Imagine yourself in a world with no government, no electricity, no stores, no libraries and  no cell phones. Slavers, Marauders, and Scavengers have forced people to go into hiding.
‘Blue Crab Bay’ is one such world. The story takes place three generations after an asteroid chunk smashes into the mid- eastern part of the United States. Land masses have shifted, parts of coastal states have dropped off into the ocean. New island chains have formed from the old land. People now live on boats in marinas. Blue Crab Bay is populated mostly by ‘Youngsters’, who have had to grow up fast and hone their survival skills. They have learned to make do in a new world and deal with a few unexpected experiments the ‘Oldsters’, left behind.

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Linda is back with a new YA book with a premise I haven’t seen before.

Excerpt – 

Pearl whispered, “Get in the hole and keep very still.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew she needn’t have added the admonition to stay still. Otter knew the drill. The boy stood motionless next to her as she thrust the tip of her fillet knife into a tiny notch in the decking. Pearl pried open a slender trap door.

Underneath the planking was a fish tank with about ten inches of breathable air. If they were lucky, and the Flying Fish encountered no waves, Otter could remain hidden for as long as needed. Pearl prayed the Slavers would follow their usual pattern. If so, they would breeze into the Bay, steal, or scrounge as much booty as they could, then sail away to harass a neighboring marina.

“Sorry other marinas,” she said aloud, feeling guilty for wishing ill fortune on any of her fellow boat people.

Once she lowered the trap door over Otter’s head, she flipped his sleeping palette upside down until it fit perfectly into a custom bench. After erasing any trace of her brother, Pearl donned an old baggy dress, filthy apron, and a faded watch cap. To add to her disguise, she rubbed a smidgen of clay into the hollows of her cheeks. This ruse was nothing new for her. Momma Angie showed her how to disguise herself as soon as Pearl became a tween.

Each time the Slavers ship appeared a variation of Pearl’s charade played out on many of the boats in the Bay.

Her own boat, the Flying Fish, was a flat bottom shoal draft barge. The boat’s name was Pearl’s Grandma Elsa and Grandpa Walter’s little joke. The behemoth could no more fly than a pig. Pearl and Otter had lived there alone for the past two years. Pearl’s mother, Angie had been swept away during Hurricane #16. Sadly, the numbering of hurricanes along the Gullah Archipelago became a familiar routine. After Zeva, the last-named hurricane, most people had neither the heart nor the desire, to keep naming storms.

Pearl sighed heavily saying a silent prayer for her father Bruce as well.

A year prior to her mother’s disappearance, in a freak accident during the devastating winds of Hurricane #15, his foot got caught in the anchor chain just as a gust tossed him overboard.

She sauntered slowly back to the rail. As the Slavers approached, her gaze lingered on her neighbor’s skiff. His was little more than an oversized jon boat with a canvas roof to keep out the rain. Mr. Ely had lost his oldest son to the Slavers three years prior. Having experienced that painful loss, he was more devious hiding his daughter Abbey. At the first sight of the Slavers, he clamped a clumsy iron brace onto the girl’s leg. She appeared to be a cripple, effectively hiding her in plain sight.

~~~

Linda grew up in a traditional Midwest home. Her childhood wish was to be a librarian or an art teacher. Neither career would be in her stars. After graduating from University of Cincinnati Design Architecture and Art, life threw a curveball into her well-ordered plans.

Instead, she moved to the Hudson River Valley where she raised her son, working as a bartender, waitress, house painter, medical office assistant… anything to keep them financially afloat.

It was in Cold Spring on the Hudson that she fell in love with the small-town flavor and its denizens. Many of the latter would become templates for the lovable, quirky characters in the Voyage of the SunRunner.

Fast forward a number of years. A move to Davidson, North Carolina brought her to a ten-year study of metaphysics. She became an intuitive reader and remains so today.

She likes to think that all those life experience hats she wore, helped her write her first novel. She now lives in Mooresville, North Carolina and is working on a sequel to Voyage of the Sunrunner!

It is out here – Voyage of the Sunrunner!

Wow, I didn’t realize how much my publishers liked the month of February. I have three book birthdays today alone! Family Ties, Rth Rising and Rth Home all came out on this day.

Then Cohesion, the paperback of LifeMates/Budapest Fairy Tales and the Hearts of Carolina Anthology also came out this month.

And Daddy would have been 100 on Valentine’s Day – It’s a good month.

CL Hadyn has reedited Piper Paid, got a fresh cover and it’s available now!

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Alana ‘s dream was to open her own business offering an unusual combination of herbal remedies, edible weeds, acupuncture, and massage. But first, she had two very important lessons to learn. The first of which was never use a folklore recipe to summon a fairy. The second was how to get back to her own century after she completed the task the irate fairy had imposed on her in retribution for summoning him.

A Scottish time-travel novel by the author of Bloodstock, Aurelia, and Auric – check it out!! 

C. L. Hadyn has a quirky sense of humor and makes her characters’ personas totally believable.

This is a re-release, re-edited and new cover. I loved the first version and this one is even better! Can’t wait for the rest of them to return.

Follow C.L. on Twitter, Bookbub, Facebook, and Amazon! And check out her other books here.

Check out the premiere novel by Samantha Covington –

Christmas is more than a humbug. It’s deadly.  

Ben Scrooge has the world on his shoulders handling his recently deceased partner’s business affairs and handling his own book of business. Foreclosures are up and revenue down. A very disappointing Christmas.  

Complicating matters further, the Dread is raging through south London, and the sanitariums are overflowing.  The infirmed are attacking people throughout the night. Some swear the dead are coming back to life. Ben, however, thinks it foolishness, and he has no time for it. 

He’s about to find out who the fool truly is, and only a miracle, or something like it, can save him. 

Books2Read

Now meet the author –

* You are going to be new to many of my readers. Tell us about yourself.

I’m a new author but I’ve been writing for a while. This is my first time publishing a novel. I have a 9-5 to pay the bills and my Netflix subscription.

* Tell us about the book that’s just come out.

It’s a retelling of a Christmas carol, heavy emphasis on ‘retelling’. I kept some basic elements of Charles Dicken’s story and created a subplot with original characters. Ebenezer ‘Ben’ Scrooge is a moneylender who’s partner died three months before the onset of the Dread. This dread has killed many victims who rise and attack South Londoners. Three mages arrive to assist but there’s only so much they can do too. They need Ben’s help.

* What started you on your love of writing?

My love of reading. Many years ago I was hooked on the Meredith Gentry series, but book three ended on a cliffhanger. I was obsessed trying to work out what happened next. And then I wondered if I could work out my own story. So I did. Many years and notebooks later, I finished my first novel.

* Do you write in more than one genre – tell us a little about each one and the books you’re working on in each?

I really love Gaslamp fantasy and steampunk. Shambling and Shadows reflects that. I’m working on a steampunk western at the moment that I hope to have done soon. I also write contemporary Paranormal romance. I have a story in the Heart of Carolina Romance writers anthology.

* Have you attended any writing conference or classes? Tell us about some that and some that have been especially helpful.

Many years ago I met someone who told me about the local RWA chapter. I went to a meeting but didn’t have the money to join until much later. Being a part of the chapter has introduced me to a lot of workshops and networking that I wouldn’t have found on my own.

* Are you a member of any writing groups?

Heart of Carolina Romance writers! 😊

* How attached do you get to your characters? Do you know what happens after the book ends?

I don’t know. I think when the story is done, it’s done but I do think about Ben and Michaela (from Shambling and Shadows) from time to time. I’d like to see them but in separate books. For now though all my focus is on the one I’m presently writing.

* Describe your ‘perfect’ writing day.

One where I am in the mood to write and have a lot of coffee doing it. A great comfy chair and a large screen are a must.

* Could you tell us the one question you wish people would ask about your writing… and don’t forget the answer.

Seeing as this is the first novel I’ve published, I don’t know. I guess I wish someone would ask what inspired this work maybe? But only because the answer is strange. My inspiration came from just discovering steampunk and really exploring the genre. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was just released before I thought about this book. And then one night at the end of 2009 I was channel surfing between the musical version of a Christmas Carol and a George Romero movie and that’s when the idea came to me.

Excerpt –

Jacob Marley wasn’t quite dead to begin with.

Six feet underground, he alternated between unconsciousness and insanity. When he was awake, he clawed and screamed at the pine lid. When his energy was spent, he fell into unconsciousness until his next manic fit. On occasion he’d hear a voice gently speaking in his mind and he’d calm into another stupor.

Marley was one of the first victims of the Dread. As he was a wealthy man, there were funds to bury him before he woke up that first horrible night. Ben Scrooge, his partner and friend, had stood silently on that August afternoon, watching dirt tossed on top of the casket as the priest droned on from the Bible.

Now that Marley was “dead”, the remaining partner of Marley and Scrooge had inherited everything pertaining to his friend’s clientele, book of business, and private holdings. Marley loaned to the gentry class desperately trying to hold onto their status and lifestyle as their fortunes dwindled. At his death, he had at least twenty active accounts, five of which were in arrears and the rest, upon hearing of his death, would stop paying.

 The opposite of Marley, Ben was cold and more selective about his book of business. Some of his longtime dealings were with smaller projects, funding cotton mills and the like. Marley was a partner in most of these endeavors but trying to settle these personal accounts were proving to be a nuisance and a reason to grumble everyday Ben tried to collect.

That didn’t mean losing Marley didn’t weigh on the man. He just didn’t let it show. At night he’d lie awake, running through figures and percentages until the Scotch and sleep carried him away, and tried not to think of Marley. In the morning he’d wake up to a cold room and a long day of chasing down accounts, settling payments, and taking meetings Marley would have been a part of.

At the start of September, the Dread spread madly, infecting every corner and alley of London. Infection took a matter of days. By week’s end the victim would be in a stupor. Maybe dead, he’d heard, but he always thought it was a rumor. They’d revive at night and savagely beat the life out of anyone who crossed their paths. Or infect them to do the same.

The sanitariums were filling faster than they could be built. There was always something ugly he had to avoid on the streets. Screams and cries would rule the night until the early hours of dawn.

This was the new way of life in South London and only a miracle, or something like it, would change it.

Samantha Covington is a steampunk and gaslamp author that also dabbles in contemporary paranormal romance. She can be reached at shamblingandshadows@gmail.com