Free Book in Exchange for Honest Review

I am giving away free copies of my eBook Light in the Dark in the hope of generating honest reviews. You may enter for a chance to win one of fifteen copies at LibraryThing or you can use coupon code UA92C at Smashwords. Both the contest and the coupon end August 31, 2016.

You are welcome to review the book on your personal blog or at your favorite eBook seller or social networking site. Just remember to be honest; I am not looking to have my ego inflated.

Note: This is a Christian title, if you are someone who is offended by that you are probably not going to be able to write an honest review. However, you are more than welcome to try.

Dead and Damaged Blog Tour: Day Two

Dead and Damaged, the sequel to The Endangered, will be published on July 14th and the publishers are having a blog tour all this week to spread the word. The book, Dead and Damaged, picks up with, main character, Lori attempting to track down the source of stealth technology rogue vampires are using to hunt humans. Her pursuit leads her into the arms of a government agency with similar objectives. A temporary alliance is formed in an effort to stop the corporation responsible for putting the technology in malignant hands. Their mission goes awry, however, and leaves Lori with more enemies than friends.

Her situation worsens when, vampire leader, Marcus learns that the corporation has also been working with vampires to develop daylight suits and synthetic blood. He convinces his clan that this organization and its infinite resources will be a valuable asset in the evolution of their kind. They begin questioning Lori’s motives and Marcus takes the opportunity to capitalize on their distrust. Consequently, Lori soon finds herself on the run from her former clan and turns to Vega for help exposing the truth behind Marcus and his new deceitful allies.

We, of course, will be reviewing the book as soon as we can so stay tuned. If you want to check out our review of the first book it can be found here. You can also fin our interview with the author, S L Eaves, here. The publishers are giving away copies of the book; you can enter to win under Dead and Damaged Giveaway to the right.

Coming Soon!!

Pharos Publishing is happy to announce that we will be publishing Richard L. Foland Jr.’s new e-book Light in the Dark on June 30th. You can now pre-order it practically everywhere.

The book is an eclectic collection of Blogs, Articles and Talk Transcripts on Christian themes. Topics range from keeping your faith in the middle of a divorce to honoring your parents, from witnessing like Jesus to giving your time to the Church and from taxes to the environment. Ever suffer from Naked Fear or wonder what to do about Teens and Church? Have you wondered why, if God has a plan for your life, it seems that terrible things happen? Within these pages you may find your answers or at least a signpost that will point you in the right direction.

Richard L. Foland Jr. is an Author, Lay Speaker and former Youth Leader. He has lived a mostly nomadic life in western Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio and (briefly) western New York. Currently, he resides somewhere in the chimney of Pennsylvania with his wife and a constantly shifting array of children and stepchildren. He hates divorce, having been through one, and loathes large gatherings. The latter probably explains why he would prefer to sit alone at a keyboard rather than go to a party.

Review: Wizard Of Ends: Dark Creature

Just over a year ago I reviewed book one in the Wizard of Ends series

and I had planned to review book two shortly after. Of course that means that I'm finally getting around to doing it about a year late. This is in keeping with precedent for the series. Check out the previous review to see what I mean.

Dark Creature picks up from the cliffhanger at the end of Wizard of Ends. The Queen of Ends has been cursed into a creature of darkness. Only Rune Arcana might be able to remove the curse. Lashlor believes he can find Rune in the Mountains of Eclador. The only trouble is – Rune now despises him, and, in all of recorded history, no one has ever returned from these mountains. Fearing the Wizard of Ends will not be able to bring help, the king goes against Lashlor’s advice by enlisting the aid of other magic users.

This book is more of a traditional quest than the previous entry but that's not a bad thing. The plotting is excellent and the characters dance across the pages. Last year I said that the two books read as one and I still stand by that. They could easily be edited together with no sign that they were originally separate novellas. I love this book except for, once again, the cliffhanger ending. My problem last time was that I felt that the story wasn't over but this time it felt like the ending was tacked on after the credits, so to speak. The author could have just left it out and I would still be looking forward to book three.

The bottom line here is, if you've read the first book this one is a must. If you haven't, well in that case, you'd better grab them both and just consume them consecutively.

Vanessa Finaughty Bio:

Vanessa Finaughty is an author of many genres who now focuses on fantasy and science fiction. She’s published 15 books, of which 6 are fantasy. Vanessa grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and still lives there with her husband of fifteen years, her baby daughter and plenty of furry, four-legged ‘children’. Vanessa has always been passionate about books, and knew from a young age that she wanted to write them one day. She loves animals, coffee and the smell of wet grass, and hates liars, sweltering weather and long queues. Her interests include reading, photography, the supernatural, mythology, aliens and outer space, ancient history, life’s mysteries and martial arts, of which she has five years’ experience.

It’s Not a Bloody Reboot!!!

Over the course of the last eleven years or so I have grown more and more disgusted with the way people, especially Entertainment Reporters, who are too lazy to actually use the correct word to describe something. Specifically the word reboot. So here is a primer on what things actually are.

If some one is making a new version of a movie or video game, etc. that has no sequels it is properly called a remake. It is NOT a bloody reboot! Footloose wasn’t a reboot!

If something is a continuation of a story it is either a sequel, a spin off or a revival. It is NOT a bloody reboot! Star Wars: The Force Awakens was not a reboot! Fuller House is not a reboot! Doctor Who is not a reboot! The X Files is not a reboot!

When you modify situations or characters in an effort to make your series or franchise more commercially successful it is a retool. It is NOT a bloody reboot! Galactica 1980 was not a reboot.

A reboot is when you take a SERIES or FRANCHISE and start over from the beginning. Effectively creating a new Universe from the same ideas but moving in an all new direction. Battlestar Galactica was a reboot. Ghostbusters appears to be a reboot.

Some of these should be fairly obvious but we live in a lazy world with lazy reporters. STOP BEING LAZY! Don’t call something a reboot unless it is one. The planned Mrs. Doubtfire remake will not be a reboot! The planned Highlander remake will be a reboot. Star Wars: Episode Eight will not be a reboot! It’s fairly straight forward. Now, stop overusing the word reboot!

Carcosa: A Featured eBook (and Paperback)

Last September we featured an inspiring interview with Coyote Kishpaugh and Lauren Scharhag on the occasion of the Kensington Gore release of the first book in their Order of the Four Sons series. Back on December 4th, while I was on unexplained hiatus, Kensington Gore released the second book in the series, Carcosa.

The book follows the team from the first book -- JD, Murphy, Doug and Kate -- as they pursue Countess Elizabeth Bathory across the face of a sinister desert planet filled with untold dangers. Director Clayton Grabowski and the Oracle find themselves mired in the political intrigues of the Order's leadership, while back on Earth, Bill forges an uneasy alliance with a government agent.

As they race to recover the Wand of Deleth, they uncover truths they had never expected about their enemies-- and themselves.

If you’ve read The Order of the Four Sons you already know that you have to get a copy and if you haven’t well maybe you should give them both a try. I certainly intend to.

 

Featured eBooks have not been read or reviewed. They are merely eBooks that have grabbed my attention and are now on my "to be read" list.

The last time we featured a book in this manner was December 20, 2013; it was The Winter Prince, also written by Lauren Scharhag.

Let’s Elect “None of the Above” for President!

Are you getting sick of the 2016 US Presidential Election cycle yet? Odds are if you are in the US the answer is yes. I know I certainly am. As with the last several elections we are faced with a Primary field filled with people whose sole qualification seems to be that they want to be President. The Republican and Democrat voters get to whittle this field down to the least objectionable (to the voters) candidate and then come November we get to cast our vote for the lesser of the two evils.

Firstly, I’ve said repeatedly that anyone who wants to be President should not be and I agree with Douglas Adams who said that the candidate who is able to persuade the people to elect him (or her) should on no account be allowed to hold the position. Which pretty much means, none of the current candidates are viable. Especially as I am certain that none of them could answer a few simple questions, like “what form of government do we have in the US?” (hint: it is not a Democracy).

I have a radical solution to the problem of the un-electability of the candidates. It probably will even seem a little crazy too. Don’t elect any of them! In the Richard Pryor film “Brewster’s Millions”, Pryor’s character, Montgomery Brewster runs a political protest campaign urging a vote for "None of the Above.” Let’s do something in that vein but instead of “None of the Above”, let’s use the write-in option to draft someone who isn’t running. Someone who probably has never even thought of running. Someone tough. Someone who isn’t part of the Washington DC political scene. Someone like… Like… Like… Chuck Norris? Yeah, that would be good. Let’s draft Chuck Norris for President of the United States!!!

It worked before, George Washington did not run for President after all. He was elected by Congress and reluctantly accepted their decision. Hopefully, Chuck would accept ours too.

Yes, But is it Art

This past weekend, my wife and I participated in an event at our church. The church brought in an artist to walk us through a painting. There were snacks and beverages. You probably know the kind of event I’m talking about. We had a blast. I recommend it to any couples who want to have a nice night out doing something creative and fun.

My painting is on the left and My wife’s is on the right.

She likes mine better and I think parts of hers are more artistic than anything in mine. I guess it’s true, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.