A Close Call in This Snippet of Para-Military Recruiter Book 1
Para-Military Recruiter Book 1: Drafted
Can’t a girl just meet a nice guy, enjoy a dinner date, and not be attacked on the way home? The answer for Julie is, not today.
Drafted snippet –
It was going so well until the check came.
Julie would almost say she liked Sam when he made his way to her through the bar, which was crowded for a Wednesday night. She clutched the stem of her wineglass for fortitude as she watched him approach. He looked like his profile pic on the dating website she’d used: tall, slender, fussily combed black hair. Not smoking hot, but when you were a nobody looking for love in the big city, adequate would have to do, and he was.
He paused a short distance from the bar and glanced up and down. His eyes eventually fixed on her. “Julie? Julie Meadows?”
“That’s me.” Julia slipped off the bar stool and extended a hand.
“Don’t get up.” He gripped her outstretched hand and, instead of shaking it, gave it a strange little nod as though he wanted to kiss it. “I’m Sam.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Julie cursed inwardly. Way to go, Julie. Excellent choice of words. “Uh… you want a drink?”
“That’s okay. I was hoping we’d get straight to dinner.” He smiled.
Well, why offer to meet me at a bar, then? Julie pushed the testy thought aside and ensured her chirpy smile stayed in place. “Okay! Sounds good. Where did you want to go?”
“How about La Rose Dansante?”
Julie almost choked on a sip of her wine. She set it down slowly, eyeing Sam. “You like seafood?”
“It has the best lobster thermidor in the city.” He smiled, and two adorable dimples appeared on his cheeks.
Those dimples. They made Julie want to forget that, while she might like lobster thermidor as much as anyone, her budget would argue ramen noodles were more her speed.
“We’ll go in my car,” Sam offered, his smile widening. “My treat.”
In that case, Julie wasn’t in a position to give up free food. She grinned. “Sounds good to me.”
He extended a gallant arm to her as though it was the nineteenth century, and Julie permitted herself a small giggle as she threaded her arm through his and allowed herself to be escorted across the bar. She liked the feeling of Sam’s sleeve under her fingers. His suit was well-cut, and the fabric had a rich, expensive thickness.
When they stepped into the warm summer night, a constellation of city lights above their heads, Sam’s car was waiting by the curb. It was a sleek, low thing, purring with speed even when it wasn’t moving. Sam led her to the passenger side and opened the door.
“Well, I’m getting the royal treatment tonight,” Julie joked, then immediately cursed herself again.
He gave her another dimply smile. “Just being a gentleman.”
It did seem like he was a gentleman. He played quiet classical music on the drive to La Rose Dansante and talked about travel and the weather. When they reached the restaurant—complete with red carpets, crystal chandeliers, and free breadsticks—Sam held the door and pulled out her chair. Julie did her best to play the part of the elegant little date, too. The conversation flowed (as did the wine), the lobster thermidor was excellent as far as she could tell, and everything seemed boring but fine.
Until Julie stared at Sam across the table with the check lying between them.
“Excuse me?” she managed in a strangled whisper.
“I said, should I ask him to bring a card machine?” Sam raised an eyebrow at her. “I’ve got cash for my half.”
She gaped from him to the check and back. Then the total at the bottom, a sum so large the lobster thermidor in her stomach threatened to reappear.
“You don’t mind splitting the check, do you?” Sam prompted.
“I…guess I don’t.” Not usually, but if she’d known they’d split the check, she would never have agreed to come here.
“Great.” Sam grinned. “I’m all for people paying their way. So, cash or card?”
“Card,” croaked Julie, who hadn’t carried that much cash since she left home. Ugh, home. Mom was going to have a field day when she learned about this.
Dry-mouthed, she unlocked her phone under the table and checked if she had enough money in her account to cover half of the bill. The digits glowing cheerfully on the screen would be just enough.
The waiter accepted their payments, and Sam offered her his arm to lead her from the warm restaurant with a now-queasy bellyful of lobster. “So…” he began as they stepped outside. “Would you, uh, like to head to my place?”
Julie stared up at him. Was he being a jerk by making me think he’d pick up the bill, or was that just me failing to understand people, as usual? She couldn’t decide. “Uh, not tonight.”
“Okay.” Sam shoved his hands into the pockets of his nice suit and shifted his weight. “Well, are you free on Friday?”
“Actually…” Julie sighed. “I had fun and everything, but I don’t think there will be a second date.”
He flinched, then shrugged. “Okay. Thanks anyway.”
“Thanks,” Julie managed and watched him stride toward his car without offering her a ride home. Another tick in the “jerk” column, I guess.
She pulled out her phone and opened her navigation app. She was seven blocks from home. She didn’t have the budget left for an Uber after The Dancing Rose had taken its pound of flesh. Nothing like a long, lonely walk home through Brooklyn in the dark after a disastrous date.
Stuffing her hands into her coat pockets against the early-spring chill, Julie hunched her shoulders and headed downtown, her boots ringing on the pavement. Why do I have to be so bad at people? Things would be so much easier if she could read them better.
As she traipsed along, the restaurants, car showrooms, and upmarket malls around her gave way to seedy tenant buildings and smoky little bodegas. Graffiti splashed the walls, loud and colorful and profane. The knots in Julie’s shoulders unraveled a little. Still, she glanced down dark doorways as she passed them and tugged at the short skirt of her one-and-only decent dress to cover a little more skin.
That didn’t stop a scruffy figure leaning against the wall outside a gas station from wolf-whistling as she passed. She ignored him and continued briskly to the overpass ahead that marked the corner of her home block, but she slipped one hand into the inside pocket of her coat and closed it over the little bottle she’d hidden there.
“Hey, sexy!” the man called again from behind her. “Where you goin’ in such a hurry?”
Julie forced herself not to quicken her step, but she quietly uncapped the bottle in her pocket.
“Hold up a minute.” The man’s footsteps were loud behind her. “I just wanna talk to you.”
She was just a few yards from the overpass, and a huge figure detached from the bottom of the bridge and stepped out in front of her.
“Hey,” growled the massive man. “My friend here wants to talk to you.”
Julie stopped. Well, crap. She swallowed. “I’m not in the mood for talking.”
“I can think of something else we could do,” said the person behind her.
Julie turned. The scruffy man wore a loose-lipped leer. There was a fruity stench to his breath, and as he stared at her, he scratched at one scabby arm.
“You don’t want to do this.” She tried to keep the quaver from her voice.
“Oh, I think he does.” The big man behind her chuckled. “I think I want to, too.”
“You’ll regret it,” Julie snapped. She clenched her fist over the bottle. “Lay a finger on me, and you’ll both be sorry.”
“Oooh, I’m scared!” mocked the disheveled man, holding up both hands. “Don’t hurt me!”
The big man laughed and stepped nearer and Julie whipped around, ripping the bottle from her pocket. “Don’t make me use this!” she screamed.
He stopped, blinking at the bottle in the faint glow of a grubby streetlight. “Uh, Scents of Paradise Room Spray, with notes of orchid and macadamia?”
Julie rolled her eyes. “It’s the only bottle I had, okay? But that’s not what’s in it.” She stepped closer and jabbed him. “This bottle contains alcohol, vegetable oil, and powdered Carolina Reaper, the hottest pepper in the world.” She rested a finger on the trigger. “One spritz of this will make police tear gas seem like a spa day.”
The man’s eyes widened, and he stepped back. “You think I haven’t been pepper-sprayed before?”
“Get it together, Pete,” barked the ratty man. Julie heard feet shuffling behind her and spun. She backed away in time to avoid being grabbed. The scruffy man sneered. “In case you hadn’t noticed, sweetheart, I ain’t had many spa days recently. I think I can handle your little concoction.”
“Wanna bet?” Julie growled.
“Leave her, Greg,” Pete hissed. “She’s gonna fight. We’ll grab another.”
Greg stepped nearer, hands fisted. Julie held up the spray.
“Seriously. She’s gonna get us into trouble,” yelped Pete.
“You bet I am!” Julie snapped.
Greg glanced from the bottle to her and back. Then he stepped away, laughing. “I’m just messin’ with ya. Go on, then.”
Julie gave him a last glare and backed away, keeping the spray bottle in her hand. Pete watched with apprehension.
“Run along home, scared little rabbit!” Greg called.
Julie spun on her heel, resisting the urge to run with all the willpower she could muster, and strode away. She waited until she was safely around the corner and out of sight, then she carefully replaced the cap on the bottle, returned it to her pocket, leaned against a wall, covered her face with her hands, and allowed herself thirty seconds of freaking out.
“Crap, that was close,” she breathed, her heart hammering. Her hands shook against her face. “That was so freaking close.”
She tipped her head against the wall and stared at the skyline, its bright windows glimmering in the place of stars veiled by smog or clouds. What a night.
It was a good thing those two goons hadn’t made her use the spray. They had no idea she hadn’t figured out how to get more of the spray onto her target than herself.
She pushed off the wall and walked home, keeping one hand on the little bottle in her pocket.
Julie handled that situation pretty well, especially after having to pay half of a ridiculously expensive dinner. There might be more to Julie than just a single girl in the city. Find out on November 7th when Para-Military Recruiter Book 1: Drafted is released. Head over to Amazon and pre-order it today.
Dia De Los Muertos and Wild Wednesday November 2, 2022
The Day of The Dead is bringing lively deals!
Wild Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Each week we bring you a list of books from not only LMBPN authors, but also friends of ours, that are on sale! Here’s a fantastic opportunity to discover some new authors or some exciting books you may not have seen yet.
Most of these books are FREE in Kindle Unlimited, but all are on sale today.
Please remember to double-check the price before you one-click.
The Evermores Chronicles Complete Series Boxed Set:
Say the right words in just the right way, and step through a mirror into Mana Valley. A pocket dimension hidden on Oriceran. Something dark is stirring under Mana Valley and what it wants could transform the world in terrible ways.
Fran Jackson is a clever witch with big dreams of being a magi-tech entrepreneur and the know how to make things happen. She is also an Oriceran magical with the mind for business and the enemies to prove it. But a dark past buried in her family’s legacy may get in the way. Magical monsters have begun crossing through the mirrors and attacking Fran’s employees. Nothing and no one are what they seem. An old prophecy thought to be a myth has surfaced. Can Fran and her friends find out what it means in time to stop what’s happening on Earth and Oriceran?
Last Man Standing:
I wasn’t supposed to survive. The station has been hit. Everyone around me is dead. I have 11 hours of life support left and no way of contacting Earth. I’m alone. I’m stranded. I’m desperate. But I’m alive.
The more of the station I explore, the surer I get that this was no accident. Someone did this, and I don’t think they’re finished yet.
Making it home feels like an impossible task, but I’m not just fighting for my own life. I have to protect my family — whatever it takes. And as long as I’m breathing, this isn’t over. Because whoever did this almost pulled it off… but they made one big mistake:
They left the wrong man standing…
The Heinous Crimes of Sara Slick Boxed Set:
From Book One Escape the Deep:
My name is Sara Slick, and I was an average teenager. I worked hard. Followed the rules. Took care of my family. But normal dissolved the night that the hidden world of The Far showed up to accuse my dad of heinous crimes against the magical community. To protect the ones I loved, I took the blame and the sentence of ten lifetimes in The Deep. No human had ever been sent to this paranormal prison. They didn’t think I’d last the night. They couldn’t have been more wrong. I survived by becoming the kind of human the magical world feared. Now, a decade later, I need to escape from hell before the home I sacrificed everything for meets its end at the hands of a maniacal, master wizard and his army of fanatics. What’s one army against the heinous Sara Slick?
Bright Deals Here
Roseland Boxed Set: Volumes 1-3:
When Ginger Mitchell finds out her mother committed suicide, she packs up her life as a Vegas “dancer” (hey, somebody’s gotta do it) and drives her cherry-red SUV straight home to Portland. Without a disapproving mom to rebel against, what was the point?
When she arrives back in her hometown, she finds a lot more going on than fancy food trucks and put-a-bird-on-it hipsters. Murders are being passed off as suicides. College-aged women keep going missing. And then there’s the troubling spate of mobsters who keep inviting her out to eat. With a pile of cash saved from her last job and no one around to tell her not to, Ginger decides to become a private investigator, to find out exactly what’s gone wrong in the City of Roses. First up: Her mother’s “suicide.”
Fire Ant:
Floribeth Salinas O’Shea Dalisay is an Off-Planet Worker, employed as an exploration pilot by the giant corporation, Hamdani Brothers. Sent on a routine mission to analyze one of the millions of systems in the galaxy, she stumbles across something that could threaten humanity’s very existence. She barely escapes with her life, but in the process, has to shut down her scout’s AI.
As with all OPWs, she has few rights, and instead of being lauded as a hero, the corporation thinks she is lying. Her managers believe she found something valuable and shut down her AI in an attempt to hide that fact, hoping she can sell that information to the highest bidder. Grounded, and with a huge debt now over her head, Beth has to convince the powers that be that a very real danger to humanity is lying in wait out there in deep space.
Bright Deals Here
Crystals:
War with the aliens has broken out, and they seem to have all the advantages. Engineers and scientists are scrambling to develop weapons to stand up to the threat, but when all is said and done, it is the Navy fighter pilots who have to take the fight to the enemy.
Petty Officer Third Class Floribeth Salinas O’Shea Dalisay, one of the new enlisted fighter pilots, is on the front lines with VFX-99, the “Stingers.” Sent out as guinea pigs, they collect needed data on the enemy weapons systems by being targets. But even guinea pigs have teeth, and if she can survive, Beth is determined to use hers.
Wolf Defender:
I’ve been carrying a torch for a wolf defender, but he’s never looked my way. Why would he? I am a dragon and the daughter of an accused traitor.
When we get news of mystery and intrigue in the corrupt Timber Kingdom of the wolves, he wants to go there to avenge the death of his fated mate. I’m sure this is the key to proving my dad’s innocence.
If I can convince him to band together we both might get what we want, including a chance at love. But neither of us know who to trust when demons and wolves have joined forces to bring the dark Unseelie to our realm.
Bright Deals Here
Prodigals:
If they’re coming for us, who’s coming for them? The galaxy is vast, and not everything is what it seems. The invasion we always feared is here. Which begs the question: what do the invaders fear? If not us, then what…or who And what happens to the would-be peacemakers when they find themselves in the middle of something else? Something dangerous, something highly advanced, and … something familiar? If humanity is wise, we will prepare for everything we can imagine.
But we cannot prepare for what we cannot imagine. It might be benign, it might be malign, or it might be a sign.
You just have to know where to look.
Willow Falls:
Welcome to Willow Falls. The town young Matthew Bannister ran away from fifteen years before. Now famed U.S. Deputy Marshal Matt Bannister is coming home to reconcile with his family. He prayed he wouldn’t see his ex-best friend Tom Smith nor the only girl he ever loved, Tom’s wife, Elizabeth. However, old feuds unsettled never die and spark a powder keg of action when the desperate Moskin Gang kidnap Elizabeth and leave a murderous trail behind them. In anguish, Tom, the Willow Falls sheriff, turns to his despised old-friend to help get the woman they both love back alive, if they can. Sometimes God’s greatest blessing is unanswered prayer.
Bright Deals Here
When Honor Dies:
It was from his best friend Johny Sangremano that Mike Kelly first hears the word mafia. It’s a secret crime organization, Johnny tells Mike, and the Sangremanos are one of the most powerful families. But he swears that he will never be a part of it, just as Mike vows never to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a policeman.
Instead, the two friends set out on their way across the country in a beat-up old biplane, seeking out a living as they go. But youthful dreams die bitter deaths, and before long they are back in New York where they learn there is only one way to escape the Mafia…
Two men bound by twisted loyalties…to the mob, to the law and to each other.
Thankful and Grateful for Books $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway
If you see this message after November 2, 2022, and want to be notified of future price promotions, please sign up for our newsletter at www.lmbpn.com/email.
Are you ready for RAVE: Readers and Authors Vegas Event?
Tabitha here,
Over 250 authors will be present for RAVE – the Reader & Author Vegas Event – on Friday, November 18th at Bally’s Event Center, Las Vegas NV, including:
- Kevin J. Anderson(Science Fiction) – author and co-author of multiple books in Dune and Star Wars franchises
- Caroline Peckham(Romance) – Zodiac Academy series
- Stephanie Hudson(Paranormal Romance) – Afterlife series
- Marc Cameron(Thrillers) – Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series
- David Weber(Science Fiction) – Honor Harrington series
- Michael Anderle(Urban Fantasy) – Kurtherian Gambit and Oriceran series/universes
- Titans of LitRPG Dakota Krout and James Hunter
- Luke Gygax– son of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator and gamemaster in his own right
And all of these LMBPN authors will be in attendance too:
- Auburn Tempest
- Cindy Gunderson
- Craig Martelle
- DR Perry
- Elaine Bateman
- Eric Ugland
- Jamie Davis
- Jonathan Brazee
- Kevin McLaughlin
- Marc Stiegler
- Ramy Vance
- Sarah Noffke
Talia Beckett - TR Cameron
Will you be there too? Bring your books for them to sign or purchase some while you’re there!
Need more information about RAVE? Check out the event group on Facebook or sign up to show you’re attending at the event page on Facebook.
A Fiery Battle in This Snippet of The Agent Operative Book 1
The Agent Operative Book 1: Sign Your Fears Away
A dwarf with a few magic tricks is no match for this witch. You have to have more than a few tricks up your sleeve to make it in L.A.
The Agent Operative snippet –
Norah watched the flame dancing across the man’s fingers with the sinking realization that she was mesmerized. The fire, a candle’s worth, flickered over his fingernails, which were crusted with half-burned grease. She tried to look away, but her neck was stiff, and what could be better to look at than this captivating blaze? Her corneas stung, trapped unblinking in the cool Los Angeles night air, and she snorted.
The man in front of her was supposed to fall into her trap, not the other way around. Rude! Half-dwarf and half-elemental, he was short and almost as wide as he was tall. With his tight black jeans tucked into dainty-heeled cowboy boots embroidered with flowers and skulls, he looked like a triangle balancing on its point. Her old friend Stellan, a dwarf who worked in the props department of the latest superhero blockbuster, had told her a teamster named Vince was not-very-subtly offering to sell information about some ex-Silver Griffin agents in the Bay Area who sounded like Norah’s parents.
Now, Vince was here. Through Stellan, Norah had passed a message to him that she was interested in buying whatever he had to sell. She’d said the Silver Griffins had imprisoned her father in Trevilsom, and she was out for revenge. A decent cover story. No one would find out Lincoln was quietly tending goats in Northern California.
Something had been off when she’d arrived. Normally, the grid of 202 lampposts in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was lit all night, controlled by an astronomical clock that turned them off at dawn. Instead, she’d found them dark, except for the one Vince leaned against as he coolly manipulated a small flame with his hands.
Now she was fucking mesmerized. This was why she hated art. She sighed internally and painted a dazed smile on her face. “Pretty,” she said, doing her best brain-dead ingenue impression.
Vince grinned, his eyes cold beneath eyebrows so thick she half-expected birds to fly out of them when he scratched his face.
“That’s right, princess. Look at the lovely lights.” The flame brightened, and its arabesques accelerated. She had to move fast.
She reached into the pocket of her vintage 1980s windbreaker. Thankfully, her fingers were still under her control, and she wrapped them around her trusty blue gum eucalyptus wand. Without pulling it from her pocket, she traced a one-inch circle in the air, then slashed through it with a violent stroke—a simple spell for breaking an enchantment.
The magnetic tug of the flame on her eyes released with a soundless pop, and Norah blinked. Her poor eyes were grateful for the moisture. She pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at Vince’s chest. The hair of one bushy eyebrow undulated as it quirked up. Norah looked down. The tiny flame flickering in Vince’s hand hopped to the tip of his middle finger and stayed there. Fuck you too, Vince.
“Nice stick. Hand it over,” he directed, his low voice unruffled.
His middle finger flickered and the candle flame roared into a fire rope and slithered through the air. Norah ducked behind the nearest lamp post, which sizzled when the flame hit.
“This is iconic LA art!” she screamed, running between posts to escape the elemental flame.
“I hate art!” Vince shouted after her. Norah agreed with him about Urban Lights, which struck her as a sterile bastard forest.
The fiery rope gouged halfway through a lamppost behind her, sending sparks toward the electric wires at its core. Her occasional glimpses of the flames blinded her, bright orange against the deep blue night.
She raised her wand again, intending to cast a stunning spell, but she was forced to improvise an energy shield to divert the fire.
She needed a better view of the battlefield.
“Fly, my pretties,” Norah murmured, and the soles of her white-and-orange Hermes sneakers, a gift from a grateful popstar siren, glowed dark green. She bent her knees and jumped, soaring away as a tentacle of flame snuck up behind her and snapped the empty air at her feet. What self-respecting witch wanted a broomstick when she could have couture?
Hanging in mid-air, it was easy for Norah to forget she couldn’t fly. It was just aggressive jumping. As she landed on a lamppost, she saw Vince dead center in the grid. His fingers traced complex patterns to control the fire around him. The air rippled with the heat radiating from his body. Every hex she knew would burn before it touched him. Except… Maybe she didn’t have to touch him.
Norah swiveled a quarter turn to the light post-Vince had gouged with fire moments ago. She fed more energy into her shoes and hopped across the tops of the other poles. When the movement caught Vince’s attention, his hands gestured so fast they disappeared. The fire rope shot up between two posts to her right, twisting into a massive lasso.
Norah focused on her wand. Abandoning any pretense of spells or hexes, she shot pure power out of the tip to the half-severed lamppost. She wanted to yell, “Timber!” as her magic sheared the streetlight off its base. It toppled toward Vince, the fraying electrical wires in the exposed core sparking.
A thud and a scream echoed through the air, and Norah floated back to the ground, sneakers dimming. When she reached Vince, she understood why he had shrieked.
He had tried to melt the post coming down on him with fire. That had worked, but being hit by globs of molten metal wasn’t much better than being hit by a two-ton post. There wasn’t enough Elemental DNA to withstand the superheated metal.
Dwarves’ burns healed quickly, and the red welts on his body would feel like a bad sunburn in a few days. For now, he was in a lot of pain.
He’d used his hands to shield his eyes, and they were now raw and useless on his lap. Norah stood over him and drew an icicle in the air with her wand. Vince froze. She took pity on him and sent a wave of blue light cascading over his hands. Blue gum eucalyptus was finicky on offense but more than made up for it with its healing power.
She tapped Vince’s mouth with her wand. His face unfroze and crackled like ice.
“You can’t kill me, or you’ll end up in Trevilsom like your old man!” His lips wobbled.
“Give me your info, and I’ll let you go.”
“Let me go, and I’ll tell you,” Vince countered.
“Tell me, and I’ll pay you. At a steep discount, of course. Say, seventy percent off.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Fine. Eighty percent. Call it a fire sale. Now choke up the goods before we have to explain ourselves to Interpol’s art crimes division.” Norah didn’t know if Interpol had an art crimes division, but it sounded threatening.
“Look, all I know is that two former Silver Griffin agents live in Oakland. They run an organic apiary.”
“What are their names?” Norah demanded.
“I don’t know! How many organic apiaries can Oakland have?”
In Norah’s experience, the answer was “more than he’d expect.” Vince didn’t have the details right. Her parents ran a goat farm, not an apiary, and lived near Berkeley rather than Oakland. It was still too close for comfort.
“What else can you tell me?” Norah asked.
“Not much. They took a couple of relics with them when they fled.”
Norah inched back. She’d never taken her folks for looters. Maybe he was lying. Still, she filed the information and peered at Vince. His eyes watered in the smoke blowing off the broken lamppost.
“The icicle hex should wear off in about ten minutes. I suggest you repair the damage and hightail it out of here.”
As promised, she tucked two crisp hundred-dollar bills into the tops of his boots. Twenty percent of her original offer.
“If you sell any more information about any Silver Griffin agents, I will find you and do things to you that make these burns look like a hot-rock massage. Understand?”
She moved to poke him in the chest, stopping before her finger touched his burned skin. Vince winced and nodded.
“Hey, you’re not hiring, are you?” he asked, looking at the hundred-dollar bills. She shook her head.
As she ran across the LACMA courtyard, her feet left glowing forest-green streaks.
The mystery is just starting to develop, find out what Norah is looking for when The Agent Operative Book 1: Sign Your Fears Away is released on November 7th. Until then head over to Amazon and pre-order your copy today.
Trick or Treat your way to this week’s new releases
Happy Halloween!
We’ve got some scary new releases this week – all very fitting for Halloween week, don’t you think? I’ve also got some great sneak peeks at two releases coming at the end of this week for you to enjoy below! Check them out and then preorder them to get them on Friday!
How did you enjoy our 6 days of Halloween? Two more free weeks will be coming later this year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m already planning the Thanksgiving one because it comes right after a lot of our staff and authors are in Vegas for the conference.
Tomorrow you’ll get a special email with information about the fan day in Vegas. A bunch of our authors and other authors will be there. You can buy books, chat with authors and more! I missed doing it on Thursday because I needed to finish wrangling some details but it’s coming bigger and better tomorrow!
I have 6 amazing books launching this week, That’s pretty sweet for a Monday!
- Soul Harvest
- Ashes Of The Fallen
- Dark Witch Magic
- Christmas Kringle: Winter Wonderland (Link not available)
- Big Monster Money(Oriceran)
- One Murder Down(Beaufonts)
Enjoy!
This Week’s New Releases
Title: Soul Harvest
Series: Chronicles of Zoey Grimm Book 7
Release Date: 10/31/2022
The legends didn’t do Dracula justice.
Bat shifting is one thing. The ability to connect his mind to any he’d sired was an ability severely understated in the stories.
His horde is like a bloodsucking Borg collective.
Add to that his abilities to travel the astral plane and hypnotize his victims with a glance and his butt-load of money… There’s a creek, and a paddle, and I’ve lost my paddle.
I’ve defeated a god or two in my day. I’ve never faced an enemy like this.
It may be my biggest challenge yet, but we have one advantage.
All of Dracula’s victims show up on the Grim Reaper’s schedule.
Can we harvest the souls he’s gathering before he gets to them to turn them?
The more vampires he turns, the stronger he gets. If I don’t take him down soon, his vampires will overrun the city. After that, the continent.
Maybe even the world.
Title: Ashes of the Fallen
Series: The Helsing Society Book 3
Release Date: 11/01/2022
Blowing up the Master’s penthouse was one of the coolest moments of Dylan’s life.
Unfortunately, it turns out that being an action movie hero comes with a price.
They have to kill the Master, or Dyani and her band of werewolves will descend upon Phoenix and do it for them. What they don’t have is a lot of time.
Seven days and the clock is ticking.
The Templars have always stood for one thing. They fight against the darkness.
Even if it comes wrapped in a cute little package that his daughter is interested in.
The delusions Greg’s family are under need to be ripped asunder. His brother lost sight of that long ago, and now he’s even working with a witch. It’s gone too far.
There are too many powerful elements at play for this to be a simple dustup between the supernatural groups.
Something is going on in Phoenix. Saul is determined to get to the bottom of it, even if it means ostracizing his brother. It’s time for the Helsing Society to embrace a bold new future.
Title: Dark Witch Magic
Series: Supernatural Criminal Investigations Book 3
Release Date: 11/02/2022
The SCI team is called in to investigate when a group of teens are murdered by what appears to be wild animals during a camping trip.
But this is no ordinary case. Supernatural forces are at work, and the attacks continue.
As the team delves deeper, they discover zealot vampire Cain Abrams’ alliance with the werewolves is responsible for the attacks.
His goal? To control the narrative of the vampires’ emergence into the public eye and convince humans that only he can be their savior from the werewolf scourge.
Abrams didn’t count on vampire diplomat Oz Reyes partnering with Kat Troy and her team to stop him. With the clock ticking and lives at stake, they must find a way to end his reign of terror.
As they get closer to the truth, they realize they’re not just up against werewolves this time.
Jazmin falls for Gunnar Lucas, a handsome sheriff’s deputy. But she has no idea that he is hiding a dark and dangerous secret that could escalate the werewolf attacks.
Can he be trusted, or is he working with the enemy?
The vampire leader of the SCI team holds an even darker secret, although she doesn’t remember it.
When Kat went into hiding to protect her daughter from her enemies, a powerful witch cast a spell to keep her and her family from being found. The SCI investigates the coven and werewolf attacks while Ruby and the Barnes witches search for the witch who placed the spell on Kat.
When Kat finally catches up to the murderers who killed her daughter, she discovers that there’s more to the story than meets the eye. The evidence trail leads straight to her vampire enemy, Cain.
It will take all of the team’s skills to track down the murderers and stop the bloodshed.
The body count rises, and the attacks grow bolder and more frequent.
Can Kat, Oz, and the team find a way to restore peace to the supernatural world and save humanity in the process?
Title: Christmas Kringle: Winter Wonderland
Series: Christmas Kringle Book 3
Release Date: 11/04/2022
Book summary and preorder isn’t available yet. Keep an eye out on release day.
Title: Big Monster Money
Series: Big Easy Bounty Hunter Book 1
Release Date: 11/04/2022
Magical criminals require magical solutions.
Who answers the call when the mundane police dial 911?
Matt Bordelon—former Silver Griffin, wizard, and the Big Easy Bounty Hunter.
Matt has a good thing going. Deliver justice to magicals? Check. Keep the world safe from threats? Check. Make good money doing it? Cha-ching.
Unless his bounty ends up dead when the paperwork specifies alive, that is. Good thing he’s a pro at avoiding that.
Then he stumbles across a dark witch embroiled in a vicious spell battle with a dark wizard and feels compelled to aid her.
Is subtle magic at play to influence him? Or is it something else?
Matt doesn’t know, but he shelters the gorgeous woman on the run from dangerous enemies anyway. Meanwhile, a powerful magical threat is murdering mundane cops in his town. Worse, no one can identify the shadowy entity behind the killings.
Matt is on the case, but can he survive the coming battles, magical and emotional?
Title: One Murder Down: A Beaufont Murder Mystery Collection
Series: A Beaufont Short Story Book 4
Release Date: 11/04/2022
Sherlock Holmes, the King of the Fae and a halfling walk into a bar…
Note: This collection includes an EXCLUSIVE Bonus murder mystery story only found HERE, along with other stories previously published in the Paris Beaufont series.
A murder ensues.
It’s up to this unlikely ragtag crew to solve the mystery of “who done it” and over and over again. There’s always a new case to follow.
Everyone would expect the great detective to be excellent at following the clues.
No one would expect that it’s the stupidity of a fae who brings the true epiphanies to light in each case.
And the halfling, well, it’s Paris Beaufont’s job to solve these cases, protect justice and put criminals away—with the help of her friends, of course.
This collection is jam packed with murder mysteries aboard trains, inside Scottish manors, in cozy fishing villages and many other fun settings.
Pick up this volume and see if you can figure out who done it before the experts do.
Will Sherlock Holmes solve the cases before the murderers gets away? Will Paris catch them before they do it again? Will King Rudolf Sweetwater save the day, or ruin it?
Paris Beaufont is about to go on a wild ride, unlike any she has been on before.
Check out this sneak peek at One Murder Down: A Beaufont Murder Mystery Collection!
A new Oriceran series, Big Easy Bounty Hunter, by Charles Tillman comes your way at the end of this week with book 1, Big Monster Money.
Check out this sneak peek and preorder your copy!
A Bit of Sibling Rivalry in this Snippet of Big Easy Bounty Hunter Book 1
Big Easy Bounty Hunter Book 1: Big Monster Money
This battle between siblings brings a new meaning to family drama
Big Monster Money snippet –
Dammit, whoever’s behind me is still there, Natalia fretted as she forced herself to maintain the same steady pace instead of breaking into a run as her instincts screamed.
I knew it was a mistake to come to Knoxville. I should have gone farther before I stopped to decide what to do. I should have known someone would spot me and rat me out to them. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I need to go far away, maybe to another country, to escape my family’s reach.
Natalia pulled her black ash wand from a concealed pocket in her cloak and gripped it in a white-knuckled fist. She readied a lethal spell as she ducked into the shadows of the university stadium and crouched behind a thick concrete column. She held her breath as she tried to hear the stealthy footsteps over the pounding of her racing heart.
“Come out, sister. I know you’re there,” an amused voice called.
Oh damn, it’s Chauncey. Natalia drew a breath to steel herself and stepped out to face him with her wand held concealed along her leg. If Chauncey was here, it was for one of two reasons. Either she agreed to come home and marry the man her mother had arranged for her willingly, or she returned as her older brother’s unwilling captive. There was no way Chauncey would have been there unless their mother ordered it. The stuck-up prick barely concealed his disdain for Natalia and her “soft heart,” as he called her refusal to embrace the evil agendas the dark families pushed.
“Go home, Chauncey. I’m not marrying that man to advance Mother’s political aspirations. I’m never setting foot in that woman’s house again.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Chauncy spat. “You will come home with me and attend your wedding with a smile on your stupid face. You’ve embarrassed the family too much with your childish actions already. You’re lucky our mother wants you alive. My vote was to kill you flat out for your insolent behavior.”
Natalia whipped her wand up, and a black orb with red streaks shot toward his head. With a casual flick of his wrist, the sphere veered harmlessly over the parking lot.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” Chauncey smirked. “You should have paid closer attention when your tutors taught offensive spell work. See if you remember this one.”
His wand slashed the air at chest level, and a blast of wind shoved her back against the rough concrete support she’d hidden behind. She gritted her teeth and made an intricate motion with one hand while stabbing straight out with her wand. The wind cut off immediately. Natalia spun her wand in a half-circle and sent a cloud of black fog from its tip toward her attacker.
Chauncey’s eyes widened as he recognized the spell that would melt his skin like acid if it touched him. He swept his wand up and spun it over his head three times as he muttered, “Ventus.” The oily black cloud halted as if it had hit a wall and started to rotate. The cloud spun faster and faster until it was a column of darkness spinning between them. Chauncey sent the deadly fog up with a flick of his wand, where it dissipated in the dark skies above.
“Ooh, that’s nasty, sister. Maybe you aren’t a total waste after all,” Chauncey sneered as he shot a fireball toward her.
Natalia ducked her head and swept her wand down as she shouted, “Vallum.” The fireball hit an unseen obstacle and stopped in the air between them, turning a sickly green before it faded out.
“I’m not some broodmare Mother can marry off to the highest bidder to get what she wants. Randall Blackwell is an abusive, womanizing bastard. I’ll never marry him, no matter what you or Mommy Dearest want!” Natalia yelled as she launched a thick stream of red flame toward the grinning wizard.
He batted it aside with a careless shrug. “You don’t have a choice, Natalia. Your opinion of Randall and your objections are on record, but you will not bring shame to our family. Mother worked hard to arrange this pairing, and it will increase our family standing with the other dark families. You either come back to Lexington willingly, or I’ll blast you until you’re too weak to resist. You know you can’t beat me. You never have and never will.”
“Dammit, Chauncey! Why do you always have to be such a prick? Mommy’s favorite, always doing her bidding. Grow a pair and tell her you couldn’t find me. You know the Blackwell clan are all bad news.”
“That’s enough of this childish stupidity. If you were half as loyal to our family as I am, you wouldn’t have run in the first place. If you don’t come back on your own, I’ll do whatever is necessary before I let you shame us in the eyes of the others.” An evil-looking globe of green and yellow formed on the tip of his wand as he harangued her. Now he raised it menacingly above his head. “Last chance, sister. What will it be? Marriage or death?”
A cluster of small black orbs split apart and shot toward the wizard as she grunted, “Marrying that bastard will be the death of me, and you damn well know it.”
Chauncey threw his hand out and shook his head contemptuously as the attack approached. The spheres stopped and zipped back toward the witch. She desperately tried to block them, but one struck her hand and dislodged her wand as another hit her shoulder and knocked her into a wall.
“Well, Natalia, since you’re determined not to honor your family obligations—something Mother thought wasn’t possible—it’s up to our dear sister Angelica to step up and do it for you. She always was the more loyal daughter. The fact that she’s been screwing Randall for the past two years makes me sure he’d prefer her instead of your prudish ass anyway.”
He laughed as he released the massive ball of dark magic toward her. She pushed up on one arm and screamed as darkness enveloped her.
On your mother’s orders, try to kill your sister for not marrying the right man. That makes for a complicated family dynamic. How is Natalia going to survive this encounter with her brother? Find out on October 4th, when Big Easy Bounty Hunter Book 1: Big Monster Money is released. Until then head over to Amazon and pre-order today.
Something Wicked This Way Comes: Book Giveaway Day 6
Wickedly Awesome Book Giveaway Day 6
Take a sneak peek at today’s book: Rise of Terry Victor Book One: Earth Bound
Check out the rest of the books in this giveaway HERE
Earth Bound:
It’s one stranded ex-lawman against a world full of homicidal psychopaths.
Psychopaths who might, or might not, be human.
Intergalactic lawman Terry Victor is betrayed by fellow officers and sent to a backwater planet on the interstellar arm of the universe.
In short, he was sent to the planet called Earth.
Fed up, he quits in a fit of disgust and seeks a peaceful retirement among the humans.
Unfortunately, trouble has a way of finding Terry Victor.
Keep his head down and away from Earth’s authorities, or help a woman about to be attacked by a gang?
Can Terry Victor resist the siren call that could ruin his future on this planet?
Is he willing to give up his forced retirement to take on Earth’s troubles?
Finally, what happens when a string of deaths points to something even he fears?
Will Terry Victor survive? If he survives, will the authorities realize there is an alien living among them?
Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway
Trick-or-Treat Fan Pricing Saturday, October 29, 2022
Some sweet deals knocking on your door this weekend.
Fan Pricing Saturday, October 29, 2022
Note: We requested the price changes from Amazon on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, they don’t change all of the prices at one time. Please double-check the price before clicking “Buy”.
All of these new releases are 99c for one day only!
And they are also available for FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Grab them today before the prices go up!
Drumbeats of Justice
The Lover’s Chain
Dragon’s Inquisition
Trolling Prisons
Witch With a Problem
Hazards in the Hidden City
Witch in the Woods
Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway
If you see this message after October 29th, and want to be notified of future price promotions, please sign up for our email list at www.lmbpn.com/about/email.
Something Wicked This Way Comes: Book Giveaway Day 5
Wickedly Awesome Book Giveaway Day 5
Take a sneak peek at today’s book: Victorious Redemption Book One: Sins of the Father
Check out the rest of the books in this giveaway HERE
Sins of the Father:
Jasmine is coming back for the man who killed her.
After a late night rendezvous with a stranger goes sideways, Jasmine finds herself waking to a man holding a gun loaded with silver bullets. In her final moments, she hears her killer utter her long-lost father’s name.
Her world should have ended when she tumbled from that 17th-story window…
Instead, she dug herself out of her own grave.
Fueled by confusion, Jasmine is lost and alone in the city she once called home. Unable to tap into her Were powers, she will need to rely on her newly-emerging abilities to navigate the seedy underbelly of the city.
Who is her father? What does Deshawne Pierce want with her? Who is the strange half-fairy who runs her local tavern?
All these questions demand answers. If Jasmine can rise from the grave, surely the truth can, too?
Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway
Something Wicked This Way Comes: Book Giveaway Day 4
Wickedly Awesome Book Giveaway Day 4
Take a sneak peek at today’s book Chronicles of Zoey Grimm Book One: Family Squabbles
Check out the rest of the books in this giveaway HERE
Family Squabbles:
My brother is taking over the family business…
It was something I’d trained for my entire life.
I was more suited for it than he was in almost every way.
Except for the most important one… the ability he’d inherited from our father.
Why wasn’t I born with the same powers?
I’m leaving the underworld. I don’t belong there anymore.
Of course, I only have one marketable skill: Kicking ass and taking names. How can I use that to start a new life for myself on Earth? Unfortunately, vigilantism doesn’t pay the bills.
Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway