#Excerpt from Touching Madness (River Madden) by K S Ferguson #AmReading #Fantasy #Goodreads

I cowered at the hooves of the eight-foot tall demon, wallowing in the soot and debris of the apocalyptic cityscape. He frowned at me, and his mouth formed words, but I couldn't understand him. Hoards of translucent black cloud nightmares rose and fell through cracks in the scarred ground, widening the fissures with each pass. They roiled around us, cutting off light coming from a source that I couldn't identify. I opened my mouth to scream, and one of the nightmare clouds poured in, clogging my throat, filling my lungs with ash, and shooting burning cinders up through my brain. I thrashed, trying to get to my feet so I could run, but I no longer had legs.

I jerked awake, thoroughly tangled in the space blanket, my legs numb, and looked into a pair of amber eyes that stared back at me along the blade of a big, scary military-type knife pointed at my throat. I swallowed hard. Boy, had I screwed up.

"Hi," I said.

She didn't blink. My God, she was beautiful in the pre-dawn light glowing through the windows. No human looked that perfect. Was she real? I freed my right hand and ever so slowly raised my index finger to the tip of the blade while she watched. When I pressed lightly against the point, it pricked my skin. I pulled my hand back. Blood welled from the tiny cut. Yep, real. Shit. She'd taken me prisoner.

"We're surrounded by cops," I said. "If you stick me, I'll scream like a girl."

Ah, crap, why'd I used that expression? She probably screamed like an Amazon warrior. How'd she even lift a knife that big? She was such a tiny thing. All the cops I'd met were big louts. But she had the drop on me, and the knife was a lot more threatening than her wand thingy.

"Who are you? Where are we? How'd I get here?" she asked. The taut muscles around her eyes telegraphed fear, and the knife trembled in her hand.

I rubbed my prickling wrist tattoos against my jeans and caught a whiff of something burnt. I glanced around the kiosk. Up near the ceiling, a trace of shapeless sooty cloud leaked out through the crack around the door. My mouth opened, closed.

"Do you smoke?" I asked, hoping she'd tell me she did. The cloud could have been cigarette smoke even if it didn't smell like tobacco… purposeful cigarette smoke, on the dark side. A hallucination. Not real.

A frown joined her stare. Oops. I'd wandered off topic. What had she asked? Who are you? But her team had that tracking device that reacted to me. How could she be looking for me but not recognize me?

"I brought you here so they wouldn't shoot you. I had to hide you while I led him away." I gave her a tentative smile and waited for her to gush her thanks for saving her life. Maybe she'd be so grateful, she'd tell me about the tracking device—and point that big knife some other direction. Then I could get away before she figured out who I was.

She added narrowed eyes to the stare and the frown. I chewed my lower lip. Maybe I wasn't communicating as well as I'd hoped. I felt woefully inadequate talking to someone as lovely as her, especially someone carrying a dangerous weapon. It could have been worse—at least I hadn't degenerated into word salad or spoken in rhymes.

Light bulbs talk to River Madden; God doesn't. When the homeless schizophrenic unintentionally fractures a dimensional barrier and accidentally steals a gym bag containing a million dollars, everyone from the multiverse police to the local crime boss—and an eight-foot tall demon—are after him. Can he dodge them long enough to correct his mistakes and prevent the destruction of three separate dimensions? If he succeeds, will the light bulbs stop singing off-key?

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Genre – Contemporary, Urban fantasy

Rating – R

More details about the author

Website http://www.ksferguson.net

#Author Lorhainne Eckhart & Why She Wrote "The Forgotten Child" @LEckhart #Western #Romance

What is your favorite color?

Green, anything green I love right now, especially the shade of Emerald.

What is your favorite food?

Well I am a foodie, there are so many different foods I love. But anything Italian tops the lst.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world?

Disneyland.   I love it and every year I pack up my kids and we spend a week there. Next to that it’s the Gulf Islands, each one is a jewel, and absolutely unique.

When and why did you begin writing?

For me, I have a need to write. I had always journaled. But never sat down to write a story.  I am and always have been an avid reader. I devour books. And it was in 2003 I had this dream abut  story and I sat down and started writing. I don’t know how long it took me but every morning before my children were awake I would be up two to three hours before them just writing.

How long have you been writing?

I began my writing career in 2003, that’s when I sat down to write my first novel. Now getting published is a different story, I didn’t receive an offer for publication until 2008.

What genre are you most comfortable writing?

It’s a tie really between Western Romance and Romantic Suspense.

What inspired you to write your first book?

I had a dream. Seriously, I did. It was this story and then I had a need to write it. Everyone morning I got up really early before my kids were awake and I wrote the story. It was then titled The Captain’s Lady, the publisher made some changes,but I received the rights back and with the help of my editor I rewrote the book, gave it a brand new title, and I believe now it’s a stronger story.

What made you want to be a writer?

I had always dreamed of being a writer, but it was after my daughter was born that I realized the need to write and it wasn’t long after that I sat down and wrote my first novel, which was later published by a romance publisher.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it?

I always do research when I write a book, whether it’s the town, the city,the characters, what they do for a living. I research all of it to get my facts straight. So everytime I write a book I am learning something.

Do you intend to make writing a career?

Well writing is a career for me, and has been for a while. This is my sole income and I have done very well at it.

What is your greatest strength as a writer?

The ability to tell a story.

Have you ever had writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?

I have heard people talk of writer’s block. I’ve never had it. Although there are days where I struggle with a scene. But quite often that has more to do with personal demands put on me by outside influences. That’s why it’s important to set very clear boundaries, every morning from this time to this time to this time, I’m writing, so don’t bug me.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

Yes, I’ve attached an excerpt of my new release Vanished, published just last week.

How did you come up with the title?

The title for this book was easy, The Forgotten Child. Like most of my titles it just came to m.

Can you tell us about your main character?

Brad and Emily. And this is the first book of the Friessen men and the women the love. Emily ends a loveless marriage and strikes out on her own answering an ad as a live in caregiver and cook to a wealthy goodlooking rancher. Emily moves with her young daughter. But she begins to see signs something is not quite right with Brad’s small son. And she researches the symptoms as the soft signs of autism. Now Emily has an inner strength, she’s honest, she’s loving, but she is no pushover. And she’s not the typical woman Brad would fall for, she’s short , cute but never considered he supermodel type which is exactly the type Brad has always fallen for.

Brad, is a hard man, who’s got a closet full of baggage an skeletons from his first wife, a selfish woman who abandoned his son and walked out on Brad and has continued to enjoy  lifestyle she felt she was entitled too. Brad is the oldest of three brothers, all hard headed alpha cowboys. Who try to organize the lives of the women they love. But it takes a strong, stubborn,smart woman to understand how to handle a man like Brad. Brad has met his match in Emily, and for the first time she shows him what real love is.

Why did you choose to write this particular book?

With all the books I write, the story comes to me, and it’s a need to write the book. This story was important. A man and his little boy with autism, but yet he doesn’t know anything is wrong with is son. His life, he’s just trying to get through the day until he meets Emily and it takes her to show him something this wrong. This is something that happens with autism, and it's not a criticism of parents of special needs children, because they are doing the best they can and sometimes you don’t see what’s right in front of you.

Come & Meet #Author Deborah Hawkins (Dance for a Dead Princess) #Romance @DeborahHawk3

Are you a city slicker or a country lover?

I really love both.  I’ve always lived in the city, but my grandparents had farms.  I loved to visit them when I was little.  Farm work is very hard work, but there is a wonderful rhythm to it as the seasons pass. I loved visiting the garden and feeding the animals.

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?

I play clarinet in a woodwind quintet, cook, read, make jewelry, and play with my Golden Retrievers.

What movie to you love to watch?

Moonstruck. I’ve seen it too many times to count.

How do you feel about Facebook and Twitter?

I like both, but I tend to be more of a Facebook person.  I really enjoy keeping up with friends on my personal page, and I love hearing from readers on the Dance For A Dead Princess Facebook page.

What’s the reason for your life? 

I’m here to tell stories, to celebrate love and family, and to make people laugh.

How many friends does a person need?

If you have just a few really loyal friends, that’s all you need.

Do you find time to read?

Yes.  I read every day although a lot of it is “day job” related.  I read fiction at night after I’m finished working on my current novel.

Last book you purchased.

I’m currently reading John Grisham’s Sycamore Row.  It’s a sequel to his very first book A Time to Kill.   He writes about the rural South that I know well because of relatives who live there.  And, of course, he writes about lawyers, a world I know well because I am one.

What makes you happiest?

I am happy when the people (and dogs) that I love are happy.  And I am always happy when I’m writing or playing my clarinet. I’ve been studying music since I was nine, and I love to play.  I also love to take care of the people I love.  I like to cook for them or bring them a special little pick-me-up or tell a joke that makes them smile.

What’s your greatest character strength?

I’m an optimist.  I’m always ready to pick up the pieces and go on.  And I look for the lessons in everything and try to use what I have learned to improve my next performance whether it’s writing or music or my “day job.”

What is your favorite quote?

“It doesn’t happen all at once.  You become.”   Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit.

What writing are you most proud of?

My first published novel, Dance For A Dead Princess.  It was not easy to weave  together a modern mystery-love story with a historical mystery-love story and have both be relevant to each other.  I was excited when I read  Diane Donovan’s review at the Midwest Book Review because she really understood what I was trying to do and made me feel great about my work!

(Link to book review)

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/mbw/oct_13.htm#donovan

(Link to book)

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Dance-For-Dead-Princess-ebook/dp/B00C4HP9I0

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dance-for-a-dead-princess-deborah-hawkins/1114978129?ean=2940016545196

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/301660

Website:   http://deborahlhawkins.com/

In January 1997, Princess Diana received a phone call telling her she would be assassinated. She recorded the information on a secret video tape, naming her killer and gave it to a trusted friend in America for safekeeping. It has never been found.

Diana's close friend, Nicholas Carey, the 18th Duke of Burnham and second richest man in England, has vowed to find the tape and expose her killer. After years of searching, he discovers Diana gave the tape to British socialite Mari Cuniff, who died in New York under mysterious circumstances. He believes Wall Street attorney Taylor Collins, the executor of Mari's estate, has possession of it. He lures Taylor to England by promising to sell his ancestral home in Kent, Burnham Abbey, to one of her clients, a boarding school for American girls. Nicholas has dated actresses and models since the death of his wife, ten years earlier, and has no interest in falling in love again. But he is immediately and unexpectedly overwhelmed with feelings for Taylor at their first meeting.

Taylor, unaware that Diana's tape is in her long-time friend and client's estate and nursing her hurt over her broken engagement to a fellow attorney in her firm, brands Nicholas supremely spoiled and selfish. She is in a hurry to finish the sale of the Abbey and return to New York. But while working in the Abbey's library, Taylor uncovers the diary of Thomas Carey, a knight at the court of Henry VIII and the first Duke of Burnham.

As she reads Thomas' agonizing struggle to save the love of his life and the mother of his child from being forced to become Henry's mistress, she begins to see Nicholas in a new light as he battles to save his sixteen-year-old ward Lucy, who is desperately unhappy and addicted to cocaine. But just as Taylor's feelings for Nicholas become clear and at the moment she realizes she is in possession of Diana's voice from the grave, she learns that Nicholas may be Lucy's father and responsible for his wife's death at the Abbey at the time of Lucy's birth. When Nicholas is arrested for Lucy's murder and taken to Wandsworth Prison, Taylor sets out to learn the truth about Nicholas, his late wife, and the death of the Princess of Wales.

Dance for A Dead Princess is a the story of two great loves that created and preserved a family that has lasted for five hundred years.

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Genre – Contemporary Romance,Mystery

Rating – G

More details about the author

Connect with Deborah Hawkins on Facebook 

Website http://deborahlhawkins.com/