A Word Please

This month, I have 2 giveaways on my site!

My April Giveaway is winner’s choice! One winner will receive a signed, print copy of any of my eight titles. You can read excerpts from all the books and enter on my contest page: www.QuietFuryBooks.com/contests.html

Next, my BestsellerBound friends and I are having a BestsellerBound eBook Bonanza! We’re giving away 25 ebooks! We’ve broken it down into 5 prize groups of 5 ebooks each. Here’s a quick rundown:

Prize Group 1:
No Justice by Darcia Helle
The Dream by Maria Savva
Trevor’s Song by Susan Helene Gottfried
The Guardian’s Apprentice by J. Michael Radcliffe
Grey Engines by Gareth Lewis

Prize Group 2:
The Other Room by James Everington
Nexus Point by Jaleta Clegg
The Cutting Edge by Darcia Helle
The GNAW Project by Cynthia Meyers-Hanson
Broken Worlds by Gareth Lewis

Prize Group 3:
The Shelter by James Everington
Allegiances by Gareth Lewis
Into The Light by Darcia Helle
The Choice by Sydney S. Song
Second Chances by Maria Savva

Prize Group 4:
Recall! Return of the IRR by Doug DePew
To Hunt Monsters by Gareth Lewis
Miami Snow by Darcia Helle
Echo Falls by Jaime McDougall
Mom’s on the Roof and I Can’t Get Her Down by Cynthia Meyers-Hanson

Prize Group 5:
Blade Sworn by Gareth Lewis
Bloodstone: The Guardian’s Curse by J. Michael Radcliffe
His Story by Cynthia Meyers-Hanson
Hit List by Darcia Helle
Surreal – The Hell in the Family by Sydney S. Song

You can find more information on each book and author, and enter this giveaway on its contest page: www.QuietFuryBooks.com/bsbgiveaway.html

** These are 2 separate contest pages. I created a new contest page specifically for the BsB giveaway. You can enter both! **

Good luck!

I’m giving away books! I’m taking part in the With Love Valentine’s Day Blog Hop! I know, I’m not exactly a romance author but I still enjoy playing cupid now and then. This is a huge event, with 263 authors giving away prizes! Want to know what you can win here? Of course you do. That’s why you’re here.

Grand prize: A signed, print copy of any one of my eight novels.
Five more winners will receive an ebook copy of any one title.

Yes, all prizes are winner’s choice! Click on the cover to read the description and an excerpt:

Now we need rules. Let’s call them guidelines. That’s a much nicer word. Here we go:

1. This giveaway is open to everyone 16 and older, everywhere in the world
2. To enter, leave a comment here along with a valid email address
3. Enter once per person
4. Leave your comment between 7:00 a.m. EST on Saturday, February 11 and midnight EST on Tuesday, February 14

That’s it! I’ll use random.org to choose the winners. I’ll notify everyone via email, so please keep an eye on your spam folder. Spam filters sometimes like to kick me out of inboxes.

Once you’ve left a comment here (go ahead, don’t be shy), be sure to take a look at the event page to find all the other participating authors. All the details are here: http://thebloghopspot.com/event-page

Good luck!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Most of you know that I host a contest on my website each month. Typically, the books I offer as prizes are my own, with one or two titles being each month’s prize. I’m excited to announce that this month’s giveaway is far bigger! Nine of my fellow authors from our BestsellerBound community have graciously – and happily – offered to include their books in this month’s giveaway. Together, we have 10 authors giving away 16 titles – all to one lucky winner!

Here is the list of authors and titles being given:

Quiet Fury: An Anthology of Suspense by Darcia Helle
Into The Light by Darcia Helle
By A Thread by Marty Beaudet
Losing Addison by Marty Beaudet
The Secret of A Spicy Jalapeno by Charlie Courtland
The Dream by Maria Savva
Fusion by Maria Savva
Ladies and Gentlemen… The Redeemers by Michael Scott Miller
Harmony’s Passing by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick
Breathing Into Stone by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick
The Guardian’s Apprentice – Beyond the Veil Book One by J. Michael Radcliffe
Bloodstone: The Guardian’s Curse – Beyond the Veil Book One by J. Michael Radcliffe
Trevor’s Song by Susan Helene Gottfried
Nexus Point by Jaleta Clegg
Wretched Moments with a story by Jaleta Clegg
Rotting Tales with a story by Jaleta Clegg
The GNAW Project by Cynthia Meyers-Hanson

These are all signed, print copies! You can find more information on the contest, the prizes, and the participating authors on my contest page: www.QuietFuryBooks.com/contests.html

The contest is open to everyone 16 and older, anywhere in the world. All you have to do is fill out the form on the contest page. So why are you still here?

I am excited to be taking part in the Christmas blog hop on The Blog Hop Spot! My giveaway is winner’s choice. One person will receive his/her choice of any one of my eight titles in print, along with a new mousepad! Here is a look at your choices. Click on the covers to read an excerpt, or go to my website: www.QuietFuryBooks.com

Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment here on this post, with your name and email address.
2. All comments/entries must be received between 7 a.m. EST Friday, December 16 and midnight EST Sunday, December 18.
3. One entry per person.
4. You must be 16 or older to enter.
5. You can live anywhere.

I’ll email the winner for his/her title choice and mailing address, so please be sure to keep an eye on your spam folder.

If you came here via The Blog Hop Spot, you’ve seen what all the excitement is about. Hundreds of prizes are being offered by 195 authors! If you haven’t been to the main site yet, be sure to hop on over to find and enter as many contests as you like: http://thebloghopspot.com/event-page

But, wait! Before you go, be sure to leave a comment with your name and email address for a chance to win your choice of one of my titles plus a mousepad!

Good luck!

My message board, the indie author/reader community BestsellerBound, is celebrating its first anniversary!

Or is it a first birthday?

Either way, it’s exciting news! BestsellerBound has grown into an incredible community. I am astounded at the talent of the authors. And, even better, they are truly among the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of calling friends.

Celebrations need prizes, right? Of course! In honor of our anniversary/birthday event, a bunch of our members have gotten together to offer their books to interested readers. We have 11 prizes – 10 ebooks and 1 very special, not yet released, print book. Here is the list:

1 coupon code for a free ebook copy of The Dream by Maria Savva from Smashwords

1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of any one title by Darcia Helle

The Choice by Sydney S. Song (my pen name for fiction, only) from Smashwords giving free e-book coupon

1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of Echo Falls by Jaime McDougall

1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of any one title by Gareth Lewis

1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of The Other Room by James Everington

1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of any one title by Susan Helene Gottfried

1 coupon code from Smashwords for free ebook copy of Nexus Point by Jaleta Clegg

1 coupon code from Smashwords for a free eBook copy of 2010 Hindsight: A Year of Personal Growth, In Spite of Myself by Sharon E. Cathcart

1 coupon code from Smashwords for a free eBook copy of Caraliza and also Breathing into Stone by Joel Kirkpatrick

and…

1 free hardbound, signed copy of Joel’s secret 5th novel, shipped the week it is released.

Want a chance to win? All you have to do is leave a comment here, with a valid email address. You need to be 16 years or older and can live anywhere in the world.

Want a few more chances to win? Five other BestsellerBound authors are also running features on their blogs. Visit each one and leave a comment. You’ll receive one entry for each blog you comment on. Here is the list of participating authors, along with the link to their blog post:

Maria Savva: www.goodreads.com/author/show/1418272.Maria_Savva/blog

Cynthia Meyers-Hanson: http://mchanson714.blogspot.com/2011/09/year-anniversary-celebration.html

Susan Helene Gottfried: http://westofmars.com/2011/09/06/its-the-bestseller-bound-birthday

Jaime McDougall: www.inkyblots.com/bestseller-bound-turns-one-giveaway

Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick: www.thetaleisthething.blogspot.com

The deadline for entry on all the blogs is midnight on Saturday, September 17. Winners will be notified via email, so please be sure to include a valid email address in your comment. The only other rule is that you need to be 16 or older.

Good luck!

I’ve got some updates from my world of books today. First, exciting news: The BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology Volume 2 is now available!

A collection of short stories written by authors from the BestsellerBound group.

1. What Was Lost by James Sophi
2. The Art of Breathing by Jaime McDougall
3. Soul Windows by Jaleta Clegg
4. I Didn’t Know His Name by Darcia Helle
5. Red Route by James Everington
6. Make A Wish by Susan Helene Gottfried
7. The Last Chance Motel and Mausoleum by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick
8. Isolation by Maria Savva
9. Beyond The Green Hills by Tom Gahan
10. From Joy We Come, Unto Joy We Return by Ami Blackwelder

As I put this anthology together, I was struck by the incredible talent we have in our BestsellerBound group. You’re welcome to join us there on our message board at any time.

Volume 2, as well as the BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology Volume 1, can be downloaded free in the following places:

My website, on the Free Downloads page, in PDF format: www.QuietFuryBooks.com/freedownloads.html

Smashwords, in formats for all ereaders and computers:
Volume 1: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62029
Volume 2: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/78449

Volume 2 is available on Amazon for Kindle but is currently 99 cents. Amazon does not allow authors to upload our own work and offer it free – only publishers are granted that right. We’re working on pushing Amazon to match the free “price”. You can help us by reporting it! Go to the Kindle page for BestsellerBound Short Story Anthology Volume 2. In the ‘Product Details’ section, you’ll see a link that says ‘tell us about a lower price’. Click on that and report it as free on Smashwords. (Just copy and paste the Smashwords link above.) That’s it! Every report helps us push it toward free!

Volume 2 will soon be available free in a variety of other places, including Barnes and Noble for Nook, Sony’s Reader store and Apple’s iBookstore.

The other thing I want to share is that I am giving away a copy of my new novel Into The Light, as well as a tote bag, in my August Book Giveaway. This contest is international! All you need to do is fill out the form on my contest page: www.QuietFuryBooks.com/contests.html

That’s my news! Head on over to my free downloads page and grab some free reads. Then enter my contest for a chance at another!

If you’d like to be among the first to hear about new releases, contests and assorted news, you can subscribe to my QFB News newsletter:

Thanks for reading.

Today is book launch day! Maria Savva and I are both sending our new books out to the world. Plus, we are giving away a print copy of each to one lucky winner! In case you haven’t noticed all our recent excited chatter, my book is called Into The Light and Maria’s book is called The Dream. Here’s a look:

Max Paddington refuses to go into the light until he finds his killer. This presents a dilemma, since Max is even less competent as a spirit than he was as a live person. No one sees or hears him and he can’t manage to get anywhere or do anything on his own.

Joe Cavelli is a private investigator, living an ordinary life. Then one day he walks across a parking lot, gets yelled at by a ghost, and his life only gets stranger from there.

Max and Joe team up to find Max’s killer. In the process, they form an unlikely friendship and change each other’s lives in ways they never expected.

Lynne cannot shake her feelings of dread; her dreams tell her she is making a terrible mistake, she must not marry Adam. But, how can she believe the dream? Lynne and Adam have shared their lives for three years now. She is certain she loves him.

It is not that love, which her dream warns against.

It doesn’t matter that she loves this man she will soon marry. If she marries him, the voice in her dream says her soul mate will die. Her true love will perish.

Soon, Lynne’s world is transformed and becomes almost unrecognisable, except for the déjà vu. Time doesn’t seem to mean much anymore, and
things are not quite as they seem. As her world spins out of control, Lynne must sort out what’s real and what isn’t to fulfill her destiny.

The Kindle format of my book is available and the paperback will be available on Amazon any moment! In the meantime, you can order the print copy from me on my website and you can find the ebook in all formats on Smashwords.

Here are both formats on Amazon:

Maria’s book will be available in print and Kindle format on Amazon very soon, as well. For now, you can find the ebook in any format on Smashwords. And you can order a print copy from Lulu.

How about a little video entertainment? Here’s my trailer for Into The Light. You can find it on YouTube and my website:

You can also watch the very cool trailer Maria made for her book. Take a look here or check it out on YouTube:

Now let’s talk giveaways! As I mentioned at the start, Maria and I are giving one print copy of each of our books to one lucky winner! This is a 48-hour giveaway, running from 9 AM EST today, July 18, to 9 AM EST on Wednesday, July 20. You must be 16 or older to enter. This is an international giveaway! The only restrictions are that you must be 16 or older to enter and you can only enter once per person. To enter, all you need to do is fill out the form on the contest page of my website.

On my contest page, you will also find my regular monthly contest. This month I’m giving away a copy of my novel No Justice. You are welcome to enter both contests.

Go to my contest page to enter: www.QuietFuryBooks.com/contests.html

Maria and I hope that you’ll take the time to check out our books and enter the contest. We’re both quite excited about sending our babies into the world on their own!

Thanks for reading and good luck.

I am long overdue for posting an update. Here’s a rundown on all the excitement going on:

Many of you know that a character by the name of Max has been chattering in my head for some time now. The book Max stars in is called Into The Light. Max is a ghost, you see. A stubborn, somewhat clumsy middle-aged man who is not at all happy with being dead. Max’s story is not what I’d set out to write. He had other ideas. (Hence, the stubbornness.) Then again, I hadn’t set out to write his story at all. I was working on something entirely different but he popped into my head and refused to go away. He talked to me constantly, kept me up at night. The other characters were forced from my head, that project was put aside, and Max took center stage. I’ve got a very cool cover design in the works and will be unveiling that, along with the book’s blurb, soon. I hope to have Into The Light out in July.

Next up: Free books! May is International Giveaway Month over on my contest page. Joining me in this giveaway is friend and author Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick. I’m offering two print copies of my novel Hit List. He is offering two print copies of his tantalizing novel Breathing Into Stone. Have you entered? If not, what are you waiting for? This is international. You can live anywhere. We’ll send the book as long as you have a mailing address, even if it’s a igloo in Antarctica! You need to enter by midnight EST on May 31. All you need to do is fill out the form: www.QuietFuryBooks.com/contests.html

Wait! don’t run over there yet! I have one last piece of news.

I’ve remodeled my website. The look is a little different and I’ve added a bunch of new stuff. You’ll find a Free Downloads page, where you can download short stories and anthologies. And you’ll also find a Things of Interest page, with a bunch of random nonsense written by me. I’ll be adding to these pages and, hopefully, keeping you entertained. I hope you’ll check out the site and let me know what you think. In case you’ve forgotten the directions there: www.QuietFuryBooks.com or www.DarciaHelle.com (Same building, different address. Weird, I know.)

As always, thanks for hanging out with me!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today it’s all about giveaways. I’ve got lots of prizes to offer you. Books, ebooks and assorted other stuff! Ready?

First up, we have print books with added extras up for grabs:

My novels:

The Cutting Edge, along with a notebook and pen

and

Hit List along with a new hat

And we have the print novel Breathing into Stone by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick

Then we have a bunch of ebooks, listed here by author and the title(s) he/she is offering:

Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick: 1 ebook copy each of Breathing into Stone, Shared, and Harmony’s Passing

Jaleta Clegg: 1 ebook copy of Nexus Point

Jason McIntyre: 1 ebook copy of THALO BLUE

Stacy Juba: 2 ebook copies each of: Twenty-Five Years Ago Today and Sink or Swim

Sylvia Massara: 1 ebook copy of her brand new release Like Casablanca

Susan Helene Gottfried: 1 ebook copy each of ShapeShifter : The Demo Tapes — Year 1, ShapeShifter : The Demo Tapes — Year 2, and Trevor’s Song

Sharon E. Cathcart: 1 ebook copy of You Had To Be There

Darcia Helle: 1 ebook copy each of The Cutting Edge, No Justice (A Michael Sykora Novel), Beyond Salvation (A Michael Sykora Novel), Miami Snow, Hit List, and Enemies and Playmates

Here’s a look at all the books on Amazon:

There you have it – 24 separate prizes for 24 winners! Now, as much as I dislike rules, a few need to apply here:

You must live in the U.S. or Canada
You must be 16 or older
You must have a passion for indie authors (Okay, this is negotiable, though appreciated.)
You must enter before midnight EST on Monday, February 28

That’s it for the rules. Now all you need to do to enter is leave a comment, along with a valid email address. Please keep an eye on your spam folder to be sure your prize information doesn’t get lost there.

Good luck!

youre dead and i killed you

Happy Sample Sunday! Today I’m going to share something I should have shared weeks ago. The multi-talented Pablo D’Stair put together an anthology of short stories, written by various indie authors. The stories and writing styles are as diverse as they are entertaining. I was honored when Pablo invited me to share a piece of my own work. While I don’t normally write short pieces of fiction, I did have a short – and by that I mean quite short – piece that I’d written not long before. The scene had popped into my mind from nowhere in particular. I thought that, at some point, I might use it as a launching point for a novel. I still might. For now, though, this short piece stands on its own within this anthology.

Have I mentioned that I’m going to give away one print copy of this anthology? No? How could I have forgotten that! This book is called youre dead and i killed you: a conversational anthology of crime, noir, and murder. (The lower case letters and missing apostrophe are intentional.) To win it, you need to live within the U.S. or Canada and be 16 or older. Leave a comment with a valid email address before midnight EST on Friday, February 11. I’ll pick the winner Saturday morning.

Now, back to Sample Sunday. As I said, my piece within this anthology is short. I hope you enjoy.

I’ve never accidentally killed someone. That’s the thought I have as I step around the bed and peer down at him. His eyes are open but I can tell he doesn’t see anything. He’s lying on his back, framed by the edges of the black and crimson rug I’d bought to hide the wine stain on the hardwood floor. The blood leaking from his head gets lost in the crimson, making it hard to tell where the carpet ends and his blood begins.

I ease closer, looking for signs of life. His chest isn’t moving.

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I sit on the edge of the bed and look into his unblinking eyes. They’re brown. But saying he has brown eyes is really not telling the story at all. Brown can be dark and rough like old tree bark or light and soft like a new leather jacket. Brown has so many variables. It’s really not a color of its own but more of a category. His eyes are a wilted brown, like they’ve been left in the sun too long. Little dots of green brighten them, making me think of a crisp fall morning, before winter settles in and kills off that last bit of life.

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I always loved his eyes. The first time we met, he’d handed me a glass of champagne and said, “Hello. My name is Jake.”
“You have amazing eyes,” I’d said. Just like that. Words spilling from my mouth untethered.

Now Jake’s eyes stare up at the ceiling. The blood has stopped drizzling from that awful gash on the side of his head. His blood is on the nightstand. All over the sharp corner. Dripping off the edge.

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I sit for what might be a long time or might be a few seconds. Jakes’ eyes won’t look back at me ever again.

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

Does it matter, really, if the act is intentional? Killing someone means they are dead, regardless of intent. Dead is dead. Right?

I’ve never accidentally killed someone.

I shake off this mantra I’ve been reciting in my head. Whether I’ve ever accidentally killed someone is of no importance. I killed Jake. And it wasn’t an accident.

The other stories within this anthology are not quite so short. I’m honored to be a part of this anthology. The talent there is spectacular. This book is available on Amazon. And it’s cheap! Take a look:

This one has some stories and authors that you won’t want to miss. In the meantime, don’t forget to leave a comment, along with a valid email address, for your chance to win a print copy of youre dead and i killed you: a conversational anthology of crime, noir, and murder.

Thanks for reading!