C - COLDFOOT

C IS FOR COLDFOOT

Known as the world furthest north truck stop, Coldfoot, Alaska, sits on the Dalton Highway, or Haul Road, as most viewers of the television show Ice Road Truckers know it. 254 miles from Fairbanks and 240 miles from Deadhorse or Prudhoe Bay, Coldfoot is the last stop for fuel, food, or accommodations.

"The town was originally a mining camp named Slate Creek, and around 1900 got its present name when prospectors going up the nearby Middle Fork Koyukuk River would get "cold feet" and turn around." Wikipedia.

Coldfoot has the supplies needed to continue the journey north for trucks and other vehicles but it also has an airport. All which figure highly in my novel Murder & Obsession.

Photo Copyright

Murder & Obsession
Excerpt:

Steven finally reached Coldfoot, and spoke with Sarah before moving too deeply into the mountains.

 “Saturday is just too far away.” She sounded wistful.

His pride swelled with her words, but her pensiveness bothered him. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s just… I don’t want to go on this trip. I’m sorry. I’m being foolish. I wish we’d waited, or stopped in Seattle before we flew home.”

“Don’t go; let your attorney handle the business issues. Join me. We can start the honeymoon now.”

She laughed. “Oh, my gosh, we do sound like lovesick teenagers. No, I’ll go to Seattle and take care of business. You have a right to some time alone to make your decision. Just promise me that we won’t be apart again for a long, long time.

I’ve taken her away from home again. “I’m sorry, Sarah, we should’ve―”

“No, Steven. We both know our responsibilities; besides, I’m the one who insisted on a wilderness honeymoon. I’m just being silly.”

They talked for an hour because he had a hard time saying goodbye. After the phone call, a cold wind took his attention skyward, where the warnings of a storm floated above the horizon, and its foretelling gave him a chill he could not shake.

*****

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Add my books to your Goodreads Account.
Murder, Madness & Love
Memories of Murder
Murder & Obsession

And try for a free copy of 
Murder & Obsession on Amazon.
(just click the links)

Please support my Thunderclap!

Remember every comment during the A to Z will be an entry to win a 
paperback copy of the trilogy!
(signed if I can send by mail)

B - BIG LAKE

B IS FOR BIG LAKE

The community of Big Lake is located on the shore of its namesake lake about 60 miles from Anchorage. Big Lake is famous for its recreational opportunities, such as swimming, fishing, and camping to name a few. 

Views of Mount Susitna, Denali, and the Talkeetna Mountains makes this resort town a favorite spot summer or winter.

I spent time in Big Lake when I lived in Alaska, and couldn't resist using it in my novel Murder & Obsession. It's a prime location for a surreptitious meeting.

Photo Copyright

Murder & Obsession
Excerpt:

A mixture of cherry, cerise, and mauve colors filled the sky, and Big Lake mirrored the hues, adding depth and shadow through small ripples across its otherwise glassy surface. The sunset exemplified one of the most striking John had ever seen, and he took a few moments to enjoy the beauty before his meeting.

Inside the entry, he discovered a note. “Make yourself comfortable. Be right back, went to town for groceries.” John checked the time. This doesn’t feel right.

John scrutinized the big room while he pretended to fuss with the bags. Gun at the ready, he continued his surveillance, looking to the loft for intruders. He listened but only heard the crackle of the fire in the huge fireplace across the room, the tick tock of a cuckoo clock above his head, and his own heartbeat. He slowly took off his jacket, just to give Eddie time to get in position and make contact with Brent. John placed his jacket on a hook and entered the living room, his gun hidden at his side. He took in his surrounding, but in the center of the room, his peripheral vision picked up a person sitting by the fire, in a chair not viewable from the door. He immediately honed in on the stranger.
                                                 *****

Yes, I snapped these pictures of Big Lake. Just to prove to all those that thought Alaska was an iceberg, that in the summer the temperatures are warm and the entertainment, the same as most states. The man in the white suit was the Finance Director of the Native organization where I worked as an accountant.

Manohar Nevaskar, a genius financial executive, hired from India. I learned so much from this man!

*****

Buy Here

Add my books to your Goodreads Account.
Murder, Madness & Love
Memories of Murder
Murder & Obsession

And try for a free copy of 
Murder & Obsession on Amazon.
(just click the links)

Please support my Thunderclap!

Remember every comment during the A to Z will be an entry to win a 
paperback copy of the trilogy!
(signed if I can send by mail)

A - ANAKTUVUK PASS

A IS FOR ANAKTUVUK PASS

"Anaktuvuk Pass (Uhn-uk-too-vuk) was named after the Anaktuvik River. Anaktuvuk is the English way of spelling annaqtugvik place of caribou droppings in Inupiaq, the language of the Inupiat." Wikipedia

While Alaska attracts people seeking adventure, it also attracts those who need a place to hide. The wilderness is a great place to lose oneself, and to lose those in pursuit. Just as one criminal does in my latest release Murder & Obsession! Detective Quaid, with the help of his uncle, tracks the culprit to Anaktuvuk Pass. 

A beautiful place, Alaska, but a dangerous place too!

Photo Copyright

Murder & Obsession

Excerpt:

Anaktuvuk Pass, just north of the Brooks Ranges, was a remote village of Nunamiut Eskimos. Flying in during October, early November meant below zero temperatures, a frozen tundra, and few places to hide. Steven knew if Gayln Southwick was there, ferreting him out would not be hard.

. . . Steven crossed the room in two strides. His hand clamped around Gayln’s neck. "Remember me?"

Grasping at Steven’s hand, Gayln struggled for air and words. Steven threw him against the door. Gayln’s head bounced with a sickening thud. “Going somewhere, Gayln?”

Gayln tried, but couldn’t move his head. “No,” he croaked.

“No, you aren’t, unless it’s a quick trip to meet your maker. You want that, Gayln? Are you ready?”

Gayln nodded, then immediately shook his head.

“Give me a reason. Please, just one little reason. You've no idea the rage I’m holding. What-Have-You-Done?”

Gayln moaned. His face turned an odd shade of blue, his eyes bulged.

“Are you going to talk or do I have to show you the entrance to Hell first?”

Gayln's face was almost purple. “I’ll talk,” he gasped.

*****

Buy Here

Add my books to your Goodreads Account.
Murder, Madness & Love
Memories of Murder
Murder & Obsession

And try for a free copy of 
Murder & Obsession on Amazon.
(just click the links)

Please support my Thunderclap.

Remember every comment during the A to Z will be an entry to win a 
paperback copy of the trilogy!
(signed if I can send by mail)


FYI!
The winner of the A to Z Challenge Giveaway 
held on the 21st is
Bish Denham!
Congratulations!

HOW DO YOU SAY THANK YOU?

All month I've been hosting the winning authors of
IWSG Anthology Parallels: Feliz Was Here. 

Today it's my turn to talk about Ever-Ton.

If you're interested, the post of how 
I arrived at my story,
 Ever-Ton is located here.

(just click the title)

Today, and before the A to Z takes all our attention,
 I wanted to say thank you to all who've hosted or are planning to host my blog tour. 

Denise C. Covey
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Michael Di Gesu
Robyn Campbell
C. Lee McKenzie
Misha Gericke
Stuart R. West
Michelle Wallace
Nilanjana Bose
Elizabeth Seckman
Patricia Stoltey

Thank you!

And to those not listed but still 
 volunteered their blogs. 
We will connect for future guest posts after the
 A to Z!

Thank you!

And a very special THANK YOU goes out to
Susan Flett Swiderski
Robyn Campbell
&
Deborah Lloyd @ Readers Favorite

for their published reviews. 
(click the links to read them)

Please know, all of you, that I am here for you or any blogger in the process of releasing a book.

Just shoot me an email and we'll work out the details.
yolandarenee@hotmail.com

Your support has meant the world to me!

A single rose can be my garden...

a single friend, my world.

Leo Buscaglia

Love is blind; friendship closes its 

eyes.

Friedrich Nietzsche

How do you say thank you?

Dankie

Shukran

Ta 

Do Jeh

Xie Xie

Dêkuji

Tak

Kiitos

Merci

Danke

Efharisto

Toda

Sukria

Terima Kasih

Grazie

Arigato

Kamsa Hamnida

Takk

Salamat Po

Dziekuje

Obrigado

Spasibo

Gracias

Istutiy

Asante

Tack

Kawp-Kun Krap/Ka'

Tesekkür Ederim

Thank You!


***

The Murder & Obsession Tour Continues

Robyn Campbell invited Steven and Sarah to her site,

but her blog's been hacked. 
She's working to fix that. Until then, if you'd
like to catch up, here's the list of my other appearances.

YourWicked is Showing - Alex J. Cavanaugh

Unrequited- C. Lee McKenzie

Couples Counseling - Stuart R West

Need Some Intrigue - Michael Di Gesu 

Alaska: Why it Speaks to Me - Denise C. Covey

I've started a THUNDERCLAP 
Please support me!
Gracias!

SEISMIC CRIMES

The Murder & Obsession Tour Continues

Today you'll find me at:

Your Wicked is Showing - Alex J. Cavanaugh

Unrequited - C. Lee McKenzie

But before that there was

CouplesCounseling - Stuart R West

Need Some Intrigue - Michael Di Gesu

Alaska: Why it Speaks to Me - Denise C. Covey

But Here TODAY!

*****

It is truly an honor to help Chrys Fey 

introduce and celebrate her newest release.

Seismic Crimes

A blogger with expert advice for all writers, 

is it really a surprise?

Congratulations Chrys!

Title: Seismic Crimes

Series: Disaster Crimes (Book 2)

Genre: Romantic-suspense

Format: Digital and Print

Length: 282 pages

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Cover Artist: Kim Mendoza

World Wide Release - April 22nd!

BLURB:

An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.

Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.

When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!

DIGITAL PRE-ORDER LINKS:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Barnes & Noble

KOBO / All Romance eBooks / The Wild Rose Press

Add it on Goodreads!

Support the Thunderclap Campaign! Click HERE

SCRYING THE PLANE

The Murder & Obsession Tour Continues

Today you'll find me at:

Your Wicked is Showing - Alex J. Cavanaugh

Unrequited - C. Lee McKenzie

But before that there was

Couples Counseling - Stuart R West

Need Some Intrigue - Michael Di Gesu

Alaska: Why it Speaks to Me - Denise C. Covey

But Here TODAY!

*****

Tamara Narayan

another winner of the

IWSG Anthology Contest

Parallels: Felix Was Here!

has agreed to an interview

regarding her winning story

Scrying The Plane

***

Welcome, Tamara, can you explain the title, Scrying the Plane?

Scrying describes the practice of looking into a crystal ball to tell the future. In this story, characters can hook their brains into a device that allows them to experience the internet on what’s called the Virtual Reality Plane. On the VRP, the unconscious users aren’t bound by the natural laws of physics. So there's an urban myth that certain users can bend space, conjure items, and maybe—just maybe—see the future.

Sounds like The Matrix. 

Yep, that movie did inspire me. In fact, before Lily Reynolds enters the VRP, another character quotes the line, “There is no spoon.” 

Give us an example of what your characters do on the VRP.

At a party, Lily sees a pair of inebriated fellows taking turns hopping into a Minecraft trolley to ride tracks that go higher than the real world’s tallest coaster.

Dare I ask why?

It’s a contest. The first one to hurl loses.

Lovely. Yet it sounds like a typical case of bad judgment by teens. Was that deliberate?

Yes. That’s why I chose to write this parallel universe—it was a blast borrowing aspects of our society like teen rebellion and putting a “VRP” spin on them.

Like many kids, Lily feels she’s living a life of constant scrutiny and confinement. In her world, ultimate freedom can only be achieved on the VRP, but it’s restricted to those over 21. So she sneaks out to this party where teens are illegally hooking in. At first it’s an amazing experience, but it turns dark quickly.

How does this tale compare to your other short stories?

I like to take an “everyman” character, give them a life that seems ordinary and relatable, and then sprinkle in something magical, ghostly, or just plain bizarre that the reader never saw coming—tales that would appeal to fans of The Twilight Zone or Stephen King. 

Coming May 3, 2016

Preorder HERE

Scrying the Plane

Tamara Narayan

Tagline: 

A teen experiences thrills and chills in a virtual reality internet.

Blurb:

Are you 21 or older? Care to experience the internet through a virtual reality interface? See Twitter birds flock, hop in a Minecraft trolley, or don the “skin” of your favorite celebrity. Come, sit. Drink your Sleep-Ease and lie back. Don’t worry about the scalpel.  Just a few small cuts to access your temple chip and in go the leads. Hardly any bleeding at all! So hook in, hook up, and go wild. What could go wrong?    

Bio:

From doling out popcorn to moviegoers to flinging smelt to penguins, Tamara Narayan's taken the “road less traveled”. Her career path veered off into a land of integrals and other strange things while she taught college level math, but these days she’s cruising the fiction highway. If you enjoyed Scrying the Plane, check out her other stories on www.amazon.com or visit her at www.tamaranarayan.com.

Congratulations Tamara!

How do you formulate your stories?

Is it with an everyman and a twist?

GROUND ZERO

The Murder & Obsession Tour Continues

Today you'll find me at:

Couples Counseling - Stuart R West

But before that there was

Need Some Intrigue - Michael Di Gesu

Alaska: Why it Speaks to Me - Denise C. Covey

Here TODAY!

We have Michael Abayomi

Author of Ground Zero

1. As a writer of fantasy the IWSG anthology was a perfect fit, did you find the challenge easy?

I’ve got to admit, I had experienced what you could call a light-bulb moment, when I heard about the IWSG anthology. And as fate would have it, I was already working on a story that fitted its alternative history theme at the time. So it was a no-brainer really, adapting that story to the short story format and submitting it as my entry. That said, I’ve spent many hours trying to perfect that story ever since, so I wouldn’t exactly call the challenge “easy.”

 2. Where did the idea for Ground Zero come from?

Several places, but I guess the genesis of the whole thing started after I read Man in the High Castle by Philips K. Dick. This was the first time I was captivated by an alternative version of reality where a key moment in history had played out quite differently from the version we are presently stuck in. My other sources of inspiration include the graphic-novel, Watchmen, as well as two of my favorite video game series, Fallout and Half-Life.

 3. What is it about an altered universe that you appreciate?

Just the possibility. Traditional science fiction has us looking forward, at a future that is more often than not different from our present society. Alternative history on the other hand has us looking backwards. It explores the possibility of how changes in the past would have affected society today. And therein lies its appeal, its attempt at answering the question, “What if…?”

 4. Please tell us about your epic fantasy series, Guardians & The Lost Paradise.

Guardians & The Lost Paradise is a 6-part series that was published over the course of 6 months in 2012. The books themselves took the better part of 6 years to write. The project was inspired by my love for fantasy, even though it also explores some real-life themes, like the loss of a loved one and how that can affect ones outlook on the world. The first book in the series is available for free on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and WattPad.

Ground Zero

Michael Abayomi

Tagline:

     The ruins of New York City might not be as deserted as they seem.

Blurb:

 Thirty years after a nuclear bomb devastates much of the Eastern United States, the survivors are still struggling to deal with the aftermath. Elijah is one of them, a man simply doing his part in the effort to rebuild from what's left. He is also a man on a mission, one that has been fueling what others might see as a morbid obsession with corpses. But he is secretly on a search for answers, a search that has taken him to Ground Zero, the very heart of the irradiated wasteland known as the Red Zone

Michael Abayomi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He fell in love with the art of storytelling after reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. His books include Neuro, The Morning Star, and the epic fantasy series, Guardians & The Lost Paradise.

Website/Blog

Twitter

Thank you, Michael!

Ground Zero is very though provoking especially since I live in Ground Zero.