Darkest Shadows by Allyson Gottlieb Cover Reveal

Darkest Shadows by Allyson Gottlieb

Genre: urban fantasy novella

Release date: December 7th 2013

 

 

Blurb -

The missing story...

A would-be dictator has gone to prison.  The dimension is safe from a tyrant's control.  But not everything is as perfect as it appears on paper.

Tamara Kingsley is supposedly a hero.  But she's about to discover that her good deed doesn't actually mean much when it comes to rebuilding a life for herself.  No matter how hard she tries to escape it, the stigma of her past is always lurking, holding her back from fully embracing a new life.

And even in Alpha, Valentine hasn't given up.  He'll spend the next twenty years planning and scheming, waiting for the opportunity to rejoin the world and have his vengeance.  On the top of his hit list?  Tamara, of course.

Also in Darkest Shadows, there will be an exclusive short story (called Darkest Before Dawn) that takes place after the ending of Darkest Legacy.

Darkest Legacy, book 1, is running a free promo for Thursday 10/31 and Friday 11/1.  The link is below:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DVZZ4OS/

The "supplementary material" I mentioned is an interview with Valentine, the male lead, because Darkest Shadows is told half in his perspective (while Darkest Legacy was all from the perspective of Tamara, the female lead).

 

My bio:

Allyson Gottlieb was born in California, but can't wait to go away to college and trade sunshine, bikinis, and fruit smoothies for autumn leaves, winter coats, and hot cocoa.  When she's not busy working on her next bestseller, she can be found devouring books, obsessing over far too many TV shows, spending time with her family and friends... and occasionally doing some homework.  She has been writing since second grade and has no plans to stop until she runs out of stories to tell--so basically never.

https://www.facebook.com/AllysonGottliebAuthor

Interview with Author Stephen Zimmer

Hey book lovers! I am thrilled to have author and film maker Stephen Zimmer here today to answer a few questions about writing, his influences and the future of publishing.

Thanks for being here today Mr. Zimmer!

If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?

I’ve already experienced that as the books that I have had published contain the stories that I’ve wanted to tell, in the way I’ve wanted to tell them. Putting my own work aside, and strictly considering other works, it would have been amazing to be J.R.R. Tolkien with the Lord of the Rings, a body of literary work that has had such a tremendous and profound influence on speculative fiction. Tolkien was truly groundbreaking in so many ways.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

I say this often, but it is always worth repeating. The worst anyone can do is say no, whether it is a publisher, an editor, or even a reader. That’s the worst that can happen, so I encourage writers to move forward at all times, writing, working to get their stories published (or self-published), and following their dream.

Where do you see publishing going in the future?

Mass market paperbacks, big chain stores, things like that are on the way out, as far as things look right now. Print is not, despite what some may conjecture. I think small independent bookstores run by people with a real passion for books are on the way back in, the way it was in a way before the larger chains.

I see a rise in small and independent press as well, as a good brand name helps readers find quality titles in such an enormous sea of new releases made possible by the eBook explosion. Of course, it is about impossible to predict all the shifts in the publishing landscape, so it is also possible that major developments that nobody foresees right now may occur.

What are your ambitions for your writing career?

I want to go as far as I can go. At the moment, I would like to reach the level where I am able to fully make a living at my writing, but I am not the type to limit possibilities. 

What is your all time favorite book?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. When my mother read it to me when I was around seven, it had a tremendous impact on me and really started me on the course to pursuing the path that I am on today.

Out of all your characters, which is your favorite and why?

As a writer with ensemble-cast novels, this is a tough one! I do have a special spot for Janus, from the Fires in Eden series, due to the nature of the journey that he is on. The pain he is enduring within Crown of Vengeance is one I know all too well, and the things he hopes for are the things that I seek in my own journey. I relate to Janus very closely, very intimately, and so I can give him the slightest of nods in regard to picking one character.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to be interviewed on your site! I really appreciate it, and if anyone would like to connect with me online, here are a few links. I love hearing from readers!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/AuthorFilmmaker-Stephen-Zimmer/221620254562078

Twitter: @sgzimmer

Website: http://www.stephenzimmer.com

Blog: http://www.stephenzimmer.blogspot.com

About Stephen Zimmer:

 Born in Denver, Colorado, Stephen Zimmer is an award-winning fantasy author and filmmaker based out of Lexington, Kentucky. Stephen has two series being published through Seventh Star Press.

One is the epic fantasy Fires in Eden Series (which includes Crown of Vengeance, the winner of a 2010 Pluto Award for Best Novel). The series stands at two titles with the third being released in late spring 2012.

The other is an epic-scale urban fantasy series, The Rising Dawn Saga. This series stands at three titles, with the fourth scheduled for release in winter of 2012/2013.

Both series are now affiliated with two growing collections of eBook short stories. The Chronicles of Ave short stories are set in the world revealed in the Fires in Eden Series, while the Annals of the Rising Dawn short stories are set in the world of the Rising Dawn Saga.

His other published short fiction includes the short stories "In the Mountain Skies" and "An Island Sojourn" in the Dreams of Steam I and II steampunk anthologies (edited by Kimberly Richardson), from Kerlak Publishing.

As a filmmaker, Stephen has credits in fantasy and horror, including the supernatural thriller Shadows Light (feature), The Sirens (horror short film), and Swordbearer (fantasy short film featuring a special appearance by former WWE wrestler Al Snow, and based upon the H. David Blalock novel Ascendant.)

Updates and information about Stephen can always be obtained at the following:
 

Website: http://www.stephenzimmer.com
 

Blog: http://www.stephenzimmer.blogspot.com
 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sgzimmer
 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/sgzimmer
 

and also on Google+

The Line that Binds by J.M. Miller Cover Reveal

This one has a hauntingly beautiful cover. It definitely has my attention and I'm adding it to my TBR list!

 

Synopsis

Stained with heartache and cursed with vengeance, a stone well lies on a nineteenth-century estate, waiting for the Stockton line to wish again.

When seventeen-year-old Lila Wayde's father loses his high-paying job in Las Vegas, the family relocates to a Pennsylvania estate bequeathed by an estranged aunt. Lila begins a new life there, one not corrupted by wealth and fake friends. She soon meets Ben, the groundskeeper's gritty grandson, and experiences the kind of happiness her life's been missing. But as she settles into the ancient house, she learns information about her ancestors and the old stone well that may make her wish she'd never come.

Ben Shadows has lost enough in life. So when Stockton Estate's owner, Janine, wills the land to her great-niece Lila, Ben fears for the fate of the property. He decides to find out Lila's intentions as the new owner, but his grandfather wants him to protect her from Stockton Estate's alleged curse. As Ben helps Lila dig through the estate's history, they grow closer than he ever intended. Now, along with concerns about the property and the reality of the curse, he struggles with feelings he can't ignore.

Will the secrets of Stockton Estate bring them together or will knowing the truth rip them apart?

**Recommended mature YA for mild language and mild sexual content**

Teaser Pic

 

Meet J.M. Miller

Goodreads / Facebook / Website / Twitter J.M. Miller first discovered her love of writing in high school where she penned poetry for extra credit in English class and even braved the anxiety of an open-mic night at a local coffee shop. Life soon followed, with a couple of careers, marriage, and a baby. The urge to write again came not long after her daughter's birth, this time calling for more than a few lines in a messy composition notebook. She is a military spouse, and a veteran herself, who finds inspiration in the people she's met and the places she's lived and traveled.       Hosted By:

Zombie Incorporated by Jill Elaine Hughes

Buy Links

Ebook:

Amazon * Barnes and Noble * Smashwords * Sony * Kobo

Paperback:

Amazon * Barnes and Noble

Blurb

“Newcomer Jill Elaine Hughes raises a fresh new voice in the zombie genre with a story filled with plenty of action, well-rounded characters and lots of shocks. Fun, fast-paced and highly entertaining. ZOMBIE, INCORPORATED rocks!” --Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of FIRE & ASH and CODE ZERO

Twilight. With zombies.

Eighteen-year-old Katie Allred is socially awkward and unpopular at school. The only child of parents who had her right out of high school, Katie is herself about to leave the nest, even though she hardly feels ready.

Katie’s new after-school job at the Zimble Box Corporation draws her into the complex social strata of high school cliques and backstabbing friends in ways she never imagined. Katie soon discovers there’s something very strange about the “in” crowd at school---and about her employer, too. Shortly after starting her new job, the Contagion breaks out, plunging her town and the entire nation into chaos as zombie shadow forces come out into the open, ravaging the streets. Katie goes into hiding and her parents disappear, along with almost everyone else she knows.

But Katie soon discovers she has special powers that help her survive. She’s a Beacon, someone with the innate ability to help zombies produce children. It’s a power her employer — and what little remains of the U.S. government — both want to exploit for their own ends. Not only that, it runs in her family---which has a secret past Katie never knew about until now.

Enter Agent Morehouse of the FBI Special Zombie Control Unit. A reformed zombie working undercover, he suppresses his urge to eat human flesh in order to serve and save humanity. But Agent Morehouse can’t help but be attracted to a Beacon like Katie, and she to him. Even as they fight zombies the world over, they must fight their intense attraction to each other, hoping to keep Katie from suffering Agent Morehouse’s terrible zombie fate.

Excerpt

I guess if I really thought hard about it, Mom was right.  The zombie apocalypse was my fault.  Everything was my fault.  I’d ruined her life, and now she wanted me out of it. All the mean underhanded comments over the years, all the passive-aggressive decisions to spend money on herself instead of me, their decision not to plan for my future, all the not-so-subtle hints to get the hell out of her house and become somebody else’s problem----it all made perfect sense now.

                  I could take a hint.  I knew where I wasn’t wanted.  And somehow I figured I’d have a better chance of surviving the coming onslaught of the Undead if I was on my own.  Conventional wisdom says there’s safety in numbers, but I’d watched enough horror movies to know that sometimes it’s best to fly solo.

                  I went to the bookcase and dragged over a milk crate to stand on so I could reach the top shelf. I reached behind the main part of the bookcase to the secret compartment I knew was behind it, the same secret compartment where I’d hidden candy and comic books as part of a treasure hunt game I’d used to play alone as a little girl.  My fingertips felt around until they touched the smooth, cold gunmetal.  I wrapped my fingers around the pistol, pulled it out, inspected it.  It was a lot heavier than I’d expected, yet it still seemed small, too small to be something that could explode and kill someone----or something----in less than a second. The lines of Dad’s semiautomatic Glock were sleek, almost animal-like in their curvature. I didn’t know what I was doing, but on sheer instinct my finger pressed a tiny switch on the spine of the weapon and the chamber popped open, revealing a bullet.  I popped the chamber closed, pressed another switch and the clip fell out into my hand.  I inspected that, studied it, worked out in my head how its various components connected with various components inside the gun which, when the trigger was pulled, would result in a projectile issuing forth, then with a flick of my wrist pushed the clip back inside its slot, heard it click.

                  I knew next to nothing about guns or weaponry or ballistics, other than that I knew my father stored guns in the basement and I had always been forbidden to touch them. But despite that lifetime of ignorance it seemed as if merely holding the weapon in my hand transferred all the knowledge I needed about how or why to use it directly to my brain.  As if I had a natural (maybe even a supernatural) talent for it, or a gift as my grandmother would have said. I could see all the moving parts in my mind’s eye as if they’d been there all along.

                  I reached back into the secret compartment and felt around again until my fingertips touched dusty cardboard.  I grabbed and pulled and came out with a heavy box of magazine clips.  Three magazines, sixteen shells to a clip. I couldn’t do the arithmetic in my head, but I knew it was a lot of bullets.  A lot, but probably not enough.  I reached and grabbed and pulled once again, and retrieved two more boxes of magazines.  Lots and lots of bullets now.  I hoped I’d never have to use them, but just to hold them in my hand felt like a good life insurance policy.

                  I stood and turned my newfound possessions over and over in my hands, studying the switches and gears, memorizing where the safety was and mentally practicing how to disengage and re-engage it. I read the instructions and warnings on the sides of the magazine boxes, noted how they said that semiautomatic-loading weapons were illegal in many states, and the manufacturer had no liability for any physical or legal consequences for any injury or death resulting from improper (or proper? Since guns were for shooting, after all) use of its commercial products. I knew I was holding deadly force within the palm of my hands, and knew that should have scared me at least a little bit.

                  But it didn’t. It did the opposite.

                  Mom watched me do all of this without comment.  I made a point not to meet her eyes for a while, instead keeping my gaze on the gun and the shell magazines. The basement air thickened between us. The ticking sound of the air conditioner as the blower switched on automatically on the other side of the wall seemed way too loud.  We both waited for the other to speak, or at least meet a gaze. But neither of us did, and for far too long a time.

                  Finally, Mom broke the silence. “It’s been way more than ten minutes, and your father isn’t back yet. What do you want to do?”

                  “I don’t know.”

                  “I think you should go up there after him, Katie. Take the gun with you.”

                  I forced myself to meet Mom’s eyes.  I saw a lifetime of disappointment behind her tinted glasses and blue-black mascara.

                  “You’re in a real hurry to get rid of me, aren’t you Mom?” I asked. My tone was cold, deadpan.  I was through with all the bullshit.  I just wanted my mom to tell the truth about me for once.

                  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

                  “Admit it. You’ve been trying to get rid of me for years.  Makes me wonder why you didn’t just get rid of me before I was born and saved yourself the trouble.”

                  All the color drained from Mom’s face.  “How dare you speak like that to me!”

                  “How dare you say straight to my face that you didn’t want me, that you never wanted me, and that I basically ruined your and Dad’s lives!” I shrieked. “Because that’s basically what you just said.”

                  Mom took off her glasses, pressed her palms flat against her eye sockets and choked down a sob.  “Katie, you’re reading way too much into this.  Your father and I----we made a lot of sacrifices for you.  Most people who became parents as young as we did would never have done even a tenth of what we’ve done for you.  You should be grateful.  And I think it’s high time your father and I had some time to ourselves now that we gave up so much to raise you. Except----“

                  “Except now you can’t. Because of the stupid zombies.  Which I suppose are all my fault too, just like everything else is.”

                  Mom slumped down onto a stack of milk crates. “I never said that.”

                  “You didn’t have to.”

                  We stared each other down for a minute or two, Mom always keeping a nervous eye on the gun.  For a split second I actually considered shooting her with it, but dismissed the idea as insane.  Plenty of teens my age think they hate their mothers, but they really don’t. It’s just a phase all young women go through.  The more I thought about it though, I didn’t hate my mother.  I honestly didn’t feel anything for her.  I was as indifferent to her now as I was to a lump of coal.  And that was far worse that hate.  After all, in order to hate someone, you have to love them first.  I wasn’t sure I ever loved Mom, and in that moment I doubted my mom ever loved me either.  Sending me off to face the zombies and my almost-certain death just proved my theory.

                  “So now you want me to save you from the zombies at the risk of my own life, huh?” I said, fingering the barrel of the gun in my hand. “Sort of kills two birds with one stone, doesn’t it?”

Mom’s face crumpled in horror. “I want you to go find your father!”

                  “Find him yourself.”

                  I turned on my heel and dashed up the creaky stairs, skipping the rotten ones at the bottom.  I was still missing one shoe.

                  I headed up to my room and packed a knapsack with one hand. Clothes, shoes, and random toiletries landed in the bag at random as I kept the gun, cocked and ready to fire, out at an angle and sweeping the air, ready for whoever and whatever might appear.

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