Taking the World by Storm Party and W4WS

There's a big party going on in the blogosphere this week, as Alex J. Cavanaugh is celebrating the release of the third volume in his Cassa trilogy, CassaStorm, on Tuesday, September 17. Congratulations, Alex!! We know this book will be just as successful as the first two and our favorite Ninja will have another hit on his hands.

Here is the scoop on this must-read:

CassaStorm

By Alex J Cavanaugh

From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“With a talent for worldbuilding and a compelling cast of characters, Alex J. Cavanaugh combines high powered space battles and the challenges of family dynamics to provide readers a space opera with heart.” 
- Elizabeth S. Craig, author of the Southern Quilting and Myrtle Clover mysteries

“I thought the revelation was going to be one thing and I was completely wrong … CassaStorm pushes the limits…”
- Tyson Mauermann, Speculative Reviews

“…mesmerizing story of survival, personal sacrifice, tolerance, and compassion. It’s a rare jewel that successfully utilizes both character and plot to tell a story of such immense scope and intimate passion…” - Nancy S. Thompson, author of The Mistaken

$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera

Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019

$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Find CassaStorm:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Amazon Kindle

Goodreads

Book trailer

Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, he lives in the Carolinas with his wife.

Website – http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/AlexJCavanaugh  

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4287922.Alex_J_Cavanaugh

It's also the third Monday of the month which means it's time for another edition of Writers4Writers. This month's spotlighted writers are Cherie Reich and Helen Ginger.

To learn more about this great monthly event visit the W4WS page here. And to get tweets and other information to help spread the word about Cherie and Helen visit their blogs.

Congratulations, ladies!

Homeless Animals Day and Writers4Writers

Saturday was International Homeless Animals Day, a day set aside each year to raise awareness of pet overpopulation and to promote spay/neuter practices that reduce the number of unwanted animals and cut down on the overpopulation epidemic.

In that spirit I wanted to share a few pictures of homeless dogs in Cincinnati who are available for adoption through one of my favorite rescues, Sheltered Paws.

Sheltered Paws works in collaboration with the Cincinnati SPCA to bring shelter dogs into foster homes until they can be adopted. They focus on dogs who, for various reasons, have difficulty adjusting to the shelter environment. The Sheltered Paws volunteers provide loving homes where the dogs can feel more secure, thereby increasing their chances at adoption.

These are just a few of the Sheltered Paws dogs currently waiting for their forever homes. Just click on each dog's name to learn more. (Photos courtesy of Sheltered Paws)

Benny

Hersey

Leaper

Aren't they sweet? To see all of the Sheltered Paws dogs currently available for adoption visit their website here.

If you're interested in adding a pet to your family, consider finding a rescue pet through Petfinder. You will have the satisfaction of saving a life while also finding a new best friend!

On a totally different note, today is the day for the August edition of Writers4Writers, the monthly event hosted by Christine Rains, M. Pax, Stephen Tremp, and C.M. Brown. The mission of the group is to raise awareness of spotlighted authors and their books, with the hope of bringing them new fans and increased sales.

This month's authors are Carrie Butler and C. Lee McKenzie. Visit their sites to find tweets and status updates that you can share on Twitter and Facebook. And if you'd like to join in the event each month, sign up here.

Congratulations to Carrie and C. Lee!

Last but not least, today is release day for Yolanda Renee. Murder, Madness, & Love is now available on Kindle. Huge congratulations to Yolanda! My Kindle will have a new book on it this evening. :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a good week ahead.

UnRealms Spotlight: Cherie Reich and Men of Foxwick

I'm really excited to be spotlighting another one of my Untethered Realms buddies, the wonderful Cherie Reich, and help spread the word about her latest release, the short story collection Men of Foxwick. Congratulations to Cherie!!

Here is the info on her latest, including an excerpt from one of the fantastic stories in the collection:

Men of Foxwick by Cherie Reich is now available! This fantasy short story collection features five men from the Kingdom of Foxwick.

A blind teen seeks a place in the kingdom. A dragon seer journeys to Wintermill to spy on the queen. A sword master’s worst fear comes true when he fails to protect the royal family. A king falls in love with an herb witch, but will she feel the same way? A hunter will rise to the challenge to hunt down a man-eating monster.

Short stories in this collection: Blind Scribe, Dragon Spy, Sword Master, Courting Magic, and Monster Hunter

An Excerpt from “Blind Scribe” in Men of Foxwick

Dallan counted his steps as his mama and he weaved through the busy streets of Foxwick. Twenty-six, twenty-seven. They’d passed the fruit stand and were now farther into Foxwick than he’d ever been in his fifteen summers. People, just moving shadows, brushed against his shoulder. He scrunched toward Mama to make his lanky frame smaller. The odor of sweat and manure combated the more pleasant scents of flowers and baking bread. A bead of sweat trickled into his hairline, and he longed for the comfort of their small house.

“Keep up, Dallan.” Mama’s skirts brushed against his pants’ legs.

“Where are you taking me?” He clung to her arm and dragged his feet. They’d gone too far. The shadows darkened, as if the sun had slipped behind the horizon, and he had no clue where he was now.

She halted mid-step before yanking him forward. “I do not wish to do this, but we have little c-choice.”

“Do what, Mama?” He wanted to dig his heels into the pavement and halt their progress. Had she decided he was more trouble than he was worth? Times were tough, and he was such little help. He tried to plow straight—despite counting his steps and placing one foot in front of the other—but he often tripped over the rocky soil. He tried cooking, but he couldn’t even boil water without scorching it. Though he wasn’t too bad as a tailor because he could count stitches and feel where he needed to go, he still needed guidance.

She pulled him closer. Rough stone rubbed against his arm through his thin shirt. A sob hitched in Mama’s throat as she emitted a mouse-like squeak. She embraced him tightly and then smoothed his damp hair from his face. “My sweet boy, I’m so, so sorry.”

“What’s wrong?” His heart pounded like a horse galloping across an open field, each hoof beating the ground in a frantic rhythm.

To purchase: Amazon / Amazon UK / Smashwords / Kobo / Nook

Click here to add on Goodreads.

About the Author: A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her books include the horror series Nightmare, a space fantasy trilogy titled Gravity, and a fantasy series The Foxwick Chronicles. She is Vice President of Valley Writers and a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Untethered Realms.

Her debut YA Epic Fantasy novel Reborn, book one in The Fate Challenges, will be released on May 23, 2014.

For more information, please visit Cherie’s website and blog.

Also, Cherie has a special announcement for her email newsletter subscribers. Click here to sign up for her updates and receive a coupon for a free copy of Women of Foxwick.

If you haven't already read Cherie's work you're really missing out. I don't think there are really any limits to her imagination, and each of her stories promises a great read. I haven't read Men of Foxwick yet but to get an idea of my thoughts on Cherie's writing, check out my review of The Nightmare Collection here. Cherie is also a super nice person who is always willing to help other writers out, so it's a pleasure to be able to help spread the word about her fantastic work. Yay Cherie! :)

Today is also Writers4Writers day and Marta Szemik is this month's featured writer. Visit Marta's page to congratulate her and pick up some tweets and posts to help spread the word about her work all over social media. If you're new to Writers4Writers, click here to learn about how it works and to sign up to participate in this fun monthly event.

Happy Monday, all! :)

M is for Moose

Source: Wikimedia Commons

As with everything else in Alaska, the Alaskan Moose is big, and in fact it is the largest subspecies of moose in the world. There is also a large population of the Alaskan moose, with about 225,000 ranging from Alaska to the western areas of the Yukon in Canada. As a result, humans who live in or visit the area frequently come in contact with these giant creatures.

My main reason for choosing moose as my "m" word was the memory of the moose who ambled through the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska in the Northern Exposure opening credits.

Northern Exposure aired from 1990-1995 but, in a sure sign of my advanced age, it doesn't seem like that long ago to me. I think the show had one of the best opening theme songs ever and I'm sure everyone who ever watched the show remembers the moose.

I tried to find a video of the credits but apparently all have been taken down from youtube due to copyright claims. So I settled for this clip of the music with a picture of the famous moose.




My A-Z theme of Alaska is inspired by my debut novel, Polar Night, which is set in Fairbanks and the Alaskan Arctic. Click here for all the info on the book. 

It's the third Monday of the month, which means it's time for another round of Writers4Writers. This month's featured writers are E.J. Wesley and M. Pepper Langlinais. I'm not familiar with M. Pepper, so it's fun for me to discover a new writer, but I already know E.J. and he is totally awesome and one of my favorite people in the blogosphere. He's also an excellent writer and his Moonsongs books are great reads. 

Visit the W4WS page here for all the info on how to support these two writers.

Character Closeups with EJ Wesley and Writers4Writers

I'm cutting back a bit on blogging for the next few weeks in order to concentrate on writing before the craziness of the A-Z in April Challenge begins, so a few of the Polar Night characters are taking up the slack for me this week.

Danny, Aleksei, and Amanda are visiting with one of my favorite blogger buddies, the totally awseome E.J. Wesley, at his site The Open Vein.

E.J. recently started a new series called Character Closeups, and my characters and I are thrilled to be part of it. Danny is up first, so if you'd like to get to know a bit more about my protagonist visit E.J.'s site here.

I'm offering a free ebook copy of Polar Night at the end of the week, so be sure to stop by E.J.'s if you are interested.

Thank you to E.J. for including me in his series!

Also, today is the day for another round of Writers4Writers! This month's featured writers are Angela Brown and Kyra Lennon, so congratulations to these two fantastic writers!!

If you want to join in and help spread the word about these two authors and their great works, visit the W4WS page here for all the info about this monthly project. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a good week ahead. In addition to spending time concentrating on my writing this week, I am really looking forward to the start of March Madness. Go Buckeyes! :D

Hope to see you over at E.J.'s place this week. I'll be popping back in here on Thursday for The Big Reveal A-Z Theme Hop and to share a guest post from the wonderful Ellie Garratt. 

Writers4Writers and Giveaway Winners

Today is the second Writers4Writers event, and Gwen Gardner and Melissa Bradley are the featured writers for this month. Yay Gwen and Melissa!

Gwen Gardner: Gwen writes YA Paranormal books and is having a Free Kindle Promotion for Giving Up The Ghost February 18th and 19th. I read Giving Up The Ghost last month and I can tell you it's a fantastic read. I am already looking forward to Gwen's next book.

Melissa Bradley: Melissa writes romance, adventure, and suspense novels. I have not read one of Melissa's books yet but they are on my TBR list and this event is inspiring me to move them up to the top of that list. FYI, Melissa's books contain adult content that may not be appropriate for young readers.

If you're not familiar with Writers4Writers, the mission of the group is to

• Help writers bring awareness of their book(s) to tens of thousands of new people
• Help writers reach Amazon Top 100 in at least one category (i.e., suspense, free, whatever)
• Increase sales of their book(s) after the promo is over
• Drive new traffic to their blog and increase following
• Create verbal and viral buss.

Basically, it's a fun and easy way to support different writers each month, and possibly learn about some new great books yourself. To learn more and to join Writers4Writers, just sign up here. 

Also, I wanted to announce the results of my Polar Night giveaway, which concluded on Saturday. Thanks again to everyone who helped me spread the word about Polar Night during my first blog tour! I was thrilled to see over the weekend that the paperback edition of the book is now available at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, so I suppose I can stop checking the sites every fifteen seconds now. :D

The giveaway winners, drawn randomly:

First place winner: Nick Wilford
Second place winner: Michael Pierce
Third place winners: Mark Means and S.A. Ravens

Congratulations to the winners and thanks again to all!

Blogfest Roundup

I learned of some fun upcoming blogfests while hopping around blog land this week and wanted to help spread the word about them. Also, I can't deny that organizing them into one post helps me remember what I have signed up for!

First up, Jamie Ayres is hosting the What Are Your 18 Things? Blogfest starting today and running through Thursday, January 24.

The fest is to celebrate the release of Jamie's debut novel, 18 Things, on the 24th, and all you have to do to enter is post about some items on your bucket list any day between now and then. You don't even have to post 18 things if you don't want to, Jamie is being so flexible about it that you can post one thing and that will still count. Anyone who enters will be signed up to win a bunch of great prizes, including books, gift cards, and critiques. To see the whole list of prizes and to enter, click here.

Huge congratulations to Jamie on her big release!!

Coming up next is the Re-Introduce Myself fest on Monday, January 28. Hosted by Stephen Tremp, Mark Koopmans, Elise Fallson, and C.M. Brown, this fest is a chance to get to know members of the ever-expanding blogging community better, and to allow them to get to know more about you. All you have to do is share something interesting about yourself. The hosts are billing this as a "quick and fun" fest, and short posts are welcome, something I'm sure we can all get behind. Click here for the Linky List!

On February 1, Annalisa Crawford and Kyra Lennon are hosting the Imaginary Friend Bloghop to celebrate the first anniversary of the release of Annalisa's book Cat and The Dreamer. 

Julia, the main character of Cat and The Dreamer, has an imaginary enemy. So Annalisa and Kyra want to know about our imaginary friends when we were kids. This hop is sure to be a fun time. And, if you haven't already read Cat and The Dreamer, I can't recommend it enough! Annalisa is a fantastic writer!

Also in February, Writers4Writers returns and will be held on the third Monday of each month. If you participated in W4WS back in December and helped spread the word about Nancy Thompson's The Mistaken, you know it is a fun way to help publicize fellow authors and their work. February's featured authors will be Gwen Gardner and Melissa Bradley. To learn more about Writers 4 Writers, visit the W4WS page here.


Finally, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has signed up to help with my cover reveal for Polar Night! You guys are the best and I am so grateful for your support.

If you haven't signed up and would like to participate and be entered into the drawing for the Amazon gift card, the linky list below will be open through Saturday, and you can share the cover any time next week.

Writers4Writers, Being Positive, and Finding Claire Fletcher

Today is a big day in blog land, with lots to celebrate. First off, I want to send a special congratulations to Lisa Regan on the release of her fantastic novel Finding Claire Fletcher!!! Woo-hoo, Lisa!!! If you've followed Lisa's blog, you know this has been a long time coming and Lisa has been through lots of writing highs and lows to get to this point. So I couldn't be happier for her that the dream has officially come true today! Plus, I have read Finding Claire Fletcher and it is an excellent read, I highly recommend it. Way to go, Lisa!!!

Also, today is the kick-off for the Writers4Writers Group, which is a new and easy way to support our writer friends and help spread the word about their books. This month's recipient is Nancy Thompson, author of the recently released The Mistaken. Congratulations to Nancy! If you'd like to participate in the group, click here to sign up and to get all the details.

Finally, Sharon Mayhew and Robyn Campbell are throwing a party for Be Positive Day today. It's hard to argue with a day like that, and it came at a great time for me as this has been a primarily negative week for me so far, for reasons that have nothing to do with writing. So there's no time like the present to turn that around and focus on all the positives around me instead. If you want to join in, here's the info from Sharon's page:

The lovely and enthusiastic Roybn Campbell and I decided that we all should celebrate this wonderful day by going on twitter at least once that day and saying something positive followed by #bepositive.  At the end of the #bepositive day, I hope you will friend all the people who joined in and maybe do some retweets to inspire some other people on Twitter.

I hope you will join us...in our positiveness on twitter.

Congratulations again to Lisa and Nancy, and Happy #BePositive Day to everyone! :)