Posted in fiction, Historical, mystery, Spotlight, suspense, Trailer on December 11, 2022

 

 

THUNDER ROAD

 

by

 

Colin Holmes

 

 

Noir / Suspense / Historical Fiction

Publisher: CamCat Books

Publication Date: February 15, 2022

Page count: 384 pages

 

Scroll down for the Giveaway!

 

 

 

 

In this gamble, more than a few poker chips are at stake.

 

When an Army Air Force Major vanishes from his Top Secret job at the Fort Worth airbase in the summer of 1947, down-on-his-luck former Ranger Jefferson Sharp is hired to find him, because the Major owes a sizable gambling debt to a local mobster. The search takes Sharp from the hideaway poker rooms of Fort Worth’s Thunder Road, to the barren ranch lands of New Mexico, to secret facilities under construction in the Nevada desert.

Lethal operatives and an opaque military bureaucracy stand in his way, but when he finds an otherworldly clue and learns President Truman is creating a new Central Intelligence Agency and splitting the Air Force from the Army, Sharp begins to connect the dots. And those dots draw a straight line to a conspiracy aiming to cover up a secret that is out of this world⎯literally so.

 

 

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Praise

 

“[In this] intriguing debut . . . clear crisp prose . . . morphs from a western into a detective story with an overlay of conspiracy theories.” Publishers Weekly

“Sparkling 1940’s dialogue, wry humor, an unpredictable yet coherent storyline, and a breezy style all his own, make Colin Holmes’ somewhat spooky novel, Thunder Road, a winner. I’ll be on the lookout for his next novel.” —Rob Leininger, author of Killing Suki Flood and the Mortimer Angel “Gumshoe” series

“This genre-defying and enormously entertaining romp is Mickey Spillane meets Whitley Strieber meets Woody Allen. I can’t remember when I’ve had so much plain old fun reading a book and just didn’t want it to end.” —Historical Novel Society, Editor’s Choice

“A carefully crafted and original suspense thriller of a read, Thunder Road by Colin Holmes is the stuff of which block-buster action/adventure movies are made. With many and unexpected plot twists and turns, Thunder Road is an inherently fascinating and entertaining novel . . .” Midwest Book Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the pandemic, Colin Holmes toiled in a beige cubical as a mid-level marketing and advertising manager for an international electronics firm. A recovering advertising creative director, he spent far too long at ad agencies and freelancing as a hired gun in the war for capitalism.

As an adman, Holmes has written newspaper classifieds, TV commercials, radio spots, trade journal articles, and tweets. His ads have sold cowboy boots and cheeseburgers, 72-ounce steaks, and hazardous waste site clean-up services. He’s encountered fascinating characters at every turn.

Now he writes novels, short stories, and screenplays in an effort to stay out of the way and not drive his far too patient wife completely crazy. He is an honors graduate of the UCLA Writers Program, a former board member of the DFW Writers Workshop, and serves on the steering committee of the DFW Writers Conference. He’s a fan of baseball, barbeque, fine automobiles, and unpretentious scotch.

 

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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

 

THREE WINNERS:

 

Each receives an autographed hardcover copy of THUNDER ROAD

 

(US only; ends midnight, CST, 12/16/22)

 

 

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

 

 

 

Visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page

 

For direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily,

 

Or visit the participating blogs directly:

 

 

 

12/06/22 Jennie Reads Book Trailer
12/06/22 Hall Ways Blog BONUS Promo
12/07/22 Chapter Break Book Blog Author Interview
12/07/22 LSBBT Blog BONUS Promo
12/08/22 The Clueless Gent Review
12/09/22 All the Ups and Downs Author Interview
12/10/22 The Plain-Spoken Pen Review
12/11/22 StoreyBook Reviews Promo
12/12/22 The Book’s Delight Review
12/12/22 Shelf Life Blog BONUS Promo
12/13/22 Rox Burkey Blog Audiobook Review
12/14/22 Boys’ Mom Reads! Review
12/14/22 Guatemala Paula Loves to Read BONUS Promo
12/15/22 Reading by Moonlight Review

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Poetry, Spotlight on November 28, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

A ghost spirit of dark’s universe falls in love with a ghost spirit of light’s universe, and while They cannot meet, for They wander around separate realms and spacetimes, They live Their love through a secret and sacred interaction.

They are light years APART.

But there is INVISIBLE possession.

A precious NEED bridges the range.

A SECRET LANGUAGE.

A SACRED ENERGY.

A distant BOND is created.

An EVOLUTION of the SOULS.

Will they ever MEET for REAL?

And in what FORM?

A supernatural paranormal romance poetic novel of mystical and spiritual time travel, epitome of confessional metaphysical and existential love that is seen in space opera.

I prefer the dark
And often I cry
But is it so sad?
You prefer the light
And you smile
But are you happy?

Our eyes see
Different things
But our thoughts
Are aligned
And I’m wondering
Why I love you
When we can’t live
The same life

 

 

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Read more about the book in the Press Release

 

 

Praise

 

“Memorable!” – “Evocation of mystery” – “Ethereal nature” – “Modernist” – “Highly creative” – “Very unique concept” – “Astonishingly beautiful” – “Unique experience” – “Carries a beauty to it” – “(The poems) carry a plaintive beauty”

“The poems are painfully heartbreaking and pull at the strings of my emotions” – “Filled with yearning and angst” – “The poems touched me. I got emotional reading them” – “Powerful style with consistently vivid imagery and delightful word that nourish your soul” – “Unique themes with diversification that is the real beauty of this book”

“One of my favorite lines of poetry I’ve ever read” – “Sweet, stuffy, emotional and sooo many emotions my goodness” – “She did get into my head in ways I had not expected” – “She might take you places you did not expect to go” – “Her storytelling style is super unique and hypnotically engaging”

 

 

About the Author

 

Jazalyn attracts all cultures and traditions with an audience from all walks and stages of life as a consequence of the universal atmosphere that encircles her themes.

Her innovative and versatile writing style stemming from abstraction and absurdness captivates mystery and suspense with words swimming in surrealism and magical realism.

Her imaginative and inventive narration unites the philosophical with the psychological and the scientific elements of both fantasy and fiction that create and solve riddles and puzzles.

In what results as a contemporary genre of cinematic (epic) poetry in slice of life-vignette expression which provokes thinking and eyes new horizons.

Her latest books vViIrRuUsS, Rose, Hollow signify Jazalyn’s transition towards literary magnificence.

 

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Posted in Poetry, Spotlight on November 27, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

A socially underprivileged rose witnesses unpleasant events and behaviors that threaten Her inner peace and is determined to set life and love aside in order to find Her true, pure and moral parts of character.

30 petals of MOOD and STATUS.

A society full of INJUSTICES and UNFAIRNESS.

A ROLE She doesn’t want to play.

A RAGE. A RAVE.

A PAST that leads to HATE.

A RARE SOUL.

A wishful CHANGE of HEART.

She AROSE and She ROSE.

From IGNORANCE to STRENGTH.

A FUTURE that should lead to LOVE.

But can there be LOVE?

A dark fantasy magical realism poetic novel that endures urban social issues and inequality, and challenges self esteem, self help, self improvement, self development, healing.

I never knew how to have
I’ve learned to live without love
And I can’t change all of a sudden
Something’s got to happen

 

 

 

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Read more about the book on the Press Release

 

 

 

Praise

 

“Powerfully emotional experience” – “The depiction of an integral step in the evolution of the soul” – “Raises important questions concerning identity, the need to be loved and the value of solitude”

“Captures your heart and keeps you well engaged and feeling so many emotions” – “Heartfelt, relatable and very raw” – “The author has carved a poetry out of her emotions, the brimming reality and the facades we wear”

“Jazalyn has a very interesting writing style that is almost enviable” – “Ups and downs, the depression, turmoil, and triumph of the spirit and the heart” – “Meditation on one person’s inner struggles and gradual acceptance of themselves”

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Jazalyn attracts all cultures and traditions with an audience from all walks and stages of life as a consequence of the universal atmosphere that encircles her themes.

Her innovative and versatile writing style stemming from abstraction and absurdness captivates mystery and suspense with words swimming in surrealism and magical realism.

Her imaginative and inventive narration unites the philosophical with the psychological and the scientific elements of both fantasy and fiction that create and solve riddles and puzzles.

In what results as a contemporary genre of cinematic (epic) poetry in slice of life-vignette expression which provokes thinking and eyes new horizons.

Her latest books vViIrRuUsS, Rose, Hollow signify Jazalyn’s transition towards literary magnificence.

 

Website * Instagram * Twitter * Pinterest * YouTube * Goodreads

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Posted in Poetry, Spotlight on November 26, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

Three robotic viruses are released from unknown forces and compete with each other exposing crimes, with humanity’s scale of existence oscillating between total destruction and reinventing recovery.

A REVELATION of the THOUGHTS.

An AWAKENING for the HIDDEN reality.

A MADNESS pandemic.

A WAR of ESPIONAGE.

Whose VIRUS is which?

Is it too late for reinstating?

The PANIC button pushed.

An attempt to erase the MEMORIES.

Can an EVIL virus SAVE the world?

A post-apocalyptic techno thriller poetic novel that emulates psychological reactions of a serious medical and technological global emergency and provides philosophical insights on the world’s best direction.

It’s unfair
To be guilty
When no one
Is innocent

 

 

 

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For More about the book, check out the Press Release

 

 

Praise

 

“Funky and unusual” – “Variably engaging” – “Fresh and innovative” – “Fast-paced and well written” – “Poetry for a New Age” – “Very avant-garde style” – “The poems hold many truths that need to be recognized” – “Entertaining exploration into one’s own value systems”

“Definitely a new poetry author to keep an eye on!” – “(Poems) which often refer to bullying, truth as opposed to lies, and suffering for being too good” – “Such an easy and digestible read with the style and tone yet complex in its integrity”

“Evocative poems about futurism, the nature of life, and accepting its illogical truths” – “Outstanding contribution to human philosophy presented in a most unusual way” – “Beautiful writing, crazy themes and ideals and epic techniques used – a standout”

 

 

About the Author

 

Jazalyn attracts all cultures and traditions with an audience from all walks and stages of life as a consequence of the universal atmosphere that encircles her themes.

Her innovative and versatile writing style stemming from abstraction and absurdness captivates mystery and suspense with words swimming in surrealism and magical realism.

Her imaginative and inventive narration unites the philosophical with the psychological and the scientific elements of both fantasy and fiction that create and solve riddles and puzzles.

In what results as a contemporary genre of cinematic (epic) poetry in slice of life-vignette expression which provokes thinking and eyes new horizons.

Her latest books vViIrRuUsS, Rose, Hollow signify Jazalyn’s transition towards literary magnificence.

 

Website * Instagram * Twitter * Pinterest * YouTube * Goodreads

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Posted in excerpt, Horror, paranormal, Spotlight, Young Adult on October 6, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

The Book of Demons, the much-anticipated sequel to The Book of Souls, finds Jack Kelly in the fight of his life. This time, he’s not battling ghosts. His nemesis is the shapeshifting necromancer, Mr. Philips, who inhabits both the world of the living and the world of the dead.

When Mr. Philips discovers a powerful, cursed painting whose magic he can use for personal gain, he will stop at nothing to acquire it…including murder.

Before he can get his hands on it, the painting goes missing and its artist is found dead. Enraged, Mr. Philips vows to hunt it down. But someone else finds it first: Jack, a teenage mystic who understands the painting’s tremendous power and would do anything to keep Mr. Philips from harnessing it.

Along with two unexpected allies—a non-verbal autistic child and the spirit of a dead nun—Jack battles to keep the painting away from Mr. Philips. But as the stakes rise along with the body count, their epic battle for possession of the painting may cost Jack everything and everyone he loves.

 

 

AmazonThis book releases on 10/11. Preorder it today!

 

 

Excerpt

 

The Duality exhibit of a little-known artist by the name of Kasper Greenstreet was not on Seymore Hunter’s radar, alias P. Philips, when a rich female patron of the arts invited him to a showing at the Guggenheim. Philips stood behind a long line of people enamored by the two paintings of the actress Desiree Diamond, who had died earlier that day. Philips could smell the blood; he knew the artist was using it in his work. Many of the paintings had a mystical look but did any hold real power? Real magic?

That’s when his body began to pulsate. In an area with fewer people, Philips beheld the most amazing painting he had ever seen: the self-portrait of the artist as a child surrounded by three shadows. He moved everyone out of his way and moved close enough to smell it, taste it. Philips felt the energy coming from the painting and knew he had to possess it at any cost. He wanted to be legitimate so he offered every dime he had accumulated or robbed in the bidding process, only to be told he had been outbid. The painting had been sold to some countess.

He knew other ways of getting the painting. Viler, more sinister ways. Before he had a chance, the countess naively returned it to Kasper Greenstreet, overwhelmed by the mystical, dark side of the art without an ability to control its hidden wickedness. Then Philips began following Kasper Greenstreet. He needed to taste his blood, maybe eat his heart. Kasper slipped through his hands due to an interruption by a couple of drug addicts whose bodies were found weeks later. Accidental overdose. The taste of Kasper’s blood would always keep him on Philips’ radar.

Then Kasper Greenstreet did the unimaginable. He committed suicide. He left the painting and all its power in the hands of some teenage kid and a psychologically damaged adult. None of it mattered now. The painting was close to being his. He could feel it. Young Jack Kelly had powers, but in the end, his power would be no match for Seymore Hunter, aka Philip Philips.

 

 

About the Author

 

Kevin Moore is the author of  The Book of Souls, a mystical ghost story, it is his first novel and the first book in the series featuring Jack Kelly and his paranormal abilities.  The Book of Demons (think Harry Potter meets the Exorcist) is the sequel to The Book Of Souls. Moore also wrote Christmas Stories 7 Original Short Stories which is available everywhere. His play Conversations From The Sports Arena was performed at the HBO Theater in Hollywood. He also had his first children’s picture book Me and My Shadow released in 2021. Moore hopes to continue the Jack Kelly paranormal saga in a third book which he is currently working on. Moore practices Lucid Dreaming which has helped him with his writing. He is a Yogi and an Advanced Reiki Practitioner—most importantly he is Matthew and Madison’s father.

 

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Posted in Kindle, Spotlight, Supernatural, Thriller on August 29, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

His time is now …

 

London, 1966

 

Fear grips the capital when a second ritualistically murdered victim is found in an alleyway — with their heart removed.

With no leads or motive, DCS Kendall Quincy is under intense pressure to find the sadistic killer before a third victim is claimed.

Out of luck Randolph Landon — disillusioned with his life as a private investigator and separated from his family, soon becomes embroiled with his biggest, challenging, and most terrifying case to date. The case leads him down a sinister road to a chilling discovery like no other, so that he regrets grumbling about his lack of work and misfortune …

 

 

 

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Read for Free with Kindle Unlimited 

 

 

About the Author

 

Alan Golbourn was born in Essex, England. He has enjoyed writing stories since a young age when he was recognized early for his writing abilities. Amongst several interests and hobbies, including football and computer games, he holds love and compassion for animals.

 

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Posted in coming of age, excerpt, fiction, Spotlight on August 28, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

It is 1990 and, while the country stands on the brink of war with Iraq, Kirby Russo is finally at peace with the world. At seventeen years old, he’s figured out some important lessons: how to stay out of trouble with the authorities; how to write muck-raking articles that expose the hypocrisy of said authorities; and, most importantly, how to avoid obsessing about his long lost girlfriend Izzy (who has run away and may be in trouble in Chicago). But when a rich classmate snags the editorship of the school newspaper out from under him, Kirby knows his brief career as a conformist is over. An opportunity to reestablish his hell-raising bona fides arises when his long-lost father shows up with a shady past and a half-baked scheme. Together, they embark on a cross-country road trip to connect with a family he never knew, and maybe even track down Izzy. Kirby soon realizes, however, that life’s biggest lessons – the ones that really matter – never happen according to plan.

 

 

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Praise

 

I couldn’t stop reading The Prince of Infinite Space. I read it in one sitting because I cared about the characters. The people in this story are credible and flawed. The novel is a journey of a young man to himself. We root for him. The writing is clean and engaging, designed to carry us along. We go with it. It’s worth the ride into infinite space. —Angela Jackson, poet, novelist, playwright

O, Kirby Russo, Prince of bad choices! Why do I still love you so? Is it your gadfly sense of humor, the way you turn a phrase, or how you keep making brave misguided plans in the face of adult hypocrisy and compromise? Thank you for letting me see the vulnerability you hide from everyone around you. Most of all, last-chancer, I love you because Giano Cromley created you too complex and contradictory to be pigeon-holed. You are always true and vitally alive. —Diane Lefer, author of Out of Place and California Transit (winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize)

Reading Giano Cromley’s fabulous new novel, The Prince of Infinite Space, is a little like taking a road trip with Holden Caulfield. Kirby Russo, Cromley’s narrator, is young and intelligent, and like Holden, he’s quick-witted and damaged. But Kirby is kinder and more vulnerable than Salinger’s narrator; he’s a young man searching for purpose, for love, and for family. In this engaging, funny, and moving love story/road story, things go right and things go wrong. Ultimately, though, they keep on going like the grumbling but mostly reliable Crown Vic that carries Kirby, his newly found father, and by extension us, toward Chicago and self-discovery, toward grief and toward grace. Once in these pages, we have no choice but to sit back enjoy the ride. —Patricia Ann McNair, author of Responsible Adults

In The Prince of Infinite Space, a sequel to The Last Good Halloween, Giano Cromley revisits his wise-beyond-his-years protagonist Kirby Russo, always whip-smart and disarmingly honest, now in military school with America about to enter the Gulf War. When Kirby’s estranged dad shows up to take Kirby on a road trip to heal old wounds, you’ll be hooked by this big-hearted tale that’s full of wit and vulnerability. You’ll want to follow Kirby to a third book as he grows up to inevitably ask: Do any of us ever really grow up? —Leland Cheuk, author of No Good Very Bad Asian

There may be no pot of gold at the end of all the various rainbows that Kirby Russo tracks down in his well-meaning misadventures, but there is for the reader who engages with Giano Cromley’s entrancing, comedic, and at times poetic coming-of-age-story which is true story-telling gold. —Joseph G. Peterson, author of The Rumphulus

With Cromley’s clear vision, a road trip to find a girl transforms into a quest much more meaningful and profound. Kirby Russo is an engaging and relatable anti-hero who can’t decide if he needs to blow up his life or put it back together. By turns funny, charming, sad, and beautiful, Prince of Infinite Space is a delightful read. —Darrin Doyle, author of The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo and The Beast in Aisle 34

 

Excerpt

 

Chapter 6

 

[Context: It’s the first day of Kirby Russo’s senior year at Haverford Military Institute. His journalism teacher, Mr. Lombardi, is about to announce who will be named executive editor of the school newspaper, a position Kirby is expecting to be named to.]

 

My eyes are chalky, and there’s a gross film in my mouth. Plus, my nerves are making my stomach squirm like a net full of eels. There are maybe twenty bekhakied boys sitting around the two long wooden tables.

Andrew Thetford is sitting near the front of the room. Somehow, his khaki service uniform fits him better than anyone else’s. He says something to the guys sitting around him, and they all bust out laughing. Then he crosses his legs and laces his hands behind his head.

I’m sitting across from Marcus Greely, our staff photographer, who’s tinkering with some new lens he got over the summer. Mr. Lombardi walks in and everyone self-shushes.

“Welcome back, gentlemen,” Mr. Lombardi says. “I hope you all had productive summer vacations. I’m sure you’re geared up for what will be a rewarding year with the Haverford Bugle. The first order of business will be naming our new leadership team.”

The room goes silent. I can hear the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead.

“We’ve got a lot of talented individuals on staff, so choosing these positions was extremely difficult.” He pauses and looks around the room.

Across the table, Marcus hoists his camera and starts spraying photos around the room. With each shot, the aperture makes a grinding noise that sets my eyes twitching.

“I won’t hold you in suspense any longer,” Mr. Lombardi goes on. “For the position of Executive Editor, I’m naming someone who I’ve watched for a while now, and who I’ve really seen grow as a journalist.”

My face is burning. My hands are gripping my thighs. When he calls my name, should I stand up and wave? Will people start clapping? I hope I won’t be expected to make a speech, though I’ve got a rough outline in my head of what I might say, should the need arise. Marcus keeps snapping photos.

Mr. Lombardi takes one last breath and says, “I’m pleased to name Andrew Thetford as your next Executive Editor.”

People do indeed start clapping, but I can’t hear it because someone has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. I turn my head toward Andrew in time to see him put on a fake-surprised expression. The boys next to him pat him on the back. He high-fives the kid across the table.

“Your face looks blue,” Marcus says. He’s peering through his camera at me, squeezing off a fusillade of photos. “I don’t think it’s this lens. That might be, like, a health thing.”

My vision swims for a moment. “Andrew’ll do a great job,” I say, to no one in particular. “A really, really, really, really great job.”

Mr. Lombardi is droning on, naming the rest of the staff, but it’s all just noise.

Part of my brain is telling me to snap out of it, to be gracious in defeat. It tries to latch onto some aphorism about finding the true measure of a man when the chips are down or some other tripe they feed to losers when they lose. But another part of my brain is telling me to burn this place to its foundations, to plow its fields with salt.

I have no idea how long these two factions duke it out in my head. The next thing I know, the room has cleared and I’m sitting alone at the table. I feel a hand on my shoulder. Mr. Lombardi is hovering over me, a hangdog look on his face. I can see from here he hasn’t shaved in a few days. His beard is coming in gray.

“I know you’re disappointed, Kirby.”

“Try something stronger.”

“It wasn’t an easy choice,” he says, as if that’s supposed to help.

“Take your fucking hand off my shoulder,” I snap.

He pulls back as if he’s been bitten. It’s a fearful gesture, and knowing that I caused fear in him gives me an ounce of strength. I stand up abruptly, knocking my chair over backwards.

The hallways are empty. I’m adrift, unable to latch onto anything other than my own pain. And it’s telling me one thing: They’ll regret this. All of them.

 

 

About the Author

 

Giano Cromley is the author of the novel, The Last Good Halloween and the story collection, What We Build Upon the Ruins, both of which were finalists for the High Plains Book Award. He is the recipient of an Artists Fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council and was a BookEnds Fellow with Stony Brook University. He is an English professor at Kennedy-King College in Chicago, where he is chair of the Communications Department and sits on the committee for the Center of Equity for Creative Arts. He lives on the South Side of Chicago with his wife and two dogs.

 

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Posted in excerpt, fiction, Historical, Literary, Spotlight on August 27, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

A man mysteriously disappears in a lighthouse, as if dissolved by light, leaving behind a notebook filled with bizarre claims of a curse and a series of drawings entitled ‘The Death of the Jubilant Child.’ The investigation into the disappearance unearths hidden connections between the disappeared man, Helene and the strange figure of the Man With The Forks In His Fingers. Fifteen years later, the discovery of the detective’s copy of the notebook by Helene’s daughter seems to set in motion a repetition of the events of the past.

Circuitously structured and intensely lyrical, The Autodidacts explores the mythos of friendship, the necessity of failure, the duty of imagination, and the dreams of working class lives demanding to be beautiful. It is a prayer in denial of its heresy, a metafictional-roman-a-clef trying to maintain its concealment, and an attempt to love that shows its workings out in the margins of its construction.

 

Thomas Kendall’s THE AUTODIDACTS is a brilliant novel — inviting like a secret passage, infallible in its somehow orderly but whirligig construction, spine-tingling to unpack, and as haunted as any fiction in recent memory. – Dennis Cooper

 

 

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Excerpt

 

James ‘Jim’ Burke arrives at the hospital ten minutes after Lawrence leaves. This despite appearances is in no way premeditated, appearances being less than convincing on closer inspection. Jim is unshaven and wearing a suit slicked with patches of scuff and wear, a vinyl stickiness to the fabric akin to the wet scraped skin he used to find around his knees during the long lost and barely specifiable summers of his youth.

Here he is then, unshaven, unlaundered, his pupils an enlarging spot of black in the spoiled fruit of his eyes, thought patterns gone AWOL, defected in deference to a ragged swarm of digitised colour blown around like confetti by the jigsaw winds of his perception. There’s a bunch of flowers that he stole from an elderly woman’s garden in his hand, the dirt still nattily dreading the stems and forming an organic webbed candelabra under the base of his fist.

He is full of stories or anti-stories that knit and chain together, tangled in images that no mouth could shape nor ear disentangle. How to explain to Helene what happened to him today on the way to see their child or what looped Road to Damascus revelation lurked behind their sequence. Jim walks through the car park rehearsing all the things that he’ll shed, in an instant, on seeing Helene’s heart-shaped face.

He wants to tell her about the old lady on the bus with her wrists crossed stoically above her shopping cart. How she pointedly ignored what must have sounded to her like obscene chatter from the teenagers behind her but which Jim knew held all the necessary, ugly fecundity of youth. He wants to tell Helene about the old lady’s hands, how they were ridged with veins the way great rivers are rendered on a map. How he knew in this moment that he too was some celestial body, a planet amid planets coursing through exploded space, full of lifeforms and possessing only the burning consciousness of a star nudged from its path.

Jim steps forward and the doors of the hospital slide cleanly open, an airless hum sucking the sound from his ears. A cold regulatory blast of air conditioning straps around his body, his skin coming to attention now in a Mobius strip of goosebumps.

Jim feels a sudden rush of exhaustion that’s warm and vaguely sensual at first but which is followed by a quick disavowal of that pleasure. His cells grind. Jim feels the muscles of his body stretching like a long strand of spit. The flowers begin to weigh in his hand. He looks at them. They have wilted on the bus ride here and point downwards now as if peeled from the air.

They were supposed to prove something else entirely.

Jim ducks inside the gift shop. He picks up a bunch of expensive roses and begins to weave the stolen daffodils into their array. The bouquet has become clownish, smeared with a carnival yellow behind which the serious red of the roses break through in little patches of suggested depth.

– Another self-portrait Jim?

He imagines Helene laughing as she says this. Sees her touching his hand and leaving a white half-moon of shooed blood where her finger rests. He pictures their child being transferred to his arms, a weight his body has missed all these years and in which each of them swirl and gambol and mutate, the child a new being to go beyond each of them, bound for the stars or somewhere else at least.

The excitement is making Jim’s fantasies childish. All his hopes have this quality of having been arrested in youth by sadness. He has been sad for a long time. The sadness seemed to reproduce itself in all his wayward strategies to cope with it, a disease that proceeded to colonise all the settlements of his self.

The girl behind the counter of the flower shop is trying to flirt with him. He barely notices. She lays her fingers on the counter and rotates her hips towards the register. There are large rings on each of her fingers. She takes the flowers and scans them while lightly bouncing her hip against the drawer.

What are you here for?

I’m a dad… I think. I think I’m a dad.

The girl turns to him now, leans over the counter.

– You think?

– It’s complicated.

The girl presses the change into his palm.

– Best of luck with that.

 

 

About the Author

 

Thomas Kendall is the author of The Autodidacts released May 2022. Dennis Cooper called The Autodidacts ‘a brilliant novel — inviting like a secret passage, infallible in its somehow orderly but whirligig construction, spine-tingling to unpack, and as haunted as any fiction in recent memory.’ His work has appeared in the anthologies Abyss (Orchards Lantern) and Userlands (Akashic Books) and online at Entropy.

 

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Posted in Cozy, Giveaway, mystery, Spotlight on August 21, 2022

 

 

 

 

A Dark and Stormy Tea (A Tea Shop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
24th in Series
Berkley (August 9, 2022)

 

Synopsis

 

A possible serial killer on the loose sends tea maven Theodosia Browning into a whirlwind of investigation in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

 

It was a dark and stormy night, but that was the least of Theodosia Browning’s troubles. As she approaches St. Philips Graveyard, Theodosia sees two figures locked in a strange embrace. Wiping rain from her eyes, Theodosia realizes she has just witnessed a brutal murder and sees a dark-hooded figure slip away into the fog.

In the throes of alerting police, Theodosia recognizes the victim—it is the daughter of her friend, Lois, who owns the Antiquarian Bookshop next door to her own Indigo Tea Shop.

Even though this appears to be the work of a serial killer who is stalking the back alleys of Charleston, Lois begs Theodosia for help. Against the advice of her boyfriend, Detective Pete Riley, and the sage words of Drayton, her tea sommelier, amateur-sleuth Theodosia launches her own shadow investigation. And quickly discovers that suspects abound with the dead girl’s boyfriend, nefarious real estate developer, private-security man, bumbling reporter, and her own neighbor who is writing a true-crime book and searching for a big ending.

 

INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

 

 

Amazon – B&N – Kobo – IndieBound

 

 

About the Author

 

laura-childsLaura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life, she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women, have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here, and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good, but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

 

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Giveaway

 

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Posted in comedy, Horror, Spotlight on July 6, 2022

 

 

Synopsis

 

After the most amazing date of his life, Cousin Lewis falls in love. Unfortunately, the witch boy just happens to be smitten with Nikki Remi, a witch hunter whose family has been hunting witches even longer than the Galloways have been hunting “deer”. But does Nikki have the same feelings or is she just using Lewis to get at a 500-year-old book in the Galloway Hunting Lodge and an ancient witch-hunting weapon? When the star-crossed lovers fall afoul of the local witch covens, the resulting chaos threatens to destroy the cousins and the biggest college campus in South Jersey.

So grab your silver dagger, stock up on holy water, and be careful who you swipe right on because this Halloween, your date from Hell might literally be taking you there.

 

 

Amazon

 

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

 

The Series

Book 1 – My Cousin, the Piney

Book 2 – Witch Piney are You?

Book 3 – The Third Grade Piney

Book 4 – Feud of the Pineys

Book 5 – Jersey Shore Piney

Book 6 – The Highwayman Piney

Book 7 – The Paradox Piney

Book 8 – Roadkill Piney

 

 

About the Author

Tony DiGerolamo is a New Jersey screenwriter, novelist, comic book writer, game designer, and comedian. He is best known for his work on The Simpsons and Bart Simpson comic books. He has also been a joke writer for Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, a scriptwriter for Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and a blogger for Comedy Central’s Indecision website. He has written screenplays including Mafioso: The Father, The Son starring Leo Rossi. His novels, Fix in Overtime and The Undercover Dragon are available through Padwolf Publishing. After publishing his own comic books (Jersey DevilThe Travelers, and The Fix) with SJRP, he eventually got a publishing deal with Kenzer & Company. Kenzer published The Travelers. Tony also wrote Everknights (another Kenzer comic book), as well as the Hacklopedia of Beasts (Volumes 1 thru 8) and Slaughterhouse Indigo (an adventure for the Hackmaster RPG). He also adapted Mark Twain’s Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc for Campfire.  Performing in the Philly comedy scene for over ten years, Tony performed and directed such improv groups as Next Line Improv, The Cabal, The Ninjas, and Bulletproof Giraffe.

Besides writing for various comedy websites, he had a long-running comics review column in Knights of the Dinner Table magazine. He was the marketing director for comics publisher, Silent Devil. He is the creator of Tony DiGerolamo’s Complete Mafia for d20, creator/biographer for the online webcomic, Super Frat, the co-creator of the Webcomic Factory, and writer for the over two dozen webcomics on the Webcomic Factory site including Lester Crenshaw is Still Dead, Pandamodium and Tales of Pizza.  He is the writer for F*ck You, I’m Italian: Why We Italians Are Awesome, from Ulysses Press.  His current project is a comedy/horror novella series about the hunters of the kin of the Jersey Devil called The Pineys.  You can find all his ebooks and books on Amazon and his thoughts on writing and politics on his YouTube, Bitchute, Odysee, and Rumble Channels with his cohost, his dog, Joan of Arc.

 

Tony’s Amazon PageThePineys.comYouTubeOdysee

 

RumbleBitchuteTwitterThe Webcomic Factory

 

Super FratGabTruth SocialGettrMindsParlerMeWe

 

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