Savvy Saturday: $0.99 Sale!

This month, we are happy to share with the world two amazing books for the low price of only $0.99! That's right, for less than a dollar, you too can own one, if not both fantasy novels on your Kindle. Take a look below to see if you are interested!

Traitor Knight
Keith Willis
Fantasy Romance
Amazon
Champagne Bookstore

When Morgan McRobbie rescues a damsel-in-distress from a dragon, he expects she’ll swoon, murmuring “My hero!” Instead, Marissa has only loathing for the man everyone believes will betray Kilbourne. That’s fine with Morgan. A woman in his life would just complicate things.

A high-level informer threatens the kingdom’s security, and Morgan is out to stop him. Posing as a turncoat himself, he’s walking a fine line between honor and betrayal. A single misstep could result in disaster, and his mission is fraught with distractions: the pesky dragon, a pair of conniving courtiers, and the disillusioned damsel who’s certain Morgan can’t be trusted.

If Morgan’s going to save the kingdom, win the girl, and manage to stay alive, he’ll need to step up his game. Because the traitor is lurking in the shadows, and his scheme calls not just for the betrayal of Kilbourne, but also the destruction of Morgan McRobbie.

Tracks
K.M.Tolan
Fantasy/Steampunk
Amazon

Ever look out of a train car’s window and think the world rushing by isn’t yours? Welcome to Hobohemia, where hobo kings vie with rail barons over the value of the human spirit, and steam engines still ply the living rails. Vincent arrives searching for his long lost sister, but quickly finds himself immersed in a battle to stop the Erie Railroad from unleashing a horror that will see the end of hobo jungles and craftsmen alike.

Savvy Saturday: Exclusive excerpt from Storm Child

Storm Child, the sequel to K.M. Tolan's popular book, Tracks, is just as packed with adventure,
friendship, good guys, and baddies as it's predecessor. Take a look at this action packed excerpt, and then find out what happens when you buy the book!

~*~

He smoothly placed his hat over his heart and executed a courtly bow. “Marshal Leon Smith at your service, little lady. Folks just call me Marshal. Whom do I have the honor of addressing?”

He talked like nobility, or at least how she guessed a rail baron might sound. She would’ve forgotten the company he kept if it weren’t for the pearl-handled pistol shoved into a holster below the Marshal’s vest. Maybe he needed it to keep them under control. “I’m…R-Red,” she stammered.

“Isn’t that a fine name.” He swept the ends of his fingers along the bowler’s brim to fix the hat atop a high forehead. He inclined his head toward the other dour faces. “Don’t you mind my deputies, honey. We’re Pinkertons. The good guys.”

“They’re yegg,” she said with a shake of her head. “I can tell.”

“Firm hands on the tiller of justice,” he assured with a smile. Marshal pulled a yellow paper from inside his vest and unfolded it. “Rare to find one of your kind out by herself. That train over there yours, Red?”

She nodded. “Circus train. Tommy Tricks is the engine.” She gave Law Keeper a sidelong glance. “Tommy’s nicer than yours.”

“Well, this fellow we’re after likes circuses too. Heard he ran off with one.” The marshal spread the paper out before her. “This is a very bad man, sweetheart. A wanted killer. Look familiar to you?”

The breath squeezed from her. Red stared at the inked likeness, her jaw sagging. Big Mike.

The marshal regarded his deputies, his voice lowering as he said, “I’d say we found our man, gentlemen.”

Yelping, she raced back down the tracks as fast as she could. She broke into the caboose on a gust of wind, sending cards fluttering about the room. “Big Mike!” She gasped over Max’s surprised shout. “A man’s coming after you with a bunch of yegg. He’s right behind me. Got a pearly gun and snake boots.”

Surprisingly, the conductor knew whom she talked about. “Massasauga Smith,” Max spat. He rummaged in his desk. “ BM, you gotta get out of here. I’ve got some money in the drawer—”

“No,” the yegg interrupted, slamming a fist on the table hard enough to scatter the bottle caps they used as poker chips. “Ain’t gonna leave. Ain’t gonna join’ em likes they wanted Big Mike to do.”

Red whined in exasperation. “You didn’t really kill anyone, did you?”

The roustabout hitched up his suspenders and grinned at her. “Didn’t mean to. Big Mike just thumped too hard. Don’t want no badge.”

“Those men asked you to join them?”

“Wouldn’t really call it asking.” Max rubbed the back of his neck. “You can’t make a stand, Big Mike. Not against pistols. Not against the likes of Massasauga Smith.”

The large man pulled a red fire ax from hooks over the rear door. Dark smoky tendrils oozed from his eyes. “Big Mike gots Red.”

“What am I supposed to do?” she cried, following him out the front door.

He kicked at the ballast and swung the axe as if it were a marching baton. “You gonna let’ em take Big Mike away, Red?”

The question dragged itself over the red coals of hurtful memories. The seething black fog enveloping Big Mike’s body reached deep within her. Rage lifted Red into the sky in front of him. An unrelenting anger brought bright flashes to her eyes and transformed her hair in a crackling blue nimbus.

“They’re not taking you from me,” she thundered. Nobody’s going to do that to me again. Ever.

~Find out what happens next in Storm Child~

Storm Child is available on Amazon, Kobo, at Barnes & Noble, and at the Champagne Bookstore.

Excerpt from Storm Child

Storm Child
Hobohemia, Book 2
K. M. Tolan
Fantasy
$3.99
Amazon
Kobo
Champagne Books

Being a steam child was supposed to be fun.

Excerpt: 

The large man pulled a red fire ax from hooks over the rear door. Dark smoky tendrils oozed from his eyes. “Big Mike gots Red.”

“What am I supposed to do?” she cried, following him out the front door.

He kicked at the ballast and swung the axe as if it were a marching baton. “You gonna let ’em take Big Mike away, Red?”

The question dragged itself over the red coals of hurtful memories. The seething black fog enveloping Big Mike’s body reached deep within her. Rage lifted Red into the sky in front of him. An unrelenting anger brought bright flashes to her eyes and transformed her hair in a crackling blue nimbus.

“They’re not taking you from me,” she thundered. Nobody’s going to do that to me again. Ever.

“No!” Glory came to her side in a rush of wind, the girl’s eyes frantic behind her square glasses. “Red, what are you doing?”

Big Mike hefted his axe with a laugh. “We take ’em together, Red.”

Glory tugged at Red’s shoulders. “Don’t listen to him! He’s trying to make you mad. Make you into something worse.”

Max skidded to a stop on the caboose’s porch and gaped up at her. “Think she’s already worse.” He ducked back inside, slamming the door shut.

Glory struggled to stay in place as winds rattled the ballast beneath them. Her tears sparkled in the lightning of Red’s growing fury. “We’re supposed to go to Topeka.” She sobbed. “You’re going to hear that bell and be happy. Red, please stop! Storms blow away and die. You don’t want to die, do you?”

Red glared beyond her friend to where the marshal and his deputies stood on the tracks; their advance halted at the sight of her. “I’m not the one who’ll die.”

She hissed, her mind afire with the heady realization that those yegg and their master feared her. Roaring with all the pent-up anger she possessed, Red swept Glory aside and launched herself at those awful men. The maelstrom of her emotions kept pace, rising in a whirling column of stone torn from the roadbed.

Now her enemies ran for their lives. The sight of men scrambling like ants only served to goad her temper with a giddy sense of power. She reveled in her newfound might, just like Big Mike said she should. Fine. Let those bad men shelter themselves in those flimsy little cars. She was strong now. Strong enough to tear those coaches into kindling. Nothing would save them.

Except something did. Their savior wasn’t Glory. She couldn’t even hear her friend’s entreaties over the roar in her ears. But Red heard the tinkling glass when Law Keeper’s lamp shattered, and saw the engine’s light extinguish as the locomotive rocked helplessly in her winds. Hurt an engine? Her?

This isn’t supposed to be me! Red wailed, cringing from the monster she’d become. Frigid blasts of fear washed over her to chase away the lightning in a moment of terrible realization. She’d become yegg.

Red screamed. Frantic, she ripped away the anger fueling her whirlwind as one might cast off burning clothes. Naked, she staggered back to the caboose where even Big Mike took shelter. Glory, however, remained outside, grimly hanging on to the porch railing. Her friend stretched out an arm with a wrenching cry.

Red reached for Glory’s grasping fingers, but couldn’t focus. Couldn’t even find her own hands. More than just the winds flew off into the night. She was being torn apart as well. “Help me!”

New Releases! Three New Fantasy Novels for Your Delight!

Rush

E. Jourdan Lewis
YA Paranormal Romance

$3.99
Amazon
Kobo
Champagne Books

In a world where humans are below Shifters, a tiger falls for a human girl. To love her is to kill her.

Rush, a tiger shifter with an abusive Alpha, finds himself wishing for more with Jane, a human. The kind of “more” everyone warns them against. Jane may be the love of his life but if their secret is discovered by his Alpha there’ll be more than hearts at stake. There will be blood.



Storm Child
Hobohemia, Book 2
K. M. Tolan
Fantasy
$3.99
Amazon
Kobo
Champagne Books

Being a steam child was supposed to be fun.

Red was meant to live a carefree life among the great steam locomotives as one of Hobohemia’s mischievous steam children.

She leaves her human body behind, but not her childhood demons. A gypsy blessing becomes an unintended curse, releasing an unbridled power inside her making Red an unwilling weapon in the hands of others eager to wield her anger.

Before she can stop them, she must first defeat herself.



A Guardian’s Heart
Guardians of Light, Book 1
Renee Wildes
Urban Fantasy
$ 3.99
Amazon TBD
Kobo TBD
Champagne Books

Strength can be drawn from pain…if the heart can heal faster than it bleeds.

Dara Khan Androcles was trained from childhood to be a healer. But as a demon-possessed invader threatens Safehold, and she defends a wounded warrior on the battlefield, her hidden inner dragon thirsts for blood.

When she lifts the warrior’s blond, blood-encrusted hair away from his ear, she discovers he is more than King Hengist’s outlander ally. He is an immortal. The elven heir to the throne of Cymry.

Loren ta Cedric senses something different about flame-haired, falcon-eyed woman who saves him. A healer, wreathed in raw, dark power, who wields knives with deadly skill. A mortal who prays to the Lady, not the human gods. Now he owes this thoroughly distracting female a Life-Debt. Which, in the heat of their flight to Loren’s homeland to raise an army, somehow becomes Lifemate.

Dragon-human and elf, peasant and prince—logic says they have no future. Yet the power of their unlikely bond could be the only thing that saves their world from a demon poised to tear it apart.

Savvy Saturday: A Bit of Background on Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty by Michell Plested

There is a scene within the book (Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty) co-written by JR Murdock and myself that I remember writing very well.

I must first provide a bit more background on the book before I describe the scene.

JR and I made the decision early on that he would write the protagonist portion of the book and I would write the antagonist. In my case, the main antagonist is a fellow named Felonious Fenduke Filtcher the Fourth. At first glance, Felonious appears to be the traditional hand-wringing nut job that often appear in cartoons.

I wanted to add some depth to his character and have fun doing it (this book IS meant to be funny, after all).

The opportunity came up when two of Felonious’ minions (Lenny and Squiggy – two hulking brutes) have to report a failure. Felonious is in his lab.

Here is the scene:

Felonious counted to ten before he answered his large minion. “I want you to take the carriage down to the dock and blend in with the crowd. Place the case which you just filled with explosives near the ship.”

“Yes, Boss, but you said the press conference is at 10:00 a.m.,” Lenny said.

“Your point?”

“It’s not even 6:00 a.m. yet, Boss. Wouldn’t it look suspicious if we were down at the dock this early?”

Felonious stared at the man for several moments, tapping his bottom lip, before he answered. “You raise a very good point, minion. It is too early to go.” He began pacing again, talking aloud for his own benefit. “What should I have my faithful minions do for the next few hours?”

“You could let us have forty winks,” Squiggy said in a pleading tone. “We’ve been up all night and I’m beat!”

“Hmm? Beat you say? What a novel idea,” Felonious said.

“Squiggy just meant he’s tired, Boss,” Lenny said quickly. “We both are. I could use a little shut-eye.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so,” Felonious said with a wicked smile. “I have just the thing for that!” He wandered over to a steel cabinet and pulled a key from the breast pocket of his lab coat. With great care, he unfastened the lock on the cabinet and opened the steel door. It opened without any sound.

Both henchmen leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the contents of the cabinet. Inside, gleaming like a new penny was a brass colored ray gun. A globe of dazzling light shone from the back of the weapon and polished brass and wood decorated the entire surface. Felonious gently pulled the gun from its padded stand and cradled it like a newborn baby.

“What is it boss,” Lenny asked, awe coloring his voice.

“I call it my rejuvenation ray,” Felonious said.

“What does it do?” Squiggy asked, his voice cracking as he spoke.

Felonious patted the barrel of the gun. “One shot from this and you will be filled with new energy to get things done. You won’t feel tired at all.”

“Gee boss, look at the time,” Squiggy said, holding up a bare, watchless wrist. “Me and Lenny here got to run out and do an errand for the boss.”

“Minion, you don’t have a watch and I am the boss. I don’t recall giving you anything to do for me.”

“Um….”

“Relax, Minion. It won’t harm you at all. I’ve tested it thoroughly on rats and they hardly ever explode.” Felonious watched the two men for a moment. “Ha, ha,” he said with little mirth. “That was a joke, gentlemen, in case you missed it.”

“Oh! Ha ha,” Lenny said, looking distinctly like crying.

“Oh for heavens, sake,” Felonious said. He looked at Squiggy. “You, minion, go get me one of those hamster cages from over there.” He pointed at a shelf covered with animal cages.

Squiggy dutifully went over to the wall and fetched a cage containing one sluggish, fat hamster. The little animal was walking halfheartedly on a wire wheel.

“Place the cage on that table,” Felonious ordered.

Squiggy put the cage down on the indicated table and stood back. As the two henchmen watched, Felonious lifted the weapon and aimed it at the cage. He pulled the trigger and the weapon began to hum ominously. The glowing ball of energy in the weapon brightened and a wavy beam of violet light flowed through the air and struck the cage. The sluggish hamster stopped moving on the wheel for a moment.

Then all hell broke loose.

The hamster went from still to running in mere moments. The creaky wire wheel was suddenly moving so fast that it was almost invisible. The axle of the wheel started glowing a cherry red in seconds. The glow stretched from the axle to the rest of the wheel. The hamster let out a startled squeak and burst into flame. As fast as it had started, the whole thing ended with a well cooked hamster stuck to the slowing, melted wire wheel.

“If it’s all the same to you, boss, I think Lenny and I will just go out and grab a cuppa joe,” Lennyy said, backing away from Felonious, case and explosives clutched tightly in his arms.

“Yeah, what Lenny said.” Squiggy followed his comrade.

But Felonious wasn’t listening. He was busy examining the gun. “That shouldn’t have happened. I wonder if it would do the same thing to a bigger animal?”

***

What I love about this scene is it gave me the chance to show the wicked sense of humour Felonious has as well as the fact that he is situationally aware. His self-commentary (out loud) gives Lenny and Squiggy the hint that they might just want to go try again without actually giving the order. It also allows him to warn them of their potential punishment should they fail again.

Talk about a motivational speaker!

I also love how visual this scene is. As much as a hamster that spontaneously combusts is a bit dark (no animals were harmed in the writing of this scene), it has enough of a humorous component that it also shows that Felonious is a nut…brilliant, but still crazy. And he is someone to be feared.

I wrote this scene fairly late one night. I had been writing for the better part of an hour when I got to this point. I was completely in Felonious’ head and the writing was coming pretty easily. I think I wrote the entire scene in about ten minutes.

When I went back to read what I had, I couldn’t help but laugh – that’s actually a good sign. My writing rarely affects me strongly on an emotional level. This did that (and still does).

So, let’s talk character motivation for a few moments.

There are three characters in this scene (not counting the hamster). Lenny and Squiggy (the two hulking minions who could probably snap Felonious like a twig should they decide to) are bone-tired. They’ve been up doing their master’s bidding all night long. All they want is sleep. And, of course, there is Felonious who, for whatever reason, rarely needs much sleep. He wants to keep moving forward.

The minions complain and ask for rest. Felonious being a logical (if someone cracked) being says he has a fix for that and produces a ray gun that should re-energize the two. When they are reluctant to cooperate with his plan he demonstrates its power on an unsuspecting hamster.

The results are somewhat spectacular.

What isn’t known is whether Felonious actually expected the spontaneous combustion. What we do see is how he uses the result to motivate his employees/minions without actually having to resort to extreme violence all while encouraging their continuing fear of him.

As I said before, a very fun scene to write. And when it came time to edit? Well, very little changed in the scene. The flow was good and really fit that portion of the book. AND…I kept laughing as I read it (as did my partner). It is still one of my favorite scenes to read aloud.

Jack Kane and the Statue of Liberty is available in ebook or print on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and at the Champagne Bookstore.