Category Archives: book

An Occasionally Grim Fairy Tale

Desiderata

by Ann M. Noser

AnPrince Bane Baronne has baby fever. He's in search of a wife with the proper mystical bloodline to bear him the heir of prophecy. Anna Leon is chosen, but Bane only pretends to be Prince Charming. When Anna questions his intentions, she vanishes from the castle.

Convinced she's to blame for her younger sister's disappearance, Maria Leon is coerced into the royal marriage instead. She's older, wiser, and should know better—but Bane always gets what he wants. And he's not above using trickery or treachery to do so.

Maria attempts to salvage what she can of a "happily ever after" by working hard to be the best mother and wife. Until the day she learns that every woman who has married into the Baronne line disappears soon after they've produced an heir.

And she's next in line.

Publisher

Published by: Fantasy Works Publishing

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About the Author

My to-do list dictates that I try to cram 48 hours of living into a day instead of the usual 24. I’ve chosen a life filled with animals. I train for marathons with my dog, then go to work as a small animal veterinarian, and finish the day by tripping over my pets as I attempt to convince my two unruly children that YES, it really IS time for bed. But I can’t wait until the house is quiet to write; I have to steal moments throughout the day. Ten minutes here, a half hour there, I live within my imagination.

Like all busy American mothers, I multi-task. I work out plot holes during runs. Instead of meditating, I type madly during yoga stretches. I find inspiration in everyday things: a beautiful smile, a heartbreaking song, or a newspaper article on a political theory. For example, a long drive in the dark listening to an NPR program on the SMILEY FACE MURDERS theory made me ask so many questions that I wrote HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS to answer them to my satisfaction.

I’d love to have more time to write (and run, read, and sleep), but until I find Hermione Granger’s time turner, I will juggle real life with the half-written stories in my head. Main characters and plot lines intertwine in my cranium, and I need to let my writing weave the tales on paper so I can find out what happens next.

Eclectically Criminal

Eclectic Writing Series #2

by Meg Hafdahl

EclecticallyThis second volume of the Eclectic Writings Series is an anthology of short stories from a variety of genres and authors all of which revolve around a crime. From a funny tale of a bank robbery gone awry to the poignant pain of a young girl's rape, each tale is well-crafted and sure to entertain.

Publisher

Published by: Inklings Publishing

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Eclectically Criminal is available from:

  • Amazon in Kindle.
  • Barnes & Noble in Nook.
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About the Author

Meg Hafdahl was raised in both British Columbia, Canada and Minnesota. Meg’s short story Dark Things was a finalist for the 2014 Jane Austen Short Story Award. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies including Spider Road Press’s Eve’s Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery and Horror. Her first book, Twisted Reveries: Thirteen Tales of the Macabre was released by Inklings Publishing in 2015. The second volume of Twisted Reveries will arrive in the fall of 2016 and her first novel is slated for release by Inklings in 2017. She lives in Rochester, Minnesota with her husband and two young sons.

Twisted Reveries

Thirteen Tales of the Macabre

by Meg Hafdahl

TwistedThis collection of 13 tales will have readers on the edge of their seats. The suspense in each story, tinged with horror and ending in surprising twists, is sure to entertain.

Publisher

Published by: Inklings Publishing

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About the Author

Meg Hafdahl was raised in both British Columbia, Canada and Minnesota. Meg’s short story Dark Things was a finalist for the 2014 Jane Austen Short Story Award. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies including Spider Road Press’s Eve’s Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery and Horror. Her first book, Twisted Reveries: Thirteen Tales of the Macabre was released by Inklings Publishing in 2015. The second volume of Twisted Reveries will arrive in the fall of 2016 and her first novel is slated for release by Inklings in 2017. She lives in Rochester, Minnesota with her husband and two young sons.

Eve’s Requiem

Tales of Women, Mystery, and Horror

by Meg Hafdahl

Eve'sThis spine-chilling collection includes horror, dark mystery, historical mystery, and suspense stories by celebrated and emerging writers. Enjoy a good fright? Dive into these eerie tales by masterful storytellers. These thirteen stories of peril and survival also feature complex female characters.

Five percent of the proceeds from this book and ebook will benefit rape crisis centers and veterans' charities.

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About the Author

Meg Hafdahl was raised in both British Columbia, Canada and Minnesota. Meg’s short story Dark Things was a finalist for the 2014 Jane Austen Short Story Award. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies including Spider Road Press’s Eve’s Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery and Horror. Her first book, Twisted Reveries: Thirteen Tales of the Macabre was released by Inklings Publishing in 2015. The second volume of Twisted Reveries will arrive in the fall of 2016 and her first novel is slated for release by Inklings in 2017. She lives in Rochester, Minnesota with her husband and two young sons.

Friday Night Lights for Fathers and Sons

by Mark LaMaster

FridayFinally, a Game Plan for dads to help develop their sons into the men God intended them to be.

Many fathers and sons crave a stronger connection with each other and with God. Unfortunately, most of the time, we’re not sure how. Friday Night Lights for Fathers and Sons provides an answer. Discover how to schedule a 10-Game Day season with your son. Each Game Day is designed to engage dads and their sons in conversation on topics ranging from faith and friends to prayer and purity.

Each Game Day includes:

  • A Game Day Theme (character and integrity, work and money, service, and many more)
  • God’s Key Play (Bible verse)
  • A Scouting Report for dads
  • Personalized Pre-and Post-Game Day Prayers
  • A Pre-Game Planning Session for dads
  • A Game Day activity for fathers and sons (laser tag, disc golf, and test-driving dream cars)
  • Post-Game Day Analysis Questions and Press Conference
  • Plus, many more father and son bonding experiences
Mark LaMaster’s purpose and passion is to help good dads become GREAT dads by providing intentional, biblically based activities to help them raise their sons to become godly young men. Mark is also the founder of Playoff Parenting, LLC, whose mission is to help transform well-intended, passive parents into active and intentional Playoff Parents who teach valuable, Christian-based lessons to their children.

Publisher

Published by: Author Academy Elite

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About the Author

Mark LaMaster's purpose and passion is to help good dads become GREAT dads by providing intentional, biblically based activities to help them raise their sons to become godly young men. Mark is also the founder of Playoff Parenting, LLC, whose mission is to help transform well-intended, passive parents into active and intentional Playoff Parents who teach valuable, Christian-based lessons to their children.

Mark LaMaster describes himself as a K-Love listenin', Dave Ramsey recommendin', Bulletproof Coffee drinkin', Nebraska Football followin', Jeep Wrangler drivin', high handicap golfin', God-fearin' father, husband, and son who wants to share his failures and successes to help you improve your relationship with your son. He seeks to bring you both closer to God. Mark lives in Minnesota with his beautiful bride, Jen, and two amazing children, Hannah and Lincoln.

Dead Girl Running

The New Order #1

by Ann M. Noser

DeadEight years ago, Silvia Wood's father died in an industrial accident. After suffering through years of Psychotherapy Services and Mandated Medications for depression and multiple suicide attempts, she longs to work in Botanical Sciences. When the Occupation Exam determines she must work in Mortuary Sciences instead, she wonders if the New Order assigned her to the morgue to push her over the edge.

To appease her disappointed mother, Silvia enters the Race for Citizen Glory, in an attempt to stand out in the crowd of Equals. After she begins training with "golden boy" Liam Harman, she discovers he also lost his father in the same accident that ruined her childhood. Then Silvia meets and falls for Liam's older cousin, whose paranoid intensity makes her question what really happened to her father.

As the race nears, Silvia realizes that she's not only running for glory, she's running for her life.

Publisher

Published by: Curiosity Quills

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About the Author

My to-do list dictates that I try to cram 48 hours of living into a day instead of the usual 24. I’ve chosen a life filled with animals. I train for marathons with my dog, then go to work as a small animal veterinarian, and finish the day by tripping over my pets as I attempt to convince my two unruly children that YES, it really IS time for bed. But I can’t wait until the house is quiet to write; I have to steal moments throughout the day. Ten minutes here, a half hour there, I live within my imagination.

Like all busy American mothers, I multi-task. I work out plot holes during runs. Instead of meditating, I type madly during yoga stretches. I find inspiration in everyday things: a beautiful smile, a heartbreaking song, or a newspaper article on a political theory. For example, a long drive in the dark listening to an NPR program on the SMILEY FACE MURDERS theory made me ask so many questions that I wrote HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS to answer them to my satisfaction.

I’d love to have more time to write (and run, read, and sleep), but until I find Hermione Granger’s time turner, I will juggle real life with the half-written stories in my head. Main characters and plot lines intertwine in my cranium, and I need to let my writing weave the tales on paper so I can find out what happens next.

The Edge of Nowhere

by C H Armstrong

TheThe year is 1992 and Victoria Hastings Harrison Greene—reviled matriarch of a sprawling family—is dying.

After surviving the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, Victoria refuses to leave this earth before revealing the secrets she’s carried for decades.

Once the child of a loving family during peaceful times, a shocking death shattered her life. Victoria came face to face with the harshness of the world. As the warm days of childhood receded to distant memory, Victoria learns to survive.

No matter what it takes.

To keep her family alive in an Oklahoma blighted by dust storms and poverty, Victoria makes choices—harsh ones, desperate ones. Ones that eventually made her into the woman her grandchildren fear and whisper about. Ones that kept them all alive. Hers is a tale of tragedy, love, murder, and above all, the conviction to never stop fighting.

Publisher

Published by: Penner Publishing

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The Edge of Nowhere is available from:

  • Amazon in Kindle.
  • Barnes & Noble in Nook.
  • Directly from the author

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About the Author

C.H. Armstrong is an Oklahoma native transplanted in Minnesota. A 1992 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, “Cathie”is a life-long lover of books, and staunchly outspoken on subject of banned and challenged books. The Edge of Nowhere is her first novel and was inspired by her own family’s experiences during the 1930s Oklahoma Dust Bowl and The Great Depression.

A Pilgrimage of Hope

A Story of Faith and Medicine

by Mary McCarthy

AThe news felt like a punch in the gut. I cried in disbelief as the doctor told me what they found. In the blink of an eye, my world turned upside down. My husband brought me to the Emergency Room after I experienced a seizure. The hospital staff did scans, tests, and a biopsy, and now the doctor told me I had an inoperable brain tumor. The name of my nemesis was Oligoastrocytoma, Grade 3. My husband and I used the CaringBridge website to keep family and friends informed on how I was doing. A Pilgrimage of Hope, A Story of Faith and Medicine, is my story chronicling the challenges in trying to triumph in the battle for my life. The memoirs capture the frightening details in a crash course with cancer and the possible treatments for this disease. Despite the cancer diagnosis, I found myself being called closer to God. I wanted to share my physical and spiritual journey with others so that when they are challenged, they will have some guidance in how to respond. With recovery in mind, my spiritual growth deepened as I aligned my will with the will of God. A pilgrimage to the Holy Land at the end of my treatments fulfilled my yearning for a greater understanding of Christ. I shared the details of my trip to the Holy Land on my CaringBridge site and in this book.

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About the Author

Mary McCarthy is a firsttime author. In her book, A Pilgrimage of Hope: A Story of Faith and Medicine, she addresses the medical and spiritual needs to overcome a diagnosis of brain cancer. She lives in Rochester, Minnesota, with her husband. She has three married children and five grandchildren.

No Longer a Child of Promise

by Amanda Farmer

NoThis sequel to If You Leave This Farm chronicles the life adventures of this young Mennonite lady who, after choosing to walk away from her father’s farm at age 29, is now free to make her own choices as an adult. Amanda shares the joy of discovering the world away from the farm, of falling in love, and about her decision to eventually leave the Mennonite church. But that freedom and joy is tainted by the continuing intertwined and overpowering conflicts that result from unspoken and unresolved expectations in her family of origin.

With an engaging style, Amanda provides an honest glimpse into her roller coaster journey of hope and love alternating with pain, hurt and bitterness as a result of misplaced familial values, favoritism, and the effect of the ultimate rejection – disinheritance by her parents.

No Longer a Child of Promise vividly portrays the struggle in one woman’s heart to grasp the meaning of forgiveness, to experience triumph and acceptance in her personal journey, and to eventually release the all-consuming pain of rejection in her heart to God.

Publisher

Published by: Archway Publishing

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Amanda Farmer grew up on the farm and worked there with her family until the age of twenty-nine. She earned a master's degree in nurse anesthesia. Farmer now lives with her husband on a hobby farm in southeastern Minnesota. They have one grown daughter.

Aten’s Last Queen

The Forgotten #1

by J. Lynn Else

Aten's"I am King Tut’s wife, but my name is barely a whisper in history’s memory. I was the last of my family to survive the Aten revolution. I had a child at age 12 and was forced to marry three times. But that didn’t mean my story ended badly. My name is Ankhesenamun, my loved ones called me An, and I will stop at nothing to save my family."

Despite the vast treasure found in Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb, there is little left over regarding his bride. From the turbulence of her father’s reign, Akhenaten, who forced monotheism on the country to the mending of these wounds by the now-famous Tutankhamun, her life saw more change than most ancient Egyptians dared even dream about. Evidence left to us about her is this: She was forced to marry her father, her brother, and her grandfather. She gave birth to one healthy baby girl and two stillborn girls. She was widowed at age 12 and 23. She saw four pharaohs crowned within 23 years. After her grandfather took the throne, she disappeared from history.

Ankhesenamun grew up a princess and became a queen at age 13. Her husband, Tutankhamun, was 9. With outside forces try to influence every choice they make, Ankhesenamun finds herself torn between her duties and her desires. In addition, her husband must deal with a crippling deformity that leaves him vulnerable. Meanwhile, Ankhesenamun wrestles a matter of the heart, her own heart. There is a young girl whom was never supposed to have survived the fall of Akhenaten City, a daughter she bore that carries the blood of the heretic in her veins. There are some who will stop at nothing to find this daughter and end the line of Akhenaten once and for all.

Guided by a traveler from the desert wanders whose leader left Egypt in ruin, Ankhesenamun finds herself longing for true love and the ability to worship a God now banned from her world. Can she find a way to escape the game for which she is being played by forces she cannot see? Will it enough to survive the most terrible of all fates -- the threat of her own death and having her name and her family's erased from the walls of history? Because once the new king is crowned, she is dispensable.

With a twist of biblical history interlaced, Ankhesenamun’s voice has a new song to sing which has otherwise been forgotten. Her story weaves through the sands of time as in each chapter she narrates her past and the path her life has been directed to take. Between chapters, Ankhesenamun is dealing with the repercussions of her husband’s death as power-hungry men are grappling for pharaoh’s crown. Using newly discovered facts about Akhenaten’s and Tutankhamun’s genealogy and their reigns, this tale breathes new life into a fascinating and dangerous time in Egypt’s history. Can a lone woman stand against the tides of time which have already consuming her parents, her sisters, and her husband? May the gods have mercy...

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About the Author

J. Lynn Else loves reading and writing about awesome women from antiquity. Besides history, she also gets nerdy with Star Wars, Star Trek, and MST3K. She’s self-published two historical fiction novels set in ancient Egypt, The Forgotten: Aten’s Last Queen and The Forgotten: Heir of the Heretic. Descendants of Avalon, Awakenings book 1, a YA Fantasy with interwoven elements of the legends and people of King Arthur's time, was released through Inklings Publishing in May 2018. Additionally, in July 2018, she self-published a sci fi novella, Strangely Constructed Souls, which asks 'what the price of revenge and how far would you go to right a wrong?'

J. Lynn’s always had a flare for the dramatic, graduating college with a theater major and a dance minor. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and two kids where her shelves are overrun with books, her kitchen is overrun with loose-leaf tea, and her workroom is overrun with Funko Pop figures. She enjoys sketching, reliving her 1990s by watching the latest X-Files episodes, honing her Fruit Ninja skills, and randomly busting out into song and dance. She believes in unicorns and practicing random acts of awesome.