardening and meeting readers at book fests.

Website: http://catherinestine.com/wp/

TikTok: @catherinestine7

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kitsy84557/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitsy84557

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/catherine-stine

Subscribe to Catherine’s Newsletter: 

https://catherinestine.com/wp/get-the-newsletter-contact-me/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1018139.Catherine_Stine

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Catherine-Stine/e/B001H9TXJC

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcatherinestine/




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Saturday, March 20, 2021

Now Available as an Audiobook - RUNNER'S MOON: Challa, Book 4, a SciFi Romance

 
Now Available as an Audiobook!

RUNNER'S MOON: Challa
Book 4 
Sci-fi Romance
Word Count:  81.5K
$4.99 e / $9.99 p / $19.95 a

Narrated by Amelia Hugh
Length: 8 hrs, 29 min

Hear a Sample

She was one of thirty-one aliens who escaped the slave ship where she had been kept captive all of her life. Now she could live a quiet, peaceful existence on Earth, free from pain and misery. Or so she had hoped until that fateful night when she was caught in her true form. From that moment, Challa the Alien Girl became one of Lawson Hall’s best draws to his traveling sideshow carnival.

Compton Scott didn’t believe in aliens. He had enough on his plate without having to worry about being dragged out to some two-bit circus. Still, he got a kick out of the little freak show featuring the woman dressed in a green costume. But once he got home, she began to haunt his every waking minute.

It wasn’t long before Compton discovered the truth about the alien woman and his growing feelings for her. Unfortunately, Lawson Hall wasn’t about to give up his bread and butter without a fight.

Neither were the Arra.

Warning!  Contains fake entrails, x-ray guns, family reunions, misconceptions, lessons in seduction, an unusual holster, drunk frat boys, an ugly duckling turned hero, and an all-out war of the worlds.

Excerpt and Buy Links

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Now Available as an Audiobook! HELL AND DAMNATION, a Humorous Erotic/Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Now Available as an Audiobook!

Hell and Damnation
Humorous Erotic/Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
by Linda Mooney writing as Carolyn Gregg
Word Count: 19K
$2.99 e / $6.99 p / $6.95 a

Narrated by Samuel Drake
Length: 2 hrs, 6 min
Hear a Sample

Danelius is an incubus. His job is to engage in sex with mortal women as they sleep, drawing them into his snare and condemning their souls. He’s damn good at what he does, and it doesn’t matter that he’s quite proud of the fact that his record is practically spotless. After all, isn’t pride one of the better deadly sins?

But when his last job goes awry, and he subsequently pisses off the Devil, Danelius finds himself in serious straits. For one, he’s kicked out of Hell and ordered to find a pure soul to replace the sinner he lost. For another, he has no place to go and no place to stay.

Stripped of his powers, naked, and freezing his delectable buns off, Danelius suddenly discovers that being mortal hurts. It’s even worse when he’s rescued by Gemma, and soon thereafter realizes he’s falling in love with her.

It's when he discovers the true purpose of his exile that Danelius realizes he no longer wants anything to do with Hell or the Old Man. He wants to remain a mortal with Gemma for whatever time they have left of their lives.  

Wonder how well Satan will take the news when he finds out?