Boxed Sets & Secret Worlds Launch

So far the Untethered Realms authors have done one boxed set of novels called Fantasy Uprising. It was really fun to put together and our readers are enjoying it.

I'm getting more of a taste for boxed sets on my own as well because my novel Ruby's Fire is in a brand new one called Secret Worlds. It launched on June 29 and contains a whopping twenty-one books from popular authors who write dark fantasy and paranormal. We priced it at only $0.99 cents so you get a crazy amount of value. And it will only be available through August.

Having read a few of the novels in it, I can say the writing is top drawer.

Check it out on Amazon, B&N, iBooks & Kobo.

Here's a sampling of what's in it:

Taken by the Beast -  Conner Kressley & Rebecca Hamilton

Women are going missing. Women who look a lot like Charisse. And the man this beauty is falling for may be the beast responsible.

The Forever Girl - Rebecca Hamilton

Sophia's ancestor's body went missing during the Salem Witch Trials, and the only one able to help solve the mystery is a shapeshifter Sophia is afraid to trust

Summoned - Rainy Kaye

Dimitri can't reveal the paranormal bond controlling him, and Syd won't tolerate his secrets.

Purgatory - Susan Stec

A sex-hungry myth with no name, no flesh, and no identity ...unless it wears one of you.

The Pandora Principle - Noree Cosper

As a descendant of Pandora, Cassi must discover if her lover is one of the evil spirits she hunts before all her friends die.

Heart Song - Samantha LaFantasie

When incredibly handsome Marren frees Relena, there's a catch.

Changeling - Debbie Herbert

As a changeling and a witch work together to restore order in Fairy, they discover that love, like magic, casts its own spell of enchantment.

Shiftless - Aimee Easterling

After years of suppressing her inner predator, Terra meets a shifter who forces her to reclaim her wilder side.

The Black Parade - Kyoko M.

Poltergeist Michael is the key to saving Jordan's soul from hell, but can she handle the cost of her salvation?

Haunting Echoes - Caethes Faron

Will Amaia's vampire clan kill her ex-fiance before she learns whether he returned from the grave for love or revenge?

Braving Fate - Linsey Hall

Diana and Cadan fight demonic forces and a deadly passion that has lasted centuries.

Trinity Rising - J.E. Taylor

Damian and Naomi are desperate for victory against the devil, but one wrong step couldtrigger Armageddon.

Moonlight - Katie Salidas

Good girls don't wear fur, fight over men, or run around naked, howling at the moon. But Fallon's not a good girl.

Lash - L.G. Castillo

Lash, a fallen angel, must choose where to place his trust--in a home he fought so hard to regain or in a forbidden love he can't bear to lose.

Between - Lisa Swallow

Alek could kill Rose with a kiss. Finn, with a touch. Pulled into an intense affair with Alek, Rose discovers her connection to Finn threatens them all.

The Devil's Fool - Rachel McClellan

When vampire Boaz gives Eve the one thing she never had--love--she falls into a world of greed and seduction.

Spark Rising - Kate Corcino

A runaway Spark and the agent arresting her ignite a revolution to end their people's enslavement while resisting the electricity between them.

Ruby's Fire - Catherine Stine

On the run from a desert cult, Ruby must choose which handsome stranger to trust with her heart and her darkest secret: Armonk or Blane.

Cursed - Lucy Leroux

Governess Isobel Sterling has been hiding an uncanny ability her whole life--until she has to use it to save herself from a madman.

Hunted - A.J. Colby

With Agent Holbrook's help, Riley races time to stay ahead of a crazed werewolf killer.

Vigilant - Angel Lawson

Ari stumbles into a world of crime and vigilantism while discovering the one man that sets her heart on fire.

Have you ever been in a boxed set? What do you see as the limitations and perks?

5 Favorite Horror Heroes

Although people usually think of the villain/monster in horror stories first, the heroes are the ones who survive to tell their tales. I have my five favorite heroes/heroines listed here.

1. Dale “Barbie” Barbara from Stephen King’s Under the Dome – The mysterious stranger who came to Chester’s Mill at the wrong time for him, but the right time for the people he manages to save. I loved him in the book as well as the TV series.

2. Sidney Prescott from Scream – Sweet and tragic, Sidney finds her inner strength as she’s tormented by Ghostface.

3. Laurie Strode from Halloween – Laurie is sensible and responsible and she’ll do anything to survive Michael Myers’ attempts on her life.

4. Chief Martin Brody from Jaws – We’re gonna need a bigger boat. He tries to warn people, but to the mayor, the power of the dollar is worth more than someone’s life. Brody learns to be relentless in hunting down the killer shark.

5. Clarice Starling from The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal – A young FBI agent makes a name for herself in hunting down serial killers. I really loved the chemistry between Clarice and Hannibal Lecter.

Who is your favorite hero/heroine in horror movies/books?

A monster hunts us. After hibernating for a decade, it’s ravenous. We long to stop this nightmare, but the end of the road is far. There is no waking up once a legend sets its sights on you.

Disappearances every ten or so years make little impact on the small town of New Haven, Virginia. Hikers get lost. Hunters lose the trail. Even when a body is discovered, the inhabitants’ memories last about as long as the newspaper articles.

No one connects the cases. No one notices the disappearances go back beyond Civil War times. No one believes a legendary monster roams the forests in Southwestern Virginia.

I don’t either until the truck breaks down on an old mountain trail. Cell phones won’t work in this neck of the woods. It’s amazing how much a person can see by starlight alone. So what if we can’t feel our fingers or toes as we hike toward the main road. How many more miles left to go?

Crrraaack!

Hear that noise?

Purchase Once upon a Nightmare: A Collection by Cherie Reich at Amazon. From June 22-28, the collection is only $0.99!

Real-Life Heroes

Everybody visiting this blog is digitalized. We read anywhere, any time. We let our imagination soar. We discover new ideas. Our minds are opened, and all because we have access to the written word.

There are millions of people in the world who are less fortunate, many of them children. I’d like to highlight a few unique people/libraries striving to make a difference. The people involved are true heroes, as far as I’m concerned.

Maria Keller

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A fourteen-year-old who founded the nonprofit Read Indeed, Maria has distributed over one million books to kids in need. Her current goal is two million books by the time she turns eighteen. Read about her organization here:

 http://www.readindeed.org/home.htm

Library by donkey

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Library by camel

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Garden library

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You can read about these – as well as other – imaginative libraries here: http://litreactor.com/columns/the-10-most-unusual-libraries-in-the-world

I don’t know enough about these organizations to make any recommendations. Rather, I present them as a starting point for your own thought process to take flight. I truly believe that reading is one of the cornerstones for understanding one another, for accepting our differences across cultures, and for making the world a better place to live in. How about you?

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Want to be a part of the 2015 Realms Faire? 

Sign ups for event hosts and planners now open.

Other creative sites/artists are welcome to join in the fun.

The Realms Faire isn’t restricted to the Middle Ages, all times and universes should join in… like the Worlds Fair, this is the Realms Faire, encompassing all, encouraging play and fun, a different and playful way to make you and your wares visible.

It’s a fun opportunity to promote yourself and your book. Other creative products (besides books) are welcome. Folks will be tweeting, blogging, facebooking, pinteresting, and using other outlets up to and during the event.

As a host, we can help you devise a game to drive traffic to your site.

As a participant, you get your name and book titles/products out in front of the masses who come to play the games.

You can also participate by contributing prizes to our many games and the VelociRaffle.

Go here to sign up!

 Questions? Need more information? Email mpaxauthor at gmail dot com
If you're brave enough to challenge one of my immortals, come stake your claim by
clicking here!

So you want to own a spaceship? Here’s 3 pieces of advice. #SciFi Oh and win $40

So you want to own a spaceship? Here’s 3 pieces of advice.

1.         Be sure all the parts are there. Getting stranded on the starway is no joke. There are no tow trucks. If no one finds you quick, you’ll die.

2.         If you can’t drive it, make friends with a dang good pilot. Friends might be more understanding if you’re low on funds than a hire on.

3.         Whether flying for business or pleasure, stock your vessel with good vittles, drink, and company. Space is rather dull unless something or someone is trying to kill you.

These bits of advice certainly hold true in the Backworlds. Space is lonely and deadly. Keep that in mind when selecting your spacecraft from the lot.

$40 giftcard to Amazon or B&N

How to enter the giveaway will be at these blog stops.

Visit them all to increase your chances of winning.

June 8

• It’s Raining Books – Putting the Whammy on Doubters
• Jacey Holbrand – Here’s what Happened when I was Lost

June 9

• Yeah Books! – Eleven Questions

June 10

• C. R. Moss – Five Steps to Balancing Life and Writitng
• CBY Book Club – If I Could Live Anywhere in the World, I’d Live Here

June 11

• Bookschatter – We Can be Heroes

June 12

• Lilac Reviews – Five Lessons From Classic Science Fiction Writers

June 15

• Shelf Full of Books – There’s no Pavarotti in this Opera

June 16

• Long and Short Reviews – 5 Lessons I Learned from a Galactic Bartender

June 17

• Two Ends of the Pen – 10 Dimensions of M. Pax

June 18

• Mixed Book Bag – How Humans Can Survive in Space

June 19

• Kit ‘N Kabookle – The 6th Dimension
• Black Heart Magazine – The Recipe for Awesomesauce

You can also keep up with the tour by following Goddess Fish on FB, Twitter, and Google+.

And by following me on FB and Twitter.

Review of A Change of Mind and Other Stories

Blurb:

A Change of Mind and Other Stories consists of a novella, four short stories and one flash fiction piece. This collection puts the extremes of human behaviour under the microscope with the help of lashings of dark humour, and includes four pieces previously published in Writer’s Muse magazine.
 
In "A Change of Mind," Reuben is an office worker so meek and mild he puts up with daily bullying from his boorish male colleagues as if it’s just a normal part of his day. But when a stranger points him in the direction of a surgeon offering a revolutionary new procedure, he can’t pass up the chance to turn his life around.

 

But this isn’t your average surgeon. For a start, he operates alone in a small room above a mechanic’s. And he promises to alter his patients’ personality so they can be anything they want to be…
 
In "Marissa," a man who is determined to find evidence of his girlfriend’s infidelity ends up wondering if he should have left well alone.

"The Dog God" finds a chink in the armour of a man with a megalomaniacal desire to take over the world.
 
In "The Insomniac," a man who leads an obsessively regimented lifestyle on one hour’s sleep a night finds a disruption to his routine doesn’t work for him.
 
"Hole In One" sees a dedicated golfer achieving a lifelong ambition.

"The Loner" ends the collection on a note of hope as two family members try to rebuild their lives after they are torn apart by jealousy.

 

Christine's review:

A collection of wonderfully dark stories that takes the reader on a terrifying psychological journey. The title piece, "A Change of Mind" is about Reuben who has spent his life being beat down by bullying. Not only by coworkers and peers, but by his own family. A barkeep directs him to a surgeon who can perform a procedure that will change his life forever. It's not what you expect at all, and certainly not what Reuben expects. It could be a dream come true or a nightmare. I loved getting into Reuben's mind, as bleak as his world was, and I was on the edge of my seat until the end of it.

Each story was well written and had its own little twist. They yanked me from one emotion to another, digging deep into me with just a few words. I particularly liked "The Insomniac" which was about a man who lived on only an hour's sleep. Something changes in his extremely regimented routine to mess up his sleep pattern and it's a surprise what a little thing can do. The little things do matter.

Purchase Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Smashwords / B&N / Kobo

Add it on Goodreads

 

Find Nick on:

Blog * Twitter * Goodreads

 

Head on over to Nick's blog to enter his giveaway for a chance to win his book!

* * * * *

 

It was only in recent years that I started to enjoy reading short stories. It is amazing how much impact a few thousand or even a few hundred words can have on a reader. What is your favorite short story?

Jurassic June: Re-visiting Michael Crichton

This month sees the fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World. I can't wait to see it at the cinema. I loved the first three films. They were visually stunning, and nerve-jangling enough to scare you silly the first time you watched them. But I also liked them for another reason - Michael Crichton.

I was fortunate enough to read both Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Crichton before the films came out. Jurassic Park was one of those books I couldn't put down. I can tell you where I read it - on a beach in Lanzarote. I was seventeen years old, and just starting my love-affair with Stephen King and other horror/thriller writers. When I'd finished Jurassic Park, I lent it to a friend. When it came back, I re-read it. By the time I'd finished, my friend also wanted to re-read it. I no longer have that crumpled, water-marked book. I wish I did.

Even though Crichton wrote the screenplays for the Jurassic Park films, I never thought they did the books total justice. I'd come away both in awe of the special-effects, but disappointed by what was left out. But isn't that always the case? It's very rare to find perfect book-to-film translations. Sadly Michael Crichton passed away in 2008, so Jurassic World is only based on the fictional world he created. Unlike the first two films, there will be no book to compare it to. I can only hope it lives up to my expectations based on the other films.

Like another member of this writing group, Cherie Reich, I had intended to re-read both books before seeing the film. That hasn't happened yet, though I'm sure there is still time. If you haven't read Jurassic Park or The Lost World, I highly recommend them. In fact, Crichton has written many more you can choose from. The Andromeda Strain is another favourite of mine.

Are you looking forward to Jurassic World? Have you read Crichton's books? If so, what did you think of the films in comparison to the books?