Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! 

What am I thankful for? A whole day to spend with the people I love...My husband has the day off, my eldest is home for the weekend from her university, my two live-at-home teens have no activities, and the fridge is full to the brim of goodies for us to eat (although I had a bit of a time trying to find a turkey in the US in October...). My cup continually runs over, and I am so blessed to have all of the opportunities I do. 

To celebrate all of this largess, and as a toke of my gratitude to you, my readers, I've lowered the price of both SKIN and TREASURE IN THE FLAME Kindle ebooks for a whole week! Just $2.99! This week is also #TeenReadsWeek, and yesterday was #IndieAuthorDay, so what better time to have a sale on my indie YA's? If you haven't read them, now is your chance.

If you are in the US, click here. In Canada? Try here. Elsewhere in the world? Check out your local Amazon. :) 

Hope you all have a good book to read, a comfy couch to snuggle into and a thankful heart today. 

With love,

Brenda

SKIN COVER REVEAL!

Happy Day-After-Valentine's Day!

I have the absolute best friends, family, followers and fans, so today I bring you love in a different form...the cover release for SKIN!

Scheduled to publish via Fortunate Frog Fiction (my wee froggie personal publishing company) in May of 2016, SKIN is a Young Adult Paranormal Romance set in one of my favourite places on earth, Prince Edward Island. Think red sand beaches and windswept dunes. Think lighthouses and wild roses. Starfish, seagulls and...Selkies! 

Here's a bit about it:

With a name like Ocean, you’d think moving to Prince Edward Island would be simple. But since she crossed that huge bridge to the land of red sand, Ocean’s life has been far from normal—it’s been downright dangerous. Trouble seems to follow her, and she’s got the bruises to prove it. 

And then there’s her mysterious neighbour, Sam...who seems to know more about her history than she does herself. 

When Ocean finally steps into the salty waves with Sam, she realizes that her life has been based on a lie, and that she is missing something...something she never knew existed. 

Her skin.

Ready to see it? 

And now...

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The first peek of my new novel, SKIN...

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You're almost there...

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Ta Da!!!

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Isn't it pretty? Glendon at Streetlight Graphics has done an amazing job of taking my musings and turning them into a beautiful design. Thank you to my family, friends and even my agent, Fran, for putting up with the back and forth of fine tuning it. I can't wait to share more of SKIN with you in the next few months, and bring another book baby into the world in May. Please let me know what you think in the Comments!

Happy Day-after-Valentine's Day!

Want to find out more about SKIN? Interested in participating in my release party,  reviewing an ARC or highlighting SKIN on your Blog? Comment below or message me on Facebook or Twitter! Don't forget to follow me!

Brenda

SKIN Cover Reveal Party Coming Soon!

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The cover art for my YA Paranormal Romance, SKIN is finished! It's FABULOUS. So excited! Can't wait to share my beautiful Streetlight Graphics cover with you on a day we all need a little post-Valentine's pick me up...Monday, February 15th! I am planning a grand virtual celebration, and I need your help!

Want to party with me? I would love your help spreading the word. Comment below, or facebook/twitter pm me and I'll connect with you for the details. Will also be happy to return the favour for other authors.

You're going to love it!

Brenda

Cover Reveal: The Botanist by L.K. Hill

It's been a while since I've had a cover reveal on my blog, and when my publisher-sister asked for help with hers, I offered to help out. I love Jolly Fish Press's graphic design team, and they have come up with another beautiful depiction of what lies beneath the cover of Ms. Hill's latest novel: The Botanist.

A little about the story...

In the heat of the desert, Detective Cody Oliver inadvertently stumbles upon a strange garden adorned with exotic flowers. Upon closer inspection, he finds the garden is but a cover for the scores of bodies buried below. Soon, the small town of Mt. Dessicate plunges into chaos as journalists, reporters, and cameramen from across the nation descend upon the tiny, desert town to get a piece of the action.

Along with the media, a mysterious woman appears—she may be the only person who has come face to face with the killer, dubbed the Botanist, and lived to tell the tale. If Cody can't piece together a timeline of the land the crime scene is located on, decipher how the woman's mysterious past is connected to the killer, and bring the Botanist to justice, he may lose the people he values most.

Hmmm... how would you capture this in a cover? Curious?

Before I show you the result, don't forget to check out Ms. Hill on her other platforms. You can find out more here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lkhillbooks

Twitter: twitter.com/lkhillbooks

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lkhillbooks/

Goodreads: goodreads.com/authorlkhill

And now, on to the reveal! Scroll down to see to see this beautiful cover.

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What do you think?  I'm looking forward to reading this one!

Brenda

Gabriel's Daughters Cover Reveal!

Yes, I know it's #MilitaryMonday, and I should be talking about other things, but it's that time of year when parties and events and concerts and gatherings and general insanity picks up, so I'm a tiny bit behind on blog posts. Okay, a lot behind. The good news? I've started writing again. :)

Anyway, today, instead of Military stuff, I'm participating in my publisher-mate Janet Jensen's cover reveal for her new novel, Gabriel's Daughters! I haven't read it yet, but the blurb sounds intriguing. And  possibly controversial...

Curious? You'll have to wait a minute.

First here's more about Janet Jensen:

Janet Jensen leads a quiet life in a college town nestled in the foothills of the northern edge of the Wasatch Mountains. She and her husband Miles, an attorney, met as members of Utah State University’s Intercollegiate Debate Team and are parents of three grown sons: a soccer enthusiast/physician in Salt Lake City, Utah; an exercise physiologist/football coach/graduate student in Jyvaskyla, Finland; and a skydiver/embedded systems engineer in Berkeley, California. The Jensens have happily become grandparents of four.

Janet is co-author of a literature-based cookbook, The Book Lover’s Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Great Works of Literature and the Passages that Feature Them (Wenger & Jensen, Ballantine, 2003), and an award-winning novel, Don’t You Marry the Mormon Boys (Bonneville Books, 2007), which won a gold medal for Cultural Fiction in the Readers Favorite  International Book Awards Contest.

Her work also appears in Parables for Today (Cedar Fort, 2012) and Gruff Variations (Writing for Charity, 2012). Baking Day, a personal essay, placed second in the 2011 national essay/memoir contest sponsored by The Writer Magazine and Gotham Writers Workshops.

Janet holds degrees in Speech-Language Pathology from Utah State University and Northwestern University and worked in educational settings for more than twenty years.

A retired soccer mom, Cub Scout leader and PTA president, she is a now a full-time writer and a literacy tutor who feels genuine panic when she is stranded without something to read. Janet welcomes correspondence with readers. 


Janet has quite a CV. And now more about the story...

An impressive work of literary fiction that accurately explores the struggles of being raised in a polygamous community. Jensen’s novel explores the unique strengths and weaknesses of the bonds in a polygamous family.

Gabriel's Daughters wrestles with issues of polygamy, homosexuality, and modernity through the lives of the large, loving, and polygamous Martin family. The story is told primarily through the eyes of Zina Martin, a young girl who, upon discovering she is impregnated by her "sterile" teacher—and will soon be married off to a man three times her age— escapes the enclosed polygamous town of Gabriel's Landing, Utah.

Zina then embarks on a journey full of self-discovery, yet she can never completely escape the longing she has for her family and even the controversial and outdated lifestyle she once lived. Through both tears and triumph, Jensen has crafted a moving story that not only acts as insightful social commentary but also prompts readers to reevaluate their lives.

Wow. Polygamy, escape, and self discovery. I sense a book club possibility! 

So... Are you ready to see the cover? 

Scroll down for the big reveal!

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Mysterious! Can't wait to read it.

Want to find out more about Janet Kay Jensen and her writing? 

She can be reached at: janetkayjensen@gmail.com 

and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JanetKayJensenAuthor?fref=ts. 

She maintains a website at her website at www.janetjensen.com, 

and an author page at GoodReads. She tweets as @JanetKJensen and 

blogs at www.janetkayjensen.blogspot.com.

So? What are your thoughts? Let me know below, or pop by my Facebook page and join the conversation there. 

Until next time!  

Brenda

Military Monday: Meet C. R. Asay!

Heart of Annihilation Blog Tour and Interview

Today I'm fortunate to feature a new writing friend as she launches her debut novel: HEART OF ANNIHILATION. Congrats! Ms. Asay is a former Utah National Guard who has turned her focus toward motherhood and writing. A little about her:

C.R. Asay

Bio: C. R. Asay joined the Utah National Guard at the age of seventeen. After spending time in the 625th Military Police Corp she transferred to the 19th Special Forces group as a counterintelligence agent. She retired from the military after marrying her best friend and graduating from college so that she could embark on the most exciting adventure of all; being a mom.

The short story version of her first novel, Heart of Annihilation, earned an honorable mention from the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. C. R. Asay currently resides in West Jordan, Utah, with her husband, four children, and a dog. There is always a dog.

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B: Welcome Christauna! Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from?

C: Heber City, Utah. Nothin’ quite like growin’ up in a small town.

B: Tell us about your connection to the military...

C: I joined the Utah National Guard when I was 17. I did my basic training between my junior and senior year of high school and then completed my training after graduation. I remember one guy from my graduating class checking the back of my truck for an M-16 when he heard I’d joined… Still makes me snicker.

I was an in a Military Police EPW (enemy prisoners of war) unit for a while until we were disbanded. After that I joined the 19^th Special Forces group as a counterintelligence agent. I was with this unit until I got out a few years later right after my first child was born.

B: Sounds busy. How has your military background influenced the writing of Heart of Annihilation?

C: My military background is the breath of life behind this work. Heart of Annihilation is a work of fiction, but with a very realistic and accurate military setting.

B: When did you start writing? What led you to writing a full length novel?

C: Writing has always been a part of my life, but it wasn’t until my husband decided to write a novel that I fell in love with the whole process of an actual full-length novel. There is just such detail and scope that goes into a novel that it creates an entire world for readers to explore. I was hooked the 

second I imagined the world that became Heart of Annihilation.

B: I can certainly understand that feeling! Can you describe the process from first words to finished product?

C: I have no process. Someday I hope to have a process, but for now every time I sit down to write I do it differently. I’m usually a pantser, as in I write by the seat of my pants. Whatever comes into my head makes it onto paper and then I revise heavily in the aftermath. Sometimes I’ll write for weeks at a frantic pace, desperate to get the words out. Other times I’ll go for weeks without writing a single new word. I work well under a deadline, so even if the muses aren’t with me, I can usually pound out anything I need to if a deadline is looming over my head.

B: On a scale of zero (nearly impossible) to ten (a dream come true) how would you rate your publishing experiences so far?

C: That’s a tough one. A 7. I love everything about my book. Its very existence seems miraculous to me. I love my publisher and how much work they have put into this book to make it the work of art that it is. I only rate my experience lower because the road here was so incredibly rocky. There were many times, from conception of the book to holding it in my hands, that I wanted to throw in the towel on the whole industry. Heart of Annihilation was shelved several times, and sometimes thrown violently across the room, but the story and the characters were so compelling to me that I would inevitably pull it out, dust it off, revise, revise, revise and try to find it a new home.

B: Any tips on balancing family life with a writing career?

C: Family first, always. My family is so supportive of my publishing efforts. They are truly my biggest fans from my husband, teenager on down to my 1^st grader. And I believe they are this way because I have always put them first. That being said they are happy to give me a wide berth if I’m having one of those crazy writer moments because they know I’ll always come back, happier than before. This year will be a mile stone for me because my youngest will be in 1^st grade, giving me ample time during the day to make writing and publishing a career and giving them my full attention when school is out, rather than cramming in writing here and there, wherever I could fit it in.

B: Do you have any other writing projects on the go at present?

C: I’m working on the sequel to Heart of Annihilation with a tentative release in Summer 2015. I also have an anthology piece coming out on Veterans Day of this year. It is to support the TADSAW (Train a Dog, Save a Warrior) foundation. It’s a collection of fictional stories about working dogs and their connection to their human partners. It’s a fantastic collection. Grab a tissue before you read it.

B: Will do. What is your advice for new authors?

C: The publishing industry is a hard one to navigate. Do the work to learn the craft. Don’t settle for anything less than your best effort and then up your game. Never stop learning and growing. As true with life as it is with writing.

B: Awesome. Cats or Dogs?

C: Dogs. Cats make me sneeze and I love dogs. Always dogs.

B: And the question we’ve all been waiting for…Coffee or Tea?

C: Haha. I’m a Mormon-y type, so hot chocolate. Dr. Pepper if my day is really going wrong.

B: Chocolate is always a good choice! Thanks so much Christauna! And best of luck with your new book!

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More about Heart of Annihilation...

When U.S. Army Specialist Kris Rose catches members of her unit stealing ammunition to kill aliens, she is forced to defend herself with a freakish electrical charge shooting from her fingertips.

Shaken by her newly found power and hunted by vigilantes from her unit, Rose is forced away from her structured, military world and into a fight for her life.

With the aid of her battle buddy, Corporal Thurmond, Rose sets out to learn more about the aliens under attack. In the process, she discovers her bizarre connection to a devastating threat to Earth--an alternate dimensional weapon called the Heart of Annihilation, lost somewhere on Earth.

From a chuteless free-fall from 20,000 feet, to deadly bullet wounds and the unforgiving Sonoron Desert, Kris Rose enters a world where aliens are real. And she might be one of them.

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You can find more about Christauna here: http://www.crasay.com

Don't forget to find her on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Goodreads!

Brenda