Sunday 25 September 2016

Jersey Festival of Word 2016




I've bought my tickets and am looking forward to attending various talks from Thursday through to Sunday at this year's Jersey Festival of Words

From Anne Sebba, Alison Weir, Michael Morpurgo, Louise Doughty, Antonia Hodgson and Rachel Abbott to Kelly Clayton, Claire Boscq Scott, Sophie Cousens, Simon Scarrow, Victoria Hislop, Paul Darroch and Ian Ronayne and many, many more, it's difficult to fit in all the talks/workshops, etc.

Here's the link for tickets.

I can't wait!




Also at the moment is my book, Broken Faces, written as, well, me, Deborah Carr has been reduced for a short time (until 4 October) to 99p \ 99c on Amazon

Broken Faces is set in WW1 in both Jersey, Shropshire, France and Belgium. It's the story of the hallowed privilege who believed life was always going to be golden. It's also the story of two young men in love with the same woman and of thousands of broken men who returned from the Front with masks over their faces to hide the irreparable damage. These men were expected to live a “normal” life. 

Spanning the 1914-18 war it is ultimately a story of how love can triumph over adversity in the most unexpected of ways.

Here's a picture of the book in front of Jersey's PoW camp from WW1, Les Blanches Blanques and here's a link to discover more and see a few pictures of the camp.

Thursday 15 September 2016

Shaman's Drum by Ailsa Abraham


Genre: Magical Realism / Religion
Release Date:  5 Jan. 2013
Publisher: Crooked Cat Publishers

England in the near future. 
Mainstream religions have been outlawed, and the old gods rule again. 
Iamo has been a priest of the Great Mother and is sworn to celibacy, but his love for Riga, a Black Shaman, a magical assassin, caused him to break his vows. After being imprisoned apart from each other for three years, Iamo accepts an offer to earn them both a pardon and the possibility of marriage. If they survive.
 
Iamo and Riga must discover why demons are breaking through from the other side. Which of the cults are renegades who allow the demons through? Who can they trust? 
Combining their powers, they face the ordeal with the help of a band of eclectic pagans, spirit creatures, Riga's Black Shaman brothers, an undercover Christian granny, and three unusually energetic Goths. 
It's a tough assignment, but the hope of a life together keeps them fighting.

EXTRACT
The Demon Prince, like all demons, had once been human. He’d been a Handsome man but all manner of evil thoughts and deeds had distorted his face and body. His skin was that of a rotting corpse, maggots and other larvae constantly dropping from it. His mouth hung slack, showing his sharp carnivore’s teeth. Even from this distance I could smell his breath, like a blast of hot air from an abattoir. He was a walking irony of knightly valour in armour made from the nails of his victims. His helmet was a priest’s head, the expression of horror still fixed on it and the eyes still moving. His hands were claws that grasped and pulled everything towards him, he was the embodiment of greed. Nothing that anyone else possessed was safe, especially their souls.  His eyes emitted a black luminescence that darkened all around it. Within his circle it became impossible to think clearly, only to walk towards the inevitable death and enslavement he promised. What else was there in the world? What was the purpose of resisting?

In slow motion, I saw him raise his wand, fashioned from a new-born baby’s arm and point it at Iamo. Thick black sludge solidified and shot towards the monk, my partner, and in that moment I realised that it wasn’t just desire I felt for him. I loved him. I threw myself forward, knocking Iamo sideways and took the full force of the black fireball on my chest but a pale blue lightning bolt leapt between Iamo and the site of the hit, bouncing back towards the Demon Prince, who staggered and fell. The other demons stood bereft. Without their leader to command them they had no will of their own. Only the one who had crawled within touching distance of me was still unstoppable and he sank his rotting, grime-encrusted fangs into my leg.

BUY LINKS


About Ailsa
Ailsa Abraham writes under two names and is the author of six novels. Alchemy is the prequel to Shaman's Drum, published by Crooked Cat in January 2014. Both are best-sellers in their genres on Amazon. 

She has lived in France since 1990, enjoys knitting and crochet and until recently was the oldest Hell's Angel in town. Her interests include campaigning for animal rights, experimenting with different genres of writing and trips back to the UK to visit friends and family. She runs an orphanage for homeless teddy bears and contributes a lot of work to Knit for Africa. She is also addicted to dressing up, saying that she is old enough to know better but too wise to care. 







Wednesday 14 September 2016

Review: The Magic of Ramblings by Kate Field

Today I'm reviewing The Magic of Ramblings by Kate Field.
Published by Accent Press on 8 September 2016

Here's the blurb:

Running away can be the answer if you run to the right place… 

When Cassie accepts a job as companion to an old lady in a remote Lancashire village, she hopes for a quiet life where she can forget herself, her past and most especially men. The last thing she wants is to be drawn into saving a community that seems determined to take her to its heart – and to resuscitate hers… 

Frances has lived a reclusive life at Ramblings, a Victorian Gothic mansion, for over thirty years and now Barney is hiding away there, forging a new life after his medical career ended in scandal. He doesn’t trust the mysterious woman who comes to live with his rich aunt, especially when she starts to steal Frances’ affection – and maybe his own too…


Review: Cassie is hiding from something, or should I say someone. She's sad, lonely and scared and wants to hide herself away from life. Fitting her belongings into one bag she fakes a reference and manages to get a job as a companion to Frances Smallwood, a fragile, but determined older woman. Frances hasn't left her beautiful home for years apart from to go to church, she's pretty much ignored by her three grown up children and would be alone if it wasn't for her hairdresser, housekeeper, and doting nephew, Barney. 


Like Cassie, Barney has had his fair share of heartache and has come to Ramblings to get away from the shambles of his life. He's brusque, angry most of the time and suspicious of people he doesn't know. So when Cassie moves into the large house and takes over caring for Frances - a woman with her own secrets - he's unimpressed and determined that her visit won't last very long. Underneath his bearded face and scowl he's more handsome than Cassie expected and despite her insistence that she keeps her self to herself, she ends up becoming more involved in the lives of those people around her in more ways than she, or they, could have expected.

I loved this book and couldn't wait to discover exactly what had happened to Cassie and how she and Barney were going to resolve their differences. Frances was also a fascinating character with obvious sadness in her life that she was keeping to herself as well as her difficult relationship with her children. I spent the entire weekend thoroughly involved with the three of them, with Cassie's fight to move on from her past, and her battles with Barney. Barney... what a gorgeous hero! Looking forward to reading Kate's next book.

Definitely a 5* rating from me!

Buy Links: Amazon UK  Amazon US



About the author:
Kate Field lives in Lancashire with her husband, daughter, and a recently arrived Russian Blue kitten, who may prove so distracting that she never has time to write again. The Magic of Ramblings is her first published novel.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/KateFieldAuthor/
Twitter: @katehaswords

GIVEAWAY
A £25 or equivalent Amazon Voucher
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Tuesday 13 September 2016

Visiting Rachel Brimble's Blog

I'm chatting to lovely fellow author, Rachel Brimble on her blog today about my writing, my books and other bits and bobs. Please pop over and say hello. 

http://rachelbrimble.blogspot.com/2016/09/welcome-accent-press-author-georgina.html