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Middle Grade – The Franklin Chemists

Middle Grade – The Franklin Chemists

 

Middle Grade

 

Published: December 2020

Publisher: Warblebox

Elephant Toothpaste… submarines… rockets and a chase across the lakes of England. This book follows the adventures of Hannah and George as they find themselves on an unexpected adventure with their scientific Aunt Rosalind. When she disappears, they must protect her biggest scientific discovery from two scientists intent on stealing it as their own.

A fun and enjoyable STEM tale from an exceptional author.

#TheFranklinChemists #TillyTurbet #Warblebox #STEM #BookBuzz

 

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One Thousand-Eyed Spies

 

Publisher: Warblebox

Published: June 2018

Middle Grade

One Thousand-Eyed Spies is a fantastical middle-grade children’s story about Gopi, a hapless soldier who is tasked by his Queen with a quest to save the White Island. Gopi must cross an ocean, battle a sea dragon and deliver the heir to the Island to the Upper World and to safety until he is ready to return and fight for his legacy.

Eleven years later and Nana tells her grandson Jag the story of the White Island and how it came to sink to the bottom of the sea. Jag soon realises that there is more to his history than he has been told and a great sea voyage delivers him to a very different destination, one which exists many leagues under the sea and where he must fight for his destiny and the future of the White Island.

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Excerpt

Listen.” She leant forward, whispering. “Between you and me, I don’t really like children. In fact, they’re just about my least favourite animal in the whole world. Worse than spiders. I just can’t bring 9 myself to care about your little plastic toys or your annoyingly loud games or your shocking lack of vocabulary. What’s your name?” “George.” “And yours?” “Hannah.” “It doesn’t matter, because I’ve forgotten you already,” confided Mrs Muddle. “I see forty, maybe fifty children just like you every week. If I cared about every child that I sent away from their family, it might make me sad; and you wouldn’t want me to be sad, would you? So instead, I don’t care. I don’t lose any sleep. I don’t shed a tear. Not ever.”

 

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Historical Fiction – The Marauders of Pitchfork Pas

Historical Fiction – The Marauders of Pitchfork Pas


Historical Fiction, Old West, Western

 

Date Published: August 2020

 

Publisher: Gunslinger, A Next Chapter Imprint

It’s 1873, only a few years after the Civil War, and the West is changing. But there is still one town where good citizens can feel safe.

When the sheriff of Silver Vein is killed, it’s up to saloon keeper Curly Barnes – an admitted coward – to see that justice is done. Along for the ride are two legendary Texas Rangers, the soon-to-be-famous outlaw Johnny Ringo, and a couple of brothers who like to play with dynamite.

But after the dust settles, who will be the last man standing?


About The Author


Clay Houston Shivers is an American novelist currently living in San Francisco. He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, but spent every summer at his grandparents’ ranch near Georgetown, Texas. He first became fascinated by the American frontier and discovered his love for westerns. He attended college at SMU in Dallas, Texas. For the last twenty years he has worked as an advertising copywriter.

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Dystopian Romance – The Matriarch

Dystopian Romance – The Matriarch

Women of the Dust, Book 1

Dystopian Romance

Release Date: October 12, 2020

Publisher: AKM Publishing Pty Ltd

 

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Her citizens are oppressed. His society is diminishing. In a frantic bid for survival, can their fiery union save their peoples?

On a scorched and barren future Earth, Yolanda is her people’s only hope. As Matriarch of an all-female nation, the battle-hardened commander fights an impossible war while desperately seeking a way to stop her subjects from dying of thirst. But when the enemy king is beheaded by his own warrior son, she’s offered a truce that will bring the water they urgently need… in return for leaving her populace defenseless.

With his father dead by his hand, the Hammer is determined to rebuild the shattered community the warmongering king’s brutality almost destroyed. In a bold move to strengthen his dwindling numbers, he offers armistice to a dangerous queen and her bloodthirsty horde of fighting women. All he asks in exchange is for her to accompany him to petition the Council to drop their poisonous sanctions…

As they uncover the truth behind the horrific war, Yolanda is surprised when her begrudging respect for her capable companion blossoms into unexpected desire. And though the Hammer learns there’s more to the impassioned fighter than her brutal reputation suggests, he fears giving himself to her could make him a traitor to his own kind.

When their united strength pits them against oppressive factions, will their growing bond become an unbreakable force?

 

The Matriarch is the thrilling first novel in the Women of the Dust dystopian romance series. If you like enemies-to-lovers, dynamic couples, and empowered feminism, then you’ll adore Annabelle McInnes’s gritty tale.

 

Buy The Matriarch to fight for freedom today!

 

 

 

About the Author 

From the age of sixteen, Annabelle lived in a homeless youth refuge while she remained committed to her education. She spent two years within a section of society that most overlook. 

Her experiences are the foundations that drive her stories and her characters. They fight for their freedoms, have courage in the face of adversity and always aspire for greatness.

Annabelle is the author of True Refuge, an International Bestseller and a finalist for the Australian Romantic Book of the Year in 2018. She is privileged to live in a small rural town in country New South Wales and writes to a distinctive Australian backdrop with its captivating change of seasons. 

Outside of her love for reading, she spends her time with her husband, son and her fifteen year old poodle named Serendipity. She drinks her whisky neat and can often be found at the local market hunting for blue cheese and artisan bread.

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A Satirical Romp through the Wall Street and Silicon Valley Swamps

Satire, Literary Fiction

Published: April 2020

 

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Would you sell your soul to a sociopathic hedge fund titan for tens of
millions in dirty cash? What about your sexy wife? What if it meant cozying
up to a neurotic and lecherous tech entrepreneur while risking your freedom,
and maybe even your life?

Snatch 2&20 is a satirical memoir parodying the author’s past
life as a hedge fund manager. It should not only be of interest to the fans
of the hit TV shows Billions and Silicon Valley, and books like The Wolf of
Wall Street and Liar’s Poker, but to anyone who wants an
insider’s take on the rotten core of our delusional plutocracy in this
second Gilded Age.

If you just say no to innuendo, then please enter with caution (as the
strumpet said to the stiff). But just remember that, in this case, the only
thing more offensive than the jokes is the truth they pillory- the
corruption of our financial elites and the system that enables them, the
ludicrous hype surrounding technology companies and their founders, and the
blatant hypocrisy of pretty much everyone. It is also, perhaps, one
man’s journey to find a grain of meaning in the castle of sand that is
his life.

 

Praise for Snatch 2&20:

 “Snatch 2&20″ is a remarkable debut novel by Luke
Fellows and one I highly recommend. If you’re looking for an entertaining
escape and enjoy a little zing in your reads, this one scores off the charts
in originality, entertainment value and excellent writing. Well done…Among
the top stories I’ve read so far this year.” – Reader Views

“A raucous story told by a brilliant mind becomes something both
satirical and insightful in Snatch 2&20 by Luke Fellows…the novel
sings like a satirical sword cutting through the worlds of finance and the
realms of human folly, making Snatch 2&20 a timely caper that is both
amusing and insightful from start to finish.” -Self-Publishing Review.
4 stars out of 5.

“In this gloriously sardonic book…the descriptions and dialogue are
consistently pithy and snarky…Overall, this novel will be a riotous ride
for readers…Fast-paced and often hilarious fiction” – Kirkus
Reviews

“Complex, witty, dramatic, thought-provoking, and filled with business
and social inspection…Snatch 2&20 is engrossing, unexpected, and hard
to put down…” -Midwest Book Review

“Snatch 2&20 is just wild enough to support its destructive,
incongruously wholesome conclusion…a clever, cynical novel about the
absurdities of capitalism and the people who prop it up.” 4 Stars out
of 5- Foreword Clarion Reviews.

About the Author

 Luke Fellows is a forty-something recovering hedge fund manager. Born in
London, and educated at St. Paul’s School and Oxford University, he
sacrificed his love of Classics for a Wall Street career, moving to New York
City in 2000. After a sojourn at Harvard Business School, he made the leap
to Silicon Valley, where, in 2008, he co-founded a technology-focused hedge
fund, retiring as soon as his partners could practicably get rid of him.
Despite his best efforts to escape the bubble, he still lives with his wife
and three daughters near Palo Alto, CA. Snatch 2&20 is the first novel
he is admitting to.

 

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Paranormal Romance – Bear With Me

Paranormal Romance – Bear With Me

 

Strawberry Shifters Book 1
Paranormal Romance
Date Published: 6/3/2020
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
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Blue eyes, dimples, and silky brown hair; Grant Luther has all of Alison’s weaknesses.
When he asks for one last chance to save their marriage, she agrees to relocate their family to isolated Strawberry, Kentucky in pursuit of his career dreams. Grant views Alison’s sensory issues as limitations and protects her from outside threats. When he finds his new job includes changing him into a shifter in a war against the soul-sucking Sluagh he vows to keep the changes a secret. What he doesn’t know is Alison has been hiding a magical secret of her own. One that makes her a target of the Sluagh.
Will Alison emerge from Grant’s shadow to protect her family? And can Grant learn that being different can be a strength not a weakness?
 #Strawberryshifters
 
Strawberry Full Moon is coming 6/3/2020-6/5/2020!


About the Author
Marilyn Barr currently resides in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband, son, and rescue cats. When engaging with the real world, she is collecting characters, empty coffee cups, and unused homeschool curricula.
She has a diverse background containing experiences as a child prodigy turned medical school reject, biodefense microbiologist, high school science teacher, homeschool mother of a savant, and advocate for the autistic community.
She would love to hear from readers via her website: www.marilynbarr.com.
 
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Contemporary Romance – Savor This

Contemporary Romance – Savor This

 

Lovers in Louisville, Book Three
Contemporary Romance
Published: May 2020
Publisher: Ringmaster Publishing
 
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In this passionate and unpredictable story, Halden Dahl is a successful glass artist and total ladies’ man. Handsome and talented with an ego as big as all outdoors, has he finally met a woman who will bring him to his knee?
 
Madison Lassiter is the new girl in town, and as soon as Halden lays eyes on her, he wants her. Halden has always been a thrill-seeker with a strong sense of wanderlust, so Madison has her doubts that he’s the man for her despite their obvious chemistry.
 
From the age of seven, Madison has been laser-focused on establishing a successful millinery business. It’s time now for her to branch out from her tiny hometown of Honeybee Hollow to the big city of Louisville, Kentucky.
She’s ready for new experiences, but is she ready for Halden?
Suitable for adult readers due to HOT content.
Previous Books in the Series
About the Author
Ariella Talix is the nom de plume of a genteel and creative lady who lives in America’s Heartland.

Her goal is to preserve the dignity of family members who would rather not be associated publicly with a woman who writes such scandalous and stimulating novels. She’s not going to stop writing them though.

She loves her family, pets, great books, not-so-great books that still entertain, and art.

Born and raised near the beaches of southern California, Ariella Talix traveled the world extensively and then found her true home in the Midwest. She has a second-degree black belt in Karate and has been a professional artist for many years. Her work is displayed in countries all over the world.

A sudden brainstorm prompted the first of her novels, Make Believe, and since then the ideas just keep tumbling out like an avalanche.
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Romantic Suspense – When An Angel Whispers

Romantic Suspense – When An Angel Whispers

 
A Chance O’Brien Novel, Book 1
Romantic Suspense
Macy Adams, a beautiful law student, is abducted and assaulted by a vicious serial killer known as the Bayou Butcher. She escapes with the help of a guardian angel and Houston Police Detective Chance O’Brien.
After fleeing her captor, she begins to build a new life, but is plunged back into his murderous grasp by circumstances beyond her control.
More women are murdered, and only Macy can help the FBI catch the Butcher before he kills again. What they don’t know is that this time he is out for revenge and is pulling Macy into his carefully planned trap.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
“Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.”  Desiderius Erasmus
Ba Boom! Ba Boom! Ba Boom! The noise was deafening. A drum or a clock. Yes, a tick but no tock. Not a clock. Not a drum. Louder. Hammering. Beating. Ba Boom! Ba Boom! Ba Boom!
Macy moved her head from side to side and tried to open her eyes. Where was she? What was that sound? She was in a terrible dream. The kind that you have when you want to scream and scream, but you can’t. You try to run, and your feet won’t move. It’s as if they are glued to the floor. Why couldn’t she open her eyes? Why couldn’t she see?
Macy reached to cover her ears. Her chest ached from the vibrations. Her hands refused to move. Her legs were paralyzed. She realized her eyes were already open and she gasped for air.
She could hear the pounding even louder coming from deep inside. Inside of her. Macy realized the pounding was her own heart beating inside her chest. “Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!”
Darkness! “Oh, my God!” She exhaled slowly. Was she blind? Or was she just trapped? Would she stay in this darkness forever? Once, when she was a teenager during a truth or dare game, somebody asked her to name her worst fear. She hadn’t told the truth then. To do so would have made it real. Make it something that could really happen. But, it did happen. This was her nightmare. The one she’d had since childhood. To be trapped, in darkness with no one. Alone. Left to go insane for all of eternity.
Macy sucked air into her lungs. It hurt to breathe. She could only manage small puffs. Tears poured down her face, and she sobbed in desperation.
Again, she pulled at her arms, but they were held down. She couldn’t move. Confused and bewildered, she cried harder. Her body shook with spasms. What had happened to her? Was she dead? She began to recite her childhood prayer.
“Macy,” a soft voice spoke to her from the darkness. A woman’s voice. “Macy, hush.” The voice caressed her. “You aren’t alone. I am here with you.”
The woman’s voice was low and raspy, and Macy strained to hear her. She spoke with an accent Macy didn’t recognize. Macy had often heard Cuban or Mexican accents since she moved from Florida to Houston, Texas, but this was different. She felt someone hold her hand and rub her arm. The woman’s touch was like silk. It soothed her, and Macy found that her tremors lessened.
“I’m dead, aren’t I? Am I in hell? No, can’t be. I don’t believe in hell. Where am I? What happened to me? What have I done to deserve this?” Macy began to sob again and found it difficult to swallow. Her throat was raw from her screams.
“No, my little one, not dead,” the voice whispered. “You are very much alive, and I will help you stay that way. But, you must listen, Malyshka, and do what I tell you. He will be back soon.”
Macy pulled her arms forward again and discovered why she couldn’t move them. Her wrists were bound above her head, and it felt like her feet were bound as well. Because of the soothing voice and calming presence of the woman, her horror eased.
“Please, oh please, untie me,” she pleaded. “I can’t move. I can’t breathe. I can’t see. Am I blind?”
“No, not blind, but blindfolded. You are in a dark and evil place. I would gladly free you if I had the power, but I do not. I cannot. I can only be with you and guide you.”
The voice seemed to be moving away, getting softer, and becoming more difficult to hear.
“Oh, don’t go. Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me,” Macy begged.
A whisper in her ear. A soft flutter on her skin. “I will not leave you. You are a strong woman. You will survive. I know this. I have seen it. Hush now. He is back, and you must pretend to be asleep.”
“But, who are you? Where am I?” Macy was building toward hysteria again.
“Shhh. Evil is here. Close your eyes now. Be brave,” the voice whispered as it moved away.
Macy swallowed and listened for whoever he was. She heard what sounded like a door opening and was about to scream for help when she heard a man say in a sing-song voice, “Macy, oh Macy. I’m here. I’ll bet you can’t wait to see me!”
Macy swallowed again, closed her eyes, and followed the woman’s warning. She pretended to be asleep.
 ~ ~ ~
 Martin Sabien turned and unlocked the padlock on the outside of the large steel door and swung it open into the dark garage. He flipped up the switch just inside the door, and the small, yellow light from the ceiling blinked on revealing walls that were soundproofed with two layers of drywall and fiberglass insulation. In the far corner of the garage was a white Chevy van that Martin inherited when his father died from a stroke two years earlier. He also inherited the small one-story home set on two acres on the outskirts of Splendora, a small town about thirty-five miles north of Houston. Martin had been bringing his women to the garage for the better part of a year.
He blamed most of his bad luck on women. They always got the plum positions and all the breaks. His mother took off when he was seven, and his daddy always said it was because Martin was a little pussy pecker. Just a mamby pamby like her. He didn’t know what that was, but he knew he didn’t want to be like that, so he did everything he could to make his daddy happy.
Martin stood only five-foot-seven inches with his boots on, but he worked out regularly and had plenty of muscles to impress the ladies. His scruffy whiskers and black-framed glasses made his face appear what most people would call unremarkable. Women walked right by him as if he were invisible.
Martin’s father, who worked as a guard at one of the local malls, came home every day wearing his rent-a-cop uniform and swaggered into the house. Right then, Martin decided he would one-up the old man and be a real cop. He was a fair student in high school and made good enough grades to get accepted into college. His father would never say it, but he was proud of his only son.
As soon as Martin turned twenty-one, he applied to all of the local law enforcement agencies in Houston and the surrounding counties. He was not accepted and decided it was because they were hiring women and queers, and not good, solid, educated men like himself. With no prospects for a job after he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, he decided to work on his master’s degree and was hired as a teaching assistant. Suddenly, the world looked different. Women that never looked his way before would smile at him because they knew he graded their work. But Martin was not a forgiving man, and he wasn’t interested in what the ladies wanted to give him. Now, he was only interested in taking.
Martin walked to the back of the garage where a large, old, rectangular wooden box sat upon a sturdy worktable, and called out again to Macy.
Suddenly Macy’s world was flooded with light. She wanted to open her eyes wide to prove that she could still see, but she remembered the words, “Pretend to be asleep.” She tried to breathe evenly and not flinch when she felt a hand engulf her neck and then travel down her breasts and come to rest between her legs. It was only then she realized she was completely naked. His other hand grabbed her breast and pinched the nipple until Macy thought she would cry out.
“You’re good. Let me tell you.” He ripped off her blindfold. “All my other girls started begging and crying as soon as I opened the lid. You stay in there long enough; you’ll do just about anything I want. Huh, Macy?”
When she didn’t respond, he brought the flat of his hand down quickly and slapped her hard on her left cheek, forcing her head to nod and her eyes to pop open. Tears of pain swam in her blue eyes.
“There now. I didn’t think you were still out. I didn’t give you enough to last long. Won’t do any good to pretend. I know all your tricks.”
Macy licked her parched lips and said, “Who are you? What do you want with …”
Martin brought his hand down harder. This time the force of the blow across her face caused Macy to bite her tongue. Blood trickled from between her lips. She could taste it, salty and metallic.
“You don’t talk. Not unless I tell you to talk. Do you hear me? I am the one in charge here, not you, Macy.” He said her name drawing out the last syllable as he reached down and smeared the blood over her chest.
Macy’s tears were flowing freely now, and she could no longer contain herself. She began to sob uncontrollably.
“Not so strong now, are you?” He reached into the box and freed her hands and feet that were tied to the pine box. For a small man, he was exceptionally strong. He easily lifted Macy’s five-foot-eight-inch frame from her prison and roughly deposited her feet first on the concrete floor. She teetered unevenly and almost fell until he pulled her up and steadied her with his hand around her neck again. Her hands and feet were still bound together, and the ropes cutting into her skin were blood-soaked from her unsuccessful attempts to free herself. Macy tried to look around to see where she was, but he pulled his hand back to slap her again, and she flinched.
“Got ya, huh? Never know when it’s coming. You know, I usually wear a mask and don’t let the girls see me. But you, you’re special. I picked you out a long time ago. Gonna have a really good time for a long time with you, sweetheart.”
Macy looked at the man standing in front of her and tried to recall who he was. Something was familiar about him, but she couldn’t place him. He wasn’t ugly. He was just nondescript. If someone asked her to identify him, she would say he had dark hair and dark, soulless eyes. He was young. Maybe her age, and she had just turned twenty-four in January. She doubted she would see twenty-five.
He dragged her across the floor toward what looked like a daybed with a brass frame across the back and sides. She choked back a laugh. A cherry red quilt with matching pillows covered the bed. He was quite the homemaker.
“Something funny?” he asked as he dragged her across the room and threw her face down on the cover.
He pulled her arms up above her head and tied them to the frame, loosened her feet, and tied them separately to each side of the foot of the bed. She could smell sweat and his unwashed body. Panting and sweating now, he discarded his clothes haphazardly on the floor and climbed on top of her.
“No, no. Please. Please don’t do this to me.” Her whimpering, begging sounds quickly turned into piercing screams.
 ~ ~ ~
 She lay crumpled on the bed for what seemed like hours, and when he finally loosened her arms and legs from the bed frame, she sat up and vomited all over the floor, barely missing his naked legs. He yanked her hair so hard she thought he would pull it out and slapped her twice more in the face. Blood poured out of her broken nose.
When he returned her to the box, it was a relief. Although she was still terrified of being left alone in the dark, she was exhausted and hurt. Her face burned where he hit her, and she could feel her swollen lips when she licked them with her tongue. She was thirsty and would have been hungry if she wasn’t so sick at her stomach.
Martin leaned down inches from her face and spoke, “Night night. Well, not the whole night. I have some things to do, but I’ll be back.” Although Macy’s mouth was dry, she managed to produce enough saliva to spit in his eyes.
“Bitch,” he yelled and punched her hard in her stomach. The air left her lungs, and she struggled to breathe. He punched her again and then slammed the lid down and hammered it into place.
She slowly sucked air into her lungs between clenched teeth and listened. Finally, she heard the door open and then close.
She was alone.  

 

About the Authors

Charlene Tess and Judi Thompson are sisters who live over 1400 miles apart. They combined their two last names into the pen name Tess Thompson and have been writing novels together since 2002.

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